All the Pokemens

[Aura]

It's another day at the guild!

 

But, there seems to be something happening...

  

Apparently, someone's hear to see us at the entrance to the guild. Something must be up, and I'm willing to bet Team Skull is up to it.

 

  

As we go to see meet with our visitors, we find Marill and Azurill at the entrance to the guild! They've come to us for help finding their missing Water Float... Of course, that's the very item they'd gone to the beach to retreive, and we all know who happened to be listening in on that conversation...

 

  

 

Well, that's a very distinctive laugh. Distinctive enough that Skuntank can't even resist writing it out on paper. While Pep is somehow completely oblivious, it's pretty clear who's involved in this mess and it looks like we'll need to go to a new dungeon, Amp Plains, in order to fix this.

Apparently, Marill has tried to recover the item himself but keeps getting knocked out trying to go through Amp Plains due to the prominence of electric pokemon, and that's why he's come to us for help since we rescued Azurill last time they found themselves in danger. Naturally, we agree to help them out!

  

With our promise made, we now have access to our next dungeon!

Before we go, I'd like to note that we got another Unexplored Dungeon mission, but I won't be looking into this one just yet since we're a bit caught up in the narrative at the moment, but next time we need to do bulletin board requests, you can bet we'll be doing this one.

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

   

Team Outreach

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

While we're talking about in-between stuff, why don't we go over what loot Team Outreach got during their previous expedition?

 

The Cute Box held Cleffa Dew which boosts the Special Attack of the Cleffa line.

   

And the three Deluxe Boxes opened up to a Yellow Gummi as well as two Heal Seeds. Not the most exciting haul, but it's certainly something!

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

After making our usual preparations, it's time to set out for Amp Plains!

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

  

We arrive at the entrance to the new dungeon and Pep seems quite peeved about the whole ordeal, and for good reason!

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

Amp Plains

The music in this dungeon gives me major memories of Rescue Team's ost at parts, I'm pretty sure there was a track in that game that sounded just like the opening to this one. But beyond that, parts of the song also really remind me of Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons and Ages. It's certainly a bizarre song.

Anyway, Amp Plains is the first required dungeon that features monster houses. You can also find traps here, which is something that didn't appear in Rescue Team until the postgame! So we're certainly in for a treat going forward with this game... This is certainly where I think I'd say the game is starting to ramp up toward its more serious difficulty, so be prepared for a larger variety of challenges in future dungeons.

                 

Across all floors between both versions, you can find Poke, Pecha Scarves, Power, Special, and Stamina Bands, Iron Thorns, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, TMs, and Wonder Orbs.

The Pure Seed is an extremely valuable new item that's subtly slipped in here. If you find any of these, you're definitely going to want to save them. These seeds will warp you to the room with stairs, meaning they can essentially allow you to skip a floor entirely.

              

Exclusive to Explorers of Darkness, you can find Twist Bands, Insomniscopes, Black, Clear, Gold, Gray, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, and Yellow Gummis, Violent, and X-eye Seeds, and version exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

           

The Time exclusives include Blue, Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, Silver, Sky, and White Gummis, Stun, and Warp Seeds, and version exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

And then, of course, we have the fun of traps. Once again, the Trip Trap is the only trap consistent across both versions.

Other than Trip Traps, Explorers of Darkness only has to be concerned with Slumber Traps.

 

Meanwhile, Summon and Warp Traps are both found in Explorers of Time.

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

Amp Plans [1F - 3F]

    

For the first three floors, you'll find Plusle, Minun, Mareep, Phanpy, and Elekid.

And it's on the first floor here that I actually got a new recruit!

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

New Recruit: Team Persevere

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

March (Mareep M); Lv. 17

Item: None

Ability: Static | Moves: Tackle, Growl, ThunderShock, Thunder Wave

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

Amp Plains [4F]

     

The fourth floor introduces Shinx to the mix!

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

Amp Plains [5F]

      

On the fifth floor, Girafarig comes along as well.

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

Amp Plains [6F - 7F]

    

Plusle and Minun drop off on the 6th floor. There is something special about the 7th floor, but it's not going to become apparent until later on in the game.

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

Amp Plains [8F]

    

On the 8th floor, Mareep is replaced by its evolution, Flaaffy, which only has a 0.5% recruitment rate.

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

Amp Plains [9F]

   

On the 9th floor, Phanpy and Elekid are replaced with Yannmega! Yanmega has a negative recruitment rate, though, so don't expect to get one anytime soon.

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

Amp Plains [10F]

    

And finally, Electabuzz joins on the 10th floor. Its recruitment rate is notably low like Flaaffy.

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

The 11th floor of the dungeon is a rest area where you can heal up and save the game.

 

Once you're prepared to continue toward the final stretch of the dungeon, head off to the north.

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

  

Back in Treasure Town, it seems Marill and Azurill are chatting with Kecleon about what's going on. It seems we're starting to develop quite a positive reputation among the town!

 

As the group are chatting, Dusknoir arrives and inquires about the conversation.

  

Kecleon fills Dusknoir in on the updated story...

 

  

After some back and forth about the villains responsible for this needlessly cruel prank, Dusknoir inquires about where exactly we had to go to retrieve this Water Float, which Marill answers, Amp Plains...

 

  

 

...But this seems to get an unexpected rise out of Dusknoir. Apparently, we're in a lot more danger than we thought!

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

Far Amp Plains

The music changes in the second part of the dungeon and things get a bit hectic, strangely, this one gives me vibes of Pokemon Snap at times? Ironically, there happens to be a Kecleon Shop right here. It's just a shame Kecleon can't instantly communicate with his brethren.

Anyway, this part of the dungeon is the same in terms of items and traps.

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

Far Amp Plains [1F]

      

Shinx, Girafarig, Yanmega, Flaaffy, Electabuzz, and Tauros are all available on the first floor. Tauros has a low recruitment rate as well.

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

Far Amp Plains [2F]

     

Shinx falls off on the 2nd floor in favor of Dodrio.

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

Far Amp Plains [3F - 4F]

     

On the third floor, Girafarig is replaced with Electrike.

 

On the 3rd floor, I obtained a Heavy Box and a new recruit!

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

New Recruit: Team Persevere

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

Charge (Electrike M); Lv. 20

Item: None

Ability: Static, LightningRod | Moves: Leer, Howl, Quick Attack, Spark

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

Far Amp Plains [5F]

     

And on the fifth floor, you lose Yanmega in exchange for Luxio, who has a low recruitment rate.

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

Far Amp Plains [6F - 9F]

     

At floor 6, Flaaffy is replaced with its evolution, Ampharos. Ampharos has a negative recruitment rate.

On the 8th floor, a pokemon happened to drop a Deluxe Box!

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

Amp Clearing

 

As we reach the depths of the Amp Plains, thunder strikes the ground forming a rather scary atmosphere.

  

But as we press forward, we finally find the very Water Float we're after! It seems it's been left abandoned here!

 

But as we grow to approach further, lightning strikes and the sky grows dark...

  

 

A voice calls out to us, claiming that this territory belongs to them. Pep tries to hide, but they can still see us even in the darkness.

  

 

When flushed out of hiding, Pep demands to know the source of the voice which identifies itself as Luxray, leader of the Luxio tribe!

  

And when the darkness is cleared, we find that we're completely surrounded by Luxray and many Luxio!

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

   

Team Persevere

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

Aura (Chikorita M); Lv. 26

Item: Sky Blue Bow 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Tackle, Razor Leaf, Reflect, Synthesis

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

Pep (Piplup M); Lv. 26

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Fury Attack, BubbleBeam, Growl, Peck

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

Slick (Grimer F); Lv. 25

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Stench, Sticky Hold | Moves: Minimize, Disable, Sludge, Mud Bomb

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

Cover (Tangela M); Lv. 23

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Chlorophyll, Leaf Guard | Moves: Sleep Powder + Poison Powder, Vine Whip, Growth

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

       

Vs. The Luxio Tribe

This is a rather unique boss fight within the world of Mystery Dungeon. Essentially, it's a boss fight designed around the similar situation you might find yourself in within a Monster House. You're completely surrounded on all sides by Luxio while Luxray himself closes in from ahead. The Luxio are actually kinda pushovers on their own, so try to take them out quickly. The main threat here is, of course, Luxio, but you can thankfully use some seeds to keep him out of the picture until the mooks are cleared out. You're going to need to put a lot of faith in your partners and manage their tactics and move restrictions appropriately. Watch their health and use Oran Berries to heal anyone in danger! If you're in a safe position, you can also swap places with a partner to prevent them from taking as much damage at the cost of forcing them to waste their turn moving. Try to pick off Luxio that are adjacent to the partner surrounded by the most of them to keep the damage spread fairly even, unless that pokemon happens to also be extremely bulky. Slick's stench could potentially come in useful here by discouraging Luxio that attack him.

Just be wary that, as a boss fight, wonder orbs like Spurn Orbs or Totter Orbs which are normally solid answers to Monster Houses aren't going to be usable here.

 

Starting right off the bat, you're positioned in such a way at the start where only one target is in range unless you have a room-wide attack like Vacuum Cut that can target all of the Luxio in the room. You can either throw a Seed or Spike at this Luxio, or use a ranged attack like Razor Leaf in my case. The Luxio went down pretty quick, so only 7 remain! Your partners that don't have enemies in their immediate range will close in on your position unless you change their tactics away from "Let's go together". This is generally pretty wise, but keep this behavior in mind when you feel it might compromise their position. Remember you can set their tactics to "Go after foes", "Get away from here" or "Wait there" if necessary to alter their behavior.

 

As the enemies start to close in, more of them will be in range of your attacks. As soon as Luxray was in range, I immediately threw a Sleep Seed at him to stop him in his place and render him helpless so I could focus on the smaller guys.

Cover's focus here was to keep his side locked down while I came along to give him some assistance. He doesn't have a whole lot of HP, so he can go down very quickly

 

Since Cover's surrounding Luxio were all asleep at the moment, I focused my attention on the Luxio southeast of me so that I could both reduce the damage input for Slick as well as free up a potential escape route for Cover if necessary, this lead to KOing the third Luxio! Meanwhile, Pep decided to focus his efforts on taking out Luxray which ultimately proved successful! With his range, he'd also be able to pick off the Luxio circling around from behind the rock!

Cover's Vine Whip took out the third of the 8 Luxio.

 

I tried to use an Oran Berry to heal off Cover, hoping he'd be capable of picking off the Luxio that was still asleep while I try and distract the others.

 

Unfortunately, due to some bad luck with Luxio waking up early, Cover found himself getting KO'd and had to take a Reviver Seed. But each of us took out one of the remaining four Luxio, leaving only one more. And with a simple Tackle, that one was defeated quickly.

I'll be honest, this was a boss fight that I was a lot more nervous about than I should've been. I thought these guys would be a lot more dangerous than they ended up being. I also was under the impression that all of them having Intimidate would make them a lot more threatening. In hindsight,t he only one that was even affected by Intimidate appears to be Slick. The Luxio all went down to one solid hit and Luxray could be easily disabled with items just found lying around in the dungeon.

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

   

Team Outreach

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

Liz (Charmander F); Lv. 25

Item: Red Bow 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: Fire Fang, SmokeScreen + Scary Face, Ember

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

Sprout (Turtwig M); Lv. 25

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Bite, Withdraw, Razor Leaf, Mega Drain

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

Strength (Machop F); Lv. 23

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Guts, No Guard | Moves: Foresight + Leer, Focus Energy + Karate Chop

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

Shelly (Shellos M); Lv. 21

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Storm Drain, Sticky Hold | Moves: Mud-Slap + Harden, Water Pulse, Mud Bomb

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

       

Team Outreach's experience with the Luxio tribe was even more of a joke. With their more offensive presence, we could easily wipe out the Luxio without any problems. An X-Eye Seed was all that was needed to keep Luxray out of the picture while we picked off his underlings and the rest just fell into place as we each of them fell one after another before we were able to surround Luxray and finish the fight.

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

 

Upon defeat, Luxray only grows even angrier at our determination to fight back and threatens to attack us even more ferociously!

  

Pep tries to call reason with Luxray, but he won't have it and prepares a powerful attack!

 

Suddenly, a voice interrupts the standoff!

  

It's Dusknoir! He's come to our aid!

 

  

Dusknoir does what he can to justify our presence here and absolve Luxray of his anger and to apologize for our trespassing on our behalf.

 

  

Luxray seems surprised by his knowledge about the history of the Luxio clan and ultimately chooses to believe him when he claims we are here only to run an errand and allows us to claim the Water Float for our mission on the promise that we be on our way immediately after.

 

Pep is certainly relieved that Dusknoir came in to resolve tensions at just the right time.

  

 

Apparently the Luxio Tribe are a nomadic tribe that stays on the move and the Amp Plans are where they choose to dwell due to the constant thunderstorms around this time of year. However, at one point, they were attacked by a powerful enemy here and suffered great injuries, so they have become increasingly violent to anyone who trespasses into this area they claim to be their territory so as not to give anyone the chance to catch them by surprise again.

  

 

We quickly run up to the Water Float, which Dusknoir confirms the identity of.

  

 

Ever slow on the uptake, Pep asks how the Water Float would've ended up in a place like this, to which Dusknoir explains the obvious, that it was placed here intentionally to put us in danger.

  

A bit more interesting, however, is that Dusknoir seems to be aware of the presence of some others watching us from afar.

 

And who would it be besides Team Skull?

  

 

  

Team Skull shamelessly confesses to their dirty plan to defeat us, and admits that Dusknoir's intervention made things go far less smoothly for them than they would've liked.

 

  

The spineless Skuntank knows he's no match for Dusknoir, so he decides to back down once again to avoid another round of humiliation just like with Wigglytuff.

 

Dusknoir insists that it would be a waste of time to give chase to Team Skull and instead draws our eattnetion back to delivering the Water Float to the brothers back in Treasure Town. They're going to be delighted to finally have their precious Water Float back!

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

And that's where we're going to be putting things off for today. Next time we'll return the Water Float and perhaps get to know Dusknoir a little better in the process?

[Aura]

  

 

As expected, Azurill and Marill are absolutely delighted to finally have their Water Float back! This item has put them through a lot of trouble after having lost it, and it simply must mean a lot!

  

 

Kecleon seems to have nothing but high praise for the both of us after being witness to our heroics multiple times!

  

 

As Kecleon brings up our previous rescue of Azurill, Pep explains how we were able to locate Azurill so quickly, mentioning the vision I'd had before...

  

This explanation seems to peak Dusknoir's interest, which makes Pep realize that he very well could know something about our ability!

 

He proceeds to explain everything we know about these dizzy spells and visions.

  

Dusknoir seems to immediately identify the phenomenon! It even has a name! "The Dimensional Scream"! That name sounds a bit foreboding, but I'm sure everything's fine...

 

  

Realizing just how extensive Dusknoir's wealth of knowledge seems to be, we just might be able to get a new lead out of him by asking some questions...

 

  

We explain where I came from as we walk to the beach where we were found. Pep explains that all we could remember was our name and that we were previously a human...

 

  

Even Dusknoir can't seem to wrap his mind around a human randomly transforming into a pokemon, so I suppose he has no knowledge of the events of Rescue Team... I suppose it's not impossible to assume Rescue Team simply exists in a different universe or this game takes place before Rescue Team. It seems like the protagonist from the first game being a human would've been a pretty prominent headline around the world, especially for someone who values infromation as much as Dusknoir. It seems a bit odd they wouldn't take the opportunity to slip a reference here, but I'm sure there's some reason he wouldn't have that knowledge.

 

Dusknoir ponders the idea of a human with the Dimensional Scream ability before asking our name...

  

 

  

When we tell him our name, Dusknoir claims it doesn't mean anything to him, yet he seems to react strangely to Pep's question... My first time seeing this cutscene, I was suspecting that maybe he knew me as a human somehow and was waiting to reveal that for some reason, but looking back, I'm starting to wonder if, perhaps, he's glad he doesn't recognize our name. I'm wondering if our little Time Gear Thief happens to also be a human with the dimensional scream ability? It does seem as though the ability would be necessary to track down the Time Gears as efficiently as this thief seems to be... Perhaps Dusknoir might've been suspicious of us for a little bit and been relieved that we're not the one he's after? Again, I'm just spitballing with speculation here. By this point, I am in 100% blind territory, so absolutely everything from her on is completely new to me, I've managed to avoid spoilers pretty thoroughly for this game, so I'm genuinely curious where this story will go from here!

 

Dusknoir apologizes for being unable to help us about our past, but goes on to explain the Dimensional Scream in a bit more detail. He explains that it is unknown how to learn or inherit the ability, but that it causes sounds and images to slice through the boundaries of time and reach pokemon with the ability through objects they touch. These images and sounds are then manifested as visions of the past or future during our dizzy spells.

  

Dusknoir offers his cooperation in helping us to uncover the mystery of our transformation into a pokemon, and perhaps he'll help us master the dimensional scream as well? If my theory about the Time Gear thief being a human with the Dimensional Scream holds true, then perhaps Dusknoir's interest in helping us investigate this mystery is related to his search for the thief. Finding out how we became a pokemon could help as a lead to understanding how the thief might've transformed as well.

 

As we speak, a couple of Pelipper suddenly fly by overhead...

 

There are a lot of Pelipper flying around, perhaps there's some serious news spreading right now...

  

 

It seems there's an emergency meeting at the guild. It must be related to the Pelipper...

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

Now that the name Grovyle is dropped, I suppose I can stop playing coy about the identity of the thief. Not that the game has been particularly subtle. Just like Wigglytuff in the vision at Waterfall Cave, his silhouette isn't exactly hard to identify. Not to mention there's actually a flash of lightning in the first scene that shows him, revealing his full color. I just happened to miss it when taking screenshots. But, I've been dancing around saying his name because the game hasn't outright dropped it yet.

 

There seems to be a commotion at the Outlaw Notice Board.

  

It seems that yet another Time Gear has been stolen...

 

Chatot seems to have a difficult time bringing up where the gear was stolen from this time...

  

Indeed, the Time Gear was stolen from Fogbound Lake.

 

  

 

The gear being stolen from the lake is absolutely mysterious. How could the thief have known if we're the only ones ever to see it without having our memories wiped? Pep brings up the possibility that maybe somebody leaked it, but the guild members immediately take offense to the suggestion. It doesn't seem like anybody would've leaked the info... Even still, the timing is incredibly suspicious. This happens just after our expedition to the lake?

  

Dusknoir is, of course, confused by the sudden revelation that there was a Time Gear at Fogbound Lake since he was told our expedition was a failure.

 

Wigglytuff apologizes to Dusknoir and explains the promise the guild made with Uxie.

  

Apparently this thief arrived alone at Fogbound Lake, took out Uxie, and stole the Time Gear. Thankfully, Uxie is alright and now under the protection of Magnezone and his squad, but with Uxie's safety means we now have a witness to the identity of the thief who's been stealing these Time Gears...

 

  

The thief's name is Grovyle. No doubt a highly dangerous foe... This wanted poster must be what all those Pelipper were delivering around the world. This must be the most wanted criminal in the world right now.

  

 

All this negativity seems to be bothering the guildmaster...

  

His rage seems to be building again, and the room starts to rumble...

 

  

It seems that Wigglytuff has been spurred into action! The guildmaster's wrath is full-set on Grovyle, so at this point you almost hav eto feel sorry for him!

 

And so, Chatot makes the official announcement that, going forward, the guild will be putting its full focus on capturing Grovyle.

  

The whole guild seems to be on board!

 

  

And so, Dusknoir announces to Wigglytuff that he will work with the guild to pursue Grovyle. Once again, I have my suspicions that seeking Grovyle was his intention from the very start, but I suppose that hasn't been outright stated yet.

 

So, Chatot and Wigglytuff take the time to devise a strategy for catching Grovyle off guard. In the meantime, he urges us all to prepare for exploration!

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

Before long, we find ourselves back in Treasure Town to make preparations as needed!

First thing's first, I've got some more treasure boxes to open!

 

The Deluxe Box opened up to a Marill Dew, which boosts the defense of the Azurill line.

 

And the Heavy Box opened to a Magby Claw which boosts the attack of the Magby line.

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

Team Outreach

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

Team Outreach also had some treasure boxes to open, though I failed to take note of the first one, so take it with a grain of salt, but I believe it was a heavy box.

 

This opened into a TM for Flamethrower.

 

The Light Box opened into Monfer Hair.

 

And the Shiny Box opened into an Insomniscope.

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

Once you've finished making preparations in Treasure Town, you'll need to make your way back to the Guild in order to proceed. Don't worry, you'll get a chance to access Chimecho Assembly soon before doing any dungeon exploration.

  

Chatot begins our meeting by explaining that, since Grovyle has been after the Time Gears, the best course of action for capturing him would be to find another Time Gear and ambush him when he arrives to steal it. Of course, the first step to that plan is to actually find a Time Gear before Grovyle. And if Fogbound Lake was anything to go off of, that's not going to be a very easy task.

With the help of Dusknoir, the guild is able to narrow down some locations that are suspect as locations of Time Gears. The plan is to split the group into several squads and investigate these suspicious locations.

 

Loudred and Corphish will be headed to the Eastern Forest.

  

Bidoof, Dugtrio, and Sunflora are all set for Crystal Cave.

 

And finally, we're told to go to search the Northern Desert. Hopefully at least one of these locations will turn out to be the location of a Time Gear which we can use.

  

Diglett, Chimecho, and Croagunk will remain at the guild to maintain their duties. Chatot doesn't want to leave the guild unguarded, after all.

 

Pep asks about the location of this desert, which Chatot decides to show us on our map.

  

Just like Fogbound Lake, the desert is covered on the map with clouds due to being unexplored, but it is rumored a vast desert extends beyond this point on the map due to the dry terrain in the area. Dusknoir and Chatot suspect a Time Gear to be hidden in the depths of the desert.

 

Wigglytuff encourages everyone on their journeys and we immediately get to work tracking down the remaining time gears!

Dusknoir gives us a heads-up that the Northern Desert is riddled with Sandstorms. It might not be that hard to deduce, but do consider that on floors with sandstorms, your natural recovery will be a lot slower. Packing some extra Oran Berries or Sunny and Rainy Orbs and the like might be beneficial.

 

Real quick, I want to stop by Chimecho Assembly to finally make a long-overdue change to our team. We finally have a fourth party member that doesn't share a type with anyone else on the team! In fact, we have two between March and Charge, but Charge is the one we're going with! He'll be traveling with us going forward!

And finally, we do have some more diary entries to look into!

 

Sunflora's 10th entry is all just gushing about Dusknoir. It's kinda cute, actually.

 

Bidoof's, on the other hand, is focusing on his inability to sleep due to Croagunk creeping him out recently. Apparently Croagunk used to sleep by his Swap Cauldron most of the time, leaving Bidoof alone with Loudred, but recently, Croagunk's been sleeping in his bed a lot more and continues with his... rather poor social skills leading to really creepy interactions that make the poor Bidoof uncomfortable. It's really hard to gauge whether or not Croagunk does this on purpose or is even aware of the effect he has on people. He's a strange one.

Anyway, once you've made your final preparations, you can head out for the Northern Desert!

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

  

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

Northern Desert

This desert stretching to the far north is a bit of an endurance challenge with no checkpoints along the way, the first point where dungeons start to get a little bit longer, but as you know, they'll certainly get a lot longer with time. Items available throughout the dungeon are a bit more limited than the usual selection as well. Notably, there's no food besides Grimy Food, so you might want to bring at least one Apple in case you have bad luck finding the stairs. Since the game's still pulling its punches a bit, there are no monster houses, but you do still have to be worried about traps.

   

The only items you can find throughout the dungeon are Poke, Iron Thorns, Grimy Food, and Wonder Orbs.

 

In Explorers of Darkness, you can also find Sticks. (Oh... boy?) Of course, there are also version exclusive Wonder Orbs between the two versions.

The selection of traps are the same as Amp Plains.

The Trip Trap is consistent between versions.

The Slumber Trap is only in Explorers of Darkness,

 

while the Summon and Warp traps are in Explorers of Time.

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

Northern Desert [1F - 6F]

      

For the first six floors, you'll run into Baltoy, Cubone, Aron, Cacnea, Larvitar, Sandshrew, and Trapinch. Cubone and Cacnea are probably the most threatening of these foes due to their ranged attacks that can hit you multiple times, Bonemerang and Pin Missile. Approach them carefully and attack form range if you can! Trapinch's Arena Trap can also be a bit annoying as it'll temporarily freeze a pokemon in place even after it's defeated.

Starting on the fourth floor in Explorers of Darkness, you can begin to find Silver Spikes!

And on the sixth floor, a sandstorm is brewing which will damage everybody except Ground, Rock, and Steel types for 3 HP every 5 turns. You'll heal off the damage through your natural healing as you walk around, but it'll make healing from damage after battle take a lot longer, so watch your and your partners' HP! In addition, this will trigger abilities like Sandshrew and Cacnea's Sand Veil, so be a bit more wary of them. If you have any means such as an orb or weather move, floors with sandstorms are a good place to change the weather to remove their negative effects.

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

Northern Desert [7F]

       

Carnivine joins the fun on the 7th floor.

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

Northern Desert [8F]

The atmosphere of the desert changes on the 8th floor, it looks like the sun's setting which means the weather's probably getting a bit cooler, too.

       

Baltoy is gone on this floor in favor of Rhyhorn.

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

Northern Desert [9F]

      

Cubone leaves on the 9th floor while Aron and Cacnea are replaced with their evolutions Lairon and Cacturne.

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

 

Northern Desert [10F - 15F]

Floors 10 and 11 are shrouded in sandstorms.

     

Larvitar drops off here.

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

 

As we reach the end of the dungeon, we'll come across the depths of the desert where there are large pools of quicksand that are too dangerous to approach. This is unfortunately looking like a dead end with no Time Gear in sight... how unfortunate...

  

...and yet, I seem to be getting the same strange deja vu sensation that I had back at Fogbound Lake...

 

Well, with no clear way forward, Pep decides it's time to go back. Recognizing that we're lost in thought, he decides to push us along... kind of rude! I really don't think this feeling is something to ignore given that last time it happened was near a Time Gear! But, there's just nothing we can do but trust everything will sort out okay.

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

 

As we return home, we can chart out the new territory, expanding the world map that much further!

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

  

It seems that we weren't alone in our failure to discover any Time Gears. None of the squads were able to gather any information. The only thing to come out of these adventures was Bidoof who happened to pick up a small crystal from the cave because he thought it was pretty, at the berating of his teammates, of course, for not having his focus on the job.

 

  

Dusknoir is disappointed to hear that the locations he'd singled out seemed not to hold any Time Gears at all.

 

And so, Dusknoir and Chatot decide to revise their plans and come up with a new plan tomorrow.

 

And with that, it's off to dinner and then bed! It's sounding like things are gonna be a bit busy for a while.

[Aura]

  

The next day, the whole guild is assigned a simple task: While Dusknoir and Chatot discuss their options for seeking out the Time Gears, we're all to search for them of our own volition.

 

Remembering the strange feeling of deja vu we experienced back at the desert the previous day, we decide to take that feeling as a lead for today. We explain the situation to Pep and now he's on board with setting out to Quicksand Desert! If only we'd blurted that out sooner, dammit!

Before we take our leave, though, there are some new journal entries!

 

Sunflora's entry doesn't really say much, it just talks about how badly she wants to capture Grovyle and make him pay for his reckless crimes. It also comments on Bidoof being little help during the exploration of Crystal Cave and that, apparently, he has a rather sinister grin when he's up to something like stealing a crystal from the cave for himself.

 

Bidoof's entry continues his little story from before about not being able to sleep around Croagunk. He's taken to taking midnight strolls around the guild. He weirdly gets curious about everyone else while they're asleep. He peeked into our room, which is pretty creepy, but thankfully notes that he wouldn't peek into Sunflora and Chimecho's room because that would be rude. I guess the writers didn't factor in the possibility that you and your partner can both be female, too? Anyway, Bidoof goes on to explain how scary it was to peek into the guildmaster's room, so he chose not to, and notes that Chatot sleeps on the top of the ladder in the guild! Apparently Chatot thought Bidoof was trying to run away when they bumped into each other, so he got a pretty stern talking to. Yeah, that Bidoof is a bit of a mess after all, isn't he?

Anyway, after making some preparations, it's time to head out for Quicksand Desert!

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

  

 

Pep seems totally enamored by the lack of... anything here where we last left. It seems really needlessly dangerous to progress forward with all of these quicksand pits everywhere and there doesn't seem to be anything special about the way forward.

  

 

As we mull over this feeling of deja vu that tells us this must be the location of a Time Gear, we begin to piece together the solution to the puzzle before us... if there really is nothing but quicksand, then maybe the quicksand itself is what we need to look at!

  

Of course, Pep isn't too peppy about the idea of jumping into the quicksand. And quite frankly, I wouldn't be, either! Even if we had pulled through before it was only because of a vision! There could be all sorts of explanations why there's no clear way forward! Why would the Time Gear be hidden underneath a pit of quicksand!? We should at least make sure there's something pointing us to one in particular! What if this whole process is a trap to eliminate thieves like Grovyle!?

 

  

In spite of how crazy it sounds, though, Pep calls back to how he felt when we discovered Waterfall Cave and agrees to our plan.

 

And so, we jump right into the center of the quicksand pit!

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

  

Shockingly enough, it seems our hunch was correct! Falling through the quicksand on the surface dropped us into a strange cave! But our job isn't done yet, it seems we've got another Mystery Dungeon ahead of us...

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

Quicksand Cave

This dungeon is essentially the disjointed "part 2" of Northern Desert. It's mostly the dame dungeon but with slightly tougher enemies and more aggressive Sandstorms... though not natural ones, this time around. You'll see what I mean soon enough. And, yes, just like Northern Desert, you might run into traps and Monster Houses in here. To be prepared!

