All the Pokemens

[Aura]

Special Episode 5: In the Future of Darkness (Part 5)

Our journey continues! Where we last left off, we were about to cross the Spacial Cliffs to find Porygon that can transport us across time to another land where we'll be able to find Frozen Island, the place Celebi fled to and was pursued by Dialga. Grovyle is desperate to reach her first to provide assistance to her.

 

Here are the items I'm bringing along on this exploration.

With preparations made, let's get going!

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

Spacial Cliffs

Once again, this dungeon has a lot of Ghost types, but with Dusknoir in the group, it's really not too big a deal. Other enemies aren't much to worry about, but you may want to hold onto some throwables for Shedinja just in case Dusknoir ends up running out of PP. There are monster houses in this dungeon, but only on the later floors.

Items available throughout the dungeon include:  Poke,  Insomniscopes,  Def., and  Pecha Scarves,  Persim,  Power,  Special,  Stamina, and  Zinc Bands,  Gravelerocks,  Iron Thorns,  Apples,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Eyedrop,  Reviver, and  Totter Seeds,  Max Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

Traps to watch out for include:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Poison,  Pokmeon,   Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

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

Spacial Cliffs [1F - 10F]

Pokemon:  Haunter,  Beldum,  Misdreavus,  Koffing,  Shedinja,  Banette,  Mismagius

There isn't much I can say that hasn't already been said. You're mainly going to be relying on Dusknoir through most of this, but Grovyle can pitch in with his own attacks to deal with Koffing and Beldum as well as any Banette or Misdreavus that aren't hiding in the walls.

 

Starting on the sixth floor, monster houses begin to appear, to be wary of suspicious items and bring some items to deal with them! Monster Houses are especially scary when Ghost-types are involved! Also remember that traps appear more frequently in Monster Houses. So make sure you check for traps before making every step. The last thing you want to happen is to step on a Slumber Trap in the middle of a live monster house!

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

After ten floors, you'll reach the end of the dungeon.

 

Music: In the Future

As Grovyle and Dusknoir arrive at the edge of the cliff, they find the Porygon they've come for. The Porygon seem frightened to see him.

 

The Porygon try to warn Dusknoir that sending him after Dialga will be difficult. THey blame the fact that they're held back by Sableye, and they also seem surprised to see him traveling with the notorious criminal Grovyle. Although, I'm not gonna rule out the possibility that Porygon is trying to warn Dusknoir that someone else is tailing us...

 

Of course, when Dusknoir doesn't back down, the Porygon are immediately frightened into position and do as he says.

 

Dusknior and Grovyle stand between the Porygon and, using their special abilities, the Porygon warp Dusknoir and Grovyle away to Frozen Island, just as Dusknoir said they would.

 

Music: Temporal Pinnacle

The duo soon arrives at Frozen Island as expected. And just as expected, the area appears to be a frozen wasteland--frozen in more ways than one. It looks as though this place was faced with a pretty heavy snowstorm when the planet was paralyzed, so all the snow is stuck in place as well as icy rocks falling from above.

 

Dusknoir explains that this place was once called Blizzard Island. Naturally, we're gonna have to fight hard to push through this ordeal.

 

Just as they begin to discuss where they should head next, a group of Snorun arrive! They seem to be natives here and they also seem to speak a different language... It's difficult to figure out what they're trying to say.

 

Just as the Snorun are about to leave, Grovyle calls out to them in hopes of getting some information, anything at all.

 

Grovyle begins to ask the Snorunt if they'd seen anyone come through. The Snorunt seem to discuss something with each other in their native language. Again, we can't understand what they're trying to say at all.

 

But, it seems something about Grovyle angered the Snorunt. Or perhaps they're just little troublemakers. Regardless, they suddenly shout and knock Grovyle down before laughing and scurrying off.

 

Dusknoir reminds Grovyle that the attitudes of pokemon here are twisted, and that's likely the reason they attacked so suddenly. It's an unfortunate reminder.

 

Dusknoir suggests that, though we don't have any leads at the moment, the best course of action would be to continue down this path until we can find something more tangible to work off of.

And that's where we're going to leave things off for now. Next time, we'll prepare for another exploration and start searching for Dialga and Celebi at Frozen Island! See you soon!

[Aura]

Special Episode 5: In the Future of Darkness (Part 6)

I already knew going into this story that it was the longest of the special episodes. And, here we are going into Part 6! Last time we were warped to Frozen Island by the Porygon at Spacial Cliffs in our pursuit of Dialga and search for Celebi. When we arrived, we were met by a group of Snorunt who attacked us! It was a bitter reminder of the twisted hearts the locals of this world have. With no lead on where to look for Dialga, we decide to continue along the path and that brings us to yet another dungeon! So, it's time for preparation!

 

These are the items I'm bringing along. It's been pretty consistent so far.

With our preparations made, we get moving!

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

Dark Ice Mountain

This is where we start to get faced with some awkward opponents we don't really have an immediate answer to. That makes it a slight difficulty spike compared to what we're used to, but there's still nothing major to worry about.

Can you guess the items available here?:  Poke,  Insomniscopes,  Def., and  Pecha Scarves,  Persim,  Power,  Special,  Stamina, and  Zinc Bands,  Gravelerocks,  Iron Thorns,  Apples,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Eyedrop,  Reviver, and  Totter Seeds,  Max Elixir, and assorted  Wonder Orbs

And you'll never guess the traps:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Poison,  Pokemon,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

In the latter parts of the dungeon, Monster Houses are present, so come prepared!

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

Dark Ice Mountain [1F - 6F]

Pokemon:  Banette,  Gengar,  Skarmory,  Metang,  Lickilicky,  Tangrowth

Skarmory is certainly the scariest of these foes you'll have to deal with. It resists almost everything Grovyle and Dusknoir can possibly throw at it. Your best bet is Dusknoir's Ice Punch which is the only thing that isn't resisted. Even then, it's probably gonna take a few hits to take it down. Tangrowth also resists a lot of what you have to offer, but since Ice Punch is your best bet for Skarmory, I recommend relying on Grovyle's Quick Attack to fight Tangrowth as it and Lickilicky are the only enemies that don't resist it. You'll probably want to use Grovyle's Grass attacks on Lickilicky and the occasional Banette. Dig can also take out Metang. Don't try to use Dig to hit Gengar, it's got Levitate! Get Dusknoir to pick off Gengar and Skarmory with Shadow Punch/Shadow Sneak and Ice Punch respectively. Grovyle can handle Banette fine on his own.

The sixth floor is where Monster Houses begin to appear, so watch out for those.

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

Dark Ice Mountain [7F - 9F]

Pokemon:  Banette,  Gengar,  Skarmory,  Metang,  Lickilicky,  Tangrowth,  Duskull

Duskull joins the fray on the 7th floor and is a similar story to Banette.

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

Dark Ice Mountain [10F]

Pokemon:  Gengar,  Skarmory,  Metang,  Lickilicky,  Tangrowth,  Duskull

Starting on the 10th floor, Banette no longer appears. Its absence isn't really felt much, though.

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

 

After 10 floors, you arrive at a waypoint.

After saving, it's time to progress. Be prepared for an upcoming boss fight!

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

Dark Ice Mountain Peak

Though there's a break in the dungeon, as per usual, this part of the dungeon is more or less just more of the same. Same items, same traps. Even the pokemon are the same level!

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

Dark Ice Mountain Peak [1F - 4F]

Pokemon:  Gengar,  Skarmory,  Duskull,  Metang,  Lickilicky,  Tangrowth

All the advice from before still holds, but you don't really have to be so careful about preserving your PP anymore.

 

On the third floor, after triggering a Trip Trap, I decided to give Dusknoir a Power Band to boost his Physical Attacks. And on the 4th floor, I ran into a Monster House that only had a small handful of enemies. I figured I may as well capitalize and not even bother with a Spurn Orb. Dusknoir was in a great position to take out the Metang to Grovyle's sides, all I had to do was use Dig to dodge attacks and take out the enemies in front of Grovyle.

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

 

Music: Temporal Pinnacle

After only four more floors, Dusknoir and Grovyle reach the pinnacle of Dark Ice Mountain. Grovyle notices that, from here, the trial goes downhill, so it should be much easier to travel forward.

 

But as he begins to step forward, one of the floating ice rocks begins to shake and... fall!? Dusknoir warns Grovyle, but it seems to be too late!

But when Grovyle regains his bearings, he realizes Dusknoir took the hit from the falling rock! To... protect Grovyle? Just what exactly is going on in this guy's head?

 

Dusknoir seems to be injured from having taken the damage from the rock, but he insists Grovyle look alive. He warns that someone's coming...

 

Music: Rising Fear

Soon, we hear a similar cry to those of the Snorunt we saw earlier. And the duo find themselves surrounded by Glalie! Dusknoir observes that they must've become vicious in the world of darkness.

 

Just as Grovyle prepares to fight them off, Dusknoir warns that they aren't alone. And following suit, a loud trumpet fills the area.

 

A Mamoswine arrives as well! Dusknoir informs Grovyle that Mamoswine are... said to be the strongest Ice type? Um... I don't know if I believe that one. Frankly, I'm far more worried about the Glalie we're surrounded by.

 

Regardless, this gang of wild pokemon are ready to fight off any intruders to their territory. So, we're gonna have to duke it out if we wanna continue searching for Celebi and Dialga.

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

 

Grovyle's Squad

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

Grovyle M; Lv. 47

Item:  Special Band | Exclusive:  Scept-Claw

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Absorb, Quick Attack, Dig, Detect

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

Dusknoir M; Lv. 46

Item:  Power Band

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Shadow Sneak, Will-O-Wisp, Ice Punch, Shadow Punch

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

Vs. Mamoswine & Glalie

It's yet another boss fight where we're surrounded! Once again, we'll need to get our defenses up quick and be aggressive as soon as our opponents get in close to minimze the damage we receive.

The biggest annoyance of this fight is the Snow Cloak ability Mamoswine has. Once Hail is inevitably used, it'll become really hard to land a hit on him.

 

Keeping everyone alive is a shared responsibility for Grovyle. He needs to use Detect to protect his own HP from these super-effective Powder Snow, and he needs to be feeding Dusknoir Oran Berries to keep him from dying, too.

While my initial plan was to take out the Glalie, I quickly realized the Mamoswine was potentially capable of dishing out a lot more pain. I figured I'd be able to take it out quickly with Grovyle's grass attacks, completely forgetting about Snow Cloak. It took several turns before I was able to actually land an Absorb. But thankfully, it only took a few hits to KO Mamoswine.

