All the Pokemens

[Aura]

Vientown

Last time, we arrived at the Ranger Base in Vientown and received our first mission to deliver the Almia Tribune to the locals in Vientown and Chicole Village. After that, we were assigned our next mission to investigate strange sounds coming from Marine Cave. Now, it's time to head over there with Crawford to investigate what's been going on.

Before we get into some progress, I want to address that it seems true that this game is pretty open about letting you backtrack into previous areas. In the original games, if you were on a mission, you were limited to whatever pokemon happened to be in the area and you couldn't bring pokemon from outside of their habitat. That restriction seems to be lifted here and it seems that we can bring any pokemon from any previous area, with a few exceptions due to places like the Ranger School being gated off at the moment. This means that anytime a big pokemon is discovered, it's going to be a big deal for uncovering a lot of secrets elsewhere in the world! That might change at some point, maybe this whole beginning area is just considered one large area and we still can't take pokemon out of it, but it's definitely a bigger area than anything we'd see in the previous game. You don't even have to ditch your leftover pokemon from the previous mission!

Nabiki Beach

Anyway, once we've gathered up our squad, we can make our way toward Nabiki Beach.

In the entrance area, we'll run into a Bidoof.

  

As we step down onto the beach, though, Crawford will stop us and point out the Shellos that are roaming the area. They seem to be leaving trails of liquid as they move around. Crawford explains that if we touch this liquid, our styler will be damaged! This is a much greater hazard than the grimer sludge from the first game! Yikes! But, it only damages your styler by one unit, so it's not too big a deal. If you want to capture Shellos, you'll need to approach it while it's stopped and its trail has disappeared. Otherwise, you'll take damage even if you approach from the front! There's also a Pichu along the shore to help in case you take accidental damage.

Shellos itself is a pretty easy capture. It moves around slowly and occasionally shoots Bubbles at your line. Pretty standard stuff. It provides a Water assist, of course, along with the Soak Lv. 1 Field Skill.

 

Up along the way to Breeze Hill, we can find Taillow and Glameow!

Glameow is somewhat more dangerous than other pokemon. Watch out for its Scratch! You can always use assists to make it easier to capture, but it's not totally necessary. Glameow provides a Normal Assist and Cut Lv. 1 Field Skill.

If we continue past the staircase leading to Breeze Hill, we'll come across the entrance to Marine Cave. In we go!

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

Mission 2: Investigate the Marine Cave!

 

As soon as we enter the cave, we find that something is definitely strange about the pokemon in here. There's a Shellos and Zubat nearby, but there is a strange swirling pattern over their head indicating their odd behavior. Beyond that, we do hear a strange mechanical pulsing noise filling the cave. As we question it, the Zubat comes toward us! We'd better be quick to capture it!

We capture the Zubat like normal, but instead of befriending it, it immediately flees without us releasing it ourselves! It's different from whenever you capture after most scripted encounters where it's implied you release the pokemon yourself. It seems this noise is making it so that our feelings of friendship can't reach these pokemon. Pokemon under the influence of the noise can't be captured, but the pokemon we've already captured don't seem to be affected, so it looks like we'll need to bring assistance of pokemon from outside in order to help with this mission.

 

As we investigate deeper into the cave, we'll find we need a Cut field skill to break through the wooden fences blocking the way. Since that Zubat we captured didn't hang around, we'll need to enlist the help of that Taillow or Glameow just outside.

 

As we progress beyond the wooden fences, we'll find a branch. Taking the east branch will lead us past another Zubat and to a Small Rock. If we have Bidoof with us, we can Smash this Small Rock in order to gain passage to the room behind it.

If you don't have Bidoof with you, it shouldn't matter too much because the only thing inside it is a Rugged Mass we'll need the Soak Lv. 2 Field Skill to interact with. Shellos just isn't enough to cut it. For now, let's continue deeper into the cave.

    

At the back of the cave, we'll find a strange red machine that seems to be the source of the noise irritating the nearby pokemon who are just frantically running in circles. This thing can't be good news, we need to destroy it. If we check the machine, it look like we'll need the Soak Lv. 2 Field Skill to do so. Looks like we have our new goal! But we'll need to investigate a bit further into the cave.

   

The pokemon in the next area of the cave don't seem to be under the influence of the machine, so we can enlist their help with the styler!

The Geodude here will camoflauge themselves as Masses of Stones when you approach. As far as I'm aware, it seems you can't sneak up on them the way you could in the original game, so if you want to capture them, you'll need to use Soak to reveal them!

Just like the first game, Geodude floats around and occasionally uses Rock Throw to try and hit your line. Being a Rock type, he's vulnerable to Water Assists, but keep in mind that even fi you fill his capture meter with bubbles, you do have to loop the target one last time in order to capture it. Geodude provides a Rock Assist and Smash Lv. 1 Field Skill, meaning he can be used to break that rock in the previous room. But again, there's nothing we can really do in there right now.

The Rock Assist is as basic as they come. Simply flick gravel at your target to raise its capture meter.

To the west, beyond the two Geodude, there is a larger Rock that requires Crush Lv. 2 to destroy. Bidoof and Geodude just won't cut it here. Crawford mentions that he can hear a crying Gastrodon on the other side that must've gotten trapped by this fallen rock. He suggests the pokemon Nosepass would be capable of crushing it, so it looks like we'll need to rescue Gastrodon and that Gastrodon will probably have the skill we need to break that machine! Sounds like we've got our next heading! Let's continue deeper into the cave.

   

As we travel to the very depths of the cave, we'll have to pass a Shellos as well as two Zubat and a new pokemon, Squirtle!

Squirtle will waddle around and occasionally attack with Water Gun, a constant stream unlike the bubbles we've been dealing with from Shellos. This is much more likely to slow your capture if it starts attacking, so be sure to loop it quick and don't leave a line in front of its mouth for too long! Squirtle provides a Water assist and Soak Lv. 1 Field Skill.

At the very tail end of the cave is a dead end with a lone Nosepass. Nosepass will throw out a series of stones. Rock Slide, I suppose? It's a bit intimidating on the surface, but just be patient and you can capture him easily. Alternatively, you can use Shellos or Squirtle's Water Assists to make him easier to capture. Nosepass provides a Rock Assist and the Crush Lv. 2 Field Skill we'll need to rescue that Gastrodon!

Once the Rock is destroyed with Nosepass, we can find Gastrodon in the cave behind it. Gastrodon is essentially the boss of this mission. It takes a decent amount of time to soften up and, if you didn't choose Pachirisu as your partner, you don't really have any Poke Assists it's weak to outside of the grass assist from Budew and Seedot which you kinda have to go out of your way for. But, even though it has a lot of HP, it's still pretty simple to capture. It's a tougher variation of Shellos. Like Shellos, it'll occasionally shoot bubbles, but sometimes it'll shoot a stream of three bubbles (BubbleBeam?) or launch a Mud Bomb that'll leave a large puddle of mud that will damage your styler if you touch it. Be wary of that mud as you continue circling Gastrodon for the win! Gastrodon provides a Water assist and Soak Lv. 2 Field Skill.

Now that we have Soak Lv. 2, there are two things we can do with it. Of course, we can go ahead and complete our mission, but we can also head to that Rugged Mass we saw earlier.

And is it that much of a surprise to find out the Rugged Mass is actually a Graveler? Graveler is a pretty simple capture. It's a more aggressive version of Geodude, it throws rocks more frequently than Geodude but just mind it when it's about to attack and you should be solid. Graveler provides a Rock Assist and Crush Lv. 2 Field Skill.

Anyway, once we've captured Graveler, we'll need to return to Gastrodon to capture it again and destroy the machine. This will free the wild pokemon from the machine's painful influence!

Deciding the machine should be taken in for analysis, Crawford tries to lift it only to discover that it's extremely heavy. You'd think we'd try using Graveler to help lift it, but that doesn't seem to be an option. Thankfully, Crawford does have an idea of what to do as he decides to contact the strongest person in all of Almia to help him carry the machine back, a person who's supposedly even beaten Barlow in arm wrestling! In the meantime, he sends you on ahead to report the completed mission to the Ranger Base.

Nabiki Beach

As we make our way back to Vientown, we run into Big Bertha, Little Tim's wife from the farm, who claims Crawford suddenly contacted her out of the blue and requested to meet with her. Apparently Little Tim got jealous and accused them of going on a date, so she said she was just to spite him... huh... seems like a healthy marriage.

Vientown Ranger Base

Anyway, we return to the Ranger Base to report our mission status! In addition to our mission being noted as cleared, we're also given a promotion to Ranger Rank 1! This gives us the ability to use the Bug Poke Assist which is admittedly news to me. Up until this point, I was kinda under the impression that, unlike in the original, all Poke Assists were available to us from the start. But no, it just seems like we start with access to a larger variety of assists. We still have to unlock access to others, it seems. It just so happens that all the pokemon we've encountered up to this point happen to have assists we can use. I imagine that'll change sooner or later.

Elaine shows us a news report about Fiore showing that Keith seems to be making a name for himself over there! It looks like he's got a partner Buizel and helped on a mission to calm a raging Gyarados in Summerland! Looking at the other headlines, it looks like Fiore might be struggling with a similar issue to what's going on here, and another headline mentions "odd, black-clad men and women." Um, I think they're called goths. Jokes aside, I'm sure that line is probably foreshadowing the villains of this game.

Just after Barlow comments on how exhausted we must be after completing two missions back to back, Little Tim suddenly appears and announces he has trouble! Barlow takes this as an opportunity to explain Quests! Essentially, Quests are mini Missions taken at the request of individual NPCs facing smaller, personal issues. NPCs with quests for us will have "..." over their heads, though I already make it a habit to talk to every NPC I can for the worldbuilding aspect, this is a fantastic indicator for I imagine most players who just want to quickly scan the area and go.

Like Missions, Quests have their own section in the Styler Menu and you can only accept one at a time. If you want to put a quest off, you'll need to talk to the person who gave you the quest. Anyway, before we get ourselves tied up in doing some sidequest, I think it's a good time to save the game and put it down. Next time, we'll be looking into Little Tim's request as well as comb the world for any other quests that might be available now that we've had this introduction!

[Aura]

Vientown Ranger Base

It's now time to start doing some sidequests! Last time Little Tim came to the Ranger Base with a request so I suppose it's about time we hear him out. He tells us that since his wife had to go out to the cave, he has to be the one to milk the Miltank at their farm, but we already know how deathly afraid of pokemon he is (Then... why is he running a Miltank farm??) His Miltank has been particularly on edge recently, perhaps a lingering effect of the noises from Marine Cave? His request is for us to calm his Miltank down at his farm. I suppose it only makes sense to accept this quest, yes?

=========

Quest 1: Calm Down Miltank

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

And so, we're brought to Little Tim's Farm and are expected to capture his Miltank to help calm it down so that Little Tim can milk it more easily. Let's get to capturing!

The Miltank here is certainly a bit roudy. It frequently tries to charge forward with Body Slam, so be careful as you try and capture it. Use Assists if you feel the need, but it's nothing too dangerous as long as you're quick with your loops and perceptive of when it's about to attack. That's pretty standard advice, I suppose. Eventually, you'll whittle Miltank's health away and capture it successfully. Miltank provides a Normal Assist, of course, and its Field Skill is Tackle Lv. 2. 

And with that, the quest is clear! We receive a voicemail from the operator of the Ranger Base indicating that they've received word we've completed a quest. As it turns out, the Ranger Union encourages these random acts of kindness with rewards in the form of "Power-up Data"

For completing this quest, we'll receive a Grass Defense upgrade! If our styler receives damage from a Grass-type attack, the damage we receive will be reduced by 3! I don't know if this means I'll receive no damage if the attack would do 1-3 units of damage, or if it can only be reduced to 1, but either way, defense is defense! And I imagine as captures get tougher, these defense upgrades can be a life saver.

==========

Chicole Village

As I wandered around town, I couldn't find any other quests except for one down south in Chicole Village. There's a girl standing next to her brother in front of the north-eastern house in the village who has a quest indicator over her head! These two are siblings of the boy inside who loves Riolu. If we speak to her, she'll reveal that she's heard cries coming from under the bridge near the Ranger School, and that her friends were telling her it's the sound of a ghost. She isn't sure if it's true, but the possibility that it could be a ghost is concerning to her, so she wants a ranger to go investigate the sound! So, off we go!

==========

Quest 2: Under the Bridge

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The bridge the girl was referring to is located, of course, on School Road. We simply have to make our way to the bridge and shortly after, the girl will arrive along with two other kids who are still talking about the noise they heard. When suddenly, we all hear the sound again! But it's no ghost at all, it's just the cry of a Floatzel!

The Floatzel will leap out from under the bridge and jumps over everyone to run off. The girl gets excited at the proof and tells the other she knew it wasn't a ghost after all! But of course, the other kids admit they knew the whole time and were just teasing her. They apologize for scaring her and offer to be friends, an offer which she accepts. This girl seems a little blindly trusting. I hope this doesn't end up turning into some sort of cycle, but it probably doesn't run that deep.

Anyway, with that, our quest is clear! That's right, not even so much as finding something wrong with the Floatzel and having to capture it or anything like that. Just watch it run off. Kind of an odd one, if you ask me.

And our reward is another Defense upgrade! This time, it's Water Defense! This will, of course, reduce damage from a Water attack by 3.

===========

As far as I'm aware, these are the only two quests available to us right now. So let's return to the Ranger Base!

Of course, if you had no interest in hunting down these optional quests, then you could've completely ignored all this and just reported back to the Ranger Base asap, though I'm unsure if the Little Tim request was required. It might've been as a tutorial for quests. I don't really know what happens if you tell him you don't want to do the quest. It's probably a good idea to do them, though. Especially that second one! It was as simple as just going to the location, no capture even necessary!

Vientown

As we make our way to the base, we'll hear a loud thud! And going inside, we'll find that Big Bertha and Crawford have finally delivered the suspicious machine to the Ranger Base! Crawford explains everything that happened and what the machine seemed to be doing, describing the pokemon like they were under some sort of hypnosis. Elaine immedaitely offers to tear the machine apart to see what it does, but Barlow immediately puts a stop to that idea, suggesting that they should probably have Prof. Hastings of the Ranger Union inspect the machine. Elaine is of course disappointed to find out she doesn't get the chance to tear apart the machine, but maybe she'll get her time to shine as soon as Prof. Hastings is done with his current business trip.

If we speak to Barlow, he'll ask if we've had enough for the day. This seems like a transition forward in the story. And I think it's fitting that we separate these little sidequests between story missions into their own separate posts. While they are significantly shorter than story missions, I can see there being a lot more in number, a lot more spread out, and a lot more difficult, later in the game. I don't want to set the precedent for tacking these quests onto the beginning or end of really long exposition-heavy missions. So, that's the way we're going to handle things going forward.

Next time, we'll turn in for the night and see what kind of mission the next day has in store for us!

[Aura]

Vientown Ranger Base

The next morning, things don't seem so peaceful! Barlow alerts us that Vien Forest is on fire! Barlow had just received word of it from Crawford who was out for a stroll and Barlow sends us out with Luana who just woke up off to send assistance in fighting the forest fire. We've gotta get going quick!

If we check in on the locals, most of them express concern over the fire in the forest and one girl brings up her concern over Mimi, the girl who loves Happiny, because she often goes to that forest to play. If we check in her home, we find that she and her happiny are missing! Her parents say she should be somewhere near the house as they've told her it's dangerous to go into the forest, but that doesn't seem to be the case... I've got a bad feeling about this, for sure.

In order to go to Vien Forest, we'll need to take the northern exit that was previously blocked off.

==========

Mission 3: Fight the Vien Forest Fire!

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

Luana mentions as soon as we enter the forest that things "seem fine" here, but there is a thick smoke moving in from the north. The fire must be deeper inside.

We won't need to head too far north to stumble across Mimi who's only with one of her Happiny. Luana tries to tell Mimi that she has to run home, but Mimi refuses because her other three Happiny all ran away! So, in order for Mimi to be able to go home, Luana offers that we'll find her missing Happiny and bring them back to her! So, she decides to wait right here for us to bring the missing Happiny back. Looks like we've got a subfactor to this mission. After all, I think ensuring nobody, people or pokemon, get hurt in the fire.

Just past Mimi is a new pokemon, Cherubi! Cherubi is a slightly more difficult capture than other common pokemon as it'll bounce around and occasionally fire bullet seed. Try to make quick loops around it between shots in order to capture it! Thanks to our Grass defense, if we get hit by any attacks, they won't actually damage us, but we won't get the No Damage Exp Bonus. Anyway, Cherbui provides a Grass-type Assist and its Field Skill is Tackle Lv. 1.

There's a Taillow a bit further north as we approach the river.

If we cross the bridge over the river, we'll find the boy whose girlfriend left him on the beach using the river water to try and help out with the fire. Honestly? That's a really cool thing for him to do. Even if he isn't actually contributing anything, it still takes a lot of courage!

There's a tree on the other side of the river and using Tackle on it will cause Weedle to appear! Weedle is a really slow pokemon making for an easy capture. I haven't seen it attack at all but if I had to guess it probably fires a Poison Sting every once in a while. But the fact that I haven't seen it do so is pretty telling for how easily you can capture this guy. He provides a Bug Assist which we just recently unlocked as well as the Tackle field skill.

The Bug assist is a bit of a weird one. A silky goo will appear when you tap on the screen. You can drag the stylus back in order to slingshot the wad of goo at a target in order to slow them down and contribute to their capture meter. It's a bit of an odd one but it might prove helpful against various Grass-types in the local area if you find yourself struggling.

If we continue deeper into the forest, the next screen we'll find parts of the grass on fire and the heat is becoming unbearable! This is certainly near where the fire originated! And Luana will spot in the distance one of those machines like the one we brought back from Marine Cave. Something must be up with these things. But the fire is too hot here, we'll need to find a way to deal with the fire first.

Thankfully, not too far ahead is a Wartortle! As you'd probably expect, Wartortle is a tougher, more aggressive version of Squirtle. It'll provide a Water Assist and its Field Skill is Soak Lv. 2. That's gotta be useful in our fire-fighting endeavors! But we can't go any deeper toward the fire, so we'll need to double back, now.

Going back across the bridge and following the river, we'll soon find a Shinx. Shinx is a pretty basic electric pokemon that'll occasionally fire thundershocks off as it runs around at a casual pace. As I theorized earlier, Shinx is an Electric-type pokemon that provides an Electric assist rather than a Charge, which is out of the ordinary compared to the previous game where all Electric pokemon provided a Charge assist. If you didn't start with Pachirisu, then this Shinx might actually prove to be really helpful to you in this chapter as you'll find yourself capturing a lot of Water types and the Electric assist is more useful for capturing them than the Grass assist. Its Field Move is Electrify Lv. 1 which is certainly going to be a lot less useful.

Just to be on the safe side, there's also a Pichu nearby in case you would prefer that Charge assist.

 

If we continue along this path, we'll find one of Mimi's Happiny near another tree! We'll need to capture Happiny and bring it back to Mimi! Happiny like to hop around, so make sure not to let it cross your line. Other than that, its description says it likes to throw rocks to attack, so you'll probably want to watch out for that, too. But all in all, it's a pretty easy pokemon to capture quickly. You'll need to make room in your squad for it, though, or you'll have to capture it again. After escorting Happiny to Mimi, we've only got two more to find!

And if you were wondering, using Tackle on that tree also provides a Weedle.

If we try to take the path around the corner from the entrance toward the southwestern corner of the forest...

A Burning Log will fall in our way!

   

Startled by the sudden danger, four Budew will scatter from the nearby bushes and attack us in a panic! We'll need to capture them to survive! Capturing four pokemon at once certainly ups the ante from what we're used to, but these are just Budew so it's not like there's anything particularly at risk. It'll probably be easier to capture them one by one or two at a time than to try and capture them all in one large loop, but that's not impossible and you'd probably get a large Exp bonus for that, too.

Anyway, the Burning Log requires Soak Lv. 2 to put out and Wartortle provides just that! So let's get it out of the way!

 

Our next Happiny is right around the corner past that burning log, just past a Pichu who we can use to heal up if we need it! We capture the Happiny and deliver it to Mimi, only one more left! Back to business!

A Shinx will pounce at us from the bushes as we make our way westward, but we can dodge it.

And if we continue forward, we'll find that last Happiny! Once we have it captured and bring it back to Mimi, she'll gladly return home with her four Happiny where they'll all be safe!

 

A bit further ahead, there are two more Burning Logs blocking our way, so we'll need more Wartortle to continue!

There happens to be a wartortle in the dead end nearby for us, so let's capture it and get its help to pout out those logs!

 

Around the corner just past these logs is another Pichu and Wartortle for us to heal and, if we want, take care of the other log. It's not totally necessary, but it feels good putting out the fire, doesn't it?

 

There's also yet another Wartortle just across the bridge ahead as well as another Tree!

And, you guessed it, using Tackle on that Tree will reveal another Weedle.

If we head deeper into the forest, we'll return to the burning part of the forest where we'll find Crawford! He explains that this fire is going to require Blastoise's Area Move Rain Dance in order to quench. Unfortunately, he's been spending so much time in this head guiding pokemon to safety that his Styler is malfunctioning, so it's up to us to go and find a Blastoise. He tells us there should be one just west of here.

 

But, before we do head out that way, we can poke around in this area to find a Buizel and Roselia, two whole new pokemon!

Buizel dashes around really fast and shoots bubbles. Your best bet to capture it easily is to wait for it to stop moving before you try and capture it between its Bubbles. Otherwise you'll find it hard to loop it while it's moving! Though you can use the Grass asssit to slow it down... Buizel provides a Water Assist and Soak Lv. 1 making it a bit unimpressive compared to the Wartortle we've already been capturing.

Roselia, on the other hand, moves much more modestly than Buizel. Well, I say Modestly but it twirls around like a ballerina. Doesn't make it any harder to capture, though! It provides a Grass Assist and Cut Lv. 2.

The heat is too strong to head East, so we'll have to obey orders now and head left.

 

Out here, we're out of the inferno again and we'll find Pichu and another Roselia.

And just south is the Blastoise in question! Be careful because it might ram into you and damage your styler! This guy isn't playing around! Just like in the original game, Blastoise will lob water onto the ground to form large puddles that'll damage your styler if your line crosses it. In addition, it'll also fire Hydro Pump from its two large canons! It's also really aggressive! You'll want to use Pachirisu or Shinx's Electric assist to stun it, preferably timed while there's no puddle on screen, to get some easy loops on him. But he is a giant turtle and consequently isn't very mobile, so as long as you can dodge the attacks, you should be good to go! He's got a lot of HP though, so it'll take several loops even with the Electric or Grass Assist to capture it. Blastoise, of course, provides a Water assist as well as the Rain Dance Area Move.

Area Moves differ slightly from Field Skills, mainly in how they're used. Rather than selecting a particular target, they're used in desginated areas. For instance, there's a small dock right near this Blastoise. If we approach the dock, a question mark will appear above our heads and if we tap it, we'll note that we might be able to ride an Empoleon or Floatzel down the river. We don't have either of those pokemon, of course, but this should give you an idea of how we can use Area Moves. But before we go back, we might want to continue a little further westward.

Over here is another surprise! A Grotle! Like Blastoise, Grotle will charge at us an dpotentially damage our Styler in the overworld, so be careful in your approach! In capture, Grotle doesn't move around much but it'll occasionally fire Razor Leaf in an area in front of it. It also has a lot of resistance to capture, so you'll need to loop it quite a lot in order to capture it without an advantageous field skill. This might be a situation where those Weedle would come in handy. Grotle provides a Grass assist and the Field Skill Tackle Lv. 2, making it a better version of Cherbui... yay?

Anyway, that's one more pokemon for our ranger browser! Back to the fire we go!

This is where Crawford will explain to us how these Area Moves work. He'll pretty much explain what I've already covered. We march a little further ahead until a question mark appears over our head and then tap Blastoise to use his Rain Dance to put the fire out!

And with that, our mission is cleared with thankfully no people or pokemon injured! Crawford questions what caused the fire to begin with and why those weird machines are scattered throughout the forest, but decides it's best to get some rest back at the base. But on our way back, we stumble across a suspicious stranger who immediately tries to run when he sees us. We give chase and corner him in a dead end only to notice he's got burns... Ah, I suppose someone got injured in the fire after all. Well, even if he wasn't suspicious, it looks like we'll have to take him in to treat his injuries either way. We might also be able to get some answers out of him. Luana and Crawford take the man back to the ranger base and suggest we come back as well.

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

Now that the mission's over, I've gotta say this is a small detail that I'm really appreciative of in this game. I don't feel nearly as railroaded in this game. Not only am I not blocked from bringing pokemon from area to area, but there seem to be far fewer moments where I'm forcibly warped back to previous areas. If this were the original game, we would absolutely be warped straight back to the base and probably given a save prompt. But here, we can feel free to continue exploring the rest of the forest now that the fire is cleared out before we return!

In fact, there's even something new to find as well! Well, it's not really much, but it is something!

If we head up north, we'll find Combee! Combee will zip around and shoot gusts of wind. They can be a bit unruly, but they don't have to be looped much to be captured, so despite their fast movement, they're still pretty easy to capture. They also wind up a bit before they attack, giving you an easy opportunity to capture them right there! Combee provides a Flying Assist and Cut Lv. 1 Field Skill.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much it. If we continue further north, we'll only hit a dead end. So, I suppose it's time to return to Vientown.

Vientown

As we return to Vientown, we can check in with the locals to see how they're all taking the fire. Everyone seems okay, but everyone's also still on edge from the scary occurrence. Most disturbed of all are of course Mimi's parents who are ashamed of being so inattentive of their daughter and can't believe how much danger they allowed her to be in.

And now let's head into the ranger base to proceed.

Music: Ranger Base (Depot)

As we report back to the base, Barlow immediately commends our work and doesn't hesitate to promote us to Ranger Rank 2! With this promotion, we're now able to use Fire and Fighting Assists!

As for the suspicious character we brought back, he refuses to speak a word, so we decide to tie him up until he decides to tell us exactly what he's hiding. Since he won't even share his name, Luana decides to call him Ollie after the fact that he reeks of oil. Since Ollie won't speak, Barlow shrugs it off and suggests the guy will speak when he starts to get hungry. In the mean time, he gives us another assignment: To patrol the town and check in on the locals to see if they have any quests to do. Once we're done, we can report back to him. Of course, if we want, we can report back right away.

One small detail I hadn't noticed before, is that if you open the Quest menu, you'll actually find quests from clients you haven't spoken to yet listed as ??? so as long as you check the list regularly, you'll know when a new quest is available and where the client is located! Just go there and seek out your client to accept the quest!

Anyway, as I mentioned last time, I think it's fitting to put quests in between updates. And with that, we're done for the day! Next time, we're on patrol!

[Aura]

Well, before we get into our update today, I'd like to mention that tonight is the midnight release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet! My brother is out to retrieve the game and I get to stay home and write about Pokemon Ranger! Of course, I'll be letting him get dibs since he's doing all the legwork, but I'm excited to try the game out for myself tomorrow! I'm actually a pretty big fan of the majority of new designs, so I'm actually looking forward to this one! One day, we'll be covering Scarlet and Violet right here in this thread. But for right now, we've gotta focus on where we are!

Vientown

So, last time we were tasked with going on patrol and helping the locals with any quests they might have for us and we can see from the quest menu that there are three such quests right here in Vientown! So, let's get cracking!

Our first of these quests we receive from the boy just north of Mimi's house. The one who's usually talking to the girl. He tells you he's really angry because wooden crates keep washing up on Nabiki Beach. He suspects someone's just recklessly littering the ocean with them. Big Bertha has apparently smashed a few, but he asks if you could go out and clear the rest for him.

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Quest 3: Strange Crates Washed Ashore

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This quest will, of course, lead us to Nabiki Beach.

As we move down to the beach, we'll find a lone crate near the stairs that we'll need Crush Lv. 1 to break. I happen to still have the Graveler from Marine Cave, but if you lack a Crush user in your squad, there's a Bidoof right at the entrance for you.

Upon crushing the crate, a small note will be found inside.

Quote

Giga---- --type 08-U

(PRO-OTY-E)

Bo-- c-lor: Re-

Ene-gy: F--e

Everything else is illegible due to water damage, but this appears to be some sort of documentation relating to that strange machine we found in Marine Cave. This actually seems pretty important! A bit too important to just forget about, but since this is only a quest I kinda imagine that's exactly what's gonna happen. Oh well, either way, there's not really a chance to report it until we're done with our patrol.

Upon smashing the crate, the boy who gave us the quest arrives to thank us for our work. And that's mission clear!

Our reward here is a Normal Defense Powerup, which reduces damage from Normal-type attacks by 3!

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Vientown

Our next quest can be received from the old lady near the exit to School Road. She'll explain that she's worried about the Combee of Vien Forest as she hasn't seen one since the fire.

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Quest 4: Is Combee Okay?

This one is over pretty much exactly where it begins for me!

Since I already have a Combee from the end of the previous mission, I can simply talk to her again to show her my Combee.

If you don't have one with you, you'll need to head back into Vien Forest to get one. Just head straight north from the entrance and you should find it.

Upon showing the old lady your Combee, she'll ask if the Combee would be willing to share its honey, which it happily obliges. She explains that she likes to use Combee Honey to make sweet cookies for her granddaughter. How sweet!

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Vientown

The last of our three quests is from Mr. Woodward who can be found in his home. He explains that he was out in Vien Forest trying to gather sticks, I suppose for some woodcraft project, but he's found large portions of the forest are blocked off by fallen logs which he supposes are a result of the forest fire. He asks us to go through the forest and clear the logs. He'll tell us there are two logs we need to clear.

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Quest 5: Clear Some Fallen Logs

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Of course, we'll need to make our way to Vien Forest for this quest.

If we explore around a bit, we'll find a Fallen Log right where the first burning log was that we'd dowsed before during the mission. But it'll take a different tool to clear this one! These Logs require Cut Lv. 2 to clear. Thankfully, we know where not one, but two pokemon are with this skill! It'll require going deeper into the forest through the section that was on fire. Thankfully, we can head straight there since there's no unbearable heat to get in our way!

 

If you make your way toward Blastoise from the deep forest, you should pass by two Roselia. After capturing them both, instead of making your way back to the first log, it's probably faster to head back into the deep forest and head south.

While we're passing by, I want to note something I actually overlooked my first time around, as I discovered thanks to the reference series I'm using. I mentioned that you'd just find another Weedle when you use Tackle on the tree just outside the deep forest next to the Wartortle and Save Point here. As it turns out, this is actually inaccurate.

I don't know if this changes after the mission or if I simply neglected to check the tree my first time around, but it turns out there's actually a Beedrill here! Beedrill is a bit of a nuisance to capture, so you may want Combee's assistance in doing so. It buzzes around hastily and frequently fires Poison Sting to try and damage your line. Try to loop it quickly but be wary of its attacks! It provides a Bug Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

Anyway, if you try to cross the bridge south of here, you'll find the second Fallen Log. Simply have Roselia cut through it and proceed to make a big lap through the forest to return to the first log.

Once both logs are cut through, you're done here!

Vientown

Return to Mr. Woodward's home in Vientown to report the completed quest. He'll thank you for your hard work and you'll receive your reward from the Ranger Union!

The reward for this one is far more exciting than the defense upgrades we've gotten so far. It's a longer line! Yes, the rewards for quests are more varied than simply defense buffs! And this seems to be perhaps one of the single most valuable upgrades in the game! In the previous game, you could simply grind out until you obtained a longer line through level-up, but that's not the case at all here. Since these are locked behind specific quests, that also means they'll be locked behind specific points in the story. That might sound a bit more intimidating, but in reality, it just means you don't have to worry about being underleveled for something like a certain Salamence. Good lord I hope nothing like that exists in this game. (In all seriousness, I absolutely expect there to be something like it, but let's hope it's some postgame challenge).

===========

And with that, we've completed all the quests that are currently available to us! So, we'll head back to the Ranger Base, save, and next time, we'll report back to Barlow and see what else this game has in store for us! Maybe we'll finally get some answers from Ollie?

[Aura]

Vientown Ranger Base

After turning in for the night, we awaken the next morning to Barlow explaining that they've received word from the Ranger Union that Prof. Hastings has returned from his business trip and is currently on his way to Vientown. He tasks us with meeting Prof. Hastings in Vien Forest to ensure that he makes it safely here. It seems that Ollie still hasn't spoken yet at all, so he's still all tied up!

Music: Vientown

As we make our way to the northern exit, we happen to run right into Prof. Hastings who recognizes us from our internship! Apparently he considered the signs blocking entrance to the forest from the north to be a prank and used his martial prowess to chop right through the blockade. I don't think that's something he was supposed to do, but I suppose that means the path up north through the forest is open, now!

Anyway, apparently a ranger named Wendy offered to give Prof. Hastings a ride to Vientown with her Staraptor, but Hastings took that as a tease due to his hatred of flight. But, all the same as in the first game, Prof. Hastings is more than happy to make a walk through nature as he insists it's better for his health anyway!

After meeting with Prof. Hastings, we lead him back to the Ranger Base so he can analyze the machine we've brought back.

As soon as he sees the broken machine, Prof. Hastings notes that it looks familiar before he remembers that he saw machines just like it in Pueltown! Apparently there were men placing these machines all around the city! At the time, he just assumed them to be mailboxes! Hastings calls for an investigation in Pueltown immediately and so Barlow assigns us with Luana to go to Pueltown north of Vientown and investigate.

If we talk to Luana, she suggests bringing a pokemon with the Soak Field Skill that was necessary to destroy the machine in the cave. Wartortle can certainly fit the bill! But I don't think it's too necessary to stress over that as we'll have plenty of opportunities to capture the pokemon we'll need. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to grab a Wartortle or two on your way through Vien Forest.

Vien Forest

So, if we head straight through Vien Forest to the north, we'll find that the barricade that blocked our way before is indeed gone and we can proceed further into the northern edge of the forest!

    

As you proceed northward, you'll find a lot of pokemon we've already seen before, but I figure I should mention them as we pass them by to keep in mind. We can find Buneary, Shinx, and two Combee. And if you didn't find Beedrill in the tree before, you'll find quite a few of them along the path ahead, no Tackle required! The first of these Beedrill is up the first flight of stairs that leads to the top of a cliff. And cliffs do work the same way in this game that they did in the original! You can take some pretty cool jumps off these ledges, but it's obviously only a one-way path so be careful if you don't want to drop down or you might lose some progress! As we continue along the path, we'll run into more mountainous terrain which means more ledges and some pretty well-hidden secrets that'll require dropping down ledges in particular locations.

You'll also pass by a Bonsly who will disguise itself as a "Planted Tree," but with a Buizel's Soak Lv. 1, you can reveal it for capture!

Bonsly can be captured really easily, though I imagine it's capable of throwing rocks for its attack. But you should be able to capture it just fine before it can even think to attack. It provides a Rock assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

 

Just up ahead, there's a Pichu and Happiny.

As you reach the northernmost edge, you'll reach an overlook called Lookout Ridge where you can see a great view of the entirety of Pueldown down below... but with how far away it is... yikes, this is gonna be a pretty long trip, huh? A lady looking at the view mentions that the construction site ahead is for building a tower that's said to be a symbol of peace for the future of Almia.

 

Continuing along the path, I wasn't lying about how many Beedrill we'd run into! They may be easier to capture in this game than in the original, but they're still fairly dangerous, so be careful not to get stung!

Near the Beedrill here is another Fallen Tree, but this one seems a bit tougher than the others we cut through for Mr. Woodward as they require Cut Lv. 3! A mere Roselia won't cut it here! I suppose we'll need to ignore this fork for now and continue along the other path.

    

As we continue, we'll pass by a few Roselia and Cherubi.

 

East of here is an exit leading to a small area with a Shinx and Happiny as well as the entrance to a cave with an explorer standing outside who will tell you there's always a "rare pokemon" inside. Sounds exciting!

But when we actually go inside, we'll find that it's just a Glameow. I mean, I suppose we've only seen one of these so it's more rare than most pokemon we've encountered so far, but it's kinda disappointing, isn't it? Maybe something else will spawn here if we come back later. Let's keep this place in mind.

If you drop down the cliff to the south, you'll return to the main area of Vien Forest. This makes for a nice shortcut back to Vientown, but we want to keep moving onward, so let's go back and head south from the other screen!

 

Down the next cliff, we'll find a Buizel. And on the next screen over, a Bibarrel!

Bibarrel is certainly a lot more threatening that Bidoof is. Mainly because, like Blastoise, it can lob bubbles of water to leave puddles on the ground that'll damage your styler. It's also quite resistant to capture. But, that long line from Mr. Woodward's quest will certainly prove useful in capturing Bibarrel quickly without taking damage! Bibarrel provides a Water assist and Soak Lv. 2.

We're getting close to Pueltown according to an NPC standing on the side of the path. And sure enough, just past the Pichu ahead we'll see the grassy path pretty abruptly transition into a brick road. And as we approach, we can faintly hear the familiar sound of those suspicious machines. Luana will stop to mention the sound. This can't be good.

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Pueltown

When we first arrive in Pueltown, we can find that things are a serious mess! This place is infested with these strange machines and all the pokemon in the city are going berserk! Lines of hypnotized pokemon are blocking roads off and there are others roaming the streets, unable to be captured! If you ask me, this is our first real mission.

We're met by a man named Brook who seems to be the sheriff around these parts. He's glad to see the rangers arrive and explains pretty much exactly what Prof. Hastings described. Strange men have been planting these "mailboxes" around town and the pokemon have suddenly begun acting strangely! It looks like we've gotta step in and put a stop to that!

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

Mission 4: Destroy the Strange Machines!

Our objective is clear, but boy do we have our work cut out for us! Directly ahead of the entrance to the town is a Ranger Depot, which is essentially a miniature Ranger Base that houses an Operator and a Save Point. We can speak to the operator to recharge our styler for free.

Right away, if you took Luana's advice to heart, then the first of these machines should be easy to destroy right at the entrance to town, and if necessary we can dip back out and capture another Bibarrel to destroy the other, too!

   

Around the entrance to the town, we can find a handful of new pokemon! Of course, they're currently under the effects of the machines so we can't enlist their help just yet, but it's important to know how to fend them off anyway!

Magnemite behaves similarly to the way it did in the first game. It'll spin in place real fast before unleashing Thundershock in various directions. You can generally capture it really quick before it gets its attacks off. This one's a Lv. 2 Recharger, meaning its Field and Assist are the same! I mistakenly suggested before that Recharge Lv. 1 charged your styler by 10 units, but I discovered around Blastoise that it actually only heals 5! I think Lv. 2 charges for 10 units instead, but it might charge up more, I haven't really experimented with it. Either way, until you destroy those machines, you're gonna be stuck with relying only on the Ranger Depot between captures. But that hopefully shouldn't last long!

Growlithe will run around at a moderate pace and occasionally shoot a single fireball. The attack is easily avoided if you're mindful of where you start your loop and make sure to close it quickly with careful timing. It provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 2. Fire is a new type of Assist, but we'll cover it when we can actually use it.

Lastly, there's Rattata who scampers around at a quick pace and occasionally uses Bite! They're easy to underestimate but if you're not careful you can easily take damage from getting reckless with them! Capture them quickly but carefully! They provide Normal Assists and Cut Lv. 1.

 

Anyway, the first of the machines is right at the entrance near the Grolwithe. You can use Bibarrel's Soak Lv. 2 to destroy it with ease.

Suddenly, some suspicious individuals will appear on the bridge overhead! They mention having finally finished setting up all the Gigaremos around the city... is that what these machines are called? Do not ask me how the hell you pronounce Gigaremos. I'm going with Giga- as in "Gigantic" and Remo as in "Remote," but I couldn't tell you how it's actually meant to be read. I really hate this name for these machines, but I suppose that's what we're going to have to call them, huh?

Rant aside, the guys continue to complain about just how heavy the Gigaremos are, apparently it takes four of them just to move one! They move on toward the east, leaving us to continue our job in ruining their hard work! You almost gotta feel bad for them. Almost. Obviously these machines aren't any good.

 

As we head into the northern part of the main area of the town, we'll pass by yet two more new pokemon!

Chatot will use Sing to create large notes that'll hover at a slow speed and damage your styler if you collide with them. Avoid them while circling Chatot and you should be good to go! Surprisingly, even though I'd consider Chatot significantly more dangerous than the likes of Taillow or Combee, it only provides a Cut Lv. 1 Field Skill along with its Flying Assist just like them. But, I suppose if you need a Flying Assist then it's the nearest one, so you may as well use it if you don't have Starly as your partner. That is, after we destroy that Gigaremo.

The other one is Tyrogue! A simple capture, but also deceptively dangerous! Don't draw too tight of a loop around it or it'll punch right through and damage your styler! Keep a safe distance from it as you loop it quickly. Its attacks come out really fast so they're not so easy to avoid. There's no shame in using multiple lines to capture a pokemon! Tyrogue provides a Fighting Assist, that's another new one we'll cover once it's actually available for use, and Crush Lv. 1.

 

The second Gigaremo is near the Tyrogue.

   

After destroying these Gigaremos, a line of pokemon including a Growlithe and three Elekid will scramble off and the main area of the town will be lifted from the effects of the Gigaremo! But it's not hard to guess that there are yet more Gigaremo around the town. Upon accomplishing this, Brook will approach us and thank us for our work before informing us that he's lifted the bridge so that the suspicious characters can't escape through the north end. I mean... okay? They can certainly escape in any other direction, but I suppose we'll let him think he's helping. Anyway, with that, Brook makes a promise that he'll capture the criminals for you and then runs off after them!

Anyway, now that the effects of these Gigaremos have been lifted, we can now capture the pokemon here and enlist their help! So let's go over those new assists!

The Fire Assist is quite useful! In the previous game, it merely created a wall of flames the target couldn't cross. But in this game, it'll create a ring of fire inside of your loops that'll help you capture the target faster as well as tire them out, making them attack less frequently. This can be great for quelling more aggressive pokemon.

The Fighting Assist is by far the most universally useful assist to me. It simply doubles the effectiveness of your line, and even moreso against pokemon that are weak to Fighting! This assist is unchanged from the original game where it was pretty much integral to capturing a lot of the more resilient pokemon.

Anyway, if we continue north through Pueltown, we'll find that, indeed, the bridge is up so there's no leaving the town through the north end. Instead, our next objective is to head up the stairs the pokemon were blocking before.

As expected, the pokemon over in the west side of town are also under the influence of Gigaremos.

We'll pass by a hypnotized Chatot and as we go deeper,

We'll find another Gigaremo! But this one is green! Can you guess what that means? Well, after tapping on it, you'll find that this one requires Burn Lv. 2 to destroy! Of course, these Gigaremos are color-coded in correlation to pokemon types! The Red ones being Fire, needing Water to destroy them, and these Green ones being Grass, needing Fire to destroy them. Seems simple enough. But even if we destroy this with Growlithe's Burn Lv. 2, the area is still under effect! There's more of these around!

  

Near this Gigaremo is a Bibarrel and another Chatot as well as a new pokemon, Magby.

Magby will hop around and shoot fireballs a bit more aggressively than Growlithe. But once you've captured him, you might be disappointed to know that he's inferior with a Fire Assist and only Burn Lv. 1. But I suppose that's okay. It's just a baby, after all.

 

Down past a Tyrogue and a Pichu is the next Gigaremo--another Grass one. Frustratingly enough, it seems everyone who plays this game immediately turns around after seeing this one to go grab another Grolwithe and then gets distracted by what happens after to the point where they never look at the nearby building that makes destroying this thing a lot simpler. For now, let's keep exploring this area since we can't destroy the Gigaremo just yet.

   

The east exit is blocked off by a Voltorb and three Chatot. We'll need to destroy the Gigaremo in order to pass through here.