   

The only items you'll find between the two versions, again, are Poke, Iron Thorns, Grimy Food, and Wonder Orbs.

 

In Explorers of Darkness, you'll find Silver Spikes and version exclusive Wonder Orbs.

 

Meanwhile, Explorers of Time features the much more exciting Silver Gummi along with its own version-exclusive Wonder Orbs.

Trap-wise, we have the same selection as before as well.

Trip Traps between both versions,

Slumber Traps in Darkness,

 

Summon and Warp Traps in Time.

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

Quicksand Pit [B1F - B7F]

    

The pokemon you'll find down here are Nincada, Vibrava, Pupitar, Skorupi, and Sandslash. Be wary of Skorupi's Pin Missile as always. Sandslash's Fury Swipes can be dangerous, too, especially under Sand Veil. Even though there aren't natural sandstorms, Pupitar is capable of setting up with the move Sandstorm. This dungeon will quickly make you hate evasive techniques like this and you'll start to groan every time you have to fight a Sandslash in a Sandstorm. Don't understimate them! It's a blessing to have always-hitting moves like Aerial Ace and Swift.

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

Quicksand Pit [B8F - B9F]

    

Mawhile joins the fray on the 8th floor. It doesn't really do much, though Fake Tears might cause some undue stress. B8F is the first floor you can encounter Monster Houses on, so be wary!

On the 9th floor, I stumbled across a Gorgeous Box!

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

Quicksand Pit [B10F]

   

Vibrava is gone on the 10th floor.

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

Partway through, we'll find ourselves in a checkpoint leading to the later half of the dungeon, which I suppose we can kind of consider a part 3 to Northern Desert?

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

Quicksand Pit

   

 

 

 

The selection of items and traps found down here are identical to those in Quicksand Cave, so don't get your hopes up for better items here. In addition, the selection of pokemon down here are even thougher and you'll be facing off against Sandstorms more frequently in spite of the lack of natural sandstorms. Unlike Quicksand Cave, Monster Houses can be found throughout the dungeon.

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

Quicksand Pit [B1F]

   

On the first floor, you'll find Pupitar, Skorupi, Mawile, and Sandslash.

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

Quicksand Pit [B2F]

   

With the introduction of Tyranitar on the second floor, it should be all too clear what I've been meaning by the prominence of sandstorms in spite of natural ones. Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability triggers as soon as it spawns in and effects the entire floor, so as long as he's around, you can expect the weather to essentially be Sand for that floor. Even if you use a move or item to change the weather, if another spawns in at any point while exploring, the weather will simply change right back to Sand, so when dealing with Sand Stream, you might very well just have to deal with it. They aren't pushovers in-battle, either. Their Dark Pulse will damage all adjacent pokemon, so try to take them out quickly or you'll suffer some serious damage.

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

Quicksand Pit [B3F - B4F]

    

Hippopotas joins in on the third floor, doubling down on the Sand Stream users and making Sandslash all the more agonizing.

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

Quicksand Pit [B5F]

     

Starting on the 5th floor, you can find Ninjask who are very easy to pick off quickly, but can set up some evasive tactics with Double Team and make things troublesome with Quick Attack, so you'll want to pick them off before they get out of pocket.

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

Quicksand Pit [B6F - B10F]

   

Skorupi and Mawile drop off here. I think I'd rather take Ninjask than Skorupi, though, but I really wish Sandlsash could've gone with them. Oh well.

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

  

 

Underground Lake

We soon arrive at another marvelous sight: An underground lake sprawling under the vast desert. And just like at Fogbound Lake, there seems to be a familiar green glow off in the distace. It seems our feelings were correct after all!

 

But when we approach, it seems we are less than welcome here...

  

 

As expected, it seems the guardian of the Time Gear here isn't too terribly fond of the idea of allowing anybody to approach the gear after what happened at Fogbound Lake.

  

The guardian reveals herself to be Mesprit, the spirit of emotion! And it seems she has no intention of allowing us to go any further.

 

That's right, we've got a boss fight ahead of us!

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

   

Team Persevere

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

Aura (Chikorita M); Lv. 28

Item: Sky Blue Bow 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Tackle, Razor Leaf, Reflect, Synthesis

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

Pep (Piplup M); Lv. 28

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: BubbleBeam + Growl, Peck, Fury Attack

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

Slick (Grimer F); Lv. 28

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Stench, Sticky Hold | Moves: Disable + Minimize, Rock Slide, Sludge

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

Charge (Electrike M); Lv. 24

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Static, Lightningrod | Moves: Leer + Spark, Quick Attack, Thunder Wave

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

Vs. Mesprit

This boss fight is a bit of a joke, honestly. Due to your starting formation, it may take some finaggling to surround her, though. You've always gotta get used to your partners not moving in quite the way you expect.

While waiting for everyone to group up into a better position, I threw a Geo Pebble at Mesprit to get in some free damage.

  

I took the next few steps to try and position my teammates strategically to where Charge could attack with Quick Attack from behind Slick while Slick and Pep pummeled Mesprit with a barrage of attacks. Remember that stepping into your partners will force them to swap places with you, which is great for getting them into position at the cost of your own moves. Slick's Rock Slide causing Mesprit to cringe occasionally was a big help in this setup. Along with that, even though she has the type disadvantage, she does have Minimize and Disable on her side, too!

 

Once everybody was in place I decided to take the long way around to close in on Mesprit myself. In hindsight, I'm not sure why I opted to do this instead of just continuing to head diagonally. Maybe I was worried Electrike would follow, I can't really say.

Unfortunately, Mesprit got a Protect up to put a wrench in my plans. In addition, Electrike decided to follow me up anyway because fuck my plans I guess. Oh well, I suppose having another pokemon here to paralyze Mesprit and keep her from attacking isn't a bad thing.

 

Under the Protect status, all moves will fail against Mesprit, so the only way to damage her is to just throw items at her until the Protect Status fades. In the meantime, I need to turn off all of my partners' moves or they'll just keep wasting PP.

Of course, this leads to Pep moving bizarrely further away for some reason (I didn't change his tactics at all, he just decided he wanted to take a step back, I guess).

 

Eventually, Protect wore off so it was time to go in on the all-out offensive!

Before long, Mesprit was defeated.

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

   

Team Outreach

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

Liz (Charmander F); Lv. 27

 

Item: Red Bow 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: SmokeScreen + Scary Face, Ember, Fire Fang

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

Sprout (Turtwig M); Lv. 27

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Mega Drain + Withdraw, Bite, Razor Leaf

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

Strength (Machop M); Lv. 26

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Guts, No Guard | Moves: Foresight + Leer, Focus Energy + Karate Chop

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

Shelly (Shellos M); Lv. 24

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Sticky Hold, Storm Drain | Moves: Mud-Slap, Water Pulse, Rain Dance, Mud Bomb

While Rain Dance doesn't have a whole lot of synergy with the rest of the squad, you can imagine it was a huge boon in a dungeon filled with sandstorms, making Sandslash far easier to deal with in this trip!

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

As per usual, Team Outreach had a much easier time dominating this boss fight. It was just a matter of hitting Mesprit with SmokeScreen and Scary Face and layering on attacks from there. She didn't even get the chance to set up Protect!

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

 

Even after defeat, Mesprit stubbornly persists in protecting the Time Gear.

  

Pep persists in trying to explain why we're here but Mesprit refuses to believe our explanation.

 

And here comes a rather bizarre explanation for this behavior that really poses more questions than it should and I honestly think addressing it only makes things a bit more awkward here. Apparently, Mesprit is so defensive because she received word from Uxie through telepathy that the time gear was stolen, yet Uxie, who identified the thief to the police perfectly, failed to mention to Mesprit so much as the species of pokemon who stole the Time Gear? This is Telepathy, for crying out loud! It's not like Uxie gets bad cell service! This seems like pretty important information to share to your fellow guardians! I suppose Mesprit is the spirit of emotion, though, so maybe she was just too angry at the thief of the time gear to think rationally. Oh well, I guess they just wanted an excuse to have a boss fight with Mesprit.

  

Of course, Mesprit suggests that we were the ones who stole the gear, which we deny, of ocurse, and Mesprit asks about the thief, to which a mysterious third party answers...

 

  

This is it! The very Grovyle that's been causing so many problems! This is our chance to stop him!

 

Or... perhaps he'll just bowl right through us.

  

Refusing to stand down, Mesprit leaves Grovyle with no choice but to knock her out in one swift attack.

 

 

Grovyle may be a criminal, but he seems to operate on some sort of code of honor. He wants to avoid a fight where he can and insists Mesprit stay down when she's clearly outmatched so he doesn't have to hurt her more than necessary.

  

We of course step up to try and stop him ourselves, so Grovyle mournfully apologizes before preparing to do the same for us.

 

Grovyle is just far too fast for us to even have a hope of keeping up with him. This is not going to be an easy foe to defeat.

  

Unable to stop him, we have no choice but to watch helplessly as Grovyle marches on ahead and makes claim of the Time Gear of the Underground Lake.

 

Mesprit apologizes for her err in judgment before...

  

A powerful rumble begins to shake the cave! This alerts Mesprit to the fact that we have to leave immediately!

 

As the Time Gear is stolen by Grovyle, we see the color begin to rapidly drain from the nearby area as time begins to stop! This can't be good!

  

Just like what happened in Treeshroud Forest, time will stop in the area surrounding the Underground Lake without the Time Gear! If we don't leave now, we'll be trapped in time!

 

And so, we all make haste out of the cave.

It's a bit of a bittersweet reward, but upon reaching deeper into the desert, more clouds are lifted on our wonder map and we can now see even more of the continent including the Quicksand Cave and the rest of the Arid Area!

And this is where we'll be stopping for now. Now that we've come face to face with our enemy, the story is starting to get a lot more exciting! I get the feeling we're coming up on something big. I imagine next time we'll be reporting back to the guild and Dusknoir will help us come up with a plan to stop Grovyle.

[Aura]

  

 

When we return to the guild, we hear from Magnezone that Mesprit is now under protection and that they are still in hot pursuit of Grovyle. He asks for our continued assistance in the case before taking his leave.

  

Chatot is amazed to learn of our discovery in the Northern Desert.

 

 

Of course, Pep is bothered by the fact that we were unable to stop Grovyle from stealing the Time Gear.

  

Bidoof and Corphish try to reassure us that we did an excellent job in discovering the Time Gear.

 

But now, we find ourselves back at square one with no lead toward the next time gear.

  

However, it seems that Dusknoir is onto a trail of logic...

 

  

Dusknoir begins to recount an old legend involving the Being of Knowledge: Uxie, and the Being of Emotion: Mesprit along with a third pokemon, the Being of Willpower: Azelf, who together represent the spiritual world. He reasons that if Uxie and Mesprit were both guarding Time Gears, it stands to reason that Azelf may also be guarding a third. Not only that, Uxie and Mesprit were both encountered at lakes in unusual places. One in a plateau high above a forest and another deep underneath a vast desert. So, what we're after may be lake in an unusual location in which Azelf may reside. While there is a handful of speculation, with nothing else to go off of, it's a reasonable enough conclusion to jump to. But where would this lake be found?

The last time Dusknoir provided his insight, one of the locations we searched ultimately turned out to be the location of a Time Gear, so it's quite possible that the other two areas he cited might also be the locations of Time Gears if we were to search more thoroughly. This gives Dusknoir yet another idea for how to further narrow down the location of the third lake.

 

  

Dusknoir asks Bidoof if he could borrow the crystal Bidoof took from the Crystal Cave. Bidoof initially declines because the crystal is his personal treasure, but Dusknoir assures him he has no intention of taking the crystal from him.

 

He soon elaborates on his idea by calling out to me, at which point his idea is clear. He wants me to touch the crystal in hopes of receiving a vision from the Dimensional Scream.

  

 

Of course, Dusknoir's explanation of his idea leads us to a brief moment where Pep has to explain the dimensional scream to everyone, which is a surprise to the whole guild.

  

Of course, after a bit of peer pressure, Bidoof has no choice but to allow us to touch the crystal.

 

After touching the crystal, we indeed begin to get another dizzy spell which can only mean one thing...

 

  

The dimensional scream reveals to us another unsetting scene. One in which a pokemon, presumed to be Azelf, seems to have been defeated by Grovyle and he's on his way to steal the Time Gear.

 

  

We explain our vision to everyone, to the guild's bewilderment.

 

Of course, some questions come along, too. Was that pokemon in our vision Azelf? But, more concerningly, Chimecho's question poses something a bit more serious.

  

Was our vision from the past, or the future? We've received visions from both previously, though most of them have been from the future there's no way we can just assume a vision is from the future.

 

  

Of course, this realization leads some members of the guild to take a more pessimistic view of this occasion, but Dusknoir steps in to quell these concerns.

 

  

Dusknoir asks for us to recall the events at the Underground Lake in which Mesprit claimed she'd learned from Uxie that the Time Gear was stolen from Fogbound Lake. He specifically requests us to recall if there was any mention of Azelf and the third lake at all, to which we're reminded this is the first time we've heard of this third pokemon. Dusknoir suggests that, had this been a vision from the past, it's most likely that Grovyle would have already stolen this Time Gear by this point, and Mesprit would've mentioned the gear being stolen from Azelf as well. Therefore, it's much more likely that our vision is from the future and that we must make haste for Crystal Cave at once!

 

This particular line from Dusknoir stood out to me. 'The vision indicated the presence of a Time Gear." In hindsight, I'm probably looking a bit too deeply into this and he's probably just referring to the fact that the Time Gear was mentioned during the vision I experienced, but this line still definitely got the gears turning in my head a little bit. What if the Dimensional Scream only occurs in areas that hold Time Gears? Across all of the areas we've received visions from, only two of them have yet to be revealed as locations of Time Gears. There was Mt. Bristle and Waterfall Cave. Most notably, Waterfall Cave was a location discovered by Wigglytuff who kept silent about it until after he was asked if he'd been there. What if he actually had discovered a Time Gear there at some point? And at Mt. Bristle, Drowzee mentioned a Thieve's Hideout filled with treasure rumored to be at its peak. What if that hideout was set up there because of a nearby Time Gear?

Once again, I'm just theory crafting and this is all information I'm sure will be confirmed or not by the game's narrative, but I'm loving that I'm invested enough in the game to even be thinking this far ahead!

  

With that, Dusknoir makes the call for action to investigate Crystal Cave once again!

  

 

Everyone is now hyped up and ready to investigate Crystal Cave!

  

 

Chatot of course agrees and turns to the Guildmaster to issue the official order to let the whole guild pursue Grovyle by heading to Crystal Cave!

  

Only... the Guildmaster doesn't exactly seem... present at the moment.

 

  

 

Of course, noticing the Guildmaster snoozing along, people start to murmur while Chatot panics trying to get Wigglytuff to wake up before anyone notices he's been snoozing this whole time.

  

 

Chatot, in a panic, continues trying to wake Wigglytuff up, so when he finally does awaken, Chatot is surprised in a quirky little moment.

  

As Chatot decides to recite where the discussion has gone, Wigglytuff just immediately makes the blanket announcement that we're all going after Grovyle!

 

Of course, everyone is on board and so the task has been officially assigned!

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

 

 

During our preparations, I opened up a Gorgeous Box to reveal a Clef-Claw which boosts the attack of the Cleffa line.

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

   

As for Team Outreach, their Deluxe Boxes from their previous expedition opened up to some rather exciting results!

 

One opened up to an Eevee Card which boosts the Sp. Defense of the Eevee line, of course.

 

The other one, however, was a Charme-Fang, an item named after Charmeleon which means it affects Charmander! By carrying the Charme-Fang in my bag, Liz's Special Attack will be boosted!

===========

Anyway, once we're fully prepared, it's off to Crystal Cave!

  

 

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

Crystal Cave

This dungeon actually felt a lot easier to handle than Northern Desert, mainly because of the lack of sandstorms and multi-hit attacks. The dungeon is beautiful with the crystals lining the walls, I can see why Bidoof would feel inspired to bring one with him! Anyway, this dungeon does expand the types of traps you'll be running into as you progress through the game. There's nothing new from Tiny Meadow, but they are new among required dungeons. Monster Houses can be encountered here as well, so come prepared! There's also a handful of new items available in this dungeon, so keep your eyes peeled!

                  

Items available regardless of version include Poke, Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, and Special Bands, Geo Pebbles, Iron Thorns, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Revival, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, and TMs and Wonder Orbs.

                

Items exclusive to Explorers of Darkness include the Insomniscope, Scope Lens, Twist Band, Silver Spikes, Black, Clear, Gold, Gray, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, and Yellow Gummis, Vile and X-Eye Seeds, and Darkness-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

The Scope Lens is a held item that increases the holder's chance of inflicting critical hits, just like in the main series.

                

the Time exclusives include Defense Scarves, Heal and Joy Ribbons, Zinc Bands, Sticks, Blue, Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, Silver, Sky, and White Gummis, Stun and Warp Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

The Defense Scarf is a held item that increases the holder's physical defense.

The Heal Ribbon increases the holder's rate of natural healing at the cost of increasing their hunger, it's not an item I like to use personally, but you might find use in taking it on and off when you need to heal. Just be mindful of it and don't walk around with it on if you don't need the healing at the moment! Be resourceful!

The Joy Ribbon is one of my favorites from Rescue Team and it's a shame it's version-exclusive here. Any damage you receive while equipped with the Joy Ribbon will be gained as Exp as long as you survive the attack. This can really help tough pokemon level up faster than they normally would when facing tough opponents. It'll also cause a steady stream of Exp gain if you're traveling in sandstorms or hail.

The Zinc Band increases the holder's special defense.

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

As for traps, once again the only one that can be found in both version is the Trip Trap.

  

In Darkness, you'll find Poison, Slumber, and Spin Traps.

  

While in Time, you'll find Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps.

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

Crystal Cave [B1F - B3F]

   

For the first three floors, you'll only encounter Graveler, Seviper, Beldum, and Sandy-cloak Wormadam. Other than Graveler's SelfDestruct, there isn't too much to be concerned with here. Use your strong attacks to take out Graveler quickly if he happens to be bordering a valuable item, though!

On the third floor, I actually ran into a Kecleon who was selling a Link Box for a, frankly, absolutely disrespectful price! 9000P?? Considering you can Link your moves as much as you like for only 500 in town, this is a major ripoff! The only advantage a Link Box has over linking in town is that you can do it in the middle of a dungeon, so you can potentially re-link moves that were de-linked at some point, but I can't in any way justify this absurd price. Hard pass.

Anyway, the Link Box is a new item we haven't seen yet, so I suppose I can cover it here. Just as I mentioned, this item works identically to its counterpart in Rescue Team, essentially being a portable version of Electivire's Link Shop that allows one pokemon to link their moves on the go. The typical appeal of this is that it's completely free and you'll just find these things lying around in dungeons.

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

Crystal Cave [B4F]

    

On the fourth floor, exclusive to Explorers of Time, you can find the fan-favorite Riolu! Force Palm can paralyze you, and it's got range with Quick Attack, so be wary!

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

Crystal Cave [B5F]

     

Cranidos can be found on the 5th floor, watch out for its physical attacks! It should go down pretty easily, though.

On B5F, I stumbled across a Heavy Box!

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

Crystal Cave [B6F]

Starting on this floor, the blue crystals are replaced with pretty pink ones! I suppose this is a not-so-subtle reference to the primary colors of Diamond and Pearl. Make no mistake, though, this is still the same dungeon and the items and traps are no different!

      

You can find Donphan here. These guys surprised me with the move Thunder Fang! But Charge's LightningRod is capable of rendering that move effectively useless. But be warned!

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

Crystal Cave [B7F]

      

Starting on the 7th floor, Graveler is replaced with Shieldon who can take a few more hits and is more resistant to Normal-type attacks, but also isn't very threatening.

I actually ran into yet another Kecleon Shop that was selling another new item! This time, a Racket Band!

The Racket Band is just as useless here as it was in Rescue Team. I'm still not sure what purpose this item could possibly have, but while equipped, a pokemon will make more noise as it moves, causing pokemon that are asleep in the dungeon to wake up and attack! Why would you ever want this as opposed to just getting the drop on them while they're asleep or simply sneaking right on by? Who knows! But it's an option.

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

Crystal Cave [B8F]

     

Golem joins on the following floor as a tougher counterpart to Graveler, but it's all the same difference.

It was on this floor that Pep tried to learn Brine, but I figured BubbleBeam was preferred due to its long reach. Brine only reaches directly in front of him and doesn't have enough PP to warrant replacing Peck which I currently use as a generic attack.

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

Crystal Cave [B9F]

    

Riolu is gone on the 9th floor.

Charge learned Odor Sleuth here, which I replaced Tackle with since he had both Quick Attack and Spark to lean on as generic attacks. Odor Slueth can help reduce frustration against pokemon like Sandslash and also make Ghost-types a lot more vulnerable!

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

Crystal Cave [B10F - B11F]

   

And Cranidos is gone on the 10th floor.

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

 

Crystal Cave Depths

We soon arrive at the deepest part of the cave!

  

Pep is amazed by the sight of the three giant crystals! Of course, they must be clues to the whereabouts of the lake!

 

Recalling how we were able to find the other two lakes, we'd reached a dead end just like this and had to solve some sort of puzzle in order to reveal the location of the lake. It makes sense that this one would be no different.

  

Pep quickly discovers that, by touching the crystals, they seem to change color.

 

We end up touching a crystal twice and change its color from Yellow to Blue to Red. The others changed from Purple to Orange and from Red to Green. This must be related to the puzzle we need to solve...

  

While the puzzle doesn't seem too terribly confusing and could probably be solved with a bit of playing around, it seems our heroes like to think things through a bit more than I do.

 

And, while doing so, we're of course met with another Dimensional Scream.

 

  

 

We hear a voice, just as we did with the Groudon's statue. There are some rather large leaps in logic, but the voice sounds convinced. Azelf is the being of willpower, willpower is a unifying power, unifying means to make one, so the colors of the three crystals must be made as one. In other words, the crystals need to match. But what color should they be?

  

Perhaps the crystals should reflect the spirit of Azelf.

 

Of course, we're still perplexed as to why we only heard a voice these last two times. I have my own running theory in this regard. The game seems to be discrediting the moment we only heard Azurill's scream in the beginning which tells me that maybe at the time we simply didn't see the vision because we didn't know to look for it. That leaves only this time and the Groudon Statue that we've only heard a voice. With that explanation in mind, I've been theorizing that the voice we're hearing is our own memory from the past. Perhaps as a human we were exploring these unknown lands for some reason and it was our seeking of the Time Gears that led to us being transformed into a pokemon and losing our memories? The voice at the Groudon statue mentioned a partner as well, and though Dusknoir said my name meant nothing to him, he seemed to smile. I wonder if he might've been acquainted with us when we were human? Again, I'm just spitballing these thoughts as they come into mind. I'm really excited to see all these pieces come together!

  

Pep notices our zoning out and recognizes that we must've experienced another Dimensional Scream!

 

  

We begin to mull over what the voice said... The crystals must be the same color, the color of Willpower... but what color is willpower?

 

  

We begin to think the puzzle through. Crystal Lake in the depths of Crystal Cave... should the color be as clear as crystal? Maybe... crystal blue?

They are certainly not leaving the solution to this puzzle very up in the air, but I suppose it isn't much of a puzzle game and they don't want to leave anyone guessing for the answer.

Regardless, I've played a little ahead in Explorers of Darkness this time, and I know that this is a good stopping point as once we solve this puzzle we'll immediately be forced into the next dungeon. So, I recommend stopping by this Kangaskhan Statue and managing your inventory before saving. Next time, we'll pick up from here, solve the puzzle, and see if we can't stop Grovyle from getting his hands on that Time Gear! The narrative really feels like it's starting to pick up the pace and things are really starting to get exciting!

[Aura]

So, where we last left off, we were at an apparent dead end with a puzzle before us: Three crystals that we've concluded must be changed to match the color of Azelf's spirit. The game hasn't exactly been subtle about the solution to this puzzle, but it's neat that they still allow you to put the final pieces together yourself, I suppose.

Interacting with a crystal will cause it to change color, and it'll cycle through various colors.

Eventually, it'll turn blue! This is the color we want all three crystals to match.

 

So, we stop by the other two crystals and change their colors to blue as well! And when we do...

  

The ground begins to shake and the crystals start to share some sort of powerful energy!

 

  

 

A giant crystal tower suddenly sprouts out from the ground between the three crystals! This is undoubtedly the way forward toward the Time Gear! As warned last time, you'll be immediately forced into the next dungeon upon completing the puzzle, so make sure you've prepared beforehand!

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

Crystal Crossing

Just like Steam Cave and Quicksand Cave, Crystal Crossing is the deeper part of Crystal Cave, there must be a time gear here! This dungeon differs a bit more from its predecessor than Quicksand Cave did, but it's overall generally easier.

As you've probably come to expect, the items here are identical to the ones in Crystal Cave.

                 

Both versions have access to Poke, Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, and Special Bands, Iron Thorns, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, TMs and Wonder Orbs.

                

Darkness features the Insomniscope, Scope Lens, Twist Band, Silver Spike, Black, Clear, Gold, Gray, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, and Yellow Gummis, Violent and X-Eye Seeds, and version exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

               

While Time has access to Defense Scarves, Heal and Joy Ribbons, Zinc Bands, Blue, Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, Silver, Sky, and White Gummis, Stun and Warp Seeds, and exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

However, the types of traps you'll have to watch out for actually do differ a bit from the previous dungeon.

The Trip Trap is still the only trap that's consistent between versions.

   

In Darkness, the Gust Trap is added to the list of hazards you'll have to watch out for.

  

In Time, though, you still only have to deal with Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps.

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

Crystal Crossing [B1F - B6F]

  

For the first three floors, you'll be running into Floatzel, Bagon, and Wormadam. Wormadam's Protect can make it annoying to deal with, but remember that your throwables can pierce through their Protection and you should be good. Floatzel are the biggest threats here by far. Not only can they attack from range with Aqua Jet, but they can travel across the water that dots these floors, so be careful when walking at the water's edge, especially if a teammate is weak to their attacks. Try to avoid water if you can help it!

On B4F, I found a Nifty Box!

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

Crystal Crossing [B7F]

   

The following floor, Glameow becomes available. They were pretty easy to pick off and never seemed to do anything particularly scary.

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

Crystal Crossing [B8F]

   

On the 8th floor, Floatzel and Bagon are replaced by Absol and Glalie. Absol is a pokemon you want to pick off ASAP or you'll have to answer to its beefed up attack thanks to Swords Dance. Just be wary about Pressure when fighting it! It's usually pretty easy to take out. Glalie is scary for its Icy Wind attack. Try to take it out as soon as it's in range!

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

Crystal Crossing [B9F - B13F]

  

Wormadam leaves for the rest of the dungeon starting on the 9th floor.

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

Crystal Lake

 

It isn't long at all before we finally arrive at the Crystal Lake. We must be in the right place!

  

Just like Fogbound Lake, the Crystal Lake is quite beautiful to behold. And in the distance there's a familiar green glow, as well. By this point, we should all be on the same page about what this means.

 

Pep seems to notice someone at the island in the center of the lake, so of course, we quickly rush to make our way over.

  

As we rush over to the island to get a closer look, we see an ominously familiar sight.

  

It's the scene presented to us by the Dimensional Scream! The vision didn't end on a good note but now we'll get to see the scene play out in full, and hopefully sway things in our favor!

 

  

As Grovyle goes to collect the Time Gear, Azelf drops his name, which comes as a surprise to the thief and causes him to hesitate for a brief moment.

 

Azelf reveals that he's heard from Uxie and Mesprit about him.

  

Azelf goes on to explain that he knew from the beginning he may very well lose just as Uxie and Mesprit had, so he prepared a plan B to stop Grovyle from getting the Time Gear.

 

Suddenly, the ground starts to shake, and for the first time, Grovyle seems to be caught off guard!

  

Suddenly, large crystals begin to form all over the surface of the lake, making diving into the water an impossibility!

 

Grovyle is shocked by this desperate maneuver to protect the gear and becomes enraged!

  

It seems that as long as Azelf lives, these Crystals will persist over the lake, rendering the time gear impossible to obtain.

 

Grovyle still seems determined to get his hands on the time gear. He insists that he needs it and is desperate enough even if it means having to kill Azelf!

  

We immediately jump into action to protect Azelf! Grovyle insists we stand aside because he has no interest in fighting us,

 

but we refuse, making ourselves further obstacles for him to deal with.

  

 

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

   

Team Persevere

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

Aura (Chikorita M); Lv. 29

Item: Sky Blue Bow 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Tackle, Reflect, Razor Leaf, Synthesis

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

Pep (Piplup M); Lv. 29

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: BubbleBeam + Growl, Peck, Fury Attack

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

Slick (Grimer F); Lv. 29

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Stench, Sticky Hold | Moves: Harden + Minimize, Rock Slide, Sludge

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

Charge (Electrike M); Lv. 26

Item: Power Band 

Ability: LightningRod | Moves: Leer + Spark, Quick Attack, Odor Sleuth

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

Vs. Grovyle

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

This is a rather intimidating boss fight that was built up as something terrifying, but... I suppose catching Grovyle on edge means he's not exactly fighting at his best.

 

I opened up by setting up Reflect, allowing my team to step into place.

  

From here, I did some maneuvering to get everyone into place. By this point, my teammates had layered enough damage on him that it was kinda pathetic. We just tore right through Grovyle's HP. Adding items ot the mix just seemed unnecessary. It wasn't long at all before the fool went down.

 

Of course, this is an rpg, so even though we completely dominated that battle, the canon coverage is that we were actually completely overwhelmed by his strength! Or something... Yeah, I'm not really sure why RPGs have these boss fights you're expected to beat but then present the narrative like you lost the battle anyway. Always been a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but I guess we'll just pretend that fight didn't happen. I'll likely sum up Team Outreach's experience here in a future post, but their experience with this fight went about how you'd expect. Even easier than this one.