 

 

From there, it was just a matter of beating down on the remaining Glalie until they fell. They do have Ice Body, but that doesn't help much in a standalone fight like this.

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

 

After their defeat, Mamoswine and the Glalie all run off in fear. Thankfully for them, we're not here to do them harm. We were only fighting out of self defense.

Between the ice and the battle, it seems Dusknoir is pretty heavily injured.

 

Grovyle must be thinking a little bit harder about Dusknoir's character at this point. It's a surprise that someone like him would risk his life to protect someone like Grovyle, who he's been hunting tirelessly all this time. I suppose Dusknoir is in a really vulnerable position at this point. If you really think about it, he's even more desperate than Grovyle at this point, isn't he? Even if Dialga succeeds in preventing Skye and Icarus from returning the Time Gears, he's still being completely replaced by this new agent. He's been disgraced by his own failures and really has nowhere else to go. I suppose he and Grovyle have a bit more in common than I've considered until now, huh? Well, we'll just have to see where this goes. But there's a save prompt here, so next time, we'll follow Grovyle and Dusknoir as they seek a hiding place up ahead and maybe catch up a bit. See you soon!

[Aura]

Special Episode 5: In the Future of Darkness (Part 7)

We're slowly making our way through the story of Grovyle and Dusknoir! Last time, the duo pursued Celebi and Dialga to Frozen Island and climbed Dark Ice Mountain. But at the pinnacle of the mountain, Grovyle stepped into a trap where a chunk of ice dropped down, neary knocking him out. But Dusknoir surprised him by taking the blow! Together, the two fought off a gang of Glalie led by a Mamoswine who were trying to defend their territory. Between taking the chunk of ice for Grovyle and the fight after, it seems Dusknoir has sustained quite a bit of damage. So, Grovyle sought out a crevice nearby to hide in in order to evade the detection of any Sableye.

 

Just like he did with Icarus, Grovyle buys Dusknoir some time to rest up so they can continue traveling together at a decent pace.

 

Music: In the Depths of the Pit

As Dusknoir rests, he finds himself preoccupied by Grovyle and his determination and perseverance. Despite all of his mockery, it's clear Dusknoir does hold Grovyle to high regard.

 

Finally, Grovyle decides to ask about why Dusknoir took the hit from that chunk of ice for him. Dusknoir doesn't waste any time in assuring Grovyle his intentions weren't out of kindness or anything of the sort.

Dusknoir goes on to clarify that he still despises Grovyle. There's definitely still animosity between the two, and for good reason. I've already discussed it before, but while it's easy to brand Dusknoir as a villain, let's not forget that, from his perspective, Grovyle's goal directly involves literally destroying the world and everyone who inhabits it.

 

He explains his reasoning for protecting Grovyle: He needs his help to eliminate Dialga's new henchman. Right now, while he loathes Grovyle, it seems this new henchman is the only one in the world he hates more than Grovyle.

 

 

Dusknoir really isn't adverse to logic at all. Even though he despises Grovyle and they're mortal enemies, he still recognizes that their goals in this situation just might be incredibly challenging to face on their own. They're both likely to have to fight with this new henchman and Dialga. And with such a difficult battle ahead of them, it's only logical that neither of them should face it alone. They'll need each others' help.

 

Grovyle asks about Dusknoir's wounds, only for Dusknoir to retort that his fight with Grovyle left him with much more intense damage.

 

With that, Grovyle shrugs him off and continues to wait for Dusknoir to recover. But before they prepare to set out, Dusknoir decides to ask something of Grovyle.

 

Music: Living Spirit

 

 

Dusknoir uses a lot of words to ask a very simple question: Why? While he understands that Grovyle's reasoning for fighting so hard is for a better future, he can't fathom what about that is worth allowing himself to disappear forever. What point is there in creating a better future if he won't be able to experience it? Why would he sacrifice so much for a gamble he'll never even be able to see the returns from?

 

Grovyle's response to Dusknoir is almost just as simple: He doesn't believe he'll "truly" disappear.

 

 

Grovyle goes on to explain that he's inevitably going to die one day anyway, regardless of whether or not the future is changed. The world will go on without him after he dies, and he'll eventually be forgotten about as everyone who knows him dies off as well. The important part of life isn't about living for as long as you can so that people can remember you for as long as possible. Instead, the important part to him is what you accomplish with your life. What impact you have on the world as a whole. And what greater impact can there be than creating a future of peace and serenity?

 

 

 

Grovyle elaborates even further, that his spirit would live on through Skye and Icarus and even further beyond to anyone they inspire with their actions as well. It's like a circle of life.

 

With that speech, Dusknoir has a lot to think about. What has he accomplished? How will his spirit live on after he's gone?

Now that they're rested up, it's time to get moving again.

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

 

Music: Temporal Pinnacle

As the duo continue along, they pass through a forest of icicles with purple electricity sparkling at their peaks... just what is this place?

 

The electricity at the top of the pillars catches both Dusknoir and Grovyle's attention. It's a strange place, indeed...

Soon, a familiar voice is heard!

 

Up ahead, there's another Snorunt! Once again, Grovyle decides to ask the Snorunt about Celebi and Dialga. Dusknoir warns him that it's likely to end the same way as the last time he tried, but Grovyle insists that they still need a lead. It's not like we've run into any Salbeye we can interrogate.

 

As Grovyle calls out to the Snorunt, it prepares to run away. But Grovyle insists he just wants to talk and has no intention of hurting him.

 

Oh! So, these Snorunt do speak the same language as us! Not only that, but it sounds like Snorunt has seen someone!

 

Music: Growing Anxiety

The Snorunt confirms that a group of Sableye came through here. At the very least, that must mean we're on the right track!

 

Snorunt points the duo in the direciton he saw the group go.

 

Grovyle asks if the Sableye were alone, which prompts Snorunt to add that they were carrying a very pretty pink pokemon... it must be Celebi! This is much more devastating news. We really need to hurry, now!

 

Dusknoir asks if there was another, stronger pokemon with them, and Snorunt begins trying to recall...

But the duo are interrupted by sudden intense activity from a nearby pillar.

 

The electricity is intense! Just what is going on!?

 

Suddenly, the Snorunt runs away from the pillar... was it frightened? Regardless, after he leaves, the electricity calms down...

Grovyle is puzzled by the Snorunt suddenly running away, but he's left with bigger concerns at play.

 

Setting that oddity aside for now, it's important that we continue further along, though Dusknoir still suspects that Dialga must be there with the Sableye along with his new henchman... So, we should probably prepare thoroughly for a difficult fight ahead!

 

I decided to go into the dungeon with a few extra items to help with a difficult boss fight. Without further ado, let's get going into Icicle forest!

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

Icicle Forest

Our story now has some serious tension at play as we climb this dungeon, and the music reflects that, too! We've got some familiar enemies, some new ones for this special episode but nothing especially dangerous.

You've got the standard array of items:  Poke,  Insomniscopes,  Def., and  Pecha Scarves,  Persim,  Power,  Special,  Stamina, and  Zinc Bands,  Gravelerocks,  Iron Thorns,  Apples,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Eyedrop,  Reviver, and  Totter Seeds,  Max Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

And the same traps you're familiar with, too:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Poison,  Pokemon,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

There is no threat of Monster Houses, so you only have to worry about traps as you collect items. Judging by the tension in the story right now, this dungeon is sounding like the calm before the storm, to be sure. So I suspect we're about to have either a much tougher dungeon following this one, or the bossfight Dusknoir's been foreshadowing for a while. I have to wonder just what kind of pokemon this henchman is...?

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

Icicle Forest [1F - 10F]

Pokemon:  Gengar,  Weezing,  Ditto,  Cacturne,  Metagross,  Lickilicky,  Gliscor,  Drifblim

Most of these pokemon you should already be pretty familair with how to deal with. Don't try to fight Gengar or Weezing with Dig because they have Levitate. You're probably best off letting Dusknoir handle them. Dusknoir can also fight Cacturne pretty well with Ice Punch. Grovyle can handle Metagross, Lickilicky, and Gliscor just fine, and I recommend using Grovyle's Absorb or Dusknoir's Shadow Sneak to get the final hit on Drifblim to avoid setting off its Aftermath ability. Lastly, Ditto's kind of just a joke all around, so there's no real danger there.

 

On the tenth floor, I decided to swap out Grovyle and Dusknoir's held items for other items I'd picked up throughout the dungeon. I figured the Persim Band and Def. Scarf would be more useful for a boss fight, especially when I don't know what exactly this henchman is going to be. Protecting myself from confusion seems like a really good idea, though I'd probably prefer an Insomniscope, I had no such luck in finding one of those.

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

 

And after ten floors, we've cleared through the dungeon! That's it. We're given a brief exchange of dialogue between Grovyle and Dusknoir and we're treated with a save prompt... that's certainly a scary cliffhanger. Next time, we'll see what these Sableye are up to! Hopefully we can save Celebi!

[Aura]

Special Episode 5: In the Future of Darkness (Part

We continue along with the story of Grovyle and Dusknoir! Last time, the duo was continuing to search for Celebi and Dialga when they arrived at Icicle Forest. A place with strange pillars of ice that spark with electricity at their peaks. It was here that they ran into a Snorunt who told them they saw a pretty pink pokemon being carried off by a group of Sableye. Knowing that Celebi's already been captured, Grovyle and Dusknoir hurried across Icicle Forest in Grovyle's hopes of rescuing her in time, and Dusknoir's hopes of catching up to Dialga and his new henchman. Where we left off, we'd just gotten through the dungeon and were met with a save prompt! So, we continue from there!

 

Music: In the Future

At the end of the dungeon, we arrive at the depths of the forest where we continue to travel through a valley of more icicle pillars, electricity sparking all around us.

 

As the duo searches the area, Dusknoir calls attention to something just ahead! And it doesn't sound good...

 

Once they both see it, they rush ahead to get a closer look.

 

Music: Rising Fear

And when he finally gets closer, Grovyle spots Celebi, held in place over an Odd Keystone! It's Spiritomb! Is Spiritomb Dusknoir's replacement...? Or perhaps this new agent is using Spiritomb as a diversion? He is said to be very resourceful, after all.

 

Grovyle tries to call out to Celebi, but he gets no response from her.

 

Grovyle calls out Spiritomb, who seems to be quite nervous about this encounter. Could this really be the new agent? It's seeming less likely...