To the south is an Electric Gate which requires Electrify Lv. 2 to open. Up until this point, we've only found Electrify Lv. 1 in Shinx, so we can't open this gate just yet.

If we head just west of this gate, we'll find a Voltorb that provides the Field Skill we need to open the gate. But, of course, we can't use it just yet due to the Gigaremos. Voltorb is pretty simple to capture, but it's a little scary to approach. In the overworld, it'll try to explode which can damage you, so watch out! And in capture, it'll charge up like it's about to explode and then either actually explode or just fire off Thundershocks like most Electric types. Try to capture it quickly before it attacks but don't get your styler caught in the explosion! Voltorb provides an Electric assist and Electrify Lv. 2.

The important part of this building, though, is what's inside.

The building is an apartment complex, and on the first floor, you'll find a Growlithe that isn't affected by the Gigaremos! Perhaps being inside is enough to shield it from the obnoxious noise? You can capture this Growlithe to help you dispose of that second Gigaremo with ease without needing to backtrack all the way around to grab another Growlithe from the main part of town.

If you head to the second floor of this complex, you'll find the place where Almia Times is printed! Tapping on the bookshelves in the back allow you to look at copies of the Almia Times you've seen, like the one about Altru Inc. or about Keith's heroics in Fiore. So it seems these aren't only for one-time viewing.

 

Anyway, once we head back out and destroy the second Gigaremo, the nearby pokemon will be freed of its control and the blockade will dissappear!

Shortly after, the same suspicious individuals will return after realizing they've lost signals from the Gigaremos they've planted only to discover us rangers have already destroyed them! The two guys begin to panic and run to tell their boss what's happening.

 

Of course, we'll want to chase after them, but before we do, let's quickly grab that Voltorb and open up that gate! This'll open a convenient shortcut from the southern part of town to the western part of town. It's only a brief detour and one extra capture can't hurt unless you're going for a speedrun.

Now then, let's follow those guys across the bridge!

The bridge passes over central Pueltown and connects to Eastern Pueltown. Up here, we can find an Elekid in Central Pueltown! Elekid will hop around like Magby and occasionally electrify itself, damaging you if you touch it while it's charged. It's still while it's doing so, though, making it a pretty easy capture. It provides an Electric Assist and... wait a minute, Electrify Lv. 2?? Well why the hell did Magby get shafted, then??

Anyway, as we continue to the east, we'll suddenly hear a little girl's scream!

Music: Crisis (Call to Action)

The scream is coming from Melody! Isaac's little sister! She's being surrounded by pokemon bothered by the remotes! Brook is nearby, trying to break through the pokemon to rescue her. Eventually, with a running start, he manages to jump into the circle with her, but... he didn't exactly plan his escape out. Now it looks like we've gotta rescue both Melody and Brook!

There's a Green Gigaremo nearby which we'll need to destroy with fire, of course, so if you don't have one, you'll need to go back and grab that Growlithe! But before we head back, let's poke around a bit more, first.

 

Down here, you'll find another Electric Gate which we can open with Elekid!

    

On the other side of the gate, there's a Blue Gigaremo which we'll also need to destroy to the East. This one also requires Electrify Lv. 2. There's a line of Bibarrel blocking the path further in that direction. But more importantly, we've opened another shortcut to southern Pueltown.

You can find an Elekid inside a nearby apartment complex to help you with this task.

 

 

After destroying the Blue Gigaremo with Elekid, go and grab a Growlithe to take out the green Gigaremo. Upon destroying the Gigaremos, the pokemon will disperse and Melody and Brook will be rescued! It seems like Melody is unhurt, thankfully. She explains she saw some bad-looking people going to the Harbor, so we'll need to continue giving chase! Brook mentions that her brother, Isaac, can't come by to visit much due to being busy at work, so Brook seems to be serving as a big brother figure for Melody. He offers to take her home... I... suppose he's trustworthy. At least Melody seems comfortable with him. For now, we've got other matters to attend to. We'll need to make our way to the harbor which is further east!

  

Exploring around Eastern Pueltown a bit more, we can find a Bibarrel pretty much all over the place as well as Elekid and Magby. It certainly would've been useful to have these guys' help to destroy the Gigaremos, huh?

In the northeast corner, you'll find Melody's home where her grandparents will sincerely thank you for rescuing her. Always heartwarming to see scenes like this.

Anyway, it's time to head out to the harbor. We'll pass by a Save Machine along the way.

As soon as you reach the harbor, surprise, yet more Gigaremos are active here! Right away, there's another new capture: Wingull! This guy will flit around and, surprisingly, it'll try to ram you rather than shoot bubbles or SuperSonic at you. A bit of an odd take, but I suppose it works. Once captured, it'll provide a Water assist and Soak Lv. 1. That is, if it's free of the Gigaremo's effect.

 

There is also a Magnemite and Chatot a bit further ahead along this road which ends past a building that provides passage to another pier. The building itself is empty, strangely enough.

 

If you branch off and head North before the pier, you'll find a Rattata and Raticate!

Raticate, of course, being a new encounter as well. This chapter is chock-full of 'em, huh? Raticate is a bit slower than Rattata, but its Crunch has a much wider reach and it's far more resistant to capture. On capture, it'll provide a Normal Assist and Cut Lv. 2.

 

Further ahead, we'll find a yellow Gigaremo surrounded by more suspicious characters! As well as one particularly distinguishable character with a Toxicroak by his side. He must be their leader. The guys all complain to their leader about the rangers destroying the Gigaremos they've placed and complain that they're only able to do so because of how heavy the machines are! However, it seems they've still managed to gather some data from their "experiment," so they suggest that they should just leave quickly before things get out of hand.

    

Before proceeding further, I recommend coming prepared with a good set of Assists. I of course had my Pachirisu along with a Magnemite for healing, Growlithe, and Bibarrel.

Luana decides to ask the suspicious characters what's going on with these machines upfront. You'd think they wouldn't be so voluntary with information, but because Luana asked so kindly, one of the grunts immediately starts talking, explaining that they're an organization called Team Dim Sun with plans for world domination! This is sounding eerily similar to the Go-Rock Squad, huh? They came to Pueltown to experiment with their Gigaremo machines to see if the machines will allow them to control pokemon like puppets! So, these things even sound like the copied Super Stylers from the first game, too!

Of course, the admin steps in to shut the grunt up which is where the grunt realizes his mistake. He'd only thought he was being helpful, but his kindness had been exploited! Oh, I truly love these games' writing.

To get revenge on us, the grunt attacks us with a squadron of four Rattata under the control of the Gigaremo!

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Vs. Team Dim Sun Grunt

Capturing four Rattata is a bit more challenging than capturing just one, but it's nothing! They get captured pretty quickly, so you should be able to capture them pretty easily even if you have to try and isolate them one at a time. Be wary of their attacks and you should be fine!

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

But the real challenge comes immediately after. Recognizing that we've overpowered them, Team Dim Sun sends the strongest ally they have at their disposal against us.

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Vs. Team Dim Sun Admin

Toxicroak is a much scarier pokemon to capture than anything we've tried to capture so far! Toxicroak bounces around a lot and aggressively spits out clouds of poisonous gas. Its Poison typing makes it resistant to Tyrogue's Fighting Assist, of course. Electric and Fire Assists can be really useful in slowing and stopping his movement, but those slow-moving clouds can be a pain. He'll also occasionally spit out globs of sludge that'll leave puddles of it on the ground. You know the drill. Try to avoid the sludge as you loop him. Try to wait for key opportunities before trying to trap him with your assists or you just might find yourself wasting them! Circle Toxicroak with a lot of excess space, try to draw as large of loops as you can and leave the majority of the space in the direction he's facing. Close your loops quickly and be sure to let go before the poisonous clouds reach you! If you aren't capable of drawing big loops because of his position or the position of the sludge puddle, just pull back before he lets his attack loose! Get damage in where you can and unload your specials and you should be good to go!

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Upon freeing Toxicroak from the effects of the Gigaremo, it flees and the Admin insists it's a waste of time to continue trying to fight. Instead, he tasks the grunts with carrying the last Gigaremo away. Stating that it may be heavy, but the punishment for failure will be heavier still! So, the four grunts team up to lift the Gigaremo toward the edge of the pier where they make their escape by boat!

Brook quickly rushes in, distressed that Team Sun got away and that by getting away by boat they had rendered lifting the bridge completely pointless. But, he insists once again that he'll capture them and jumps off into the water to try and swim after that boat... he's... definitely not going to make it. Will he even be okay? Should we go after him? Well, a Fisherman approaches us and tells us about how well known Brook and his antics are around these parts and it seems he'll be back any second now... and indeed he is, lamenting that their boat is too fast for him to keep up with and questioning why the seawater must be so salty!?

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Anyway, this may not quite be mission clear just yet, as we still have to report back to base. Luana mentions that she's never had a mission as dangerous as this one and that we should fill everyone in on our way back over voicemail. It certainly sounds like this Team Dim Sun has the potential to be a really dangerous threat if we don't nip this in the bud right away. But, I want to end things off here. Mainly because this was a pretty long mission and there's a quest we can do on the way back. I think this is a pretty fitting place for things to end off for now. Next time, we'll report back to base and see what the game has in store for us next!

[Aura]

Pueltown

Now that we've completed the our mission, it's time to head back to Vientown to complete our report. I know this is a bit unorthodox, but if we open our Quest screen, we can find a quest is available for us in Vien Forest which we'll pass through on the way back. I want to cover these quests in-between posts detailing missions and the meat of this one is done already. It's not lost on me that there may be quests introduced in the middle of missions which I might handle differently, but for now, this one isn't too much of an exception.

Anyway, after driving Team Dim Sun out of Pueltown, we can explore the town one last time to speak with the locals and make sure everyone's okay before we make our way back through Vien Forest.

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Vien Forest

On our way back, there isn't too much to talk about. There aren't any particularly significant changes, though as we make our way toward Vientown, we'll pass by the client for our next quest! The man mentions that some shady people, probably Team Dim Sun, have been leaving crates all around the forest. He's been smashing and hauling the crates away, but he's reached his limit and asks if he can pass the job to us. We agree of course, and he mentions there's only two more crates ahead. So, off we go!

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Quest 6: Clear the Crates!

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The two crates are just ahead, up the first flight of stairs and just west and east of the second. They require Crush Lv. 1 to break, so Tyrogue from Pueltown can get the job done. If you're lacking Tyrogue, then the Beedrill just up ahead will suffice as well.

Once we're done, we report back to our client and receive our reward: a Bug Defense upgrade! They may not be very exciting, but they're always good to have, especially the first tier!

==========

Anyway, as we return back, we can take the shortcut south of the cave with Glameow to quickly return to the main part of Vien Forest and get back to Vientown quickly.

Vientown Ranger Base

As we report back to Barlow, Luana laments that Team Dim Sun got away, but Barlow assures her that she's being too hard on herself and that what we've accomplished in Pueltown today is a lot for two rookies! Of course, Team Dim Sun will certainly warrant further investigation. In the meantime, our mission is now officially cleared! With Elane and Prof. Hastings still at work taking apart the Gigaremo from Marine Cave, and Ollie still refusing to open his mouth, Barlow allows us both to turn in for the night.

The next morning, we find that Elaine had worked through the night to take apart the Gigaremo and Big Bertha has arrived to deliver some delicious Milk Pudding. She hands some out to the rangers when she notices Ollie and is appalled by the condition he's in! Despite Barlow trying to explain why he hasn't been fed, her motherly instincts take over and she gently spoon-feeds him some of her Milk Pudding. The act of generosity causes Ollie's eyes to well up in tears because he knows he doesn't deserve such wonderful treatment and instantly confesses to everything he's done!

Ollie explains he was the cause for the forest fire. Apparently he was setting the Gigaremos up throughout the forest when he spilled their fuel and a spark plug ignited the fuel and started the fire. Apparently he was putting up the Gigaremos as a job for somebody he met long ago who claimed he could get easy money doing it. He adds that he had no idea what the Gigaremos were or what they were for and apologizes for what he's done. He then goes on to compliment the Milk Pudding and continues balling after that.

Big Bertha insists he be untied so he can wipe his tears, so Barlow asks us to untie him. Apparently they had him tied up so tight we can't untie him even with Luana's help! Once Elaine gets involved, though, with a bit of a struggle, we finally untie Ollie! Barlow tells Ollie he's free to go now that we have the information from him and explains to him that he was used by Team Dim Sun. Worried about where Team Dim Sun could strike next, he decides to send a ranger out to patrol just to be safe. Of course, we're the ones elected to do so.

Music: Vientown

As soon as we step outside, Ollie follows after us and tells us he has a "friend" living in Chicole Village and he'd like to see how she's doing and asks if you'll go with him because he's really bad with things like this. It looks like we're headed back to Chicole!

Chicole Village

As soon as we arrive in Chicole Village, our little sister calls out to us! She's in a panic and explains that a Hat Ghost appeared at the Partner Farm! She frantically asks you to follow her. Ollie adds that his request can wait, as this "hat ghost" sounds like a pretty important deal! So, we make our way toward the Partner Farm.

Spoiler

Partner Farm

When we arrive at the Partner Farm, we'll find a hat that seems to be moving all on its own! Our father asks us if we can capture a ghost, so we'll have to do our best! Of course, we'll quickly find out this doesn't seem like a ghost at all, especially when we hear a sound coming from it...

When we reach the hat, we find a mere Kricketot is under it! And we have to capture it to settle it down!

Kricketot will hop around and vibrate its antennae to create large notes like Chatot's. They can be avoided all the same and Kricketot can be captured pretty easily.

 

As soon as we capture Kricketot, it quickly seems to get along well with our Pachirisu friend from earlier. It seems like it wants to become our partner pokemon! We already have Pachirisu, but Mr. Woodward explained before that a ranger can have multiple partner pokemon! But only one can go with us at a time. Since we have Pachirisu, we just need to find a safe place for Kricketot to stay. And, wouldn't you know it? We just happen to have an aptly named "Partner Farm" right here! Our family agrees to look after any partner pokemon that want to join us and so we now have our first official Partner!

Kricketot, of course, provides a Bug Assist as opposed to Pachirisu's Electric Assist. As a result, he can offer a slightly more aggressive edge compared to Pachirisu who reduces movement. You can only have one partner at a time, but you can always return to the Partner Farm to swap them out! Of course, after swapping Partners, the Partner Gauge will be reset, so you'll want to try and pick well ahead of time. Try to think of the type of pokemon you'll be encountering in upcoming areas and choose a partner that best fits those pokemon! Pachirisu is more useful against pokemon that attack a lot while Kricketot is more useful against pokemon that move around a lot and are harder to hit with the thunderbolts from the Electric Assist. Of course, type matchups are also a factor to consider. A Bug Assist will be effective in areas where Electric Assists won't work. So keep that in mind as well.

In case it isn't clear, over the course of the game, we'll be discovering Partner Pokemon of every type! So by the end of the game we'll have lots of partners to choose from for each mission! But for now, we've gotta give Kricketot time to calm down. In the meantime, let's continue bringing Ollie to his "friend's house".

Chicole Village

It doesn't take long to piece together that Ollie here is the son of the lady next door. We bring him home to his mother.

As soon as he's home, he gets all frustrated with himself. He immediately apologizes to his mother, who's facing away from him, and begins beating himself up over all of his shortcomings. After apologizing profusely for leaving her all alone for so long and causing her to worry about him so much, he ends off by simply saying "I'm home." This causes her mother to turn around and tell him that's all she wanted to hear from him, that she didn't want to hear him beat himself up over all of that and just wanted to hear him say he was home. She welcomes her son home with open arms.

I've gotta say, this emotional reunion got to me, man. It's just another case of me being a bit of a baby when it comes to emotional stories like this, but knowing how serious stories like this can be in real life, it's such a heartwarming scenario that really came out of the blue to me. But I'm glad to see it resolved. I suppose a Ranger's job is never done, huh?

And, speak of the devil, when we leave Ollie's house, our little sister calls out to us and tells us that Kricketot has finally calmed down, so we can finally go and swap partners!

Spoiler

Partner Farm

Swapping Partners is as simple as approaching the partner you want, tapping on it, and saying "Yes" when asked if you want to swap. Now, Pachirisu will be staying behind at the farm and we'll be bringing Kricketot along with us for a little while! I'm gonna try to make as much use of each of these guys as I can, but I honestly can't make any promises.

Anyway, it's time to tag our new friend in and see if he can help us going forward!

And while we're at it, our patrol isn't quite over. We can now see that there are two more quests available for us! One in Vientown and another in Vien Forest. Looks like we've still got more work to do!

Vientown

Back in Vientown, our next client is Webster, the guy at the south end of the town who's always bragging about putting up the signs everywhere. He explains that a rock fell and destroyed the sign on Breeze Hill and he needs to replace it. But of course, the rock is still in the way which naturally causes some issues. He asks us to go and destroy the rock so that he can put the new sign in its rightful place.

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

Quest 7: Breeze Hill Sign Recovery

When we make our way toward Breeze Hill from Nabiki Beach, we'll find the Rock in question. It requires Crush Lv. 2.

Music: Basement Laboratory/Cave

 

Since I still had a Bibarrel with me, I figured the fastest approach would be to head into Marine Cave to get that Graveler.

Of course, if you don't have a Soak Lv. 2 pokemon with you, you'll need to slip deeper into the cave and capture Gastrodon to do this.

If you're willing to make a longer trek for an easier time, then I'd recommend heading back up to Vien Forest and capturing another Beedrill for this job and skip out on revisiting Marine Cave entirely.

 

With your new friend in tow, crush the rock right here and Webster will arrive on the scene to restore the sign to its proper place.

Your reward for completing this quest is a Dark Defense upgrade! Ooh, does this mean we'll be getting a Dark Pokemon in the near future? That was one of the more useful assists in the original game! Though I wonder if it's still the same? After all, the Normal assist already extends the capture line.

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

Vien Forest

Anyway, our next quest lies in Vien Forest. As we enter the forest, we'll pass a young guy who will explain to us that he saw a Cranidos getting chased by a Wartortle and asks if youc ould go rescue it. Sounds like a simple task!

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

Quest 8: Please Save Cranidos!

To find the Cranidos in question, we need to look no further than the dead end right near the entrance. I suppose there's some ambiguity there, though. Specifically, the one up near the river past the Pichu and Shinx.

 

As we approach the tree at the dead-end, we'll find that Cranidos in question being chased by the Wartortle. It looks like we'll have to capture both pokemon at once!

Cranidos behaves pretty much as you'd expect. It'll charge around and use headbutts to damage your line. Of course, be wary of Wartortle as well. You might want to use some assists here! Shinx's Electric Assist can be a huge boon, of course. As can the Grass and Water Assists for Cranidos. I recommend trying to make sure to capture Wartortle first, after which Cranidos should be pretty easy to capture.

 

After clearing this quest, Cranidos seems really appreciative of us and after interacting with our active Partner, it looks like we've recruited ourselves another partner already! I suppose Kricketot's adventure was a bit shortlived. We swap partners with Cranidos and Kricketot makes its way back to the farm! I'll probably bring him out soon if we ever find an opportunity to use him later. But for now, let's take Cranidos along with us!

Curiously, it seems that when a Partner Pokemon is obtained through a quest, the Ranger Union doesn't provide a reward. I suppose registering a new partner with the Union they consider to be reward enough. I suppose that's fair, if not a bit stingy.

===========

Pueltown

Before we report back tot he base, I want to revisit Pueltown and investigate how things are going there. Team Dim Sun doesn't seem to be back there yet, and it seems that a lot of the locals have gone back to their daily lives where it's clear there's actually quite a lot of political tension surrounding Altru, Inc. The talk of the town is that Altru, Inc. is planning to completely redesign Pueltown! And the residents of the town seem split on the decision! Some of them are excited about modern conveniences while some are adamantly against the idea of remodeling the city. Rumors are spreading that they even want to rename the place to Altrutown. Yeah, I can certainly imagine this not exactly going over well with people who've lived here their entire lives... just what's going on?

Furthermore, it also seems that rangers aren't too popular here, either. Some of the locals seem to look down on us and even insist that we're unneeded. What the hell! We'd only just saved the entire city yesterday!

Vientown Ranger Base

Once we're done on our patrol, we return to Vientown's Ranger Base to turn in. And that's where we're going to leave things off. I suppose next time we'll probably have something new happening in regards to Team Dim Sun, so we'll just have to wait and see!

[Aura]

Vientown Ranger Base

As it turns out, just as we go to turn in for the night, Prof. Hastings discovers a strange black stone within the Gigaremo. He asks if Elaine has any idea what the stone is, but she's never seen anything like it. She offers to pulverize it with a hammer or drill holes in it, causing Prof. Hastings to immediately regret asking her and insist that he take it with him to the Ranger Union to have it thoroughly analyzed.

So, Hastings leaves for the Ranger Union and Barlow heads out with him, leaving the rest of the rangers to look after the base while he's out. With that, we head off to bed.

The next morning, Barlow still hasn't returned. Luana shows us a report in the Almia Times on two of the top Rangers, Sven and Wendy. Perhaps we'll be able to meet with them one day? As we're speaking with Luana, we receive a voicemail from Barlow asking us to report to Pueltown asap. It sounds pretty serious, so we'd better head out now!

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Vien Forest

At the edge of Vien Forest, just on the outskirts of Pueltown, we run into Barlow who explains the situation. Apparently the Norward Bridge is still up, meaning nobody can pass through, including Prof. Hastings who needs to cross in order to reach the Ranger Union! If you recall, the previous day Brook raised the bridge to make it more difficult for Team Dim Sun to escape. But as it turns out, he still hasn't lowered the bridge even after they escape and he's nowhere to be seen! The people are naturally frustrated over this.

Okay, so like, this seems like an important issue and all, but why exactly do I need to be here for this!? Can't Barlow go find Brook? Here I thought there was going to be something happening with Team Dim Sun.

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

Pueltown

Barlow leads us to the Norward Bridge where we meet up with Prof. Hastings. A lady nearby overhears us talking about Brook and mentions that she saw Brook in the harbor. So, we go with Barlow to look for Brook at the harbor!

As we head to the east, we do find Brook still standing where we saw Team Dim Sun escape. We explain the situation to him and ask him why he hasn't lowered the bridge and we get our answer... he dropped the key when he was swimming out to sea. Ooh boy.

Well, Barlow provides us with an item called a Micro Aqualung which will supply oxygen for us underwater. He tasks us with retrieving the key from the bottom of the sea. Barlow reluctantly insists that he stay on shore. It's sounding to me like he doesn't actually know how to swim which is kinda funny to me.

More importantly, with the Micro Aqualung, we can now explore underwater! Barlow explains that while exploring underwater, pokemon you captured on land will stay behind and wait for you to return. They obviously can't be brought into the sea with you. Likewise, pokemon captured underwater can't be brought onto land and will wait for you to return underwater. This is a distinction that actually makes a lot of sense! Since, at least for now, all of our partner pokemon were met on land, this also means we won't have any partner pokemon to help out underwater. So this is a bit of unfortunate timing in regards to our Cranidos.

Regardless, Brook takes us out to sea on a friend of his' boat to the point where he dropped his key. Apparently he knows exactly where they fell?

Music: Boat Cruise

The trip is pretty short-lived as we soon arrive at the point in question. Brook warns us to be careful as there are currents at the bottom of the sea, but the keys should be nearby when we go down, so this shouldn't be too difficult of a task. With that, we leap into the water and activate our Aqualung!

==========

Puel Sea

While underwater, things are a little bit different. Of course, the most immediately obvious difference is the pokemon available to you. As mentioned before, you have to leave your land pokemon behind to go underwater and catch different pokemon down there. That means we're about to meet a whole lot more new pokemon! As you move around, you'll find movement a little bit more difficult underwater. It's basically like you're always on ice, so you'll have to navigate a bit more carefully and watch your momentum! Now, let's go looking for that key! We can see something sparkling in the distance, so let's make our way over there!

 

Right at the entrance, we find ourselves near two Finneon. These guys will try to Tackle your line as you try to capture them, but they're the basic capture of the sea, so it's nothing difficult. They provide a Water Assist and Crush Lv. 1. Right off the bat, you might notice a bit of an issue I have already with these underwater missions. Since most of the pokemon underwater are going to be Water types, they'll mostly all provide Water Assists which aren't going to be very effective against other Water pokemon. Not only is there not a lot of variety in assists, but that one assist isn't going to be very useful against the other pokemon down here. Maybe we'll see more variety, but most pokemon I'd expect to see underwater are going to be classified as Water types. So you'd probably better get good at capturing without assists if you aren't already!

A bit further ahead, you'll find Chinchou. As you'd probably expect, these guys are treated as Electric types and are your underwater Rechargers. Worth noting, there's no Ranger Depot underwater, too, so you'll need to be relying on pokemon to recharge your styler more. Chinchou provides Recharge Lv. 2. But watch out for its Thundershock as it'll catch you by surprise by firing them off twice instead of once like you might be used to with other rechargers so far!

As we draw near the key, a Sharpeo arrives and swallows it up before swimming off! Uh-oh! Things are about to get complicated. We get a voicemail from Barlow checking in on us and we report what just happened, so Barlow upgrades this task to an official mission to recover that key from the Sharpedo!

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

Mission 5: Recover a Key from Sharpedo!

Sharpedo swam off to the south, so we'll need to give chase!

Just up ahead, we'll find Mantyke, another new pokemon. It'll blow bubbles as projectiles, so watch out for those, but it drifts around slowly making it a fairly easy capture as long as your wary of its bubbles. It provides a Water assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

 

 

Up ahead, there's a fork with two Finneon. If we head to the East, we'll quickly stumble across some "Wood Blocks" obscuring our path that require Cut to break through, forcing us to continue chasing that Sharpedo.

Qwilfish is found just in the next area. It will drift around slowly and fire Poison Sting, so be careful as you try to capture it! Qwilfish provides a Water assist and Soak Lv. 1. I.. can't imagine Soak being very useful underwater, but I suppose that doesn't mean the game won't find an excuse for it.

As we head around the ledge, we'll find an ocean current that pushes us away from the west side. This is a one-way path, of course.

 

There's another Mantyke and Qwilfish nearby as we pass around the ledge to the East.

Near another ocean current is a Corsola! This guy's a really easy capture. It moves around really slowly and takes a long time to shoot its Bubbles. That said, the bubbles are quite large so they might do more damage than normal. But they're very slow moving and take too long to come out. An easy capture is an easy capture. Corsola provides a Water assist and Crush Lv. 2 making it a better version of Finneon.

 

As we continue southward, we'll pass another Finneon before coming across two Small Rocks. The ones in-game actually have more of a seashell look to them than these. Anyway, each of these rocks requires Crush Lv. 1 to break.

 

 

Even though it's unnecessary, I like to break all the targets in the area because you never know when one might have a secret under it! It rarely happens, but it's happened enough for me to be wary of the possibility! All it takes is just one of these things to hide a rare pokemon that'll have me puzzled at the end of the game as I comb the entire world looking for the one I'm missing. I'd rather leave no stone unturned my first time through! Of course, you can use the nearby Finneon as well as the Corsola from earlier, or any of the other Finneon, to clear these rocks and you only really need to crush one of them to continue further.

As we reach further south, we'll find Sharpedo dashing across a deep chasm! It's dangerous to swim across that on our own. We'll need to find another way to get to it.

Thankfully, we haven't reached an impasse just yet. There's a Staryu here to capture! Staryu will use... Confusion I guess? It's a small ball of psychic energy. It's a lot less dangerous to capture than its Rapid Spinning counterpart in Fiore. Staryu provides a Water assist and Cut Lv. 1, meaning we can head back and break those Wooden Boxes now!

 

With the Wooden Box down, we can progress into a new area of the sea.

 

Just beyond the blocks, there's a couple of Corsola.

      

And in the next area, there's all sorts of wildlife in the next area. Two Corsola, and Mantyke, two Staryu, two Finneon...

 

Real quick, we can use one of those Staryu to clear out that other block just to let my mind rest easy.

 

There's another Wooden Block to the Southeast, allowing us to bring a Staryu toward it and cut right through. As we progress, Barlow will send us another Voicemail where he'll tell us to seek out a Mantine if we need to traverse underwater caverns. 

 

As we continue forward, we'll pass another Mantyke and Corsola.

And as luck will have it, we happen to find a Mantine right ahead! And if there's anything that really opens my eyes to how much of a game changer these Underwater areas are, it's this guy. If you recall, this was one of the most agonizing pokemon to capture in the first game because of how huge he was and his tendency to dive underwater to avoid capture! He popped up to the surface briefly and you had to capture it while it was there! And there were many pokemon just like that! Most underwater pokemon, to be exact. Well, there's nowhere for them to hide when we can meet them down there ourselves! Mantine is a much easier capture in this game, merely drifting around and shooting bubbles like Mantyke. But don't underestimate the size factor. Be careful drawing loops around these guys because it's very easy to hit their fins and break your line.

Anyway, Mantine provides a Water Assist and the Area Move Swim! If you recall, Area Moves require you to be in specific places to use them. In this case, we likely need to find our way to that Underwater Canyon Sharpedo swam across.

After capturing the Mantine you need, continue forward to pass through the main area from before where we last saw Sharpedo. You'll pass a Mantyke here. Be very careful about your speed because you don't want to get caught in the current and blown away or you'll have to circle all the way back around. Carefully maneuver around the corner  and head south.

  

You'll find another Mantine and a Starmie along the way.

As you reach the southern end, you'll find stairs leading down toward the canyon where you can use Mantine's Area Move to carry you across! Swim is such a pleasant Area Ability as you'll be able to control Mantine and move around freely until you reach land and have to disembark. And movement on Mantine is a lot faster than on foot! I really wish it would just let me ride Mantine everywhere!

Anyway, it's time to continue chasing after Sharpedo! As we pass through to the area ahead, we'll find Sharpedo on the other side of a current blowing against us. Unfortunately, even with Mantine's speed we can't quite break through the current so we'll have to go around.

Up in the Northeast, we can disembark on a ledge to find another Mantine. This is just a return path to the main area, though, so there's no use in coming here right now. Passing through the exit to the East will just put you on the other side of that one-way current from before. Again, be careful because you'll have to circle all the way back around if you get caught in it.

  

Instead, continue in the other direction and take the currents to catch up to Sharpedo! Along the way, after disembarking, we'll pass a Corsola, Chinchou, and another Mantine.

In the next area, we'll find Sharpedo in a reef that seems to form a sort of natural underwater racetrack! Barlow tells us over Voicemail that Sharpedo is really fast, so he advises us to utilize high-speed currents to catch up! This is actually a little bit wonky, but try to take full advantage of the currents and avoid losing speed by touching the walls or turning too tightly and you should eventually be able to corner Sharpedo in the northern part of the area for capture!

Naturally, Sharpedo is an incredibly aggressive pokemon, I'd say even moreso than in the original game! Be careful about capturing him! He'll thrash about with a flurry of Tackles and his Crunch reaches out really far like Raticate's. He's rough! Especially with only Water Assists! Take full advantage of the fact that you don't have to capture pokemon in one line in this game. Sharpedo provides a Water Assist and Crush Lv. 4.

After capturing Sharpedo, we find that it looks ill. The key it swallowed must be causing that. We retrieve the Bridge Key from its belly and send it off! With that, we return to Brook at the boat and then back to the Harbor in Pueltown!

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

Pueltown

As we return to Barlow to report the mission status, he seems amazed that we were able to brave the bottom of the sea! Is it that he can't swim, or is he just afraid of the sea? Maybe we'll get a more direct answer later on. But for now, it's officially mission clear! In addition, we're ranked up to Ranger Rank 3 which grants us the ability to use Ground and Steel Poke Assists! Furthermore, finally, Barlow increases the limiter on the amount of Friend Pokemon we can have with us to four! Now, including our partner pokemon, we can have up to five pokemon follow us around!

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

And that's where we're going to leave things off! Having four pokemon at a time is certainly going to be a huge help. Next time, we'll make our way back to Norward Bridge, lower it, and finally allow Prof. Hastings to complete his journey back to the Ranger Union! See you then!

[Aura]

Pueltown

Now that we've retrieved the Bridge Key, it's time to make our way to the bridge and lower it! We bring Brook up to the bridge, reunite with Prof. Hastins, and finally Brook lowers the bridge so we can progress!

As we cross the bridge, we run into Murph, a PR representative of the Ranger Union! He apparently came out to check on Prof. Hastings when he found out he'd spent the night in Pueltown as something like that isn't quite in character for Prof. Hasting's impatient nature. Hastings and Barlow proceed on ahead leaving you behind with Murph. He mentions that you must be tired after our mission and suggests that Altru Park up ahead is a great place for "goofing off," before correcting himself and calling it "relaxing."

Altru Park

On the northern end of the bridge, we arrive in the main part of Altru Park where we soon bump into Isaac, our old classmate from Ranger School! Isaac immediately recognizes us and offers to give us a tour of his workplace at Altru, Inc. Murph is free to come along as well!

Of course, we can chat around with the locals in the park who are mostly just winding down and relaxing. We can find out that Altru Park was at one point a beautiful forest which is a bit sad to hear, but it is admittedly quite a pretty park, too! To the east is a road leading to a place called Chroma Highlands, but the road is closed and the officer standing nearby doesn't even seem to know why. Not that it really maatters right now, because Isaac isn't going to let us go anywhere but North to the Altru Building! We can try to head West toward the Ranger Union, but we can't go that way, either. So, it's off to the Altru Building!

As we approach, we'll find that the building seems to still be under construction. This must be the tower we could see from the cliff that the lady said there was a contest to name back on our first trip to Pueltown. 

Altru Building

As we arrive inside the building, Isaac doesn't hesitate with the tour. He's clearly proud of his job! The ground floor is a lobby that's always open to visitors and serves as a museum of the company's history and in the back are portraits of the three presidents the company has had, the company has been passed down from generation to generation within the Hall family. Doyle M. Hall is the founder, who passed the company down to Brighton Hall, and then the current president Blake Hall.

And, speak of the devil, Blake Hall soon makes his entrance, catching the attention of everyone in the lobby. His employees welcome him and he encourages everyone to make sure they don't overwork themselves. He seems like a nice guy. A little too nice if you ask me. A part of me suspects this might secretly be the game's villain, but I don't really have any evidence of that just yet. Just a hunch. Though the man accompanying him is a little suspect, too, as he's quite quick to tell the employees to get back to work.

Anyway, Isaac mentions we must be pretty lucky to happen across the president in person. Isaac briefly introduces us to him and he commends the work of us rangers, hoping to build a brighter future for all of Almia. With that, Isaac and Mr. Hall return to their work, leaving us behind in the lobby leaving us to look around at the rest of the exhibits. There are some displays in the southeast corner that show off various pieces that are significant to the company's history. One shows the model of the finished Altru Tower, another contains an undersea oil-field exploration device from 25 years ago, equipment that struck oil 50 years ago in Chroma Highlands, and tools used for digging oil wells 70 years ago. It seems that oil is an incredibly important part of Altru, Inc.'s company.

With that, there's not much else to do as we obviously can't go to the higher floors of the building, so let's head back outside!

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

Altru Park

Shortly after returning to Altru Park, we get a voicemail from Barlow requesting that we come to the Ranger Union and bring a pokemon capable of destroying a red Gigaremo. It sounds like we're needed for a demonstration. Sounds like as good of an excuse as any to finally head toward the Ranger Union!

In order to reach the Ranger Union, we'll need to head West of Altru Park and pass through Union Road.

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

Union Road

Not far at all into Union Road, we'll pass by a Mareep which is surprisingly resilient to capture. It'll fire Thundershocks, of course, but it'll also launch sparks that'll linger as a hazard similar to a small puddle of water. It might be tough to capture it in one line! You may want some assists. Speaking of, Mareep provides an Electric Assist as well as Electrify Lv. 1.

Flying around the area is a Swellow. It flies around more frantically than Taillow and blows gusts of wind more aggressively. It'll also tackle, so be wary of that, too! It can be quite difficult to capture this thing, so Cranidos' and Pachirisu's assists come in handy for it! Of course, you can also use the nearby Mareep if you don't have either. Swellow provides a Flying assist and Cut Lv. 2.

 

Further in is another Mareep and an Aipom!

Aipom is a little rascal who scurries around and throws rocks with its tail. It provides a Normal Assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

There's a ranger nearby with a Doduo companion. He tells you that if you can capture a Doduo, you can ride it around to move really fast, so that's definitely something to look forward to! If we go into the nearby house, we'll find it belongs to an old man named Mr. Stubborn who doesn't seem too fond of rangers. He claims to hate them because they carry around "scientific things" and he hates science and everything it stands for. Kind of odd reasoning, but I guess we'll just leave him alone. Funnily enough, if we check the wooden furniture in his home, it seems to be expertly crafted by Mr. Woodward from Vientown who seems quite fond of trainers and looks very similar to him. I wonder if there's some sort of pun or joke with these two's names in Japanese that's lost in translation?

In the next area ahead, there's a fork. Peril Cliffs is up north, but the road is closed with no reason given beyond "it just is." You've just gotta love this trope, huh?

Walking up north while close to the trees will cause a Pineco to drop down! I suspect it'll probably try to SelfDestruct like Voltorb did and damage our styler in the process. But it's pretty easy to get to when it drops down from overhead to capture it before it gets the chance to blow up. or just stay way entirely. In capture, Pineco is surprisingly mobile, hopping around a lot before SelfDestructing like Voltorb. Try to capture it quick but know when to stop trying for that one-line capture. Pineco provides a Bug Assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

There is also a Spearow flitting around here. Spearow is far easier to capture than Swellow, but a bit more aggressive than Taillow. It shoots gusts of wind, so be careful of its projectiles and you should be good to go. It provides a Flying assist and Cut Lv. 1.

On the other side of the house here, you'll find an Oddish that quickly buries itself in the ground as a Strange Weed. You'll need Tackle Lv. 1 to get it to come out.

 

You can easily get this with the nearby Pineco!

Once in capture mode, Oddish will run around and fire Razor Leaf to try and damage your line. It's a pretty easy capture since you have to do some extra leg work to actually make it available. It provides a Grass assist and Cut Lv. 1.

   

Further ahead, we've got a Growlithe, Magnemite, Swellow, and another Magnemite.

Toward the end of the path, we'll find a Bibarrel! Barlow requested we bring a pokemon with us that was capable of destroying a red Gigaremo and Bibarrel seems as capable of that as any other Soak Lv. 2 user, so let's make sure to capture this one!

Nearby, there's another Riverbed where we'll need a Floatzel or Empoleon to sim through, which I can only assume works similarly to Mantine's Swim underwater.

 

As we head up north from this pond, we'll find another branch. Heading East rather than North will cause us to pass by another Pineco, but more importantly, there's a tree!

 

Of course, we can use the Pineco we just passed to Tackle the tree.

And the result is a Yanma! Like Swellow, Yanma is also quite difficult to capture. Cranidos' Rock Assist is going to come in handy yet again! Yanma will dart around the screen and fire air cutter which travels a bit faster than the typical gusts of air. But it does periodically stop, so try to loop it at those points! Yanma provides a Flying assist and Cut Lv. 2.

==========

Ranger Union

Soon enough, we arrive at the Ranger Union proper! As we enter, Murph will immediately switch modes to his work face and point us toward the escalators that will take us to the floor where our meeting is. Once we're done looking around, we'll take the escalator up to the second floor we'll be led to the meeting room.

Inside, we'll be greeted by Barlow who introduces us to the Chairman of the Union with high praise and credits us with discovering the weakness of the Gigaremo. One of the top rangers, Wendy, is even here, too!

 

Anyway, using that Bibarrel we caught earlier, we can destroy the Gigaremo they have set up. Prof. Hastings goes on to explain to the Union that these Gigaremo can be countered using different attacks depending on their color. So he calls for the word to be spread to all rangers on how to destroy these Gigaremos.

Beyond that, Prof. Hastings proceeds by going into detail about how exactly the Gigaremo works. He mentions that this one in particular doesn't seem to hypnotize any pokemon. That, he explains, is because this one doesn't include the black stone he'd pulled from the one in Vientown. While this hypnotic ability of the black stone is still a mystery, it's clear the black stone is the source of it.

Wendy mentions that there's already a full-scale investigation on this Black Stone as well as Team Dim Sun. She decides to verify a few tings with us to recall that Team Dim Sun was conducting an experiment, escaped by boat, and brought with them a Yellow Gigaremo, as well as the fact that pokemon under the hypnotic effect of the Gigaremos couldn't be befriended through capturing. With that, the Chairman insists that he does not fear Team Dim Sun and that all rangers should continue striving for the common goal of defending the people, environment, and pokemon of Almia.

As everyone leaves, Barlow tells you he'll continue to discuss some things with Prof. Hastings and in the meantime suggests for you to look around the Union HQ and report to him whenever we're free.

That said, there's not actually much to really look at here. There are a few other room shere on the second floor that contian various computers and machines, there's an observation room where Operators watch over rangers from all over to offer guidance, one of them is even speaking to Spenser from the first game! I guess Rhythmi is just stationed at some ranger base in Fiore as a Styler Charger, huh? Maybe this is where they go as they climb up the ladder?

Anyway, on the top floor, we'll find a giant tree? It's a strange thing to find on the top floor of a building, but there it is, clear as day. There doesn't seem to be anything up here.

More importantly, we do have a few quests open up to us now! So let's hop on that bandwagon real quick, shall we? All three of these new quests are in Pueltown, so let's make our way back there!

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

Pueltown

Pretty much as soon as we arrive back in Pueltown, we'll run into Brook who has our next quest: He wants someone to go check in with his mother in his home to make sure she's doing okay as he's going to be busy operating the bridge for a while.

===========

Quest 9: Go Talk to my Mom

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

Brook's house is in the East part of town. It's the house northeast of the fountain. You'll know it when you enter because his mother will immediately begin speaking with you.

After inviting you inside to rest up a little, the lady begins to tell you about an old Folktale.

Music: Sad Story

The story is of an old King who ruled over Almia. He had three sons who were princes of Almia. The king was a kind and wanted peace and harmony across Almia between people and pokemon. But the three princes couldn't restrain themselves and began to fight. Reluctantly, the king had to banish his sons. The eldest, cloaked in red, went off to a volcanic land. The second, clad in yellow, went out to a desert. The youngest, dressed in blue, was allowed to stay. The youngest of the princes was able to call the castle his home. The king slowly turned bitter with anger and guilt and the darkness in his heart summoned forth the darkness of the world.

Music: Pueltown (Altru Park)

And that's... it! What? The lady explains there have been so many variations of the story that she's forgotten how it ends. Wow, grandma, way to bring up the mood.

Well, after listening to the lady's story, we politely leave the house before celebrating that the quest is over. I thought that small detail was pretty funny.

For completing this quest, we're rewarded with a Flying Defense upgrade!

=========

Our next quest is located at the harbor at the far south-eastern corner of the city. There are two anglers who are arguing over whether or not the younger of the two is lying about having caught a Lumineon. The older argues that he's been fishing here since before our client had been born and he'd never once seen a Lumineon and he refuses to believe there are any in the sea. So, to prove he isn't lying, he asks for us to go out into Puel Sea and capture a Lumineon to prove that they are in the sea and that he isn't lying!

==========

Quest 10: The Boy Who Cried Lumineon

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

So, you know that mission we just did where we had to go and capture that Sharpedo at the depths of Puel Sea? Yeah? Are you ready to do the exact same thing again? Okay, well we've already cleared out all the obstacles, so it's not quite a waste of time, but, yeah, you do have to make your way all the way back to where you captured Sharpedo.

In order to get back out to Puel Sea, you'll need to enter the building on the harbor and speak with Brook's sailor friend who will gladly take you back out to sea whenever you want.

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

Puel Sea

When we return underwater, we can find that it's true! All the pokemon we befriended before are still waiting for us! So, let's make our way back to the far reaches of this area. It might require capturing a couple Mantine on the way out and back, though, since we won't be warped back out for free this time.