  

After that fight, we're all rendered weak and helpless, yet Pep still refuses to budge from his position and compromise Azelf's safety no matter what it means for his well-being.

 

Unfortunately for him, Grovyle's already made up his mind that he'll do what he needs to do in order tog et his hands on that Time Gear.

  

Of course, we want to come to his aid, but we're just too weak to get up...!

 

Grovyle prepares to attack once again before lunging after Pep!

  

When suddenly, his attack is stopped by none other than Dusknoir!

 

Dusknoir insists we allow him to handle things with Grovyle from here. As if we really have much of a choice in the matter.

  

Dusknoir tosses Grovyle back with ease, and suddenly drops a pretty heavy bombshell that apparently they've both known each other for a long time!

 

This news is a shock to Pep! I can't say it's too terribly surprising to me from a narrative standpoint, but in-universe I can definitely see it being a huge surprise!

  

It seems that my assumption that Dusknoir had been in pursuit of Grovyle this entire time holds true! Point 1 for me!

 

  

It seems the two seem to have a mutual agreement to settle some long-term conflict with a fight before Grovyle suddenly vanishes into thin air! It must've been a ruse to get away!

 

Dusknoir scoffs at this but isn't about to give up so easily.

  

Dusknoir disappears soon after as well, leaving us alone with Azelf! We've got a lot of questions now, but we're all far too exhausted to think about them...

 

  

 

Not long after, Pep finally succumbs to his exhaustion and the rest of the guild finally arrives on scene to come to our rescue!

the clouds on our Wonder Map are whisked away once again, revealing the dungeons we've just explored. And with that, we're done for the day. I imagine we'll be back to a standard gameplay loop of clearing bulletin board jobs while we wait for answers about whatever just happened, but it seems like things are gong to return to relative normalcy. Only time will tell, though!

[Aura]

Last session was pretty eventful! We had an altercation with Grovyle again and fought for all we were worth! While we were weakened from the fight, Dusknoir arrived just in time to save us and Azelf from his assault! Grovyle fled the scene and Dusknoir disappeared in pursuit of him. The Time Gear has been successfully protected! At least for now...

 

While we were unconscious, the guildmembers arrived and carried us back to safety to treat our injuries, and we wake up in our beds at the guild!

  

 

It takes a little bit for the memories of what happened to come back to Pep.

  

As soon as he remembers, Pep asks about Azelf and Chimecho confirms that he's okay. Our injuries were much worse than Azelf's.

 

Chimecho signals to the rest of the guild to announce that we're awake!

  

Everyone comes rushing in at the sound of the news! It's heartwarming to see the whole guild run up to us like this! But it's not like it's the first time something like this has happened, still, this is probably the furthest we've been pushed so far.

 

Pep decides he needs to share everything that's happened with the rest of the guild, but this is something everyone needs to hear. So, we gather the whole guild together to share the news!

  

We catch everybody up on what we've learned, that Dusknoir had been pursuing Grovyle from another world and that Grovyle escaped with Dusknoir in hot pursuit, leaving us in the dark from there.

 

As we are discussing this, an emergency siren goes off! Magnezone has sent out an emergency call for everyone to report to Treasure Town's main square for an important announcement. This call is for everyone, not just the guild, but the regular townsfolk and local exploration teams as well. It doesn't sound like there's time to waste!

  

The townsfolk are surprised to see the guild being called for the emergency meeting, this fills the air with an uneasy atmosphere.

 

One touching moment, though, is to see the three Lake Spirits reunited!

  

 

  

Azelf assures the other spirits that the Time Gear is protected for now due to his defensive measure, but something still must be done about Grovyle...

 

  

Dusknoir is here, as well! He seems relieved to see that we're okay. Though Grovyle doesn't seem to be present...

 

 

When asked about what happened to Grovyle, Dusknoir explains that he was unfortunately able to slip away yet again.

  

As Pep begins to ask about the conversation we'd overheard, Magnezone interrupts and explains that the topic will be covered in the emergency announcement. So it looks like we just have to be a little patient.

 

  

Magnezone goes on to sum up what's been happening so far, elaborating on Grovyle's crimes of stealing time gears and the consequences it's had on the surrounding areas, but he announces that Grovyle has failed to steal one!

  

Of course, credit for protecting the time gear is given to Azelf and Dusknoir. To be fair, Dusknoir really was the one to stop Grovyle. Without him we certainly would've failed the mission, so I suppose it's only fair that credit goes to him. All we really contributed was stalling for time.

 

Of course, Dusknoir interjects because this meeting isn't quite about celebration the way the townsfolk are responding.

  

Dusknoir announces to the public that Grovyle has not been captured yet and will no doubt continue attempting to steal Time Gears. We cannot simply assume the Time Gear will be safe forever.

 

But, Dusknoir adds that there is another important matter to bring up.

  

 

Dusknoir confirms Pep's question from before and announces that he did indeed know Grovyle from before, prefacing his follow-up by announcing that he's going to reveal something that everyone will find difficult to believe...

  

 

Dusknoir goes on to explain that Grovyle comes from the future, which of course sounds absolutely insane to the townsfolk and guildmembers alike. Is something like time travel even possible? It sounds absolutely crazy, but then again, Grovyle's motivations have been unknown and this does seem to explain why he came out of no where and knows so much about the Time Gears... Dusknoir continues to explain that Grovyle fled through time in order to avoid the punishment for his crimes in the world of the future. And upon arriving here in the past, he came up with a terrible plan.

  

Grovyle's plan was to cause the planet's paralysis.

 

  

As we know, when a Time Gear is stolen, time slows to a stop in the surrounding area. As more are stolen, a larger and larger area is affected until the last one is stolen from its place and time on the entire planet comes to a full stop, leaving the planet in a state of total paralysis.

 

  

Dusknoir describes in rather heavy detail about what a paralyzed world is like. It's quite similar to how Chatot explained what happened in Treeshroud Forest. No winds bow, the day never comes, the seasons never change, and the world is cast into total darkness. The world becomes completely ruined.

This is why time has been out of control recently and why there have been so many strange occurences of pokemon going bad. And it's also why protecting the Time Gears is such an important job.

 

During all of this explanation, Corphish pipes up with a question of his own.

  

Corphish poses a very significant question: Why does Dusknoir know so much? Even as wise as he is, he's talking about things that have no precedent, an event that so far has only existed purely in hypotheticals, yet he speaks of them with certainty as if he's witnessed them firsthand.

 

  

And it's here that Dusknoir drops the bombshell that I think we all could've inferred by this point: Much like Grovyle, Dusknoir is also from the future. This is, in fact, how he's so knowledgeable about our world. Knowing he needed every advantage he could over Grovyle, he studied up on everything there was to know about our world before traveling here.

 

  

Dusknoir's reason for not announcing his identity from the start was twofold: One, nobody would believe him, and two, he wanted to avoid alerting Grovyle to his presence... not that "The Great Dusknoir who mysteriously appeared one day and took the world by storm" is a very clever way of masking your presence, but I suppose it must've worked to some degree. But, Dusknoir appologizes for having deceived us all regardless, to which he's reassured that he did nothing wrong and had no choice.

 

  

 

  

Everyone from the guild offers to help out Dusknoir in any way they can, the Lake Spirits as well.

 

  

Dusknoir thanks everyone for their cooperation and insists that everyone will need to work together in order to capture Grovyle!

 

Azelf brings up that, in order to retrieve the Time Gear, he must be defeated in battle. Knowing this, Grovyle is likely to come after him. This is significant because it's one element that makes Grovyle's moves predictable. The three Lake Spirits devise a plan to use that knowledge to set up a trap for Grovyle at the Crystal Lake. This is met with some reluctance by Dusknoir to put them in harm's way, but they insist that they're willing to go through the danger if it means capturing Grovyle once and for all. Therefore, Dusknoir contributes his own ideas to the plan.

    

      

The townsfolk are asked to spread a rumor far and wide that Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf are going to the Crystal Lake to permanently seal away the Time Gear to prevent it from ever being stolen. This rumor will pressure Grovyle into making the gear at Crystal Lake his top priority.

  

Of course, rumor alone won't necessarily be enough to convince Grovyle. So, Dusknoir asks that the three Lake Spirits travel to Crystal Lake in order to add credence to the rumor and pressure Grovyle into acting immediately at risk of permanently losing the time gear.

      

Of course, many exploration team members and the local authorities offer to pitch in with the ambush at Crystal Lake.

However, Dusknoir insists that he go alone for the ambush. He suggests that too many pokemon gathered around in one area would cause Grovyle to become suspicious. So instead, the guildmembers are best suited to return to normal operations as we did before so as not to rouse suspicion.

 

With that, Chatot and Wigglytuff make the official call for the guild to return to normal operations until further notice.

When we return to the guild, we're given the standard task of doing jobs from the bulletin boards. Normally, I would continue on from here, but that was actually a pretty long cutscene with a lot of important information to process, so I think this is a good place to stop the session for now. We do already have a mission we've been holding onto promising a new dungeon to explore, after all!

Instead, I want to recap how Team Outreach has been handling these recent events!

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

   

Team Outreach

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

To start out, Team Outreach has a setup that's actually looking real solid.

 

 

In Crystal Cave, they stumbled across a Cute Box holding a Pachi-Tooth, and a Glittery Box holding a Piplup Card (It's a shame this isn't Team Persevere, huh?)

The Pachi-Tooth increases the attack of Pachirisu.

Meanwhile the Piplup Card, as you've probably come to expect, increases the Special Defense of Piplup and its evolutions.

The most exciting update in this regard, however, is their new recruit!

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

New Recruit: Team Outreach

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

Cranium (Glalie M); Lv. 30

Item: None

Ability: Inner Focus, Ice Body | Moves: Icy Wind, Headbutt, Protect, Ice Fang

Glalie here only has a 0.5% recruitment rate, so this one is a bit of a miracle! Beyond that, he's incredibly helpful because of one major detail.

Bringing him by Electivire's Link Shop, I can have him relearn a very significant move: Powder Snow! This is a room-wide attack that can help tremendously in wiping out Monster Houses! I haven't been troubled by many Monster Houses so far, but they can really ruin your day sometimes and with this single move, they can often be cleared out in only a couple of turns. A move like this is simply a must-have for any high-tier exploration squad. Needless to say, going forward, this guy is going to be taking Shelly's place. The only downside to this decision is that, obviously, I don't have an easy out to Sandstorms. But, Glalie does benefit a bit from Hail thanks to Ice Body!

Still, Shelly isn't without her use so I can't totally rule her out as a partner. I might bring her along if we ever find ourselves struggling with Water-types.

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

Of course, we've also got a boss fight to cover, albeit really quickly.

   

Team Outreach

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

Liz (Charmander F); Lv. 28

Item: Red Bow 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: SmokeScreen + Scary Face, Ember, Fire Fang

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

Sprout (Turtwig M); Lv. 28

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Mega Drain + Withdraw, Razor Leaf, Bite

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

Strength (Machop F); Lv. 27

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Guts, No Guard | Moves: Leer + Foresight, Focus Energy + Karate Chop

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

Shelly (Shellos M); Lv. 26

Item: Pecha Scarf 

Ability: Sticky Hold, Storm Drain | Moves: Mud-Slap, Water Pulse, Mud Bomb, Rain Dance

Shelly's Storm Drain was actually a big help throughout Crystal Crossing since it protected Liz from Floatzel's Aqua Jet which otherwise would've been a lot scarier.

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

Vs. Grovyle

Like I alluded to before, this fight was even more of a pushover than it was for Team Persevere. Once Grovyle was cornered with Smoke Screen and Scary Face, he was completely done. Liz's Fire Fang did a ton of damage, especially coupled with Strength's Leers and Focus Energy Karate Chops. We cut through Grovyle like paper!

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

   

We're also going to poke a bit further ahead into some expeditions for mission clearing and cover some more items they've collected!

 

 

They retrieved two Sinister Boxes which held a Mantyke Beam and Combus-Claw respectively.

The Mantyke Beam boosts the Special Attack of Mantyke and Mantine.

And the Combus-Claw boosts the Attack of the Torchic line.

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

New Recruits: Team Outreach

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

Drift (Phanpy F); Lv. 17

Item: None

Ability: Pickup | Moves: Defense Curl, Flail, Take Down, Rollout

If I didn't already have Strength, I might consider putting Drift on the main squad, but I'll have to pass here. Strength has been pulling her weight from the moment she was recruited.

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

Plug (Elekid F); Lv. 14

Item: None

Ability: Static | Moves: Quick Attack, Leer, ThunderShock, Low Kick

Another pretty solid contender, especially since Electric gummis are prominent in Explorers of Darkness, but I don't think there's enough demand for an electric type on this squad as there was for Team Persevere. There's no way I can justify Plug over Cranium.

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

Claw (Krabby M); Lv. 1

Item: None

Ability: Hyper Cutter, Shell Armor | Moves: Mud Sport, Bubble

Krabby was recruited via a mission reward, meaning he's underlevel and probably not likely to see any action anytime soon.

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

Now that we're caught up, and a bit ahead, from Team Outreach's perspective, next time, Team Persevere will be exploring a new dungeon as we await the results of the plan to capture Grovyle.

I'll be honest, I did play even further ahead with Team Outreach, but I'll say no more. Let's just say, things are about to really start getting interesting! We've got a wild ride ahead of us! But it's gonna take a few posts to get there.

[Aura]

We're back! Last time, a plan was hatched to bait, ambush, and finally capture Grovyle at Crystal Lake. At Dusknoir's request, we have no choice but to trust that this plan will be successful. As we await the news, we'll just have to continue with job duty as normal. One particular request I want to handle is another unknown dungeon mission! This time we'll be exploring uncharted territory with Hoothoot as our client!

  

Upon accepting the job, we'll gain access to another optional dungeon: Lush Prarie!

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

 

  

 

  

 

As you can probably expect, each of the shopkeepers has something to say about the events surrounding Dusknoir, as well as the townsfolk. Chansey has an especially odd assertion that even she doesn't seem to understand herself. "Pokemon hatching from an egg is a bit like a pokemon coming from the future." ...Sure. Maybe this is foreshadowing some feature yet to come? Who can really say at this point in the game. But this was a particularly odd line to me.

 

Anyway, from our previous journey through Crystal Cave, we'd obtained a Heavy Box and a Nifty Box. It's time to open them up and we what we got!

 

From the Heavy Box, we got a Gar-Fang which boosts the Special Attack of the Gible line.

 

From the Nifty Box, we got the Feral-Claw which boosts the Attack of the Totodile line. Unfortunately again, we don't have Allia from Rescue Team along for the ride.

Once we're prepared, it's time to set out for Lush Prarie!

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

Lush Prairie

This is another optional dungeon that you can randomly gain access to via the job bulletin board. Just like Tiny Meadow, it's a bit of a pushover compared to the main story dungeons, but you do have to be a little more careful about traps. Monster Houses don't appear here, however.

     

Throughout the dungeon across both versions, you can find Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Max Elixirs, Heal Seeds, and assorted Wonder Orbs.

 

In Explorers of Darkness, you can find Blast Seeds and version-exclusive Wonder Orbs. Time only offers its own Wonder Orbs.

As for Traps,

The Trip Trap is the only trap found in both versions. A surprise, I'm sure.

    

Explorers of Darkness brings Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps.

    

Explorers of Time brings in the Grimy, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps.

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

Lush Prarie [1F - 4F]

      

The pokemon aviailable throughout this dungeon include Exeggcute, Skiploom, Yanma, Silcoon, Beautifly, Cascoon, and Burmy. Burmy is exclusive to Explorers of Darkness. You'll want to watch out for Exeggcute's Hypnosis and Yanma's Double Team and SonicBoom attacks as well as their Speed Boost ability. But all of these pokemon are pretty low level, so they should be easy to take out regardless of any complications they may present.

  

And for the first four floors only, you can find Poke, Apples, and Iron Thorns.

On the first floor, I got a new recruit!

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

New Recruit: Team Persevere

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

Scramble (Exeggcute M); Lv. 17

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll | Moves: Hypnosis, Reflect, Leech Seed, Bullet Seed

Unfortunately I don't really think this guy has a place on our team, being a Grass-type, so this will have to be a pass. But Execute certainly wouldn't be a bad option to consider under other circumstances.

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

On the third floor, the music changes from that of Mt. Horn to Cave and Side Path. In addition, the weather becomes Cloudy here.

On the 4th floor, the music changes again to that of Drenched Bluff.

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

Lush Prairie [5F]

Here, the music switches back to that of Mt. Horn.

      

The pokemon on this floor are the same.

  

The only difference here is that you can no longer find the Poke, Apples, and Iron Thorn items. This feels pretty arbitrary considering these aren't exactly valuable items and it's only one floor in the entire dungeon. But it's certainly not the only bizarre design decision in this series, so I suppose I won't dwell on it too much.

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

Lush Prairie [6F]

The final floor of this dungeon is a treasure floor!

 

This is home to two more Deluxe Chests that pull from the same selection of items as the others. I suppose it's fair to say all Deluxe Boxes, or at least the ones from these floors, share the same item pool. We'll see what these boxes obtain when we open them later on.

 

Once you've claimed your prize, work your way to the Warp Zone to complete the dungeon!

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

 

Once we finish the dungeon, we claim our reward for the completed mission and have dinner at the guild before turning in for the night.

  

 

  

 

As we sleep, Pep starts to talk about how he wishes we could be the ones to apprehend Grovyle, but admits that he's just not up to the task. A fact he's been made brutally aware by the close encounter he experienced at the Crystal Lake. We have no choice but to trust in Dusknoir. With that, he drifts off to sleep and we'll pick up where we left off next time.

[Aura]

 

  

 

Unfortunately, it seems even the next morning there's still no news on the happenings at Crystal Lake. Everybody is anxious to hear the news of whether Azelf is okay or Grovyle was successfully captured. But we really have no choice but to wait it out.

  

In the meantime, it's once again back to normal operations!

 

And again, we're given the oh-so-surprising task of completing jobs from the bulletin boards.

While I was planning on clearing out some of these Foggy Forest requests I've been holding onto for a while, yet another unexplored dungeon request showed up! So, I guess that's where our priorities lie!

  

Our client this time is a Paras who requests we help them explore a place called Oran Forest which seems to border the Apple Woods.

 

Of course, before we head out, we'll want to prepare for the trip. Let's start by opening our Deluxe Boxes from the previous day!

 

The first contained a Heal Seed while the other contained a Reviver Seed. The Reviver Seed is nice, but I really would like to get Gummis out of these since it's one of the only ways to get some of the other version's exclusive gummis.

Anyway, I also recommend stopping by Kangaskhan and clearing out some space in storage if you haven't recently... No... particular reason, it's just nice to have some extra space, y'know? If you play like I do, you might have a lot of junk piled up in here that you're never going to use, so you may as well sell it while you're here... especially right now. cough. 

And on our way to save, we find some new Diary entries have been added!

 

Predictably, Sunflora's latest entry details her shock at finding out Grovyle and Dusknoir are from the future. She also talks about how she trusts that Dusknoir will be successful in capturing Grovyle this time and wishes him luck.

 

Likewise, Bidoof's entry is also about his sock with the discovery that Grovyle and Dusknoir are time travelers! He focuses more on what he can do to help, by contributing to spreading the word about the Lake Spirits sealing the Time Gear. Another small moment to really appreciate!

Anyway, with our preparations made, let's make our trip to the Oran Forest alongside Paras!

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

Oran Forest

Oran Forest is perhaps the most basic of these optional dungeons so far. There are no traps or monster houses to worry about.

  

As the name implies, the main draw here is the fact that Oran Berries can easily be found here! They can be found alongside Apples and Max Elixirs. There are no version-exclusive items to worry about here at all.

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

Oran Forest [1F - 4F]

      

Throughout the dungeon, you'll run into Caterpie, Hoppip, Starly, Budew, Oddish, and Wurmple. In Explorers of Darkness only, you'll also find Trash Cloak Burmy here.

The weather on the second floor is foggy.

It was on this floor that I nabbed a Dainty Box!

The foggy weather continues on the third floor.

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

Oran Forest [5F]

 

And of course, at the end of the dungeon our reward is two Deluxe Boxes on a relaxed floor.

 

As always, claim your prize and make your way to the Warp Zone to clear the dungeon.

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

After we're done exploring, it's off to dinner and then back to bed.

  

 

That night, Pep once again talks to us. He can't sleep worrying so much about what's happening at the lake. He also poses the question of how strange the idea of pokemon coming from the future really is. Is it even possible?

  

We wind up lost in that train of thought and it leads us to wondering what the world of the future is like... Who can really say?

 

Well, there isn't much time to think, so we slowly drift off to sleep in preparation for the next day. Again, I'd normally continue from here, but since we bumped into another new dungeon, I'll be stopping here. Next time, we'll see if we have any new info on Grovyle's capture!

[Aura]

A bit of an apology for the lack of updates yesterday, it was my birthday so I was a bit preoccupied with some irl stuff, but I had a good time! On an unrelated note, today's update might seem a bit small, but we've got a lot of story to cover in this last session so I figured a certain stopping point had presented itself well enough that I'd take advantage of that to avoid this post getting too terribly long. An unfortunate consequence of that is that this particular post isn't going to have any actual gameplay attached to it. It's all story here.

Normally in situations like this, I'd blend a summary of any standout events during bulletin board job expeditions, but both of our opportunities for that were eaten up by unknown dungeon exploration requests which, in my format, demanded their own posts.

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

 

In the morning announcements, Chatot once again reports that there is no news on Grovyle's capture to everyone's disappointment. So it seems we're once again left in the dark.

  

That is, until a siren goes off and Diglett announces that Debuty Magnemite has arrived with a message from Officer Magnezone!

 

The announcement is that Grovyle has finally been captured! No more worries about the Time Gears being stolen!

  

Of course, everyone's excited to here such news! But there's more.

 

Dusknoir has apparently revealed that he intends to return to the future with Grovyle.

  

Of course, this is some sad news for everyone, but it makes sense. Dusknoir came here to pursuit Grovyle, so he'll naturally return home once he's gotten what he's after. Loudred poses a valid question, though. How does one go back to the future? We don't exactly have a DeLoreon laying around.

 

Magnemite explains that he doesn't know the process, but has been told Dusknoir will be traveling through a dimensional hole he'd opened in the Town Square. He wishes to say goodbye before he departs!

 

The guild immediately heads out to Treasure Town Square to say goodbye to Dusknoir!

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

 

Everyone seems to already be here! Well, if by "everyone" you mean Ursaring, Teddiursa, Kecleon, Magnezone and the lake spirits. I know, I know, sprite limitations or whatever but I still think it's a funny observation. This isn't the first time this happened but there's even fewer residents here than last time!

Anyway, the most eye-catching part of this scene is the distorted field before us all! This must be the dimensional hole that Dusknoir will use to travel to the future!

  

Magnezone explains what it is and Bidoof, who tries to examine the dimensional hole, is urged to stand clear as touching the hole will instantly transport you into the future. With no knowledge of how to get back, that could be quite dangerous!

 

More significantly than the dimensional hole, though, are the lake spirits, who are all safe and reunited!

  

Azelf recounts that Dusknoir captured Grovyle flawlessly and all of the Time Gears have been recovered!

 

Dusknoir has been sighted!

  

 

We see Dusknoir arrive with Grovyle bound and muzzled in rope and two Sableye. A bit odd to have these Sableye with him since he supposedly operates alone, but maybe they joined after the fact?

  

Dusknoir stands before the crowd and officially announces the capture of Grovyle to everyone's delight! He thanks everyone for their contributions.

 

  

Dusknoir assures everyone that, witht he vicious and wicked Grovyle captured, we can live and enjoy lasting peace. This seems to set Grovyle off in a desperate fury, but his muzzle prevents him from speaking. Something doesn't quite feel right to me about this. I'd like to know more about Grovyle's motivations. While he may be a criminal in the world of the future, he's committed crimes here as well. I'd think he should at least have a chance to explain himself before being sent back.

 

  

With that announcement made, Dusknoir bids his farewall to everyone.

 

  

Dusknoir entrusts the return of the Time Gears to their rightful places to the three lake spirits.

 

Magnezone thanks Dusknoir for his contributions to have saving the world, to which he politely declines, stating that Magnezone has been incredibly helpful in his efforts as well.

  

The two Sableye push Gorvyle into the dimensional hole before leaping in after him, leaving Dusknoir behind with us for a little longer.

 

  

Dusknoir turns to make his leave, to everyone's dismay. But before he does, he seems to suddenly remember something.

 

He calls out to us!

  

 

We get one final goodbye...

 

...?

  

 

  

Instead of leaving it at goodbye, Dusknoir suddenly grabs us and pulls us through the dimensional hole with no explanation! The dimensional hole closes leaving everyone perplexed.

 

Meanwhile, we fall through the hole to the other side. What will the future be like? It seems we're right on the cusp of figuring that out... next time...

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

So yeah, like I said at the beginning of the post, bit of a short update here. If I continue past this point though, I think this post will end up way too long so I think it makes sense to cut it at the save prompt that immediately follows this scene because this is where the story starts to get real and the games' namesake starts to come into play! We'll need to prepare to start exploring through time... and darkness.

[Aura]

Apologies once again for the lack of updates yesterday! But we're back to hopefully a more consistent schedule again!

Anyway, in the last update we had an unexpected surprise when Dusknoir returned with Grovyle to the future, only to grab Pep and me at the last minute, too! Today, we pick up after that strange cliffhanger...

  

We wake up briefly in total darkness before slipping back into unconsciousness with no knowledge of hwere we are...

 

The camera cuts to a strange arrangement of floating rocks surrounded by foreboding dark clouds.

  

We see Dusnkoir reporting to his Master, Dialga, which certainly explains the time travel aspect of all this. He seems to be speaking into an empty void as if there's someone there.

 

When Dialga's eyes begin to glow along with its markings, but something doesn't look quite right with it...

  

Suddenly our perspective on Dusknoir is a bit different. He seems to be some sort of dimensional guard who seeks out and eliminates those who seek to alter the course of history. At this point, it's difficult to say whether or not he's trustworthy, looking at the state this world seems to be in. Perhaps it's people altering the course of history that led to the world's destruction, or perhaps this is the natural course of history? Either way, if there's something wrong with Dialga and Dialga is his leader, then this can't be good from any perspective...

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

 

When we next awake, we're shaken awake by Pep!

  

When we come to, we seem to be trapped in some sort of jail cell!

 

We're shortly given the opportunity to explore, but there's really nothing here except for the gate which is locked shut. We really are trapped!

  

 

As Pep recalls the events from before, he has a bit of an existential crisis when he comes to the conclusion that we must have been taken to the future! How does that work? Are we trapped? Will we be able to get back? How would we even start?

Suddenly, the gate opens!

 

In comes a squad of four Sableye, presumably operating under the orders of Dusknoir, who aren't about to answer any of our questions just yet.

  

Suddenly, we're blindfolded and taken out of the cell!

 

When our blindfold is removed, the first thing we see is our partner, tied up to a pillar.

  

Pep struggles and tries to break free, but he can't!

 

Soon, we notice each other and continue trying to break free to no avail.

  

Suddenly, a third voice speaks out to us, noting that we have no idea just how bad things are right now...

 

We quickly identify the voice as belong to Grovyle! The criminal we helped Dusnkoir to capture!

  

 

Grovyle tells us that they're preparing to... "get rid of us for good." Is this... an execution!? We're naturally perplexed as to how we could've possibly gotten ourselves into this mess, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's related to our Dimensional Scream ability. After all, Dusknoir seemed to take particular interest in that and I noted there could be serveral reasons for the odd way he responded to our name...

  

Grovyle dismisses us and suggests that we must've done something for them to put us here, which offends Pep that he would insist we're the same! By this point, I'm genuinely thinking Grovyle isn't as much of a villain as he might seem to be if Dusknoir is grouping us with him... perhaps there's a reason he's rebelling against him?

 

Grovyle dismisses his outburst and tells him it's not worth the effort focusing so much on something so trivial as it seems the execution is about to begin soon.

  

 

The Sableye appear once again and Grovyle explains that they're Dusknoir's underlings, which somehow comes as a shock to Pep, but we've established he's always a bit slow on the uptake.

  

 

Dusknoir soon arrives. Pep tries to call out to Dusknoir and reason with him, but he simply ignores him and confirms that there was indeed no mistake in capturing us. He then tells the Sableye to get ready.

  

The Sableye surround us while Pep starts to blurt out his questions for Dusknoir who continues to ingore him.

 

  

Grovyle, however, maintains a level head and tells us to keep our voices down to se can discuss a plan to escape. Pep is reluctant to listen, of course, but under the circumstances we don't exactly have much of a choice.

 

  

Grovyle turns his attention to us and asks us what we can do. Selecting "Use an item" or "Use a move" doesn't achieve much. Grovyle's reasoning being that we're tied down so these options are impossible, even though we definitely should be capable of using Razor Leaf like this! And Pep should be able to use BubbleBeam! But regardless, I suppose this logic doesn't apply to all possible pokemon that could be in this situation. The only generic option here is our standard Attack! I'm not really sure why that's any different honestly, but I'm sure there's some sort of logic there.

 

After we suggest the idea of using a standard attack, Pep joins in on the plan as well, though he's still a bit reluctant to listen to Grovyle.

  

 

The Sableye report to Dusknoir that they're ready and Dusknoir warns them not to take their eyes off of us, especially Grovyle.

  

At Dusknoir's command, the Sableye close in on us again.

 

As they close in, Grovyle maintains his level head and explains the plan.

  

Grovyle intends to use the Sableye's attacks against them. Their reckless attacks with Fury Swipes are likely to damage the ropes. Once the ropes are weakened, we might be able to break out with a well-timed attack!

 

As the Sableye prepare to attack, Pep expresses his concern that they might not rely on Fury Swipes at all...

  

Suddenly, they all begin to attack! It hurts but we have no choice but to keep holding on!