Spiritomb tries to explain that Grovyle is wrong about his accusation. Perhaps it's not them who attacked Celebi?

 

But Grovyle doesn't seem to buy Spiritomb's claim of innocence.

Suddenly, as he stands in the middle of the four large ice pillars, something seems to steal Grovyle's attention away from Spiritomb. He seems to get a strange feeling of some sort...

 

Grovyle is incredibly confused by the sudden tension in the air. He said something about it earlier, too. Something clearly isn't right... have they fallen into a trap...?

 

As Grovyle is fixated on this strange tension, Celebi soon awakens and calls out to him! This seems to be especially bad for Spiritomb who still is desperately trying to convince Grovyle of their innocence despite the terrible-looking situation. But they still refuse to release Celebi. No matter what way we look at it, they definitely look like the bad guy... bad guys?

 

Grovyle threatens to attack Spiritomb if they refuse to release Celebi, but just as he begins to approach, Celebi warns him not to come any closer! But...

 

Suddenly, powerful lightning is discharged from the four pillars and zaps Grovyle, causing a tremendous pain! It seems Celebi's warning came too late...!

And, sure enough, it seems that Spiritomb was indeed using Celebi to bait a trap for Grovyle! Though Dusknoir didn't seem to get caught up in it. Perhaps he suspects Dusknoir can be easily convinced to return to Dialga's side just as Grovyle worried?

 

Grovyle is naturally left bitter about the trap, but he's entirely helpless, his strength being sapped by the electricity.

 

Spiritomb is about to leave, before they bring up an odd question: They ask Dusknoir if they can leave... Are they not aware of the order to eliminate Dusknoir? Or, is it possible....?

 

Music: Hidden Highland

Tensions are high in the moment, so it's hard to parse what Dusknoir is thinking when he responds to Spiritomb. He laughs and asks Spiritomb to stay a little longer. Is he betraying and mocking Grovyle? Or is he about to rescue Grovyle and surprise Spiritomb with his own betrayal? This certainly is the crossroads where Dusknoir will have to show where his loyalties lie.

 

As the Sableye suddenly apporach behind Dusknoir, and laughter fills the area... it's suddenly clear what's going on... Dusknoir... really is betraying Grovyle, just as he'd suspected from the very beginning.

 

Finally, Dusknoir makes his intentions clear. This pokemon truly is the scum of this paralyzed planet. From the very beginning, it seems all the events that have played out here, have gone according to Dusknoir's plan.

He starts with what's going on right now: He explains to Grovyle that the electricity from these ice pillars have a special property that will melt away the spirit of anyone it zaps. And that energy is most highly concentrated between these four giant pillars in the depths of Icicle Forest.

 

As it turns out, Dusknoir's entire plan was to get Grovyle into this situation so that his spirit could be drained. And after the fact, he'd take control of Grovyle's body and return to the past. In Grovyle's body, Skye and Icarus would trust him fully. And so it would be all too easy to betray them all over again.

 

The new agent that will replace Dusknoir and return to the past in his stead, as it turns out, is Grovyle, with Dusknoir's consciousness having taken over.

 

Grovyle is incredibly confused in the moment. How could Dusknoir have even established this plan? Then he has a revelation where suddenly everything starts to fall into place...

 

...Dusknoir must've already been awake when Grovyle woke up an dassumed he was still unconscious. He must've already spoken with the Sableye and pretended to be unconscious. Although it's also quite possible they established the plan after Grovyle entered Barren Valley alone. It was only after their rendezvous at the end of the dungeon when the Sableye attacked Dusknoir. In hindsight, it seems odd the Sableye wouldn't attack Dusknoir while he was unconscious at the entrance if they really were looking to eliminate him.

 

Dusknoir continues to mock Grovyle, and Grovyle seems to be getting weaker and weaker every moment. Is this really how this story ends? Well, we know that Team Flight are ultimately successful and "Grovyle" never appears... so just what is going on in this story?

 

Grovyle begins to kick himself for falling for what should've been an obvious trap. But frankly, Dusknoir did such a good job of covering his tracks, making his story believable... but at the end of the day, he's already shown just how good he is at manipulating others by their emotions, hasn't he?

 

Dusknoir reiterates what he said before: He truly despises Dusknoir, and protecting him wasn't a sign of friendship or anything silly like that: It was simply another part of his plan to convince Grovyle that they were allies against a common enemy.

 

Celebi scolds Dusknoir for his coldhearted cowardice, but Dusknoir just shrugs it off. At the end of the day, he asserts that it was Grovyle's decision to trust him that ultimately led to his failure.

 

But, at the edge of his life, Grovyle still has the strength to contradict Dusknoir on one more fact: Even now, in spite of Dusknoir's betrayal... Grovyle still trusts him?

 

Music: Proud Accomplishment

This reply genuinely takes Dusknoir by surprise, but Grovyle continues to stick to it.

 

Perhaps he's been inspired by Icarus's faith in Skye. Something about Dusknoir drove Grovyle to trust him in spite of the many, many reasons he had to distrust him. Grovyle truly believes that Dusknoir holds some degree of desire for a greater significance in his life. Far greater than what's possible in this world. Through their conversation earlier, that much was clear to Grovyle. It's quite likely that it wasn't until then that Grovyle truly started to trust Dusknoir. For the first time, it must've felt like he could finally understand what was going on in Dusknoir's head... maybe that couldn't have been faked, after all.

 

 

Grovyle insists that, at some point, he sensed Dusknoir's feelings of hatred vanish, but Dusknoir adamantly denies that possibility. Once again reiterating that he despises Grovyle. But even still, Grovyle continues to insist he's confident it's true and no mistake.

 

Grovyle goes on to explain that he's incredibly cautious with trusting others. And even in spite of that, he was still able to trust Dusknoir because he was able to sense Dusknoir's spirit of loyalty, a shining spirit!

 

It's clear that Dusknoir's never heard anyone describe him in this way before... Where he was expecting Grovyle to curse him for his betrayal, he's instead met with words of kindness that surely must make him doubt himself. Perhaps a part of Dusknoir still suspects that this is some trickery on Grovyle's part. But at the end of the day, Dusknoir knows whether or not his words actually ring true.

 

Grovyle pleads with Dusknoir to truly consider what it is he wants most. Is preserving this world worth it to him? Is he truly satisfied merely serving Dialga eternally? Can he truly say he's happy with such a life? Or is it merely his fear of disappearing that drives him down this path?

 

Dusknoir reflects on his and Grovyle's conversation earlier, the way he felt when listening to Grovyle's inspiring words...

 

But even still, Dusknoir continues to deny what Grovyle is saying. There must be a part of him that wishes Grovyle would just stop talking and collapse to make him stop deliberating on this decision. But as long as Grovyle's still talking, the decision gets harder and harder. It's becoming clear that Dusknoir doesn't truly want this and is doing his best to mask those feelings to avoid the wrath of Dialga.

 

But as his emotions start to well up, it becomes impossible to hold them back. Dusknoir lets out a sound of frustration as he tries to figure out what these feelings mean to him. In his frustration, he bats the Sableye away as they approach in concern for him.

 

 

This realization that Dusknoir's spirit may already have become attached to others around him... could his existance have become attached to Grovyle? Or even, unknowingly, to Skye and Icarus, too? Clearly, these thoughts are incredibly troubling to Dusknoir.

 

 

Just as he spoke to Dusknoir, he also speaks the same to the Sableye. Perhaps for the first time in their lives, he asks for them to think for themselves about what it is they want out of their futures. Is it truly to just surrender their hearts to Primal Dialga and this world of darkness?

Soon, the electricity intensifies, causing even more pain to Grovyle and speeding up the melting of his spirit--and shortening the time Dusknoir and the Sableye have of making up their minds.

 

Celebi demands that Spiritomb do something to save Grovyle, that they can't allow this to happen, but they're clearly still too nervous to do anything. And frankly, who can really blame them? Dialga really is quite scary, especially in his primal state.

 

Once againn, the discharge amplifies, leaving Grovyle screaming out in agony as his spirit begins to melt away...

But then... Dusknoir knocks Grovyle out of the discharge?

 

This moment shocks everyone! Has Dusknoir... actually betrayed Dialga?!

 

As much as Grovyle and Celebi are relieved by this decision from Dusknoir.... even Dusknoir knows it doens't come without a price to pay.

 

Music: Planet's Paralysis

And, almost instantaneously, the consequences of Dusknoir's choice to betray the trust of Dialga are realized as the sky grows dark and Dialga's terrifying presence is made known.

 

Naturally, the Sableye and Dusknoir are terrified in his presence.

 

Dialga doesn't waste any time at all in attacking Dusknoir as punishment for his insubordinance.

 

It's this moment that inspires the Sableye to rebel as well! They quickly surround Dialga and begin attacking from all sides!

 

In a single attack, Dialga blasts all the Sableye away, leaving them all knocked out.

Grovyle tries to get up to help as well, but he's too weak from the electricity earlier...

 

Spiritomb is still far too timid, so they simply retreat in a panic, releasing Celebi from their hold!

 

Now free from Spiritomb's grasp, Celebi prepares to challenge Dialga directly! Grovyle tries to get her to stay back, but that's not about to dissuade her.

However, before she can reach Dialga, the whole place begins to brighten...!

 

Shortly after the flash of light, an aurora begins to form over the forest! It's a beautiful sight that shocks Celebi!

 

Dusknoir quickly pieces what all of this means together: The wind is blowing, the sun has returned to the sky, the air has started moving...!

History has finally been changed! Team Flight's mission was a success! Time has finally returned and, for the first time, everyone in this world is getting a chance to see a world of light! 

 

Of course, Dialga isn't so happy with this sudden change in decor. It only means one thing for him.

 

Dialga lashes out at everyone around him, even knocking Celebi down from a range.

 

And with another roar, Dialga begins to glow before disappearing. The Sableye quickly gather around Dusknoir to see if he's okay.

 

With that, Dusknoir gives the official command for the Sableye to follow Dialga and take care of Grovyle and Celebi. And that's where we're gonna leave things off for today. Where did Dialga go? What is he planning to do now? It's not easy to say. But suddenly, it seems we have a genuine ally in not just Dusknoir, but the Sableye as well.

I know we didn't do a dungeon in this post, but this cutscene was sandwiched between save prompts and, as I'm in blind territory, I think it's best to trust these prompts for pacing. Though I'm curious where this story could possibly go form here. The whole mission up until now was to stall Dialga out until Team Flight could complete their mission... Well, we'll just have to see what will happen next. See you soon!