 

At the far end, where we captured Sharpedo, now there's a Lumineon racing right alongside it! You might need to capture the Sharpedo in order to get to the Lumineon easier. But yes, you once again have to race around this underwater racetrack, cutting corners as tight as possible without hitting any walls and riding the currents as much as you can to build up momentum enough to sling yourself into it on the north end.

   

And it's slightly more difficult since there are now a few additional wild pokemon in the area that'll get in your way. You're going to get real sick of Finneon's cry real fast. Thankfully, none of them are too terribly in the way. It might take a few tries, but you'll get it sooner or later!

Once you finally catch up to Lumineon, it's still no walk in the park to actually capture. This thing blasts constant streams of Bubbles and BubbleBeam quite frequently and it's pretty resilient to capture. Try to loop it quickly as soon as you see an opening to keep its capture meter from going down. Otherwise, you're going to struggle a lot. Lumineon offers a Water assist and Crush Lv. 2 which just isn't worth it for anything beyond registering it in your browser and this quest. Thankfully, you don't actually have to keep it around. Your client emphasized that all that was important was for you to have it in your browser. So, make your way all the way back to the entrance and you can return to the surface by reaching the spotlight filtering down.

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

Pueltown

As we return to the fishing kid, the senior fisher quickly clams up after he rubs it in his face. These two have been arguing over who's the better fisher for a while and I think we're starting to see the answer!

With that, the quest is completed and we're rewarded with the Rock Defense upgrade!

==========

Our final client is located in central Pueltown, near the couple who are arguing over their missing Eevee. The client is an old man standing near the couple who happens to be the man's father. He explains that due to their constant bickering, their Eevee ran off and hasn't come back. He asks for us to go and find Eevee and bring it to him so that maybe he can get them to learn something about their quarreling. The only lead we have toward where Eevee is is that he likes the Sea Breeze. Actually, that's more than enough to go off of!

==========

Mission 11: Eevee for Marital Bliss

The only place it makes sense to look is the harbor! The only other area "sea breeze" calls to mind is Breeze Hill, but that'd be quite a way for Eevee to run to. So let's hightail it straight there!

The Eevee in question is found on the upper path of the harbor. You'll need to climb the stairs in the north to get to it. Eevee itself is a pretty simple capture, I think it just tackles, but it can be captured really quickly. It provides a Normal assist and Tackle Lv. 1. Make sure to bring it along with you, this isn't quite the same thing as the case with Lumineon. We need to physically bring Eevee over. So, let's go!

Upon bringing the Eevee to the old man, he thanks us and tells his son and daughter-in-law to stop fighting and that they owe us their thanks. The man thanks us casually and the woman scolds him for having an attitude, and the two immediately go right back to their bickering, causing the old man to sigh and take the Eevee away to go somewhere else on their own.

And that's... quest completed? That's kind of a sad note to leave things on!

Our reward for this quest is a Steel Defense upgrade. And if we speak to the two again, they promise to limit their arguing more and avoid arguing in front of Eevee from now on. I suppose that's a better ending, but it's still not really very satisfying, huh? Hopefully things get sorted out because... yikes.

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

So that's all the quests for now, but before we quit, I wanna stop by the Almia Times room because I found out that Bulbapedia actually does have screenshots of the individual Almia Times reports! With that in mind, I'll try to show them whenever they come up going forward. But for now, here's all the ones we've been shown that I haven't shown yet!

Vol. 1: The Ranger Union, The Command Center, and Chairman Erma.

Vol. 2: Altru, Inc. and the new president, Blake Hall.

Vol. 3: Keith's heroics in Fiore including a shot of Summerland from the first game! As well as the comment on "Odd, Black-Clad Men and Women" which we now know was likely foreshadowing Team Dim Sun.

Vol. 4: A report on the forest fire in Vien Forest!

Vol. 5: A report on the Gigaremo incident in Pueltown.

Vol. 6: Details on the Top Rangers Sven and Wendy and what I assume to be their respective partner pokemon: Luxray and Staraptor!

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

And that's that! Next time, we'll make our way back to the Ranger Union and report back to Barlow to see what's coming next in the story! See you then!

[Aura]

Ranger Union

Now that we've finished our patrol and cleared out a few quests, it's time to report back to Barlow at the Ranger Union and get some rest! We can find him and Prof. Hastings in the northwest room on the second floor.

The next morning, we can get some extra dialogue from the various NPC's around the Union but there's nothing of particular note, so let's meet up with Barlow again on the first floor where he'll tell us it's time to return to Vientown. I'm sure Barlow's probably fallen behind on some work that needs to get done on the homefront, so let's get him there!

=========

Union Road

As we pass through Union Road with Barlow at our side, we suddenly feel some strange tremors! And as we continue further, the tremors continue! And as we cross in front of the nearby cabin, a lady comes out expressing concerns about the fact that she saw a man going toward Peril Cliffs with a large pokemon. She seemed worried that man might be in danger with these tremors. Understanding the emergency, Barlow immediately initiates an emergency mission for the both of us. Looks like our return to Vientown's going to be delayed a bit longer.

Peril Cliffs is up north, past the road that was previously closed.

==========

Mission 6: Seek the Origin of the Quake!

Pretty much as soon as we enter Peril Cliffs, we're going to be met by a Staravia! I suppose this is our first instance of capturing an evolved form of a partner pokemon, though I don't have Starly, you certainly could! Staravia flies around and tackles, nothing too special. It provides a Flying assist and Cut Lv. 2.

As you wander around, you'll have to watch out for Pineco dropping down from overhead! Not exactly sure why Pineco are here but I suppose it's not too out of the question since we are outside of a forested area.

Against the wall ahead are some vines! Just like in the original game, we can climb these vines to reach higher ledges from below. Be careful when jumping down from higher ledges or you might end up losing a lot of progress! But still, keep your eyes peeled for areas you can only reach by dropping down from above! The map on the top screen is helpful for that. Vines will show up on the map as if it's regular ground, so isolated patches of ground will need to be dropped down onto.

 

At the top of these vines, we'll find Larvitar and a Magnemite.

Larvitar will wander and use Rock Throw. Nothing major and it's a pretty easy capture. They provide a Rock assist and Crush Lv. 1.

Just past the Magnemite is a Boulder that requires Crush Lv. 4 to break. If we could bring our Sharpedo up here, we'd be able to break right through it. But alas, we have no land-based pokemon with this much strength so we'll have to pass for now.

As we continue climbing up, we'll soon find a dead end with a vine overhead. If we cut it with Cut Lv. 1 or higher, we can get it to drop down so that we can climb up!

  

If you don't happen to have a Cut user, there's a Staravia along with a Pineco and Larvitar on the other side of this ledge.

 

We happen to have our Yanma from the previous area, so I figured that would be the best pokemon to cut this down with.

At the top of this ledge, Barlow will call your attention to a large leaf on the ground called Springy Grass. You can actually see some of these in the preview image of the area! As the name implies, if you step on it, it'll spring you over to another area! It's a one-way trip, though, so there's no guarantee you can easily make it back the way you came.

 

Anyway, there's a Magnemite and Spearow up here as well as a Save Machine you probably want to save at before making this leap. Once you're prepared, step on the springy grass to cross over to the other side! If you do so accidentally, there's thankfully more Springy Grass to bounce you back over, so it's not the end of the world. But it's probably a good habit to be wary of these things going forward.

 

As we continue onward, we soon find what appears to be the source of the tremors: A Team Dim Sun Grunt is having two Rampardos repeatedly ram into what appears to be some sort of cave! Unfortunately, there's no way down there from here so we're going to have to make our way around the long way, of course.

 

In the next area ahead, there's a Staravia and a Pinsir!

Pinsir moves around very slowly but is incredibly resilient to capture, I'd recommend using a Flying assist to help out with this one. Its Vice Grip attack is also deceptively wide in range, so try to draw large loops around it as well. Pinsir provides a Bug Assist and Cut Lv. 2.

 

There's another vine nearby that you'll need to use Staravia or Pinsir to cut through.

At the top of this vine, we'll be introduced to Numel! Numel will fire embers to try and attack, but should be pretty easy to capture due to its slow movement and long windup. Numel is also a bit of a unique pokemon. Most pokemon's "group" and "Assist" are the same. Any pokemon that provide a Flying assist are treated as Flying group, while any pokemon that provide a Grass assist are treated as Grass group, etc. Most dual type pokemon are only represented as one of their types. But Numel here is slightly different. Its a Fire group pokemon, but it offers a Ground-type assist. I do believe this is our first instance in this game of a pokemon who's group and assist types differ. In the original game, I'm pretty sure Numel was just treated as a generic Fire type. Anyway, Numel also provides Burn Lv. 1.

The Ground-type Poke Assist is one we've yet to use and it's another that differs significantly from the original! Rather than simply tear up the ground to slow down the target, the Ground Assist now creates controlled earthquakes that give the target a "Paused" status that prevents it form attacking (I previously assumed that's what the "Tired" status was, but as it turns out, "Tired" status instead prevents their capture meter from draining). Of course, it also contributes to their capture meter, too. Simply scrub the stylus from side to side to generate the earthquakes and then swoop in for the capture! It actually seems like a really useful ability to have!

 

Continuing on ahead, we have another Magnemite and a Mankey!

Mankey is similar to how he was in the original game. It'll use Thrash to try and attack your line and quickly tire itself out. That's the best opportunity to swing in for the capture! Mankey provides a Fighting Assist and Crush Lv. 1.

As we climb ahead, we'll be introduced to the absolute menace that makes this mission far more difficult than anything so far: Gligar. Gligar himself in capture isn't too difficult to deal with. It just glides around and Slash at you. But if you recall from the first game, Gligar will try and attack you while you climb on vines. And in this game, it'll damage your styler in the process as well as knock you down! These things can cause you a lot of pain while navigating the overworld and to top it all off, they aren't even particularly useful captures. They only provide a Flying assist and Cut Lv. 1 making them inferior to the Staravia we find everywhere. Just capture one for your ranger browser and try to avoid the rest as much as possible.

Mawile can be found on the ledge to the west. If you get hit by the Gligar over there you might drop down right next to it! But you'll take damage so it's better to try and climb down manually. As you'd probably expect, Mawile uses Bite to try and attack you, so draw wide circles around it. But it proves to be a pretty easy capture all things considered. Mawile provides a Steel Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

The Steel assist has some nuance to it I didn't actually realize whil eusing it in this chapter. I initially assumed it was identical to Rock, but it's more like a hybrid of Rock and Water. As you hold the stylus on the screen, a ball of iron will appear. But unlike Water, that's not all it takes to make the ball grow. Instead, the ball will grow the longer your line is. This adds a risk vs. reward factor but creates a really powerful projectile. Once the ball is as large as you want, flick it at the target to deal some sizeable damage and "pause" it!

As we contine climbing the vines toward the east side, there's a small ledge we can lower ourselves onto that contains a Magnemite to heal with in case these Gligar are giving you trouble. I actually find myself healing a lot in this chapter because of those things.

Before we go down to the large platform below, let's go to the far east ledge!

Over here, we can find a Numel.

 

But more importantly, there's another Vine we can cut down!

Climbing up this vine leads to a particularly rare pokemon: A Cherrim! Cherrim is a pretty dangerous capture, actually. It hops around a lot and uses both Razor Leaf and Petal Blizzard to damage your line! A Flying assist would certainly be beneficial. In my case, I used my partner Kricketot to do the job! But even then, I still made a few mistakes. That Petal Blizzard was a bit unexpected as the leaves shoot out in all directions with a pretty large range that I don't think has quite been matched by anything else in the game so far! Cherrim provides a Grass Assist and Tackle, Lv. 2.

Now that we have Cherrim, let's climb our way back to the bottom.

  

Down here, there's a Staravia and a Mawile. And down the next set of vines, a Magnemite next to a Save Station.

 

And in the next area over, what would we find but two Yellow Gigaremo?? Of course, Pokemon in the immediate area are under their effects so they can't be captured. Barlow suggests these Gigaremo were likely placed around to keep us rangers busy and distracted from what he's doing, but they still can't go ignored. We've gotta go and smash 'em!

  

Near the entrance is a Pineco, Larvitar, and Numel near the entrance.

To reach the first Gigaremo, we'll need to jump down a few ledges heading Westward.

 

Along the way, we'll pass a Magnemite and Staravia.

 

And when we reach the Gigaremo, we'll find that it requires Crush Lv. 2 to destroy, so it's Mawile's time to shine!

   

There are a couple of Larvitar and Aron blocking the path up ahead, so we'll need to destroy the other Gigaremo before proceeding.

We can continue exploring from here, but there's not really any use since we can't capture the pokemon, so let's instead climb up the vine to reach Springy Grass that'll return us to the top so that we can go back and grab another Mawile!

 

From the beginning, we can now drop down the East Side to head to the lowest ledge where we can find a Staravia and Aron.

Aron is a fairly simple capture with not much to say. Watch out for its Tackles! It provides a Steel Assist and Tackle Lv. 1 when it's not under hypnosis.

Up the vines is another larvitar and Springy Grass that'll take you on a fun little detour bouncing from ledge to ledge until your each the ledge at the top.

There's an Aron up here,

 

along with another Gigaremo which we can destroy using Mawile's Crush!

   

With that, the wall of pokemon at the bottom is dispersed and all the pokemon in the area are free from hypnosis so we can now capture them!

Barlow takes note that these Gigaremo seem to be different from the ones we've destroyed so far. On the surface, it appears to be of a different type, but Barlow notes that these ones seem to be cheaper models made out of plastic, and that's why we're able to destroy them with Crush instead of an Elemental attack. And here I thought the reason was just because there was no Ground-based Field Skill to counteract the Electric type.

Anyway, with the wall dispersed, we can now capture any pokemon we want in this area and take the springy grass back to the top so we can make our way back down and proceed onward.

Just ahead, we'll find a pile of stones next to a save machine, but we don't have Soak to reveal the Geodude underneath, not that it would be particularly helpful. More importantly, this area should look pretty familiar. And if you poke ahead...

 

Indeed, you'll find our guy with the two Rampardos! If we continue further, we'll have to be prepared to capture these things, so you may want to prepare with some assists.

===========

    

With a party full of pokemon that were good against Rock types and a healer, I felt like I was pretty solid for this encounter, so I marched on ahead!

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

As we confront the Team Dim Sun Grunt, he immediately tries to come up with a cover story and shoddily attempts to claim he's actually a geologist! He tries to explain that he's here to conduct soil analysis and that's what the strange computer he has with him is for! Barlow then proceeds to catch him in his lie by asking what the composition of the soil is to which the grunt responds by frantically listing off anything he can think of that might be found in the soil. He's surprisingly thorough in his guesses, though! Including things like Calcium and Salt. Of course, he quickly gives up and admits to being a Team Dim Sun Grunt! But he commands the two Rampardos to attack us. Between us and Barlow, we can each capture one of them.

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

Vs. Rampardos

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

So, this thing didn't at all live up to the hype Barlow warned me about. After the Croagunk encounter before, I was prepared for disaster. First of all, I was expecting to have to capture both of these Rampardos, so only having to worry about one already made it a lot easier than I was expecting. Rampardos moves around really slowly, but he does have three different attacks. He'll use Headbutt, Rock Throw with a fairly large rock, and Rock Slide which will rain rocks down from above for quite a while, but he'll be perfectly still during the entire duration allowing you to get some quick loops in as long as you watch for the rocks from above! But really, all I did was use Mawile's Steel Assist and filled the majority of Rampardos' Capture Meter just by flicking the small projectiles at him. At the time, I wasn't aware the projectiles could grow larger, so I can only imagine how much quicker this would've been with that knowledge. Though who knows, maybe I would've gotten greedier and it would've wound up actually being more difficult? All I had to do at that point was loop him a few more times with Cherrim's Grass Assist and he was done for.

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

Music: Peaceful Aftermath

After freeing the two Rampardos, the grunt quickly packs up his equipment and flees. But it looks as though those tremors have stopped, so it's a mission success! And that's where I'm gonna leave things off. Next time, we'll report to the concerned lady and see what kinds of quests open up now!

[Aura]

Sorry for the lack of updates, yesterday was Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone who celebrates had a great one! Last time we completed our mission and put a stop to the quakes at Peril Cliffs. Now, it's time to head back and report back to the woman who expressed concern over them initially.

Peril Cliffs

As we head west, we'll find that we're on the other side of that giant Boulder we saw at the start of the mission. Since the Rampardos we captured were under hypnosis, we can't use them to destroy this boulder. For now, we're just going to have to find a way around. Thankfully, there's springy grass nearby that can bounce us to the other side to keep us from having to go back around the entire mountain again.

Union Road

As we return to Union Road, we explain to the lady and her husband that we've located the source of the quakes and put an end to them. She thanks us and her husband asks if anything dangerous is going on, but Barlow just asks that if they see any suspicious characters to report them to us, but that's all they can say at this time.

With that out of the way, Barlow turns to us, acknowledges our skillful performance, and promotes us to Ranger Rank 4! Now we can use Poison, Ghost, Psychic, and Dark Poke Assists! That's a lot! We'll cover each of them as they come into relevancy, of course.

Anyway, now that that detour is over with, we can continue making our way back toward Vientown.

 

On the way back to Altru Park, though, we happen across a pair of Doduo! Since we've just been promoted, Barlow decides to take this opportunity to show us how to ride them! This is a feature that's been minorly spoiled by the screenshot I've been using for Union Road, but I don't think it was too big a deal since, one, it was alluded to already by an NPC, and two, it was also shown in the trailer I posted in the initial post. But yes, we can ride Doduo using their Map Move: Agility! But first, we've gotta capture them!

Doduo is a pretty simple capture, it runs around at a surprisingly moderate pace and it's not very aggressive at all. I suppose it'll probably occasionally try to tackle you or something. They provide a Normal Assist and the aforementioned Map Move: Agility. Map Moves take the place of Field Moves or Area Moves, but rather than being usable in specific locations, they're usable across entire maps! Agility can be used in anywhere except for inside buildings. Simply tap on the pokemon with the Map Move to use it.

When you use Agility, you'll ride on the back of Doduo and your running speed will be much faster! You can't use Field or Area Moves while on the back of Doduo and you can't enter any areas that you can't ride Doduo in, but you can ride Doduo between areas in the overworld and you can capture pokemon. If you want to get off Doduo at any point, simply tap it again. When you get off of Doduo in this way, you'll have to release it, so be sure to get the most out of it when you ride it! But, you can actually get off of it without getting rid of it if you simply enter an encounter with a pokemon while riding on Doduo's back! This can be a useful trick if you don't want to have to capture another one but need to go inside of a building or use a Field Move.

From this point forward, Doduo will begin showing up at the edges of areas such as Vien Forest and Chicole Path to make backtracking more painless.

After this tutorial, Barlow runs off ahead to meet you back at the base. And now, if we check the quest menu, we'll find that not one, not two, not even three, but four quests are now available to us! Looks like we've got our hands full for a little bit of distraction, huh? Well, Doduo's here to help with the legwork, so let's get going!

==========

Altru Park

The first of these quests is on Norward Bridge connecting Altru Park to Pueltown. Here we'll run into Herbert, a scientist from the Ranger Union who requests that we bring him an Oddish as he's had no luck in finding them. A simple task, to be sure.

==========

Quest 12: Oddish Research

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

This mission is as simple as they come, simply capture Oddish from Union Road and bring it back to Herbert.

 

Of course, Oddish is disguised as a Strange Weed, so you'll need Tackle to lure it out. Pineco can be found nearby for that purpose, but if you already have an Aaron or Cherrim from the misison at Peril Cliffs, that would work here, too. Though using a Cherrim's Lv. 3 Tackle seems like a bit of a waste here. Of course, to do so, you'll need to get off of Doduo, but there's another Doduo at the entrance of Union Road now, so it's not too much of a problem.

Once Oddish is revealed, capture it and bring it back to Herbert in Altru Park to complete the mission. After doing so, Herbert will thank us and explain that this will help further their research at the union and even help them to improve your Styler as well!

For now, though, our reward is a Fire Defense upgrade!

==========

Pueltown

Our next mission is located in Pueltown. There's a man in the west side of town who asks for us to bring him a Nosepass. He seems really, really passionate about Nosepass, so we'd better bring him one!

==========

Quest 13: Nosepass! Must Have Nosepass!

The only Nosepass we've seen so far is the one waaaaay back in Marine Cave west of Vientown. So we've gotta go quite a bit out of our way for this one. Looks like a good exercise for Doduo! Unfortunately, we have to get off of Doduo in order to enter the cave, but there's another Doduo just south of Vientown on Chicole Path for your return trip. I didn't know this during my playthrough of this mission and trudged through the entirety of Vien Forest on foot because the only Doduo there was at the North end. Before making a long trip from now on, try poking your head around town to see if you can't find a Doduo because you probably can.

Anyway, thankfully there's nothing special about Nosepass this time, simply go to the back of Marine Cave, capture it, and bring it all the way back to Pueltown.

Pueltown

 

Upon bringing the Nosepass to the man who gave us this mission, we get what probably has to be my favorite ending to a quest so far. The man immedaitely starts busting out laughing. As it turns out, he just wanted to see Nosepass because he thought it looked funny. He thanks us and the Nosepass, but then...

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

A Minion of Team Dim Sun calls out to the man. He admits that he's a bad guy, but even he wouldn't do something so selfish and frivilous as sending a ranger out on a quest just for a laugh! He scolds the man and tells him he owes us an apology and that his laughing is rude to the Nosepass as well! The man admits that the quest was really selfish and that what he did wasn't fair to us or the Nosepass, then breaks the fourth wall by saying "Don't do this at home, kids!" Then, the Dim Sun Minion says "Good, you know where you went wrong. I'll be off on my criminal way now."

This whole scenario is hilarious to me. I've praised the writing in this game and the previous one a lot, but I just love the way these villains are written and just how much irony goes into their dialogue.

All that said, I don't know if I'd agree this quest is particularly selfish. Shit, I get rewarded either way. Go ahead and send me on a quest to buy your groceries for you or be your Uber, I don't care!

Upon completing this quest, we're rewarded with a Ground Defense Upgrade.

===========

Vien Forest

On our to and from Marine Cave for that previous mission, we did pass by our next client in Vien Forest. We'll find a hungry man at the north boundary of the charred section of the forest. He'll explain to us that he likes to eat out in nature, but a wild pokemon made off with his lunch and asks for us to go and capture the pokemon which he saw run off to the west. He says that if he knew there was a hungry pokemon, he would've packed a bigger lunch and shared. He describes it as a pokemon with two tails that ended it what looked like hands! That sounds like Ambipom!

==========

Quest 14: Who Ate My Lunch?

We don't hav eto go too far to find the Ambipom in question. Just head west like you're going to capture Blastoise and you'll find it among the Pichu and Roselia just before. Can you guess what Ambipom could be like to capture? Could it possibly be a more resilient and more aggressive version of Aipom? Well, of course it is! Ambipom jumps around more and throws two rocks at a time and more frequently. A Tyrogue's Fighting Assist might help you to capture it a bit quicker, but it shouldn't be too difficult to capture. Ambipom provides a Normal Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

After capturing Ambipom, it appears to have Ketchup smeared all over its lips and seems ashamed of what it's done. We bring it back to the hungry man who talks to the Ambipom and explains that he asked us to capture it just so that he would know what it likes and dislikes and that, next time, he'll bring more. What a sweet guy! He thanks us for our help and goes off to share desert with the Ambipom.

With that, we get a Power Plus upgrade! This increases the effectiveness of our styler, allowing us to get captures more quickly!

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

Chicole Village

Our last client is in Chicole Village, it's the brother of the girl who asked us to go check out the bridge before! This boy tells us he saw a Turtwig in danger at a cliff on Breeze Hill! Uh-oh! We were just there! It sounds pretty serious, so we'd better hurry! But... I guess we're not about to just signal to Crawford Luana or Barlow who are all closer to help it. Technically it's our quest, I suppose. Let's hurry to Breeze Hill!

===========

Quest 15: Please Save Turtwig!

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

As we return to Breeze Hill, we'll find the Turtwig in question and he's about to fall from the ledge! I don't know how it got there, but it looks like we've arrived just in time! It slips off just as we rush in to catch it, but of course, grabbing the Turtwig initiates an encounter.

Turtwig is a fairly simple capture. He'll roam around and fire off Razor Leaf to try and damage the styler, but we can use our partner Kricketot's Bug Assist to soften it up for capture more easily!

 

And after capturing Turtwig, he'll calm down from his near death experience and want to join us as a Partner Pokemon! Turtwig will be joining us for a little while, so Kricketot heads back to the farm! Turtwig, of course, offers a Grass assist and sets a precedent to where I think it's a safe bet we can expect our Water and Fire starters to be Chimchar and Piplup, too.

   

Our farm is steadily growing! I can't wait to see those numbers shoot up!

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

And with that, our quests are over and we can return to Vientown to turn in for the night. Next time, we'll do just that! See you then!

[Aura]

Vientown Ranger Base

The next morning, we wake up to find that Barlow is out once again! Apparently he's responding to a mission in a place called Boyleland where all of the pokemon have mysteriously disappeared. So, Crawford is in charge while he's gone. He assures us Barlow should be able to handle the mission, so we should be focused on the homefront. More significantly, today's the day of the Ranger School's Outdoor class! Apparently Barlow was asked to come as the guest this time, but it seems he's off on this important mission, so Barlow suggested we go instead! He must've been really impressed by our performance in our last couple missions! It's an honor and quite an exciting task to be given! This also means for the first time in a while we'll be able to revisit the school! Barlow is making this assignment an official mission, so we'd better not slack off!

Music: Vientown

Well, we might be slacking off just a bit. They'll understand, I'm sure. If you recall, there was an obstacle back at the school we couldn't clear before, a rock blocking a cave that required Crush Lv. 2 to break. So, before we go anywhere, I recommend bringing a pokemon with Crush Lv. 2 with you!

Marine Cave

The Nosepass in Marine Cave is the nearest one that comes to mind. It's just a quick detour but it'll save some time backtracking if you go ahead and grab it now.

School Road

With Nosepass in tow, let's head west of Vientown down School Road!

To make the trip a little quicker, there's a Doduo right at the entrance, so hop right on if you'd like. There's not much different up until we reach the bridge.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

It's here that we run into a couple of Team Dim Sun Minions! They seem to be up to another one of their cruel experiments using a computer similar to the one the minion at Peril Cliffs was using to control the Rampardos before. They call it a Miniremo and it seems to be an upgraded design of the Gigaremos they'd been using before. These are evidently a lot lighter and overall easier to use, it seems to give them more direct control over affected pokemon as well! Oh no!

They're using the Miniremo to force a Croagunk on the bridge to walk in circles and then hop around, and it's forced to do their bidding! They cruelly make fun of it by trying to have it do silly or impossible things like fly while falling asleep and have it pretend to be a sumo wrestler using only Yoga Poses. That's when the Croagunk jumps over their heads, forcing them to turn around and notice us right there! They panic at first but decide this is a good opportunity to show off their new tech! They enter another command: Attack while laughing uncontrollably. But in entering the command, they accidentally hit the wrong key, messing with the command's effectiveness. Unable to cancel the botched commands, they decide they just have to "muscle their way through this" which apparently translates to work together to push the Croagunk into us to force us into an encounter with it.

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

Vs. Croagunk

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

Croagunk isn't all that challenging. It's just a much easier version of that Toxicroak from before. It occasionally spits small puddles of sludge or small clouds of Poison Gas, but these are easily avoided. It hops around a bit but it's a lot smaller and less restless, so it's just all-round easier to capture. It's treated as a Poison type so if you do need an assist for it, I suppose the best would be a Ground Assist, but the closest you'll get one of those is with Numel from Peril Cliffs.

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

Music: School Road

Once you capture the Croagunk, the Team Sun Minions panic and decide they have to run away, but they quickly realize they're in a tough bind. There's the ranger they're running from in front of them, but there's only the Ranger School behind them! In a last-ditch effort to get away, they both jump over the side of the bridge into the river below! And with that, I suppose they're out of our hair. For now, we need to return to our mission and proceed onward. 

 

But before we do, it seems that Croagunk has grown attached to us already! It seems like we've already got ourselves our next Partner Pokemon! But we literally just got Turtwig! Apparently the game doesn't really want me to swap them out, either, because you don't even get a chance to do so here. He just immediately leaves for the Partner Farm. Odd. Of course, if you want to swap out with Croagunk, you can turn right around and head back tot he Partner Farm and swap him out. And, quite frankly, I think he is more useful for the rest of this mission than Turtwig, but I'm sticking with good ol' Turtwig for now since he hasn't been able to see the light of day much.

If you do decide to swap them out, Croagunk provides the new Poison Assist! By tapping and holding the Styler on the screen, you can create a puddle of poisonous sludge. Any pokemon that steps in it will become tired, removing their ability to recover their capture meter. According to Serebii, this assist can be flung like the Water Assist to deal damage to the pokemon, but I'm not sure if that's accurate. It doesn't seem to line up with the in-game description or the demonstration provided, but I haven't used the assist myself yet so I can't confidently say one way or another. Maybe you can try it out yourself here!

Regardless, the rest of School Road is also unchanged save for a Doduo at the school-end of the road. But once you arrive at the school gates, you can now simply walk into them and they'll open up to allow you in! And inside, you'll be greeted by your old teacher Mrs. April! She thanks us for giving them our time and asks to meet with us in the Staff Room. But she won't stop you from taking a nostalgic look around the schoolyard!

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

Mission 7: Teach at Ranger School!

The school grounds are almost entirely unchanged since our first visit. Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Claire are both still offering their tutorials on Captures and Target Clears.

 

If you recall, there was a Planted Tree located here that we used to be unable to interact with, but now, we can use Soak Lv. 1 to draw out the hidden Bonsly! This isn't quite as significant as I thought it would be in the beginning of the game, though. We already have a Bonsly at this point from Vien Forest. Oh well. If you do want this Bonsly, you can head to the Southeast toward Ascension Square where Crawford's Outdoor Class was during our time here.

 

We can now find a Squirtle here alongside another Taillow. I don't believe either of these pokemon were here before now, but they're available!

Interestingly, the Pledge Statue from Ascension Square can be interacted with as well! But it requires Tackle Lv. 5 to do anything with, so it doesn't look like we're doing anything with this one anytime soon!

Music: Ranger School (Day)

As we finally return to the school, we can also take a moment to look around the classrooms and library. The students are expectedly very excited to see a real Pokemon Ranger in-person. It's really cool to be on the other side this time, I think. And going through this familiar environment we've been barred off from for so much time feels really nostalgic! We can head upstairs to meet with Janice. Interestingly, it seems Mr. Kincaid is nowhere to be seen. Apparently he's had to take a long leave of absence after whatever happened in his lab... interesting... Now the basement is pretty much exclusively used for the students' test of courage. Instead, there's a new teacher who unfortunately goes unnamed.

Music: Basement Laboratory/Cave

If we head down into the basement, we'll find the same pokemon as before, but I bring this area up in particular because there is one that is especially interesting. At the far end, just outside Mr. Kincaid's lab, you'll find Gastly!

Of course, we've captured Gastly before, but now we have access to the Ghost Assist, plus this is our first chance to actually bring one along with us!

The Ghost Assist works similarly to how it did in the first game. Shadowy ghosts will emerge from the middle of loops you draw with it. If they collide with the pokemon, it'll contribute to their capture meter and make them tired. So this is another assist designed to help with particularly resilient pokemon.

If we head into Mr. Kincaid's lab, we'll find that there doesn't seem to be anything worthwhile in there. We will find a computer that's suspiciously been wiped clean, though... Mr. Kincaid has ties with Altru, Inc. and the equipment in here seems to come from there... I'm still suspecting some shady business involving Altru going forward...

Anyway, once we're done looking around the class, it's finally time to go to the Staff Room and meet with Principal Lamont who is ecstatic to once again see a graduated student return to pass knowledge on to the next generation. After a brief rundown, we head out to Ascension Square to begin the Outdoor Class!

We stand where Crawford stood near the beginning of the game as we demonstrate our Ranger Pose. Since we're a silent protagonist, Mrs. April is here to help us out a bit by doing all the talking. She explains that every ranger has one to show off their personality and exude an aura of confidence. After that, we move on to the "Question and Answer Session of Terror!" where the students ask us various questions which can all conveniently be answered with our entire vocabulary: "Yes" or "No".

Did you get good grades at school? Yes, though this school wasn't exactly difficult.

Is your job busy? To be fair, we haven't had a day off since we joined, so yeah, I'd say it's pretty busy.

Have you ever seen a real Gigaremo? Well, of course! We were the one to discover how to destroy them, too!

Are you in love with someone? In all honesty? Not really. I haven't exactly felt any romantic tension between any of the characters here. I'm sure some people would ship us with Keith or Rhythmi, or even Luana, but I don't personally have any feelings of shipping among these characters. Then again, I suppose I'm kind of out of that phase these days.

Have you captured more than 100 pokemon? Honestly, I have no idea. I answered yes, though, because I wouldn't be shocked if I had by now. I've certainly captured a lot!

Is something bad taking place in the region right now? That's kind of a tough question to answer. Barlow dodged it by saying he couldn't say much about it earlier, so I suppose we shouldn't say much either, but we're literally forced to give a yes or no here. I suppose in this situation I'd say something like "Of course there's bad things happening, but that's exactly why us rangers are here!"

Is it true that Rangers can't go home very often? Again, this one is kind of a little of collumn A and Collumn B. I can't really go home to rest or anything like that, but I can visit my home pretty much whenever I want! In fact, I'm kind of encouraged to since that's where my Partner Pokemon are being kept.

May I touch your awesome styler? Well, sure! But she ultimately got nervous and couldn't bring herself to do so. Kind of sweet!

Do you sleep in Pajamas? -- This one was quickly interrupted by April who immediately scolded the student. "Oh, no, we'll have none of that!" ...Something about this interaction tells me this was probably something sexual in the Japanese version. Maybe the boy asked if you sleep naked or something originally. That's kind of a hilarious thought.

Mrs. April asks if anyone else has any more questions, but that's when we hear a Team Dim Sun Minion shout in fromt he sidelines that they have a question!

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Their question? Why did you have to mess with us earlier? But they insist we don't have to answer, they're just here to get back at us! Their presence immediately frightens the students and Principal Lamont calls for everyone to be calm since we do have a professional ranger here! Mrs. April stands up to Team Dim Sun by forbidding them from laying a finger on any of her students, so the minions pull out their Miniremo! Using it, they sic two Carnivine on us!

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

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minions

These two Carnivine are actually fairly easy to loop together at the same time. They'll slowly drift around and throw seeds to attack. Be mindful of their projectiles and take every opportunity to loop them that you can to capture them quickly! And if you have a Taillow, that'll help a bit as well even if you're only looping one of them, the tornados will still contribute to the capture gauge of the other. Strangely, these guys don't seem to Bite at all. Carnivine offers a Grass Assist and Cut Lv. 2, but of course we won't be able to keep these guys since they're under hypnosis.

===========

Music: School Yard

After capturing the Carnivine, the minions try to continue giving them commands but end up breaking their Miniremo. The students are excited as they witness us drive the bad guys away. It seems as though this is something the students will take as a true inspiration they'll never forget.

Music: Peaceful Aftermath

We receive high praise from students and teachers alike, and we're met with one final question.

Is it fun being a Pokemon Ranger? It absolutely is! I'm constantly keeping my eyes peeled for new pokemon to capture and trying to improve capturing familiar pokemon to get higher ranks!

With one last thank you from Mrs. April, she dismisses the class and the new teacher standing in for Mr. Kincaid approaches us to tell us that we were truly inspirational and that he hopes to raise rangers just like us.

The last to talk to us is Principal Lamont who asks us one last question.

Chairperson Erma, is she in good health?

First of all, huge yikes on the front that this whole time I've been using masculine pronouns to refer to Erma, but it turns out she's a woman! Oops... I suppose that's why so much of the game has been referring to her as Chairperson rather than Chairman, but I'm pretty sure she was called Chairman at least once before. My bad! Anyway, she seemed to be in pretty good health as far as I could tell. So I answered yes. But this is a bit of a scary question that sounds a bit too much like foreshadowing, doesn't it?

Music: School Yard

And with that, we're back to exploring! Our mission is pretty much over, all we've gotta do is report back to Vientown. But before we do, it's time to finally address that rock we haven't been able to do anything with.

 

I'm not actually sure if we could've gone to this earlier as it involves stepping back into the previous area, but this Rock can be found just inside the school gate. We can use that Nosepass we captured earlier to destroy the rock. If you forgot about the rock before going into the school, don't worry, we can come back here freely now, so all we need to do is hop on a Doduo and make a quick trip all the way back to Marine Cave and then come back here. So, what's inside the cave being blocked off here?

It's a Tangrowth! In hindsight, I suppose this should've been obvious. But now we can capture Tangrowth and actually use its Grass Assist and Lv. 2 Tackle. Unfortunately, that's still not quite enough to do anything with the Pledge Stone, so it looks like we'll just have to return at a later date.

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

Vientown Ranger Base

Anyway, once we're done with this mission, we return to Vientown to report back to Crawford who's already heard the whole report from Mrs. April. With a congratulations, our mission is officially cleared!

Elaine also approaches us to show us a new issue of Almia Times that touches on Keith's works in Fiore once again! We can see a shot of him and Prof. Hastings at Fall City and at Fiore Temple facing off against a mysterious character with an Infernape. Apparently pokemon are disappearing in Fiore which sounds similar to what supposedly happened in Boyleland, and the Gigaremos are apparently appearing in Fiore as well! Team Dim Sun must be getting involved over there, too...

Anyway, with that, we can turn in for the night. There don't appear to be any quests available at the moment, so I suppose next time we'll see what our next mission is... I imagine it'll be something related to Boyleland... See you then!

[Aura]

Vientown Ranger Base

Since there are no quests available after clearing the previous mission, I suppose there's no real reason to wait on turning in for the day by speaking with Crawford and seeing what the next day has for us.

And boy, is it a doozy. As soon as we wake up the next morning, Crawford assigns us with our next task. He needs us to go to Boyleland immediately. Apparently, Barlow has disappeared just like the pokemon! Ranger Union HQ apparently sounded the alarm when they suddenly lost Barlow's signal. Every ranger's styler should be emitting a constant signal so the operators at the Ranger Union can track their location.

Crawford adds that the signal disappeared in Boyle Volcano. Crawford tries to lighten the mood by suggesting that Barlow probably just got careless and accidentally dropped his styler in the lava or something. Though, worth noting, Crawford's styler did stop functioning in the heat of the forest fire earlier in the game. I wonder if that could be relevant here? Regardless, Barlow can't be in a good position so far from the base without a styler, so it's up to us to find him!

Now, how do we get to Boyleland exactly? Well, it's a Volcanic Island which we'll need to reach by taking a boat from Pueltown. So, we've got our heading. Let's get moving!

Partner Farm

Ah, but before we take our leave, I wanted to stop by the Partner Farm to swap Partners out so that we can try out our new Croagunk friend!

I'm going to try my hardest not to shaft any of these partners and give them all a fair spotlight throughout the game, but I have no idea what the frequency I'll be getting these guys at is and I want to make sure they all at least get the chance to tag along on an adventure.

Vien Forest

 

Since we're headed to a Volcano, I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and grab some pokemon with Water assists along the way, so I picked up Blastoise and Bibarel from Vien Forest on our way to Pueltown.

Pueltown

When we arrive at Pueltown, we'll need to head to the harbor in the east. Inside the boathouse, we'll find a sailor conveniently dressed in a red outfit. He'll offer to take us to Boyleland by boat!

Music: Boat Cruise ~ Puel Sea

    

As we sail across the sea, we'll pass by a group of Drifloon floating away over the sea. Apparently the Drifloon migrate once a year on seasonal winds across the sea. The sailor mentions it's good luck to see this, so things are looking up already!

Boyleland

If you ask me, the atmosphere here on Boyleland doesn't quite match the cheery, up-beat beach resort sounding theme. It's all red, rough, and rocky. It seems like it'd make a neat tourist attraction, but it looks far from relaxing to me. Regardless, there's a small town here where we can talk around with the locals who are all just as puzzled about the missing pokemon and they'll also talk about Barlow having gone missing as well. I don't think it takes two brain cells to figure out Team Dim Sun must be behind this.

Of course, there's a Ranger Depot on the island where you can save and recharge your styler if you need it.

Even though the island's pokemon went missing, you can still run into some Wingull around the area which might help you if you find yourself struggling with the Fire types up ahead.

In the southwestern home, we'll find an old man and his granddaughter. The man mistakes us for Barlow and asks us if we were successful in finding the missing pokemon, but his granddaughter corrects him and explains we're a new ranger who's come to find the missing one. She explains to us that her grandfather has been incredibly lonely ever since they'd lost their Mime Jr. Hopefully we can get their Mime Jr. back!

As we make our way north, a boy standing next to some stairs will mention that he saw all the pokemon line up like soldiers and march into the cave, but none of the grown ups would believe him. It sounds like we have our lead, but unfortunately it seems the locals have actually responded to his report, as both entrances into the cave are blocked off. Apparently we need the elder's permission to enter the cave. And who would that Elder be but the only old man in the village?

We return to the Elder's house and he explains that we don't need to say anything, he knows what we're here for and he doesn't hesitate to grant us permission to explore the cave. All he asks in return is that we keep our eyes out for his missing Mime Jr. And of course we will! That's part of the mission, after all!

    

As we step outside, we find the Drifloon floating along overhead. I suppose they'll likely come into play soon, huh? Well, with permission from the elder, we get the man blocking the cave to step aside so that we can enter.

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

Volcano Cave

What a dangerous-looking cave! Some of the locals of the village mentioned that they suspected some pokemon might remain in the cave, and indeed, it seems the cave is still quite full of pokemon!

 

Immediately to the East of the entrance is a Magnemite for remote healing. And immediately to the west as you enter is our first new pokemon of the area!

It's a Charmander! It'll spit embers out in front of it, so try to avoid its stream of embers as you capture it. I suppose you can't get much more basic of a Fire-type, huh? As expected, Charmander provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 1.

A bit further ahead, we'll find Slugma. Don't get careless around Slugma. Like Shellos, it can be a bit annoying to encounter for the capture as it's small and leaves a trail of lava as it moves that'll damage you if you touch it. Try to wait for it to stop moving and for its lava trail to fade away before you try and approach. But if you take damage, try to take advantage of I-Frames to capture it. These lava trails damage you more than Shellos' trails of goo, so be extra careful. These guys can be pretty annoying. In capture, they'll occasionally spit fireballs that erupt into pillars of fire. Lava Plume, perhaps? I'm reluctant to call it that since I believe this is an attack that was in the previous game as well, though I don't think Slugma used it. Lava Plume is a Gen IV move so I don't think it would be included in the original game. Then again, Plusle and Minun's assists were called Discharge, so maybe Lava Plume isn't so far-fetched? Anyway, dodge the Lava Plumes as you try to capture Slugma. Not a big deal, really, as the pillars are quite small. Like Charmander, Slugma provides a Fire Assist and Lv. 1 Burn.

Up ahead, there's a steam vent which we could apparently use a Dirfloon to cross... hmmmm....

 

Further along, we find an exit to the cave that leads out to a cliff overlooking the sea. From here, we can see a couple of Drifloon drift into the cave! How convenient!

 

And while you're out here, there are a couple of Gastrodon at your disposal here if you'd like some additional help in dealing with the local Fire-types.

Now if we return to the cave, we can find a Drifloon is now roaming around inside! Drifloon appears to be the most standard Ghost pokemon. It's a really simple capture and will only occasionally fire shadow balls off to try and damage your line. Drifloon provides a Ghost assist and the Airlift Area Move.