 

Just as we start to lose hop, the ropes begin to break!

  

When the time is just right, Grovyle makes the call and in one swift move, we break right through the ropes and knock the Sableye back!

 

  

Before they can retaliate, Grovyle drops a Luminous Orb flooding the room with a bright light that makes it impossible to see.

 

When the light clears up, we're nowhere to be seen! Frustrated, Dusknoir leads the Sableye off to hunt us down!

  

As it turns out, Grovyle used Dig to hide himself and us underground under the cover of the Luminous Orb, a classic ruse to escape! This should get Dusnkoir and the Sableye off our tails for just a little bit buying us a better chance of getting away! But we can't just wait around! We have to get going right away!

 

 

As we run off, Grovyle tells us we need to pick up the pace, but Pep can't seem to keep up and seems to be slowing him down.

  

I like to imagine Grovyle's response to Pep asking if this is the future is sarcastic. I don't mean to be so down on Pep all the time, but come on, he is rather slow to figure out rather mundane things.

 

  

Pep questions if it'll even possible to get back home, but Grovyle insists that what is most important is to get away with our lives, first. He tells Pep to run faster as the exit is approaching!

 

We finally make it outside, but the imagery out here....

 

...Isn't so pleasant...

  

 

  

If it isn't obvious what's happened in this ruined world by now, Pep's description should be familiar enough to help you piece together that this is a world under paralysis. Presumably as a result of the Time Gears being stolen... Did Grovyle cause this to happen? Or is there a larger evil at play?

 

We suddenly hear the Sableye nearby and decide we need to get moving again.

  

 

Once again, Pep complains that he's exhausted, but Grovyle insists there's no time to rest and that we need to tough it out, but he quickly recognizes that Pep is at his limit. And this is a really cool moment to me that shows Grovyle's character. He's already been holding himself back presumably this whole time so that Pep can keep up with him, so you'd think he'd respond to Pep's insistance that he needs a rest by simply leaving him behind. Instead, he actually gives in and decides to help find a way for Pep to get his rest.

  

Grovyle seeks out a hiding place where Pep can get a quick rest before we have to get moving again.

 

  

Pep seems alarmed by the fact that Grovyle seems to be treating us like we're suddenly allies just because we escaped together. Quite frankly, I do agree that it's important to stick together under the circumstances, but Pep seems to have his own views on the matter.

 

  

Grovyle doesn't hesitate to contradict Pep's views, pointing out the cruelty of Dusknoir's behavior just now. And I can't lie, it's hard to trust Dusknoir after that. Even outside of the game, I can't quite come up with an easy explanation. I wouldn't want to think him a villain, but it's seeming that way at the moment. I have a suspicion that he might have good intentions related to preserving the natural order with ignorance to the oddities surrounding Dialga, but that could just be wishful thinking. At the moment, there really seems no reason to trust Dusknoir as an ally. And from that perspective, I'd say it's worth trusting Grovyle, but again, Pep seems to be of a different opinion. We've spent so long chasing Grovyle as the number one criminal in the world and now we're supposed to side with him? To be fair, that, too, is difficult to really get behind. It's clear to me that there's a lot more to this story, though, and I think sticking with Grovyle would be the best way to go about that.

 

Unfortunately, Pep's views make it clear to Grovyle that we won't be able to make a good team. Perhaps out of respect or understanding of Pep's views, Grovyle acknowledges that Pep won't be able to trust him. Interesting to note, though, is that he seems to imply he's willing to trust us despite the fact that we've been enemies up until this point.

  

Grovyle decides we'll be splitting up here. He'll continue onward and recommends we get moving again as soon as we can lest we get caught by Dusknoir or the Sableye.

 

  

Pep seems confused by this plan. We've found a good place to rest and it's really dark. He insists it would be better to wait for morning before we get moving again so we have light to travel by.

 

  

To this, Grovyle replies waiting for morning is impossible because... there is no morning here.

 

When asked, he finally spells it out to Pep: The planet has indeed been paralyzed.

  

 

  

Pep recalls Dusknoir's explanation of planetary paralysis and notes that it indeed sounds just like the explanation of our world, but...

 

He finds it hard to believe the world's been paralyzed after all they've gone through to stop Grovyle. Honestly? If Grovyle was capable of getting as far as he did, I'm not sure I'd say it's so unbelievable.

  

Grovyle's wasted enough time debating these things with Pep. Once again, if we aren't going to believe his words then there's no reason to gather information from him. It's a pretty solid point. He reiterates that we should leave soon before taking his leave.

 

  

 

Pep seems to be going through a crisis as he mulls over all of this information. How can the world still be paralyzed after everything we've gone through to save it? We stopped Grovyle from stealing the Time Gears and the Lake Spirits were supposed to return them to their rightful places. How could it be possible that they were stolen again anyway? What was even the point of everything we've done up until now? Have we even been doing the right thing? He's frustrated at not having these answers! And I can definitely see where he's coming from when I think about things from that perspective. Maybe he's choosing to make an enemy of Grovyle because he refuses to believe the possibility that they might've been on the wrong side this whole time...

  

Suddenly, we hear the Sableye approaching again! We've got to get going like Grovyle warned!

There's a Kangaskhan Satatue here that we can save at in preparation for the dungeon that lies ahead of us. Once again, under normal circumstances I'd continue into covering this dungeon right here, but again, I think I'm going to break this off into the next post. These long cutscenes take a lot of time to cover and I don't wanna push myself too hard! Going forward, we should be able to get into a smoother flow of dungeons. So next time, we'll get moving and see what lies ahead of ourselves here in the paralyzed world of the future!

[Aura]

 

Okay, so our previous updates were a crazy collection of plot progression. A lot of things happened in a very short amount of time! Dusknoir successfully captured Grovyle at the Crystal Lake and upon returning to the future with him in tow, he suddenly grabbed us and brought us into the future as well! We woke up in a prison cell and a squadron of Sableye blindfolded us and took us to an execution! Dusknoir seems to be working for Dialga, though something doesn't seem right with Dialga. The two seem to have something against those who seek to alter the flow of the timeline and decide to eliminate us alongside Grovyle. Thankfully, we managed to escape our execution and are now on the run from our firing squad!

Wow, this story got real heavy real fast. I've been tired the last couple of days from working on a personal project recently, so forgive me for not contributing a whole lot of enthusiasm for the last couple posts. Anyway, if you recall, I described the expedition as this game's counterpart to Rescue Team's fugitive arc. I suppose in hindsight that's a bit inaccurate. It's perhaps more accurate in terms of how the dungeon progress works with your ability to take side paths to stock up on items and experience if you find yourself lacking. But this section is more akin to the fugitive arc in just about every other way, including the fact that we're actually fugitives!

This section of the game is a bit more rough on you as you no longer have alternate paths to take to build up, you only have one path to take and that's forward. If you find the dungeons too tough, you'll just have to tough it out!

Interesting to note, though, is that these Kangaskhan Statues do still allow you to access your storage, which is why I encouraged you to make sure you have space. You're not gonna be able to access the market, so you won't have a chance to sell all your junk if you haven't done it already. I suppose all the items you've had stored are still good all this time later, though.

Anyway, last time, we ended on the note of hearing the Sableye's laughter, so we'd better stop dawdling around and get going into the first of many dungeons of the future!

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

Chasm Cave

Alright, elephant in the room, somehow I accidentally forgot to take a screenshot of the first floor of this dungeon, so here's the shot from bulbapedia. Sorry! I'll try to stay on top of this more in the future!

The music in here is rather intense and for good reason! We're certainly in a scary environment! This dungeon is unique in that it doesn't have any walls. Instead, each floor is just a maze of paths floating in a void. Pokemon capable of crossing pits can navigate through these freely, but since there's no walls to hide inside, they're still much less threatening than Ghost-types. Still, you should be wary in narrow paths, especially considering the darkness can make them hard to see. Make sure your partner is capable of defending themselves and support them where necessary!

Another fact here is that, since we're trapped in the future, we can't recruit any pokemon to Chimecho's assembly. And beyond that, we can't bring any party members with us. We're alone with our partner! These dungeons are going to be a bit lonely.

                  

Between both versions, you can find Poke, Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, Stamina, and Special Bands, Gravelerocks, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, and assorted TMs and Wonder Orbs.

This is the first dungeon where we can find Gravelerocks! They're just stronger versions of the Geo Pebbles we've been lugging around. This is a good time to make the switch, especially if you already have some from mission rewards.

       

In Explorers of Darkness, you can find the Insomniscope, Scope Lens, Twist Band, Hunger, Violent, and X-Eye Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

        

In Explorers of Time, you'll find the Def. Scarf, Heal and Joy Ribbons, Zinc Bands, Stun, Vile, and Warp Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

Monster Houses cannot appear in this dungeon.

As for traps, there are actually no traps that are common between both of these versions.

   

In Darkness, you'll want to watch out for Gust, Poison, Slumber, and Spin Traps. The Gust Traps can be especially powerful in this dungeon without walls. If you get blown into a pit, you'll be warped to a random open tile on the floor which could likely separate you from your partner.

  

Of course, Explorers of Time brings along Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps.

Traps actually start to appear more aggressively here, so be extra careful when navigating dungeons going forward.

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

Chasm Cave [B1F - B2F]

    

For the first couple of floors, you'll find Magnemite, Skarmory, Ditto, Grumpig, and Drifloon. Magnemite and Drifloon are capable of crossing over the pits, making them a bit more threatening than usual. In addition, Drifloon has the unique Aftermath ability which can be potentially devastating at a bad time. It will randomly cause Drifloon to SelfDestruct upon being KO'd, causing the same sort of damage to its surroundings that the move would. It can blow up walls, destroy items, and deal massive damage to surrounding pokemon. You want to pick them off from a distance and lure them away from valuable items. Of course, Grumpig's ability to confuse you is also annoying. Moreover, Ditto can disguise itself as any other pokemon on the floor, but it won't copy that pokemon's attacks so it'll be left only with its basic attack and Struggle.

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

Chasm Cave [B3F - B4F]

     

Onix can be found on the next floor! He's huge and intimidating! But it's just an Onix at the end of the day, don't let its size intimidate you.

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

Chasm Cave [B5F]

The atmosphere changes a bit on the fifth floor with a more bluish look to the ground.

      

It's down here that you'll start to find Drifblim which are bulkier versions of Drifloon. The same strategies apply, but it might take a few more hits to take them out.

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

Chasm Cave [B6F - B8F]

     

Skarmory dips on the sixth floor and Magnemite is replaced with its evolution: Magneton.

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

 

At the end of the dungeon, we find the exit!

  

Having gotten a breakaway from the hunting party, we decide to take a rest. Pep finds some water nearby, only...

 

The water is completely stagnant despite being a waterfall. Even the particles of water surrounding it are just floating there, completely still.

  

 

Pep is once again down in the dumps as he thinks back to how Dusknoir betrayed us and that he's just seeing more and more evidence that Grovyle was being honest...

  

Suddenly, Pep gets an idea! If we can use our dimensional scream, maybe we can learn something about what happened!

 

  

Unfortunately, to Pep's disappointment, we don't receive anything upon touching the water. We still have no idea how to control the ability, after all, and there's no guarantee it would even work in a paralyzed world.

 

Pep brings up that we've wasted enough time dawdling around and we need to get going again to get some more distance on the Sableye.

But, there's another Kangaskhan Rock here meaning it's time to save! We'll continue our little journey into the unknown next time.

[Aura]

 

We're still on the run from Dusknoir's squad! Once you've rested up at the Kangaskhan rock, it's time to get moving onward!

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

Dark Hill

This is our second dungeon of the future, so you can naturally expect things to get a bit tougher. Monster Houses once again don't appear in this dungeon, so you don't have to worry about that, but continue to be wary of those pesky traps!

                  

The selection of items is fairly similar to the previous dungeon. Common items across both versions include Poke, Def and Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, and Stamina Bands, Gravelerocks, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, and assorted TMs and Wonder Orbs.

        

In Explorers of Darkness, you can find the Insomniscope, Scope Lens, Patsy and Twist Bands, Hunger, Violent, and X-eye Seeds, and exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

The Patsy Band is just as situational here as in Rescue Team. It just makes attacks on the equipped pokemon more likely to be critical hits and I'm still not really sure what situations you'd want this for outside of maybe wanting to get more damage out of moves like Counter or Destiny Bond. I really couldn't tell ya.

      

In Explorers of Time, you'll find Special and Zinc Bands, Stun, Vile, and Warp Seeds, and exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

The Trip Trap is back, and of course present in both versions.

    

Explorers of Darkness brings the Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps

     

Explorers of Time has the Chestnut, Grimey, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps.

The Chestnut Trap is a fairly useless trap returning from Rescue Team that drops Chestnuts on your head and deals 10 HP.

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

Dark Hill [1F - 4F]

    

On the first few floors, you'll find Gastly, Banette, Misdreavus, and Gliscor. The former three won't let you forget about Ghost-type's abilities to pass through walls. Be wary as you walk through the corridors and keep your Gravelerocks at the ready just in case! These guys are annoying in all the ways they typically are, but they're fairly easily dispatched, too. Be wary of Shadow Sneak's range, though! Gliscor will be present throughout the dungeon but didn't really stand out to me in any particular way.

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

Dark Hill [5F - 6F]

    

Claydol joins the fray on the 5th floor. Once again, it didn't really stand out to me in any particular way, just be wary of Levitate making it immune to Ground-type attacks.

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

Dark Hill [7F]

The aesthetic is changed up a bit with the redder walls taking on a more blueish color.

    

Gastly is replaced with its evolution, Haunter, on the 7th floor.

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

Dark Hill [8F]

    

The 8th floor drops Banette in favor of the much more obnoxious Dusclops whose Pressure ability makes you want to avoid conflict with them wherever possible.

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

Dark Hill [9F - 11F]

   

Misdreavus is gone on the 8th floor.

One thing that might be good to note is that the move Synthesis seems to work at full power even in a world of eternal darkness! I guess there must be sunlight... somewhere!

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

Dark Hill [12F - 15F]

   

Haunter is replaced with its evolution, Gengar, on the 12th floor! KEH KEH KEH!

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

 

As we reach the end of the dungeon, Pep seems attracted to a pretty sight before him. We stop and take in the view, only...

 

 

It seems even natural beauty is lost on Pep in this moment as he quickly recognizes the lights he sees as those around the stockade where Dusknoir betrayed us.

  

 

  

Pep just starts to unload all his feelings onto us. This is all getting to him really bad, it's clear. He's conflicted. He grew to respect Dusknoir so much after all the time we've spent together so it's impossible for him to consider that it was all pretense... None of what's happening makes any sense at all...

 

  

 

And then he begins to reminisce about the guild. Things really did change for the worst really fast, didn't it? Just one quick moment and our whole lives were uprooted with no explanation. The more you think about it, the more cruel it seems, doesn't it?

  

 

  

It's important that we cheer Pep up or those Sableye will catch us. He's on the verge of giving up and we can't have that, we need each other and we're not about to stop here!

But there is some line of hope we can follow. Let's not forget that Grovyle managed to travel back in time before. Even though we don't know how he did it, he seems to have a plan and he knows this world better than we do. He seemed to want to team up with us, so maybe if we can find him again we can find a way back home. Of course, that does mean trusting him to some extent which is clear Pep wouldn't be too keen on. After all, traveling back in time with Grovyle likely means he'd just try to steal the Time Gears again... Still, maybe we can gleam some info from him?

 

  

 

  

So, we explain this idea to Pep and he reacts rather predictably. He's very reluctant to just go along with the idea.

 

  

 

  

 

After an emotional outburst, Pep mulls it over a bit longer and comes to the realization that we really don't have any choice.

 

After a moment of silence, he finally seems to come to agreement.

  

 

After talking some pep into Pep, he seems a bit more enthusiastic. Even though he doesn't like the idea of trusting with Grovyle, we do have a plan now. It may not be much, but it's something to keep us going forward for just a bit longer.

  

 

  

As we go to leave, Pep gives us a heart-felt thanks for what we've done for him, but he recognizes now that he has no need to worry alone.

And so, it's time to get going!

  

 

Pep notes that we've been on a linear path this whole time, so Grovyle has to be ahead of us through this next cave! Of course, you know what that means.

We'll be resting up at this Kangaskhan Rock and next time continue with yet another dungeon!

[Aura]

And we continue our journey through the darkness of the future! Last time, we made up our minds that we'd seek out Grovyle to try and find our way back to the past. We've been on a linear path this whole time so he must be ahead of us. We'll just have to keep going and hopefully we can catch up at some point.

Sealed Ruin

Of course, there's another dungeon standing in our way. This one is the Sealed Ruin! This dungeon is a full-on one complete with both traps and the possibility of Monster Houses, so tread carefully!

                  

Items available in both versions include Poke, Def., and Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, and Stamina Bands, Gravelerocks, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, and assorted TMs and Wonder Orbs.

        

Explorers of Darkness brings the Insomniscope, Scope Lens, Patsy and Twist Bands, Hunger, Violent, and X-Eye Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

      

Explorers of Time has the Special and Zinc Bands, Stun, Vile, and Warp Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

Trap-wise, we've got the Trip Trap across both versions.

     

Explorers of Darkness is hiding Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Summon, Slumber, and Spin Traps

Yeah, strangely enough, Bulbapedia lists the Summon Trap as being in Explorers of Darkness even though it's usually a version-exclusive counterpart to the Pokemon trap in Time. I feel like this is a mistake either on Bulbapedia's part or the developers'.

   

Explorers of Time only has the Chestnut, Grimy, SelfDestruct, and Warp Traps which makes it infinitely more favorable to the former!

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

Sealed Ruin [B1F - B8F]

     

Throughout this dungeon, you'll be running into Muk, Forretress, Shelgon, Metang, Tangrowth, and Probopass. None of these pokemon were particularly threatening to me, though you may want to save your Special attacks mainly for Forretress. Notably, you might have a bit of a rough time if you find yourself relying a lot on Normal attacks.

 

The third floor was a bit busy here. I leveled up to 31 and tried to learn Light Screen. Honestly, though, I think I prefer Reflect to Light Screen and I don't really want to get rid of my other moves, so I'll be letting this one go.

 

In addition, I also got a Dainty and Glittery Box from two pokemon in this room.

And on the 6th floor, I got my hands on a Cute Box as well!

On the 8th floor, Pep leveled up and tried to learn Whirlpool. While there is some tactical use for these trapping moves, I figured it'd be a bit too situational to want to keep on his moveset, so he didn't learn it either.

 

After the 8th floor, you arrive at a checkpoint where you can save at a Kangaskhan Rock before progressing to the second part of the dungeon. Once you're ready, head to the northern exit and progress!

  

 

As we move forward, we cut ahead a bit to see Grovyle...

  

 

  

Grovyle seems a bit worried about us, but he's dedicated to his own mission and he seems to have a plan. He's headed toward a forest and he doesn't have time to stop and reminisce. But as he tries to pass through this area, he's stopped by a mysterious voice. Or... voices?

 

  

The voices don't seem too friendly with him, but Grovyle still can't quite identify their source.

 

  

 

The voices identify themselves as Spiritomb!

 

And it turns its anger against Grovyle with an attack! Things aren't looking good here...

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

Deep Sealed Ruin

The music in the second half of the dungeon is a lot more intense. But this part of the dungeon is no different from the first, even in the pokemon you'll be encountering. So there's no reason to go over any of that junk. Just make it through 6 more floors with a slight change of atmosphere.

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

Soon, you'll arrive at the end of the dungeon. Is Grovyle okay?

 

When we arrive, we see Grovyle on the ground surrounded by a strange purple aura.

  

We immediately try to help, but Grovyle warns us to stay back because of a nearby enemy which we, of course, fail to identify.

 

  

As Pep starts searching around, he's confused until he sees the odd keystone begin to move!

 

  

 

  

The voices announce themselves as Spiritomb and now, we'll have to battle our way forward!

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

 

Team Persevere

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

Aura (Chikorita M); Lv. 31

Item: Sky Blue Bow 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Tackle, Synthesis, Reflect, Razor Leaf

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

Pep (Piplup M); Lv. 32

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: BubbleBeam + Growl, Peck, Fury Attack

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

Vs. Spiritomb

That's right, we've got a boss fight! This time with Spiritomb! No matter what pokemon you have, Spiritomb has no weakness thanks to its Ghost/Dark typing so you'll just have to outlast its bulk.

 

I opened up by protecting myself with Reflect while Pep punished his range with BubbleBeam.

  

Once he stepped closer, it was time to hit him with the Sleep Seeds we've collected throughout the dungeon and then barrage him with attacks until he went down! Spiritomb turns out to actually be a bit of a pushover.

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

 

Team Outreach

We haven't spoken much of Team Outreach in a while, so I wanted to touch on them here as well.

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

Liz (Charmander F); Lv. 32

Item: Insomniscope 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: SmokeScreen + Scary Face, Fire Fang, Flamethrower

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

Sprout (Turtwig M); Lv. 32

Item: Red Bow 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Bite, Mega Drain + Withdraw, Razor Leaf

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

As per usual, with Team Outreach, Spiritomb was even more of a pushover. We just had to hit him with some SmokeScreen and tank his speed with Scary Face.

  

Upon defeat, Spiritomb begins to scream uncontrollably! It sounds like they're preparing a powerful attack!

 

  

But instead, they stop their attack on Grovyle and run away in cowardice!

 

  

 

We run over to check on Grovyle who seems to be fine. He explains that Spiritomb was able to get the leg up on him by entering his body and taking control of him from the inside. It actually sounds pretty scary!

  

 

But when Pep calls Spiritomb a bad pokemon, Grovyle corrects him, explaining that Spiritomb was just angry because of our trespassing, similarly to the Luxio clan. But, it revealed its true nature after we defeated it and fled.

  

 

It seems that the harsh conditions of the future world have made it so that many good pokemon are turning bitter and twisted, we've even heard cases of this happening in the present world. It's unfortunate but very realistic... Just another reason this future needs to be prevented.

  

 

Grovyle sees hope in the fact that we came to his aid and asks if we finally trust him. Pep doesn't openly claim to trust him, but as Grovyle begins to take his leave in disappointment, Pep shouts that it doesn't mean he doesn't believe him!

  

 

  

After explaining his reasoning, Pep asks for Grovyle to tell us what he knows about this future. Even though he doesn't fully trust Grovyle, his words do make logical sense and are backed up by the evidence we've seen so far. He doesn't seem to be lying at all and, if we want to change this fate of the world, we have to know what caused this shift in the first place.

 

 

Pep states that he won't accept everything at face value, but he'll listen to what Grovyle has to say. Personally, again, I'd honestly choose to believe Grovyle after everything we've seen, but I suppose there's a lot more at stake for Pep. I mean, imagine how the guild would react if we suddenly showed up back in the present on Grovyle's side. From that perspective, I can definitely see why he'd be so reluctant.

Grovyle leads us out of the ruins to continue on our journey. Next time, it seems, we'll be listening in on what he has to say. See you then!

[Aura]

I guess I've gotta explain from the top, once again, I apologize for the long wait for this post. As mentioned in my status, we've recently brought home a new puppy and while getting adjusted to that, my free time is going to be a lot more limited for a while which means it'll be a lot harder to buy time for projects like this. But, I'm by no means finished! Updates will just be coming a bit less frequently than normal for a while.

 

So, when we left off, we were still trapped in the future. While fleeing from Dusknoir's firing squad of Sableye, we caught up to Grovyle and rescued him from a close call with Spiritomb. From there, we decided to hear things out from his perspective. Even though it's hard to trust the criminal we've been pursuing this whole time, it seems we'll have to team up with this unlikely ally as long as we don't know how to get to the past.

 

We get moving out of the dungeon and Grovyle seeks out a hideaway where we can discuss what he knows. This is our chance to finally get some answers in order to even remotely wrap our heads around what's been going on.

  

We start by asking about how the planet was paralyzed, which Grovyle explains was caused in our time period by the collapse of the Dialga's Temporal Tower. He explains to Pep that Dialga is the controller of time who maintains the proper passage of time from the tower. Once Temporal Tower collapsed, the flow of time became unstable and Dialga was less and less capable of controlling it. This eventually lead to the planet's total paralysis.

 

It seems Dialga, too, had lost control of himself with the collapse of the tower, reverting to a primordial state governed by darkness rather than reason. He goes on to add that this new Primal form of Dialga's feels no emotion and only lives to preserve its own existence. That means he feels neither sadness nor anger, much less joy or fear over the state of the world. He simply... exists.

  

Dialga has branded Grovyle a criminal and is wants him killed because Grovyle tried to return to the past and stop the planet's paralysis, thus ending the existence of Primal Dialga. This news is completely contradictory to what Dusknoir had told us and what seemed to be the case back in our world. Whenever the Time Gears were stolen, the flow of time in the area would stop! It seemed clear as day that Grovyle's intentions were to cause the planet's paralysis! And, while it's not exactly unthinkable at this point that Dusknoir would've lied about such a thing as part of a clever trap for us, it's still hard to believe stealing the time gears could serve any purpose besides the total paralysis of the planet. And yet that's exactly what Grovyle is claiming.

 

Grovyle admits that, yes, stealing the Time Gears from their current placement would indeed stop time in the area, but returning them to their place in Temporal Tower time across the world would've been restored. Of course, to prevent this from happening, Primal Dialga had sent Dusknoir to the past in order to stop Grovyle from preventing the planet's paralysis.

  

Of course, this is all just as hard to believe as Dusknoir being our enemy this whole time. After all, if the Time Gears need to be returned to Temporal Tower, why would they be scattered around the world in the first place? It can't be possible that there's some global conspiracy to cause the planet's paralysis by stealing the gears from the tower and hiding them throughout the land. I suppose it's possible the gears have the power to restore Temporal Tower from its collapse, but the obvious follow-up question to that is what exactly caused the tower to collapse in the first place? Something like that couldn't have just been some accident...

 

As we continue to talk, Pep can't stand to hear all the terrible things Grovyle is implying about Dusknoir and he begins to leave the way we came.

  

 

  

Noticing this, Grovyle immediately throws Pep's words back at him and insists that he not take words at their face value and think for himself as he said he would. It's obvious that if he went back to Dusknoir, he'd only be captured and executed. Dusknoir had made things very clear on that front. Going back to him would be a foolish mistake and, as much as Pep doesn't want to believe it, it's something he certainly knows.

 

  

After sharing his wisdom, Grovyle decides once again that he needs to get going. It's up to us to decide whether or not we want to come with him. But it's clear he has a plan to get back to the past. The same way he did before: A pokemon named Celebi.

 

  

Our choice is obvious. Grovyle is going back to the past and if we don't go with him, we'll have no idea how we could possibly get back. Dusknoir's presence used to be comforting, and Pep longs for that again. But, right now, going back to Dusknoir means getting executed by a pokemon much stronger than us. We can't win that battle alone. We need to catch up to Grovyle if we want to pursue our hope of getting back home, and especially if we want any hope of restoring the flow of time to the future. Maybe the guild will help us straighten things out!

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

 

Back at what we can only assume now is the collapsed Temporal Tower, it seems Dusknoir is reporting something to Dialga.

  

 

Dusknoir explains a plan to capture to Dialga and suggests that they may require his help. Perhaps admitting that Grovyle just might be a lot more slippery than he had anticipated. With Dialga's dismissal, Dusknoir heads off to proceed with the plan.

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

 

As we draw closer to our next destination, we experience a rather familiar feeling...

  

Grovyle explains this location is known as Dusk Forest, named so after the dark fog that covers it. Doesn't sound too different from Fogbound Forest, huh? I wonder if it's actually the same place? Regardless, this is apparently where Celebi resides.

 

This is the point where Pep asks about Celebi and Grovyle explains what we already know: She's a legendary pokemon capable of traveling through time. She can also send us through time as well. Though he adds that she's "a little odd." I wonder what he means by that?

  

 

This power means that we Celebi can help us return to the past, but of course, this is a dangerous power to have in a world ruled by Primal Dialga. As she's helped Grovyle return to the past, she, too, is a target of Dialga. So the solution to all our problems doesn't appear to be totally free...

  

With the knowledge that Celebi is a target of Dialga, it's that much more important to locate her and travel back in time before things get too dangerous.

With that in mind, we've got another Kangaskhan Rock to save at here and, next time, we'll be traveling through our next dungeon: Dusk Forest. This time, it seems we've got ourselves a new ally! At least, for the time being.

[Aura]

So we're still trapped in the future but it seems we're right on track to getting back home! Grovyle showed us the way to Celebi who supposedly has the power to get us back to the past. But, of course, that involves crawling through yet another dungeon. So, let's have it!

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

 

  

Before we head off to the dungeon, Pep stops Grovyle to ask what's going to happen if we go back to the past. Will he get right back to stealing Time Gears? Naturally, he confirms this. He's already explained to us what needs to be done. The issue here is, of course, Pep is still having a hard time trusting in Grovyle. Pep stands firm that when we return, he'll investigate the truth about the Time Gears and, if he concludes Grovyle is lying, we'll do everything we can to stop him again. Grovyle doesn't try to talk him out of it, instead simply telling him to do what needs to be done.

 

As Grovyle heads onward, we're still focused on that strange, familiar feeling we've had ever since arriving at the forest...

  

We recall the way we felt back at Fogbound Forest. This place feels oddly familiar as well... Perhaps we've been here in the past?

 

We don't really have time to talk about it, though, as Grovyle ushers us to keep going forward.

As we move along, though, it seems we've got a tail... It might not be coincidence we've been able to get so far along without any opposition from Dusknoir...

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

Dusk Forest

There isn't too much to be said about this dungeon, though by now even after clearing out room in my storage, I'm still running into difficulty managing story space, so maybe I should've been a bit more liberal with cleaning out my closet. Monster Houses cannot spawn here but, of course, you will need to watch out for traps.

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

  

One major note here is that Grovyle will be tagging along this time! He's really strong and has some solid moves, so he'll prove to be a big help. It's good to have him on our side!