[Aura]

Special Episode 5: In the Future of Darkness (Part 9)

We're drawing closer to the end of Grovyle and Dusknoir's story! Last time, Dusknoir had revealed that everything they'd experienced up until that point had gone exactly according to his plan to betray Grovyle! Dusknoir had manipulated Grovyle into standing betweent he four largest pillars in the depths of Icicle Forest to be zapped by the special electric discharge that would melt away his spirit so that Dusknoir could inhabit his body and travel to the past to once again betray Team Flight's trust and stop their climbing the tower. To that end, he had Spiritomb hold Celebi captive in order to lure Grovyle into position. However, after Grovyle explained that he felt a change in Dusknoir's spirit as they explored together, Dusknoir seems to have truly had a change of heart and ultimately rescued Grovyle by knocking him out of the electricity. Angered by this betrayal, Dialga appeared before him and immediately began attacking him in rage. The Sableye tried to back him up but were simply batted away pitifully. But as the struggle continued, suddenly a wind began to blow and a borealis appeared overhead, mesmerizing everyone who saw it! Time had resumed! Team Flight must've been victorious! But not everyone was happy. Dialga seemed to be in intense pain and suddenly disappeared. Now, everyone gathers together to pursue Dialga.

 

Music: Temporal Pinnacle

Apparently, one of the Sableye witnessed the direction Dialga disappeared in, so, Sableye leads the party to Vast Ice Mountain. But why here?

 

Celebi seems to understand: there is another Passage of Time at the pinnacle of the mountain. Everyone's taken a lot of time to recover, so it's likely Dialga's already reached the top of the mountain by now. If he gets tot he Passage of Time, who knows what could happen? What perplexes Celebi, though, is the fact that she never actually told him where the Passage of Time was, so how could he know where to go?

 

Dusknoir suggests that it must've been his natural instincts that drove him in this direction when pressed by his fury.

 

Grovyle asks what would happen if Dialga attacked the Passage of Time directly, but even Dusknoir has no clue how that would affect the flow of time. But whatever it is, it can't be good. We have to stop him!

 

Dusknoir proposes that he, Grovyle, and Celebi all travel together as a group of three, and the Sableye stay behind. He notes that it will be important to fight Dialga with as much force as they can, but having too many squad members will reduce their mobility. And frankly, I agree, having a squad of 7 sounds like a nightmare and these Sableye are likely to just be a liability and eat through my Reviver Seeds! No thank you!

 

Just before they begin moving, the Sableye chip in with their resolve as well! They're ready to do what must be done for the sake of the future!

But just as they're about to leave, Grovyle notices a small light begin to surround him... Just like what we saw with Skye...

 

 

It's clear now that everyone is going to disappear soon... they have to get to Dialga and prevent him from damaging the Passage of Time!

 

This time, I'm going in prepared for a boss fight with Dialga, so that means an extra Reviver Seed and some Totter Seeds to buy some time where necessary. In hindsight, I definitely should've bone with Sleep Seeds since Dialga has Roar of Time, but some things you just don't think of in the moment. We've also got a third party member, so I'm bringing a Special Band to give to Celebi.

And with our preparations made, it's time to take on the final dungeon of the episode!

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

Vast Ice Mountain

This is the final frontier for the dream team of tomorrow! Heh, Team Tomorrow would make a really fitting Exploration team name for this trio, wouldn't it? Anyway, the music here adds to the tension of catching up to Dialga and preventing him from causing chaos, but also leaves a hint of triumph with the three strongest champions ready to take him on! And sure enough, with Dusknoir and Celebi on your team, you really do feel quite powerful! Celebi can use Heal Bell to heal any status problems you run into while Dusknoir can take on Ghosts that sneak through walls with the intent to ambush you. However, don't think you're invincible. There's some scary opponents in here you'll need to watch out for.

The items are what you've come to expect:  Poke,  Insomniscopes,  Def., and  Pecha Scarves,  Persim,  Power,  Special,  Stamina, and  Zinc Bands,  Gravelerocks,  Iron Thorns,  Apples,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Reviver,  Eyedrop, and  Totter Seeds,  Max Elixir, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

And same for the traps:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Poison,  Pokemon,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

There is no threat of Monster Houses on these lower floors.

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

Vast Ice Mountain [1F - 9F]

Pokemon:  Gengar,  Aerodactyl,  Smoochum,  Shedinja,  Dusclops,  Absol,  Metagross,  Magnezone,  Gliscor

Right away, you can see that there are a lot of pokemon with Pressure: Aerodactyl, Dusclops, and Absol. Try to take them out quickly! Grovyle should be able to handle Magnezone, Gliscor, and Absol just fine while Dusknoir can handle the ghosts, Aerodactyl, and Gliscor. Celebi is pretty versatile, but she's someone delicate so you might want to rely on her more for support or only when your PP starts to get low. Keep in mind that Shedinja can go down to any damage, so just pitching a Gravelerock its way is enough to KO it.

Smoochum may seem unassuming, but she has the potential to be the mmost deadly pokemon here. And if you've played Rescue Team, you probably know exactly why. Two words: Perish Song. This terrifying move will instantly kill every pokemon in the room in three turns. Some of the rooms in this dungeon are pretty massive, so you'll definitely need to be wary of Smoochum.

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

 

After 9 floors, we arrive at a Waypoint. We're getting close to the pinnacle where the passage of time is!

 

Dusknoir worries about where Dialga must be since we haven't caught up to him yet and are already getting close to the pinnacle, but there's no sense worrying right now. We need to get to the pinnacle right away.

After saving at the Kangaskhan Rock, we proceed onward toward the end of the dungeon!

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

Vast Ice Mountain Peak

As we cross into the peak, the triumphant part of the music becomes much more pronounced! You'd better be prepared for battle!

The items, traps, and even pokemon up here are the same as the lower floors, but now there's a threat of monster houses which, when Smoochum is in the mix, can be incredibly scary. You probably want to bring Spurn Orbs!

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

Vast Ice Mountain Peak [1F - 8F]

Pokemon:  Gengar,  Aerodactyl,  Smoochum,  Shedinja,  Dusclops,  Absol,  Metagross,  Magnezone,  Gliscor

It's the exact same, there's new to say here. The refresh on PP will certainly help you feel much more comfortable, though!

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

 

After 10 floors, we finally arrive at the pinnacle of the mountain!

 

Dialga seems to be in tremendous pain as we approach. You almost feel sorry for him as he's really just trying whatever his primal instincts yell at him to do in order to ease the pain. But we simply can't let that happen. It's clear he's not thinking things through and he's far too powerful to be allowed to thrash about.

 

But of course, he knocks everyone back with a Roar of Time.

 

His power is immense, this isn't going to be an easy fight.

 

Grovyle calls Celebi's attention to the Passage of Time that lies behind Dialga. Sure enough, it seems this was what drew Dialga in. We can't allow him to damage or destroy it!

 

As they stand off, the wind begins to pick up and the sun continues to rise.

 

And as time continues to flow, lights begin to surround the pokemon on the mountain.

 

Music: Dialga's Fight to the Finish

On the verge of our disappearance, we must fight to keep Dialga at bay! This is our final battle!

 

 

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

  

Grovyle's Squad

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

Grovyle M; Lv. 48

Item:  Persim Band | Exclusive:  Scept-Claw

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Absorb, Quick Attack, Dig, Detect

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

Dusknoir M; Lv. 47

Item:  Def. Scarf

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Ice Punch, Shadow Sneak, Will-O-Wisp, Shadow Punch

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

Celebi; Lv. 45

Item:  Special Band

Ability: Natural Cure | Moves: Magical Leaf, Recover, Heal Bell, AncientPower

Once again, please forgive the lack of a shiny sprite as my usual resources don't contain the shiny variant of Celebi's sprite.

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

Vs. Primal Dialga

As scary as Dialga seems on the surface, and though your types don't really fare well against him, you can still fare decently well against him thanks to Grovyle's Dig, Celebi's Recover, and Dusknoir's Ice Punch.

 

It's really just a matter of unloading into Dialga with everything you have. His Roar of Time can be scary, but he has to recharge after using it, so take the time to heal up and continue powering through! If you're lucky, Celebi will even get some stat boosts off of AncientPower to help her tank more hits.

In the end, the fight is kind of a joke and Dialga simply goes down. Seems simple enough!

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

 

Upon our victory, everyone collapses. It's a bittersweet victory when we know everyone is about to disappear regardless of the results of the fight.

 

 

All there is left to do is wait for everyone's disappearance... everyone's bodies feel heavy, just as Skye's did on the way back to the stoneship. It's gonna be hard to watch all of this happen. The lights start by enveloping Dialga.

 

As soon as Dialga disappears, they begin to envelop Dusknoir as well...

 

Music: In the Morning Sun

As the light begins to envelop Celebi, too, Dusknoir begins to ask Grovyle... did his life shine?

 

Dusknoir seems to be in acceptance with his disappearance.

 

 

After thanking Grovyle for helping Dusknoir to disappear with no lingering regrets, he disappears, leaving Grovyle alone with Celebi, but it appears only for a short while...

 

The lights begin to increase around Grovyle, too, he can tell he, too, is slowly drifting away.

 

Wanting to spend his final moments with his companion, Grovyle slowly uses the last of his strength to work his way over to Celebi.

 

As Celebi affirms that she's okay, the two look out over the sun that's finally peeking over the horizon. It's just like the sunrise Icarus and Grovyle shared during the main story, only this must be so much more powerful given it's the result of all of Grovyle's hard work. This is the moment he's been fighting so hard to share, and I'm sure he's so incredibly glad for this to be his and Celebi's final sight before their disappearance.

 

For the first time in her life, Celebi has been able to see the morning sun. Frankly, I'm surprised by that fact given she's capable of traveling through time on her own. But there must be limitations, especially during the planet's paralysis. It seems Celebi has never known a world with sunlight. So this is a first for her as well.

 

 

It's another incredibly bittersweet moment that Celebi and Grovyle tearfully tell each other they're glad to be alive, perhaps for the first time. This moment must make everything they've been through together worth it. And it's only going to last a few moments longer before they disappear forever.

 

Celebi soon bids Grovyle farewell as the lights begin to envelop them both, they both prepare for their disappearance.

At the base of the mountain, we see that the Sableye also begin to see the lights surround them... of course, all pokemon from the future are going to disappear with history having been altered. But this is the cause everyone was fighting for.