Airlift allows Drifloon to carry us across lava wherever there's a steam vent. Functionally, this is more or less the Cross ability from the first game, as you'll have to capture the pokemon again in order to cross again and the movement is only guaranteed in one direction. Anyway, we get Drifloon to carry us across to the other side in order to progress!

  

On the other side, there's a Charmander, Drifloon, and Slugma for you to capture. And if you need to return to the other side, you can simply jump down the ledge to the south.

At the north end, we'll find Barlow's Styler! The styler is switched off, strangely enough. The anchor clip is missing, whatever that means, but the styler itself appears to be fine. I suppose the missing anchor clip means we can't actually turn it on? Maybe Barlow has it?

Anyway, it looks like we'll have to explore deeper into the cave to find out what happened.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Yes, yes, who would it be but Team Dim Sun we'd run into as we progress through the passage ahead? We immediately see two minions crossing overhead and complaining about how much of a nightmare it was to subdue that "Big Ranger". Apparently it took eight of them to tie him up. The other minion admits that he might've "goofed up." He grabbed the styler off of Barlow, but accidentally dropped it somewhere.

As we approach, the minions notice us and immediately scatter! You've gotta love it when your enemies are afraid of you, huh?

Anyway, just up ahead is a Stunky. Stunky is pretty simple to capture. It'll occasionally surround itself in Poison Gas, but the gas is so small that you can easily just circle around it to continue capturing Stunky with no interruption. Just make sure you start the line a little bit aways from it so that you can draw large enough circles. If you haven't tagged Croagunk in as your partner yet, this is your first chance to play with the Poison Assist. Stunky also provides a Lv. 1 Crush Field Skill.

At the back of this area is a Steam vent we'll need a Drifloon to carry us across.

 

On the other side of this is a Pikachu and a Charmander!

Pikachu is a pretty basic capture. We captured an easy one in the very beginning of the game so it's technically not new, but don't underestimate how much the same species can vary in this game! These Pikachu are significantly tougher to capture. They provide a Lv. 3 Charge Ability which will restore 20 units of energy to your Styler.

Up ahead, we'll run into a Team Dim Sun Minion who pulls out his Miniremo to attack us with some pokemon!

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

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This Minion attacks us with a Slugma and Magcargo.

Magcargo is, surprise, surprise, a more resilient and more aggressive counterpart to Slugma. It provides a Fire Assist and Lv. 2 Burn, though this one in particular isn't all that useful. since it'll be immediately released.

Capturing the two together is simple stuff, but this is only easing you into what I imagine is going to be a constant aspect to missions going forward. Just like in the previous game, you'll be running into grunts as you navigate a new area and they'll attack you with pokemon they're controlling. Though this time, instead of Super Stylers, Team Dim Sun is using Miniremos.

And, speaking of the Super Stylers... What exactly happened to that Super Styler from the first game? It was supposed to be a powerful styler that could capture any pokemon regardless of the wielder's skill level. It was a really big deal in the first game! Did Prof. Hastings just... trash the whole concept??

Anyway, after capturing the pokemon the Minions are using, the minions will simply run away allowing you to progress again.

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

 

After causing the Minion to book it, we can proceed onward, passing by a Stunky before finding a Magmar!

Magmar, of course, being a new encounter. It'll roam around the scream and spit flamethrower. You can easily loop it around its Flamethrower, so it's not too much of a hassle. Magmar provides a Fire Assist and Lv. 2 Burn.

There's another Charmander further ahead, not that you'll need it with Magmar here. There's also a return path to the south where you cna use Drifloon to cross back to the entrance to the area.

 

In the next room over, we'll pass a Save Machine and another Magmar and Pikachu before we encounter another Dim Sun Minion!

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

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one attacks us with a Kangaskhan! It's significantly more scary because it's huge, resilient, and fires a powerful Hyper Beam across the entire length of the screen! Don't cross its mouth when it's about to shoot! I used Croagunk's Poison Assist to keep Kangaskhan from recovering its capture meter, though it ultimately wasn't all that necessary. Just loop Kangaskhan while it's not firing Hyper Beam and you're good to go. Kangaskhan provides a Normal Assist and Lv. 2 Crush when not under hypnosis.

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

There's another Drifloon up ahead that can be used to return to the previous area if so desired.

And as we press onward, we'll find the two Team Dim Sun Minions with their backs against the wall! But it seems they have a backup plan since they weren't able to beat us with those pokemon.

With the press of a button, they set off Dynamite that causes a giant Rock to block the exit. Unfortunately for the minions, it takes them a bit too long to realize that they're standing on the wrong side of the boulder... embarrassed, the two grunts begin bickering once again. This is seeming all too familiar. I'm pretty sure something similar happened with the Go-Rock Grunts in the beginning of the first game. Ah, but this time they accidentally trapped themselves with us unlike the Go-Rock Grunts who failed to trap anybody. I suppose that's one for them!

During their bickering, the two minions accidentally leak a ton of info, mainly about the secret dock they've blocked the path to where all the pokemon were being brought so they could be shipped out undetected. After realizing the massive amount of information they've just handed out for free, they both clam up and demand you forget everything, don't mind them, and go ahead and destroy the rock for them so that you can progress. To be fair, we don't really have much of a choice. We've gotta find Barlow.

We've got a bit of a problem, though. The Rock requires Crush Lv. 3 to destroy and the most we've seen in an accessible manner is Stunky's Crush Lv. 1. It looks like we're gonna need something bigger.

There is a Rhyhorn nearby. Be careful approaching it as it'll charge into you to damage you. Rhyhorn's behavior in capture mode is actually a bit unexpected, I'd say. It attacks not by charging into your styler with a Horn Attack but instead by using Earthquake to tear up the ground in front of it! It's a bit intimidating, but Rhyhorn isn't actually all that difficult to capture. You might expect Rhyhorn to be the solution to the puzzle here, but it actually only provides Tackle Lv. 2. We're gonna need to look a bit deeper here.

  

Up ahead, there are a couple of Stunky, a Pikachu, and...

A really strange-looking sealed door that we'll need Psy Power to open... Ironically, I was considering bringing a Ghastly with me which would've made opening this door a bit easier, but alas, I didn't. So we'll need to find another pokemon to capture...

Heading back a bit, we can use Drifloon at a Steam Vent to carry us over to another ledge with a door a cave entrance.

In front of the cave entrance is another Drifloon to make the return trip possible. But inside the room is what we're more interested in.

  

Inside, there are three Shuppet who teleport around a lot.

These little guys are actually quite the pranksters. Their attack animation is really long and drawn out. They'll stick out their tongue for so long that you might be convinced they don't have anything else to offer. That is, until a single Will-O-Wisp appears and plops out onto the ground, likely damaging your styler just as you gained enough confidence to start circling it. This little purple flame will also hop around, casing quite the disturbance as you continue trying to capture Shuppet. And of course, as a Ghost, Shuppet is capable of teleporting, too. Shuppet provides a Ghost Assist and Psy Power Lv. 1 which is what we need to break open that Sealed Door!

 

On our way through the Return Path, we'll pass by another Magmar and Lairon! Lairon is treated as a Steel type, so Magmar can make capturing it a bit easier.

Like Rhyhorn, Lairon will try to charge you and damage you if you're not careful with your approach. In Capture Mode, it behaves a bit closer to what I was expecting from Rhyhorn, though without the charging. It'll stop occasionally and use Headbutt in two different directions. The attacks come out quick, so you might want to try and make large circles around it. Lairon provides a Steel Assist and Tackle Lv. 2.

You'll need to use that Drifloon's Airlift to get back into the main area of the room.

 

Once you make your way back to the Sealed Door, use Shuppet to break it open! Using Shuppet's Psy power, the Sealed Door dissipates allowing us to enter the room behind it.

And inside is a lone Muk! Muk expectedly creates a trail of sludge that'll damage you if you touch it. In Capture mode, it's actually a bit less dangerous than it was in the original game since it doesn't leave a giant trail in capture mode. Muk will throw sludge on the ground, but that's nothing we haven't seen before. What is more threatening, however, is its Poison Gas attack. Now, this attack wasn't so threatening from Stunky, but Muk's is on a whole other level. Unless you've got a Normal Assist, you're probably not going to be circling this guy while the Poison Gas is up. You might want some Fire Assists to make him tired so he doesn't recover while the gas is up. Anyway, just loop him whenever you have the chance to capture him! Muk provides a Poison Assist and Crush Lv. 3, meaning it can break that Rock blocking the way!

 

And so, with Muk's help, we can destroy the Rock. The two minions exclaim that they'll be thankful to you for about one second before running off ahead. Well, we know at least a part of Team Dim Sun's operation now. We'd better get ahead before all those pokemon are shipped away!

As you try to go through the door, though, the two minions come right back out and shove you back. They now have another Miniremo ready to attack you with!

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

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This guys challenge you with three Numels. If you have Rhyhorn's Ground Assist, that one's fantastic for dealing with these guys quickly. But they aren't particularly difficult to capture the vanilla way, either.

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

With their Miniremo destroyed (again), the minions quickly retreat toward the secret dock and we follow suit.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

        

As we enter the secret dock, we notice a Team Dim Sun leading the pokemon in question onto the ship using a Miniremo as we speak! Uh-oh! And with the pokemon...

Is that Barlow!? He's so difficult to move that four minions have to work together to carry him on board which is a bit funny to see, but that's only to distract from how scary this situation must be! We've gotta get on that boat!

There's a Pikachu and a Save Machine right here at the entrance for you.

As you progress forward, you'll overhear the Admin speaking to a small squadron of minons. He assigns them to patrol the area and announces that the ship will be departing in two minutes. And suddenly, the pressure's on as the 2-minute timer appears on your screen! You've gotta stealth your way through four Team Dim Sun minions within two minutes! And this, well, this isn't exactly easy to do, either. The minions are surprisingly well-placed to cover each other's tracks. You'll need to be extra careful in your approach. Try not to let yourself get too bothered by the time pressure. Stay calm and out of sight, and don't be afraid to take a few risks!

If you're spotted, the minions will carry you back to the entrance of the dock and the Admin will have to handle you. He'll assume you're just a kid wearing a Ranger costume rather than an actual ranger and tell you to go play somewhere else. As we try to head back toward the ship, we'll hear the admin mention that the departure will have to be delayed for three minutes after dealing with the kid. So we now have an additional minute!

If you continue to get caught, the admin actually has quite a lot of dialogue he'll go thorugh. The second time, he'll ask nicely for you to please leave as they're very busy and he doesn't want you to get hurt. Again, departure will be delayed for another three minutes.

The next time you're caught, he'll get more frustrated with you. And the admin reluctantly delays departure for another 3 minutes knowing he's the one who'll get blamed if the ship is late and not wanting to report to the boss after that.

If you continue to fail, he'll begin pleading with you to please go away, and he'll even give you a stick of gum! And if you're so bad at this section that the admin runs out of dialogue and starts repeating the last line, the game will take pity on you and have one of the guards complain and sit the patrol out, making the trip easier.

Once you slip past the guards and reach the ship, you'll be knocked back by the Team Dim Sun Minions we chased earlier, ready to hold you off with another Miniremo!

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

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

The minions will attack you with two Beedrill and a Gloom, Gloom being a new capture!

Gloom will wander around at a slow pace and lob Poison Powder trying to damage your line. Nothing particularly dangerous here. It provides a Grass assist and Cut Lv. 2.

The Beedrills might be intimidating on the surface, but these ones are much weaker than the ones in Vien Forest. Just a loop or two and they're outta there. The Gloom is the main star in this fight and it's really easy to capture once the Beedrill are out of the way.

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

As it turns out, the two minions reported that there was a real ranger, but were brushed off by the others. Which is hilarious considering they were totally convinced we weren't a real ranger even after throwing us out several times. A call is made from the ship for all crew to report to the stations, so we humorously dash right between the two of them to get on board before the ship departs!

And... I'm gonna leave things off at this cliffhanger here. You might have noticed I've yet to put the title of the Mission here. That's because... all of this? Yeah, this is all just to get to the mission. The actual mission only officially begins once we get on the ship. This was a lot longer than the initial trip to Pueltown, I'd say. I think it's enough content to warrant its own post. Though it's worth noting I did play out the rest of this mission in the last session and it does go on for quite a bit longer, too. Even longer than most missions. So I definitely don't want to get into detailing all of that junk right here and now.

So next time, we'll see if we can't find Barlow on board the ship and rescue him as well as the pokemon from whatever Dim Sun is planning! See you then!

[Aura]

Sorry for the delay, my hands were a little busy yesterday, but I certainly have no intention of abandoning All the Pokemens!

To recap, last time we'd arrived at an island called Boyleland in order to investigate the disappearance of Barlow who was in turn investigating the disappearance of the island's pokemon. As we investigated inside Boyle Volcano, we found that, of course, Team Dim Sun is behind all of this! They've kidnapped the pokemon of the island using their Miniremos and were able to overpower and subdue Barlow through sheer numbers! They've all been loaded onto a ship from a hidden dock to be shipped off to who-knows-where. We were able to give patrolling Dim Sun Minions the slip and forced our way into the ship just before its departure. And now, the real mission begins.

Mission 8: Look for Missing Barlow!

And now, our mission officially begins! I'm not sure why the mission doesn't start up as soon as we arrive in Boyleland, but whatever the case, this is our highest stakes mission yet, there's no room for failure here, and the music is really hectic to fit the mood as well. First thing's first, our top priority is to find wherever they're keeping Barlow. Once we've rescued him, then we can worry about getting the pokemon back home.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

As we enter the building, we'll find a Save machine and then overhear two minions standing outside the Kingston Valve, explaining that the valve is to be pulled in the event of an emergency where the ship ever needs to be sunk. They allude to the fact that it would take a "Machoke's strength" in order to put the valve back after it's been opened due to the water pressure. A bit of foreshadowing, perhaps? As soon as they notice us, the two grunts panic realizing their Siren Unit must've not been up to snuff. They immediately attack us using their Miniremos!

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

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minions

They attack us with two Machoke. There's nothing too dangerous at play, here. Machoke is easier to capture in this game than in the beginning of the first. It seems far less aggressive and, of course, you have the capture meter system so that you don't have to capture them in one line. Machoke seem to have two attacks. Sometimes they'll flex which creates a very short-range attack that'll damage you if you bump into them, and they'll also throw out punches that reach out quite a bit in front of them. Draw big circles and treat them like you would a Raticate and you should be good to go. Machoke, when properly on your side, provide a Fighting assist and Tackle, Lv. 2.

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

After being defeated, the grunts run off to report you to their higher ups. And now it's time to poke around some more!

Houndour is available in just a bit further in to the west. Houndour will create pulses of darkness on the ground and launch embers to form pillars of fire, both of which you'll need to dodge while capturing him. Houndour provides a Dark Assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

You might be curious what the Dark Assist does since its original effect was given to the Normal assist instead. Well, in this game, the Dark Assist removes hazards from the capture area! Simply draw a loop around a hazard and it'll disappear! This can be great for really intrusive hazards like large puddles of mud and it works on just about anything that lingers. I wouldn't say this is a particularly helpful ability, but you might find it useful if there's a particularly intrusive hazard in a difficult capture. In general, though, I think I'd prefer assists that make the pokemon tired or outright stop them from attacking in these situations. Mostly, I think this one is better utilized just for better captures against pokemon weak to the Dark type.

 

Continuing south around the corner here, you'll find a Bibarrel and Spinarak.

Spinarak is a new capture you may end up trying that newly acquired Dark Assist out against. It'll occasionally spit piles of silk onto the ground with string shot or spread a Spider Web at its feet. Both of these can be cleared up with said assist. But it's a really standard capture as Spinarak doesn't move much. Just watch out for that String Shot! Spinarak provides a Bug Assist and Tackle, Lv. 1.

And there's another Spinarak a bit further down. Worth noting, Houndour is treated as a Dark type, so he is vulnerable to Bug assists.

 

In order to move on, though, we'll need to head East instead of west where we'll pass another Houndour. There are some stairs to the north of here, but if you head further south, you'll find a Purugly!

Purugly only seems to attack by creating large shockwaves around it, so it's surprisingly easy to actually capture even though Glameow was one of the more dangerous pokemon to capture early on. Purugly offers a Normal Assist to help you capture pokemon from a safer range and Tackle Lv. 2.

Now, heading up the stairs and entering the door straight ahead will bring you to a balcony with a Pikachu overlooking a large cargo bay. Capture the Pikachu if you need the healing and double back through the other door to progress.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

In the next room over, we'll find Mime Jr.! It's being forced to dance by a Dim Sun Minion with a Miniremo. Once he notices us, he uses the Miniremo to force Mime Jr. to attack!

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

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

Mime Jr. is a bit of an odd capture. It can fire off orbs of psychic energy...? They'll linger around on the ground as a hazard. It can also create what looks like Shadow Ball that'll float around itself. Both of these can be cleared with the Dark Assist Mime Jr. itself is vulnerable to. Mime Jr. itself is an easy clear!

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

Judging by MIme Jr.'s Browser entry, it doesn't have a Field Skill which tells me it's probably going to end up being a partner sooner or later. But once you free Mime Jr. from the Miniremo's influence, it tries to get you to follow it into the next room!

Mime Jr. tries to lead your attention toward a door in the back of the cargo hold. But we've got a bit of a puzzle to work through to get ourselves there. There's a bit of a maze of conveyor belts and cargo we'll need to navigate.

 

Right near the entrance, there are two Houndour nearby. But before we get to exploring the ground level, let's stick to the stairs ahead of us.

At the far back, this walkway will lead us to a Luxio! Luxio will fire off thundershocks at diagonals in a wide X-shaped pattern and create sparks of electricity that'll linger on the ground. Again, the sparks can be cleared with Houndour if you struggle to deal with them. Luxio is fairly resistant to capture, but it'll provide an Electric assist as well as Electrify Lv. 2. And, if they're gonna give you a pokemon like this, I'd suspect we're going to want it for something, so I recommend holding onto it.

 

Continuing past the Houndour, there's a conveyor belt that'll push you north toward a Makuhita and Ralts. This unfortunately isn't Barlow's Makuhita, but it can provide some help! Both of these are new captures.

Makuhita will occasionally charge at your line with a Tackle or punch at it with an extended reach. But it's overall easier to capture than Machoke. It provides a Fighting Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

Ralts likes to teleport around in the overworld making it tricky to encounter. But once you've encountered it, it's of course easier to capture in this game due to the capture meter. To compensate for merely teleporting not being enough, Ralts will also shoot Shadow Balls at your line. So be careful to dodge its attacks! Ralts provides a Psychic Assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

The Psychic Assist is another new assist we've recently unlocked. To me, it was by far the most overpowered assist in the original game and it's been quite drastically nerfed here yet is still really solid. If you draw a loop that doesn't have a pokemon inside of it, you'll create a circle of psychic energy inside your loop. You can then fling that loop toward a pokemon to contribute to their capture meter and paralyze them!

Of course, now that we've taken a conveyor belt, we can't turn around and go the other way, so we'll need to push forward a bit. There's a Machoke up ahead, and this one we can use! If we continue forward, there's a large conveyor belt that'll lead us back toward the entrance area if we want to go back.

 

Otherwise, we can take the ladder to the north, pass two Spinarak, and proceed to the room Mime Jr. is pointing us toward.

It seems like Mime Jr. wants us to do something in the room ahead.

 

 

 

 

And in case it isn't obvious what we'll find in there, it's, of course, a Gigaremo controlling a bunch of pokemon! This one's blue, meaning it's vulnerable to Electrify Lv. 2! If you didn't keep that Luxio with you, you'll need to go back and grab it again. Don't say I didn't warn you!

 

Using Luxio's Electrify, we're able to destroy the Gigaremo and free the pokemon from its control!

   

   

Once the Gigaremo is destroyed, Mime Jr. rushes in delighted to see everyone is okay! But, even though Mime Jr. circles us like most Partner pokemon do just before joining you, it doesn't actually seem to want to join us just yet and ends up running off with the other pokemon. I suppose this is a thread we'll be revisiting later on, huh? For now, let's push onward.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

As we step into the next room, we'll find another Minion who panics at the sight of us before deciding he knows what to do and rushes off to turn on a nearby Gigaremo.

He rushes off to the back of the cargo hold and switches the Gigaremo from "Line Up" to "Attack," causing all the pokemon in the room to begin attacking us! We'll need to make a beeline for that Gigaremo and destroy it!

      

ALong the way are a Machoke, a couple of Spinarak, and a Pikachu. There's also a handful of Drowzee that'll pursue you by frequently teleporting.

Drowzee won't try to teleport in capture mode, but it will fire a flurry of Shadow Balls at your line to try and damage it, so be careful! Drowzee provides a Psychic Assist and Crush Lv. 2 when not under the influence of hypnosis.

 

Once again, you'll need to bring help form a previous room. This time, you'll need Makuhita's Crush Lv. 2 to destroy the yellow Gigaremo and free the pokemon in the room of its control. Now the pokemon here are free! Many of them will run off, so you can't quite use all of the ones you were dodging before, but it's definitely a step in the right direction!

  

As we return down the stairs, we'll find a Drowzee, Pikachu, and Machoke that have stayed behind. And up ahead we can climb on top of the cargo, but it's just a dead end.

Just west of the door nearby is a yellow switch that looks like this green one. It requires Tackle Lv. 2 to interact with, so you'll want to capture that Machoke if you don't still have Purugly or a Machoke from a previous room. You can use Psychic assists to capture them easily enough.

 

With Tackle, you can throw the yellow switch and cargo will move along a color-coded track, creating a path where that dead-end was before!

   

Moving right along to the other side, we've now got a Drowzee and Spinarak! And in the back, a Machoke and another Drowzee!

 

And, wouldn't you know it, we also find a Green Switch nearby. Do I need to explain what we've gotta do here? Slide the cargo into place so we can continue onward!

 

Up here, there are two Voltorb you'll have to pass by. Be careful not to get caught in their explosions!

 

Down on the other side, we'll find another Spinarak and a Monferno! Monferno definitely seems like the type of pokemon we're gonna want to keep with us for a bit.

Monferno will shoot embers out in a wide X pattern, and it'll lob embers to create pillars of fire. Monferno provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 2.

Continuing up the stairs to the north, we'll find a door with an Electric Lock. We only need Electrify Lv. 1 to destroy the lock.

 

The nearby Voltorb are more than enough to get the job done.

 

Continuing through this door, we'll arrive at a pretty shocking sight. An Electabuzz and Magmar are being forced to run in hamster wheels to presumably generate power for the ship. We can't reach them because there's a Wire Fence in the way. If we want to rescue these guys, it looks like we'll need Cut Lv. 2 to break through. For now, we'll need to continue onward.

In the next room is a hallway where we're met with a fork.

 

On either end of the hallway, there's a Houndour.

If we head west first, we'll find a dark room. But in this dark room, we'll find Barlow! He's still putting up as much of a fight as he can even as he is now. We're gonna need to get him free, but it's too dark to get him out of the ropes. Barlow recommends Electabuzz's Area Move, Flash, to brighten up the room so we can see clearly. So, looks like this path is a bust for now, but we've at least located Barlow! Let's head back out for now and check out the other side.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

As we go through the door on the east side of the hallway, we'll be met with a Dim Sun Minion who won't hesitate to attack us with his Miniremo!

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

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one attacks us with... three Mareep of all things. A weirdly easy capture, honestly.

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

  

Once he's driven out, we can capture the pokemon in this room: A Purugly and two Vulpix.

Vulpix is a new capture that's surprisingly standard. It'll shoot embers occasionally and otherwise just roam around casually. It provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 1.

The door on the other side leads into a hallway with another Houndour and another door. Let's keep going!

 

The next room contains two Raticate. Heads up, you're probably gonna want both of them to save some time backtracking.

 

Now that we have Raticate, we can make our way back to the Wire Fence and use Raticate's Lv. 2 Cut to cut right through it!

 

Now, Electabuzz and Magmar are free to leave their hamster wheels! And we can capture them to get their assistance! Let's grab Electabuzz because we need its Area Move!

Electabuzz will charge up before releasing a Discharge attack that'll send electricity into the area immediately around it. Steer clear and lift your stylus if you have to in order to avoid damage. It's also capable of laying sparks on the ground like other electric types, so be wary of those, too. Houndour can help if they're an issue. Electabuzz provides an Electric Assist and the Area Move Flash. I suppose Electabuzz having an Area Move where Magmar doesn't is the explanation for why Elekid had Electrify Lv. 2 while Magby only had Burn Lv. 1. I still think that's a bit unfair, though, don't you?

Anyway, we can now bring Electabuzz over into the dark room and use its Area Move to light the room up! Now that the room's lit up, we can turn our attention toward freeing Barlow! He's embarrassed about being tied up so tightly like this, and admits that Ollie must've been really tough to be able to endure it for so long without a peep. Anyway, Barlow explains that Big Bertha's the only person who'd be able to snap ropes this durable, so we're going to need to enlist the help of a pokemon. We'll need a pokemon with Cut Lv. 2. Thankfully, we've got just the one!

 

Using that other Raticate, we can cut right through these ropes and free Barlow!

I suppose Barlow's partner Makuhita was tied up with him there, too, because it suddenly appears as soon as he's freed. We return his Styler and he expresses shame for allowing it to be taken from him, but takes it to mean he just has to get better. As soon as Barlow turns his Styler on, he receives a voicemail from Crawford who noticed his signal suddenly appear.

Now that Barlow's free, he's still got his mission to complete and we're not about to walk away until all those pokemon are safely back home! We've gotta make our way to the ship's bridge and take over!

But there's a small problem. The door in the back is locked. Thankfully, Barlow is ready to offer his assistance. Together with his Makuhita, the two charge into the door and break right through! Barlow charges right through the door and into the next one across the hallway. He calls us into the room to see something, so let's follow!

Along the way, there's a Pikachu here you might want to recharge with.

The room Barlow crashed into appears to be the Captain's Quarters and the room reeks of strong hairspray. There is a log on the computer briefly recounting their encounter with Barlow and how they need to be more cautious about rangers going forward. As we continue to poke around the room, we'll notice beauty products for men and several duplicates of the same, familiar, flashy outfit. And if you haven't guessed just why these clothes look familiar, then the bookshelf should provide the last hint you'll need. There are three books named on here.

"How to Earn Your Boss' Praise"

"The Surefire Way to Promotions"

"Preventing Running in the Hallways"

...Can't say I didn't call it! Mr. Kincaid is affiliated with Team Dim Sun! And suddenly, a lot of my suspicions are starting to fall into place. I thought there was a strangely ominous air surrounding Altru, Inc. and now that we're finding all these hints that Mr. Kincaid is a part of Team Dim Sun, and he helped Isaac get a job at Altru, Inc... uh-oh. Things can't be good for Isaac.

As we leave the Captain's Quarters and progress, we're stopped by yet another Minion who calls for backup. Another Minion approaches us from behind so that we're surrounded.

 

  

They both use their Miniremos to call forth pokemon to attack us. Barlow takes the ones behind us while we take the ones ahead.

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

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

Capturing three Magcargo is a bit trickier than the three Mareep, but honestly not by much. Just be wary of their Embers and keep on looping!

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

With the Miniremos destroyed, the minion ahead of us tells the other to wait here while he goes and gets more help. But the other one panics at the thought of being left behind and insists he goes to get help instead. In the end, they both agree to run away and get help!

As we proceed outside, we find ourselves on the ship's deck. Out here, there's no music besides the ambience of the ocean.

Crossing to the room on the other side, we'll find a lone Makuhita. Kind of a strange choice, but I suppose it won't hurt anybody to have the extra option.

As we approach the Bridge, we'll see Mr. Kincaid step out of it, confirming our suspicions.

Music: Almia Castle (Hippowdon Temple)

Mr. Kincaid comments on how he hasn't seen us since we graduated. But he confesses he had only been playing the part of the teacher Mr. Kincaid. His true identity, he reveals, is Team Dim Sun's guiding light: Mr. Kincaid. He twirls around and his outfit changes into a new black outfit with purple accents and a cape and shades.

Mr. Kincaid goes on to say he never would've expected someone who couldn't mind the rules, always ran in the halls, and snuck around where they didn't belong, to have pursued him so persistently. But now, he insists that our journey is over.

From the other two doors on the deck, minions and admins spill out in great numbers. Mr. Kincaid was prepared for us!

 

 

The reinforcements plant down their Miniremos and begin calling forth more pokemon to attack us and Barlow.

===========

     

In case it isn't clear, this is going to be the climax of our mission, so it's best to come prepared. I had my partner Croagunk, of course, alongside the Blastoise I'd carried with me from Vien Forest, a Machoke and Drowzee I'd brought with me from the cargo hold, and a Pikachu I caught in the hallway earlier for recharging. And let me tell you, if you're going in blind, you're gonna want this healing for the final battle.

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

 

Vs. Dim Sun Admin

Capturing two Rhyhorn together is a surprisingly simple task, so this initial attack isn't too difficult to brush off. But it's clear this is going to be an endurance round. We're facing the full force of Team Dim Sun. They're gonna go all out on us here.

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

Having destroyed the Miniremos of the reinforcements, the minions and admins all panic, apologize to their leader and, fearing facing his anger, they all choose to abandon ship instead! Yikes! I... I guess I'll just assume that they don't... y'know... die.

Mr. Kincaid doesn't feel anything of value is lost with their departure. He comments that their absence will only lighten the load and decrease fuel consumption. Though he confesses we are more skilled than he'd expected. But as more reinforcements spill onto the deck, it's clear it's going to take a lot of work getting them off our backs. Barlow asks for us to hold off the reinforcements while he goes after Mr. Kincaid.

  

As Barlow charges ahead at Mr. Kincaid, the reinforcements drop more pokemon onto us to fight! This time, we're on our own!

In the meantime, Mr. Kincaid brings out his own Miniremo to summon his most powerful asset: A Drapion. He mocks Barlow telling him he'll never defeat his Drapion, but Barlow insists he won't defeat it--he'll befriend it!

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

  

Vs. Dim Sun Admins

In the meantime, we're gonna have to deal with the three Stunky we're surrounded by. Don't get greedy! Trying to circle all three of them will likely get you damaged by their Poison Gas. Be mindful of where you can get loops in and only go for multiple if you're sure it's safe. Stop looping if one is about to attack, you've got all the time in the world. It's nothing too crazy as long as you're a little patient.

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

Once again, the defeated minions jump ship to avoid us. But that's when Barlow gets tossed to our side! His Styler's been broken by Drapion!

Mr. Kincaid laughs at Barlow being rendered useless before him and explains this as the power of his Miniremo. He then proceeds to explain to us just how the Miniremo was created: That it was the work of a young man about our age. That is, of course, Isaac. Mr. Kincaid reveals that he knew of Isaac's genius ahead of time and that was why he took up a position at the Ranger School. He did so solely to recruit Isaac into his plans knowing a genius like him only comes around once every century. And with that, he sics his Drapion on us with the promise of no mercy!

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

Vs. Mr. Kincaid & Drapion

And... holy hell. I cannot explain to you how hard this goddamn music goes. You just have to click that link and listen to it yourself. I don't remember any music from the first game blowing me away to this extent. This music is incredible! And they fucking knew it, too. Drapion even gets its own splash art when this boss battle begins. I really wish I could show a screenshot of it to you because it's really cool to me.

Unfortunately, I had no way of knowing what exactly I'd be fighting in the end here, so I'm not quite as well prepared for this fight as I should be. I'd probably recommend bringing more Psychic types and no Fighting types. Spoiler alert, it's a Poison type. Which means it'd still be a tossup between Fighting or Psychic with one being weak and the other being strong.

Anyway, Drapion will roam around the screen and fire a barrage of Poison Sting which you'll definitely have to watch out for. It's definitely his most dangerous attack. While Drapion is firing Poison Sting, you won't be able to loop him. This is a good opportunity to use projectile assists like Drowzee's. Simply fling those hoops over his way to stun him and carry on your looping! Otherwise, wait for the Poison Stings to stop before you try to circle him again. Beyond that, he'll also cloak himself in Poisonous Gas and use Sludge to create puddles as well. Drapion himself is fairly slow making him easy to loop despite his relatively large size. Though those puddles of sludge can make looping him a little bit more unwieldy. It might be important to use a Dark Assist to clean them up or a Fire Assist to tire him so that he doesn't recover his capture meter while you wait. Admittedly, I'm not actually sure if bosses do recover their meter, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way!

As you try to loop Drapion, his changeups might catch you off guard, and you might find yourself taking damage. This is how you'll find out Drapion is so scary. He deals a ton of damage and if you're careless, you'll end up in the red before you know it. His Poison Gas alone can deal 10 damage in one hit. That's why I strongly recommend keeping a Pikachu with you to recharge when you're at least 20 HP below maximum. Do not get greedy with this boss! Patience is important! Looking around comment sections, it seems that a lot of people really struggled with this fight when they were kids and I can definitely see why. If I'd played this game as a child, this is probably the point where I'd end up getting stuck.

Once we have Drapion captured, it's registered in our Ranger browser. We can see it provides a Poison Assist and doesn't have a Field Skill... yet something tells me I'm not about to be getting this one as a partner pokemon anytime soon.

===========

After freeing Drapion from the Miniremo's effects, Mr. Kincaid admits he's underestimated you. With that, Mr. Kincaid orders the crew on C Deck to pull the Kingston Valve and orders all other crew to abandon ship at their own initiative. Mr. Kincaid's plan is to sink the ship and destroy all evidence of their plans. Not only that, but if the boat sinks, the pokemon on board will die!

Music: Crisis (Call to Action)

With the Kingston Valve pulled, the boat immediatelhy starts taking on water!

Using his Miniremo, Mr. Kincaid calls for his Gliscor to carry him off, selfishly leaving the rest of his crew to fend for themselves.

The admins that were by Mr. Kincaid's side jump ship, realizing they have no other choice. But we have no time to lose. Barlow insists we've gotta take control of the ship and get it to safety quickly. Inside the Bridge, Barlow notes that the nearest port is in Pueltown, but it's too far away to make it with the boat taking on water so quickly.

Since Barlow's styler is down, he uses the ship's radio to contact the Ranger Base. Barlow informs Crawford that we've captured the ship, but that we won't be able to make it before the ship sinks. He grimly mentions that this might be his final words. Crawford scolds him for the bad-taste joke and tells him he has to beach the ship on shallow waters and, if that's not possible, for us to abandon ship and save ourselves.

With that, Barlow insists that he's not about to just give up and let all these pokemon go down with the ship. He's going to save hismelf, us, and all the pokemon. But in order to do so, we need to find a way to slow the sinking. Of course, it's clear what we've gotta do. We've gotta get back down to C-Deck and move that valve back into place! But it's gonna take some doing! As we step outside, we find that we have a 4-minute timer to get down there! And as we run through the ship, we'll find a lot of Dim Sun Minions and the pokemon all running to the upper deck in a panic. The minions can probably save themselves, but the pokemon aren't so lucky! A lot of them are Fire types, they might not even be capable of swimming!

As we hurry to the C-Deck, we'll find a lone machoke still in the flooding cargo hold. That's good because we're gonna need help to move that Kingston Valve back into place!

When we arrive at the lower deck, we find the cargo lined up conveniently forming a path toward the location of the Kingston Valve! We need Tackle Lv. 2 to move it, and thankfully that's exactly what our Machoke friend has to offer!

As soon as the valve is back into place, the ship stops taking on water. It's still partially flooded, so it's still sinking, but we've slowed its descent considerably! That just might buy us enough time to push toward shore somewhere...

Looking for somewhere to beach the ship, Barlow's Makuhita notices a pier nearby. It's a tiny one, clearly not meant for a ship of this size, but desperate times call for desperate measures! Barlow makes his decision and makes a hard turn in that direction!

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

Ranger School

Now, where would this ship happen to wind up? Well, we soon cut to a shot of Ascension Square back at the Ranger School, we see two students talking together at the Pledge Statue when they notice something off in the distance... The students frantically run away as a loud crash occurs just offscreen... I think we find out where that pier was...

Music: Peaceful Aftermath

Shortly after the ship crashes into the shore, Mrs. April and Principal Lamont arrive on the scene, shocked to see the wreckage! But Crawford and Luana show up shortly after. Principal Lamont comments about how the Pier just might've been a liitle too small for a whole cargo ship. He asks for the story and Crawford tells him what's going on. Thankfully, it seems all the pokemon got out okay! And of course, so, too, did Barlow and us! And with that, it's mission clear!

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

Quote

As the Leader, I'd like to say a few words to end this send-off party.

I always knew this day was coming.

You're not the sort to start and finish as a ranger in the sticks like this.

When I handed you your Styler, I already had that feeling.

But I never expected this day to arrive so soon...

Vientown Ranger Base

When we return to the ranger base in Vientown, it seems that in honor of our outstanding performance on that cargo ship, we're being officially recognized as a Top Ranger! So soon! That's actually genuinely surprising to me. In the first game you weren't even really considered a full-fledged ranger until the end of the story. Here, not only did we start from Ranger School, but we zoomed right up to the very top! To be fair, the circumstances are quite exceptional in this case. I don't believe anything in the previous game had been quite so high-stakes. Even the game's climax which was certainly about us preventing major natural disasters, at the end of the day, it was all more or less a performance on the villain's part. He was wholly under control, he was just putting people in danger so that he could look like a hero all the while destroying the reputation of rangers. In this case, it was shockingly explicit that these pokemon were going to die. The closest we got to that was the Go-Rock Squad blowing up their base, but it was Spenser who got all the pokemon out safely. From that perspective, I think it makes sense why this character would be going up the ranks so much faster! Well, I say "going up the ranks," but at the end of the day we're not actually ranking up any faster, we're just being recognized as a top ranger despite still having a pretty moderate ranking.

Anyway, while everyone is sad to see us go, this moment is certainly a cause for celebration! Crawford mentions that Chairperson Erma came and specifically requested us by name, mentioning that we were absolutely needed at the Ranger Union.

Luana shows us an ediiton of The Almia Times detailing our heroics! Of course, this image shows a male protagonist and I'm playing as a female character, but you can probably use your imagination for that, right?

And so we bid our tearful goodbyes, we celebrate, and, for now, we save. Because this was a busy, busy post. Man, this game is far more intense than I'd ever expected! I can't wait to see where else this story will take us! What kinds of crazy adventures are we going to have at the Ranger Union? Maybe we'll get to see Keith and Rhythmi again soon? Only time will tell! How exciting! Next time, we make our way to the Ranger Union!

[Aura]

Vientown

With our celebration over in the Ranger Base, we head out to be met by our mother, sister, and Mrs. April who have arrived to congratulate us on becoming a Top Ranger! Mrs. April explains how the students of the school worked together to make sure all the pokemon from the cargo ship made it home to Boyleland safely. She also addresses the whole incident with Mr. Kincaid and how the whole school will be taking responsibility and working to ensure it never happens again.

If we talk to the locals, a lot of them share the same sentiment as those at the Ranger Base. We'll be missed, but everyone's excited for us!

Now then, we've gotta make our way to the Ranger Union, but before we do, why don't we take a look around to see some things that have changed? After all, we crashed a cargo ship into the Ranger School so surely things are a bit different there.

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

Ranger School

 

In addition to the pokemon available before, we can now find some Charmander in the schoolyard interspersed among the various pokemon we could already find.

And down in Ascension Square, we'll find the ruins of the cargo ship still beached. And you might be surprised to know we can actually go back inside!

===========

Cargo Ship (Ruined)

          

As we return to the Cargo Ship, we'll find most of it is no longer accessible due to rubble blocking the way. As we explore the Cargo Ship, we can find most of the pokemon we found there before. The path to the upper deck is obscured, so we can't go back to the bridge. Some of the pokemon are missing, of course and many of these pokemon have duplicates throughout in case you want multiple. I think this is most notable because this ship gives you easy access to Psychic Assists from Drowzee and Lv. 3 Recharge from Pikachu! Granted, I'm sure these will become easier to obtain later, but it's nice to have them now!

Hidden quite a bit out of the way, though, if you head all the way in to the Captain's Quarters, you'll find a new pokemon: Lickilicky! Lickylicky is a fairly resilient capture, but he's not too tough as he only waddles around fairly slowly. The most dangerous thing he'll do is attack with Lick, so keep your distance from its long tongue! Lickilicky provides a Normal Assist and Crush Lv. 3.

===========

Vien Forest

Anyway, I poked around and there doesn't seem to be much different anywhere else. You can speak with the NPCs around the school and in Chicole Village to hear what more people have to say about your success.

Worth noting, I did change my partner pokemon out with Turtwig since I got some use out of Croagunk but Turtwig got a bit shafted. Anyway, we probably shouldn't keep the Ranger Union waiting too long, so let's grab a Doduo and head on North through Vien Forest!

As you continue toward Pueltown, you'll be stopped by The Flying Ranger Wendy! We're supposedly on the same level now and she invites us to ride with her to the Ranger Union! You can't really say no, so as much as I'd like to poke around in Boyleland before making my way back, I guess we really shouldn't waste too much time.

===========

Ranger Union

Wendy flies us straight to the Ranger Union where we're dropped in right next to Murph who's gonna babysit us until we go to the Conference Room on the second floor. fiiine. 

Quote

Effective Immediately, the Ranger Union certifies you to the position of Top Ranger.

You are hereby recognized as the eleventh and one of only twelve chosen Top Rangers around the world.

The peace of the Almia region is under growing threat. We must have your help.

When we arrive in the conference room, we're met by Chairperson Erma and Prof. Hastings. And it isn't long after we show up that the aforementioned twelfth Top Ranger appears... It's Keith, our classmate from Ranger School! With our official recognition as Top Rangers, the Almia Region now has 4 of the 12 Top Rangers in the world.

Anyway, Prof. Hastings explains to us that we have been selected as Top Rangers to assist in the ongoing threat of Team Dim Sun, and explain that as Top Rangers, we are free to do as we wish and assign missions to ourselves at our own discretion which is why, I'm sure, we're going to have full control over when missions start and end going forward, right? Yeah...

Anyway, to commemorate our promotion, Prof. Hastings delivers to us a special styler: The Fine Styler! This is an upgraded Styler with a new feature: Power Charge!

Prof. Hastings gives us a quick demo of the Power Charge function, as it's going to slightly alter the way we approach capturing pokemon going forward. Where the standard Ranger Styler we're used to can only draw standard loops, the Fine Styler is capable of charging up the power of its loops. To do so, you simply touch the stylus to the screen and hold it in place for a period of time. The Capture Disc will begin to glow and eventually it'll flash once its power as been upped! From this point, the Capture Line will be a rainbow color as you go to loop the pokemon and each loop will be more effective for capturing the pokemon! If your line is broken either by lifting, touching the pokemon, or receiving damage, the charge will be lost and you'll have to charge up again.

This mechanic is interesting as it completely changes the way I'll be thinking about pokemon that are resilient to capture. I imagine it's probably more worthwhile to just capture weaker pokemon like Budew normally, but charging up your Styler to capture larger pokemon like Muk or Kangaskhan might be ideal. Of course, keep in mind that you do have to stay perfectly still for an extended period of time, so this might also simply be a thing to do while looping the pokemon isn't possible such as while Muk is cloaking itself in poison gas.

After our orientation, Chairperson Erma urges us to see her in the Operation Room on the third floor. In the mean time, we get a brief chance to catch up with Keith! He was apparently late because he was dealing with Team Dim Sun on the way. He introduces us to his partner Buizel. It's great to see him again and it's great to finally meet his new partner!

As we go with Keith to the Operation Room, Erma introduces us to the new Top Operators as well: There's Linda, who I suppose is supposed to be the talkative one, Marcus who seems quite humble and insists we don't have to bother memorizing his name, and then, there's Rhythmi who starts to introduce herself before recognizing us!