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

                  

Items available across both versions include Poke, Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, Special, and Stamina Bands, Iron Thorns, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, and assorted TMs and Wonder Orbs.

       

Darkness exclusives include the Insomniscope, Scope Lens, Twist Band, Hunger, Violent, and X-Eye Seeds, as well as version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs

      

Time exclusives include Def. Scarves, Zinc Bands, Stun, Vile, and Warp Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs

Traps for both versions include the Trip Trap

    

Traps exclusive in Darkness include Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps.

    

Traps exclusive to Time include Grimy, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps.

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

Dusk Forest [1F - 8F]

   

Throughout this dungeon, you'll be encountering Jumpluff, Mothim, Mismagius, and Gabite. Mismagius is capable of traveling through walls, of course, so be careful in hallways. Gabite also tends to set up Sandstorm which can be a bit invasive, but you can make it through!

Starting on the fifth floor, the trees look a bit darker!

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

 

Well, that was a pretty short dungeon! We soon arrive at Deep Dusk Forest, the point where Grovyle last saw Celebi.

  

Unfortunately, Grovyle suggests that it isn't a guarantee we'll find her here. If Dialga knows of this location, Celebi might not return. In which case we'll have to track her down while continuing to evade Dialga's detection.

 

Grovyle calls out to Celebi in hopes of getting a response, but there doesn't seem to be one...

  

Of course, Pep immediately becomes worried about the worst possible outcome.

 

When suddenly, a mysterious voice calls out to us, responding to his suggestion that Celebi may have been captured.

  

 

The voice assures Pep it wasn't just in his head, and laughs at the idea of her being captured. Then that must mean...

  

With a brilliant, shine, a specially-colored shiny Celebi appears before us! What a surprise to find in a dreary place like this! Pep is naturally shocked to find out that the legendary pokemon capable of traveling through time is so small, probably imagining a large, menacing pokemon like Groudon.

 

Celebi feels insulted by Pep's choice of words, so pep apologizes and explains that he was just surprised by her size since he was expecting some large pokemon when he heard she was a legendary.

  

 

Celebi shows her friendly side by accepting Pep's apology assuming that he's trying to say she's a lot cuter than he was expecting. Pep awkwardly agrees to that statement before Grovyle brings things back to business.

  

When Grovyle asks for Celebi's help, she acknowledges that she already knew. Him returning here means he failed in his mission to retrieve the Time Gears in the past, which seems to be a bit embarrassing for Grovyle to confess to her.

 

  

Grovyle tries to usher things along due to the Sableye tracking him, but Celebi insists that things are fine, even if they do discover this location. She insists that it would be impossible for her to be captured. The most important thing here is to get Grovyle back to the past again so that she can be rid of this depressing paralyzed world.

 

Celebi seems to have a lot of faith in Grovyle, and is willing to devote her life to his journey for the purpose of restoring the world to its natural beauty. She seems like a really sweet character, with a lot of sass to boot!

  

 

Apparently, the "Passage of Time" seems to be some sort of location or object that Celebi will be using to help us travel back through time. Grovyle asks about its location and Celebi points us to a plateau above the forest. She agrees to guide the three of us to the Passage of Time and seems a delighted Grovyle seems to have picked up some allies in his quest!

  

But before we get going, we have an odd moment where Celebi exclaims "What's...this? Your friend!" while staring at... me?

 

  

Even Grovyle is confused by this strange outburst and asks if something is wrong, but she just brushes it off and begins to lead us in the direction of the Passage of Time.

 

  

Along the way, Pep asks about the Passage of Time. Grovyle and Celebi explain that it's a time portal, similar to the dimensional hole that Dusknoir used to travel to the future. The Passage of Time is a secret passage that Celebi is capable of using to travel long-distances through time. While she is capable of time travel on her own, she can only travel a short distance. I suppose you can consider it like driving down the highway as opposed to walking? Presumably, she also needs the Passage of Time to travel with others. Judging by the dialogue here, I can also assume that, while she must open the Passage of Time, anyone can travel through it once it's open. That just might come into play...

Needless to say, using the Passage of Time, we should be able to travel back to the past and finally return home! I'm sure everyone will have missed us, and we've got a lot to discuss with the guild!

 

We soon arrive at a clearing at the edge of the forest. It seems in order to get to the Passage of Time, though, we'll need to travel through yet another dungeon.

After a quick stop at the nearby Kangaskhan Rock, it's time to get going once again! We're so close to returning home!

[Aura]

It seems like every one of these posts has to open up with an apology and an explanation for the hiatus, huh? Well, once again, it's all been explained in statuses, but school has started back up and I got in an accident in which my car was totaled, so I've had a bit on my plate in addition to the pup (who's coming along really well, thankfully!) In addition to all of that, imgur went through another phase of being a butt with my images, so I had to give it a break for a while, too. Hopefully things will go more smoothly? Honestly, who can say at this point? Once again, I can't promise consistent uploads even though I generally do try to update at least every other day depending on the complexity of the current game. In this case, we are in a pretty heavy plot section, so these current posts do take a lot of screenshots and a lot of time to construct. With so much going on, it's difficult to find the time to make these posts. I could try to cover the scenes more briefly, but I feel like that's a huge injustice to this story that I'm actually extremely invested in! Most of the mysteries are starting to fall into place and by the end of this post I'll have caught up to my Darkness playthrough, so we're getting back into territory where I genuinely don't know what's going to happen next. I've avoided playing ahead in Darkness for now in order to keep knowledge of future events out of my speculation in this one. Anyway, without further ado, let's get back into business!

So, last time we joined forces with Grovyle and met with Celebi in the depths of Dusk Forest in the interest of returning home. Pep is still unsure if he's willing to trust Grovyle's motive for stealing the time gears, but it's looking like we'll have to go back in time with him or not at all. It'll just be nice to be back home and, worst case scenario, if we stopped Grovyle once, we can surely stop him again. With Chatot's help, we might also be able to use the guild's resources to verify the guild's claims! Either way, in order to get to the past, we'll need Celebi to guide us to the Passage of Time!

  

 

Before we progress to the next dungeon, if you talk with Celebi, she'll have this cute moment that leads to a little bit of insight to her relationship with Grovyle. It seems there's some sort of affection from her end, how sweet!

 

Anyway, once you're all prepped at the Kangaskhan Rock, it's time to press onward!

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

Deep Dusk Forest

For this dungeon, we'll have Celebi tagging along as well as Grovyle! We've got a lot of grass-types on this squad, huh? Anyway, this is yet another dungeon in the future so still no recruitment, and by this point you're probably pretty stacked with items, too so you might find yourself having to toss away some junk. As always, be mindful of traps, but you're thankfully safe from Monster Houses.

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

                  

The items are the standard fare for these dungeons: Poke, Def. and Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, and Stamina Bands, Iron Thorns, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, TMs and Wonder Orbs.

        

Insomniscopes, Scope Lens, Patsy and Twist Bands, Hunger, Violent, and X-Eye Seeds are exclusive to Explorers of Darkness along with version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

      

While Exploers of Time has Special and Zinc Bands, Stun, Vile, and Warp Seeds, and its own TMs and Wonder Orbs.

 

In the trap department, Trip Traps as well as Poison Traps can be found in both versions. If you're playing Explorers of Time, I believe this will be your first time having to deal with Poison Traps, so be wary of them!

   

The Gust, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps are all still exclusive to Darkness here.

     

Time will still have to deal with Chestnut, Grimy, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps as well.

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

Deep Dusk Forest [1F - 3F]

    

Vulpix, Rhydon, Steelix, Aggron, and Leafeon will be your opponents throughout this dungeon. Rhydon should be no problem at all due to the abundance of Grass-types in your squad, but for that reason you may need to watch out for Vulpix who know Flamethrower and Confuse Ray. If you aren't careful, they could take out Grovyle or Celebi from a long range! Not to mention the stressful situations confusion can get you into. Try to bring some Persim Bands! Leafeon can also be a bit annoying with Razor Leaf and Quick Attack, but it isn't as big of a threat to your guests as Vulpix. Both Vulpix and Leafeon won't last too terribly when you fight them head-on, though. Steelix and Aggron are major intimidation factor pokemon, but they'll go down pretty easily as long as you use moves that aren't resisted.

On the second floor, I wanted to note an interesting Wonder Orb I found, an Itemizer Orb! This can turn the target pokemon into an item! I can imagine this being particularly useful in dungeons with annoying pokemon like Aerodactyl. This will not only get rid of the annoyance, but potentially bless you with a rare item, too! More than likely, though, it'll just be something like berries or iron thorns.

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

Deep Dusk Forest [4F - 12F]

     

Starting on the 4th floor, Hippowdon joins the fray and brings with him some Sandstorms with Sand Stream! This makes the Ground and Steel-types a bit more threatening, but I find it to overall actually be beneficial, as Vulpix and Leafeon are the biggest threats imo. But of course, watch your health and don't be stingy with Oran Berries if you need them!

On the 7th floor, the deep green trees turn into a more autumn-esque brown color!

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

 

Once we reach the end of the dungeon, Celebi announces that we've arrived!

Passage of Time

This must be it! We're just steps away from finally returning home!

 

  

Grovyle confirms that the strange door-shaped light before us is indeed the Passage of Time. Of course, Celebi is the only one who can open it.

 

But just as she goes to open the passage...

  

Dusknoir stands between us and the Passage of Time! It looks like we've been chased into a trap...

 

  

Before we know it, we're surrounded by Sableye.

 

Grovyle admits that he didn't expect Dusknoir to have been able to track him so far like this. It seems he's been bested...

  

He apologizes to Celebi who brushes it off and once again confidently suggests she can't be caught.

 

  

It looks like the only way out of this is going to be to fight our way through! We can already expect Dusknoir to be a tough opponent, but we'll also have to deal with all these Sableye? This battle isn't going to be easy!

 

 

Grovyle is prepared to take on Dusknoir in a one-on-one while we fight our way through the Sableye.

  

But Dusknoir doesn't seem interested in taking any more chances, so he calls for the assistance of... Dialga!?

 

  

Oh No!

And there he is! Primal Dialga himself appears before us at the top of the plateau overlooking the Passage of Time! The tension just escalated tremendously!

 

  

The presence of Dialga leaves Grovyle completely speechless!

 

It looks as though Grovyle's starting to lose all hope...

  

 

Pep tries to talk some courage into Grovyle, but Grovyle knows well enough that we stand no chance against Dialga himself.

  

 

Grovyle knows we have no choice here but to admit defeat. Primal Dialga must be on a whole other level to everything we've faced so far. Even Celebi is shocked to see Grovyle so shaken that he'd surrender!

 

  

Dusknoir mocks Grovyle for surrendering so quickly, but Grovyle begins to explain why he's willing to give up here. Because there is something beyond himself that he still has hope in...

 

Apparently, Grovyle wasn't alone when he returned to the past with Celebi! There was another... could it be the friend Celebi spontaneously mentioned before?

  

Apparently Grovyle was separated from his partner when they last took the Passage of Time. And now...

 

 

He explains that his partner must still be in the world of the past. In which case, he can still succeed where Grovyle had failed!

 

Dusknoir seems to react in a confusing manner to this news, laughing over it like some sort of joke.

  

The amused Dusknoir asks Grovyle about the name of his partner, which confuses Grovyle. Presumably, Dusknoir already knows his partner's name.

 

  

His partner is... me!?

 

  

Pep brings up that we share that very name, which is a shock to Grovyle, but he insists it can't be me. Why? Because his partner was... human.

From the moment Dusknoir asked the name of Grovyle's partner, everything suddenly clicked into place! There's clearly still some pieces of the puzzle missing, but what a reveal this was! While I figured Grovyle had some relation to my past, I had no idea it'd turn out that I was from the future with him!

 

  

Dusknoir is more than delighted to reveal the truth to Grovyle now that the cat's out of the bag. What a cruel twist of fate...

 

Dusknoir recounts the events of the story from his perspective. It started with Dialga giving him a mission to travel back in time and eliminate Grovyle and myself for attempting to alter the flow of history.

  

He recounts our chance meeting at Kecleon Market. From our perspective, this was a rare opportunity to meet with an incredibly knowledgeable explorer and seek some advice about how we can learn more about our past. But from his perspective, he couldn't believe he'd stumbled across us so easily.

 

  

 

When this scene first played out, it sent off all sorts of theory signals in my brain. At the time, I believed Dusknoir to be a good guy, so even though he seemed to recognize the name but not share any information, I figured he had some sort of benevolent reason for not bothering. Something like Gardevoir in the first game, perhaps. But even back then, I also suspected that he might not be what he seems on the surface... I certainly couldn't have predicted this massive shift in his character, that his entire personality was just a public facade!

But it turns out we now know exactly why he smiled back then. One of his targets had just cluelessly fallen right into his lap and would be easy to manipulate having already gained his trust. He couldn't remember a thing! Granted, it seems even Dusknoir has no clue how we ended up transforming into a pokemon, but he knew it couldn't be coincidence that we shared a name, had the dimensional scream, and used to be a human. This all really goes to make Dusknoir out to be a real piece of work, huh?

  

Naturally, this confirmation that Dusknoir really was lying from the beginning completely breaks Pep's heart. Poor guy... but, of course, we've got a problem much bigger than ourselves at stake here, and our focus should be on figuring out what our next move is. Now that we know there's no other hope, we need to find a way out of this situation...

 

  

Dusknoir seems to enjoy his victory far too much. At this point, there's no way I can believe this guy is a redeemable character.

 

Soon, Pep's heartbreak transforms into anger as he finally snaps and stands up for himself!

  

 

  

Of course, standing up for ourselves is easier said than done, we can't forget our difficult situation!

 

Pep insists, even still, that we can't just give up. We have to think of something...

  

 

Suddenly, Pep gets an idea and asks Celebi if she can transport us to the Passage of Time using time travel. Celebi insists that it'll be difficult with Dialga standing over us do to his dominion over time. But Pep insists that it only has to work for a moment. And certainly, all we'd need to do is break away from the surrounding foes!

  

With no other options and our enemies closing in, Celebi decides we've got to give it a try.

 

 

In a flash of light, we disappear, leaving the Sableye and Dusknoir confused!

 

Dusknoir immediately requests Dialga's aid in stopping them.

 

  

 

  

With a powerful Roar of Time, Dialga stops Celebi's time travel, but we've managed to travel quite a distance in the moment of confusion, we're just steps away now!

 

Celebi insists that we take the Passage of Time to the past and complete the mission!

  

Pep asks about Celebi who insists once again that she can't be caught and that we must change history ourselves. It does seem important for Celebi to stay behind in case we get captured again...

 

  

With one last thank-you to Celebi, we dive into the Passage of Time and disappear through it. Dusknoir tries to stop us, but he's too late!

 

And with that, we fall through the Passage of Time and finally transition back to the past. Armed with new information, maybe we can make a difference and save the world of the future! But this is where we're gonna let things go for now. Next time, we'll see what awaits us back home! It's certainly not going to be easy to convince the guild that Grovyle was right, Dusknoir was evil, and we all need to collectively work together and steal the Time Gears... Dusknoir certainly did a good job of getting everyone on his side when he arrived at the guild. But maybe our sudden kidnapping will be solid evidence to the contrary of their initial understanding of him? We've yet to really see how they've processed that or how they've managed without us. But I have a feeling we're going into another fugitive arc where we might not be met with as warm of a welcome as we'd like... We'll just have to see what happens. Until next time!

[Aura]

 

We wake up back on the beach from the beginning of the game. It was a crazy sequence of events that led us to this point. We were abducted by Dusknoir, who we trusted as a friend, and taken to the future where we were treated as criminals alongside Grovyle. Dusknoir attempted to have us executed, but we managed to escape with Grovyle. Grovyle told us that the paralysis of the world was caused not by the stealing of the time gears, but by the collapse of a place called Temporal Tower which caused the ruler of time, Dialga, to slowly lose control over time, causing him to revert to a primal state where he is focused on nothing more than his own preservation. Grovyle showed us the way to his friend and ally, Celebi, in the depths of the Dusk Forest. Celebi, in turn, showed us to the Passage of Time which Grovyle and a partner of his used to travel to the past before. But just as we were about to take the passage of time, we were ambushed by Dusknoir and his squad of Sableye with the intention of capturing not just us, but Celebi as well. When we prepared to fight, Dusknoir revealed that we had an even bigger threat present: Primal Dialga himself! It was here that it came to light the identity of Grovyle's partner is none other than myself before I lost my memory and transformed into a pokemon! Realizing there was now no other choice, we had to make things work. With a quick unexpected move, Celebi was able to buy us enough time with her time travel ability to get us to the Passage of Time and back to the present before we could be killed!

What an insane series of events but just because we've gotten away from Dusknoir and returned to the past doesn't mean we're safe. There are still an abundance of problems we have to address. But for now, we've at least earned some time to rest.

 

  

Pep wakes up shortly after us and recognizes where we are. He is delighted to find that we've finally returned home! It's almost too good to be true!

 

  

 

  

We explain to Grovyle where I first woke up, and Grovyle mentions that where I arrived on the beach, he arrived in the Eastern Forest, so there was a lot of distance between us. Considering he didn't lose his memory, it must've been pretty lonely not having his partner with him.

 

  

Pep suggests we meet up at the Wigglytuff Guild to discuss everything, but Grovyle immediately objects and, unfortunately, I'm quick to agree with Grovyle here. As I've expressed numerous times before, Dusknoir's plan was clever and established layers of obstacles for us going forward. This whole world believes Grovyle to be an infamous villain and Dusknoir an incredibly brave and wise hero. They aren't going to take kindly to us just casually waltzing in with the pokemon that was just branded the number one outlaw in the world. Even if Dusknoir had acted a bit shady in the last few moments of his time here.

 

Pep admits he didn't really think that suggestion through, but after thinking a bit more, he seems to have an idea!

  

The area he has in mind involves passing through Treasure Town, but Grovyle insists that we should be able to do so if we don't draw any attention to ourselves and sneak through with a low profile. The best place to hide a tree is a forest, they say!

 

Pep leads us to the cliff overlooking the sea, where Dugtrio tends to hang out a lot. That fact makes me question whether this is really a good place for a hideout, but we'll just have to give Pep the benefit of the doubt, I suppose.

  

Pep explains this location is called Sharpedo Bluff. Can you guess why?

 

Pep soon clears away some bushes covering a staircase that's been there the whole time!? He says this is where he lived before he joined the guild, and it's well-hidden so nobody really seems to know it exists!

  

The stairs lead down into the mouth of the "Sharpedo". It's actually quite a pleasant place! But I fail to see how this place is particularly well hidden. I would imagine a lot of flying pokemon would perch here and, of course, there's the aforementioned issue of Dugtrio spending a lot of time here shouting out to the sea. I suppose I'm just not supposed to think too hard about it, but I can't really help it too much.

 

Regardless, we decide to set up camp here for the night and get some rest. Something we've all been needing ever since we escaped from the execution in the future. All the while, we can catch up on exchanging information in a relaxed environment.

Grovyle explains that I was indeed his partner from the future. He was shocked to find out we were one and the same, and of course seems to have no clue how or why I became a pokemon. As far as I'm aware we don't seem to have pissed off any Ninetails, so I suppose that's a plus. At this time, we can only assume that it was related to whatever went wrong when we took the passage of time together. Maybe it just doesn't play well with humans?

Anyway, together with Grovyle, we would use the Dimensional Scream ability in the future to find the locations of the Time Gears in the past, hence why Grovyle already knew the location of the Time Gear at Fogbound Lake without the location having ever been discovered before. 

  

 

Grovyle fills us in a bit more on how the Dimensional Scream is triggered. First, it requires the presence of a trusted partner. In addition, it's set off by triggers tied to places where the Time Gears are hidden. While the latter was something I've somewhat sussed out so far, the former is a bit new.

  

 

This leads to a rather sweet moment where Pep is shocked to find out this requirement means that we trusted him more than he realized, because the Dimensional Scream wouldn't work otherwise.

  

 

Pep also questions something else about Grovyle's comments. That the Dimensional Scream has been triggered in locations that doesn't seem related to the Time Gears at all...

  

Grovyle seems to be surprised by this, and suggests that perhaps the dimensional scream functions differently in the past.

Before we proceed, I want to take a moment to enter speculation land and line up some additional facts I don't think the game has gone over at this point. It's been a while since I've thought about this stuff.

The times the Dimensional Scream has been triggered include:

• When we picked up Azurill's apple that they dropped. We heard Azurill's scream from the future.
• When Drowzee bumped into us. Saw the vision of Azurill and Drowzee at Mt. Bristle from the future.
• When we touched the waterfall at the entrance of Waterfall Cave, we saw Wigglytuff jump into the waterfall. This one was supposedly from the past.
• When we touched the large crystal at the end of Waterfall Cave, we saw Wigglytuff push the crystal in and get washed away by the trap. This one also supposedly from the past.
• When we touched the Groudon Statue at Fogbound Lake, we heard a voice of someone discovering the solution to the puzzle, we can now presume this voice belongs to either myself or Grovyle from the future.
• When we touched Bidoof's crystal from Crystal Cave. We saw a vision of Grovyle's encounter with Uxie at the Crystal Lake from the future.
• When we touched the Crystals at the end of Crystal Cave. We heard a voice, again likely belonging to us or Grovyle from the future, discovering the solution to the crystals' puzzle.

The only time we've tried, and failed, to receive a dimensional scream was in the future.

Of note here, every single one of these visions, except for two, we can confidently say came from the future instead of the past if we assume the voices solving the puzzles are indeed myself or Grovyle. That makes two very distinct visions stand out above the others: The ones that depicted Wigglytuff entering Waterfall Cave and triggering the trap there. The only reason we have to suspect that it was a vision from the past was that Wigglytuff claimed that he "might have" gone there once. But Wigglytuff is a rather eccentric character, it's pretty hard to figure out what's going on in his head at times. I'm willing to believe these visions are also visions of the future, a detail that might be revealed later on.

Now, let's take note of the locations of the five Time Gears.

• The first was stolen in Treeshroud Forest
• The second was stolen by Grovyle from an unknown location
• The third was stolen from Uxie at Fogbound Lake
• The fourth was stolen from Mesprit at the Underground Lake
• And the final Time Gear was protected by Azelf at the Crystal Lake.

The only Dimensional Screams we've received that weren't tied to (confirmed) locations of Time Gears are Mt. Bristle and Waterfall Cave. Recall again that Drowzee at Mt. Bristle claimed there was a den of a thief at the top of Mt. Bristle with a great treasure inside and he needed Azurill to squeeze into the hideout and get the treasure for him. Is it not possible that this thief had stolen a Time Gear from somewhere? Beyond that, the only other vision we've had that's left unaccounted for are the ones from Waterfall Cave. What if that was the original location of the stolen Time Gear? That might make all the pieces fit. The only question that would remain if we assume that true is, of course, why isn't time stopped around Waterfall Cave? The only assumption we can make is that a Time Gear is currently there and no longer in the thief's den at Mt. Bristle. It's possible that the gear had been stolen at one point but returned later.

Alternatively... what if Wigglytuff is the cause of this strange deviation? What if Mt. Bristle is the original location of this Time Gear, and Wigglytuff stole the Time Gear and took it to Waterfall Cave for some reason? Technically, that would make these two locations associated with the Time Gear. But, thinking further, Mt. Bristle can't be the original location of this Time Gear, either. Otherwise, time would've stopped there when Grovyle stole it. The only other thing we can conclude is that the second time gear Grovyle stole was from a yet to be seen location. From the imagery we've seen so far, I believe it to be a volcano as seen on the title screen of Explorers of Darkness. I suppose the original location of this time gear is irrelevant.

I suspect that all that matters is that, across the eternity of time, a Time Gear had to have been at Mt. Bristle and Waterfall Cave in order to enable the dimensional scream at these locations. I'm also beginning to wonder if, perhaps, the thief whose den rests at the top of Mt. Bristle might be none other than the guildmaster himself? What if at some point he steals a Time Gear, brings it with him to Waterfall Cave in an attempt to hide it or do something with it before ultimately leaving it at Mt. Bristle?

It's too soon to say anything for certain, but I'm throwing some ideas out there once again because I'm curious about how well these ideas stack up to the real truth that I imagine we're close to uncovering.

One other thing I wanted to address is that every single dimensional scream has been a vision except for three: Azurill's scream, and the visions from the distant future. I suspect that the vision of Azurill's scream might've merely been a faint scream because we'd never experienced it before. But the second scream came immediately after and showed a distinct visual. Perhaps the other two were the only screams we've received from the distant future. Perhaps distance across time affects the visibility of the dimensional scream? I'm not sure if this observation is as relevant as the others, but it's worth noting, I think.

One final note is the point Grovyle suggests about the Dimensional Scream working differently in the past. I've already noted that most if not all of our visions from the past have been of future events. But the way Grovyle talks about using the Dimensional Scream, it sounds like it's been giving them primarily visions from the past. I'm suspecting the Dimensional Scream is related to the collapse of Temporal Tower and is linking these two time periods, the point where time began to go distort and the point where time came to a complete stand-still. The dimensional Scream in the future gives visions of the past and the Dimensional Scream in the past gives visions of the future.

Anyway, that's it for speculation land. Let's return to the world of story progress!

  

 

  

 

Grovyle continues to recall what had happened. After using the Dimensional Scream to sus out the locations of the Time Gears, we took the passage of time to the past but experienced unexpected turbulence that separated us. Apparently, at some point during this, I transformed into a pokemon and washed up on the beach with amnesia while Grovyle arrived at the Eastern Forest.

  

It's difficult to wrap my head around all of this from my history that I was previously unaware of. I came from the future with the mission of preventing the planet's paralysis, but forgot all of that and wound up being tricked into making the paralysis even more likely!

 

  

Grovyle begins to get emotional over having been reuinted with his best friend all over again, even if we don't remember this seems to mean the world to him.

 

But now, it's time to plan our future actions. Grovyle's already explained to us what he plans to do, to begin gathering the Time Gears yet again. As for us?

  

 

It seems Pep has finally made up his mind to fully trust Grovyle, which is a huge 180 from his position before! He admits his concerns about time stopping when a Time Gear is stolen, but when Grovyle assures him time will be restored when the gears are returned to the tower, he agrees to go with him and help him gather the Time Gears.

  

 

So, we agree to hunt down the time gears, but as it gets later in the night, we need to get some sleep. The next day, our new mission awaits!

This is a bit of an awkward place to stop the post, but there is a save prompt here and I wanted to take advantage of it because there's still quite a bit of cutscene left and I did take a healthy chunk of this post to talk about some personal speculation of mine. So next time, we'll get our plan together for how to gather up those Time Gears!

[Aura]

  

When we fade back in, later in the night, Grovyle awakens and notices Pep is missing from the group. He goes outside looking for him.

 

Grovyle finds Pep standing outside at the edge of the bluff, looking out over the sea.

  

Grovyle and Pep begin to share a much-needed heart-to-heart.

 

  

Pep begins to open up about what's been on his mind. A bit surprisingly, this isn't just about Dusknoir, but rather he's more surprised about me coming from the future with Grovyle! Perhaps he's beginning to realize that he and Grovyle actually share a lot more in common than he thought. And of course, his initial treatment of Grovyle must be messing with him as a result.

 

  

Soon, the sun begins to rise!

 

  

 

Pep continues to talk about how much he, and the rest of the world in the past, take for granted things as simple as sunrise and sunset and the beauty it brings to the world. It's only possible with the passage of time.

  

Grovyle had never known what the sunlight was like, so seeing it for the first time was staggering for him and he was adamant that this beauty must be preserved by succeeding in his mission.

 

  

 

  

Grovyle asks Pep about how he refused to give up even when things seemed hopeless and they were surrounded by Dusknoir and Sableye. Had it been down to just Grovyle, things would've been hopeless.

 

  

 

Pep recounts and wonders as well how he was able to be so brave. After all, he used to even think of himself as such a coward. He attributes the success to my presence. He decides to show his personal treasure to Grovyle.

  

Grovyle can't seem to identify the Relic Fragment that Pep has been carrying around, which is a bit of a surprise to me because, from the beginning of the game, I was suspecting this thing might be related to Grovyle in some way, but I suppose that's not quite the case. Still, I can't help but wonder if it might be related to the collapse of Temporal Tower? Who really knows.

 

 

  

 

  

 

Pep recounts the time at Waterfall Cave where we encouraged each other to jump into the waterfall, and at Steam Cave where he felt emboldened to stand up against Groudon.

  

Pep explains that he believes I seem to have the uncanny ability to make him feel like he can overcome anything, and he attributes that to his ability to not give up even when we were trapped by Primal Dialga!

 

  

Grovyle seems to understand exactly where Pep comes from, and I seem to have had the same impact on Grovyle as I have on Pep as well. He ends on telling Pep that I'm lucky to be blessed with a friend like him. What a sweet moment, here.

 

Anyway, now that it's morning, Grovyle mentions that we should be leaving soon. It's time to get planning on collecting those time gears! It won't be an easy journey, for sure, but certainly nobody would expect anyone to steal them again so soon.

  

Once we're all together, we begin to hold a meeting about our plan for collecting the Time Gears.

 

  

The Underground Lake is the closest Time Gear that we know of, but Grovyle suggests we start with Treeshroud Forest just like last time. Reason being, there is nobody like Uxie guarding it. If we start with a guarded Time Gear, we'll certainly attract attention to us early and that'll make collecting the rest a lot more difficult.

 

With that, our destination is set and we head off to Treeshroud Forest!

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

  

 

When we first arrive, Grovyle notes that the atmosphere feels a bit different than the last time he was here.

Anyway, in case it's not clear by now, it looks like we've still got a ways to go before we get access to the marketplace again. What a nightmare! Storage Space is really packed by this point, so there's not much I can do besides throwing away some fairly useless items to make room for inventory management, but we'll do what we gotta do. I really don't want to throw away any valuables that could be sold...