 

 

As time continues to resume everywhere, we watch as all the floating chunks of rock and ice begin to fall from the sky.

 

We finally see light return to the dark reaches of the world of the future with skies devoid of floating rocks and dying trees feeling the heat of the sun for the first time in possibly ever.

 

Suddenly, however, we return to the pinnacle of the mountain and find that everyone is... still here? They didn't disappear...?

 

Music: A New World

Everyone seems equally perplexed. What was all that they'd just witnessed? Grovyle and Celebi just saw Dialga disappear, then Dusknoir... and even each other... so how are they suddenly all here, perfectly fine?

 

It's not just them, either. It's the Sableye, Snorunt, and even Spiritomb! Everyone's okay! Just what is going on...?

 

 

Celebi is overjoyed that we've been able to find such a happy ending, even if it doesn't make any sense!

 

Dusknoir suggests that what happened... must've been a miracle! But Dialga reveals himself to have not disappeared either, and denies that it was a miracle.

 

Dialga confesses that he only saw darkness for an incredibly long time. And it was because of that, that the world became filled with chaos.

 

Dialga accepts full responsibility for the dark age the world was forced to endure, but he will go on to support this new world with all his strength.

 

 

 

 

Using his telepathy, he shows the trio the beautiful world they've enabled the creation of as he transforms the barren landscape into a lush field of green and returns life to the dead trees! Seeing Dialga act so peacefully for the first time must be incredibly moving for Dusknoir who's always seen him as a harsh and relentless ruler.

 

Music: It's Not a Miracle

Grovyle finally asks what exactly Dialga meant by claiming it wasn't a miracle... was it his doing that everyone was able to remain in this new world? Dialga answers quite plainly: No. He doesn't have the power to stop anyone from disappering. And frankly, that checks out since even he was afraid of disappearing himself.

 

Dialga informs the trio of a being much higher than himself who's power must have been at work for this to happen.

 

 

With that, Dialga expresses his gratitude to the trio as well as Grovyle's friends in the past, for all they've done to set things right and return this world from darkness.

 

Music: Thoughts for Friends

This sudden reminder calls Grovyle's attention to Skye! Since they're still around, then maybe Skye didn't disappear, either!

 

 

Grovyle begins to speak out over the cliffside to Skye and Icarus, wishing to meet with them once more.

 

Music: A Message on the Wind

 

 

As he speaks, Grovyle feels the wind blowing and is reminded of the light... he gets the idea that the wind can carry his message to the world of the past, and he begins to proclaim that not only was Skye able to change the future, but that the pokemon of the future are still okay and that they're going to rebuild the world! He thanks them for their heroism and is especially grateful to be able to say he's still alive to enjoy the fruits of their labor!

 

Music: Life Goes On! (Ending)

With his message sent out to Team Flight on the winds of time, the credits for our final Special Episode roll! And I do belive this is the final of the Special Episodes. I didn't know exactly what to expect out of this story, but it's very interesting that it's playing out the events of the end of the main story from the perspective of Grovyle. I'm kind of surprised this didn't unlock immediately after seeing the credits for the first time given the context, but perhaps they wanted a moment for Team Flight to breathe before you get to see things play out from this perspective. I'm glad I made the choice to hold out until I could reach Gold Rank before taking on this mission because I certainly would've been stressed for inventory space by the end otherwise. Thanks to being in Gold Rank, though, I still have plenty of wiggle room in storage and still am not quite desperate to clear out any space just let. I'm looking forward to being able to dump a handful of gummis into my teammates, though.

I will say, while this was certainly the longest and arguably most important special episode given the implications it has on the lore and confirmation that Grovyle and Celebi are okay, and that even Dusknoir ultimately had a change of heart, I'm not sure this episode needed to be as long as it was. The beginning of it felt like it was just dungeon after dungeon with no real reason. It's not like the paralyzed world of darkness is particularly exciting to explore and most of the dungeons felt very same-y. That said, it was cool to see some more world building in the future of darkness, like how Porygon are used to travel between lands. From what I understand, Blizzard Island is a place we'll be exploring soon in the present, so this might serve as a very nice segue into the postgame!

It was really cool to be able to explore Dusknoir's psyche a little bit more, and to see even the Sableye begin to think for themselves. The whole plot twist that Dusknoir was planning to betray Grovyle from the very start was somehow genuinely surprising even though I'd expected it from the moment they'd agreed to join up. Even Grovyle seemed to share in that perspective. It was really masterfully handled! And the fact that Grovyle could tell Dusknoir was masking his true feelings was icing on the cake. Perhaps the same can be said about his bond with Icarus? Maybe that's why Icarus hurt so much when he had to treat Dusknoir as a bad guy? This single story adds so much more complexity to a character that otherwise is just a villain of tragic circumstances.

It's still really depressing that everyone was fighting so hard knowing they'd ultimately die because of their efforts, but it's really heartwarming to know that they were able to persist and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

 

Anyway, as per usual, the story ends and our money and items are stored automatically. Then we're brought back to the Top Menu. We've finally finished all of the Special Episodes! Just in time to begin exploring new content in the postgame! I have mixed feelings going forward. The postgame of Mystery Dungeon games broaden things a lot with many more dungeons and options. These games are designed to be played over a long period of time and some of the dungeons in Rescue Team took literal hours of gameplay, so I'm genuinely unsure of how much I'm looking forward to all the new content here. Honestly, I'm not sure where I'm going to begin, but I guess the only way to find out is to start it up! Next time, we're going to be returning to the postgame of Explorer's of Sky and see what awaits Team Flight next! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 5: Midnight Forest

Alright! We've finally finished all of the Special Episode content of Explorers and are now fully transitioning into the main postgame content! And right now, I'm gonna be honest, I'm feeling a lot more overwhelmed than I initially expected. It seems the postgame here is significantly more difficult than Rescue Team's, so I'm gonna say right now that I absolutely intend to abuse saves even more aggressively than I did there. I've already established the postgame content in these games just isn't for me and that doesn't seem like it'll be changing anytime soon. From what I gather, the postgame of Rescue Team is designed to be challenging even up to Lv. 100. Since my last update, I've learned a lot of technical details about this game that kind of drove me up the wall.

1: Skye and Icarus aren't going to be able to evolve until after all the story-related postgame content. I assume this is because there are unique sprites, portraits, and animations at play specifically for the dedicated player and partner characters that their evolutions lack. I hear that this game's postgame is more heavily tied into the main story, so I suppose it's better to look at this as an extension of the main story instead. But it's incredibly disappointing to realize I won't be getting a Jolteon or Glaceon anytime soon.

2: You never get the ability to switch leaders mid-dungeon. In Rescue Team, most postgame dungeons allowed you to freely switch leaders which allowed you to take the reins whenever you're caught off guard by an unexpected enemy. Here, you're going to have to rely on the brain-dead decisions of your AI partners a whole lot more.

3: I've finally learned about how IQ works in this game and I'm... less than amused. Apparently, every individual species of pokemon is placed in one of several IQ groups. Each IQ group has a set of exclusive IQ skills they can get which consequently means every pokemon has a much larger subset of IQ skills they can never get. For example, if I want a pokemon with Trap Seer or Trap Buster, these skills are tied to specific groups of pokemon. Trap Seer is exclusive to groups B, D, and G, and Trap Buster is exclusive to groups A, B, F, and H. One of the most useful IQ skills in Rescue Team was Super-Mobile which allowed you to pass through any terrain, even dig through walls freely. Here in Explorers? Its counterpart is Absolute Mover, which is in IQ Group J. What pokemon is in J? ...Palkia. Only Palkia. And yes, it still requires 990 IQ points.

Skye is in Group F, which means she can get some nice IQ skills. Namely Trap Buster, All-Terrain Hiker, Stair Sensor and Fast Friend. But it unfortunately means she'll never get the ability to see traps without triggering them.

Icarus is in Group C which seems focused around higher-risk trade-offs such as reducing defenses to boost offensive prowess.

Hail is in Group E which mainly seems focused on supporting nearby teammates and self-preservation.

And Spore is in Group A which is more surveyor focused. He shares some IQ skills with Skye but in general he's better equipped for gathering items and turning profits with skills like Haggler, Collector, and Coin Watcher.

As for other teammates I've raised up a little bit, Rain finds himself in Group C with Icarus,

Pollen is in Group H which is heavily support-focused similar to Group E, but with more of a focus on HP management.

The last pokemon I wanna bring up is Fog, the Gastly we recently hatched. Gastly is in Group G which does get Trap Seer, and he's inherently "Supermobile," being a Ghost-type that hovers through the air. Not much can stop Gastly from moving forward. It definitely does seem wise to start investing in Gastly. So, after this update, I think I am going to try and replace Spore with Fog. It's unfortunate to say goodbye to the move Spore, but I think the long-term benefits of Fog's Trap-related IQ skills, as well as his mobility, will be a lot more important. That said, Rotom might be more preferrable due to the move Ominous Wind. If I can get a Rotom, I'd likely replace Hail instead. But for now, Gastly is the best I have to work with.

    

Worth noting, the three Lake Guardians are also in Group G, but they lack the Ghost-type that really makes Fog ideal.

Up until now, I was under the impression that IQ skills worked the same as in Rescue Team. I'd noticed different pokemon seemed to be earning different skills, but I'd just assumed some were further along than others. I'd failed to notice the objective differences between them.

Anyway, tangent aside, let's get back to my previous session! During this session, I'd yet to have that little revelation about IQ groups, so Spore's still gonna be tagging along for a little while.

  

Now that we've graduated from the guild, there are a handful of new dungeons available to us: The Zero Isle dungeons are now open to us.... we are definitely not ready for those. They are incredibly difficult dungeons that we won't be prepared for for a while.

Anyway, for now, I needed to clear up some space in my job list, so I traveled to Treeshroud Forest to do some of my higher-ranked missions.

  

Along the way, I got some new recruits!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Blossom (Cherrim F); Lv. 35

Item: None

Ability: Flower Gift | Moves: Take Down, Worry Seed, Petal Dance, Sunny Day

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

Destiny (Kirlia F); Lv. 37

Item: None

Abilities: Trace, Synchronize | Moves: Imprison, Psychic, Calm Mind, Magical Leaf

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

  

Anyway, I rescued Granbull and found Skarmory's missing Yellow Gummi... but once again, I was cursed by the outlaw Gliscor simply not showing his face in a large single-room floor. This really is a pointlessly frustrating mechanic, but whatever. I'll just have to come back later...