Erma comments that it isn't coincidence the three of us were brought to the Ranger Union together. She'd heard of our excellent sense of teamwork during our time at the Ranger School and have been keeping their eyes on us ever since. She suggests that we should seek advice from our senior rangers should we ever need it. And, speak of the devil, Linda receives a voicemail from Sven who is out in the Chroma Highlands. He explains that the place is crawling with Dim Sun Minions and they're slowing him down. So, he'd like Erma to send "a young ranger or two" to help clear them out. Well, how convenient! I'm a young ranger or two!

===========

Ironically, however, just as we're given our first objective as a Top Ranger, a whole bunch of quests also open up at the same time... yeah... they did say I had the right to do as I please, right? I'm sure Sven will be just fine... Hey, the power-up data might prove useful for our first mission! We don't wanna recklessly rush into danger, right?

Anyway, we've got a whopping 6 quests available! Some here on Union Road, some in Boyleland, and some as far out as Chicole Village and the Ranger School! I guess we're gonna take a bit of a world tour after all, huh?

As we head outside, we're stopped by Wendy who has something significant to tell us.

As Top Ranger, we can now capture Staraptor and use their Map Move, Fly, to travel to any town we've visited previously! Staraptor is a surprisingly basic capture. It looks huge and intimidating, but the only attack it seems to do is fire off a single gust of wind in a small arc in front of it. This is a good opportunity to practice your Power Charge as Staraptor is fairly resistant to capture. Charging your styler can help you capture it in half the time without the use of an assist! Staraptor provides a Flying assist and the aforementioned Fly Map Move.

Just like Doduo, you'll now start to see Staraptor appear in various locations around the world, such as like right here in front of the Ranger Union, for convenience in traveling great distances. If I recall correctly, it took a while to gain persmission to take the Dragonite Taxi in the first game, and it only allowed you to fly between Ranger Bases. So this is a welcome addition here!

To use Fly, simply tap on Staraptor just like you would anywhere else, and then select the location you want to fly to. You can only fly to previously visited locations, of course and it seems like only notable towns or cities, not smaller areas like Nabiki Beach or Altru Park. If you just want to carry on with the story, go ahead and Fly to the Altru Building and make your way westward from Altru Park.

Unfortunately, this is a bit of an awkward time to introduce us to this mechanic because I don't actually want to fly off just yet. We've got quests to do!

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

Union Road

We've got two quests here on Union Road! The first of which is from a boy in the eastern part of the road who mentions a Shieldon he saw stuck on a ledge at Peril Cliffs and asks for us to go save it!

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

Quest 16: Please Save Shieldon!

This quest is pretty much just a retread of our mission to investigate the quakes from before. We still can't destroy the Rock near the entrance so we'll still have to go the long way around until we can reach the cliff where the Shieldon is trapped. You can't really miss it because, as you pass by, a cutscene will play showing you where it is!

Once you reach the Shieldon, you'll have to capture it to calm it down. Shieldon will occasionally attack with a headbutt, but it's a pretty simple capture. Charge up your Styler and go to town!

 

Upon rescuing Shieldon, it'll become excited, speak with your partner, and it'll become your next partner pokemon! Shieldon provides a Steel Assist! Of course, it's a new partner, so of course, we'll be bringing it along! I'm not sure why this is our second extinct pokemon we've just casually found out in the wild, but I suppose I'll let it go for now.

Since Shieldon is a new Partner Pokemon, there's no other reward for completing this quest.

Now, before you head back, I recommend going to pick up a Cherrim, too. If you poke ahead in the quests, you'll notice our next quest involves showing one of these off. You can get it from the eastmost ledge in this same area.

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

Union Road

Back on Union Road, we can find our next client near the small pond in the southeast. There's two girls who call themselves the Nectar Sisters.

As we speak to one of the girls, a Budew hops out of a nearby bush. She mistakes the Budew for a Cherrim but her sister corrects her. So, the girl then asks you if you could show her a real Cherrim! The sister tells you Cherrim should be found in the mountains. Which... is an odd thing to thing. I don't know why Cherrim would be found in the mountains where there are no trees...? But I suppose that's where Cherrim actually is, so I'm the one caught with my pants down, I suppose.

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

Quest 17: Cherrim, Cherrim, Come to Us ♪

If you haven't captured Cherrim while you were up on the mountain rescuing Shieldon, then you'll have to climb all the way back up Peril Cliffs again to get to it. But since I already have it, I can more or less skip this mission and just show the girl the Cherrim I happen to already have.

The reward for this mission is a Ghost Defense upgrade, reducing Ghost damage by 3!

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

Partner Farm

Our next client is our own father back at the Partner Farm! We can get there quickly using Staraptor! No more trudging through Vien Forest! His request is simple. Apparently, a newspaper reporter named Hans came by for an interview and accidentally left his pen behind. He asks us to return the pen to the reporter who said he was off to cover Altru, Inc. So, we've gotta head back to the Altru Building!

We can find a Staraptor on Chicole Path to take us back to the Altru Building.

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

Quest 18: What Reporter Hans Forgot

As we arrive at the Altru Building and approach it, Hans will step out of the building and notice you! He asks if you have a story for him, but instead of a story, he gets his pen back! He adds that your father was a man of few words and it was hard to get him to open up, but as soon as the topic switched to you, he completely switched modes! Apparently he's really proud of us! Hans says he'd like to interview us for a story sometime, but he's interrupted as he realizes the time and has to meet someone for an appointment!

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

Partner Farm

Once the pen has been returned, you'll want to head back to the Partner Farm to report back to your father. You can Grab a Staraptor from either the Ranger Union or Vien Forest to make the trip quicker.

And with that, you're rewarded with a Psychic Defense upgrade.

===========

Ranger School

Our next client is Janice from the Ranger School! We can meet with her on the second floor of the school where she explains that her back started acting up while she was raking leaves in the schoolyard. She explains that she's already raked them into piles and asks that you go around and burn them up! Sounds like a good use for those charmander outside!

===========

Quest 19: Light the Leaves!

  

Around the schoolyard are three piles of leaves. One in the center, one to the west of the stairs in the south, and one up on the ledge in the northeast.

 

   

The leaves require Burn Lv. 1 to destroy. Simply capture the nearby Charmander and use them to burn the leaves away!

Upon completing the task, Janice comes outside and thanks you for your help. Because of you, she was able to rest her back and is feeling a lot better! Her efforts are certainly appreciated by the school, I'm sure!

Our reward for completing this quest is a Time Assist upgrade! This is another upgrade that's differentiated from our typical defense upgrades! The Time Assist upgrade increases the duration of our Poke Assists!

===========

Boyleland

Our last two clients can be found in Boyleland! Everything looks like it's back to normal here in town! All the pokemon are back home!

Poking ahead in our quest list will tell us one of these clients is an explorer looking for a specific pokemon. But the summary of the quest won't actually tell us what pokemon it is. You'll find the explorer outside of the Volcano Cave. Speaking to him, he'll reveal that the pokemon he's after is a Muk! I actually recommend turning down this quest initially once you find out the pokemon he wants. For effieincy's sake, it's better to accept the other quest.

Inside the Elder's house, his granddaughter mentions that a man from Team Dim Sun came by their home. He looked hungry so she fed him and he began crying over the friendliness she showed him. Apparently he was left behind when the Cargo Ship left and nobody had ever come back for him. The elder pipes in to condemn Team Dim Sun, including the man she's talking about. The granddaughter explains that the man thanked them over and over before returning to the cave. She scolds her grandfather's rude interjections before asking that we go check up on him. This actually sounds like a really kind scenario. Let's go help a lost soul!

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

Quest 20: Team Dim Sun's Appetite

Our quest will bring us to the depths of the Volcano Cave. Again, this one is pretty much a retread of what we did before. You'll need to make your way to the hidden harbor.

As you pass by, I, of course, recommend capturing Muk for the Explorer's Quest.

As you reach the hidden harbor, you'll notice the path is barricaded off by two Crates. Both of these Crates require Crush Lv. 1 to break.

 

Since we need to keep Muk for a mission, I recommend going back for a couple Stunky to break these Crates. Whatever you do, if you're interested in saving time, do not use Muk to break the second crate. You'll be forcibly warped out of the cave at the end of the ensuing cutscene and have to go all the way back in to capture Muk again. I've learned this from experience.

 

 

Since w already had Lickilicky with us after our exploration of the Cargo Ship's ruins, I only needed one more Crush user. I used Muk to destroy the second box, expecting to be able to capture another on the way out. Big mistake. Just use a Stunky.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Behind the crates, the Team Dim Sun Minion will come yelling at you for destroying the crates. He recognizes you as the ranger who took off on the cargo ship and immediately plops down a miniremo to attack you!

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

Vs. Dim Star Minion

The minion attacks you with a single Charmander. Kinda pathetic, quite frankly. It's an easy capture as long as you don't flub it up getting greedy with charges.

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

Apparently this minion has been waiting here for days since the Cargo Ship left, hoping someone from the team would return for him, but nobody ever did. We explain to him that we beached the ship and everyone dispersed, so it suddenly makes sense why nobody ever came back to help him. The minion asks us if we could take him back to the lady who was kind enough to feed him. So, we take him back to the Elder's home.

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

Boyleland

As soon as we return, the family, even the old man, offers the minion some food. The elder continues to scold his choice on joining Team Dim Sun but confesses that he's not about to let someone go hungry in his house. It's just another surprisingly heartwarming scene! The girl explains that she could tell he's had a change of heart long ago and asks for you not to worry and that they'll take good care of him.

And our reward for this quest is a Recovery upgrade! This upgrade will automatically recharge our styler by one unit for every successful capture! Honestly, I'm not sure how useful this upgrade is going to be since I rarely use Recharge pokemon as it is, but it might have its niche uses. For one, I'll have less need to top off my health by capturing random Pichu or the like nearby.

And if we step back into the building, we'll find that the Team Dim Sun Castaway has wasted no time at all in changing his ways! He's already wearing an entire Fishing outfit! Looks like he's found a new lifestyle!

==========

Boyleland

Our final client is the Explorer we spoke to in the beginning. Again, he asks for us to go and bring him a Muk so that he can capture its aroma as he is a collector of scenes. Kind of a strange hobby, but maybe it's related to some sort of scientific study? Or maybe it's his kink or something, I won't judge.

===========

Quest 21: That Smell of Muk

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

If you don't already have a Muk, you'll have to trudge all the way back to the depths of Volcano Cave again to grab one. Don't make my mistake!

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

Boyleland

Once you have your Muk, bring it to the Explorer and show it to him. He'll collect the Muk's scent and thank you for your assistance!

Your reward here is a Poison Defense upgrade! Would've been nice to have this before that Drapion fight, huh?

===========

Well, that's that! I'm starting to get the feeling we've forgotten something, huh? Oh well, I'm sure it's not important.

[Aura]

Altru Park

Oh yeah! Sven wanted our help! We might be running a little late, but I'm sure we've held out well enough. We should probably make our way to the Chroma Ruins where he called for us! The Chroma Ruins, as mentioned in the Ranger Union, is at the far end of the Chroma Highlands, but we're gonna need some work to get there.

 

It isn't too terribly important, but I recommend going to grab a Wartortle from Vien Forest or a Gastrodon from Volcano Cave before heading out toward the Chroma Highlands. It'll help you get a certain new pokemon without having to remember to come back for it later.

Anyway, to get to Chroma Highlands, we'll need to head East of Altru Park and pass through Chroma Road.

===========

Chroma Road

Right off the bat, we're going to be met with a new pokemon in Flaaffy! Flaaffy is of course similar to Mareep but more resilient to capture and in addition to creating sparks that'll linger on the ground, it'll also fire off two sets of ThunderShocks back to back. It provides an Electric Assist and Electrify Lv. 2.

 

Further ahead, we'll find a Staraptor and a Ponyta!

Ponyta being another new pokemon. It's capable of creating pillars of fire or firing ember in four different directions, but it's a relatively easy and standard capture. Ponyta provides a Fire assist and Burn Lv. 1.

 

Near the Ponyta is a Tree. There are some pokemon with the Tackle Field Skill up ahead, so don't worry if you don't have a Tackle User to check these trees. But if you do happen to have a Tackler, then you can find Ninjask!

Ninjask, just like in the original game, is a little obnoxious to capture. Its entire gimmick is that it flies all over the screen and rarely stops. Your best bet to capture it is to use Flaaffy's Electric Assist to stun it in place long enough to capture it. It provides a Bug Assist and Cut Lv. 2!

 

Further ahead, you'll find a Flaaffy and a Doduo.

 

There is another tree behind them with another Ninjask in it for the event where you maybe weren't prepared to capture the first one.

Further ahead, there's a path to the north that's blocked off by a Fallen Tree which needs Cut Lv. 3 to open up. Maybe we're finally about to be able to cut through that, hm? But for now, we don't know any pokemon with that strong of a Cut Field Skill, so we'll just have to keep it in mind. Thankfully, this doesn't mark a dead end as there's another path we can take that goes the long way around.

 

Along this path, we'll pass a Ponyta and Girafarig!

Girafarig is a new pokemon that'll Stomp to create shockwaves around it. And I'd assume its tail might be capable of biting as well, but I haven't witnessed that. Capture it with larger loops and you should be fine. Girafarig provides a Psychic Assist and Lv. 2 Tackle making it easier to check those trees without having to backtrack!

Beyond the Girafarig is a Nuzleaf, our next new pokemon! In the previous game, I wanna say Nuzleaf was treated as a Dark type as opposed to a Grass type. But here, it's treated as a Grass type. It surrounds itself defensively with Razor Leaf so take care to circle it with large loops. Nuzleaf provides a Grass Assist and Tackle Lv. 2.

Up ahead, there's a small path to the south that'll lead us past a Curious Tree that we'll need Soak Lv. 2 to interact with.

 

Remember that I said to bring a Wartortle or Gastrodon? This is why! Soak it up and Sudowoodo will appear! I haven't actually captured this thing myself just yet, but I imagine it'll be a tougher version of Bonsly capable of throwing rocks more aggressively. It provides a Rock Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

 

Below that is another Tree. If we Tackle this one, it'll reveal a Combee!

And further south from here, we'll find we're simply on the other side of that Fallen Tree. I suppose it wasn't that long of a detour around, was it?

  

Anyway, the next area over is a pretty large field. You'll find another Girafarig here as well as a Miltank and a new pokemon, Tauros.

Tauros will charge at you if you get close, so be careful not to take damage! It'll try to attack your line in capture mode with a headbutt and I'd expect it to charge at you with a Tackle, too. It provides a Normal Assist and Tackle Lv. 2.

Just north of those is a Dodrio! Dodrio is really fast and attacks with a Fury Attack, a combo of three pecks, with one finishing peck that's deceptively larger than the first three! It's a really cheap trick that's likely to get ya if you're not cautious. Sadly, there's no riding Dodrio like in your previous life in Fiore. It provides a Normal Assist and a Lv. 2 Tackle Field Skill as opposed to the Agility Map Move.

   

Along the northern end of this area we'll find a couple more Tauros, a Staraptor, and a Pikachu.

There's a cabin up ahead where a guard is resting on break. Someone else is apparently covering his position on the road ahead. There's a save point in here as well. Coupled with the Pikachu outside, you can make this into a little makeshift Ranger Depot!

As we head back outside, we'll find an explorer nearby who warns us that the area ahead of covered in a thick black mist. A few characters have warned us about this already, so we should be prepared for some shenanigans.

We'll pass the guard that's on duty as we make our way toward the Chroma Highlands.

===========

Chroma Highlands

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

  

When we first arrive at the highlands, we run into a Team Grunt member using his Miniremo to get a group of Murkrow to fill the area with the black mist using Haze. The haze is so thick that he can't see our faces. Assuming that we're rangers, he sics the Murkrow on us!

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

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

Murkrow is a new encounter. It'll occasionally surround itself in a dark mist that'll damage your line and also create pulses of darkness on the ground that'll linger for a short while. Pretty standard capture, though. Three of them at once is a bit more complicated, but we've handled worse. If you find yourself needing help, they're treated as Dark types rather than Flying types, so a Bug assist from Ninjask might help here. When not under the influence of a Miniremo, Murkrow provides a Dark Assist and Cut Lv. 1.

In addition to the Murkrow, you'll find the dark mist is overlayed over the capture sequence as well. This is just one effect this dark mist will have on us. It seems to be purely visual here, though. But it can make watching out for those dark pulses a little bit tougher since it'll sometimes blend in with the mist.

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

After scaring off the minion, we receive a voicemail from Prof. Hastings who tells us he's receiving unusual signals from our stylers. We inform Prof. Hastings of the Black Mist and he suggests the mist might slowly drain our stylers' energy. He urges us to keep an eye on our Styler's energy and recharge frequently. And, sure enough, if we wait around for a bit, we'll find that the black mist indeed slowly drains our energy! Approximately every 3 seconds we spend in the mist, we'll lose one unit of energy, so we'll definitely need to keep an eye on it as we go forward and try to move quickly! Our Recovery upgrade we got from that quest earlier will certainly come in handy here!

A ? will appear over our heads, implying that an Area Move can be used here. Tapping it will reveal to us that a Skarmory should be able to clear out the fog. It looks like we're going to have to seek one of those out!

As you explore around, you're likely to be surprised by a Carnivine jumping out of nowehre and attacking you! They're quite vicious and can damage your styler in the overworld if they bite you! They're disguised as regular plants in the ground, but you'll know them when you see them. In capture, Carnivine occasionally attacks with a spread bullet seed (maybe Leech Seed?) I would assume it can Bite, too, but it doesn't seem to. Carnivine is really slow, so it's a pretty easy capture. It provides a Grass assist and Cut Lv. 2.

As you continue exploring, you might run into an Abra warping around! Abra is a more passive counterpart to Ralts. In exchange for not attacking, it teleports around a lot more frequently. It's a bit annoying, but not too terribly difficult. Abra provides a Psychic assist and... Tackle for some reason. Tackle is an odd choice of Field Move for this pokemon for reasons beyond Psy Power existing. I think that'll become clear later in this chapter.

  

This area is pretty big and open, so it's hard to describe exactly where you go and how many of what pokemon you'll find, but the long story short is that it's a pretty open field filled with Carnivine and Abra.

If you find yourself struggling with energy, there's of course the Pikachu back on Chroma Road, but there's also one in the southeastern corner of the area for you.

As you head East you'll eventually find a Rapidash! Rapidash is our first regular pokemon that I've noticed has a notably larger capture meter. I guess now that we have Power Charging the devs couldn't wait to throw pokemon with bigger meters at us, huh? I've certainly felt that the game was starting to get a bit tougher recently. Right away, Rapidash can create pillars of fire on both sides of it at once! This can make looping it fairly difficult as you have to make sure to get your line between the fire pillars while also making sure Rapidash doesn't break your line. Of course, a Dark-type assist can make these pillars null and void. In addition to the fire pillars, Rapidash can simply charge at you with a Horn Attack. Rapidash is a bit scary, but as long as you're careful, you can capture it without any issues. It provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 3.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Heading north from this Rapidash will lead you to another Dim Sun Minion who can't tell if you're a ranger or one of their guys due to the mist. We overheard him talking about a pokemon that can clear the mist and how problematic that is for their plan. Deciding to take a risk, he pulls out his Miniremo and preemptively apologizes if you're one of his allies before attacking you!

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

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This encounter features three Koffing, another new encounter! Koffing on its own isn't so bad, but three together like this is a bit of a pain. They float around at a leisurely pace and use Poison Gas that'll drift away at pretty much just as slow of a pace. If the gas is in a bad spot, it can take a while to be able to loop them again. And with three Koffing out at once, that's three times the gas that can potentially block your loops. This is as good a time as any to use assists. A Normal Assist might be really good. The projectile element of the Psychic Assist can also help. Additionally, Fire can keep those capture meters from depleting while they're in awkward positions. Try to capture multiple at once if you can, but don't get greedy. You are still on a budget of energy, after all. This is the type of encounter that really makes you feel the limitations of your Styler's line length.

Koffing provides a Poison assist and Tackle Lv. 1 when not under the effects of a Miniremo.

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

Once we capture the three Koffing, the Minion runs off and we can proceed once again!

 

Just ahead, there is a Smelly Flower that requires Tackle Lv. 2 to interact with. Of course, this will reveal a gloom underneath. Though we've already captured Gloom for Browser completion, it's worth noting that this option is here as this is our first chance to actually use one, just like the Miltank earlier.

Heading west from here, we'll pass another Rapidash.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Further along, we'll find a Dim Sun Minion in front of a boarded off cavern entrance. As we approach, we hear him asking if that was the last of the pokemon capable of clearing out the fog. Did he board them all up in there? Well, as we approach, he'll of course sic some pokemon on us, so let's get capturing!

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

 

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This time, it's two Koffing and two Murkrow. The pulses of darkness and poison gas can be really intrusive together, so be careful with your approach to this challenge! While you don't have a clear shot to start looping, keep in mind that you can always be charging your styler for double effectiveness! Try to loop at least one pokemon whenever you seen an opportunity arise and do it quickly before the opportunity closes. Again, don't be greedy. Looping all four of these guys at once can be incredibly difficult. Just focus on one or two at a time unless you have a golden opportunity.

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

After destroying the miniremo, the minion here tells you they've hidden all the pokemon with Demist so that we can't clear the mist! Well, that sounds like a problem, but I think I have an idea of where exactly they might be.

The Wooden Fence here is a bit more sturdily built than the ones in the beginning of the game. It takes Cut Lv. 2 to break through!

 

I used Ninjask here, but Carnivine is the nearest alternative.

 

Once the fence is cut down, not one but two Skarmory will fly out from the cave into the outdoors!

 

Inside the cave, we can find three Huge Flowers. Each of these flowers requires Tackle Lv. 3 which we currently don't have access to, so we'll have to keep these flowers in mind. But, judging from the conventions we've seen so far, I suppose you can take a wild guess to what we'll find here, huh?

Anyway, if we drop down the ledge below, we'll find one of the Skarmory that ran off! Skarmory is quite aggressive, firing off gusts of wind and diving at your line with its Steel Wing. It won't sit still, either! Just keep looping it when you can and hold back when you can't. With persistence, you'll break through! Skarmory provides a Steel Assist and the Defog Area Move.

With Demist, we can now clear the dark mist from the Chroma Highlands, making it a lot safer to explore thoroughly!

And with that new freedom of exploration, we can find a Bastiodon in the northeast, next to a strange run-down building that's fenced off from us. Some of the NPC's earlier mentioned that Altru Inc. used to be based out here, so maybe this has something to do with that? Anyway, be careful when approaching Bastiodon because it will charge you and potentially damage your styler, too! Bastiodon is a prime target for the Power Charge. It moves very little and stops for a long time before attacking but it's pretty resilient to capture. It'll occasionally attack with a Headbutt that reaches out quite a ways, though, so make sure to hold back when you need to. It'll also occasionally use Rock Slide to rain rocks onto the screen like its cousin Rampardos. You shouldn't have too many issues capturing it, though. But it can do a sizeable chunk of damage if its attacks do connect. Bastiodon provides a Steel assist and, guess what? Tackle Lv. 3!

 

With Bastiodon, we can now Tackle those Huge Flowers in the cave.

And what a twist it is that they'll turn out to be Vileplume! Vileplume will throw out clusters of Poison Powder in an outer ring around it while it'll also use Stun Spore to cover the inner circle around it. A pretty dangerous combination! You'll probably have to lift your stylus to avoid damage if you can't capture it before it attacks. If you're looking for assists, keep in mind that Vileplume might surprise you with the fact that it's treated as a Poison Type rather than a Grass type. But I suppose that's not too strange when you consider it probably wants to differentiate itself from Bellossom who is undoubtedly a grass-type. Consequently, Vileplume provides a Poison Assist in contrast to Gloom's Grass Assist, but, more importantly, Vileplume provides Cut Lv. 3 which is enough to cut those fallen logs! When we're in post-mission territory, we'll need to keep in mind that these guys can clear that Fallen Log back in Vien Forest so that we can explore more over there!

If we continue to the Northwest corner of the Chroma Highlands, we'll finally arrive at the entrance to the Chroma Ruins.

There's another Staraptor up here to help if you need to Fly back for anything.

The main focus, though, is the giant slab of stone, a Gateway, that requires Tackle Lv. 3 to move.

 

We're gonna need to enlist Bastiodon's help once again with this one. So let's go back, capture one and move that Gateway!

And... that's actually where we're gonna cut things for today. There's a Save Point nearby and, with how long that last mission was, I think it's a good idea to start pacing myself a little better with these chapters. It's looking like this game's missions might occasionally stretch a little uncomfortably far, so if there's a stretch of gameplay with story elements in between missions and quests, I think it's fair to delegate that to its own post. I see this as kind of like those posts of main series games where we don't actually take on a gym leader or boss but we do explore a dungeon or so.

So, next time, we'll enter the Chroma Ruins and see if we can finally catch up to Sven! See you then!

[Aura]

Sorry again for the delay in updates on this thread! I've been focusing my efforts on finishing the story of Scarlet and Violent as well as dipping my toes in with the new season in Splatoon 3. Mario Kart DLC is also coming out soon. There's a lot of stuff going on suddenly in the tail end of 2022! But, of course, I'm not even close to being done with All the Pokemens, so let's get back to it!

Mission 9: Support Sven at the Ruins!

Last time we made our way to the Chroma Highlands where we had a run-in with Team Dim Sun. The end of that journey led us to the entrance of the Chroma Ruins where Sven has been waiting for backup to help deal with a large number of Dim Sun Minions. So, we've finally arrived at our mission destination!

Not far into the ruins, we'll notice light on the ground coming from a higher floor. There's also a Drifblim nearby. Put two and two together, it's clear this Drifblim will be important for navigating these ruins. Drifblim bobs a bit more drastically than Drifloon and fires Shadow Balls in an X-Shape occasionally. But be mindful of its size and fairly wavy movement patterns and it shouldn't be hard to capture. It provides a Ghost Assist and the Elevate Area Move.

Air Lift will allow Drifblim to carry you up to a higher floor whenever you're standing underneath a spotlight like this one.

In addition to the Drifblim, there's also a Pikachu here which might be important for you after dealing with all that Black Mist.

 

On the other side, there are also two more new pokemon: Duskull and Hypno!

Duskull is pretty standard for a ghost-type. It'll drift around and surround itself with Will-O-Wisp and fire off Shadow Balls in a barrage in front of it. Loop it with large circles to avoid the Will-O-Wisp and you'll be fine with capturing this one. Duskull provides a Ghost Assist and Psy Power Lv. 1.

Hypno behaves in the overworld just like Drowzee. But in capture, in addition to firing off Shadow Ball, it can also fire off a spread shot of Shadow Balls. Be careful to make sure you don't start your line anywhere within the arc in front of it. It might take a few tries to get used to capturing this guy without taking damage--You can always use Ghost Assists to make it a little easier! Hypno provides a Psychic Assist and Psy Power Lv. 2!

Now then, if we use Drifblim's Elevate ability, we can lift ourselves up to the next floor from the spotlight.

Up here is the new pokemon Pupitar! Pupitar is a little bit intimidating at first, but once you catch onto its pattern, it's actually not all that tough to capture. It'll dash toward your line with Take Down, often going off screen. Then it'll hop back on screen and start winding up for its next attack -- the windup for Pupitar's attacks are quite long, so this is your chance to loop it. Its second attack will have it use Take Down twice in a row. The trickiest part about capturing Pupitar is its many fake-outs. Sometimes it seems like Pupitar's attack doesn't do anything and it'll revert to its idle pose before it charges at you suddenly. If you thought it was going to attack, remember that it's probably gonna. In addition, that second Take Down can be really unexpected after evading the first one and concluding that you should immediately start circling next time he does that attack. In the orignal game, Pupitar could use Rock Slide to rain rocks from the sky. I'm unsure if that's an ability it has here, but I've never seen it do so. Anyway, Pupitar provides a Ground Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

Once we've captured Pupitar, we can exit the chamber by dropping down the hole we floated up through. In the southeast, we can pass through a door to the other side.

 

The next room over contains Sableye. They're easy captures as they'll just roam around using Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball. They provide a Dark Assist and Cut Lv. 3.

In the back of this room, there's a Rock that can be destroyed with Crush Lv. 2.

 

We happen to have just captured a Pupitar, so let's crack it open and see what's behind it!

Behind the rock, we'll find an Electabuzz! Once again, if the game's gonna give us a pokemon like this, it's bound to be important! Let's capture it and hold on to it for a while.

And in the very next room, we'll immediately be met with darkness we'll want Electabuzz's Flash for!

  

A little ways in and there's a Duskull, a Pikachu, and a new pokemon, Sandshrew!

Sandshrew will throw out piles of Sand... Sand Attack? This sand lingers as a hazard which Sableye is capable of cleaning up for you, but it shouldn't be an issue. Sandshrew is a pretty easy capture. It provides a Ground Assist and the new Field Move Tunnel.

 

At the south end, there is Soft Soil which Sandshrew can dig through with its Tunnel Filed Move! This will reveal a hole in the ground that we can fall through to the lower floor.

  

Down here, there's a fork with a Sandshrew and Hypno as well as a Drifblim to help us get back up.

 

To the West is a dark room we'll need Electabuzz for. There's a Sableye and Duskull in here, though!

With Electabuzz, we can light up the room.

 

This will reveal that we're at a dead end with two more rocks blocking our path. If you don't have Pupitar with you, you'll have to turn back--but let's not get hasty with going back to the previous floor.

 

To the east is a Sealed Door like the one we saw in Volcano Cave. You have Hypno right here to help open it up, but Duskull's Psy Power is sufficient, too.

Behind the Sealed Door is another chamber holding a Pupitar! This will make breaking those rocks in the other room a bit easier!

  

Even though you only have to break one block, as per usual, I always feal obligated to break every target in the area. I'm just always paranoid a rare pokemon will be hidden in one of them, even if it's an unrealistic expectation!

  

In the next room past those rocks is a small hallway with a Pikachu and two Koffing--this is our first chance to actually encounter Koffing in the overworld. I've already gone over their assist and Field Skill, but I haven't mentioned that in the overworld they'll try to hit you with poisonous gas which can damage if you if you get too close! This poisonous gas will also cover the screen in an overlay that can make it difficult to see small details.

 

At the end of the hall is another patch of Soft Soil we'll need Sandshrew to tunnel through for us.

And down below is a pretty big maze. And I think I've stressed this before, but I'm really not a big fan of maze levels. I do not have the brainspace to keep track of where I have and haven't been so I always need some sort of algorithm to follow--and if that algorithm falls through I find it incredibly stressful to try and figure my way around. Thankfully, this one is pretty straight forward.

 

Immediately east of the entrance to this floor, you'll find a Sandshrew next to two rocks--and there's no climbing back up without a Drifblim. We're gonna have to look around some more if we're not prepared to break these.

And heading north, we'll be met with what is easily the most annoying pokemon to capture so far: Kirlia. Remember how I said that Ralts fired Shadow Balls to make up for teleportation alone no longer making for a difficult capture? Well, Kirlia proves me wrong because it adds in an element to its Teleport ability that makes it onbnoxious as all hell. For around 2 seconds before it teleports, it'll hover in place during which time you can't contribute to its capture meter. At all. Then it'll teleport and be completely gone for yet another second. That's three seconds of total invincibility and it does this frequently. It also shoots Shadow Balls in an X pattern occasionally, too, but that's nothing compared to how much I want to punch these things for teleporting so damn much. I really hate mechanics like this. It's not hard at all, it just wastes so much time and it's frustrating to know this is likely only foreshadowing for tougher captures capable of teleporting like this down the line. I'd better come to Psychic captures prepared with assists to stop their teleportation! Kirlia provides a Psychic Assist and the Map Move, Teleport.

Teleport is a bit of a beginner's trap. This game has been pretty heavy-handed about tutorials for new Map Moves, but this one is slipped right in with no introduction. Even though you can likely infer what it does based on how Teleport works in the main series, there's still no guarantee it actually works the same. Keep in mind that people playing this game haven't necessarily played main series pokemon--any pokemon game can be somebody's first pokemon game, and I'd say that's especially true for spinoffs as they'll naturally attract a different crowd! And with no introduction, you have no way of knowing what it'll do for sure. The only way to find out is to try it out. But, sure enough, it does exactly what you'd expect and teleports you right back to the entrance of a dungeon. This can be a bit handy in this particular situation as you can come down a bit more prepared to deal with the nearby obstacles.

Also, the existence of a Teleport Map Move is what I was thinking about when I mentioned how weird it was that they'd give Abra Tackle. Certainly Teleport would be a more fitting move for it, no?

 

A little further up north and we'll find the Drifblim needed to return to a higher floor. There's also a hole leading further down, but beyond that, there's a second hole covered in Soft Soil which we can use the Sandshrew south of here to tunnel through.

Down here, there is a Round Rock that we'll need Tackle Lv. 3 to push.

There's also a Pikachu and a Save Machine!

We can drop down the ledge to the south to reach the area we would've fallen into had we dropped down the other hole instead.

   

Down here, we have another Drifblim, Hypno, Kirlia, and Pikachu and a spotlight at the far end. Drifblim can carry us back up to the next floor.

 

And up there, we'll find another Sealed Door! But this one's orange! It requires Psy Power Lv. 2 to break through this time. As we draw close, Keith will complain about a terrible stench coming from it... We can use the Hypno from the previous area to open it up!

And inside, what can we expect to find but a Skuntank? Skuntank will run around and leave puffs of poison gas as it runs. Feel free to make all the fart jokes you want, it's not exactly subtle with this pokemon. Skuntank will also occasionally use Sludge to create a puddle of poison that'll damage you, so watch out for that! Skuntank provides a Poison Assist and the Area Move Stink which we'll cover a bit later.

     

If we drop down the ledge from here, we'll find ourselves on the other side of the rocks from earlier! Exploring around, we'll find a Drifblim, Bastiodon, a couple of Kirlia, and a Pupitar. We've got a lot of tools at our disposal for navigating this area now.

  

We can use Pupitar to break the rocks to close the loop by opening the path to the beginning area of this maze. But before we get to putting all the pieces of this puzzle together, there's one last area I want to visit. There's another spotlight near where the Kirlia were that we can use Drifblim to rise up through.

Up here, there is a red Sealed Door which requires Psy Power 3, a Field Skill we definitely lack at the moment.

Beyond that, there's an Umbreon up here! Umbreon creates barrages of Dark Pulse on the ground that you'll have to be careful to avoid. You might have to pick up your stylus a time or two. Take advantage of the periods you can't circle and charge up your styler for better capture! Umbreon, surprisingly, isn't very fast, so you can capture it with relative ease as long as you're mindful of its attacks. Umbreon will provide a Dark Assist and Cut Lv. 3. Unfortunately, aside from capturing Umbreon, there's nothing else to do up here until we have Psy Power Lv. 3, so let's continue exploring the cave.

 

Now that we've been around the block, let's return to that Round Rock and have Bastiodon knock it away with its Lv. 3 Tackle!

On the other side, we'll finally run into Sven and his partner Luxray! He tells us to keep our voices down, offers a brief introduction of himself and his Luxray, before turning our attention to some Team Dim Sun goons up ahead.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

And good lord, there's a LOT out there! It'll take ages to clear them all out if they all drop Miniremos on us!

We overhear some of the minions talking about Dark Shards which no-doubt refer to the black stones that were being used to power the Gigaremo, and likely, the Miniremo as well. Evidently, this place is where they're being excavated from, but they're running out. I suppose depending on your perspective, that could be a good or bad thing. Maybe they have a finite supply of Gigaremo? Or maybe this just means they now have more Dark Shards than they've ever had before... They also mention that all that's left are useless light-colored shards which they suggest they can take and make into fake jewelry to sell for pocket money.

After getting this info, Sven decides we need to put a stop to their expedition, but we're gonna need to devise a way to flush them all out. He suggests we use the power of stink and mentions that there's a pokemon here capable of doing just that. Thankfully, we happen to have just the pokemon he's talking about already! So, we run out into the crowd of Dim Sun Minions!

The Minions panic at the sight of a ranger and try to play innocent by insisting they're "innocent ones!" But before they can pull out their miniremos, we unleash Skuntank's Stink!

Music: Trouble

The stink fills the room and the stench is so unbearable the minions have no choice but to run away!

With the minions cleared out, Sven has a good laugh at their reactions and thanks us for our help. Now, we can progress deeper into the cave and see if we can figure out more of their operations here.

 

There's a hole we can drop down lower into a small room with a Save Machine. Down there are two hallways leading to dead ends on either side with a Pikachu to heal with and a Drifblim to return with.

As we step up ahead, we'll notice a Spiritomb and several Odd Keystones gathered together... It looks like we've got a boss fight up ahead.

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

     

I approached with my partner Shieldon, a Vileplume from outside I'd been holding onto because I figured it'd be helpful after the mission, and Umbreon. I also had Pikachu for healing and Drifblim whose Ghost type could help capture Spiritomb.

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

Vs. Spiritomb

It's that awesome boss music again! Spiritomb is a rather unique and fairly frustrating pokemon to capture. First thing to note, there are five odd Keystones it'll warp between. Spiritomb may always be in these static locations, but the tricky part is that all five keystones are hazards and will damage your styler if you touch them. Thankfully, if you have the Ghost Defense upgrade, they won't actually be able to deal any damage, but they'll still interrupt your looping, so you'll have to do really controlled loops during this fight, or use projectile assists to do a number on its capture meter. But that's not all you'll need to be prepared for.

Spiritomb has a powerful Ghost attack that resembles a stream of Fire like Flamethrower. Perhaps a powerful form of Will-O-Wisp or maybe Ominous Wind? I'm not really sure what to call the attack. The attack will emerge as a constant stream of purple fire and sway back and forth and fire a flurry of Shadow Balls to try and break your line. It can also generate lingering sparks of electricity and hopping Will-O-Wisps that can be cleared up with Dark Assists, as well as Dark Pulses to further limit the amount of space you have to work with.

Basically, capturing this guy in the traditional way is a goddamn nightmare. Thankfully, I have my partner Shieldon to help dish out some bonus damage to Spiritomb beyond just the occasional loop or two. Again, I can't stress how much harder drawing precise circles quickly is than it looks. It's very easy to take accidental damage in this fight.

Anyway, I opened up with Drifblim's Ghost Assist, coating the room with ghosts an the hopes that some of them would hit Spiritomb and tire him out so that his health wouldn't regenerate. Until this assist ran out, I'd continue to loop him and generate more ghosts whenever I couldn't comfortably do so.

Once the Ghost assist was up, I pulled out my Partner Shieldon's Steel Assist. This time I actually understood the assist better and quickly realized just how much of an asset it really is! If you can draw a long line and get the iron ball really big, you can deal a lot of damage in one go! It's a bit tricky to get that long line without your line being broken or completing a loop, though, especially with the ball getting larger and obscuring part of your field of view. Still, I was able to get a ton of damage off with this one! Find a comfortable pattern and start flinging those attacks!

Once that assist ran out, I continued looping normally for a little while until Spiritomb dropped some hazards on the screen so that I had a good reason to pull Umbreon's Dark Assist out. The Dark type would assist in DPS while also occasionally clearing hazards on the defensive end. Unfortunately, the Dark assist can't clear up those Odd Keystones, those are permanent fixtures. A man can dream, though!

Eventually, I was successful in capturing the 'ol Spiritomb! It provides a Ghost Assist, but has no Field Skill.

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

Once Spiritomb is captured, it flees. Sven then mentions he feels a chill in the air, like there's something the Spiritomb must have been guarding...

Behind the Spiritomb is a passage going deeper into the ruins.

Back here, we'll find a strange Iron Statue that requires Cut Lv. 5 to destroy! Nobody mentions it, so I'm not sure if it's plot-relevant, but it's certainly strange enough to suspect it doesn't quite belong here.

Further in, we find a large pyramid-like structure in the far depths of the ruins, with a hole in the wall behind it. It looks as though, perhaps, something was here, but was stolen away...

Sven mentions he's been on the trail of a giant Dark Shard called the Shadow Crystal for a while now, but we've arrived too late. He suspects Team Dim Sun must've stolen the Shadow Crystal to create a whole bunch of Gigaremo Units.

When Keith questions if the Spiritomb couldn't protect the crystal, Sven stops that line of thought and goes far bigger. He claims the crystal should've been protected by a much more powerful pokemon. Specifically, Darkrai. But he's perplexed as to how Darkrai would've been unable to protect the crystal from Team Dim Sun...

Dim Sun may have gotten away with the Shadow Crystal, but we can still follow this tunnel and see if it gives us any leads! We head on through the hole in the wall to see where it takes us. It winds up taking us to a ladder that comes out of a well near that old abandoned-looking building in the Chroma Highlands!

Chroma Highlands

As Sven approaches the sign on the run-down shack, he recognizes the name Altru Oil, confirming our earlier suspicions that this is indeed Altru, Inc.'s old building. An interesting second connection to Altru, Inc., hm? No hard evidence just yet, but they're definitely going up on the suspect list...

As we explore inside the shack, we find an old diary with faded text. It's difficult to read, but the general gist seems to be that Altru must've hit some hard times and the writer feared for the future of Almia as less and less oil could be found. Text at the end seems to mention the Shadow Crystal, but it becomes too illegible to read. Sven decides to take the diary to the Union for analysis. Maybe someone there can help to interpret it.

As we pass the book to him, we hear... a toilet flush??

Out of the door in the back of the shack, we find Ponte of all people coming out of it! And he's wearing a Dim Sun uniform?! He was the lackey student from the Ranger School!

Ponte explains that he didn't agree with Dim Sun's policies, so he quit the day he joined. Apparently they are completely clueless about what they stand for or what they're doing. Their slogan is "A bright future for Almia"... Not only does that sound completely contradictory to their name, it also sounds... a little familiar...

Ponte adds that Dim Sun was here until yesterday where they were doing some big operation digging up what he calls a large piece of coal, but that definitely sounds like the Shadow Crystal. It was hard work, and he already had his doubts about the whole thing, so he quit right there and decided to make this shack his home. Apparently there's a lot of canned food and a working toilet, so it's actually a pretty good place to stay for a while!

Sven of course asks about this "Giant hunk of coal" and Ponte explains that it was taken away by helicopter and either took it to the mountains or the sea. Along with the coal, they also took a large shipping container with them. Knowing Ponte shared everything he knew, Sven thanks him for the information.

With that, we take our leave, and it's mission clear! Sven asks us to deliver the diary to Prof. Hastings at the Union and mentions that he'll call ahead for us. Keith decides to head off with the diary, not wanting us to be stuck at each other's sides the entire time we're at the union. That leaves us with some free time to go around the world and start exploring some newly available areas! Next time, we'll do just that, return to the union, and possibly do some quests on our way to our next mission. See you then!

[Aura]

Chroma Highlands

Last time, we and Keith brought support to Sven in the Chroma Ruins to help drive out Team Dim Sun and get some intel on their operations there. We received a lot of info, including several connections between Team Dim Sun and Altru, Inc. We've also found that they've hauled away a giant Shadow Crystal which they could potentially use to create a large supply of Gigaremo and Miniremo units, a dangerous reality to be sure. We found a burned diary in an abandoned shack bearing Altru Oil's name and found that Ponte from the Ranger School briefly joined Team Dim Sun only to quit after realizing he couldn't understand what they were trying to accomplish. He let us in on another link to Altru with Team Dim Sun: Their motto. At the time, I mentioned "A better future for Almia" sounded familiar, and now I know exactly why. That's the same motto as the founder of Altru. I can't say we still have any definitive proof that these two are connected, but it's looking mighty suspicious for now.

Anyway, Sven asked us and Keith to deliver the diary to the Ranger Union and Keith decided to take the diary and make his way there. For now, we can take a bit of a break and do some exploring!

On our way out of the Chroma Highlands, before leaving completely, I wanted to grab another Bastiodon.

 

With this Bastiodon, I'll go and Tackle another of those Huge Flowers in the nearby cave.