Well, next time we explore Treeshroud Forest to claim our first Time Gear!

[Aura]

So, it seems our little side adventure isn't quite over. We've still got yet another dungeon to traverse before we're able to return to Treasure Town, so your endurance run is still continuing! We arrive here at Treeshroud Forest out of interest in recovering (again) the Time Gear from this location. Once you're made preparations at the Kangaskhan Rock, it's time to progress into the dungeon!

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

Treeshroud Forest

Even though we're back in the present, you still can't recruit any pokemon here just yet since we don't have access to Chimecho Assembly. I believe this is the longest dungeon we've explored in this future arc so far, so you may want to make sure you pack a few Apples. I also strongly recommend bringing some extra Max Elixirs as well for reasons that'll become obvious soon enough. Along the way, you'll need to watch out for traps and Monster Houses as well. Notably, however, due to being located in the present, you can potentially find Kecleon Shops! These pop-up shops can really be a lifesaver with inventory management this late into such an endurance run! Feel free to unload all of your treasures that you have no functional use for! You'll make some cash and free up some space to boot!

                 

Items available throughout the dungeon include: Poke, Pecha Scarves, Persim, Power, and Special Bands, Iron Thorns, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, and assorted TMs and Wonder Orbs.

               

Explorers of Darkness features Insomniscopes, Scope Lens, Twist Band, Black, Clear, Gold, Gray, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, and Yellow Gummis, Violent and X-Eye Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

           

Explorers of Time brings the Blue, Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, Silver, Sky, and White Gummis, Stun and Warp Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

In the trap department, Trip Traps are once again the only one that's in both versions.

    

Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps are exclusive to Darkness

     

Chestnut, Grimy, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps are exclusive to Time.

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

Treeshroud Forest [1F - 9F]

   

For the first nine floors, you'll be running into Kadabra, Ralts, Cherrim, and Houndoom.

None of these are particularly noteworthy, but Cherrim is capable of bringing harsh sunlight out, reducing the power of water attacks and taking advantage of its ability to change forms!

While in its Sunshine form, Cherrim's Flower Gift ability is active, boosting its Attack and Special Defense. I'd assume this effect spreads to other enemies in the same room, but I'm unsure of that. If on your side, the effect should spread to its teammates, though.

 

On the fourth floor, I found a TM for Swords Dance and decided, since I've been struggling with my lack of offensive prowess, it might be a good idea to teach myself Swords Dance in place of Reflect. I might reverse this decision later on, but for now, Swords Dance will help me dish out some additional damage.

Also in the same area, I picked up a Hard Box! Just another to add to the list!

On the fifth floor, I found yet another useful TM! This one was Bullet Seed! While this move has definitely been nerfed in this game compared to how powerful it was in Rescue Team, it still has the potential for a lot of damage output! Backed up with some Max Elixirs and it's still a force to be reckoned with! I went ahead and replaced Razor Leaf for it.

On the 8th floor, I stumbled across a Kecleon Market!

 

I took the opportunity to drop some junk around to sell to Kecleon and also went ahead and bought his two Blue Gummis for Pep! I ultimately got a 125P profit which isn't much but the main bonus was the two gummis and the newly freed inventory space! Thank goodness!

Starting on floor 9, the aesthetic of Treeshroud Forest changes to a much deeper green with an earthy brown soil.

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

Treeshroud Forest [10F]

    

10F is where things start to get really messy. Everyone except for Houndoom is replaced here, Kadabra and Ralts replaced with their evolutions Alakazam and Kirlia, while Ninetales and Vespiquen join the fray as well. Ninetales is particularly annoying because of Confuse Ray, but Vespiquen especially due to its Pressure Ability that will sap your PP like no tomorrow, especially if you don't have a fast out to it. Be careful around Kirlia as well because they can Trace Grovyle's or your own Overgrow ability and catch you by surprise with some unexpected strong hits from Magical Leaf. Remember that Trace copies the ability of the first pokemon that hits it!

All of this is compounded that much more on 10F because of Houndoom's Beat Up attack that can call all pokemon on the floor to you. Monster Houses aren't the only use for those room-wide Wonder Orbs!

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

Treeshroud Forest [11F - 20F]

   

Thankfully, for the remainder of the dungeon, Houndoom is gone. Unfortunately, that means you're still stuck with the most annoying pokemon in the dungeon being Ninetales and Vespiquen.

On the 16th floor, I found a TM for Dig which I went ahead and taught to Pep. It would be a great way for him to deal with Electric-types in a pinch!

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

 

When we arrive at the depths of Treeshroud Forest, something doesn't seem quite right...

  

 

As a shocking twist, it seems time has not been restored even after we returned to the future! Just what's going on here!?

  

 

Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf were responsible for returning the gears to their rightful places. Up until recently, we've been under the assumption that meant that time would be restored once the gears were returned.

  

Pep suggests the Time Gear may not have been returned just yet, so we go to check out where it's supposed to be...

 

Sure enough, the Time Gear is where it's supposed to be, yet time has not returned... is it possible this damage is irreversible?

  

 

  

Grovyle decides to take the Time Gear, strangely, the fact that time hasn't been restored seems to make this decision that much easier to make. But it seems that Grovyle has even greater concerns now...

 

  

 

  

For now, we decide to head back. Grovyle asks Pep for a special task to lurk around Treasure Town and see if he can't pick up any word on what exactly has been going on since the Time Gears were returned.

 

  

 

Pep soon catches up with us at Sharpedo Bluff and delivers the news he was able to pick up in passing. It seems that, indeed, returning the Time Gears did not solve the problem. It must run deeper...

  

 

Grovyle fears there's only one explanation for such a phenomenon: Temporal Tower is already starting to collapse in our time.

  

This is a major problem, of course. If you recall, Grovyle's mission revolves around getting these Time Gears to Temporal Tower before it collapses. While the tower is beginning to collapse, the problem will only accelerate faster until the world is fully paralyzed and as it stands nobody but us knows what the solution is.

 

Our mission, of course, hasn't changed. We just have to act quickly. The Time Gears must be gathered and returned to Temporal Tower. 

  

The biggest problem here is... Grovyle doesn't actually know where Temporal Tower is. All he knows is that it's in a placed called "The Hidden Land" but that's obviously not much to go on. In the interest of saving time, Grovyle decides it's best to split up. He'll entrust the task of finding the location of the Hidden Land to us while he goes off to gather the Time Gears again. He got really close before and, frankly, it might actually be easier this time with the stopping of time no longer drawing attention to him.

 

  

The only lead Grovyle can think of as to the location of the Hidden Land is the very fact that it's undiscovered. Consequently, it must be in a remote location. He suggests we may need to find a way to cross the sea.

 

So, Grovyle makes his way off after wishing us luck, leaving us to try and figure out how exactly we'll discover the location of the Hidden Land...

  

Of course, we have no real idea of how to start, so Pep suggests we just focus on trying to figure out how to cross the sea for now. My Rescue Team instincts tells me we're going to need an HM for Surf, but I'm pretty sure HMs aren't as prominent in this game as they were in Rescue Team. If only we had Alakazam with us...

 

We make our way over to the beach to try and come up with any ideas, but we completely draw a blank. It's not like we can just build a boat and we can't exactly just waltz on down to some harbor and ask for a boat.

  

We seem to already be at a pretty bleak dead-end with no clear way forward. Where does one even go about finding a "hidden land" in the first place?

 

  

We ultimately come to the conclusion that this is a job that's much larger than us. As difficult as it might be, we must go to Wigglytuff's Guild to get their help!

  

 

  

Of course, Pep has some major reservations, the same reservations I've voiced before. It might not be so easy to convince everyone at the guild about Dusknoir and Grovyle's true natures after all of Dusknoir's cruel tactics. Would it even be possible to convince them that we're telling the truth? The only thing I've been able to latch onto so far is the way Dusknoir captured us at the end. But it's possible they could've explained that away and accepted some arbitrary explanation due to confirmation bias. There's really no guarantee we can be trusted, and yet...

 

  

 

  

 

We have a bit of an exchange with Pep to try and convince him. Even though it's a risk, it's one that must be taken if we want any chance of finding the Hidden Land. We have to be able to trust in our friends and in turn their belief in us. We won't get anything done if we keep trying to operate out of the shadows.

  

 

  

 

And with that, we're able to convince Pep that it's time to make our return home. Hopefully things go over well! If we can get the guild's help in finding the Hidden Land, our network of resources will be much larger and our story might also make it easier for Grovyle to get the Time Gears as well!

And with that, we make our way back to the guild and that's where we're going to leave things off for today. We'll have to wait until next time to see how the guild reacts to this news!

[Aura]

 

Last time, we rebooted our journey, this time opting to help out Grovyle in retrieving the Time Gears in order to prevent the collapse of Temporal Tower. We discovered upon arriving to the Time Gear in Treeshroud Forest that time was still frozen in the area even after the gear had been returned! It turns out this means Temporal Tower is starting to collapse which in turn means we've got a pretty strict deadline! To save on time, we decided to split the tasks of our mission. Grovyle would once again go off on his own to retrieve the Time Gears while Pep and I would work to uncover the location of the Hidden Land which is said to house the Temporal Tower we need to bring the gears to! With no leads to go off of, Pep and I have decided that the best course of action is to return to Wigglytuff Club and explain everything! How will they take it? Well, we're about to find out!

  

 

Pep is reasonably a bit nervous to return to the guild, it's almost like the beginning of the game all over again! But this time his feelings are a lot more justified. We're taking a big risk by coming here.

  

Of course, Pep has grown a lot on our journey so far, and he's able to hype himself up enough to march forward anyway!

 

  

It seems that Diglett is shocked to see this particular familiar footprint! Loudred is left in the dark, but...

 

  

 

Diglett announces that the footprint belongs to Pep and we suddenly hear everyone in the guild respond with shock!

  

Diglett pokes his head above ground to make sure his eyes don't deceive him and, sure enough, it's us!

 

  

We hear a loud rumbling all the apprentices of the guild come rushing to the entrance to see us! What a warm welcome!

 

  

It seems everyone is just as delighted and has been just as worried about us as we thought! Hopefully this is a good omen for how well our story will go over!

 

Shortly after this heartfelt reunion, Chatot and Wigglytuff emerge from the guild as well!

 

And Wigglytuff takes center stage to give us a proper welcoming!

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

 

We all hurry back inside and explain everything that's happened, leaving Chatot and everyone else just as confused as you can expect.

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

Chatot takes the time to sort out our entire story and all of the raw facts we've just laid out. It's a lot to take in, so it's only natural. And, quite frankly, when all spoken back to back like this, it all must be extremely shocking! This is all absolutely backwards from everything they've known to this point!

  

...And Chatot doesn't seem to buy it at all. He seems to be taking it like some sort of joke!

 

  

 

  

Chatot, not buying our story, decides that we must be delirious from exhaustion and offers for us to go and take a nap, but Pep continues to insist that everything we've been saying is true!

 

Chatot suddenly seems quite angry at our insistence about the facts! And admittedly, I can understand why. Not only does he probably have the most stressful job in the guild, but the guild has invested all sorts of resources into capturing Grovyle as the single most wanted outlaw in the entire world! They've risked a lot to get to help Dusknoir in capturing Grovyle and developed a lot of trust in him to boot! And now we come in saying that everything's been backwards and we've all been on the wrong side this whole time? As I've mentioned numerous times before, I can't imagine this information ever going down easy, but it's still the truth and it needs to be acted on immediately!

  

And so, Chatot begins to tear into our story, calling attention to all the difficult parts to believe.

 

  

Chatot doubles down in defense of Dusknoir.

 

  

He even turns to the other guild members for their opinions, and it seems even Dugtrio has a hard time believing Dusknoir could be such a heinous villain.

 

However, one friendly voice belonging to Sunflora breaks through the tension to raise a question.

 

  

 

  

Sunflora finally voices her questioning of why Dusknoir grabbed us and pulled us into the dimensional hole!

 

Chatot suggests that we might've fallen into the hole by accident, which I suppose must have been the cover story he used to ease any tension in the air shortly after we were grabbed, but Loudred seems to remember it clear as day and voices his own observations! He knows Dusknoir very intently grabbed us to pull us with him!

  

 

It seems that all of the apprentices are on our side! They all saw the same thing and it seems to line up perfectly with our story! So, even though it's hard to believe, it does explain the biggest question on everyone's minds!

  

Chatot seems completely baffled by this turn of events, it certainly isn't going to look good on him when this truth comes out, that's for sure, but to be fair, he didn't know any better than any of us and was just trying to figure things out in a way that made sense to him!

 

Bidoof confirms that he does believe us, to Chatot's utter disbelief!

  

 

  

And so, Bidoof stands up for us and affirms that he believes our story!

 

  

 

Everyone else quickly chimes in with their agreement as well! Even Dugtrio decides to trust us in spite of his trust in Dusknoir!

  

This whole experience leaves Chatot completely speechless and Pep completely emotional!

 

Wigglytuff finally chimes in affirming that everyone is in agreement!

  

Everyone seems a bit confused by what Wigglytuff says just now, but he stands firm that everyone in the guild believes their friends! He even takes executive action and assigns the new task of searching for the Hidden Land!

 

  

 

Loudred stops Wigglytuff, however, and calls to attention the fact that one person in this room, Chatot, still doesn't seem completely sold on our story, but Wigglytuff doesn't seem to pay it any mind.

  

 

  

 

  

Through the power of suggestion, Wigglytuff seems to apply pressure at the right points to cause Chatot to change his song! He desperately tries to cover up his anger and play it off like it was all pretense!

 

  

 

  

The apprentices don't seem to buy his explanation that he was pretending not to believe us to get the guild to join together in camaraderie, but none of our friends really seem to believe his explanation.

 

But, it seems this was serviceable enough for the guildmaster!

  

 

  

 

With that, Wigglytuff once again states the guild's next goal! The guild now knows from our story that the world is in danger of paralysis and we need to do something to put a stop to it! So, going forward the guild will put all of its resources into discovering the Hidden Land, in just the same way as they did for capturing Grovyle before! If we're telling the truth, then capturing Grovyle was a mistake, and it's one we owe the world a correction to!

 

  

With a little more pressure from Wigglytuff, Chatot gives the official word and the task is now at hand!

 

  

 

  

 

Our first priority is to get the word of truth out into the world! Bidoof will start by spreading it around Treasure Town while everyone else does what they can to go and inform the Lake Guardians!

  

 

With everyone delighted, it's time to take our plan into action!

  

Everyone begins to discuss their plans and Wigglytuff suggests we go speak with the town elder, Torkoal, to find out if he knows anything.

 

Chatot adds that Torkoal is the wisest and oldest pokemon in Treasure Town, so if anyone is to have a lead on the Hidden Land, it would likely be him.

  

 

After suggesting we'd likely find Torkoal at the Hot Spring, Pep recalls seeing him there after we were washed out of Waterfall Cave during our first exploration! It seems things are starting to come full circle, huh?

  

So, we finally have a direction to go! We'll need to make our way to the Hot Spring once again!

 

  

 

  

 

Before we can head off, however, Chimecho encourages that we take a break, have dinner, and get a good night's rest before we head out on any errands! It's been a long time since we've had a decent meal, so we're certainly both starving! After a bit of chastising from the crowd, it's off to the dining hall!

 

It's been so long since we've seen this scene, it almost feels nostalgic already!

  

 

After confiding his feelings into us once again, we get some rest in preparation for our journey to meet with Torkoal tomorrow. Hopefully with the guild's participation, it'll be a lot easier to gather the time gears and Grovyle won't have to fight so hard this time around.

  

The next morning, we're awoken to one thing we likely didn't miss in our time away... but, I suppose even Loudred's booming voice as an alarm clock is a bit endearing in a way now, too, isn't it? Well, with this, we can save our game and next time we can not only set out to meet with Torkoal, but finally take a much-needed trip to Treasure Town to sort out our inventory! We've also got a whole bunch of boxes to open up as well!

[Aura]

It's been a long, long time since we've been able to start a post from the guild, but here we are! Last time, we managed to convince the entire guild to help us in our mission to help Grovyle by finding the location of the Hidden Land and we were told to seek out the advice of Treasure Town's elder, Torkoal!

  

 

  

After a quick briefing summarizing what we went over the previous day, we decide it's time to prep up for heading out to visit Torkoal at the Hot Spring. For some reason, we can't just go straight there even though we know where it is. We'll need to travel through Waterfall Cave again to get there. That means, while it's a repeat dungeon from earlier in the game meaning it'll be a lot easier, we'll need to be prepared for some dungeon crawling!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, it's been a while since we've checked the diaries! Naturally, there are some new entries here.

 

Sunflora's entry is actually a bit sad to read, but I suppose it's only natural. Apparently things had gotten real quiet at the guild since we'd gone missing. She laments our disappearance and dearly misses us. It's pretty telling that nothing notable seems to have happened since our disappearance for Sunflora to write about. Apparently Chatot has also been on edge and pretty difficult to deal with.

 

Bidoof's entry is a similarly sad to read. He talks about how much he misses us and how he was looking forward to working with us more after we'd gotten closer. It seems our disappearance was really felt.

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

 

Now that we're back in the standard gameplay loop, we now have access to a lot of features we've been missing again! If you feel like you want to take a break from story progression, you can set some time aside to clear out some missions from the bulletin board, but more significantly, we have access to Chimecho Assembly again!

   

Our allies may be a bit behind in levels, but it's real nice to have the gang all together again!

   

And let's not forget that Team Outreach is also back home, too! They've been enduring the same struggles as Team Persevere this whole time!

Of course, access to Chimecho Assembly means we can once again recruit new allies, too!

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

 

Back in Treasure Town, we can find that the townsfolk were also incredibly worried about us since our disappearance!

  

It seems that Bidoof has been spreading the news as expected! Not everyone is totally sold immediately, as is only natural considering this is a complete 180 from what everyone was previously led to believe. But for the most part, the locals are pretty convinced!

 

  

 

Of course, all the shopkeepers are happy to see us back as well!

 

  

  

We can find Team Razor Wind near the Kecleon Market and they seem to have varying opinions about the news. Scyther is adamant about their disdain for Grovyle and Sandshrew finds the news of the paralyzed future shocking, but Zangoose is the most level-headed, thinking critically about the fact that this is far from the only thing that's strange to hear, so he doesn't think it's safe to just outright deny the rumor.

 

There are some more townsfolk over in this part of town, too, of course!

  

And like Bidoof, Diglett is hard at work spreading the news as well!

 

One last small change here is that we can head out to Sharpedo Bluff to find that we can now freely travel to our hideout here! It's... certainly not hidden, and there's nothing to really do in here, but it's a cool touch nonetheless!

  

Of course, the biggest boon of having access to Treasure Town is being able to use the stores here again! We can finally clear out our inventory by selling some of our junk, use some TMs on Pokemon we didn't have with us in the future, and, most importantly, open up all those boxes that have been eating a hole in our pocket!

I used a TM to teach Slick the move Poison Jab over Sludge, figuring it would be a better fit even though it can't attack through corners.

As for boxes... As you can see we've got a handful of them so let's start going through them one by one.

  x 2   x 2 

In Explorers of Time, we have a Hard Box, two Dainty Boxes, a Cute Box, two Deluxe Boxes, and a Glittery Box.

 

The Hard Box contained a Bulba-Claw which boosts the Attack of the Bulbasaur line.

  

The Dainty Boxes held a Jiggly-Song, which boosts the Special Attack of the Jigglypuff line, and Squirt Card which boosts the Special Defense of the Squirtle line.

 

The Cute Box held Tyro-Sweat, which boosts the Attack of Tyrogue and its evolutions.

  x 2

The two Deluxe Boxes both held a Grass Gummi

 

And finally, the Glittery Box held a Drifbli-Gasp which boosts the Special Attack of the Drifblim line.

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

 x 2    

In Explorers of Darkness, we have two Cute Boxes, A Pretty Box, Shiny Box, Nifty Box, and Glittery Box.

  

The Cute Boxes held Cherrim Dew, boosting the Cherrim line's Special Defense, and a Buizel Card boosting the Special Defense of Buizel and Floatzel.

 

The Pretty Box held a Gold Gummi.

 

The Shiny Box held a Feral-Claw which boosts the Attack of Feraligatr's line.

 

In the Nifty Box was Sudo-Sweat which boosts the Attack of the Sudowoodo line.

 

And the Glittery Box held another Charme Fang which is so close to being an item that would've allowed me to use the swap shop, but it looks like that's still going to have to wait to be discussed. At this point, it's looking like I might have to cover that in the cleanup. We'll just have to wait and see.

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

Anyway, back to reality, before you head out to Waterfall Cave, you might notice that none of the dungeons we explored during the Future arc are available for exploration! Even Treeshroud Forest, oddly enough. Naturally, most of these dungeons are in the ruined future so we would have no means of getting there nor desire to do so. As for Treeshroud Forest, it will become available eventually, but for now, not so much. We've got more important things to worry about anyway. Like getting to the bottom of the Hidden Land! Let's head off to Waterfall Cave!

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

So yeah, just like how in Rescue Team you had to go back through the Great Canyon near the end of the game in order to meet with Xatu at the Hill of the Ancients, this game makes you go through Waterfall Cave a second time near the end to revisit Torkoal at the Hot Spring. While I was certainly expecting to revisit this place, I thought it would be in a context similar to Quicksand Cave where we'd discover there was a secret passage leading deeper at the end or something. Nope, instead it's a repeat of that awkward period with the revisit to the Great Canyon.

I'm really not sure at all what the purpose of this is, as Waterfall Cave was a really early dungeon and at this point is extremely easy to go through, and especially considering we should know exactly where the Hot Spring is. We came home from it, after all. And, while the Hill of the Ancients certainly had reason to be isolated, I'm not sure why we'd need to go so far away from Treasure Town to meet with the elder of Treasure Town. Regardless, I don't make the rules. Let's just get this over with.

Since we've already been through this dungeon and nothing's changed, there's no need to detail it again.

While exploring, I did end up getting a new recruit!

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

Foresight (Psyduck M); Lv. 9

Item: None

Ability: Damp, Cloud Nine | Moves: Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Water Gun

While I don't think I'll be getting much use out of him considering I already have Pep, it's always nice to have some new friends along! Of course he can come with!

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

Curiously, I also recruited a second Surskit and just coincidentally gave it the exact same nickname as the previous one I'd recruited here. Oops. I guess there's a method to the madness, huh?

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

 

Anyway, upon finishing the dungeon, you'll arrive at the Hot Spring!

 

There's a Primeape and Mankey here relaxing in the springs that we can spend some time with, but of course, we're mainly here to speak with Torkoal.

  

And so, we seek an audience with the town elder!

 

To our surprise, it seems Torkoal has indeed heard of the Hidden Land!

  

 

He adds that there is little information to know about the Hidden Land out in the world, only known through spoken word and passed from generation to generation. I can imagine there'd be a lot of lost information and inaccuracies in the modern version. Even still, this is by far the biggest lead we have!

  

According to Torkoal, the Hidden Land is indeed overseas and in order to find it, you must possess "certain qualities".

 

  

Unfortunately, it seems even Torkoal doesn't seem to remember what these qualifications are!

 

  

Torkoal tries to recall exactly what these qualifications are, and seems to recall some sort of "proof." It's still pretty vague, but it's a little bit more to work with!

 

  

Of course, Torkoal still doesn't seem to recall the exact details. This really is going to be an uphill battle, isn't it?

 

  

Unfortunately, Torkoal can't seem to recall any more information from the story, so that's all he can offer us. We're ultimately not left with much to go off of. All we know is that we need some sort of "proof" and confirmation that the Hidden Land is across the sea. Really not much more to go off of than where we started. Regardless, we'll need to report our findings back at the guild.

 

  

 

  

As we report back home, it seems no one has really been able to find any other leads, so we're pretty much back at square one. Though Wigglytuff insists that's not quite true as we are one step closer in that we now know we need some sort of proof. But I'm not sure what help that could bring us even if I do have a hunch from the narrative perspective of where this is going. Could it be possible the proof we need is Pep's Relic Fragment?

Regardless, for now, we can sleep on it and see what tomorrow brings us.

 

It's time for dinner and then off to bed!

  

Pep seems pretty downtrodden about not being able to get much information out of Torkoal.

 

He quickly shifts his line of thinking over to Grovyle. Has he had success in gathering the Time Gears?

  

Pep decides to hype himself up again for the next day. We'll need to rest up in preparation of figuring out what to do next! And with that, I'll be leaving you off once again. It really feels like the end of the game is drawing closer and closer, but it's still a bit of a ways away. I think we're right on the cusp of our final expediiton of the main story, however. So we've got that to look forward to! Next time, we'll see if we can uncover anything more about the Hidden Land! Perhaps Chatot's connections can help work some magic on this proof!

[Aura]

So it's been another small gap since my last update, nothing too big has really interrupted me per se, this time, Splatoon 3 came out recently, though, and I wanted to take some time to get into it! I'm really enjoying it and will be playing it a lot in the coming days! But I won't talk too much about that here. In the meantime, more news about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have hit! The game is shaping up to be really interesting! We should reach that game one day, but for now, lets return back to the past and continue with Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time and Darkness!

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

 

Last update was fairly uneventful. After getting official support from Wigglytuff's Guild, we headed out to the Hot Spring to speak with Torkoal, the elder of Treasure Town, to learn more about the Hidden Land. It seems as though he once knew the answers we were seeking but seemed to be unable to recall it. We ended up returning home with no leads beyond the fact that the Hidden Land is a place that exists across the sea and that we require some sort of "proof" in order to get there.

  

Once again, we don't really have much to work with, so we're back to square one with everyone being sent out to continue our investigation into the Hidden Land.

 

Pep turns to us, unsure of what we should really be doing to further our cause. It's not really easy to figure out without any sort of direction. Perhaps we should get back to searching for a way to cross the sea like before?

  

Just as we were wondering what to do, Diglett announces a visitor that happens to be none other than Torkoal! He's come all the way out here! This must be something important!

 

  

 

  

Indeed, the entire guild gathers around Torkoal to hear what he has come for! It seems as though Torkoal has recalled something else, though again, he suggests it's nothing too important. But at this point, we need every bit of help we can get! Wigglytuff encourages him to carry on.

 

Torkoal explains that he recalled a bit more about the proof we needed, and explains that it "bears an inscription of a certain pattern." Very curious, indeed...

  

 

  

Torkoal elaborates a bit more on the pattern this proof holds, leaving everyone speculating about what exactly it means. He describes it as a peculiar pattern that you would rarely see... It's not exactly a description that invokes any particular ideas...

 

  

 

We think back to that time shortly after we first met Pep, where he showed us his Relic Fragment, his personal treasure, and note dthe strange pattern that was on it... could this possibly be where that comes into play...?

  

 

We immediately bring this observation up to Pep and he's shocked that it just might actually be related!

  

Pep shows his Relic Fragment to Torkoal who immediately recognizes it as the correct pattern!

 

  

 

Everyone is shocked to hear that Pep just happens to have this proof! Even he can't quite remember how he came across the fragment. Honestly, I find that a bit odd considering he considers it his personal treasure. Maybe the story is a bit too personal? Regardless, he has it. Sunflora asks if that means that he's qualified to go to the Hidden Land.

  

  

Unfortunately, Torkoal can't confirm whether or not simply possessing the proof is enough to be qualified to reach the Hidden Land. It may simply be a key that the chosen has to use. Even beyond that, Torkoal also suggests that just because this fragment bears the inscription of the correct pattern, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the proof we need to reach the Hidden Land. It could, for example, be a chunk of an inscription detailing the Hidden Land. Even still, this is a major lead and it's undoubtedly a huge lead to look into! And an exciting one for Pep, I'm sure!

 

  

 

Wigglytuff thanks Torkoal for his information, and Torkoal only just now seems to become aware of exactly what's going on. We're trying to reach a place that, up until now, has only existed in spoken legend!

  

Wigglytuff then turns to Chatot and brings up yet another surprise! Chatot and Wigglytuff have actually seen the pattern before!

 

Chatot confirms this, recalling that the inscription was inside a place called Brine Cave.

  

 

Chatot seems discouraged about this location, and Wigglytuff mentions a vicious bandit that they had encountered there, naturally leaving the guild apprentices a bit nervous as well.

  

 

  

Wigglytuff explains to everyone that he once saw this same pattern in Brine Cave and suspects that bringing the Relic Fragment there will give us some answers. However, there is a bandit that will no doubt cause problems. Fortunately, everyone seems on board with going forward in spite of the threat. We've overcome so much already, there's no way we're going to let some bandit stop us!

 

  

 

With that, Wigglytuff encourages everyone to prepare for a difficult trip through Brine Cave! Everyone begins to discuss their plans now as Torkoal chimes in, getting all nostalgic about his own dreams when he was young. It's kinda sweet we'll be able to help him live out his dream vicariously!

  

With one last thank you, we see Torkoal off.

 

  

And now, we're dismissed to make preparations for the trip to Brine Cave and everyone disperses!

 

But before we leave, we hear Wigglytuff ask Chatot to stay behind, a major shock to him!

  

Chatot requests that Wigglytuff allow him to go, but he's rejected. Wigglytuff can't allow him to face that kind of danger again. This bandit must be really threatening to put even Wigglytuff on the defensive like this!

 

This seems to offend Chatot, however, who continues to insist that he goes, wholly aware of the danger ahead of him. He seems much more prepared this time, that's for sure. And it certainly would be helpful to have someone who knows about our enemy ahead of time.

  

 

Wigglytuff ultimately gives in to his request, but asks that he travel with us. It looks like we've got another guest on our team!

  

In the meantime, it seems Wigglytuff has something to do, so he'll be taking his leave for now, leaving Chatot in charge.

 

  

Chatot turns his attention to us, giving us a rundown of everything that will be happening. Tomorrow, we'll be traveling with Chatot to Brine Cave where we'll likely be facing off against a vicious foe. We'll have to wait and see exactly what that means... In the meantime, let's get prepared!