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

Upon returning from the exploration, Skarmory wanted to join our team! She's a cool pokemon though I'm not sure she really has a role to fill here. Still, I'm sure we can find something for her to do from the bench!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Jet (Skarmory F); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Keen Eye, Sturdy | Moves: Leer, Peck

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

 

After graduation, we now meet up with Icarus at Sharpedo Bluff at the end of each day, instead of in our bedroom in the guild.

And the next day, I saw something scary in the store... yes,  Keys are back. In case you wanted another reminder that we're in the postgame. We're definitely going to want to gather a stockpile of Keys ahead of time, and even grind out for them before exploring certain dungeons if we must. This is a heavy reminder that I should definitely be looking at these dungeons ahead of time again, which I've been neglecting to do all this time.

  

Anyway, Project P has made another discovery! Oran Forest is now explorable! Already, we've got another dungeon to explore! But as you can tell by the heading of this update, that's not where we're going just yet.

  

I actually got not one, but two missions to explore new dungeons! Also, some asshole wants me to escort them to the 44th floor of Zero Isle? Yeah, no thank you. Anyway, as you can see, the difficulty ranking of these missions is a lot higher and they yield a lot more points towards our next rank. So reaching further ranks beyond Gold might not be such a grind after all, as long as we're not wasting our time back in dungeons like Drenched Bluff and Beach Cave.

 

Suddenly, we have three new dungeons to explore! I started by accepting one of these missions which immediately unlocks its associated dungeon: Midnight Forest!

And with that, the dungeon is now explorable! Simple enough! But this is an escort mission, so I'm gonna have to make some room in my team.

  

Now... we're going to jump forward a little bit because, after several failed attempts at this dungeon, I quickly realized it was going to be a lot tougher than I'd expected. And since I can't switch leaders mid-dungeon like I expected to be able to, I decided to go ahead and switch Hail to be the leader. This is for reasons that'll become clear once we begin the mission. Anyway, off we go to Midnight Forest!

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

Midnight Forest

The music in this dungeon changes between floors, the themes include that of Foggy Forest, Deep Dusk Forest, and the theme of Marowak Dojo Mazes from Explorers of Time and Darkness.

This is the first dungeon of our postgame experience! And you know it's a postgame dungeon because you're gonna want to bring a  Key with you!

In order to gain access to this dungeon, two conditions must be met: You must have graduated from the guild, and your Exploration Team must be at least Bronze Rank. I think you'd pretty much have to try to avoid Bronze Rank in order to graduate before reaching it. Once you're at that point, this is one of multiple possible dungeons you can gain access to from a new area exploration mission. The mission can be obtained by any means. You can get them from the Jobs Bulletin Board in Wigglytuff's Guild, a guest at Spinda's Cafe, or a bottle on the beach. Alternatively, you can enter the Wonder Mail code from the above screenshot (it's the job I got from Noctowl) to get the same quest. Unfortunately, this means you're going to have to escort a terribly underleveled companion throughout this dungeon the first time you explore it and it's... not the most fun experience to say the least.

This is our first dungeon in a while that was available in Explorers of Time and Darkness, but we're covering for the first time here in Sky. So, let me refresh on the formatting for these. Elements that were previously Darkness-exclusive will be listed in Red, elements that were previously Time-exclusive will be listed in Blue, Sky-exclusive elements will be listed in Green. In the rare instance of items that are exclusive to Darkness and/or Time and aren't in Sky, they'll be listed separately. Items that are common between all versions will be listed as normal.

Items available throughout the dungeon include:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  Scope Lenses,  Def.,  Pecha, and  Warp Scarves,  Gold,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip Caps,  Persim,  Power,  Racket,  Stamina, and  Twist Bands,  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Hunger,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Slip, and  Via Seeds, and assorted  Wonder Orbs and  TMs.

The Time-exclusive TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill-Swap, and  Stone-Edge are not available here in Sky.

Traps to watch out for include:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  Pitfall,  Poison,  Pokemon,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky,  Trip, and  Warp Traps

 This is our first time seeing Pitfall Traps in Explorers! This is simultaneously the most dangerous and most advantageous trap in the game! If a teammate steps on this trap, they'll be permanently separated from the rest of your team. Essentially, they'll be instantly KO'd and removed from the squad. Depending on who and when, this could be a run ender. Alternatively, if the leader triggers a Pitfall trap, they'll fall through and be instantly warped to the next floor. In most cases, this is actually really helpful as it's essentially a surprise staircase. However, if there is something on the floor you're after, such as a locked chamber or a rare item or pokemon, these traps may very well ruin your day as they force you onto the next floor without your consent. Tread carefully if you're thoroughly exploring a specific floor!

In addition, I'd also like to draw attention to the Kecleon Shops here. Like in Mystical Forest, Kecleon Shops on odd-numbered floors starting from B5F will sell rare evolution items that can otherwise only be obtained from similar shops in other dungeons or as random rewards from jobs or treasure boxes. Each of these items can be purchased for 1000P, so it's important to start exploring with some pockets of some significant amounts of money if you haven't already. And don't be ashamed to use an Escape Orb in the event you find an item you want to make sure to hold onto. Even though your starter and partner can't evolve yet, any of your recruits still can!

There is no threat of Monster Houses at all in this dungeon, so at the very least, you don't have to worry about that much.

Anyway, hopefully my descriptions of future dungeons will be less verbose. I imagine we'll get in the groove of things a little easier going forward. At least for these generic dungeons, anyway. Let's start getting into more specific details!

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

Midnight Forest [B1F - B9F]

Pokemon:  Beedrill,  Raticate,  Venonat,  Venomoth,  Bellsprout,  Scyther,  Ledyba,  Ledian,  Wurmple,  Nincada,  Beautifly,  Nuzleaf,  Roselia

Pretty early on, you might run into the most devastating dangers this dungeon has to offer: Venomoth and Ledian both know Silver Wind. I've already explaiend to you how devastating of an attack that is. Beedrill also has some pretty devastating multi-hit attacks and it can boost its speed and the speed of other enemies in the room with Agility. Though most enemies here go down fairly easily, these particular ones are especially dangerous. Mostly due to the fact that this is an escort mission your first time through. You've gotta be extra careful to make sure Noctowl isn't in the room with Venomoth or Ledian. Use Spurn Orbs or other items if you have to! In case it isn't obvious, this is why I made it a point to switch my leader to Hail before entering the dungeon.

On the 4th floor, it's rainy!

Hail leveled up to Lv. 31 and tried to learn the move Hail. Ironically, I turned it down. It might be her namesake, but it's just not a very good move for our team.

 

On Floors B7 and B8, I also got a few new recruits!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Thorn (Roselia M); Lv. 30

Item: None

Abilities: Natural Cure, Poison Point | Moves: Toxic Spikes, Giga Drain, GrassWhistle, Magical Leaf

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

Lance (Beedrill F); Lv. 31

Item: None

Ability: Swarm | Moves: Agility, Pin Missile, Toxic Spikes, Pursuit

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

Midnight Forest [B10F - B20F]

Pokemon:  Beedrill,  Raticate,  Venonat,  Venomoth,  Bellsprout,  Scyther,  Ledyba,  Ledian,  Wurmple,  Nincada,  Beautifly,  Nuzleaf,  Roselia,  Rotom 

If you thought the horrors of the dungeon were over, you don't know the half of it. Because starting on the 10th floor, you begin to run into Rotom, who you're only safe from in Explorers of Time. Right away, you already know the biggest threat of Rotom is that it's a Ghost-type so it can attack from the walls. But not only can it do that, you also now have to worry about its Room-wide Ominous Wind! This little guy can just show up in your field of vision in the middle of the hallway and the very next turn, damage your entire party with a relatively powerful STAB attack. To make matters worse, its stats, including speed, can potentially boost from this move, too! Good lord, you definitely want to take them out ASAP. If you see it in a hallway, try your best to get away from it and get to safety! If you're lucky enough to recruit a Rotom, though, as mentioned before, it's got quite the benefit! Not only can you accept the boon of Ominous Wind, but it also has the trap-master IQ skills! It's a very nice pokemon to have, indeed!

Now, when you reach the 15th floor with a  key, I recommend searching the floor even after finding the staircase so that you can stumble across the locked chamber! This is our first of probably many we'll be passing by.

 

I don't remember if they worked exactly the same way in Rescue Team, but the basic concept is the same. Stand in front of the locked door, face it, and use the Key from your inventory. For some reason, you have to select the pokemon who uses the key, it doesn't just default to the leader. But once the key is used, the locked door will be removed and so will the wall behind it, revealing the hidden item!

In this particular case, we found  Red Silk! This is an exclusive item similar to the ones we've been getting from treasure Boxes and the Swap Shop. However, this one is a bit more valuable as it doesn't just apply to a specific species and its evolutions, but it works for any and all Fire-types! It boosts their Special Attack by 5 and Special Defense by 3, so if you've got a Fire-type on your team, you definitely want to hold onto one of these along with any exclusive items they benefit from.

Bulbapedia says this has a chance of being a  Reviver Seed, but if I had to guess it probably works similarly to how Link Cables were used as placeholders for items you currently possess. I imagine you'll only find the Red Silk in this chamber if you don't currently have it.

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

Midnight Forest [B21F]

Pokemon:  Beedrill,  Raticate,  Venonat,  Venomoth,  Bellsprout,  Scyther,  Ledyba,  Ledian,  Wurmple,  Nincada,  Beautifly,  Nuzleaf,  Roselia

After the 20th floor, you no longer have to worry about Rotom ruining your day and can proceed along blissfully.

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

Midnight Forest [B22F - B24F]

Pokemon:  Beautifly,  Nuzleaf,  Roselia

After the 21st floor, you're pretty much homefree. Most pokemon stop appearing and you'll only have to worry about the relatively easy Beautifuly, Nuzleaf, and Roselia.

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

Midnight Forest [B25F]

In the depths of the dungeon, you'll be rewarded with a  Deluxe Box. Up until now, Deluxe Boxes at the ends of dungeons have generally only held Reviver and Heal Seeds as well as Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow Gummis. But now, it seems like they can start holding a bit more.

The Deluxe Box you can get here can hold a different selection of items including:  Reviver Seeds,  Black,  Purple,  Royal, and  Silver Gummis, and  Sitrus Berries.