And this will give us access to a second Vileplume. This is important because these guys have Cut Lv. 3 which can cut through those Fallen Trees both on Chroma Road and in Vien Forest. We wouldn't need to do this had we not used Umbreon in the Spiritomb Bossfight as Umbreon also has Cut Lv. 3. But, these are easily accessible here so it's not a big deal.

===========

Chroma Road

 

First thing's first, we cut through the Fallen Tree on Chroma Road and this creates an admittedly very minor shortcut back to Altru Park.

===========

Vien Forest

 

The real exciting one is here in Vien Forest! Well, kinda. As we make our way back to the Fallen Log and chop it down here, we finally gain access to an area that we could see before but could never quite reach: The top of the ledge above the cave where we'd find Glameow before!

There isn't anything too spectacular here for us right now, but there is a Weedle!

More importantly though is a Moving Tree up here. I wonder what this could be?? Sarcasm aside, we can't interact with the Moving Tree just yet as it requires Tackle Lv. 4. But if we can ever get such a strong Tackle, we know we can get back here with ease!

And if we drop down the ledge here and enter the cave, we'll find that the Glameow has finally been replaced with a Purugly. That doesn't really mean much, though, considering we can just go to Chroma Highlands to get Cut Lv. 3 instead of Purugly's now fairly obsolete Cut Lv. 2. But I suppose this is in a more convenient location.

Before we leave Vien Forest, I'd like to pick up a Bibarel.

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

Chroma Road

And that's because there's yet another object I want to deal with on Chroma Road!

 

I'm of course talking about that Curious Tree! With Bibarel's Soak Lv. 2, we can cause it to show its true colors!

Of course, this tree reveals itself to be a Sudowoodo which we can now capture! My previous suggestion of how it attacked was only speculation on my end. But now I can attest that it actually fights by dropping rocks from the sky using Rock Slide! It seems like only one rock falls at a time, though, so it's still a pretty easy capture all things considered. Whenever Sudowoodo attacks, it'll stop and wiggle around a little bit, so that's some free loops for you!

===========

Ranger Union

Anyway, since there's no quests available for us right now, all we have left to do now is return to the Ranger Union to progress the story. We need to report back to Chairperson Erma who will be pleased to hear the report from Sven about our performance--We received top marks in every category! As it turns out, this whole mission was planned as a test of our abilities in a real-world mission and we performed admirably!

In response to our successful mission, we're both officially ranked up to Ranger Rank 5! With this, we can now use Ice and Dragon Assists as well as carry up to 5 Friend Pokemon with us! That's nice because it was already starting to get a bit claustrophobic with only 4 pokemon, especially when so many Field Skills are necessary just for simple navigation. Quite frankly, I'm ready for all the limiters to be removed. I'm a Top Ranger, aren't I? I thought I could do as I please!

That aside, there's nothing much else to do for now, so we'll need to turn in for the night while the burned diary is being analyzed by the Union's Scientists. Even the next morning, it seems that analyzing the diary will take some time, so Erma asks for us and Keith to go out on patrol. It looks like it's Quest time! 3 more quests open up for us: One client is just outside on Union Road, another is on Chroma Road, and one more is back in Pueltown. Naturally, we'll start with our nearest client!

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

Union Road

Our first client is on Union Road, it's the jam-maker, the husband of the lady who asked us to check on the Dim Sun that went into Peril Cliffs. He'll mention that he accidentally stepped on a Combee Nest while looking for berries on Chroma Road and now the Vespiquen and some Combee are out of control! He tried apologizing but couldn't get those feelings across, so we've gotta go and calm down the Vespiquen. Sounds like a plan!

===========

Quest 22: Apologies to Vespiquen

The pokemon in question here are right where we found a Combee here before. Since we've already cleared out the Fallen Tree, we can make our way to the tree in question.

As we approach, we'll find the angry Combee! It'll quickly go back to the tree when it sees us before...

The angry Vespiquen makes its appearance!

  

The vespiquen will attack us on sight along with two Combee companions!

You can use the nearby Flaaffy to make quick work of these ladies. (I say ladies because, even though Male Combee are more common, all Combee in this game have the distinctive red mark of a female Combee!) Even though they're both treated as Bug-types and aren't weak to Electric, (I'd actually already forgotten Combee was a rare exception to a pokemon's type always matching its assist), the electric assist is still really useful for stunning crowds of pokemon and, with it, I was able to capture all three really easily. Worth noting, the Combee were captured really easily, so the Vespiquen is the only one that's a particular issue.

Vespiquen will of course attack fairly aggressively. It attacks with Poison Sting, I suppose as a Stand in for its signature Attack Order since they probably didn't want to make a unique animation for a single fairly insignificant pokemon. It'll also occasionally create puddles of Acid that'll damage your styler. Vespiquen can provide a Bug Assist as well as Crush Lv. 3. Unlike Combee, Vespiquen's Assist actually does match its group.

Upon capturing the pokemon, they all calm down and fly off. And that's Quest Clear!

Our reward for this quest is an Energy Plus upgrade! This upgrade increases the maximum energy of our styler by 5 points. Not the most exciting upgrade, but I suppose you can consider it a free level-up? That said, I did come pretty close to being wiped out by Drapion before, so it's not like I can say I'll never find myself thankful to have those 5 extra points.

===========

Chroma Road

While we're here on Chroma Road, we may as well stop by our next client who happens to be nearby. It's an explorer up north who previously warned us about the Black Mist. He tells us he saw a Chimchar being chased around by Beedrill in the Chroma Highlands. He suspects the Chimchar was probably pranking them and made them angry, but he feels sorry for the Chimchar and asks for us to go and resolve the situation. So, let's get going!

===========

Quest 23: Please Save Chimchar!

  

We'll find the pokemon in question in the northwestern corner of the Chroma Highlands, just outside Chroma Ruins! Chimchar's being cornered by the Beedrill! We'd better step in before things get too ugly!

As soon as Chimchar sees us, it runs to hide behind us and before we know it, we have to capture all three at once!

The capture itself is easy enough if you just use the nearby Rapidash to take care of the Beedrill, though it's not terribly necessary I found since the Beedrill go down really easily anyway.

Chimchar's the star of the show here, though. But he doesn't really seem to do a whole lot to resist capture aside from hop around. I suppose he wants to be captured, makes sense, but that didn't stop Turtwig from attacking!

After capturing the three pokemon, the Beedrill disperse leaving Chimchar alone with us. And wouldn't you know it? We've bonded quite well with this Chimchar! Have you noticed the trend with these missions yet? It seems any mission with a title like "Please Save X!" is a misison where we'll be rewarded with a new Partner Pokemon instead of a traditional Powerup.

 

After speaking with our partner Shieldon, Chimchar is delighted to join us along, so please welcome our new partner pokemon: Chimchar! Chimchar will of course provide a Fire Assist which just might come in handy! We did just get the ability to use Ice-type Supports, so maybe we're coming up on some Ice-type pokemon, hm?

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

Altru Park

  

Anyway, before we head to Pueltown to visit with our last client for the day, I wanted to take a moment to talk about Altru Park because it seems the Go-Rock Quads from the first game are making a cameo appearance! Well, more like, the Go-Rock Trio: Tiffany, Garret, and Billy.

Apparently Clyde, the drummer, is absent at the moment because he had a problem with the lyrics Altru wanted him to sing for the song they were supposed to perform here.

If you don't recall from the first game, Tiffany played the Violin which used to be a custom Styler she used to control a Camerupt in Krokka Tunnel. Garret was the Bassist whose Bass Guitar was used to control a Scizor in the Dusk Factory. Billy was the oldest and strongest of the four and used an Electric Guitar to control a Larvitar, Pupitar, and Tyranitar all at once at the Go-Rock Base.

Clyde was the drummer who controled a Slaking originally at the Jungle Relic.

I just wanted to mention this because it was really cool to see these guys here! I actually really liked them! They did some pretty crazy stuff, but at the end of the day, they also had a far crazier dad and they have an immense sense of loyalty to their family. So it's really cool to see them living peaceful lives as musicians like they said they would in the previous game!

===========

Pueltown

Our final client is in Pueltown. It's the lady on the bridge who cries that her team, Dim and Sun, have run off! She's confused when we ask her about Team Dim Sun, but her little brother explains to her that we probably thinks we're talking about Team Dim Sun. She explains to us that Dim and Sun are her Murkrow and she desperately wants us to bring them back. What an unfortunate name for those pokemon. Well, regardless, we've gotta go and capture those Murkrow!

===========

Quest 24: Dim...Sun...Come Back...

The first of these Murkrow can be found on the rooftop of the apartment building on the west side of town. You'll need to make room for it on your current squad, though!

The second Murkrow can be found in the northeast corner of Eastern Pueltown (not the harbor, though!)

Humorously, if we do revisit the harbor, we'll find the Eevee seems to have run away from home again. How unfortunate. It seems that bickering couple hasn't really learned their lesson after all, have they? Hopefully they'll sort their issues out soon.

 

Anyway, once you bring the Murkrow back to the lady, we find out that they evidently left because they weren't fond of the names Dim and Sun since it made them sound like they were associated with the bad guys. The lady apologizes, but it seems like she's still got some work to do since she continues to call them Dim and Sun anyway... whatever the case, we got these two back to her and hopefully she'll come up with better names...

Regardless of how the Murkrow feel, we still get rewarded for completing the quest! We receive an Ice Defense Upgrade, something that sounds like it might be important if we're gonna be dealing with Ice types soon!

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

And that's all the quests we have available! Next time, I suppose we'll need to return to the Ranger Union and see if any progress has been made on that diary!

[Aura]

Ranger Union

With our patrol over, we return to the Ranger Union, and just on time as well! As we approach the door to the Union, we receive a voicemail from Rhythmi asking us to report to Chairperson Erma once we're done. And if we do so, Erma will ask us to check in on the research room to see how analysis on the diary is coming along.

As we enter the research room, which is on the second floor, east of the conference room, we find Murph as well as the Union's Scientists. The scientists are hard at work while Murph is, well, Murph. As we arrive, a scientist notes that letters are starting to come through in the analysis. The name "Brighton" stands out among the newly deciphered text. I immediately recognize this as the name of Brighton Hall, the second president of Altru, Inc. But apparently I guess I'm not supposed to remember that detail? Murph says the name sounds familiar as well but can't quite put a finger on it. But he remembers he heard it at the Altru Building. Since we apparently forgot, I suppose we have to make our way over there for a refresher.

Of course, we can take a Staraptor from outside and Fly straight to the Altru Building with no problems.

===========

Altru Building

Inside the Altru Building, we make our way to the portraits in the back of the lobby where we find the name Brighton Hall under his portrait between his son, Blake, and his father, Doyle. With the knowledge that Brighton is the second president of Altru, Inc., we need to make our way back to the Union.

==========

Altru Park

Music: Go-Rock Trio Rehearsal

  

As we step out into Altru Park, we hear some familiar music! It's the theme of the Go-Rock Quads! When we arrive on the scene, we find that Billy, Garret, and Tiffany are all rehearsing for their upcoming concert as an anniversary performance for Altru. But they seem to be amiss without Clyde. What do they even call themselves with only three players? That, of all things, is what they seem to be hung-up on. The Go-Rock Triplets? Go-Rock Three? Go-Rock Trio? None of it seems to sound right. Let's hope Clyde comes back ready to perform with some breakthrough!

Anyway, there's a Staraptor int he southeastern corner of the park we can use to make our way back to the Union.

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

Ranger Union

As we return to the Research Room, we share the information we've uncovered. It appears this diary belonged to Brighton around 30 years ago. At the time, the oil wells were running dry which concerned Brighton greatly. That is, until he found a large black stone, no-doubt the Shadow Crystal, on a Ceremonial Dais. The crystal resonated with Brighton's heart and he could tell it contained an immeasurable amount of energy. Evidently, any mention of his son, Blake, is only in passing since he mostly left his son to the care of his wife to focus on studying the Shadow Crystal believing the power of darkness would solve the energy crisis in Almia.

The scientists promise to continue working on deciphering more of the diary while Murph approaches the fragment that was being analyzed. Now knowing what the fragment is, it's peaked his curiosity a lot more. As he approaches, though, his chest begins to glow! As it turns out, the pendant he's wearing around his neck happens to be glowing in response to the Dark Shard! Hastings looks at the shard's readings and notes that its energy levels seem to be decreasing! He immediately inquires about Murph's pendant, which Murph answers that it was a souvenir from Hia Valley given to him by his father. The pendant was made by an old lady out there and is made out of a blue stone called "Tears of Princes." A curious name that definitely sounds like it might be tied into the story told to us by Brook's Mother.

Prof. Hastings doesn't hesitate to assign a mission to us to go to Hia Valley immediately and investigate Tears of Princes! With no time to hesitate, we'd better get moving! Apparently, in order to get to Hia Valley, we need to ride on a Floatzel along the river south of the Union. And so, off we go!

==========

Union Road

And, sure enough, right along the riverbank is a Floatzel! Floatzel is a simple enough capture, it'll shoot out a series of bubbles. It's fairly fast, but loop it with large enough circles and you should be good to go. It provides a Water Assist and the Area Move River Flow Lv. 1! This is our first instance of an Area Move with multiple levels to it! We'll go over what exactly that means when we find a higher level.

River Flow is essentially the surface equivalent to Mantine's Swim ability. From a pier, we can swim across a river! And with this newfound ability, there's actually a couple new areas that open up to us. But for now, we've got a mission to head toward!

As we follow the river in the only direction that isn't blocked off, we'll eventually arrive at the entrance to Crysta Cave! Passing through this cave should bring us to Hia Valley.

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

Crysta Cave

Not too far in, we'll pass by a pier where we can optionally get off to find some new pokemon!

 

We'll find a Golbat and a Jigglypuff here!

Golbat are fairly aggressive and will swoop in on you as you walk by, but they're slightly less annoying than in the previous game as they won't shoot SuperSonic at you to scramble your controls. They will use SuperSonic to try and damage your line during capture, though, so make your loops count and fast! Golbat provides a Flying Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

Jigglypuff is a bit more modest. It'll attack with Sing, of course, but most of the time you can comfortably circle it as well as its notes since Jigglypuff herself is so small. When it's not singing, it carelessly hops around. Jigglypuff provides a Normal Assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

Of course, in the back corner, there's a Floatzel to make sure you don't get yourself stranded over here.

Moving right along, there's a Floatzel in front of a doorway.

Behind that doorway is a Camerupt! Camerupt will attack with flamethrower and eruption, spewing rocks around that'll create pillars of fire. It moves around pretty slowly so despite the intimidation factor, it's actually quite easy to capture. Camerupt provides a Fire assist and Burn Lv. 3. As per usual, if they give you a fairly out-of-place looking pokemon like this, you can bet you're gonna want it to tag along.

 

Continuing forward, we'll pass by a couple more Golbat before reaching another passage leading deeper into the cave.

 

The next room is a rather annoying maze of ledges to nnavigate, with the inital area having a Pikachu and Golbat.

Climbing up the stairs and dropping down the ledge on the west side of the entrance will bring you to a Spheal. Spheal seems to take its slow sweet time in attacking making it a really easy capture. Supposedly it throws balls of ice, but I haven't actually seen it do so. Just loop it quickly and it's yours. More importantly, Spheal is our first pokemon to provide an Ice Assist. It also provides Tackle Lv. 1.

The Ice Assist is like a really nice one! It's a bit like the Steel Assist in that you'll have to draw a long line to get a projectile to reach a large size before flinging it to use it most efficiently. As you touch the screen, a snowball will form at the tip of your styler and grow larger as you draw a longer line. This creates a pretty risky situation if you're going for a large snowball. Once you're ready, fling the snowball in the direction of the pokemon and they'll freeze, becoming temporarily immobilized and allowing you some free loops on them! The Snowball itself will contribute to their capture meter as well.

  

As we continue further up the stairs, we'll pass another Golbat and two Swinub!

Swinub is a surprisingly dangerous pokemon! First of all, they're capable of tackling you in the overworld and damaging your styler, so be careful in your approach. Secondly, they're quite aggressive in capture mode as well. They shoot Powder Snow to attack initially and won't take long to tackle at your line after that. Be careful! Swinub is another of those rare cases where its Group and Assist differ. Swinub is in the Ground Group but provides an Ice Assist as well as Tackle Lv. 1, making it more or less identical to Spheal, except Swinub is a bit more of a pain in the ass.

Down the eastern ledge from the top, you'll find a Sealeo. Naturally, a more resilient version of Spheal. It'll attack with Powder Snow occasionally as well as throwing ice like Spheal. But again, it's really not that hard to dodge and again, I haven't actually seen it throw those hunks of ice. It provides an Ice Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

 

Continue dropping down the ledges here and you'll pass a Pikachu as well as a Floatzel right by another Pier on the river.

Swim across the river to arrive at another pier where there's another Floatzel waiting to carry you back if you need it. Alternatively, you can go through the passage back here...

Inside, you'll find the deceptively challenging capture: Chingling! Chingling hops around with a lot of energy, attacks with Sing, creates balls of electricity, and is generally just a nuisance. I recommend bringing some assists to help with this one. A Dark Assist would be helpful if you have one. Otherwise, Ice Assists from nearby might help stop its obnoxious movement. Anyway, Chingling provides a Psychic Assist and the Area Move Teleport.

Now then, if we make our way back to the maze of ledges, this time we'll pass through the doorway in the back that leads deeper into the cave.

 

Up here, we pass another Pikachu and another Golbat.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

And who would we run into besides Team Dim Sun here, of course! We run into an Admin who seems to be narrating his actions like he's in some sort of detective movie. He mentions having just sealed off the path to Hia Valley and now pulls his Miniremo out to attack us!

===========

  

Vs. Dim Sun Admin

Three Golbat at once is a little bit dangerous. You might want to pull out some Ice Assists for this one, but it's not too difficult to simply brute force. Just watch out for SuperSonics from any of them and, as always, don't get greedy with your looping!

===========

After scaring off the Admin, we push on through and find that he blocked the path with Solid Ice that can be melted with Burn Lv. 2.

 

You guessed it, this is where Camerupt comes into play! We can melt the ice away with Camerupt's Lv. 3 Burn!

Music: Vien Forest

   

Just outside Crysta Cave, we find a whole bunch of Swinub and a Piloswine!

Piloswine is a new capture, but of course, you'll need to be careful approaching it just like the Swinub for the same reason. Piloswine will attack with Icy Wind and it'll fake you out, too, with some double attacks! It can also charge at your Styler as well. What a pain in the butt! It's actually really hard to get an S-Rank capture on Piloswine right now, but I'm sure that'll change as our Styler continues to level up. Anyway, Pilowsine provides an Ice Assist and Tackle Lv. 3.

==========

Hia Valley

As soon as we arrive in Hia Valley, we stumble across an unpleasant situation where it seems a man is trying to protect an Empoleon from Team Dim Sun! The grunt here needs the Empoleon to get to Almia Castle, but the man explains the Empoleon is injured and needs to recover. Not wanting to debate any further, the Admin decides to sic a Houndoom on the man with his Miniremo, but his fingers are freezing over, so he starts typing into the machine really slowly.

As the Houndoom approaches to attack, we close in to offer support by capturing the Houndoom!

==========

Vs. Dim Sun Admin

Houndoom will attack with Dark Pulses and Flamethrower. Easy enough to work around. The Flamethrower is short enough to easily loop around as well! Houndoom provides a Dark Assist and Burn Lv. 2 when not under hypnosis.

==========

After destroying the Miniremo and scaring the Dim Suns off, the man thanks us for our help and introduces himself as Pamur. He explains his name is Murph, but he has a son by the same name, so he goes by Pamur, that is, the Pa of Murph. It seems we've found our guy already! Pamur is confused as to why the Dim Suns even want to get to Almia Castle in the first place. It's been abandoned since it was encased in ice years ago. Regardless, he invites us over to Shiver Camp where we can catch up near a heater.

==========

Shiver Camp

We arrive at the camp and Pamur leads us to his hut there in the northeast. It seems there's a Ranger Depot even all the way out here! Very nice to see!

As we explain to Pamur about Team Dim Sun, we mentions that there was a recent news listing about them and shows us this copy of Almia Times. This snippet shows off a map of Dim Sun's crimes, and talks about what they've been found to do recently including the abduction of pokemon at Boyleland and the Gigaremo.

This also makes me realize I forgot to share this article when it came up! I did encounter it, but I do not remember where. Whatever the case, you can always see it at the Almia Times' archives in Pueltown. Anyway, it was an article about us and Keith becoming Top Rangers.

Back on topic, we shift the topic over to Murph's blue pendant which Pamur explains to us was made by a kind old lady called Mrs. Winter. Mrs. Winter is apparently really beloved among the research team here at Shiver Camp and Pamur recommends you go and speak with her ot learn more about the pendant. He explains that he'll follow our trail after he finishes tending to Empoleon's wounds.

With that, we have some time to roam the camp and explore around.

We find some researchers who seem to have stumbled across a Gigaremo and mistaken it for an oven! They've loaded it up with Fireworks and talk about how it seems to work good as new, but note that the settings on the oven with things like "Gather", "Rampage", "March", "Dig", etc. I just thought this situation was funny.

===========

Hia Valley

Anyway, back out into Hia Valley we go! We need to seek out Mrs. Winter's home. But first, let's poke around some more out here!

Near the entrance from Shiver Camp, we'll find a Prinplup! Prinplup will attack with Tackles and occasional puddles of water. It provides a Water Assist and Cut Lv. 2.

In addition, there are a few Snow Trees around the valley which we can Tackle to knock pokemon out of, of course.

 

Piloswine can be used to knock on these trees, but nearby Spheal and Swinub will be sufficient, too.

Within these trees is a bit of a surprise: Delibird! In a similar case to Vespiquen, it attacks by throwing Ice Balls I assume only because they didn't want to create a unique sprite for its signature Present Attack. Anyway, Delibird is a pretty simple capture as it doesn't move around much. It provides an Ice Assist and Crush Lv. 1, so it's not exactly an impressive pokemon, either.

  

As we continue northward, we'll find Spheal, Prinplup, and a Vulpix.

A Sealeo can be found near Mrs. Winter's home in the northwest. As we approach, Pamur will join up as well and we'll be coaxed into going inside even though we're not quite done exploring here...

Pamur introduces us to Mrs. Winter and tells her we'd like to know more about the blue stone used for the pendant. So, Mrs. Winter begins to elaborate. She once again calls the stone "Tears of Princes" and that they're considered symbols of good luck before recounting the old fairy tale the name is based on. She explains the folktale is called "The King of Almia and the Three Princes," but just like Brook's mother, she can't quite recall all the details.

If you recall, Brook's mother's story focused on the rather sad beginning of the story, in which the king had banished his sons who had grown bitter and fought with each other. The Red Prince went to a volcano and the Yellow Prince to a desert. The Blue Prince was allowed to stay in the castle. And the king slowly became overrun with the darkness of guilt after having cast away his sons.

Mrs. Winter's story continues where that one left off. She doesn't add much, but she allows the story to continue in a more positive direction. When Almia was struck by darkness, the blue prince stood and willed himself to shine with light that could turn the darkness into light.

That's really all she remembers. She can't recall the other two princes or where they went off to, but does add that she knows the name of the stone, Tears of Princes, is related to the story. She goes on to say that she found the stone outside Almia Castle when she was a little girl and that many thought there must be a larger blue crystal within the castle proper, but everyone who searched for it failed and had to turn back. Perhaps that's what Dim Sun is after?

Regardless, it's getting late, so we'd better turn in for the night. Pamur offers to allow us to stay in his hut, so we go off to do so.

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

Shiver Camp

The next morning, we wake up to Pamur calling out to us that someone would like to see us!

We step outside to find the Empoleon we helped out the previous day seems to have healed up and is ecstatic to see us! It evidently wanted to thank us for helping it before running back off into the wild. How sweet!

Anyway, we get a voicemail shortly after from Prof. Hastings whom we've informed about all the intel we got. Using the information, they were able to gleam more words from the diary including "Blue Gem". And so, we're given an adjustment to our mission: We must go and investigate the Blue Gem which Hastings suggests just might be the same as the large blue crystal Mrs. Winter mentioned. That means we'll need to set out for Almia Castle. Even though we never got a formal Mission opening or clear, we technically did complete our initial mission today, so I think this is a fair opportunity to end here. Next time, we'll make our way up to Almia Castle!

[Aura]

Shiver Camp

It's finally time to head toward our next official mission! Last time we arrived at Hia Valley to investigate the origin of Murph's pendant which seemed capable of draining energy from the Dark Shards used by Dim Sun to power Gigaremos and Miniremos. We found the pendant was made from a crystal known as Tears of Princes that supposedly came form a larger Blue Gem hidden in Almia Castle. Armed with that knowledge, we were asked to go to Almia Castle and search for this Blue Gem.

I failed to mention it before, but before we leave Shiver Camp, I'd like to note that there's a Staraptor here in the event that you need to head back for anything you may have missed. In fact, if you want to be thorough in your knowledge of the world, you may want to make your way back to Vien Forest with a Floatzel and explore the river there! But for now, I think it makes the most sense to continue onward with our mission.

Ice Lake

There isn't much to do in Hia Valley but pass right on through to the north where you'll arrive at Ice Lake! If you were to come here earlier, you wouldn't find anything here. But now that we've helped Empoleon recover...

You'll find it waiting for you right here! You can capture it to get its assistance! Empoleon is a pretty easy capture. I've noticed a lot of these pokemon that are necessary for mobility seem to be. It moves really slowly but occasionally attacks with BubbleBeam. Charge up your Styler to catch it quickly and you've got yourself a pokemon that provides a Water Assist and River Flow Lv. 2!

Music: Empoleon Ride (Ice Lake)

So, what's so "Lv. 2" about River Flow Lv. 2? Well, if you talk to the researcher nearby you'll get the idea. Aside from certain waters simply requiring River Flow Lv. 2 to enter, you'll find Empoleon moves faster through it. And moving faster is important because, with the assistance of moving through water currents, Empoleon can crash through icebergs blocking its way! This will be key in navigating the maze ahead of us.

So, Ice Lake is a bit annoying. Basically, it's a giant maze and you'll have to ride on Empoleon's back along the currents to build up the speed to break through icebergs. The area is quite big with not much to really speak for. That's not to say there's nothing of interest, but just not much. There's really not much to say about this area, though. It's just an obstacle course you have to navigate. Of course, Empoleon isn't fast enough to overpower currents, so you'll have to avoid currents moving you in directions you don't want to go and there are a lot of trick paths that take you in big circles back to earlier parts of the maze. You'll also want to avoid the whirlpools that are placed around the maze as they'll suck you right back to the start as well. It's a bit of a headache to keep up with and, honestly, I feel like trying to describe the correct path will only make it seem more confusing than it really is.

In general, try to keep a mental image of the map as a whole in your mind's eye as it'll help you avoid taking paths that just lead backward.

If you can make your way to the northwestern exit on the second screen of the maze, you'll find a fairly tough obstacle course of icebergs and whirlpools. Try to build up speed on the currents to break through the icebergs, dodge the whirlpools, and just past the final wall of icebergs is a small pier.

Just a bit further ahead, we'll find another Empoleon we can use to return. But more importantly...

There's a strange-looking Pile of Snow over here that we'll need Tackle Lv. 3 to interact with.

 

Piloswine's Tackle is sufficient for this one!

Once you tackle the Pile of Snow, it'll reveal itself to be Abomasnow! Abomasnow is a pretty difficult capture you may want to drop a Fire Assist from Chimchar or Vulpix on. It can attack in front of it with Razor Leaf or surround itself with a chilling blizzard that covers a pretty large area around it that lingers around for a little while. Once you capture it, Abomasnow provides an Ice Assist and Crush Lv. 3.

Going back a bit, if you can instead make your way to the middle exit on the second screen and push your way through the obstacle course that way, you'll soon arrive at another pier, much closer to Almia Castle as long as you maintain heading North.

    

Exploring around in front of the castle for a bit, you'll find a few pokemon around including an Empoleon you can use to return home. There's also a Staraptor, Vulpix, and a Jynx as well as Raichu!

Jynx, of course, is a new capture. It surrounds itself with Shadow Ball, making it a bit difficult to loop quickly. But once you capture it, you'll find Jynx provides a Psychic assist and the Map Move Teleport. To the south, there's a waterway you can ride on with Empoleon, but it's just a return path. Thankfully, at this point I believe you should be able to fly back to Almia Castle with Staraptor if you do leave, but don't quote me on that.

Raichu is even more exciting than Jinx! It's another recharge pokemon! Strangely, Raichu actually seems even easier to capture than Pikachu. Its Thundershock attack appears weaker, but that's mainly because it's storing up energy for a powerful Thunder attack to follow up with. But if you're quick, you can usually capture it before it gets Thunder off. The Thunder will strike the screen several times with a large area of effect, so you'll need to be careful if you're still looping then. But most of the time, it's not a concern. Just charge up, loop it a few times, and you should be good. Raichu is a Lv. 4 recharger which means it recharges your styler by a whopping 30 units!

As you approach the castle, you'll find the front gate wide open, but soon a heavy wind will blow one of the nearby torches out and the gate will close.

Of course, we'll need to light this torch with Burn Lv. 1.

 

The nearby Vulpix will suffice just fine for that purpose, let's light that torch and open that gate again!

===========

Mission 10: Get the Blue Gem!

 

Right away at the very entrance are two Haunter and these guys gave me quite a few problems. They attack with Night Shade, creating lingering ghostly fog that'll damage your styler. But the annoying part is that they'll teleport around as you've probably come to expect with these Ghost pokemon. Haunter provides a Ghost assist and Psy Power Lv. 2.

As we enter the next room, we find two Dim Sun Minions reporting to an Admin, both of whom seem to have run into a dead end from the hallways on either side of the dining hall.

The admin then suggests the only way forward must be through the block of ice blocking their way up ahead. One of the minions complain that the block is huge and would be enough to make snowcones for, like, 403 people! That's when the other minion notices our approach and, surprised, asks if we came because we wanted a snowcone?

The other minion then pipes in, wondering why we're here and suggesting that there are absolutely no hints, answers, mysteries, or giant crystals here! At which point the admin just tells him to shut up for saying too much before he attacks us with his Houndour Trio. He adds a fourth Houndour, too, just to be safe.

===========

 

 

Vs. Dim Sun Admin

This capture is simple enough, Houndour isn't actually all that threatening. Just avoid the Dark Pulses and you'll be fine. As you capture more of them, the rest will become easier to capture.

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

After we scare them away, Dim Sun retreats allowing us to explore the area freely ourselves!

  

Here in the dining area, we can find some Snorunt and another Haunter.

Snorunt's a new capture! They'll attack with Icy Wind as well as chunks of ice like Sealeo but are overall easy captures. They provide Ice Assists and Crush Lv. 1.

If we go inspect the Ice Block in the back, we'll find we need Burn Lv. 4 to melt it. So of course, we don't quite have that strong a flame just yet. Looks like we'll need to look for a pokemon with such a field skill!

The path to the west leads to what looks like some sort of workshop.

 

Here, we'll find Jynx as well as a Scyther.

Scyther was a really strange and out-of-place pokemon to find here, so I thought for sure I'd need to keep it around, but that didn't seem to be the case. Anyway, Scyther is probably the most difficult standard capture in the game so far! Even with Ice Assists it can be hard to actually hit him! He hops around a lot and will hop at your line with a big Slash, too. He's dangerous and really hard to loop! Scyther provides a Bug Assist and Cut Lv. 3.

As the Minion said, this side seems to be a no-go. Just a dead-end. So we'll need to head over to the east instead.

 

In the east hallway, you'll find Jynx and Raichu.

  

In the room ahead, there are two Vulpix and another Raichu.

 

Up the stairs we'll find a Haunter and Weezing!

Weezing being another new pokemon. It's more threatening as an overworld hazard than a capture. It'll create poisonous gas just like Koffing, but this gas shoots out a lot further than Koffing's, so you'll need to be even more careful in your approach. When capturing it, it mostly just casually drifts around and occasionally attacks with Poison Gas, but it can also attack with Sludge. Weezing provides a Poison Assist, of course, as well as Tackle Lv. 2.

 

Through the door to the north, you'll find another Jynx and a Wigglytuff!

Wigglytuff will attack with Sing and also occasionally hop into the air and pound into the ground with Body Slam, creating a shockwave. Watch out for the unexpected move, but it's a pretty standard capture. Wigglytuff provides a Normal assist and Tackle Lv. 2.

The door to the west leads to an outdoor hallway connecting to another tower.

And it's over here that we'll find Dratini! Dratini is an easy capture, it'll attack with Dragonbreath which is more or less just a Dragon-type Flamethrower. Watch out for that and circle it quick. You should be golden! Dratini provides a Dragon Assist and Tackle Lv. 1.

Dragon is a new type of assist! Not only for this playthrough, but it's also a type that didn't actually have an Assist in the previous game! I actually forgot to note that Steel didn't have its own assist in the previous game, either. The devs were very careful not to include any pure Steel or Dragon types in the previous game. Anyway, the Dragon assist is a pretty strange one. Basically, as you touch the stylus on the screen, a dark shadow will appear around your styler. And when you lift  it, a meteor of the same size will rain down from the sky! This meteor will paralyze nearby pokemon making this a sort of hybrid between the Electric assist and the Steel Assist. I'm not really too much of a fan of this one, though, because it's a bit difficult to land precisely due to also needing to make sure your line doesn't break while you move it into place.

Anyway, just ahead of this Dratini, you'll find another closed door with one lit and one unlit torch ahead.

 

You know the drill, bring one of the Vulpix here to light this torch and open the way forward!

In the next room, we're treated to a comically long scene where Icicles continue to fall from the ceiling all over the otherwise empty room. These icicles form a sort of obstacle course we'll need to navigate around while avoiding falling into the pits. As you can imagine, the majority of the floor in this room is slippery, so watch your step! If you fall into the pits, you'll drop into the floor below and you probably don't want that. Carefully navigate your way to the west to progress.

 

The next room is a small one with a Snorunt and Vaporeon. Wouldn't it be hilarious if there were some copypasta I could reference about Vaporeon? It's a shame such a thing doesn't exist. It would make for easy content.

Anyway, Vaporeon attacks as you'd probably expect. It runs around and attacks with puddles of water and BubbleBeam. It's moderately resilient to capture so you may want to drop some assists on it, but the only assist you're likely to have that's advantageous against it out here is if you happen to bring Pachirisu or Turtwig along. Maybe this is a good opportunity to try out that Dratini's Dragon assist? Anyway, Vaporeon provides a Water assist and Soak Lv. 3.

Of course, the game gave us a Vaporeon and we're after a pokemon with Burn Lv. 4. You can probably do the math and figure out you might want to bring this Vaporeon with you to assist in an upcoming capture.

 

The very next room appears to be an art gallery with a Vulpix and Ninetales. Ninetales will surround itself with Will-O-Wisp and attack with Flamethrower. The Will-O-Wisp is more dangerous, of course. But you can circumvent the danger by chucking bubbles at it with Vaporeon's Water Assist. It provides a Fire Assist and, of course, Burn Lv. 4. Time to go and melt that ice!

There are a couple ways you can get back. You can either intentionally jump down the pit in the icy room just outside, or you can use a Jynx's Teleport ability. Either works swimmingly!

 

With Ninetales in tow, we can finally melt the Ice Block and open the path leading deeper into the castle!

In the next room is a Save Point where you can save up in preparation for the next stretch of the castle. There's also a staircase leading to the next floor up where we're met with more icy floors over treacherous pits! There are bridges of thin, clear ice that you can slip right across, but they'll begin to crack if you stand on them, so move swiftly along or you'll plummet to the floor below! Carefully but quickly, make your way to the door on the east side to progress.

We're now on the balcony overlooking the libarary where we saw Jynx and Wigglytuff before. Up here, there's a Glalie which will try to attack you with Tackle and Icicle Crash, raining icicles from the sky and creating blocks of ice that remain as hazards. It can be a little challenging, but not too terribly so. Glalie provides an Ice Assist and Crush Lv. 3.

Further ahead, there are stairs leading up to a room with another Scyther.

   

The door south of here leads to some sort of icy ballroom where you can find a couple of Walrein as well as Jynx and Vulpix.

Walrein is another pokemon I found difficult to capture efficiently. It attacks with Blizzard like Abomasnow, but also create blocks of Ice with Ice Shard like Sealeo and also shoot Ice Balls as projectiles, too! Walrein provides an Ice Assist and Crush Lv. 3, making it similar to Glalie. I find Glalie easier to capture, though.

As we proceed westward through the door, we'll reach another outdoor bridge and, in the next room, we'll run into a group of Dim Suns who are discussing their bosses. One admin mentions they prefer the boss of their current squadron, Ice, over another boss, Lavana, a woman who seems to have a short temper. And then there's a third boss, Heath, who apparently tends to get depressed and difficult to cheer up. Of course, he also complains that as long as those three are around, everyone else is held to impossible standards and stand no chance of becoming bosses themselves. The other admin comically complains that they don't even get individual names. He asks if it would be so hard to at least get Admin A or Admin B or something?

Of course, when the admins suddenly notice us, they both pull out their Miniremos and attack!

==========

   

   

Vs. Dim Sun Admins

It's a hoard of Seedot! ...This seems mighty familiar, actually. Anyway, it's been a long while since we've seen Seedot, I nearly forgot we'd already encountered them! And while the sheer numbers make these guys fairly difficult to capture, they're as easy as you'd expect. Just keep circling and you'll eventually get them! But watch out for their Bullet Seed attacks! Thanks to the Grass Defense upgrade, though, the Bullet Seed won't actually do any damage to you. Try to loop the ones that wander away from the herd individually until you can comfortably loop them all in one big circle.

==========

Anyway, behind the admins is a Sealed Door that requires Psy Power Lv. 3 to open! We saw a door like this one back in the Chroma Ruins, so once again it looks like we'll have to go looking for another pokemon. But once we do, we know where to find another for whenever we want to go back and clear that door in the Ruins! There's a save point here, too.

There's a Raichu at the bottom of the room for you to heal up with if needed and two doors to the west.

  

The northward door leads to a large, mostly-empty room with just a Vulpix, Dratini, and Raichu inside.

 

 

The westward door leads you across another outdoor bridge into a stairwell where you can find a Wigglytuff, Raichu, and a closed door with not one, but two unlit torches.

 

 

You can either go back and capture two Vulpix from previous rooms, or you can use the same vulpix twice at the sacrifice of a little extra time in favor of having to free up less party space. Either way, the torches will stay lit once you've lit them.

And in here we have Mismagius. Honestly, I think this is the hardest capture int he whole dungeon, not gonna lie. It's just as annoying as Haunter, but far more aggressive. It'll attack with Night Shade all the same as well as streams of ghostly fire like Spiritomb. All of this while teleporting freely around. It teleports around so much I couldn't even hit it with a Dragon Assist throughout the entire duration! What a pain! When you do capture it, it provides a Ghost Assist and Psy Power Lv. 3. Now we should be able to clear that door!

But before we leave, I wanted to note that there's another of those weird statues. This one's an Ice Statue that requires Burn Lv. 5 to interact with.

 

When I first saw the Steel Statue back in Chroma Ruins, I assumed the red dots on the bottom were some sort of terminal and this was some sort of strange machine I'd learn about later on. However, looking at this one, I can tell in retrospect that these statues actually look like they're related to the Legendary Golems! This one is made of Ice and has dots the same color and arranged in the same shape as the dots on Regice's face, while the Steel Statue was made of Iron and has dots the same color and arranged in the same shape as the dots on Registeel's face! Perhaps destroying these statues will cause the Legendary Golems to appear? Regardless, we still can't interact with either of them so it's a mystery for another day. For now, let's make our way back.

 

With Mismagius's help, we can remove the Sealed Door and open the way forward!

The room this door is blocking off is series of narrow, slippery paths conjoined by those thin-ice platforms over a pit. The ultimate culmination of our slippery misadventures so far. There are three directions to go. One on the East, one on the West, and one straight ahead. Of course, we'll be exploring the side paths first.

 

The door on the east side will lead us to what appears to be a bedroom with a Vulpix and Riolu inside it.

Riolu is a new capture! It hops around and attacks with its fists! It's a bit nimble, but a pretty easy capture. Riolu provides a Fighting Assist and Crush Lv. 1.

 

The room on the west side appears to be a study in which you can find a Glalie and another Riolu.

As we head through the door to the north, we'll arrive at a mysterious barrier with two Riolu statues on either sides and a strange man inspecting them...

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

This man must be Ice, the leader of this squadron of Dim Sun. He's... Blue. He's just Blue. Not Blue as in the color, Blue as in the character Blue. Although, the color is accurate, too. Design-wise, this guy is just Blue with Blue hair. It's kinda weird.

I don't have access to the in-game sprite, but here's his official artwork! Huh, maybe I should share official artwork more often when I can't find the sprites?

Anyway, personality-wise... he's a total tryhard when it comes to being cool. He wants to be cool. And he shows it no faster than introducing himself with... a... dab? In 2008. Huh. Well, that's something I suppose. Anyway, he goes on teasing you by calling you a noob a few times and offers trading the Blue Gem for an Ice-Cream Soda. When we don't respond, he pulls his Miniremo out, dabs once again, and calls forward a pokemon to attack us.

===========

      

I wasn't too terribly prepared for this boss fight, but the team I had with me was plenty, I think. Of course, I had my partner Chimchar and a Raichu for healing as well as Walrein, Dratini, and Riolu. I'd also brought a Bastiodon with me through this whole thing expecting a tough Ice-type boss.

===========

Vs. Ice & Froslass

This is it! Our next boss fight! Froslass opens up with a dangerous Will-O-Wisp that surrounds her with quite a wide radius! It's hard to get in there while the Will-O-Wisp is up. You're better off charging up or using projectile assists while they're there. She'll also attack with Icicle Crash, raining Icicles from the ceiling to create ice blocks and drop lingering Will-O-Wisps on the ground that'll hop around.

This capture was pretty straight-forward, actually. I opened up with Bastiodon's Steel Assist to damage Froslass while she had her Will-O-Wisp up.

Once that was up, my next ally was my partner Chimchar who helped deal a number on Froslass's Capture Gauge.

Finally, for the last stretch, I used Riolu's Fighting Assist. Since Froslass is treated as an Ice Group pokemon rather than Ghost, this one works! And with that, Froslass was finished! It really was no problem at all. Kind of underwhelming after our showdown with Mr. Kincaid on the Cargo Ship.

Anyway, Froslass provides an Ice Assist and Crush Lv. 4 when not under hypnosis.

===========

With Ice's miniremo destroyed, he's actually pretty cool about admitting defeat. Pun very much intended because it's one the game loves to rub in your face every time he's brought up. He gives up on trying to get the Blue Gem and tells you that you can have it, but he warns you that you aren't strong enough to defeat the powerful pokemon guarding the gem. And with that ominous warning, he takes his leave. It's now our turn to finish the journey and solve the puzzle of this barrier.

After he leaves, two Admins come rushing in to tell Ice they found the two blue pokemon he wanted, but they immediately clam up when they see us, tell us to forget what they said, and buzz off.

We can ignore that and the solution is still pretty obvious. There are two statues with Riolu on them and when read, the statues mention that the barrier is protected by the power of the blue pokemon. It's not exactly subtle that we're going to need to bring two Riolu here.

 

After a bit of backtracking, we return with the two Riolu! The pokemon work together to break through the barrier and we can now make our way beyond the barrier, to territory I can only assume has been untouched for many years.

As we head forward, we receive a voicemail from Rhythmi warning us of a tough pokemon ahead. There's a savepoint nearby, so I wasn't too worried about trying out another boss fight without worrying about optimizing my squad at the moment.

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

    

I kind of just waltzed on ahead with whatever pokemon I happened to have on me. I didn't really give it much thought as I figured if I'd have trouble with the boss, I'd just go back and capture more pokemon. Of course, since I'd just used the two Riolu to open the barrier, I didn't have any pokemon to replace them yet. So I only had three pokemon with me from here.