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

But of course, we have new journal entries to look into before we progress!

 

Sunflora's diary entry comments about how exciting it is that we returned from the future! She laments that it turns out Dusknoir had been a bad pokemon all along, but she clearly chooses to believe in us over him. That's quite flattering for sure!

 

Bidoof's moreso just talks about how happy he was to see us back. Just as heartwarming! But there's not much else to say about it.

  

As we make our way out, we cut back to the crossroads of Treasure Town where Torkoal seems to be in high spirits thinking about the excitement and adventure of searching for the Hidden Land.

 

However, another voice calls out to him, with a rather familiar laugh...

  

 

Team Skull arrives and surrounds Torkoal, asking about what he was just mumbling to himself about... this certainly can't be good...

  

  

The gang notices us coming and decides to bring Torkoal somewhere where they'll be able to get the information they want out of him...

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

 

While making preparations for the trip, we decided to check in on Sharpedo Bluff to see if Grovyle has returned.

  

We don't find Grovyle inside the hideout, but we do find a note left behind!

 

  

To summarize what the note says, it seems that Grovyle's gathering of the Time Gears is nearing completion as he only has two more gears missing. Azelf and the others have cooperated with him thanks to the guild explaining the situation to them, so the last two gears should be relatively easy to obtain. He thanks us for spreading this news. However, he decides he should continue to stay away from Treasure Town and the Guild. Not only because he's still not quite sure how openly accepted he'll be, but more importantly...

 

  

He suggests that it's not unlikely in the slightest we haven't seen the last of Dusknoir. It'll be important for Grovyle to remain hidden in his pursuit of the Time Gears.

 

  

Grovyle suggests that if we do meet, it'll be here at Sharpedo Bluff, or down at the beach. With this, we decide to head out to the beach to see if we can find Grovyle there.

In case you've forgotten, you can get to the beach by heading south from the guild. Not that it's hard to find, but there's never really been a reason to go there manually.

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

  

We arrive on the beach in search of Grovyle to no avail. It seems he still hasn't gathered the Time Gears just yet.

 

  

 

On the Beach at Dusk

As we stand on the beach, Pep looks over the beautiful sunset and continues to open up more and more to us as he watches it. This is the place this all began, so it only makes sense we'll get a little sentimental over it.

  

 

  

Pep recalls that time back when Koffing and Zubat stole his Relic Fragment and we helped to get it back. In hindsight, it really seems like it was a fluke that we were able to get to them without Skuntank with them. Things would've ended really badly for us back then had that happened.

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

We share an emotional moment reflecting on how far we've come and how much we've grown since the beginning of our adventure. It's hard to believe that Relic Fragment that brought us together as a team in the first place is now being used to fulfill Pep's dream and help us embark on an adventure greater than anything we've done before. We have to get to the Hidden Land and prevent the world's paralysis, failure is not an option we can afford to let this story end on! In the end, the moment is broken up a bit by Pep noticing something off on the horizon.

  

We can see the silhouette of a pokemon crossing in front of the sunset! It's actually a really beautiful shot! In true Mystery Dungeon fashion, I suppose we're just supposed to pretend we've never seen a Lapras before and have no idea what this pokemon is.

 

  

 

As the sun continues to set, we decide to head back to the guild. We need to rest up for our adventure tomorrow. In the meantime, it seems we've had some uninvited guests eavesdropping on our conversation.

  

 

 

  

 

Once again, these guys serve to do absolutely nothing but make things worse for the whole world for absolutely no reason. Maybe they'll become relevant to the main story soon, but good lord they so far just seem to be nothing more than narrative padding, which is a pity to say the least. But I suppose not everything has to be golden. Maybe they'll surprise me, who knows?

 

It's soon off to dinner and then bed! But...

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

 

During the night, we cut back to that strange pokemon we saw in the distance before...

  

It seems Lapras has come to meet with... Wigglytuff? This must be what Wigglytuff had to leave to do, but... just what is going on here? We're probably going to get answers soon, but it's exciting to finally get some more info about Wigglytuff's history!

 

  

 

It seems Lapras is an old friend of Wigglytuff's and the two seem to be catchin gup on some adventure long ago. Apparently there was some promise Wigglytuff has made to Lapras a long time ago and has upheld to now, but now he must speak with her about that very promise...

  

So, Wigglytuff begins to talk to Lapras once again about the pattern, presumably the one at Brine Cave...

And that's where we're going to end off today! No real gameplay, but there was a fairly hefty chunk of dialogue to march through. We've still got a bit more to go through before the next dungeon, so I don't want to spend too long writing this post, you know the drill by now. There's a save prompt here, so I think it's a good place to put it down and continue later. Next time, we'll be taking our trip to Brine Cave and seeing if we can't find the path to the Hidden Land! Something tells me we've got a difficult task ahead of us.

[Aura]

 

And we're back! It's the morning of our trip to Brine Cave, yet the Guildmaster has not returned...

  

 

  

Since Wigglytuff hasn't returned, Chatot assumes he must be trusting this venture to Chatot and the rest of the guild, at least for now. He seems to have a lot of faith in the guildmaster, so he sees no problem in doing this, but... the guild doesn't seem to be in agreement on that front.

 

  

Chatot's insecurities immediately get the best of him when faced with this reaction.

 

  

 

Everyone reassures Chatot that it's not so much that they don't have faith in him as it is they just feel really safe around Wigglytuff. Even though he is a bit strange, he is always extremely reliable! But, even in the guildmaster's absence, Sunflora speaks up and calls attention to the fact that we still have a job to do with or without him. Pep agrees, too!

  

 

After this encouragement, everyone seems hyped up again and Chimecho tries to boost Chatot's confidence again.

  

 

  

Chatot seems a bit shaken up by all of this sudden emotional support, so he's not sure how to respond until he takes a moment to collect himself.

 

And with that, the official call is sounded! It's time to head off to Brine Cave!

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

 

  

 

Before we go inside, Chatot recalls his experience exploring it the first time to the apprentices who seem a bit intimidated by the bandit that dwells within...

  

 

Loudred asks what the tough pokemon were like and Chatot mentions that he was knocked out before he could do anything and when he came to, Wigglytuff had already defeated them and was tending to his wounds. As a consequence, Chatot remembers little about who the pokemon were and how they fought.

  

 

  

Pep notices that Chatot switched from referring to one tough pokemon to multiple. To which he responds by explaining that there was one in particular that was tough, but it wasn't alone. After recalling that detail, he's suddenly able to remember what the attack he was hit was like! He recalls that it was suddenly hit with water!

 

  

Loudred deduces that must mean these are Water-type pokemon. Armed with that knowledge, the guild decides to split up into squads in order to make the exploration safer.

 

  

Of course, just as Wigglytuff requested personally, we will be escorting Chatot.

 

And so, off we go!

  

 

  

 

  

As we venture inside, of course, Team Skull plots amongst themselves about their plans to steal our Relic Fragment and steal the glory of solving the mystery for themselves because of course they have to get involved.

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

Brine Cave

The music in Brine Cave sounds like it's got the leitmotif of Amp Plains which was an interesting observation I couldn't help but notice.

  

Anyway, your first visit through here, you're of course going to have Chatot joining your party which means you once again don't get to bring any allies from Chimecho Assembly. He isn't exactly deadweight, though, so be thankful for his help! No Assembly also means that no recruitments are possible here, unfortunately.

Anyway, Monster Houses cannot spawn in this dungeon, but you'll still have to look out for traps!

              

Throughout this dungeon in both versions, you can find Poke, Sneak Scarves, Geo Pebbles, Apples, Cheri, Oran, and Pecha Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, TMs and Wonder Orbs.

Curiously, however, in Explorer's of Darkness, the Sneak Scarf can only be found on the first four floors. In Time, it can be found on any floor.

            

Aside from that oddity, Explorers of Darkness also features the Twist Band, Black, Clear, Gold, Gray, Purple, Red, Royal, and Yellow Gummis, Violent and X-Eye Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

                   

In Explorers of Time is where most of the held items are hidden! Exclusive to Time here are the Def. and Pecha Scarves, Heal and Joy Ribbons, Persim, Power, Special, Stamina, and Zinc Bands, Blue, Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, Silver, Sky, and White Gummis, Stun Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs. It really looks like Explorers of Darkness gets the short end of the stick on this one.

And as for traps,

As per usual, the Trip Trap is found in both versions of the game.

    

Darkness brings the usual Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps

    

And Time brings the Grimy, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps. Same old, same old.

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

Brine Cave [B1F - B5F]

    

For the first five floors, you can encounter Seel, Omanyte, Kingler, Pelipper, and Gastrodon. There isn't much to say here, really. Be wary of ranged attacks! Omanyte and Pelipper can also be quite pesky with Protect, so be careful and don't be afraid to use your items! They can damage the pokemon even through Protect!

During this dungeon, I was quickly reminded to turn off Pep's BubbleBeam. Gastrodon's Storm Drain makes it effectively useless and it can needlessly alert pokemon to your presence. Make sure you do the same for any Water-type pokemon you have!

I also picked up a Joy Ribbon on the second floor which I gave to myself seeing that I'd likely be taking the most damage and I can heal any damage off with Synthesis!

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

Brine Cave [B6F - B7F]

     

Starting on B6F, you can no longer find Seel. In its place, Tentacool and Dewgong! These bring yet more ranged attacks and Dewgong can be especially threatening with the instant kill of Sheer Cold, so make sure to keep your distance! Even if it does get in close, Sheer Cold only has a 20% chance of connecting but even still, you can imagine what a nightmare that would be.

And even though Dewgong is part Ice, keep in mind that it does have Thick Fat which reduces damage from Fire-type moves! 

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

Brine Cave [B8F]

      

Omanyte is the next to go replaced with Staryu and Dragonair!

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

Brine Cave [9F]

    

Kingler and Pelipper go away on the next floor with nothing taking their place.

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

On the 10th floor, we find a checkpoint meaning we're nearing the end of the dungeon!

 

  

We stop at the Kangaskhan Rock for a brief exchange before we prepare to continue our exploration...

 

When, of course, Team Skull appears. Zubat and Koffing bump into Pep, causing him to drop his Relic Fragment.

  

It seems they're no longer afraid of revealing their true colors to the guild! At least, as long as Wigglytuff isn't around...

 

  

 

Just like in the beginning of the game, Skuntank decides to steal the fragment from us. Unlike the beginning of the game, Skuntank is here and we know from experience we're not quite a match for him.

  

 

  

And finally, Team Skull's true nature is at least revealed to Chatot, though Wigglytuff is well aware as well, of course.

 

  

 

After taking the Relic Fragment, Skuntank mocks the guild for its naivete before marching onward with the intention of being the first to explore the hidden land.

  

 

Furious, Chatot immediately gives chase after Team Skull to reprimand them for their cruelty. It's actually pretty satisfying to see Chatot finally finding out the truth even though I really feel like we should've made what was going on clear from the very start, or at least tried. I'm sure the rest of the guild would've backed us up.

  

 

Needless to say, we'll need to continue onward alone.

 

With that, we no longer have Chatot's support and have go it alone.

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

Lower Brine Cave

The music in Lower Brine Cave is a lot deeper and bass-heavy which is a really cool but somewhat scary feel. It's clear the dungeon is getting a log more dangerous.

The only difference in items here is that the Sneak Scarf is no longer available. Other than that, the same items are available in Lower Brine Cave as Brine Cave.

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

Lower Brine Cave [B1F]

    

On the first floor, you can find Gastrodon, Dewgong, Tentacool, Staryu, and Dragonair, same as the 9th floor of Brine Cave.

It's here where I finally reached level 34 and learned Body Slam! Now I can get some better DPS when Bullet Seed is too much!

Also of note, I found an island from which I couldn't gather any of the items. You can cleverly maneuver around using the tactics menu, but it's a lot easier to get these items if you, yourself, are a Water-type. In fact, the only way to get them your first time through this dungeon is if you or your partner is a Water-type pokemon as these are obviously the only pokemon in your party.

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

Lower Brine Cave [B2F - B5F]

   

On the second floor, however, Gastrodon and Dewgong are out and replaced with Walrein who not only likes to bring Hail and Swagger as well as Aurora Beam to fight from range. And, again, Thick Fat can be annoying for Fire Types. Be careful, careful, careful!

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

 

We soon arrive at the pit of Brine Cave with no sign of Chatot or Team Skull just yet...

  

Up ahead, we hear a grunt, so we rush over to check it out.

 

It turns out to be Team Skull! Once again, they've been wiped out! Looks like they've gotten in over their heads yet again!

  

 

It seems as though they were defeated by the bandits Chatot had warned us about. Somehow, they didn't know what to expect besides eavesdropping on us this whole time.

  

 

  

 

  

Pep wants to help the injured Skuntank to Skuntank's surprise. He certainly wouldn't expect Pep to help him after how cruel they've been, but even still, he rejects Pep's help, insisting that he get out himself because he's so furious over the firm scolding he'd received from Chatot. Honestly, I fear for Chatot's safety right now, but as long as he's with Wigglytuff he'll certainly be fine.

 

Skuntank does stop to consider, however, that, in a way, Chatot riling him up the way he did did save him in a sense by encouraging him to continue without giving in. He'll get out alive by sheer willpower.

  

 

Even still, Pep is concerned for Skuntank's well-being, again, to his bewilderment.

  

Skuntank just laughs when Pep explains that he can't just leave Skuntank...

 

But then... He drops the Relic Fragment?

  

 

  

 

Skuntank tries to play off his moment of clarity by "accidentally" dropping the Relic Fragment so that Pep can "Steal it back" and run off. It's a little bit of an amusing moment of character development, but yet I still really don't feel like this changes my opinion of these guys. They really didn't need to be anything beyond simple opposition in the very beginning of the game and nothing else, their role ever since Skuntank came along has been exclusively filler in an otherwise really involved story. They do toy with the narrative themes of trust and perspective, but I don't feel like it's in any way that's notably different from the likes of Dusknoir. Oh well, it is what it is, I suppose.

  

Skuntank once again encourages us not to worry about them because our attention should really be on helping Chatot up ahead.

 

  

With one last thanks, we get going deeper into the cave to catch up with Chatot.

 

Once they're alone, Skuntank tries to check in with his teammates again.

  

It seems that neither Koffing or Zubat are capable of moving without some rest, so for now they're going to be laying here, confident they'll get out on their own will soon enough.

 

  

Skuntank is a little bit embarrassed by the act of generosity he'd just exhibited, but his cohorts offer up some praise for it. It's a little sweet, but again, really not enough I think to justify their inclusion. Not a fan of these guys derailing everything so much.

 

Up ahead, we find Chatot alone!

  

 

Chatot alerts us that he saw the figures of the pokemon where he's standing right now, but lost sight of them. They must be hidden nearby waiting to ambush...

  

 

We try to search around, but can't seem to find anything of note like Chatot warned us about... Yet Chatot seems really on-edge...

  

Suddenly, Chatot seems to remember another detail!

 

As he recalls the events in his head, he decides to look up and, to his surprise, he sees Kabutops and two Omastar attached to the ceiling of the cave!!

  

 

  

 

The three pokemon drop down before swiping at us with an immediate attack!

  

But suddenly, Chatot swoops in to take the hit for us!!

 

  

The Omastar Brothers seem to recognize Chatot from a their previous encounter. It seems things played out similarly the last time he was here with Wigglytuff...

 

  

Kabutops mocks Chatot, but Chatot tries his best to hold his ground, but after taking a fatal blow, things aren't looking good for him...

 

Unable to stand after the attack, Chatot collapses before us.

 

  

And now, the battle is on! But thanks to Chatot taking the initial attack, Kabutops and his gang no longer have the element of surprise! It's a fair fight from here on!

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

 

Team Persevere

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

Aura (Chikorita M); Lv. 34

Item: Joy Ribbon 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Synthesis, Swords Dance, Bullet Seed, Body Slam

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

Pep (Piplup M); Lv. 34

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: BubbleBeam + Growl, Fury Attack, Dig

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

  

Vs. Kabutops & The Omastar Brothers

It feels like it's been a while since we've had a boss fight, huh? Anyway, without that element of surprise, these guys aren't so tough. Especially the two Omastar. And especially with a Grass-type like myself.

 

The entire boss fight can more or less be summed up with my use of Swords Dance and Bullet Seed to combine my STAB, Attack Boost, multiple hits, and their quad weakness. The first of the two Omastar went down right away. Meanwhile, Pep focused on the other.

 

Pep used Dig to avoid not one, but two attacks from the foes, a great move given the typings as well!

Once he popped up from the ground, Omastar couldn't take the hit and went down as well. From here, things couldn't have been more straight-forward.

Bullet Seed took care of Kabutops like a total joke. Now, since this fight was such a joke, I think it's only appropriate to go over how we did in Explorers of Darkness...

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

 

Team Outreach

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

Liz (Charmander F); Lv. 35

Item: Insomniscope 

Ability: Blaze | Moves: SmokeScreen + Scary Face, Flamethrower, Aerial Ace

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

Sprout (Turtwig M); Lv. 35

Item: Red Bow 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Razor Leaf, Bite, Mega Drain, Synthesis

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

  

Vs. Kabutops & The Omastar Brothers

This battle was perhaps the most challenging for Team Outreach in the game if only because, not only were there multiple opponents, but htey all had resistances to Liz's strongest attacks. However, that still didn't protect them from Sprout's Grass-type attacks. So, the battle had to play out a bit the same, but I had to open up by throwing an X-Eye Seed at Kabutops to get him out of the picture for a little bit while we focused our efforts on the brothers.

I used Smokescreen and Lear to disable one while Sprout quickly dispatched the other. Then, the hindered one was knocked out as well by Sprout while Liz cut Kabutops off with another SmokeScreen and Scary Face.

Now that it was just us and Kabutops, the fight was pretty single-handed. It wasn't long at all for Kabutops to go down.

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

 

 

It isn't long at all for the bandits to be shocked by our strength and immediately retreat, giving us the chance to check up on Chatot.

  

As we're checking up on us, a voice calls out to him!

 

It's Wigglytuff! And... Grovyle!?

  

The rest of the guild isn't far behind, either! They're all surprised to find Grovyle with Wigglytuff as well!

 

But before explaining everything, Wigglytuff wants to put his attention toward Chatot's injuries. This must've been exactly what he was trying to avoid by having Chatot stay behind, but what he did just now is certainly incredibly important.

  

 

Wigglytuff asks Chatot if he's okay, and Chatot tries to play it off.

  

 

Chatot insists Wigglytuff shouldn't blame himself, but laments his humility in being put defeated again by the same foe. However, Wigglytuff contradicts him, insisting that he wasn't just knocked out.

  

 

Wigglytuff recounts the events from his perspective, having been conscious for it all, he certainly remembers more details than Chatot did. Chatot wasn't simply wiped out leaving Wigglytuff to defend himself, it was Chatot jumping in to save Wigglytuff from an ambush, just as he did for us! Had they gotten the drop on Wigglytuff, he would've been defeated instead!

  

 

  

 

Wigglytuff has a heartfelt moment with Chatot who seems to feel incredibly honored. How sweet! But he's not exactly in any position to relish in the moment as he collapses immediately after.

  

Grovyle insists that everyone stay calm before approaching to check Chatot and see that he'll be alright, but he needs to be brought back to the guild asap!

 

  

 

  

 

Pep wants to go with everyone to make sure Chatot is okay, but Wigglytuff demands that he stay on the mission. After all, if we go home now, Chatot's sacrifice would be in vain. So we have no choice but to press on with Grovyle.

  

And so, we go our separate ways. We're too close to give up now!

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

 

  

 

  

As we continue onward, we catch up with Grovyle to find that Wigglytuff is the reason he was able to reunite with us here. In addition, he's finished gathering the Time Gears, so all we have to do is find our way to the Hidden Land and put them in place at Temporal Tower!

 

Up ahead, we find a cavern with... seawater! It seems as thought here was an opening on the far end of the cave that we couldn't see before! That would've been really freaking good to know, huh? But maybe it was from a direction we couldn't approach for one reason or another...

  

Through the opening, we can see a beautiful view of the sea and the horizon.

 

 

Of course, more importantly than the beautiful view, is what lies on the other side...

  

It's the very same pattern that we're looking for! The one that's supposed to be a hint toward the location of the Hidden Land! But now... what exactly do we do?

 

Pep decides to pull his Relic Fragment out...

  

And suddenly, the fragment begins glowing with a blue light!

 

Soon, the wall pattern begins to glow as well!

  

And before we know it, an extremely bright beam of light shoots across the sky over the sea! Are we supposed to follow it...?

 

  

Shortly after the light fades, a familiar silhouette appears on the horizon... was that beam some sort of signal for this pokemon?

 

Soon enough, the pokemon draws close enough for us to see the form of Lapras clearly.

  

Lapras greets us pleasantly.

 

  

We're completely lost as to what's going on, so Pep asks for Lapras to introduce himself.

 

Lapras introduces himself as the guide to the Hidden Land, shocking news, for sure! But this should make things easy, right? We can make our way to the Hidden Land and finally our path forward is clear again!

  

Lapras explains that the light is indeed a signal to call him toward this location.

 

  

And with that, we set out on Lapras' back to be carried to the Hidden Land beyond the sea... just what awaits us there? We'll have to wait and see as we draw closer and closer to the end of the story!

[Aura]

We're getting closer and closer to the end of the game. Last time, we'd just overcome the vicious bandit of Brine Cave with the help of Chatot taking their initial blow for us and we solved the mystery of the strange pattern that lied just beyond with the help of Pep and his Relic Fragment. The pattern signaled for Lapras who promised to take us to the Hidden Land! In the meantime, the rest of the guild took Chatot back home for emergency treatment. Hopefully he's okay!

 

We start up with a shot of Wigglytuff's guild to see how everyone's doing.

  

 

  

Wigglytuff regroups with the rest of the guild and explains that Chatot is going to be okay, much to everyone's relief!

 

Sunflora proceeds to ask Wigglytuff about what happened before, and he begins to explain.

 

  

As we know already, things played out similarly to how they did with us. Chatot noticed the bandits on the ceiling and swooped in to take the hit first. Wigglytuff was of course able to take them all out after the fact, but he didn't know what to do with the injured Chatot... It seems there's more to the story.

 

  

Wigglytuff adds to the story that, following those events, Lapras showed up to save Chatot.

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

 

Meanwhile, back on the sea, it seems Lapras is also filling Team Persevere in on his side of the story as well. And I gotta say, this shot is really well done, I think. The artists behind this game really loved to draw the sky and it makes for some really beautiful scenery!

  

 

And Lapras begins to add the promise he had Wigglytuff make with him.

  

 

  

Back at the guild, Wigglytuff is also explaining his promise to the apprentices. Lapras recognized that Wigglytuff and Chatot were an exploration team and asked him to promise that he would not investigate the pattern in Brine Cave for the sake of the world's peace. Lapras had not intended to make his presence known until he noticed Chatot had been injured, so perhaps his presence becoming known would've caused the Hidden Land to be discovered too early... from there, who knows what kinds of people could get to it?

 

  

 

  

 

Of course, we know that Wigglytuff agreed to this promise. After all, Lapras thanked him for holding true to it all these years. But Lapras continues to explain that the Hidden Land had to remain hidden because it is the location of Temporal Tower, where Dialga reigns. Dialga of course wanted to protect the tower from intruders who would damage the flow of time. And so, the Hidden Land was concealed within a gap in time itself so that nobody could find it without Dialga's express permission.

  

Of course, there is one means for entering the Hidden Land in the even that someone from the outside world is needed there: The Relic Fragment left behind by Dialga.

 

  

 

Wigglytuff also explains what it was he had to do before everyone went into Brine Cave. He went ahead of everyone else to explain the situation to Lapras. Everything from time stopping to gathering the Time Gears and needing to return them to Temporal Tower. Hence why he told Lapras that promise could no longer be kept. He had to ask Lapras how to get to the Hidden Land so that we could return the Time Gears and save the planet from total paralysis.

  

 

As it turns out, Lapras revealed that the Relic Fragment decides who gets to go to the Hidden Land, and that the fragment chose Pep!

  

 

Even Wigglytuff can't say for certain why Pep was chosen by the Relic Fragment, but he suggests that it might've been his pure heart that led to him being chosen, because Dialga wanted to make sure nobody with bad intentions could enter Temporal Tower. In other words, had Team Skull been successful in bringing the Relic Fragment to the pattern in Brine Cave, I doubt they would've received the same reaction that Pep did when he placed the fragment there. Because they lacked the pure heart necessary.

  

In the end, there's nothing more the guild can do. It feels entirely on us, Team Persevere, to get to the Hidden Land and return the Time Gears to Temporal Tower in order to stop the destruction of time. No pressure, or anything.

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

We continue to sail across the sea well into the next day with, yet again, a beautiful shot of the sea and sky.

 

  

Finally, it sounds like we're drawing closer to the Hidden Land! Lapras tells us to look ahead at where the sea looks a little different...

..."a little different" indeed. This is obviously a graphical bug due to my... legitimate hardware. But, this is a beautiful scene indeed, so I find this as a great opportunity to share a video of the scene instead!

Of course, I'm privy to the fact that YouTube videos like this unfortunately tend to get taken down, so I'll continue to provide screenshots of the scene as well. But it's such an exciting moment that the whole game has been building up to, so I feel like it only does justice to experience the whole moment in full motion! And what powerful music to go with it! Oh, what I wouldn't give to have experienced this for the first time when I was a kid!

Obviously, this footage doesn't belong to me, credit to Asareal on YouTube for the footage. Consequently, the starter and partner here aren't the same as mine. I ask that you overlook the obvious fact that this footage is from Explorers of Sky and not Time or Darkness. Don't worry, the scene is the same regardless!

  

As you can (hopefully) see in the video, the black box here isn't normally there and all you can see is sparking over a green light on the horizon, similar to that of the Time Gears we've seen so far. This, Lapras reveals, is the edge of the gap in time, meaning we're getting closer to the Hidden Land!

 

As we approach, Lapras begins to speed up, excitement builds as the music picks up its pace!

  

As we continue rushing forward, Lapras appears to levitate out of the water and... into the air!!

 

  

Naturally, this is a shock to Pep, but Grovyle seems to figure out what's going on. Lapras isn't flying, he's swimming across the sea of time!

And before we know it, a floating island appears before us!

 

  

Lapras confirms that this is the Hidden Land beyond the sea!

 

Lapras approaches the edge of the land.

 

And with that, the last corner of our map has been revealed! The clouds part over the Hidden Land!

Well, technically there's more yet uncovered, but for the main story, this is as far as we need to go! But this newly uncovered land still needs to be explored if we want to reach Temporal Tower and save the world!

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

And so, we finally arrive at the Hidden Land on our final expedition.

 

  

 

Up ahead, we can see a massive tower floating amongst a collection of giant rocks. This is Temporal Tower, the residence of Dialga. This whole time we've only known it by name, but now we can physically see it! Finally, the journey truly feels like it's nearly complete!

  

Of course, Pep makes one notable observation... how exactly are we supposed to get to it if it's floating in the sky like this?

 

Lapras seems to have the solution. It's unfortunately not as simple as "Hey, I'll give you a ride." Like we've establisehd, Lapras isn't flying so much as drifting through time. Instead, he tells us of the Rainbow Stoneship we'll need to use to get there.

  

Lapras explains that the Rainbow Stoneship is an ancient, mystical vessel located in the Old Ruins that will take us to Temporal Tower. At this point, these myths and legends have yet to steer us astray, so I suppose we'd better just take it at face value at this point!

 

  

 

After thanking Lapras, he tells us this is the extent of what he can do for us and that the rest is up to us. It's time to prepare!

Humorously, you aren't actually locked in here. If you desperately need to return to Treasure Town, you can do so by speaking with Lapras. But I really wouldn't want to break up the pace of the plot here.

 

The alternative, of course, is a Kangaskhan Rock here where we can access our storage. I guess, again, we just needn't think too hard about the logistics of how this works. But more importantly, it's off to our next dungeon!

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

Hidden Land

This dungeon is something of the calm before the storm. It's got a pleasant, relaxing atmosphere, but don't let yourself be too calmed! There are some fairly tough pokemon here that can surprise you! And Monster Houses and Traps are both here as well!

                  

Across both versions, this dungeon provides Poke, Sneak Scarves, Iron Thorns, Gravelerocks, Apples, Big Apples, Cheri, Chesto, Oran, Pecha, and Rawst Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, and TMs and Wonder Orbs.

             

In Explorers of Darkness, you get Twist Bands, Black, Clear, Gold, Gray, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, and Yellow Gummis, Violent and X-Eye Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

And just like in Brine Cave, the Sneak Scarf is weirdly only available on the first four floors in Darkness.

                      

Explorers of Time brings in the Lock-on Specs, Def. and Pecha Scarves, Heal and Joy Ribbons, Persim, Power, Special, Stamina, and Zinc Bands, Blue, Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, Silver, Sky, and White Gummis, Quick, Stun, and Warp Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

The Lockon Specs I believe are new, this held item will make thrown items more likely to hit their targets!

In the trap department, the Trip Trap is no longer here meaning there are no traps shared between versions! Other than that, the traps are pretty standard fare.

    

Explorers of Darkness has Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps

     

While Explorers of Time has the Chestnut, Grimy, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps.

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

Hidden Land [1F - 15F]

        

As mentioned earlier, there are some tough pokemon in this dungeon so you don't want to let the soft music lull you into a false sense of security. Nearly every pokemon here has something to watch out for! Dragonite soaks up a lot of damage and can use Agility to get extra turns on you. Manectric has Discharge which damages every pokemon in the room so you'll want to take them out from a distance wherever possible. Tropius is also a damage sponge and benefits from Sunlight with Solar Power and Chlorophyll. Rampardos I found to be the least threatening, but its Zen Headbutt can still cause you to flinch at bad times. Bastiodon has Protect which is always annoying. Keep your items handy! Purugly has Fury Swipes, need I say more? Garchomp can set up Sandstorm to plague you with constant damage and boost his evasion with Sand Veil. Abomasnow's Snow Warning causes Hail whenever it spawns and Magmortar's Lava Plume can cause massive damage if you don't quite kill it with a strong attack. All nine of these pokemon are persistent throughout this dungeon, so you'll need to stay on your guard the whole way through.