This means this is also our first chance to get a  Sitrus Berry, which is an incredibly useful item that boosts your max HP by 2 when eaten at full health or blended into a juice. Be sure to take it straight to Spinda Cafe!

 

Once you've reaped your reward, make your way to the Warp Zone at the other end of the final floor to exit the dungeon!

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

 

As thanks for our assistance, Noctowl offers to join our team! I don't think I have much need for her, but once again, the more the merrier. I may as well let her tag along!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Watch (Noctowl F); Lv. 15

Item: None

Abilities: Insomnia, Keen Eye | Moves: Peck, Foresight, Hypnosis, Growl

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

Next time, I suppose we'll be doing the other escort mission! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 6: Shaymin Village

We're back! Sorry about the lack of an update yesterday. I had a bit of a scare where I thought my computer's battery crapped out and I'd have to replace my computer, but thankfully it was just my charger that was having issues. So, we're still going strong for now!

Anyway, last time we went out of our way to explore one of the three new dungeons available to us: Midnight Forest. While I expected to go ahead and explore the dungeon tied to the other new area exploration mission I'd taken, some unexpected things wound up taking place that kind of got in the way of that goal.

 

As we pass by Spinda's Cafe, we notice a small crowd gathering at the entrance. This seems awfully familiar. It seems there's another big announcement, just like Project P!

 

Even Icarus comments on the deja-vu-provoking scene.

As we go inside, we once again find a whole bunch of explorers gathering around.

 

As everyone gathers around, Spina begins making his announcement. He starts by asking everyone if they've heard of Sky Peak.

 

Mr. Mime responds by explaining that Sky Peak is a tall mountain that reaches high into the sky, but that recently the route to the mountain has been lost, so nobody's been able to explore the mountain in a long time.

 

 

Since Sky Peak has never been fully explored, it must contain many secrets and maybe even treasure that's never been discovered! But now, thanks to advacements in Project P, they have finally reclaimed the route to Sky Peak! For the first time in a long time, Sky Peak can be properly explored!

 

Along the way, they've discovered a hidden village where a community of Shaymin live!

 

Nobody seems to know much about Shaymin, but Spinda adds that they're cute!

 

This seems to catch the interest of some... horny(?) explorers.

 

Just outside the village is the path to Sky Peak Summit!

 

With the promise of an incredible treasure at the top of the mountain. Clearly, this is something we're gonna have to look into!

And with that, Shaymin Village is now added to the list of places we can go! That's just another area to explore!

 

Unfortunately, just like when Project P was first announced, this announcement closes the cafe for the day. So, I didn't want to change my plan for now.

Instead, I turned my attention to jobs to pass the day in hopes to open up the cafe because I really wanted to start training up Fog as I said in my last update. This looks like a good time to open that other New Area mission!

 

This dungeon was set in a place called Shimmer Hill! But, unfortunately, we don't have any keys and this is another dungeon that hosts a locked chamber. We'll just have to let it go for now.

Instead, I headed off to Mt. Bristle to do some generic questing.

 

Even though I didn't have the chance to load him up with a bunch of gummis like I would've liked, I decided to bring Fog along for this exploration so I could get him some exp in a relatively low-level dungeon. Along the way, he tried to learn several moves: Psychic, Spite, and Mean Look. Psychic was from a TM I'd brought with me to give him a solid attacking move. I considered teaching him Shadow Ball, too, but he'll eventually learn that one through level-up, so I'm not particularly worried on that front.

 

 

Starting to see the effects of my higher levels, I've recruited several new teammates as well!

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

Debate (Doduo M); Lv. 7

Item: None

Abilities: Run Away, Early Bird | Moves: Peck, Growl, Quick Attack

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

Feather (Starly F); Lv. 8

Item: None

Ability: Keen Eye | Moves: Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack

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

Protein (Machop M); Lv. 6

Item: None

Abilities: Guts, No Guard | Moves: Low Kick, Leer

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

Net (Spinarak F); Lv. 7

Item: None

Abilities: Poison Sting, String Shot, Scary Face

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

 

As for our main purpose here, we took out a few outlaws, a Staraptor, an Electivire who was waiting to ambush us, and a Solrock. These have become a total joke thanks to Powder Snow. Switching Hail to be the leader was definitely the best idea I've had.

Anyway, with these outlaws out of the way, we successfully exited the dungeon!

And now that the stores have updated, I found two keys for sale at the Kecleon Shop! Naturally, I'm gonna get both of them. I'm gonna want a decent handful of keys by the end of the game.

Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that my primary reason for going to another dungeon was a waste of time: Apparently Spinda's Cafe doesn't open up until we visit Shaymin Village! So... we're gonna have to put Shimmer Hill off for a little bit longer. It looks like we're exploring Sky Peak, first!

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

 

Shaymin Village

As we arrive, it seems there are a handful of other explorers already here! Everyone's excited about the opportunity to explore Sky Peak!

 

We're greeted at the entrance by a Shaymin and welcomed to the village! They really are cute, aren't they? And they seem really friendly to outsiders, too!

 

Naturally, Shaymin guesses that we're here to climb Sky Peak just like everyone else.

 

Apparently, these Syamin used to guide travelers up the mountain, but when an earthquake occured that destroyed the path, explorers stopped showing up. As you can imagine, it must've been quite surprising to suddenlys ee so many explorers arriving all at once!

 

When asked about the legendary treasure at the summit of the mountain, Shaymin adds that their job isn't just to escort people to the top of the mountain, but to assist them in seeking out personal discoveries!

 

After our climb, Shaymin happily offers to guide us up the mountain. Naturally, we accept the offer, and Shaymin waits for us at the entrance to the mountain up ahead, giving us a chance to look around the village!

 

The first area of interest here is Shaymin's Delivery Service, but we it doesn't seem open yet, so we'll have to let it go for now. Pelipper here I suppose is promising to do his best. Either he's an explorer, or perhaps he's trying to start delivering mail to Shaymin Village?

Speaking with Mr. Mime, we're warned that it's impossible to request a Friend Rescue on Sky Peak.

 

 

Up ahead, we find Team Frontier: These are the survey team that make Project P possible! They travel the world in search of new places to explore! Breloom warns us again that there's no chance of getting any rescue requests on the mountain, so if you get knocked out, your items will be gone! Be careful when going in with a bunch of valuables!

Another Shaymin tells us about the Gracidea flower that grows in the village and that it's very special to them. It doesn't elaborate further, but we already know why these flowers are so special, don't we?

Anyway, there's a Kangaskhan Rock we can use up ahead to prepare before taking Shaymin up on her offer.

There's even a signpost where you can contact Chimecho Assembly if necessary! It seems you've got everything you need to make a temporary settlement here!

 

Once we're prepared, we head out to begin climbing Sky Peak with Shaymin!

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

1st Station Pass

The Sky Peak Mountain Path is a fairly large dungeon that's broken into several smaller, bite-size dungeons with a lot of waypoints strewn about. If you haven't caught on by now, this entire plot thread is completely new to Explorers of Sky and doesn't exist at all in Explorers of Time and Darkness. That means all items, traps, and pokemon here are Sky-exclusive. You can almost look at it kinda like a Special Episode-exclusive dungeon! All of the dungeons on the mountain pass share the same items and traps.

In order to gain access to this dungeon, you just have to wait until the announcement of its discovery is made at Spinda's Cafe. You can't miss it. You just have to get to the dungeon from Shaymin Village.

The first thing to note about this dungeon is that you'll be exploring with Shaymin's help! That means you'll have to make room for her in your squad, but she's incredibly high level, so she's likely to be a pretty big help!

Items available throughout the dungeon include:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  Def., and  Pecha Scarves,  No-Slip Caps,  Persim,  Power,  Special,  Stamina, and  Zinc Bands,  Iron Thorns,  Gone Pebbles,  Gravelerocks,  Gravelyrocks,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Apples,  Blinker,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Eyedrop,  Heal,  Reviver,  Reviser,  Slip,  Totter, and  Via Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs,  Wander Gummis, assorted  Wonder Orbs, and  Sky Gifts.

Sky Gifts are a new item that seem to be a unique gimmick tied to this area. These items are useless on their own. Just know that it's a gift for someone else! Don't selfishly try to open it yourself or it'll be empty! I'll cover how they work once we get our hands on one.

Traps throughout the path include:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Poison,  Pokemon,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

For this first stretch of the path, there is no threat of Monster Houses.

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

1st Station Pass [1F - 3F]

Pokemon:  Ivysaur,  Metapod,  Raticate,  Weepinbell,  Bayleef,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Skuntank

None of the enemies in the beginning of the path seem aprticularly threatening. You should be able to handle them just fine.

 

Almost right away, I wound up stumbling across some Hidden Stairs! These led me to a hidden chamber with five Deluxe Boxes! What a fantastic start!

And near the end of the 1st pass, Skye reached Lv. 43 and tried to learn Take Down. I passed on it, though. While it's notably stronger than Facade, I don't like the idea of Recoil damage in a game like this. It seems to me that bulk and speed are generally more important than damage output.

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

 

After only three floors, we reach the 1st Station Clearing! Shaymin stops to explain to us that there are resting areas throughout the mountain called 1st-9th Station, with the 10th station being the summit! These stations are essentially just normal waypoints, but there are lots of other explorers around to talk to!

One of the explorers, Heracross, tells us they forgot to bring Oran Berries, so I offered to share one of mine with him.

 

Heracross is thankful for our Oran Berry, so he gives us an Escape Orb in return. I can't quite say it's the best trade I've ever made, but I'm glad to help a fellow explorer out!

 

Shaymin seems impressed and quite pleased with our generosity in helping Heracross! I suspect this is part of a larger gimmick where we'll need to help people get items they need in exchange for items. Maybe we'll get something nice for helping everyone?

 

Of course, there's a Kangaskhan Rock here to save with. After saving, it's time to continue up the mountain!

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

2nd Station Pass

As mentioned before, the items and traps are consistent throughout the whole mountain, so there's no need to cover them each time. Don't mind that this screenshot is on the 2nd floor, I just forgot to take a screenshot on the 1st is all. Anyway, other than a change of scenery, there's really nothing new here. All the pokemon are the same, too.

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

2nd Station Pass [1F - 3F]

Pokemon:  Ivysaur,  Metapod,  Raticate,  Weepinbell,  Bayleef,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Skuntank

Once again, there's really not much to say. The pokemon here are just slightly stronger than the ones on the 1st pass.