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

As we enter the next room, we find the Blue Gem glowing on an altar. But as we approach it, the torches behind us begin to light themselves. And after all six are lit, the guardian of the gem appears in front of it.

Lucario charges toward us, runs several circles around us before attacking. Here's the true boss of the dungeon!

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

Vs. Lucario

Lucario will run around the stage quite swiftly. It'll attack with a barrage of Aura Spheres, occasionally firing a really large one instead, and sometimes drop two electric orbs on the ground... aura... orbs? They're gray instead of the usual yellow. Maybe it's supposed to be like Flash Cannon or something. Occasionally, he'll also do a quick jab in front of him for when you're trying to loop him tightly. He can also use Focus Energy to power up, in which case all of his attacks will be stronger, faster, and more numerous. Watch out for when he's powered up! Of course, a lot of his attacks do dangerous amounts of damage, too. So you'll want to be incredibly careful.

I opened up with Walrein's Assist, but it was basically useless, he'd just break right out of it and I didn't have the chance to build up the size of the snowball.

Dratini's assist failed to contribute much at all, Lucario moved around too much to get a clean hit in. Like I said, this assist has proven to be pretty underwhelming overall.

Ultimately, I was more or less on my own with this one. I spent a lot of time power charging when I wasn't comfortable going in for loops.

At some point, I did build up my partner gauge and used Chimchar's assist again, but it could only be so helpful. At the end of the day, the difficulty was his movement and attacks.

I did have to use Raichu to heal up toward the end as well.

But eventually, after sneaking in loops wherever I felt like I could, I was able to fill Lucario's Capture Meter! 

I think some projectile assists would do wonders here. Jynx's Psychic Assist would probably help reduce his movement far more than Walrein could, and maybe filling the room with ghosts using Mismagius would be helpful, too. All in all, it's a fairly tough fight, but it wasn't too terrible to manage. The key is mainly just to focus on looping him between his attacks with large circles to avoid his sudden jabs.

Lucario provides a Fighting assist and no Field Skill.

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

After successfully capturing Lucario, he grows to understand your motivations and chooses to entrust you with the Blue Gem he was there to guard. With that, we've obtained the Blue Gem and that's mission clear! A portal appears in the barrier room that'll take us to the entrance of the dungeon, but instead of taking that, I think I'm gonna save and end things here. I imagine next time we'll have a chance to do some exploration before we make our way back to the Ranger Union, so I think this is a good place to cut things off as I already have a few ideas for places I want to revisit.

[Aura]

Appologies for the unexpectedly long absence from this thread, things have been coming up here and there, and it's Christmas soon! Some loose ends have to be brought together here and there and they take up a lot of the free time I usually spend writing up these posts. As per usual, I must reiterate that these posts can take a while to create! That's why I've been generally trying to cut back on how much content I cover at once.

Anyway, last time we explored Almia Castle and came across the Blue Gem, a large blue crystal that's supposedly capable of draining the energy of the Dark Shards used in Gigaremo and Miniremo units. So now, we've gotta deliver this Blue Gem to the Ranger Union for analysis! Hopefully we can finally put a stop to Team Dim Sun's destructive actions!

Almia Castle

Before we leave the castle, the one thing I'd make sure to do is to capture another Mismagius if you haven't already--it'll, of course, remain in the place you found it initially. If you recall, there was a Sealed Door in the Chroma Ruins that Mismagius is capable of opening!

Anyway, if you check your quest log, you'll notice four new quests are available: One in Pueltown, two in Shiver Camp, and one in Hia Valley. It might seem convenient to hop around these areas and do these quests real quick, and that's certainly what I did, but if you've been playing along, I'd actually recommend returning to the Ranger Base first. You can get there right away using the Staraptor outside Almia Castle. This isn't too big a deal, but you just get a slightly more convenient time slot to do your exploring and there's no major interludes between obtaining the Blue Gem and your next rank up, so that rank up will just make these quests ever-so-slightly easier. Not that they're particularly difficult to begin with.

==========

Ranger Union

Upon returning to the Union with the Blue Gem in tow, we're immediately promoted to Ranger Rank 6! With this promotion, our Styler will now begin to Power Charge faster! This will hopefully make more chaotic captures a bit easier to manage!

After our promotion, we can turn in for the night. And the next day, we get to test the power of the Blue Gem! We escort Erma to the rooftop where the giant tree was. We finally get an explanation of this tree. It is apparently called the Tree of Harmony. Prof. Hastings introduces us to a new invention of is that is designed to draw from the vitality of the tree and project the power of the Blue Gem all over Almia. Ideally, the gem would be powerful enough to reverse the effects of all the Dark Shards in the region.

When we place the Blue Gem onto the machine, it seems to work! We immediately receive a report from Rhythmi stating that some pokemon that were rampaging in Pueltown are beginning to calm down! She receives another report as well, pokemon that were being forced to march through Vien Forest have come to their senses! Murph checks the readings on the Dark Shard sample and notes that the stone's energy is being depleted! But, Murph laments, the power has only gone down by a third, not even close to being fully overpowered. Soon, Linda comes in to follow up on Rhythmi's report, this one isn't so positive. There are still many pokemon under control in Vien Forest, and the pokemon in Pueltown are falling under the effects of hypnosis again!

Just as Prof. Hastings is deliberating on this revelation that the Blue Gem isn't enough, Rhythmi's chest begins to glow all the same as Murph's did before. This time with a yellow light! Linda's as well, with a red glow! Recognizing this, Prof. Hastings asks the two girls to stand close to the shard as well as Murph. The three begin to glow brighter and the dark shard's energy begins to go to zero!

Prof. Hastings inquires about what the girls are hiding in their chests... erm... phrasing... Anyway, it turns out they both have pendants given to them as gifts by Sven! One with a yellow crystal and one with a red crystal, much like the one Murph had with the blue crystal! Rhythmi explains hers was a souvenir from the Haruba Desert while Linda's was from Boyleland. The two girls immediately get jealous after realizing they weren't the only ones Sven gave a beautiful pendant to as a gift. Girls, girls, please, it's clear I'm the one he's boning. Jokes aside, I'm gonna guess that Sven's already a step ahead of the rest of the Union. He has seemed pretty busy and he did mention he was already chasing some leads. I imagine he gave the pendants to the two girls suspecting they might get a reaction out of the dark shard as well. We'll just have to see.

Prof. Hastings claims he needs some time to think about these new findings. It's quite possible these pendants could imply the existence of a Red and Yellow Gem. And if we assume these Gems are related to the story of the Three Princes, that seems to add up. It seems pretty clear that we're going to have to revisit Boyleland as well as go to this Haruba Desert in order to retreive the Red and Yellow Gems! It looks like the major focus of this arc of the story is coming to fruition! For now, Prof. Hastings must investigate this possibility. And until he's done with his investigations, we're assigned to patrol and meet the needs of the people! So, now's the time I was mentioning before where we can do our exploring and knock out some quests!

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

Chroma Ruins

Before we do anything else, to make sure I didn't forget, I wanted to make a beeline straight for the Chroma Ruins with Mismagius in tow. Of course, we can use Staraptor to fly straight there. We're gonna need to run quite deep into the dungeon until we arrive at the maze-like area near the end of the dungeon.

Taking a Drifblim up to the area with the Umbreon, we'll find the red Sealed Door that's been stopping us for a while.

 

Using Mismagius' Psy Power Lv. 3, we can finally destroy this sealed door and find what it's been hiding!

And as it turns out, it's Probopass! It's actually been a hot minute since I did this capture and the video reference I'm using didn't actually go and do this just yet, so I'm not actually sure how this battle goes out. I wanna say Probopass attacks with magnetic orbs like Lucario's as well as using Rock Slide to create rockfalls. It wasn't actually too terribly memorable of a capture, though, so I suppose it must've been fairly easy. Probopass provides a Rock Assist and Crush Lv. 4. Unfortuantely, Crush Lv. 4 isn't too terrible significant at the moment to my knowledge. For a brief period of time, I mistakenly thought he had Tackle Lv. 4 and that we'd be able to interact with the Moving Tree in Vien Forest, but that was only a false hope. I suppose this is a bit of a disappointing revelation but, hey, that's one more for the Ranger Browser!

===========

Shiver Camp

Now that we've gotten that mystery out of the way, it's finally time to start actually patrolling, huh? Let's start with Shiver Camp since there are not one, but two quests there!

The first of these quests is from a Researcher who asks us to bring an Abomasnow to him. We did find Abomasnow, but I unfortunately released him in favor of Walrein while exploring Almia Castle. Turns out that was an err of judgment, so I guess we'll need to make our way out there!

===========

Quest 25: Abomasnow Research

To get Abomasnow, we'll first need a pokemon with Tackle Lv. 2 or higher. Piloswine is perfect for this as it can be found just outside Shiver Camp in Hia Valley!

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

Ice Lake

Once you have your Tackle pokemon, you'll need to make your way to Ice Lake and capture an Empoleon to help you navigate the maze and reach the northwesternmost exit, being careful to dodge whirlpools and currents that carry you backwards.

 

You'll need Tackle Lv. 2 to interact with the Pile of Snow. Piloswine is sufficient enough!

Once Abomasnow is awake, capture it and bring it back to the researcher in Shiver Camp!

Your reward is a Fighting Defense Upgrade!

===========

The next quest we'll be doing is actually in Hia Valley since we actually pass this client in the process of seeking out that Abomasnow for the Researcher's request. She mentions that she saw a Houndoom chasing a Piplup around here and asks you to go and help the Piplup!

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

Quest 26: Please Save Piplup!

Wander around Hia Valley and you'll eventually stumble across the Piplup and Houndoom in question in the southwest corner, just past some Dim Sun Minions who seem to be having a really bad time in the cold. They... actually seem unrelated to the trouble here. I suppose they're still searching for their missing Gigaremo?

 

We run over to see the Piplup being chased around the tree, and they both run into us, initiating a capture sequence! Piplup mostly just runs around aimlessly in a panic, so Houndoom's the only real threat in this capture. It's easy enough to capture them both, especially if you have that newly upgraded styler!

 

And you know the pattern by now, we rescue Piplup and it joins us as our new Partner! Piplup, of course, provides a Water Assist! Chimchar saw some solid action, so I suppose it's a good time to see it off. It's Piplup's time to shine, now!

===========

The other quest in Pueltown is next! This one is from Pamur himself! He complains that ice has been falling in Crysta Cave and blocking pathways off. He asks for you to go in and melt the ice. There are chunks of ice in total throughout the cave. If you recall, the Solid Ice chunk we melted in Crysta Cave originally required Burn Lv. 2 to melt, but the only Burn pokemon nearby was a single Camerupt.

===========

Quest 27: Melt the Ice!

This mission can be approached in a couple of ways. Knowing ahead of time that you'll need to melt three chunks of Solid Ice, you could save time on backtracking by first taking a quick detour to Volcano Cave in Boyleland.

Volcano Cave

 

From Volcano Cave, both Magmar and Magcargo have Burn Lv. 2 which is significant enough to melt the ice. You could go in until you have three of these guys or even two would be sufficient for my tastes, and then you can leave and use Staraptor to make your way back to Crysta Cave.

Alternatively, you could just navigate your way to the small room with the Camerupt in it and just return to this room three times to melt all three Solid Ice chunks. This is the approach I wound up taking, but just note that it does lead to a lot of redundant back and forth and this quest is admittedly already pretty redundant due to the fact that there aren't any notable changes to the cave layout.

 

 

 

The task at hand really is as simple as going through the linear cave, capturing Camerupt, then going back to one of the three Solid Ice chunks throughout the cave to melt them. Once you've completed the task, report back to Pamur to officially clear the mission!

Your reward for this one is another Water Defense upgrade! This is our second Water Defense upgrade, which means damage we receive from water attacks is now reduced by 6!

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

Now, before we take our leave from Crysta Cave, we probably want to poke ahead in the quest menu to see that our client in Pueltown mentions Chingling. While it doesn't outright say we'll need to capture one for the job, I didn't see any harm in going to grab one on my way out of the cave.

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

Pueltown

Our next client is a lady in West Pueltown, she mentions that she used to think her Chingling was just a quiet and timid pokemon, but she eventually found out her Chingling has been alone for so long it's forgotten how to use its voice. How sad! She requests that we bring a Wild Chingling to befriend her's. Well, wouldn't you know it? We have exactly that right here!

===========

Quest 28: Lonely Chingling

If you don't have Chingling, you'll need to go get it from Crysta Cave.

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

Crysta Cave

You'll find Chingling by hopping down the ledges toward the river in the southwest of the room filled with... well, ledges. Swim across the water and you'll arrive at the small room with a Chingling inside it.

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

Pueltown

 

Due to my own foresight, though, I already brought a Chingling with me, so this mission was over in a matter of simply talking to the lady again to let her have the Chingling! And easy as that, it's mission clear!

Our reward for this one is a Dragon Defense upgrade, reducing damage received from Dragon attacks by 3!

==========

And with that, I do believe we're up to modern day! Next time, I suppose we'll check back in with the Ranger Union and see if any progress has been made in Prof. Hastings' investigation! See you then!

[Aura]

Ranger Union

Once we're done with our patrol, we return to Chairperson Erma who asks us to check in with Prof. Hastings in the Research room for our next mission.

There, Prof. Hastings suggests the Tears of Princes may be found in the locations Linda and Rhythmi's pendants came from: Haruba Desert and Boyleland. So, he assigns us to go and search for one in Boyleland and Keith off to search in Haruba Desert. So, heading outside, we can capture a Staraptor and fly right over to Boyleland to begin our search!

===========

Mission 11: Get the Red Gem!

We arrive at Boyleland without an issue, but quickly run into one: Where could the Red Gem possibly be? We were pretty thorough our first time through, but there is one point of interest: Boyle Volcano had two separate entrances, with the east entrance blocked by a red gate. It looked like we'll need special permission to enter there, but that seems like our primary lead. If we talk around town, we'll learn that the red pendants are made from small shards of stone known as Tears of Princes that would rain down around the island occasionally when the volcano erupts. An old lady will even explain that there was an old fairy tale that spoke of a red prince who lived in the volcano. This seems to coincide with the story we were told in Pueltown where the eldest prince, cloaked in red, went off to a volcanic land. So, it's all but confirmed: The Red Gem must be found in the volcano where the prince lived.

As we speak with the Elder, he'll initially mistake us for a Dim Sun... somehow. But his granddaughter explains that we're a ranger and it's then that he recognizes us as the one who saved the island's pokemon. After we leave and investigate the locked gate to the volcano, we can return and ask him for the key. He'll promise to meet you at the gate with the key. When you do so, he'll try several keys but none of them seem to work. That's when his granddaughter arrives with the correct key which was apparently around the neck of their... Mime Jr. The one that was in the hands of Dim Sun a while back. Now it seems pretty clear what their motivations were for abducting the pokemon of Boyleland and why they were so pleased to find the Mime Jr... Regardless, with the key, the gate is unlocked for us, and we can finally enter!

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

Volcano Cave (East)

We are now in a new area of Volcano Cave! As soon as we enter, we receive a voicemail from Wendy who recommends we seek out pokemon capable of swimming through the magma of the volcano. It seems like it's not just water we'll be swimming over! Though swimming through magma certainly sounds a lot more dangerous.

Anyway, we'll run into one such pokemon right away! It's Torkoal! Torkoal is generally pretty easy to capture since it moves around real slow. You can charge up your Styler and capture it before it even gets the chance to attack. If it does get its attack off, it'll use Lava Plume to scatter pillars of fire all around it which can make it a bit of a hassle if you take too long. Try and capture it quick before it gets this attack off! Torkoal provides a Fire Assist and the Magma Flow Area Move.

Magma Flow is exactly what it sounds like: River Flow but for Magma instead of water! By riding on Torkoal's back, he can ferry us over the stream of lava. We can sail right across to the other side of the pool, but you know my exploratory nature. I wanna see where this river leads, first. Looking at the map, it looks like we're gonna need to capture a Drifblim to progress, anyway, so we may as well explore the entire area first.

Music: Volcano Cave w/SFX

As we travel into the other side, we'll find ourself in a previously inaccessible area of the western side of Volcano Cave. It almost feels a bit like we're breaking the rules and exploring out of bounds, doesn't it? Kinda cool, I have to say. Anyway, our first stop here is a small ledge to the north.

Up here, we'll find a Flareon! Flareon will fire embers out in various directions and attack with Flamethrower. It provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 3. I can't imagine such abilities being very useful in the volcano, but this is slightly more accessible than the Camerupt in Crysta Cave, I'd say.

Of course, you aren't stranded here after losing your Torkoal. You can find another in the small room just ahead to continue swimming down the river of lava.

 

At the far southern end, we'll arrive at another ledge where we'll find another Torkoal to help get back as well as a Charmeleon!

Charmeleon is a new capture, too! He spits embers and creates pillars of fire, and he's moderately aggressive. Be careful and charge your styler when you can't comfortably loop him! Charmeleon provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 2.

Music: Almia Castle

As you pass through to the east, you'll arrive back at the east side of the cave. Here, we find the Drifloon we'll need. Looks like we made the right choice! There's a ledge here you can hop down to save some time in getting back. You can just capture the Torkoal at the entrance again if you need to. Now let's head straight across to the other side and see what's over there!

Right away, we'll run into a rather obnoxious little guy: Bagon! These guys will try to tackle you in the overworld, and they're all over the place here! In capture, they're deceptively dangerous! They charge forward with their tackles for a really large distance and even do so twice back to back! Plus, they're really aggressive! I found it surprisingly difficult to capture them without taking damage. They only provide a Dragon Assist and Tackle Lv. 1, so they aren't even really worthwhile. I'd say capture the one for the browser and try your best to leave them alone going forward.

To the south, you'll find quite a noisy Hariyama you've probably been hearing near the entrance. Hariyama is a huge target, but I find him much easier to capture here in Shadows of Almia than in the original. Its Arm Thrust does have a large range in front of it, though, so watch out for its attacks! But as long as you're cautious, you should be able to capture it pretty easily. Hariyama provides a Fighting Assist and Crush Lv. 3.

  

Further up north, you'll pass a Torkoal, Bagon, and Raichu. I always recommend carrying a pokemon with recharge with you, but that holds especially true here in this part of Volcanic Cave. You'll find it's really easy to take a lot of damage really quickly, this is a pretty dangerous place with a lot of aggressive pokemon and, frankly, overworld hazards are at their most intrusive here as well.

At the top of the stairs ahead is a Hot Boulder which we need Soak Lv. 2 to cool off before we can clear. Don't worry if you don't have that ability with you, as you'd probably expect, there's a pokemon with it nearby!

  

Continuing along the side path, past the Raichu, you'll find a passage to a small room with three Gastrodon. These can be used to cool off that Hot Boulder!

 

Once the Rock is cleared, it'll return to a regular Rock which we can crush with Crush Lv. 2.

 

That Hariyama is more than sufficient for this task, we can break right through!

On the other side, we can find Shelgon who also attacks us in the overworld just like Bagon! Shelgon seems fairly more calm than Bagon and I found it to be strangely easier to capture. It attacks with Rollout but doesn't seem to carry as much range and it just attacks less frequently overall. Shelgon provides a Dragon Assist and Tackle Lv. 2. If you really like the Dragon Assist, that's good, but even after playing through this mission, I've yet to be able to even hit a single pokemon with it. It just doesn't seem like a good ability to me and you have to sacrifice your chance for a one-line capture to use it, too.

Anyway, at the far end of this area, there's a savepoint next to a spotlight where we can use Drifblim to ascend higher!

 

On the next floor, we'll want to head toward the exit on the east side. We'll pass a Shelgon and Raichu this way.

 

And if you check out the branch off to the north this way, you'll find a Rugged Mass that you can reveal to be a Graveler if you so choose. You might find some use for a Rock Assist here, but it's fairly unlikely in all honesty.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

As we take the exit outside, we'll run into another Dim Sun Minion, one of the "Crimson Unit," she's a girl! This isn't the first we've seen of a female Dim Sun, there was one in Hia Valley, but this is our first time having to face off with one!

By the way, since I was getting frustrated with the lack of character sprites to use as visual aids, I've officially decided I'll start sharing official art of new character designs as they show up. I'm normally very specific about only using in-game assets, but spinoffs just don't get the same level of attention as the main series and it's frequently disappointing. This is likely a decision that'll affect my coverage of future spinoff games as well. Anyway, this is what the Dim Sun Minions look like, both male and female! Their outfits are... anything but fashionable, if I'm being honest.

Even the Go Rock Squad looked cooler and they kind of just looked like clowns.

I can't get over the fact that the Dim Suns look like they're a synchronized swimming team or something.

Anyway, this minion mentions the name of Lavana. Big surprise, we fought Ice in the snowy place, and the previously name-dropped Lavana is the one we'll be facing in the volcano! Anyway, she seems surprised that she found a ranger when she was waiting for Lavana and humorously asks if there was a mix-up before pulling out her Miniremo to attack!

===========

 

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

She'll attack us with five Chatot! This one is surprisingly annoying. Chatot itself is fairly easy to capture, but five of them at once is really obnoxious. Not only is it hard to get them separated, but their notes add even more obstacles for your looping. If you happen to have an Electric assist in your squad, this would be the perfect time. Maybe this would be the niche situation for a Dragon assist? I'm not really sure, but I decided to just be patient and wait for a couple of these guys to separate from the pack before I went in for the capture. Once some of them were cleared up, it was easier to circle the rest.

==========

After defeating the minion, we receive another voicemail from Wendy who tells us Water-group pokemon are incredibly important while exploring the volcano. Geeze, are we sure Wendy's a Top Ranger and not an Operator? Well, the fact that they specifically dropped this warning here tells me that it'll be a good idea to carry multiple with us.

 

And wouldn't you know it? There happen to be two Pelipper right here!

Pelipper is an easy capture. It shoots a spreadshot of bubbles, but if you just wait for it to attack, you can capture it real quick! Pelipper offers a Water Assist and Soak Lv. 3.

 

As we return to the cave and try to head up the stairs, we'll find two Walls of Fire blocking our way! They require Soak Lv. 3 to extinguish.

 

 

You only need one Pelipper to clear the way forward, but as always, I like to clear both of them for that extra feeling of completion. Of course, we'll probably want to go back and grab two more Pelipper anyway. They sound pretty important!

Just beyond the walls of fire, there are some fire jets that'll shoot out and damage our styler if we get hit by them! You'll need to be careful when navigating around them!

And this is where the Bagon start to get really annoying. While you're trying to dodge around the fire jets, there's a Bagon here that'll try and tackle you! Past some of these jets, there's a drop-off where you can easily make your way back if you need to go back and get more Pelipper, or just quickly head out of the cave. A design decision I'm more than thankful for becvause this room is a bit frustrating to navigate.

Just ahead again is a much larger minefield of fire jets with another Bagon! It took me a bit too long to realize that you don't actually have to wait for these jets to go down before you cross. You can just dodge and weave between them a lot of the time, their hitboxes are surprisingly small. If you do take damage, don't be afraid to take advantage of your I-frames and just damage boost through the whole thing, too.

As you try to cross through the fire jets, you'll be rudely interrupted by Rhydon who charges you in the overworld for some pretty major damage! It can be hard to dodge him and the fire jets and he seems to come out of nowhere! You're pretty likely to get hit! Rhydon itself is a fairly simple capture, though a bit intimidating due to its size. It'll charge forward with Take Down and attack with its Horn Attack as well. Watch out for the large range of these attacks! Rhydon provides a Ground Assist and Tackle Lv. 3. That Ground Assist makes him a really solid asset!

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Just past the Rhyhorn, you'll run into two more minions complaining about fires ahead that seem impossible to put out. As we approach, they'l attack us with Miniremo!

==========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minions

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

They attack us with three Bagon and a Shelgon! I've already voiced my grievances about Bagon, and three at once are a pain for sure! Especially with a Shelgon getting involved, too! You might take some damage here if you're unprepared, but the best suggestion I can give is to just be greedy and go full aggro on these guys. You won't get a high rank and you'll take a sizable chunk of damage, but you'll get them eventually!

===========

After destroying their Miniremos, the girls run off to complain to Lavana about our intrusion.

As we continue ahead, we can dip down a branch to the south to find another Hariyama.

The next room ahead is yet another really annoying gimmick. There are volcanic rocks raining from above that'll occasionally land right on top of you and damage your styler. You'll need to dodge them as you wait for the fire jets to clear. Honestly, I find it far less frustrating to just damage boost through the fire jets, completely ignoring the gimmick of the room. These rocks come really fast and feel nearly impossible to dodge at times.

  

In the next room ahead, we'll find Torkoal and Magcargo and an Aggron.

Aggron is another new capture! It'll charge you in the overworld just like Rhyhorn, so approach carefully. Aggron is a pokemon you are not going to get an S-Rank on. You'll probably want to use a Fire or Fighting assist on it to increase the effectiveness of your Styler because this thing is a bit of a menace to get through. Rhyhorn can attack with Iron Head, a massive reach in front of him. It also tears up the ground in front of him with Earthquake. Know when to lift your stylus to dodge its attacks because it can do a lot of damage to you, too! There's no point getting greedy, this thing is too powerful to capture quickly so you're not going to get a high rank anyway. Take your time to capture it carefully instead! Aggron provides a Steel Assist, which might not be so useful, but also Tackle Lv. 4 which is a very significant field skill! After all, with this Field Skill we'll be able to interact with that Moving Tree in Vien Forest! Oh, and by the way, I was reminded while writing this post that there actually is an obstacle that we can use Probopass to clear as well. Don't worry, I'll address that after this mission is over. There's also an area I said I wanted to explore that I did explore, but failed to address in my previous post. There wasn't anything too terribly noteworthy there, but I'll try to cover that next time as well. Anyway, as you can imagine, this Aggron is going to be pretty important, so you'll want to bring him along.

To the south is another Hot Rock blocking the way to a river of lava.

 

We can cool it down with a Pelipper...

 

...and then crush the Rock with Hariyama!

 

Surfing across the magma on Torkoal's back will bring us to another Torkoal on the other end of the magma sea as well as a Drifblim which we can tell from the map we'll need nearby.

Over here, there's also a Heavy Boulder which requires... Tackle Lv. 4. I guess we'll need to go back and capture Aggron again after all, huh?

 

As much as it sucks to say goodbye to our good friend already, we've gotta move forward! Use Aggron to tackle the boulder and move it!

 

At the top, there is another Rhydon and Raichu as well as a drop-off to easily return to the previous area.

We can use Drifblim to be carried up to the next floor at the spotlight nearby.

At the top, there's a Raichu and a Save Point. A tell-tale sign that we're about to go into a boss fight. And if that's not enough of a warning, stepping forward, we'll be met with a voicemail from Rhythmi warning us of a powerful pokemon up ahead, just like the Lucario in Almia Castle. That tells me we're drawing close to the Red Gem! And, by proxy, we're likely approaching Lavana as well.

===========

      

Going forward, yes, I was still lugging that Probopass around. It bothered me that I didn't have an immediate use for it and I could swear there was something I was forgetting, I'm glad I remembered it before using it! (Spoiler alert, I didn't use it here). Pelipper I kept with me thinking I might still need one, Rhydon came along just because the Ground Assist is quite a powerful one, and the two Raichu mainly because I already had one, but Raichu was the only pokemon I could fill the void left by Drifblim up here. Heck, I won't complain about effectively having 60 extra HP.

===========

Music: Battle! (Sinis Trio)

As we head forward, we'll suddenly be stopped by Lavana herself! This fiery pink-haired woman looks to be the same one Keith faced off with at Fiore Temple as we saw in the Almia Times before! I guess now she's about to get a taste of some Almia Ranger action! She's cute and has a fiery passion about her! It's no secret why that one minion wouldn't mind working under her.

With her are two Dim Sun Admins, this is our first time seeing female admins! Here's art for them! Sorry for the low res, Bulbapedia lacks this image! This one's from Pokemon Wiki. The admins have red hair as opposed to the regular minions' blonde and they don't wear caps. The purple accents to their outfits also make them look a lot less silly and a bit more serious. But those outfits do not look comfortable to wear in a volcano.

Anyway, as the Admins discuss how we got in, having gotten the Elder to make an exception for us, we in-turn find out how they got in: They apparently made a secret copy of the key from Mime Jr. Regardless, the time for talk is over quick. Lavana delegates handling us to her underlings. So, we've gotta do some dirty work before the real boss fight, it seems!

==========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Admins

These two attack with two Monferno! It's like the one Monferno in the Cargo Ship, but two! ...yeah, there's not much to say about this one. It's pretty easy to capture them both.

===========

After destroying the admins' Miniremos, they apologize for their failure but add that they had to tire us out by making us do a lot of that "loopy thing," but Lavana scolds them for their failure and steps in to do things right!

===========

Vs. Lavana & Infernape

Infernape is far more intimidating than the two Monferno that came before it, but, honestly? Compared to Ice's Froslass, it's kind of a joke. It has two main attacks: He can use Flame Wheel to shoot out Lava Plumes and use Blast Burn to cause huge explosions around him as well as far away. The explosions might catch you off guard. The attacks get stronger as the fight progresses, but it's really not too bad as long as you know when to back off with your circling. The most annoying thing about Infernape is its tendency to jump around while the Lava Plumes are active, making it difficult to loop him at times.

Thankfully, we do have help from our little buddy Piplup to pepper Infernape with Projectiles when he's not easily in reach as well as slow down his hopping! At that point, the only thing you need to be careful about is Infernape's Blast Burn. The explosions occur suddenly and can be either far or close range to him. Watch out whenever he's about to attack!

I really didn't feel the need to use any more assists after attacking with Piplup, I just continued going at him with Charged lines until he was eventually captured!

When not under the effects of hypnosis, Infernape provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 3.

===========

After being defeated, Lavana tries to play it cool by pretending her goal was only to tire you out so you couldn't take on the Gem Guardian ahead. Then, she complains that her makeup is running because of the heat of the volcano, which she uses as an excuse to run off, not because she lost! Her admins follow suit.

And if you thought things were over just ahead, think again! You've got one last stretch of bullshit with a long bridge you have to cross complete with Fire Jets blocking your way and rocks flying in from the sides! Good lord, do I hate this dungeon. Make your way to the end of the path, dodging your hazards and damage boosting whenever you take damage and you shouldn't end up with too many issues.

At the far end, you'll finally find the altar where the Red Gem is located. As you approach, just like before, you'll hear a cry from the Gem's Guardian.

Heatran leaps out from the pool of Magma to block your way and attack!

===========

Vs. Gem Guardian Heatran

The true boss of Boyle Volcano is here! And he's... also actually easier than Lucario. I swear these bosses were meant to be fought before Froslass and Lucario. Anyway, Heatran is still pretty intimidating. He can create explosions in front of him using Magma Storm. He can also use Iron Head like Aggron, so watch out for that range! As the battle proceeds, he'll also pull magma up from the small holes in the ground using Earth Power. These puddles of magma will remain permanently, crowding up the screen and making it more difficult to actually loop him. But that's where assists come in!

I opened up the battle with Pelipper's Water Assist while he was attacking with Magma Storm since loops were kind of out of the question.

What really proved useful, though, was Rhydon's Ground Assist! Its ability to actively stop Heatran from attacking really gives you the upper hand and lets you go crazy with looping him! You can also get free damage while he's not in a good position, too just by scrubbing with the stylus. All in all, the mere presence of Rhydon in this dungeon makes this boss fight infinitely easier than any boss fight we've had yet. I've severely underestimated the importance of the pause status! I need to pay more attention to assists that can inflict it! Those being Steel and Ground, of course.

==========

And with that, Heatran entrusts the Red Gem to us, and a portal is created allowing us to warp back to the entrance! It's mission clear! Aggron wasn't actually too terribly far into the cave and, spoiler alert, we're going to have to go back in about that far anyway to get more Pelipper real soon, so it's not a big deal to go ahead and leave the dungeon using this warp. Or, if you want to get ahead of the curve, you may want to walk back out yourself. While you do, feel free to pick up Aggron as well as two Pelipper. Just saying, it might be something you want to do.

Anyway, as we return to the outside, the village Elder will call out to us with Mime Jr. who seems very excited to see us! As it turns out, Mime Jr. seems to have developed a keen interest in ranger work, it has even been emulating our styler by circling a Bidoof in the village nonstop! So, I think it's clear where this is going!

 

Mime Jr. and Piplup have a brief talk, and Mime Jr. ends up joining as a new Partner Pokemon! But unfortunately, yet perhaps for the best, (again, minor spoilers for our next post) Mime Jr. is sent back to the Partner Farm rather than our current partner Piplup, just like what happened with Croagunk. It seems we've gotta be intentional about bringing Mime Jr. along with us.

Humorously, the game actually calls attention to the fact that we're on an island and Mime Jr. can't actually get to the farm in Chicole Village. The sailor at the dock catches Mime Jr. just before it jumps into the sea and brings it back, explaining that it was about to try and swim across the sea! When he finds out it was trying to get to Chicole Village, the sailor kindly offers to take Mime Jr. to Chicole Village for us.

And with that, I think this is a good place to leave things off. Next time, we'll report back to the Union and then do some more quests before our next one! See you then!

[Aura]

Ranger Union

Last time, we retreived the Red Gem, so this time we'll make our way back to the Ranger Union to report our successful mission. With that, Chairperson Erma promotes us to Ranger Rank 7! This increases the amount of Friend Pokemon we can carry with us to 6! This is definitely going to help with some of the quests we're about to do, a lot more so than last time. So, once again, I do recommend reporting your successful mission.

After your promotion, you'll turn in for the day and the next morning, you'll go with Prof. Hastings to the ceiling where you'll find three dais for the three Gems. We place the Red Gem next to the Blue Gem, so now all that's missing is the Yellow Gem. The Union has already received word from Keith about the Yellow Gem being located in the depths of Hippowdon Temple in Haruba Desert. Shortly after placing the Red Gem onto the dais, Rhythmi arrives to deliver a message from Keith, that he's having a bit of trouble with the Yellow Gem's guardian, but that he's got it under control. Still, Prof. Hastings is a bit worried by this and requests that we go and check up on Keith.

And with this, we're set off. We could go check in on Keith, but he did say not to worry, so I suppose he can hold off for a bit longer. Instead, we've got some questing to do!

If we check our Quest Log, we'll find four quests. One in Pueltown, one in Hia Valley, one in Boyleland, and one in Volcano Cave. Looks like we've got some flying around to do! And alongside that, we've got some other things to check off our list as well! But in the process of trying that, we're going to have to pass through Altru Park where we'll be met by a cutscene.

=========

Altru Park

Music: Go-Rock Quads Rehearsal

   

It seems that the Go-Rock Quads have reunited! Clyde has returned with his lyrics finished! He announces that they plan to sing the new song in place of the one Altru wanted them to sing. Clyde explains he heard a fairy tale from an old lady in Pueltown and decided to use it as inspiration for the new song: "Song of Vatonage". They're actually about to host a dress rehearsal for their performance when they're suddenly interrupted by Blake Hall's entrance and his assistant Wheeler.

Blake Hall apparently planned to deliver a speech to the people in Altru Park, which the Quads weren't told about, completely interrupting the flow of their rehearsal. Wheeler requests the quads stand aside to make room for Mr. Hall. Nearby employees ask them if they've learned the lyrics to the new song, "The Dream Energy" yet, which Garret lies about having done so.

Music: Altru Building (Interior)

As Blake takes the stage, telling Wheeler to step aside and get out of the way himself, Blake announces to all that, in commemoration fo the 70th anniversary of Altru, Inc., he teases the announcement of a brand new "dream energy" that'll be a total replacement for oil altogether! He adds that the energy is clean, efficient, and effectively limitless in supply!

His speech sounds promising, but I still don't know. It's sounding a bit too suspiciously linked to Dim Sun...

Anyway, with that speech, Mr. Hall takes his leave with his employees, and Wheeler bids the crowd farewell. Most of the crowd leaves after this. It's here where we're met by a sailor dressed in Yellow who offers to take us to Haruba Desert if we need it. Sounds like we have our way to for plot progression! But of course, we've got a whole lot more to do first.

It seems the Go-Rock Quads are pretty bummed about their rehearsal being interrupted. They'll just have to do their rehersal later on.

==========

Perill Cliffs

Remember that giant Boulder on Perill Cliffs we couldn't do anything with before? Well, it just so happens that we now have the pokemon capable of destroying it!

 

With the help of Probopass's Crush Lv. 4, that Boulder is finally no more! This doesn't open up much in terms of new areas, but it does give us easier access to pokemon on the east side of the mountain. A small reminder since it's been a while, this Probopass came from behind the Sealed Door near the Umbreon in the depths of Chroma Ruins. You'll need a Mismagius from Almia Castle to clear the door.

===========

Vien Forest

Our next destination is Vien Forest. Ever since we gained access to Floatzel, there's a spot near the Blastoise where we can use Floatzel's River Flow ability to swim across the river!

You can even find a Floatzel in the water. Admittedly, there's a whole lotta nothing back here. At least for right now. Unfortunately, I'm going purely off of memory and it was quite a while ago when I explored this area and I forgot to include it in the post. But, there were some things of note.

  

Namely, three new pokemon could be found here, Lopunny and Forretress, both evolved forms of pokemon we've met already and both pretty much exactly what you'd expect them to be, as well as Kricketune.

Lopunny hops around. It'll occasionally attack with Stomp and Thrash. It provides a Normal Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

Forretress will occasionally drop down on you from overhead. It can use String Shot to spit puddles of silk on the ground as well as Explode. It can generally be captured really easily. Forretress provides a Steel Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

Kricketune will wander around and rub its antennae to attack with music notes, which I've found to be one of the more annoying types of attacks in this game. But, it's also not too bad to capture. Kricketune offers a Bug Assist and Cut Lv. 2.

 

In addition, you could also find Pikachu and Luxio alongside a few pokemon that are also available elsewhere in the forest.

Most significant of all, though, is the Rock Statue, which I found in a lone cave back here. It requires Crush Lv. 5 to interact with and appears to be linked to Regirock the same as the others for Regice and Registeel found in Almia Castle and Chroma Ruins respectively. I wonder what kind of pokemon will have such strong Field Abilities?

==========

Pueltown

Anyway, let's finally get to work on those quests of ours! Since we're already nearby, I figured we should start with Pueltown.

In East Pueltown, on the benches next to the fountain is an old man who seems to be in an argument with his wife after having forgotten to ask Drifblim if they could help them move by handling the heavy lifting. Naturally, we agree to help and he explains that he needs, get this, three Drifblim. So if you scouted ahead, saw the name Drifblim, and brought one or two from Boyle Volcano, you're about to be disappointed.

==========

Quest 29: Drifblim's Moving Service

There's only one place we can go to get three Drifblim at once, and that's Chroma Ruins! You can fly straight there with a Staraptor.

  

Getting three Drifblim at once is fairly easy. They're placed in several locations throughout the ruins as a means to get to optional side paths or to return to higher floors. Just capturing them and dropping down holes. By the time you reach the maze area, you should be able to find three Drifblim. But now, you may ask, how do you get back out? Well, I'm not sure if you can make it to the end of the dungeon and climb out on foot, but the fastest method, by far, is Kirlia's Teleport ability.

Simply capture a Kirlia and teleport back to the entrance of the ruins. Simple as that.

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

 

An alternative approach to this task is to go to the depths of East Volcano Cave and grab the two Drifblim on your way back out.

Of course, you'll still need to return to Chroma Ruins for the third Drifblim, but this way, you don't have to worry about wasting a fourth slot for Kirlia. You can simply capture the one on the first floor and go back out the stairs.

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

  

Once you have your three Drifblim, deliver them to the old man at the bench and the Drifblim will help him move. You'll quickly find out he meant, quite literally, move. The Drifblim will pick him and his wife up and carry them away.... I'm... sure they're going to be fine.

Our reward for this is our second Power Plus upgrade! This gives our styler an additional 2 points of power.

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

Boyleland

Our next client is located in Boyleland! It's a Fishing Guide! This Fishing Guide is none other than the Ex Dim Sun this family welcomed into their home a while back. He mentions that fires have broken out in Volcano Cave blocking the way to his secret fishing spot, which he reveals to be the secret harbor in the back of the cave. He asks for us to clear the Fire so that he can get back to fishing!

===========

Quest 30: Secure the Hidden Harbor!

As you progress toward the Hidden Harbor, you'l lfind your path obstructed by a Wall of Fire just as the fisherman described. We know these require Soak Lv. 3 to clear, so it looks like the nearby Gastrodon won't be sufficient. This is why I recommended bringing those two Pelipper with you before! You can get Pelipper from the east side of the volcano, but it's about halfway through the cave.

 

 

There are not one, but two walls along the way. But once you clear the second one, the mission is done! You'll need to report back to the Fisherman to clear the mission!

Our reward for this one is a Fire Defense upgrade, boosting our resistance to Fire attacks further!

==========

Quest 31: Snover's Mysterious Presence

Our next client we had to walk past in order to dowse those flames before. This guy mentions that he found a Snover in the volcano! That can't be good! How did it even get there!? We'd better go and rescue it! It was spotted on the east side.

When you make your way to the east, you'll see the Snover in question right on the ledge where Drifblim normally is. It's panicking because of the intense heat, so we need to go and capture it quick!

Simply capture the Torkoal and use its Lava Flow ability to traverse the lava and approach the Snover from the west.

Snover will occasionally attack with Razor Leaf, but as most of these rescue captures are, it's a fairly easy one. Simply loop it when it's not attacking and you'll be good.

 

After rescuing it, Snover will be thankful for the rescue and decide to join in on your adventure as a new Partner Pokemon! This is why I mentioned it was probably a good thing we didn't swap Piplup out for Mime Jr. automatically earlier. We'll probably get a chance to use Mime Jr. at a later point in time. For now, though, Snover it is. Snover provides an Ice Assist, naturally.

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

Hia Valley

Our final client is located in Hia Valley. This researcher right here explains that there's a hut in Shiver Camp that's frozen over! He asks for our help in opening the door to the hut.

===========

Quest 32: Thaw the Frozen Door

If we return to Shiver Camp, we'll find the westmost hut is indeed blocked off by an Ice Wall which requires Burn Lv. 2 to melt. There's a couple approaches to take with this one as well.

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

One is to go back to Crysta Cave and grab a Camerupt, but that requires traversing through the majority of the cave just to get to it.

The preferred method, to me, is to return to Volcano Cave and capture Charmeleon.

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

 

Once you've got a pokemon with Burn Lv. 2, bring it to the Ice Wall and melt the way! With the hut open, we can go inside and find out what happened! It looks like, by shutting off some of the Gigaremos with our Gems at the Ranger Union, we also inadvertently shut off the one that was being used as a heater by the researchers here. Oops. Well, all's well that ends well, yeah?

Once we report back to our client in Hia Valley, it's mission clear and we're rewarded with a Normal Defense upgrade.

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

And that's that for today! Next time, we'll see what awaits us in Haruba Desert.

[Aura]

Pueltown

It's another day as a Ranger! Last time we returned the Red Gem to the Ranger Union, got promoted to Ranger Rank 7, and went off to do some quests. In the meantime, it seems Keith has been having some trouble retrieving the Yellow Gem from Haruba Desert, so we were asked to go check in on things there.

Now that we're ready to progress the story, we'll need to make our way to the Pueltown Harbor. This is where the yellow sailor we met at the Go-Rock Quads rehearsal said to meet him if we wanted a ride to Haruba Desert, so let's go!

===========

Music: Boat Cruise ~ Puel Sea

When we meet with the sailor, he'll happily take us along on his ship! But as we sail across the sea, we're interrupted by a loud noise and a giant water spout! There must be something going on underwater... The sailor stops the boat and we pull out our Micro Aqualung and take a dive!