 

On Floor 6 and 10, the weather is naturally Sunny, so be particularly wary of Tropius until an Abomasnow inevitably appears.

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

After the 15th floor, you'll find a rest stop where you can save up.

Once you're prepared, you can get moving toward! We must be getting close to the Rainbow Stoneship!

Hidden Highlands

In the second half of the dungeon, the color palette becomes a lot darker and the music becomes a bit more regal. The items and pokemon you find up here are otherwise the same as the first 15 floors, so it's purely an aesthetic difference. That is, with the exception that the Sneak Scarf is no longer available in Explorers of Time.

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

Hidden Highlands [1F - 8F]

        

Again, the same pokemon are found here, just at slighly higher levels. All the same warnings apply.

On floor 6, Pep grew to level 36 and tried to learn Mist, but I passed on it figuring his other moves were more worthwhile to keep.

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

At the end of the dungeon, we finally arrive at the old ruins.

I failed to catch a screenshot of the first mural here, but thankfully Bulbapedia has me covered on this front! As we pass through, we'll find a mural of various legendary pokemon including Mew, Kyogre and Groudon, and Palkia and Dialga.

 

  

We stop for a moment to marvel at the old inscriptions of legendary pokemon, but we have to remember we're here on an important job!

 

  

We step outside to find what appears to be a staircase to a large temple! We decide to climb the stairs to continue searching for the Rainbow Stoneship.

 

  

 

As we investigate the top of the temple, we find the same pattern on the Relic Fragment along with a small indentation the same size and shape as said Relic Fragment... I wonder what we're supposed to do here? Well, apparently, we need a Stone Tablet to help us figure this mystery out. But they're written in strange runes...

  

 

Grovyle explains that these are Unown Letters written in an ancient language. It actually makes sense given that it's established in this world pokemon write with Footprint Runes that Unown would be more difficult for them to interpret. Thankfully, Grovyle's extensive research into this means that he's capable of interpreting the language, but it takes him a while to do so.

  

 

  

Grovyle reveals that this location is the Rainbow Stoneship. A bit strange as it's not quite what I had in mind when I invisioned something of that name, but I'll bite. Grovyle tells Pep to put his Relic Fragment into the indentation here to activate the Rainbow Stoneship so that they can ride it to Temporal Tower.

 

But as Pep reaches to put the Relic Fragment into the indentation...

  

A voice calls out to interrupt us, followed by an all-too-familiar laugh. Not that of Team Skull's, however...

 

  

Before we know it, we're surrounded by Sableye! And Dusknoir makes his presence known.

 

  

It seems Dusknoir had a leg up on us this whole time. Dialga had him warped here directly to stop us from reaching Temporal Tower once and for all. He decided to wait here knowing we would certainly arrive here eventually. This explains why we haven't seen any opposition from him this time while gathering the Time Gears...

 

  

Dusknoir has his Sableye carry us to the dimensional hole they arrived through.

 

  

Dusknoir wastes no time this time in ordering his squad to push us into the dimensional hole, but Grovyle devises a plan with us just like before.

  

 

All three of us attack at the same time, catching the Sableye off guard once again. Honestly, I'm not sure what else Dusknoir could've expected, but even he seems fairly unphased.

  

 

 

It's finally time for our final showdown with Dusknoir. You didn't think we'd be able to slip into Temporal Tower without this boss fight, right?

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

  

Team Persevere

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

Aura (Chikorita M); Lv. 35

Item: Joy Ribbon 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Synthesis, Swords Dance, Bullet Seed, Body Slam

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

Pep (Piplup M); Lv. 36

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: BubbleBeam + Growl, Fury Attack, Dig

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

Grovyle M; Lv. 46

Item: None

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Quick Attack, Mega Drain, Leaf Blade, Dig

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

     

Vs. Dusknoir & Sableye Squad

This boss battle has unique music! And it turns out that fight agains tthe Luxio clan was subtle training for this final faceoff with Dusnkoir! We're surrounded by Sableye and of course we have the major threat ahead of ourselves!

I actually realized I'd made a big mistake in dropping too many offensive seeds throughout the dungeon, so I didn't have much to work with for stopping Dusknoir. This actually wound up making this fight significantly harder than it needed to be. Regardless, I could stall him for a bit by throwing a Stun Seed at him from the start.

From here, I could turn to the south to focus my fire on the two Sableye conveniently lined up below me.

Unfortunately, I missed too much so I wasn't able to KO them both with one move like I'd hoped, but I did get rid of one while Grovyle dealt with another. Pep's BubbleBeam and Growl helped to dish out some damage as well as drop the Attack of all the surrounding enemies, a major boon for sure!

And then Dusknoir uses Pursuit which is an incredibly scary aspect for one major reason: You can't turn Grovyle's moves off since he's not actually part of your team. And he's unfortunately not the brightest. He'll carelessly attack Dusknoir and cause major damage to himself occasionally because of Dusknoir's Counter status. Thankfully, due to a bug in the game's programming, Pursuit does not counter Leaf Blade since it's a Grass type attack. But he will counter Dig or Quick Attack. Make sure to minimize the damage by telling your partner not to use any physical attacks while Dusknoir's Counter status is active. Meanwhile, I continued focusing on the little guys to make fighting Dusknoir himself easier.

  

We took out another Sableye, but where I would've liked to get another hit in, Grovyle of course had to attack Dusknoir with Dig, causing himself to take nearly all of his HP! He nearly got KO'd, but thanks to my Bodyguard IQ Skill, I was able to take the damage for him and avoid wasting a Reviver Seed.

 

This bought me enough time to use an Oran Berry on Grovyle to heal him up.

Pep actually had his Persim Band knocked off, so I had to make sure to pick this item up off the ground before the battle ended or I'd lose it permanently!

  

Once it was just down to us and Dusknoir, I started to set up Swrods Dance. O fcourse, Grovyle was still attacking Dusknoir, so I still had to babysit his HP along the way as well as use Synthesis to heal off any attacks he dealt to me. Eventually, I got around to getting my boosted attack through with Bullet Seed!

And this was enough to take him out before he could cause too much damage to me or my friends!

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

 

  

Upon his defeat, Dusknoir collapses to the ground, and even after unleashing a wail of agony, he still refuses to surrender, and shoves us away with another attack!

 

  

 

Dusknoir is seeming to be undefeatable... and this one actually was a fairly challenging boss fight, so this time it genuinely feels deserved.

  

 

  

Dusknoir threatens to bring an end to the fight and opens the mouth on his stomach to prepare for an attack. We notice the mouth... could it be a weakness? We've certainly got nothing to lose by trying!

 

Dusknoir's attack begins to form as we share our idea with the others.

  

 

  

Just as he launches his attack, we combine our own attacks against it to redirect the blast right back at Dusknoir! This knocks him to the ground once again! Is he down for the count!?

 

Try as he might to stand, Dusknoir collapses fully to the ground.

  

Pep and Grovyle are in disbelief that we were able to defeat Dusknoir!

 

  

Even the Sableye are in disbelief and all run off in a panic after Dusknoir's defeat!

 

  

 

  

 

Grovyle sends Pep up to the Rainbow Stoneship to see if it will activate while we stay back and watch over Dusknoir to make sure he isn't up to any more tricks.

  

 

  

Finally seeming to admit defeat, Dusknoir seems to resort to appealing to us through pleading instead. It almost seems pitiful, except... suddenly he reveals a major twist that makes his actions up until now make a lot more sense than I'd ever considered. If history is changed, their future will cease to exist. As a consequence, pokemon of the future including not only Dusknoir, but Grovyle, Celebi, and myself as well, will disappear! Suddenly things seem to make a lot more sense. Grovyle is seeking to create a better future for others, but in doing so, he's essentially guaranteeing the demise of everyone from his future. From that perspective, perhaps Dusknoir isn't actually as cruel of a villain as I'd suggested from before. He genuinely sees Grovyle as a misguided villain because, from his perspective, Grovyle is trying to destroy his home. Perhaps Dusknoir wants the future to be fixed through the efforts of its own inhabitants rather than outright being replaced, but Grovyle recognizes that is impossible without the flow of time.

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Suddenly, the mood feels a lot less exciting. If the future is changed, we disappear. And there are a lot of implications behind that. Apparently, Grovyle knew this already, and so did Celebi and even myself before I lost my memories. Grovyle and I came to the past knowing fully that we would be erased if we were successful, but we decided it was worthwhile. It almost feels unfair that we made a decision with this much gravity to it that we don't even remember making.

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

Grovyle calls to attention one final fact. If we disappear, Pep will be crushed. This must be why Grovyle never brought this up until now. Pep's always been around and it would really crush his resolve to find out we would disappear. But this mission is so much greater than just us. We have to continue forward and we're going ot have to keep Pep in the dark...

Suddenly, I'm starting to understand how this game was able to drive so many people to tears! This is definitely the heaviest the series has gotten yet! Even though we did disappear in the end of Rescue Team, too, we didn't really know we would until the time was right...

What a rough ending to our update today. But next time, we'll have to see how things play out as we enter the final chapter of our adventure. See you then!

[Aura]

Today is going to be the finale of this grand story! But it's a bit of a doozy, a lot of stuff will be happening. Last time, we reached the final leg of our journey to Temporal Tower: The Rainbow Stoneship which we'll need to take to the entrance of the tower. In order to operate the Stoneship, Pep needed to insert his Relic Fragment into the slot in the middle. But just as he went to do so, we were interrupted by Dusknoir. After a tough battle, we were able to fend him and his Sableye off. We stood by to watch over him while we sent Pep off to verify the stoneship actually works. That was when he dropped a major bombshell as a last-ditch effort to stop us: Dusknoir revealed that if history is altered, every pokemon from the future, including Grovyle and I, will disappear. And, of course, that means Pep will be left all alone. Suddenly all of our triumphant feelings feel a lot more bittersweet...

 

We cut back to Pep, ignorant of our conversation with Dusknoir, returning to the rainbow stoneship.

  

When he inserts the Relic Fragment, the pattern in the temple begins to glow!

 

We can see the glow all the way from the base of the temple on the other side! The Rainbow Stoneship works!

  

In one last-ditch effort, Dusknoir lashes out to attack us. It's clear now that he's not just fighting for some faulty sense of justice. He's fighting for his life as well as the lives of everyone in the future.

 

  

He goes in to finish us off, but Grovyle jumps in to take the hit for us.

 

When suddenly, Grovyle begins to push back at Grovyle, and the same song that played before with Lapras plays again here! Revealing its secondary title.

Sacrifice

This song was already powerful when I first heard it, but given all we know now, it has so much more weight to it and genuinely caught me off guard with a surge of emotions!

  

 

Grovyle wrestles with Dusknoir at the edge of the dimensional hole, threatening bring him back to the future with him in order to buy time for us to get to the tower and save the world!

  

 

To that effect, he drops the time gears behind him, ready to disappear forever into the future. This just might be the last we see of him as well as Dusknoir! And suddenly a lot of the emotional impact I've heard so much about between these two characters makes so much more sense to me! This is absolutely the moment I must have been thinking of before! Pep arrives to find Grovyle and Dusknoir grapping for their lives and ambitions at the edge of time.

  

 

  

 

Pep is shocked by the sudden realization that we'll be losing Grovyle, but Grovyle encourages him and insists that he's capable of so much more.

  

 

  

With one final farewell, Grovyle commits to his sacrifice by forcing Dusknoir into the dimensional hole along with himself. Though it's a great sacrifice, it's also a great victory as Dusknoir is no longer a threat to us and we're free to complete our journey.

 

We watch as the dimensional hole closes behind Grovyle and Dusknoir. They've both disappeared without a trace. This is the end of their story. Pep and I are left behind, but we need to press on.

  

 

The rainbow stoneship begins to grow louder, so as much as we want to sit around and mourn for Grovyle, we need to gather up the time gears and get going.

  

 

  

 

As we watch Pep slowly gather up the gears, we can only think of how he'll feel when we have to disappear as well. It's truly heartbreaking to imagine...

  

 

  

 

Grovyle's final words were spoken quite craftily in a way that Pep was led to the assumption that he was referring to how he felt about parting with us, and that might be part of it, but his true meaning wasn't lost on us. It was advice for us to press on even though it hurts to know we'll have to part from Pep.

  

 

Of course, just like with Chatot's sacrifice, we have to carry onward or Grovyle's sacrifice will have been in vain. We don't have time to mope around. Let's finish off our final adventure and save the world!

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

 

The light from the stoneship is getting brighter and more intense, as is the sound! We'd better jump on before it starts moving!

  

 

Before we know it, the stoneship begins to float off of the top of the temple and begin moving toward Temporal Tower all the while cycling through the various colors of the rainbow.

  

 

We can see Temporal Tower in the distance drawing nearer as the theme of the Time Gears begins to play again.

  

We soon arrive at our destination and depart from the Rainbow Stoneship.

 

  

 

There's a bit of walking distance to go, but we hustle up to approach the tower.

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

 

    

We soon arrive at the base of Temporal Tower and suddenly feel heavy tremors! It seems as though the tower is already beginning to collapse, so we have to hurry to the top! We can prepare for our final dungeon, our toughest challenge yet, and then venture into Temporal Tower.

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

Temporal Tower

This is our final journey and it's fittingly quite tough! Of course, it's got traps and monster houses galore, so come prepared! Without Grovyle, we're also lacking an extra layer of help. We'll need to be wary going forward.

                          

There are a variety of items to look out for in this dungeon! Across both versions, you've got Poke, Def., and Pecha Scarves, Munch Belts, Patsy, Persim, Power, Special, Stamina, and Zinc Bands, Iron Thorns, Gravelerocks, Apples, Big Apples, Cheri, Chesto, Oran, Pecha, and Rawst Berries, Blast, Heal, Pure, Reviver, and Sleep Seeds, Max Elixirs, TMs, and Wonder Orbs.

Trust me, you're going to want as many Sleep and Reviver Seeds as you can get throughout this dungeon.

Now's a bit of an awkward time, but the Munch Belt is an item we've yet to introduce. It functions identically to the one in Rescue Team, causing your belly to empty faster in exchange for higher offensive stats. It's not really worth it in my opinion, but it's there if you really want that extra offensive power.

                 

Exclusive to Explorers of Darkness, you have Insomniscopes, Scope Lens, Sneak Scarves, Twist and Weather Bands, Black, Clear, Gold, Gray, Pink, Purple, Red, Royal, and Yellow Gummis, Violent and X-Eye Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

The Weather Band being a new held item we haven't covered yet, this item makes the holder immune to the effects of weather.

               

Explorers of Time brings the exclusives of Lockon Specs, Heal and Joy Ribbons, Blue, Brown, Grass, Green, Orange, Silver, Sky, and White Gummis, Quick, Stun, and Warp Seeds, and version-exclusive TMs and Wonder Orbs.

Quick Seeds, as their name implies, increases the speed of the eater.

And then we have traps! Once again, there are no traps common between both versions and traps are otherwise pretty typical.

    

Explorers of Darkness has the Gust, Poison, Pokemon, Slumber, and Spin Traps

    

Explorers of Time has the Grimy, SelfDestruct, Slow, Summon, and Warp Traps

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

Temporal Tower [1F - 13F]

   

Throughout the dungeon, you'll be facing off against Porygon, Lunatone, Solrock, and Bronzor. Notably, most of these pokemon have Levitate so you may as well turn off any Ground-type moves your partner might now. Porygon's Trace ability might also cause some issues for you occasionally. The main problem with these pokemon, though, is just how bulky they are. They can all attack from range and can probably take a healthy chunk of damage from you. Bronzor having both Heatproof and Levitate at the same time also means that it nullifies all of its weaknesses which is incredibly unfortunate.

The 4F and 9F are always sunny (I forgot to take a screenshot of 4F)

And after you clear the 13 floors, you reach a checkpoint.

 

  

 

  

The tremors seem to be occuring more frequently and growing more violent, we need to hurry to the top!

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

Temporal Spire

The second part of the dungeon is similar to the first in terms of items and traps, but of course, it's got significantly tougher pokemon. You'll need to watch out navigating these floors!

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

Temporal Spire [1F - 4F]

   

Bronzong, Porygon2, Salamence, and Porygon-Z are all pokemon you'll be dealing with here. Porygon 2 being a bulkier evolution to Porygon and Porygon-Z being a lot more Specially Offensive. Salamence is scary as well both as an offensive threat and damage sponge, and Bronzong, too, can be quite threatening with its immense bulk and excellent combination of typing and abilities. Pretty much no matter what starters you have, you might struggle to get rid of these guys.

On Floor 3, we dropped into a Monster House which is always a fun opportunity. But, thankfully, I had a fairly easy out to this.

 

I simply dropped a Foe-Hold Orb which petrifies all enemies on the floor until we attack them. I also made sure to set Pep's status to "Get away" and turned all of his attacks off to ensure he doesn't start any unnecessary battles.

Unfortunately, the stairs just happened to be in the room north of the monster house, so I did end up having to battle my way through a few opponents in that Monster House to burrow my way through and escape this nightmarish floor.

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

Temporal Spire [5F - 7F]

    

For the next few floors, Metagross joins the fray, adding yet another bulky body to the lineup.

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

Temporal Spire [8F - 10F]

   

Starting on the 8th floor, Bronzong is nowhere to be seen, so you'll just be dealing with the others. Hang in there, because you're almost through!

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

Temporal Pinnacle

We've finally arrived at the peak of Temporal Tower which bears a notable resemblance to that of Sinnoh's Spear Pillar. Interesting to note.

 

As we arrive at the top, we're startled by lightning striking nearby!

  

Foreboding red clouds are swirling over the top of Temporal Tower as lightning violently forks through the sky. This must be what's causing the collapse of the tower.

 

Recongizing that the tower's structural integrity is getting weaker and weaker by the moment, we decide we have to hurry forward.

  

Up ahead, we find an alatar with five slots. This must be where the Time Gears belong!

 

Pep recognizes what has to be done!

  

He approaches the altar with the Time Gears when suddenly a violent lightning strike knocks him backwards!

 

Foreboding music begins to play as a familiarly powerful yet furious voice growls down at us from above.

  

The voice mistakes us for the ones who have come to destroy Temporal Tower!

 

  

Pep tries to explain that we're actually here to do the opposite, to prevent the tower's collapse, but the voice doesn't seem to buy it. And soon, Primal Dialga himself appears before us!

 

It looks as though darkness is already taking hold over Dialga! He's already transformed into his primal state!

  

 

  

Dialga doesn't at all seem to be in the mood to listen to reason, so it's starting to look like there's only one way forward...

 

  

 

We do note that Dialga still isn't quite fully overcome just yet. Though he's definitely getting there, there's still hope that we can reverse this, but we have to act quick!

 

There's no reasoning with Dialga right now, though. We're going to have to fight!

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

 

Team Persevere

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

Aura (Chikorita M); Lv. 36

Item: Joy Ribbon 

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Synthesis, Swords Dance, Bullet Seed, Body Slam

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

Pep (Piplup M); Lv. 37

Item: Persim Band 

Ability: Torrent | Moves: BubbleBeam + Growl, Fury Attack, Dig

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

Vs. Primal Dialga

And here we have some iconic final boss music, Dialga's Fight to the Finish!

 

Right away, Dialga's Roar of Time makes it clear that the typical strategies of keeping distance to setup or attack from range isn't so much a good idea. Roar of Time is not only Dialga's most powerful attack, but it's also a room-wide attack meaning no matter how far away he is, it will hit your entire party! You'd better be prepared!

Remember how I mentioned you'll want all the Sleep Seeds you can get throughout the dungeon? Well this is why! Throw them at him! And don't make the mistake I did. Close the gap immediately, do not bother trying to set up with moves like Swords Dance unless you can boost your physical and special defense or have a lot of Oran Berries. Every time you get KO'd, your stats will reset so must of the time I used Sleep Seeds, my efforts were wasted.

What is long-lasting, however, is the use of a Vile Seed to reduce Dialga's defenses, making him more vulnerable to your entire party's attacks!

 

This fight was a brutal thrasing on our end, Dialga wiped out my party multiple times with Roar of Time, but thankfully, we had the Reviver Seeds to endure the assault. We had to continue pressing on, though. We kept nailing him with Bullet Seed, I was admittedly extremely frustrated by just how much I was missing, but I kept going. Even with the quad resistance, it was still the attack that was dealing the most damage.

Eventually, we were finally able to defeat him, by some miracle, on the first try!

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

  

 

  

Dialga collapses to the ground. It wasn't an easy battle at all, but we overcame it! And now, we just have one more task to do.

 

  

But as Pep goes to put the Time Gears in place, a tremor even more powerful shakes the earth, making the efforts that much more dangerous! The tower could collapse at any second!

 

  

 

It's not an easy task with the tower so unstable, but Pep is able to fit all of the time gears in place!

  

In a flash of light, the time gears seem to disappear and Pep falls down the stairs!

 

  

 

  

 

Pep begins to panic, unsure of what's supposed to happen, and lightning begins to strike more ferociously!

  

It's unlcear how much time has passed, but eventually, we wake up and find that the storm overhead has cleared up...?

 

  

We're still a bit dazed and have a hard time recalling where we are, but Dialga soon speaks up and properly welcomes us to Temporal Tower. He seems to have returned to himself!

 

  

Dialga explains that, while the tower has taken heavy damage, thanks to our efforts, it has not collapsed completely and can be restored!

 

  

Time Restored

Dialga begins to use telepathy to show us glimpses of the fruits of our labor, with the same music as that of the fountain at Fogbound Lake.

  

Finally, we can see these scenes in motion as they're intended! Well, I can. Screenshots obviously can't do this moment justice, but we can see the grass blowing in the wind and the water droplets dripping from the leaves!

  

This is indeed Treeshroud Forest, which up until now we've only seen in a paralyzed state thanks to the missing Time Gear in the area.

 

  

 

  

 

  

With Temporal Tower surviving the crisis, time has been restored! Dialga attributes all of this to our own contributions! We have prevented the planet's paralysis and restored peace to the world!

 

  

 

  

Dialga takes a moment to personally thank us for our efforts and our courage to stand up to him in his primal rage.

 

  

Dialga adds that his work is far from over. He will need to tend to repairing Temporal Tower as well as the damaged parts of the Hidden Land. However, the Rainbow Stoneship should be operable and Lapras is still waiting for us, so we should be able to get home!

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

 

On our way home, Pep notices that we seem to be slowing down...

  

 

It's clear to us what's going on, Pep still has no idea... our disappearance must be happening soon...

  

Before we can talk more, we're interrupted by tremors, which urges us to get to a safer place before we can catch up.

 

Don't Ever Forget

But as he begins to leave, we're stopped by a tiny light that begins to appear around us.

  

 

It's really hard to process, but the light continues to circle around us making it all the more clear how impossible this fate is to avoid. This moment combined with the music is really heavy, I can certainly see how it affected so many people so strongly, I think this definitely does hit a lot harder than the ending of Rescue Team, that's for sure.

  

We speak out to Pep and are finally about to explain what's going on... it's difficult to break this news knowing how it'll affect him, but what's done is done, and it's not something we can afford to regret.

 

  

 

And so, we explain what we learned to Pep... and he can't understand at all, as to be expected.

  

 

As the conversation goes on, more and more orbs of light begin to surround us, causing Pep to get even more desperate to stay with us.

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

I really don't want to say much about the scene as I think it speaks for itself as you read over the dialogue and listen to the music. This truly is an emotional goodbye that has me tearing up just writing about it.

 

Have to Get Home

  

 

  

 

  

Further Away

 

 

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

 

  

 

  

 

 

  

 

  

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

  

 

  

 

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

  

On the Beach at Dusk

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

Memories Returned

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

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

And that is the end of the main story. I can definitely see where the hype for this game was! Just like Rescue Team, the story was fantastic and just simplistic enough to where it never particularly stressed me out. The most stressful part was where I kinda floundered around against Dialga but that was really just my own mistakes in retrospect. All in all, this game was a fantastic experience! I don't know if I can say it's the greated RPG of all time like some people have, but I can definitely see why people would say that. The game did an excellent job of misdirection and there were several points where I was genuinely shocked by certain reveals even if when I thought I had the whole narrative figured out.

There were a few characters I wasn't too fond of, but the majority of the main cast was absolutely lovable. That ending is incredibly emotional. I nearly cried all over again just writing up this post. And the catch is that I've already played through this ending twice in a row! You'd think I'd be immune to it by now, but it gets me every time. It's a mixture of the music and seeing your partner so downtrodden that gets me every time and I love the way they show your partner's mourning process. That, even after months have gone by and life has mostly returned to normal for him (or her!), he still suddenly and unexpectedly has flashbacks to his best friend. It's such a real moment that it truly hits your heart watching all those memories go by. But, of course, there's still more to the story.

 

Time Restored

After the credits, the game cuts back to a shot of Temporal Tower.

  

 

  

 

  

 

Having felt the powerful wave of sorrow from Pep as he left, Dialga decides to leave one final gift as a blessing for his sacrifices and courage.

  

As Pep clings to Bidoof in mourning, Bidoof notices a familiar light in the distance and tries to get Pep's attention!

 

Pep can hardly believe the sight and immediately runs up to us and cries. It's heartwarming to finally end his sorrow.

Once again, I honestly am still of the same opinion of this decision as I was with Rescue Team. I understand that from a gameplay standpoint, the devs didn't want the main character to die off since they wanted a postgame. But from a narrative standpoint, it once again feels like a cheap shot to make such a big deal about my disappearance only for me to come back not long after. I really wish this could springboard into a postgame where we get to see Piplup begin walking on his own feet and live out his mourning process. That said, again, from a gameplay standpoint, it would really suck to invest so many resources into your player character only for that character to be permanently killed off before the hardest part of the game. And, obviously, the ending still has a massive emotional impact even with me knowing ahead of time my character was going to return, so I suppose this complaint is only so significant.

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

Anyway, it's time to address the elephant in the room. I have now officially beaten both Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. But as most of you are probably aware by now, especially if you've paid attention to some of the outsourced screenshots and videos I've used, you already know there is actually a third version: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. Much like Pokemon Crystal and Emerald, and unlike Rescue Team, this game got a third version! And this one can confidently be referred to as the definitive version! To my knowledge, Explorers of Sky does away with version exclusivity altogether with some minor exceptions here and there. But all of the annoying limitations of held items being exclusive to one version over another is gone. Explorers of Sky is mostly identical to these games and, from the very beginning of this series this was actually one of the games I was concerned about covering, especially after completing Rescue Team. Would I seriously play through Explorers of Darkness and Time and then also play through a near identical game a third time? It's okay for main series pokemon, but for Mystery Dungeon the experience I felt is a little different and the game takes a lot more time to get through. As you can tell already, this game has taken over a whole page to itself just from the main story and, if the postgame is anything like Rescue Team's, it's going to be significantly longer and significantly more stressful.

It's no secret that I genuinely did not enjoy the majority of the postgame content in Rescue Team, it nearly tarnished the entire game to me. And the last thing I want to do is go through a similar experience twice in Explorers. From what little I've played in my childhood of Explorers of Sky, I know that the game features bonus episodes that follow the stories of side characters which would unlock periodically through the story, the majority of the game's story content is unchanged save for one particularly notable example, there are a ton of quality of life improvements over Explorers of Time and Darkness, and most of the new content is simply added on in the postgame, with the dungeons from these versions being left mostly in tact save for a few shoe-horned items being spread out more across new dungeons and consequently made more accessible.

So, I want to address my plan for how I'm going to handle the postgame of Explorers. For now, I'm going to just make one more post about Explorers of Time and Darkness. I'll start by detailing Team Outreach's experience with the battles against Dusknoir and Primal Dialga (spoiler alert, they had a much easier time), and we're going to dabble a bit into the surface level new features of Explorers of Time, though we won't be exploring any dungeons or completing any story threads. And from there, we're going to label Explorers of Time and Darkness as "finished". When the time comes, we will do a full playthrough of Explorers of Sky, postgame and all. To keep things from getting too repetitive, I'll return to the "one dungeon per post" format and keep it consistent throughout, and the cutscenes will not be covered in as much detail until the postgame. Just like repeat playthroughs of main series games, I'll mainly focus on going into more detail about my retrospective thoughts on certain story beats and how I feel about individual things now that I know more about the characters in retrospect. In addition, I'll be playing through the bonus episodes as I unlock them in order to splash in some original content in the middle of all the summaries. Of course, these bonus episodes will be covered with the same slower pace that I've been approaching these games with. We'll have to see how it goes!

If I'm being totally honest, I really don't expect that I'm missing out on much by handling things this way. I think I've seen all there is to really know about all the important characters. There might be more characterization given to some characters like Team Skull, but if Rescue Team's postgame is anything to go by, I really don't expect too much out of it. I imagine the majority of the postgame is more or less the same, just traveling to various landmarks to battle with various legendary pokemon, collect absurdly rare items, and use them to evolve pokemon or recruit pokemon with absurdly low recruitment rates. And of course I'm sure we've only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to traps. Traps were the single most infuriating thing to me throughout Rescue Team and I don't suspect the postgame here will be any different.

Anyway, the main reason I didn't just go ahead and play Explorers of Sky alongside these games is simply the fact that the game comes out notably later and references some forms of pokemon that we've yet to be introduced to. I'd like these pokemon forms to make their proper debut in their source games before I awkwardly just go through the numbers.

So, that's the plan. I just thought I'd let you know that next post might very well be the last we check in on Teams Outreach and Persevere. Next time, we'll check in on the postgame of Explorers of Time and Darkness before finally moving on to our next game. Man, what a ride this one was.