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

Sea of Wailord

It's been a while since we've had an underwater section!

   

We're immediately reunited with our friends from last time, but now we've got a lot more open space, and a lot of new pokemon to encounter, too!

Anyway, when we land, we hear the same noise, it sounds like the cry of a pokemon! We'll need to investigate closer.

Nearby is our first new underwater pokemon: Horsea! Horsea is relatively harmless, it'll attack with Bubble, usually twice at a time. The Bubbles can drift really slowly making it a bit of a pain to loop Horsea, but it isn't very resistant to capture, so you can usually get by pretty easily in that respect. Horsea provides a Water Assist and Tackle Lv. 2.

Also a bit further ahead is a Gorebyss which is a bizarre case for a pokemon down here. It attacks with streams of ghostly fire like Mismagius. Maybe it's supposed to be Psybeam? Gorebyss is mostly pretty tame, though, so it's fairly easy to capture as long as you evade that initial attack. What's most strange about Gorebyss, though, is that it is our first instance of a pokemon whose Assist differs from its type altogether. It's a Water-Group pokemon with a Psychic-type assist! We've had pokemon with differing group and assist types before, but the assist has always matched one of the pokemon's types in the actual game. I suppose it's not too terribly strange since pokemon have always been able to use moves of other types, but I find this especially perplexing because I was already confused as to why they wouldn't give this treatment to Staryu who is more prominently linked to the Psychic type! And going forward, we're going to run into a few more mind-boggling decisiosn with these underwater pokemon--let me remind you: Water assists are borderline useless underwater since, obviously, most pokemon down here are treated as Water-group pokemon. Anyway, tangent aside, Gorebyss provides a Psychic Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

Further west, there's a current blowing against us, so we'll need to approach from the opposite side.

As we head South, we run into a Tentacruel! Ah! So this one must be treated as a Poison type with a Poison assist for the sake of variety, right? That way our Water assists are also not totally useless? Haha, cute. No, Tentacruel is of course a Water group pokemon, though it attacks with a rapid barrage of Poison Sting and it'll also spread poison around it with a Toxic cloud, so don't get too aggressive with looping it! Okay, so Tentacruel is a Water Group, but if Gorebyss was given a Psychic assist then surely Tentacruel was given a Poison Assist, right? Again, cute. Still a useless Water assist paired with Crush Lv. 2 making it objectively inferior to Gorebyss.

Moving right along, we'll find Huntail! Huntail is a more physical counterpart to Gorebyss and will attack with Bite, so keep a good distance in front of it while looping! Since Gorebyss got a Psychic assist, it might not be too surprising that Huntail gets a Dark assist alongside Crush Lv. 3.

And up next is Lanturn, this is your underwater Raichu. Basically free, it'll shoot thundershocks in three directions occasionally. It's an easy capture and provides Recharge Lv. 4.

As we swim forward, we'll pass another Horsea before...

 

We find the source of the noise and the Water Spout from the surface! It's a Wailord, and it's huge!! This sprite doesn't do it justice, Wailord is so big it doesn't fit on screen. It's so huge, in fact, that your styler wouldn't even be able to loop it! But it's trapped by some sort of electric beam coming from a strange machine! There's a Wailmer nearby as well, perhaps the Wailord's child? It looks to be suffering! After recognizing what's going on, we assign ourselves the mission to rescue the Wailord!

===========

Mission 12: Rescue Wailord!

Upon checking that strange machine that seems to be trapping Wailord, we find that the Trap requires Crush Lv. 3 to destroy. Well, what a coincidence.

 

We happen to have just recently captured the perfect pokemon for the job! Using Huntail, we can break through this trap no problem! But it looks like there are beams coming from three more traps, so we've got some work cut out for us.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

And who would be responsible for these machines but Team Dim Sun? Before we know it, a Dim Sun Minion arrives on the scene muttering about whether or not this Wailord can really replace the sunken cargo ship. He seems to be from a "Marine Unit". They're surprised to find the Capture Machine destroyed and even more surprised to find a Pokemon Ranger down here! He pulls out an Underwater Miniremo and calls forward some pokemon to attack us!

==========

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

The minion attacks with two Horsea and a Seadra! This is our first introduction to Seadra as well. It can create Bubbles like Horsea, but it'll also attack with BubbleBeam, making it more dangerous to loop. I recommend trying to pick off the Horsea first as their bubbles are only going to make looping Seadra more frustrating. This is one of the more annoying Minion battles, but with a bit of patience, you'll get it.

Seadra, when not under the effects of hypnosis, provides a Water Assist and... Soak... Lv. 3? Why??? To me, that makes Horsea superior to Seadra! What are you ever going to need Soak for underwater? I suppose I can give the benefit of the doubt that we'll eventually find something to use Soak for, but so far we haven't run into anything and, spoiler alert, we won't be here, either. If Gorebyss gets to use a Psychic Assist why can't Seadra have, I don't know, Dragon? Or maybe Poison because of Poison Point?

===========

The next area over seems to be a maze-like area of reefs, we see another Trap up ahead. The electric beam blocks our way up north and a current blows against us from the west, so we'll have to head south. There's a Gorebyss near the entrance.

  

Continuing further south, we'll have to pass through a current carrying us along and then swim past another Horsea, Huntail, and Lanturn. That Huntail's probably gonna be important for destroying the Trap ahead.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

And up ahead, we run into another Marine Unit Minion, this one's a girl!

===========

   

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one attacks us with four Finneon, your obligatory throw-weak-pokemon-at-em minion encounter. Just loop them all real quick and you're done. They're extremely easy even in large numbers.

===========

 

After scaring the minion away, we destroy the Trap. We're halfway there already!

As we head up north, we'll see the other side of Wailord. I think this mission is actually really cool for emphasizing the sheer size of Wailord. It can often be easy to forget just how massive this pokemon is.

 

Continuing along, we'll find a Seadra, the first you can capture for your own assistance. You'll also find a Mantine through here, and so far pokemon with Area Moves have generally been located really close to where they're needed, so you may as well make room for Mantine now.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Further ahead, we see another Dim Sun ready to attack!

===========

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one attacks with three Starmie! A Psychic group, right? Of course not, another goddamn WATER GROUP. Starmie will attack with Shadow Ball in an X-Shape as well as occasionally charging forward with Rapid Spin. Be mindful of its attacks, but it doesn't attack very often and does give a solid heads-up, so you won't be caught off guard too terribly much.

Can you guess what kind of assist these pokemon provide when they're not under hypnosis? Just take a guess. That's right, Water. Not Psychic like would be useful. Y'know, even though it's an actual Psychic type. Nah, that's GOREBYSS' role. Starmie just gets a useless Water Assist along with Cut Lv. 3. To be fair, Cut Lv. 3 actually makes it useful for something, but I'm starting to get increasingly annoyed by just how mnay of these underwater pokemon are utterly useless. Granted, I probably wouldn't bat an eye at most of these pokemon having Water assists normally, but it's the fact that they're exclusively used underwater where you're mostly just going to be dealing with other Water types that frustrates me.

==========

After defeating the Minion, he'll warn you that you have to be skilled at riding Mantine if you want to continue onward. And sure enough, if we try to head up north, the tunnel is blocked on the other side. We'll need to go around the way the Minion went. If you didn't capture that Mantine earlier, you'll need to go back before continuing forward.

There is a Lanturn here to heal with if you need it!

The next room over, of course, requires Mantine to navigate. And the area is a minefield of Qwilfish! They all look swollen and ready to pop so you probably want to steer clear of them! If I had to guess, they'll probably explode if you touch them and damage your styler. But as long as you're careful, you won't take any damage, though I won't lie, they did have me a bit nervous at some points as the currents can force you to pick up speed. At the very end, you'll need to push across a current in order to reach the next area.

In the next area, we find the third Trap, but we've got a bit of a ways to go to get there.

  

Immediately in front of us is a Seadra, Huntail, and Tentacruel as well as a Save machine. And this is where I started to realize that Seadra and Tentacruel are honestly really annoying. They're weirdly aggressive and always seem to be right on top of you. So when you stop to look at something, or even just try to save, you usually end up having to capture them just to get them away from you. Try to avoid drawing their attention since they're effectively useless pokemon.

Anyway, just past the Tentacruel is a Metal Fence that we'll need Cut Lv. 3 to cut through. Well, we don't have one yet, but we know exactly what pokemon we need for that! This must be the north end of that tunnel we couldn't go through earlier. Cutting down this fence will create a handy shortcut!

As we head up North, we'll pass another Lanturn.

Further ahead, there is yet another Metal Fence we can't cut yet.

  

But just up north, past a current, is a Lanturn and two Starmie! Perfect! Only we can't go back the way we came, so we'll have to take the current westward.

 

Over here, we'll find two Boulders and an Omanyte.

First of all, Omanyte is a new capture! It attacks with Bubble and Bubblebeam, but doesn't move around much at all. As always, the bubbles can be a little annoying, but Omanyte itself is a pretty easy capture. It's not a Rock-Group, by the way. It provides a Water assist and Tackle Lv. 2. Had it provided a Rock Assist it might've had a purpose, but as it stands, it's just a Horsea you have to go out of your way to get.

Anyway, these Boulders require Crush Lv. 4 to break! And we just happen to have the right guy for the job!

 

That Sharpedo we caught way back in Puel Sea is finally going to be able to live out its purpose right here! We unfortunately can't get a second one to break the other boulder, so I guess I'll just have to get over that fact and leave the other Boulder there for now.

    

Behind the Boulders is a whole mess of a room filled with various pokemon.

In the far back of the room is a Steel Frame which can be cut through with Cut Lv. 3.

 

We can use Starmie to cut through the frame.

And on the other side is a Wailmer! Wailmer will attack with BubbleBeam and Water Pulse, which creates a shockwave of water surrounding it on all sides! It's also quite resilient to capture, so you'll likely want to charge up your styler while waiting on BubbleBeam. And make sure to steer clear when it's about to use Water Pulse! Anyway, we had to go quite a bit out of our way to get this Wailmer. So it's gotta have something worthwhile, right? Hahaha, Water, Tackle Lv. 2. It's just a Horsea in disguise. I swear they're doing this on purpose.

And if you weren't convinced the devs are trolling you with this room yet, you'll notice there's a chasm we'll need Mantine to explore. In order to get Mantine up here, we'll need to cut through that Metal Fence blocking the path from before. So, let's get to it.

 

With Starmie, we can cut through the Metal Fence blocking the pipe, and take it down to where we can capture another Mantine and bring it up through the pipe.

 

As we make our way back up, we can go ahead and use another Starmie to cut the other Fence up, too, but we won't head that way just yet.

We can make our way back up to the room with the Wailmer and use Mantine to explore that last section to find... nothing. There is literally nothing back here. The chasm leads to a small, remote corner of the room that's blocked off by a current and there is nothing over here. I suppose this section is probably needed for a Quest or something after this mission resolves, but I can't believe there's this entire area where there's just... nothing at all and it's so out of the way. But hey, at least we got a new browser entry in that Wailmer, so I guess Sharpedo wasn't totally wasted.

Anyway, lets stop this detour and return to our job! We'll make our way to where we cut down that second fence and proceed onward!

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

We run into another Dim Sun who attacks us with their Miniremo!

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

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one attacks us with a Gorebyss and Huntail! It's a cute pairing and all, but they don't really compliment each other's abilities all that well. This one's a pretty easy duo to clear out.

===========

 

Once you defeat the minion, the next trap is right behind him and you can use Huntail to destroy it! There's just one more left!

There's another Huntail nearby as well.

The current to the north is just a return path, so let's head thorugh the pipe to the southeast.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

This brings us to the other side of the current from the beginning. Here, we find one more Minion guarding the last trap. And this one seems to have a Kingdra with him.

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

Vs. Dim Sun Minion & Kingdra

Kingdra is given a Boss distinction though I'm honestly not entirely sure why. Aside from just giving it extra health, Kingdra is a pretty standard capture for this mission. Granted, it is exepectedly the toughest one. Kingdra attacks with BubbleBeam and Bubble like Seadra, but it'll also use Water Pulse like Wailmer. It's not difficult at all to avoid its attacks, though you might be caught off guard by the range of Water Pulse. Just loop when you're able, know when to lift your Styler, and you should be fine.

And as one final insult to injury, when not under the effects of Hypnosis, Kingdra provides a Dragon Assist and Crush Lv. 4. For once, we actually have an underwater pokemon that uses its Subtype instead of Water and also has a Field Skill that's useful, too! I'm so done with these strange design choices. Well, anyway, I suppose I should mention that Kingdra is another pokemon whose Group, Water, doesn't match its Assist, Dragon. Not that that's relevant because Water is the only matchup it matters against and it's resisted either way. You don't get any Ice, Grass, or Electric assists down here.

===========

 

Anyway, with the Minion out of the way, we can finally destroy the last trap and free Wailord!

 

Music: Peaceful Aftermath

With Wailord free, the Wailmer comes over to thank us! It looks like our mission is cleared!

With this, we've become friends with the Wailord and are able to add it to our browser despite not even being able to use our Styler on it! I suppose there are other ways to convey your feelings, huh? Anyway, in the Browser Wailord is listed as having a Water assist and no Field Skill.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

But just as it appears everything is back to normal, we're interrupted by more Dim Suns! The Marine Unit has regrouped and is trying to figure out what to do without the Wailord. They compromise on their idea and try to take the Wailmer insead. It's much smaller than Wailord, but it's better than nothing! Three minions hold us down while the other two take the Wailmer away! This infuriates the Wailord who immediately carries us on its back and charges forward after them!

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

Oil Field Hideout

It looks like our job isn't over just yet! Next time, it's Wailmer's turn to be rescued! This is a bit unprecedented. We just finished a mission but wound up in a completely new place! I think it's a fair cliffhanger to leave things on. Next time, we'll investigate this hideout and see what Dim Sun's been hiding here... something tells me we're in for a dangerous mission.

[Aura]

Oil Field Hideout

Last time we were on our way to Haruba Desert to check up on Keith when we were caught up on a detour to rescue a Wailord from Dim Sun's shenanigans! Apparently they were trying to find a pokemon to replace their sunken cargo ship. But after we foiled their plans, they took the Wailord's baby Wailmer. Furious, the Wailord took us and charged after the Dim Suns, bringing us to their hideout at some strange Oil Rig!

Now it's time to investigate the oil rig and look for that missing Wailmer!

On the dock, we'll notice there's another ship here, already. And a few steps forward, we'll find Sven! He's surprised to see us as he's come here investigating a lead. He believes this is where the helicopter went after picking up the Shadow Crystal. Apparently, this place is Altru Inc.'s Oil Rig, not that that's very surprising at this point. But this place is overrun by Dim Suns, so he asks for your help in breaking in. He calls in to the Union requesting for you to be officially recognized as his partner for the mission, mistakenly referring to Rhythmi as Linda in the process... That'll go over well, I'm sure. Anyway, before moving on, Sven will recharge your styler for you. And now, it's time to progress!

There's only one way forward and that's up the ladder nearby!

At the top of the ladder, we overhear a conversation between an unknown voice and Mr. Kincaid. Kincaid reveals the voice to be his boss, likely someone high in the ranks of Team Dim Sun. Judging by the title "Boss," I suspect this to be none other than Blake Hall himself, but at the moment, this could be anyone. Kincaid mentions something about deleting data on The Incredible Machine.

 

Up ahead, we see three color-coded characters: Ice, Lavana, and a third guy who we can reasonably assume is the Heath those minions were talking about back at Almia Castle. Look at that guy's outfit and try to convince me he isn't going to use Electivire when we end up having to fight him off for the Yellow Gem. The three take their leave on board a helicopter bearing Altru's insignia. No doubt, their boss must be on board that helicopter as well. We also see Kincaid in the same Dim Sun uniform he wore during our faceoff at the Cargo Ship.

After the helicopter flies off, Kincaid speaks to his subordinates, two admins, and promises them executive positions once he's gained his promotion from the boss.

This Incredible Machine they were discussing piques Sven's interest. As Kincaid and his subordinates leave, Sven goes over the plan. We'll infiltrate Dim Sun's base where he'll investigate this Incredible Machine while we go and look for the kidnapped Wailmer. Off we go!

This image comes from the thumbnail for a YouTube video by LuckySevenDX as opposed to the typical Serebii or Bulbapedia. I couldn't find any better images of the interior!

Mission 13: Reveal the Hideout's Secrets!

The majority if this facility is located underwater, so we'll need to take an elevator downward from the entrance.

As you'd probably expect, there's a lot of new pokemon to find here, the first of which is right here at the bottom of the elevator: Magneton! Magneton might catch you off guard if you try to loop it the same as most pokemon. It won't take long at all to attack with Discharge and damage your styler if it's nearby, and it covers quite a large radius around it! I recommend waiting to charge your styler until after it's moved toward one of the corners and charge the styler in the opposite corner while it goes for its attack. If you start charging right away, it might move toward your styler and initiate the attack and you're probably not going to capture it before it unleashes Discharge anyway. Once you get the technique down, Magneton is a pretty easy capture. It is, of course a recharger! Magneton provides Recharge Lv. 5 which heals an incredible 50 HP! And I thought Raichu was a powerful healer already!

 

In the hallway outside, there's a Houndour and Houndoom to assist with clearing up hazards against some of the more intrusive pokemon. So far, I haven't really experienced many situations where I've felt myself really hurting for a Dark Assist. It might be useful for getting S-Ranks more consistently, but in general I find a little bit of patience goes a long way with these hazards. I'm pretty comfortable leaving Dark Assists behind.

There's an electric Gate at the northern end. I actually had an Elekid with me which I'd captured along the way to the harbor in Pueltown, so I was able to march right in. But in the event you don't have one, there's another pokemon nearby that'll help. For now, let's focus on what's further down the hall. We can't go past the next door because there appears to be an electrified panel in the way that we're gonna need to deal with in order to progress.

That door leads to a room with a Dim Sun and what looks to be an assembly line where Miniremo are being manufactured. We overhear him mention that the generator powers the trap in the corridor and that it must not be shut off. That's when he notices you and declares that he was just reading over the maintenance notes and demands we forget what we heard! Surprisingly, he doesn't attack us with a Miniremo. We can check the Generator and see that it requires Electrify Lv. 3.

 

There's also a couple of Mr. Mime. Mr. Mime isn't nearly as frustrating to capture in this game as it was in the original. That's mainly because it doesn't attack by creating invisible Barriers. Instead, it just surrounds itself in a Shadow Ball. Mr. Mime provides a Psychic Assist and the Map Move Teleport.

In the back of the room is another door which'll lead to another room with a few pokemon!

In here, you'll be met by Machamp who is actually really intimidating! He'll attack with Close Combat, a massive attack that deals a ton of damage in front of it in a wide area. Like Machoke, it'll create shockwaves around it as well. Try to charge up away from the range of Close Combat and loop it quick in between! Make sure to keep a good range away from the Shockwave, though because it'll come out quick and likely damage your Styler! Once you get over the intimdation factor of the large attacks and high damage if you take a hit, these guys aren't actually all that bad. Machamp provides a Fighting assist and Crush Lv. 3.

 

In addition to Machamp, there's also another Mr. Mime and, more importantly, Luxio! With Luxio, we can now get past the Electric Gate in the hall!

 

As mentioned before, I already had an Elekid and ended up going into this room first. The order ultimately doesn't really matter, though, especially if you like to explore everything anyway.

 

Behind the Gate is a room with a couple of Haunter!

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

And venture forward, you'll be met with another Dim Sun! This one isn't so passive and pulls out his Miniremo to attack you!

==========

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one attacks you with a new encounter, Jolteon! Jolteon is a little bit tricky your first time. It creates several lingering sparks in front of it. But trickier is its Thundershock which will sometimes only fire twice and other times fire four times! This guy can get some cheap shots on you.

When not under the effects of hypnosis, Jolteon will provide an Electric Assist and Electrify Lv. 3.

===========

Upon destroying his miniremo, the Dim Sun will run off allowing you to progress.

Up the stairs and across the catwalk over the conveyor belt is a Mothim! Another deceptively dangerous pokemon. Mothim flutters around quite a bit and attacks quickly with Gust. It'll also use Poison Powder to create lingering clouds of poison in front of it that move very slowly and can actually be quite difficult to see. They linger for a long time while still moving, so you'll definitely need to watch out for them! Mothim is Bug-Group pokemon that provides a Flying Assist and Cut Lv. 2.

On the other side of the conveyor belt is a Luxray. Even though Luxray is Sven's partner, I suppose he just doesn't feel like using its Field Skill. Luxray will attack with Thunder like Raichu and Discharge like Magneton, differentiating it quite a bit from its predecessors Luxio and Shinx. It provides an Electric assist and Electrify Lv. 3. We now have the energy level we need to overclock that generator!

 

We return to the generator and, using Luxray's power, we can overrun it with electricity and force it to shut down! This will turn off the electrified panel it's powering and allow us to continue deeper into the hideout!

On the other side, we can find another Magneton.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Behind the next door, we'll run into another Dim Sun who will attack us with a Miniremo!

==========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

He attacks us with two Cacnea, a new capture! They're very standard captures, though, they'll occasionally attack with Pin Missile and that's about it. You can capture them both with minimal resistance. Easy!

Cacnea offers a Grass assist and Tackle Lv. 1 when not under the effects of hypnosis.

===========

After defeating the Minion, we can progress through an underwater glass tunnel to the other side of the hideout.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

As we enter, we see the Marine Unit struggling to transfer the Wailmer through a door. By the time we get inside, the three minions have closed the door behind them. Sven tells you to go after the Wailmer and that he'll continue investigating in the other direction. But as we try to go after the Wailmer, we're met by a whole swarm of minions! They attack us with a Miniremo, of course.

===========

  

 

  

Vs. Dim Sun Minions

Before we know it, we're swarmed by 8 Slakoth! These Slakoth are a total joke to capture, though. They just take one loop to capture and if you draw your loop carefully, you can get them all at once!

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

After destroying the minions' Miniremo, they quickly realize they still have the advantage of numbers and just work together to push you out and lock the door. It looks like we can't continue this way no matter how good we are at capturing pokemon. We'll need another approach. For now, let's go the other way and see what we have to work with.

  

Down the hallway ahead, we'll pass two Houndoom and a Magneton before reaching the first of many doors.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

This one leads to an empty room with a lone Dim Sun in it who will, of course, attack you on sight.

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

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

He attacks you with a scary combo of Victreebel and Mothim!

Victreebel is a new capture, though he mostly just seems to drift around aimlessly and shoot Razor Leaf. When not under the effects of hypnosis, it provides a Grass Assist and Cut Lv. 2.

This combo isn't actually too hard to handle, but the Mothim is by far the more dangerous of the two.

I was a little bit intimidated by the Victreebel here, so I decided to bring out Snover's Ice Assist to help me out. Ultimately, I don't think it was all that necessary, though, and I would've done just fine without it.

==========

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

In the next room over, we find what appears to be a rec room with two more minions who also attack us!

==========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minions

These guys attack us with a Murkrow and a Honchkrow. Honchkrow is far more intimidating than Murkrow. It attacks with two Gusts at a time, Dark Pulses, as well as Night Slash which'll launch a line of projectiles from it. It also flies around a lot making it generally a bit of a pain to capture. An Electric Assist might be beneficial here.

Honchkrow provides a Dark Assist and Cut Lv. 3.

==========

Between that door and the next, there's another Machamp. The next door is locked but has a sign warning of a Skuntank... Skuntank, huh? I think that gives me an idea of how we'll deal with those Dim Suns in the other room... But we need a way inside.

Further ahead, still, is a Dusclops. It occasionally teleports, but isn't quite as obnoxious about it as Kirlia. It attacks with Will-O-Wisp and Night Shade, so make sure to watch out for those lingering hazards. I learned the hard way that if you're using the ghost assist, it can actually be pretty difficult to differentiate between the ghostly fog generated from your assist and the fog generated from a Ghost-type's Night Shade. I guess that's one way to represent the double-edged weakness of the Ghost-type to itself. Anyway, Dusclops provides a Ghost Assist and Psy Power Lv. 3.

  

Continuing right along, we'll pass by another Magneton, Houndoom, and Haunter, when we reach the furthest door. Hopefully something here will help us.

Through the door, we'll arrive at some sort of control room filled with overworked Dim Suns who are like zombies. They don't even notice us as we walk through! You almost gotta feel sorry for them... there's a save point in this room before we continue.

As we continue deeper, we run into Sven and...

Isaac?? Sven explains that he was able to get the blueprints for the Incredible Machine from Isaac and as soon as we arrive, he asks us for help! I don't think he understands fully what exactly is going on... As soon as we arrive, a Dim Sun arrives on the scene and tries to protect Isaac from us with a Miniremo attack.

===========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

He attacks us with two Mr. Mime, nothing too crazy. Just loop them with large loops. You can use Dusclops or Houndoom if you feel the need, but you'll be fine without 'em.

=========

After destroying the Miniremo, the Dim Sun runs off and urges Isaac to do the same once he finds an opening. Sven asks how Isaac knows us and he explains that we graduated together from the Ranger School! It perplexes Sven how a Ranger School graduate would be working for Dim Sun, but it all makes sense with what Mr. Kincaid said to us before. Anyway, Sven insists that now's not the time to be worrying about all those details, and decides that he'll bring Isaac in for questioning from Prof. Hastings. Isaac takes this as an invitation and doesn't see any hostility at all in the situation! But, he decides he wants to say goodbye to Mr. Kincaid as he feels he owes his old teacher at least that much. So, we agree to go with him and pay Mr. Kincaid a little visit.

As we pass by the Skuntank room, Isaac offers to let us see a pokemon he's experimenting with. He's trying to create perfumes out of foul-smelling odors and his Skuntank is helping to that effect!

We capture the Skuntank with our Styler, it'll be useful to get through the crowd! Then we make our way back to the elevator room. We send Skuntank in and use its Stink to force the Dim Suns out! They all come running out the door to escape the smell, leaving it open for us to go through! We can now take the elevator to the lowest level of the hideout.

As we reach the next floor, Isaac seems confused about our treatment of the Dim Sun Minions. He could see the move with the Skuntank being a funny prank and all, but he seems concerned that we're taking it a bit far. Hopefully we'll be able to get him enlightened soon. But for now, we've gotta focus on getting to Mr. Kincaid. Isaac tells us Kincaid's quarters are in the back of this floor, but we've gotta shut off the generators electrifying the floor panels along the way. There are three generators we've gotta shut off, so let's get looking!

 

In this entrance area, there are two Mr. Mimes and a blue switch. Stepping on the Blue Switch will cause the similarly-colored Blue wall in front of us to retract into the ground, and the oppositely colored Red walls to rise.

We can now head south past a Magneton to another section with a Red and Blue Switch. Before we press these switches, we'll want to enter the room to the east.

Over here, we'll find Arcanine! Arcanine is pretty large, but it's a fairly easy capture. It'll attack with Fire Blast which will lay a trail of fire on the ground in the iconic 大-shape. It takes a little while for the fire to clear out, but you should be able to get some healthy looping in without taking damage. Charge up while you can't loop! Arcanine provides a Fire Assist and Burn Lv. 4.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Through the door here, we have another Dim Sun who seems confused that Isaac is with us. He thinks they've been betrayed but shrugs it off with the intention of fulfilling his duty of protecting the generator! So, he attacks us with his Miniremo!

==========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one is two Mothim. You can use Arcanine to help out a bit here, though I don't think it's too terribly necessary.

==========

 

Once the Dim Sun is defeated, you can go ahead and capture the Luxray in the room and use it to destroy the Generator!

Now, we can head out and press the Red Switch to raise the blue walls and lower the red ones allowing us to continue in the opposite direction!

Over here, we'll pass a Luxray and a Blue Switch.

And further ahead, we'll find a Sceptile! Sceptile is a strangely simple capture. It roams around and occasionally attacks with Razor Leaf which will fan out over a wide range instead of the typical behavior of being launched straight ahead. Sometimes it'll also use Sludge to create a puddle of poison. It's pretty calm, so capturing it is easy enough. Sceptile provides a Grass Assist and Cut Lv. 3.

In order to get to the next generator, we'll need to press the Blue Switch int he room with Luxray to lower the Blue Wall blocking the way to it.

As you go to the room, you'll pass another Houndoom.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

Inside, guess what? Another Dim Sun!

===========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

This one attacks us with two Skuntank! Skuntank is a fairly simple capture, so we don't have to worry too much about this one, just be mindful of the poisonous gas they leave in their wake.

===========

The second generator is in the back of the room.

 

This time, there's no Luxray in the room so you'll have to go back and capture the one we passed earlier if you don't already have it with you.

In order to proceed, we'll need to press the Red Switch to swap the walls again and open the path through the middle section horizontally. This'll let us pass over to the electric panels. With the first two generators destroyed, we can cross the panels leading north to the third generator that blocks the way to Kincaid's quarters.

Outside this door is a Honchkrow.

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

You guessed it, another Dim Sun is behind the door! This one we catch in the middle of an improvised rap!

==========

 

Vs. Dim Sun Minion

He attacks us with two Machamp. You know the drill, loop 'em up! Mr. Mime can help with these! Or you can use Mime Jr. or Starly if you have those partners with you.

==========

Once again, there's a Generator here but you'll need to bring Luxray with you.

 

With Luxray's power, we can destroy the last of the Generators and finally open the way to Kincaid's Quarters!

Music: Team Dim Sun Appears!

As we progress through the next area, we'll run into the Marine Unit who no longer have Wailmer with them. They explain they handed it off to Kincaid's underlings after lying and calling it a state-of-the-art Wailord Mini! Anyway, the minions are tired from hoisting the Wailmer all the way here and don't want to bother fighting with you, so they just let you go on by. There's a Save Point here, so you'd probably wanna prepare for a boss fight.

The door to the south is an emergency exit which we'll probably make use of later, but Kincaid will be through the door to the north. This'll lead us through another underwater tunnel. In here, we'll get a call from Keith's Styler, but he comes in as "Hea- Keith!" That doesn't sound good... "Keith" asks for us to come over to Haruba Desert instead. Clearly, this is some sort of trap, but even if it is, it's pretty clear Keith is in trouble. But for now, we've gotta focus on the mission at hand.

===========

       

Knowing I'd be dealing with Kincaid again, I figured I'd be fighting off Drapion. So, I had held onto a Mr. Mime throughout the entire dungeon hoping it would come in handy here. I also still had Torterra since I'd never gotten much use out of it. Machamp came along for its general usefulness in capture power, Arcanine and Honchkrow were mainly here just because I happened to have them along at the end of the dungeon, but they still have their usefulness! Then there's Magneton who was there for emergency healing and my partner Snover.

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

As we enter Kincaid's quarters, we finally find the Wailmer! And Kincaid is not happy with what he sees. He's furiously lecturing the two admins for being fooled by such an obvious lie and immediately retracts his offer to give them his position when he's promoted. "The only thing mini here is your brain!" Another golden line for the book.

When we come face-to-face with Kincaid, he's shocked to find Isaac with us and the blueprints in Sven's hand! He accuses us of kidnapping Isaac and stealing the disc, but Isaac assures him that none of that is true and that we've invited him to see the Ranger Union! Kincaid orders the admins to get the blueprints back, but Sven catches them to the side. He handles the Admins himself and leaves Kincaid up to us.

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

Vs. Mr. Kincaid & Gliscor

Well, that's a bit of a surprise, but I suppose not too crazy. I probably should've known it would be Gliscor instead of Drapion. He did retreat using Gliscor, last time. But I was definitely prepared this whole time for a Drapion and not a Gliscor. Still, I don't think my team composition would've been much different, it's just the Mr. Mime isn't going to be as useful as I thought he'd be. Oh well. Anyway, Snover turned out to be a much bigger help than I would've expected as a result! Ice is strong against Gliscor, after all!

Gliscor has a few attacks, nothing too crazy compared to what we've seen so far, though. Admittedly, I think his Drapion was much tougher. I suppose there's a reason he used it first, huh? Anyway, Gliscor can attack with Gust, Mud Bomb, and ExtremeSpeed. Its main threat is that it dashes around the screen pretty fast. As is typical with boss fights, as the battle progresses, it'll become more powerful, so be wary!

I opened up with my partner Snover since it doesn't really cost anything to use and I can recharge it while using other Assists, too. Rolling up the snowball by drawing loops in the corner while Gligar is flying around is a great way to increase its size. Once it's nice and big, I can fling it at Gligar to pause him for a long time and get to looping! If you're quick enough, you can even fling another snowball in his face as soon as he's about to thaw, too!

By the time Snover's assist was done, I moved on to Torterra. Gliscor is a Ground-Group pokemon so it's weak to Grass, though it's still a pokemon that glides through the air, so it doesn't actually touch the grass on the ground, meaning I can't use the Grass assist as effectively as I'd like to slow him down, but that's okay because he's still taking increased damage from the assist anyway!

By the time I was done with Torterra's assist, I didn't even feel the need to use anymore. I just relied on standard looping to finish Gliscor off. That said, I did drop down to a point where I probably should've healed with Magneton, but I never actually got low on HP, just to the point where I had lost more than 50. It's easy to understimate those Mud puddles, but Gliscor wasn't too bad overall.

According to the Browser, Gliscor is a Ground-group pokemon with a Flying assist but no Field Skill. Likely because you probably only encounter it as a boss battle.

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

With Kincaid's miniremo destroyed, he only laughs in mockery. He explains that we're too late and the Incredible Machine's already nearly completed. The blueprints don't actually matter anymore. He adds that once the machine's turned on, Dim Sun's future will "shine with the colors of darkness!" He also comes clean to everything he's done in front of Isaac, who's finally processing everything that he's contributed to. It's clear as day, now. Altru, Inc. are, indeed, the bad guys.

But as he monologues, a loud crash is heard that shakes the entire facility! And Wailmer seems excited! The admins look out the window to see a Wailord ramming the base! Kincaid begins to panic and jumps into his chair which appears to double as an escape pod. He once again leaves his crew behind to save himself. The two admins jump after him! And Wailmer, knowing the shaft leads back to the water, jumps in as well.

Isaac is left, stunned, at the revelation he's just uncovered. He was under the impression the Incredible Machine was being made to promote friendship between people and pokemon and immediately goes silent.

Music: Underwater

We cut back to Mr. Kincaid's escape pod shooting through the sea and his admins desperately trying to keep up with it. He's complaining about everything going wrong.

Suddenly, Wailord begins to chase after him and attacks his pod! It looks like Kincaid's gonna be tortured by this Wailord for a little while... once again, I'm sure he'll be okay. But it's not like he's the first guy I'd save in an emergency or anything.

With that, Sven explains he'll put a call out for Area Rangers to rescue the pokemon left behind at the rig. With Wailmer saved, the blueprints of the Incredible Machine secured, and Isaac with us, how could we consider this mission anything but a success? That's mission clear!

We make our way out of the base and send a voicemail to Prof. Hastings to explain the situation. Recognizing that we must immediately depart for a different mission, Prof. Hastings promotes us over voicemail to Ranger Rank 8! With this promotion comes another upgrade to our Power Charge! We can now charge our styler to a second charged stage to make it even more effective against especially resistant pokemon! Sounds like something that might prove to be especially important going forward.

So, since we were brought here on Wailord and don't really have a ride, Sven offers to take us the rest of the way to Haruba Desert before he escorts Isaac back to the Union.

===========

Haruba Village (outskirts)

We soon arrive at the dock just outside Haruba Village where it seems the place is being plagued with a heavy Sandstorm making the sky look completely yellow! Sven explains he's been here many times and this is the worst it's ever been! After we get off the ship, Sven wishes us good luck and takes off for the Ranger Union with Isaac.

Normally I'd quit right here, but there's not actually a save station at the dock, so I suppose we'll have to continue a bit further ahead. There isn't much, though.

  

As we make our way north, we'll pass two Pelippers and a Curious Tree. If you have yet to capture Sudowoodo, this is a great opportunity to do so more effortlessly!

===========

Haruba Village

As we continue forward, we soon arrivein Haruba Village which appears to be under the influence of Gigaremo! There are a bunch of hypnotized Hippopotas all over the place! But we can't quite interact with them right now, so I suppose we'll just have to leave them be. As we continue onward in search of the local Ranger Depot, we'll pass by a coffee salesman making a salespitch for this "gritty, oily espresso," which seems to be gritty because of the sandstorm and oily because...

The espresso machine he's using is actually a Gigaremo! Well, we'll deal with this soon. For now, I don't wanna get roped into anything crazy. I'm just gonna make my way to the Ranger Depot across the way and save the game. Next time, we're gonna deal with this mess!

[Aura]

Haruba Village

Once again, it's been a bit of a wait, but this time it was for Christmas! I had a pretty fun time with my family, got a few games including Sonic Frontiers and the "new" Lego Star Wars remake. But Christmas is over now and it's back to our regular AtP schedule! Last time, we stormed Team Dim Sun's base at Altru Inc's Oil Rig, firmly establishing a direct link between Dim Sun and Altru and painting the future Altru envisions in a dim light, indeed. While storming the base, we received a suspicious voicemail from "Keith," asking us to take over and get the Yellow Gem ourselves from Hippowdon Temple and so we were assigned to do so as our next mission and Sven dropped us off just outside Haruba Village so that we could get to the bottom of what was going on with Keith.

Before we advance the story, we can explore around town to find most of the NPCs complaining about the savage sandstorm and how it's been upsetting the Hippopotas in the area. The sandstorm is more powerful than usual and it's likely the Gigaremo being used to make coffee is inadvertently the reason. Obviously, we'll need to destroy this Gigaremo to continue the story. While the sandstorm is going on, the oasis dried up and the northern exit leading into Haruba Desert is blocked by tall sand dunes. There's a dock to the west where it appears we'd normally be able to take a boat out to see, but the boats are inoperable during the sandstorm. While we can't go into the desert proper, we can head up north through a higher plateau in the west side of the village.

========

Spoiler

Haruba Desert

Once again, minor spoilers hidden in the screenshot of this area because both the Bulbapedia and Serebii's Pokeearth images of the area have them in the shot. 

   

Up here, you can find Staraptor, two Cacnea, and Jolteon. All pokemon we've captured before but our first chance to use Cacnea and Jolteon for ourselves.

And because of this Staraptor, I decided to Fly back to Chicole Village.

=========

Chicole Village

 

I came here to pay another visit to the Partner Farm and swap out Snover for Mime Jr. Even though we are going into a desert and I suspect we'll be running into a lot of Ground types, I already got a decent amount of use out of Snover in the Oil Field Hideout and felt bad leaving Mime Jr. on its own for so long. I'd like Mime Jr. to get some action in before we get our next partner which I'm under the impression won't be long from now.

=========

Haruba Village

Back in Haruba Village, we need to destroy this Gigaremo. If you don't have anything with Crush Lv. 2 to destroy it, you're going to want to use the Sudowoodo from East of the village.

 

But I happen to still have a Machamp from the Oil Field Hideout who has Crush Lv. 3, so we were prepared to crush the Gigaremo ourselves!

   

Once the Gigaremo is destroyed, the Hippopotas around the village all take their leave, bringing the sandstrom with them and causing the sand dunes to disappear as well. Unfortunately, the Oasis still appears to be filled with sand, so it looks like it'll take more than just a sandstorm to fix that. The coffee salesman immediately realizes what was going on and connects the dots with a news article he'd read recently.

he shows us a new edition of The Almia Times which details the Anti-Gigaremo Device being worked on by the Ranger Union, our encounter with Ice at Hia Valley, details on the Miniremo, the area rangers of Vientown, and the light from the Anti-Gigaremo machine on the Ranger Union's rooftop.

As soon as he's recognized what he does, the salesman is quick to apologize. After this, we receive another voicemail from "Keith" who really seems to be struggling with his English. Almost like he's some kind of foreigner. Once again, he doubles down on his request for us to come and get the Yellow Gem, so let's get going!

Worth noting, with the Sandstorm gone, we can now take boats at the dock on the western border of Haruba Village. There's a sailor in Green who will take us back to Pueltown and a sailor in Red who will take us to Boyleland. Presumably, Boyleland now has a Yellow sailor who will also take us to Haruba Village, too.

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

Spoiler

Haruba Desert

Now that we can enter th elower area of Haruba Desert, we can get to exploring!

Not far in at all, a Skorupi will pop out of the sand as we run by! A fairly basic capture, these guys will attack with Poison Sting and Sludge. They're pretty easy to loop due to their slow movement but they are fairly resistant, so try to charge up your styler to capture them more quickly! Remember that you can now charge your styler up to a second level! Skorupi provides a Poison Assist and Crush Lv. 1.

   

As you explore around the desert, you'll find several Skorupi buried in the sand ready to jump out at you, so be prepared to avoid them because they can be a bit annoying.

 

Speaking of annoying, there's another new pokemon here: Fearow. Fearow will aggressively charge after you if it sees you so if you're not after it for capture, try to steer clear of them. They're quite aggressive attacking with a flurry of Gust as well as a charging Peck attack. I actually had quite a bit of difficulty trying to capture them with one line, especially with their fast movement. Fearow provide a Flying Assist and Cut Lv. 3.

And that cut skill is important because you'll find vines hanging from ledges here in the desert! There are three of them so you'll be putting the two Fearow to work. The first one I want to focus on is on the plateau in the center of the desert. Along the southern edge of it, you'll find the Vine.

 

Of course, Fearow can cut the vine down for you and make it climbable. But so can the Honchkrow we still have from the Oil Field Hideout.

  

At the top, you'll find a Rhydon and two Cacnea! Rhydon, of course, is the most significant one up here.

 

Just southwest of here is another vine leading up to the a cliff along the southern border of the desert.

  

Up here, there are two Cacnea and a Strange Cactus that requires Tackle Lv. 2 to interact with.

Unlike most pokemon like this, you don't actually have to use Tackle to make Cacturne reveal itself. Rather, it'll begin to move as you draw near! Cacturne attacks by firing Pin Needle in all directions around it, but it's a fairly easy capture. Cacturne provides a Dark Assist and Crush Lv. 2.

 

Once we're done exploring this part of the desert, we can have a Fearow cut down another vine at the northern border.

 

In the next area, we'll find another sandstorm and a large crater filled with deep sand and the occasional Dust Devil forming in the sand below. Along the northern edge, there's the unmistakable entrance to Hippowdon Temple: It looks like a giant statue of a Hippowdon! But problem is, there's a pit preventing our ability to enter. The nearby explorers suggest the pokemon Hippowdon can help us to enter the temple, so it looks like we'll have to get exploring!

As you head down into the crater, you'll find several dust devils flying all around. It's actually quite dangerous as these twisters can damage your styler if you touch them and your mobility in the deep sand is hindered! An explorer at the entrance hints that the pokemon Doduo can help in navigating the area.

As you explore the crater, you'll eventually find the Hippowdon you're after, but it's mostly surrounded by Dust Devils. There's a gap in the wall of cyclones but Hippowdon also dives back into the sand if you get too close.

Of course, the solution to this puzzle lies in none other than the aforementioned Doduo! You can find Doduo in the southwestern section of the crater near a small pond. Once you've captured Doduo, you'll be able to glide across the sand on its light feet. This is exactly what you need to break through the gap in the Dust Devils and reach Hippowdon before it gets away!

Once you've made contact with Hippowdon, it's time for the capture! Hippowdon can attack with Sand Attack by creating a puddle of sand that'll damage you if your styler touches it, Stomp creating Shockwaves around it, and it'll tear up the earth in front of it with earthquake. Hippowdon provides a Ground Assist and the Area Move Sand Fill.

With Sand Fill, we can bring Hippowdon back to the entrance to the Temple and fill the pit with sand. Now, we can make our way inside!

And we'll do that next time! I know it's a bit abrupt, but this is my first post in a while, so I wanna get this posted. Next time, we'll slip inside and make our way toward the Yellow Gem as well as find out what's going on with Keith!