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

 

After only three more floors, we arrive at the 2nd station! At this point, climbing the mountain actually seems like it's gonna be a breeze thanks to all these stations! But to make things better, it looks like someone's set up a makeshift base here!

 

Breloom from Team Frontier explains just that to us: They've set up a base at the 2nd Station Clearing to help break the climb up into smaller sections so that people don't have to worry so much about losing their items. And since it's all funded by Project P, everything is free to use!

Shaymin is joyful at the spirit of cooperation shared by these explorers!

 

Aside from the usual features of a regular waypoint, this base comes with two special features: Drifblim's Gondola which you can use to fast-travel back to Shaymin Village, and Mawile suggests that you'll be able to travel between bases once other bases are established, and there's a Kangaskhan Rock that allows you to access your storage! With all this in mind, it seems that this essentially separates those first two passes into their own dungeon, and it's likely there's going to be more going up the mountain. To stay consistent with my one-dungeon-a-day style, I think it's fair to split this mountain up. If the game splits it up this way, I think it just makes the most sense. In the meantime, I can return back to Treasure Town by using Drifblim's Gondola to return to Shaymin Village and heading back...

This is important because, now, Spinda's Cafe is open! If I had to guess, it probably opens as soon as you first visit Shaymin Village, but at the very least, I can confirm it opens up again once you reach the 2nd station clearing.

While clearing up inventory space at the Recycle Shop, I actually wound up getting a big win with a Gold Ticket! This got me a Wonder Gummi! Not to be confused with its lookalike item, the Wander Gummi, the Wonder Gummi is an extremely powerful asset that massively boosts the IQ of the pokemon you give it to, regardless of type! Since I'm trying to play catchup with Fog right now, I decided to give the Wonder Gummi to him. Otherwise, I'd certainly give it to Skye who's going to have the hardest time building her IQ due to her type.

I also wound up getting an Egg from a Vibrava in the cafe while mixing drinks, so it looks like we might have another new party member soon!

And that's where we're gonna leave things off for now! Next time, we'll return to Sky Peak and continue climbing! Now that we've started, it doesn't make much sense to me to suddenly stop and interrupt it with an unrelated dungeon. See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 7: Sky Peak

We return to Sky Peak! Last time we reached the 2nd station and took Drifblim's Gondola back to Shaymin Village so we could take a quick trip back to Treasure Town to make use of Spinda Cafe. In order to get back to where we left off, we simply speak with Drifblim in Shaymin Village and they'll take us to the 2nd station!

 

And once we've arrived, it's time to continue down this path!

===========

3rd Station Pass

Starting from this point on along the Mountain Path, Monster Houses are a recurring threat. So you may want to come prepared for that! Once again, aside from aesthetic, the dungeon is super similar to the first two passes. Same items, same traps. I'm not gonna bother listing them every time.

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

3rd Station Pass [1F - 3F]

Pokemon:  Ivysaur,  Metapod,  Raticate,  Weepinbell,  Bayleef,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Skuntank

And yet again, we've got the same pokemon. And again, they're only slightly stronger on average. So again, there isn't too much to watch out for.

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

 

After 3 more floors, we arrive at the 3rd Station Clearing!

 

It's here that Shaymin begins to tell us about the Sky Gifts I mentioned last time. She explains them as special treasures that can only be found on Sky Peak and that they'll be empty if they're opened by the one who found it. She encourages you to give them to those who have helped you.

 

Nearby, Pachirisu happened to have overheard Shaymin's explanation and offers us a Sky Gift as thanks for saving the world.

 

Since this Sky Gift was given to us, we can open it! And inside, we got a Gold Ticket! This is a really cute idea for a treasure!

Once we're ready, it's time to get moving to the next part of the dungeon!

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

4th Station Pass

The 4th pass is the first time we'll be met by new pokemon. Other than pokemon, it's otherwise identical to the previous pass.

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

4th Station Pass [1F]

Pokemon:  Ivysaur,  Metapod,  Raticate,  Weepinbell,  Bayleef,  Hitmonchan,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Skuntank

Hitmonchan is added into the mix here. There isn't much to worry about with Hitmonchan, but you do have to watch out for some of those elemental punches!

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

4th Station Pass [2F - 3F]

Pokemon:  Ivysaur,  Metapod,  Raticate,  Weepinbell,  Bayleef,  Hitmonchan,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Skuntank,  Primeape,  Ursaring,  Bibarel

We're starting to get into some more type diversity as we go into the second floor. Primeape, Urasring, and Bibarel join the fray. Ursaring was terrifying in Rescue Team, but here, they don't seem to know Fury Swipes, so they aren't nearly as scary. But try to avoid triggering their Guts ability!

I ran into a Monster House on the 3rd floor which is where I realized one of the biggest threats I'd never considered yet: Skuntank's Memento. Memento is more than just a stat decrease like in the main series. It actually reduces your stat by 1/4. And if there are multiple Skuntank in the room, as is likely the case in a Monster House, your stats can be tanked drastically. I quickly found myself dealing damage in the single digits. And retreating wasn't easy, either, because, of course, I can't control Shaymin's tactics to tell her to turn around. God, I really hate that limitation. Normally, this would be so much easier if I could just use tactics to make my party members go the other way. Then I could step back into the hall and fight these enemies one by one. I strongly recommend using a Spurn Orb when entering a Monster House with a Skuntank.

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

 

After three floors, we reach the 4th Station Clearing! Once again, there's a temporary base set up by Team Frontier at the 4th Station Clearing! That means this'll make another good stopping point for now. We know there are 9 passes, so we're already almost halfway up the mountain!

 

But just before we're able to unwind, Octillery comes rushing in, calling for help because Sneasel is getting bullied by a strange group up ahead.

 

Team Frontier decides to respond to this by mobilizing immediately!

 

It seems that Shaymin has an idea of what might be going on, and she seems startled to make the realization! Shaymin encourages us to hurry along and bring help as well! So next time, it looks like we're gonna run ahead and help Sneasel! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 8: Carnivine

Last time we've arrived at the 4th station clearing of Sky Peak where Octillery came running, asking for help due to an explorer, Sneasel, getting into a rough spot with a group of pokemon! Shaymin seemed alarmed by this news, so we'd better hurry! Octillery explains the trouble is happening at the 5th Station Clearing, so it shouldn't be too far ahead!

Once we've made preparations at the Kangaskhan Rock, we can return to the path!

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

5th Station Pass

As per usual, there's not much to say here. This pass is very similar to the one from before. Items, Traps, and most of the pokemon are the same. Just be wary of Monster Houses, especially because of Skuntank's Memento.

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

5th Station Pass [1F - 3F]

Pokemon:  Metapod,  Ivysaur,  Raticate,  Primeape,  Weepinbell,  Hitmonchan,  Bayleef,  Ursaring,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Bibarel,  Skuntank

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

5th Station Pass [4F]

Pokemon:  Ivysaur,  Raticate,  Primeape,  Weepinbell,  Hitmonchan,  Bayleef,  Ursaring,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Bibarel,  Skuntank,  Fearow

For the first time, one of these passes stretches on for four floors instead of the usual three! It's still pretty easy to clear compared to the types of dungeons we're used to by this point, but it does mean an extra floor to potentially encounter any dangers you've been hoping to avoid.

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

 

Music: Rising Fear

After clearing four floors, we arrive at the 5th Station Clearing where we find Sneasel surrounded by Carnivine, just as Octillery Said!

 

Team Frontier is the first to arrive to help Sneasel!

We arrive shortly after Team Frontier to provide further help!

 

The Carnivine seem surprised that we've come to provide backup for Sneasel. Perhaps they thought Sneasel was alone and were looking for an easy target?

 

Mawile calls the Carnivine's cowardice out and steps up to fight them as a unit.

 

The carnivine oblige this request, but Shaymin seems to have something she wants to say! Unfortunately, she can't quite get it out in time before the battle begins.

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Spheal F); Lv. 33

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Powder Snow, Water Gun+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 43

Item:  Joy Band | Exclusive:  Eevee Card,  Evolve Charm

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand + Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 42

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Shaymin; Lv. 55

Item: None

Ability: Natural Cure | Moves: ???*

*I actually have no idea what moves Shaymin knows. Unlike Grovyle or Celebi, she hasn't had much opportunity to actually use any of her supporting moves and, since she's a guest, I don't get to actually look at her moves. I wanna say she's used Energy Ball before, but I'm not certain on that.

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

Vs. Carnivine Gang

This boss fight seems pretty staged against the enemy, actually. It's seven on five! We'll be fighting alongside Team Frontier as well as Shaymin, so even if you're poorly equipped for the fight, you probably don't have much to worry about. But I happen to also be super-well equipped thanks to Hail, so we're in for quite a bit of fun!

There's not much Hail needs to do other than just spam Powder Snow to blast all of our enemies with constant DPS from a safe range while Team Frontier takes the brunt of their attacks for us.

 

One by one, our enemies begin to fall and all that's left is one Carnivine who happens to be frozen, meaning it can't actually take any damage.

I try to have Hail relocate so she can start hitting it with Aurora Beam, but by the time she gets into position, the last Carnivine is already defeated by the many pokemon surrounding him.

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

 

After the boss fight, Shaymin suddenly shouts out to get everyone's attention!

 

Music: Guildmaster Wigglytuff

After getting everyone's attention, the Carnivine seem to respond positively to her! But she tells them off because this apparently has been an issue before as well. Apparently these Carnivine have a history of bothering explorers on the mountain and it doesn't seem they've changed their ways despite the Shaymin asking them to stop.

 

But the Carnivine insist that Sneasel was the one that started this conflict by stealing treasure they'd found!

Not only that, it looks like in the chaos of our fight, when we'd assumed he'd recovered from his injuries, Sneasel slipped away!

 

Everyone seems surprised to find out the Carnivine weren't the villains after all!

Shaymin still seems to be of the opinion that the Carnivine went too far with their retaliation, but regardless, it's clear we've gotta catch up to Sneasel now to tell him off and, maybe, get the Carnivine's treasure back!

 

After they leave, Shaymin apologizes to everyone for the Carnivine's behavior, she explains that they've claimed this territory as their own. She adds that they're normally very nice but can be a bit rough when disagreements arise. Team Frontier also returns the apology, admitting they should've heard the Carnivine out before just assuming they were in the wrong.

 

Deciding to put the incident behind us, Shaymin encourages everyone to keep climbing the mountain! We're already halfway up, after all!

Unfortunately, there's no Kangaskhan Rock here since there was a boss fight, so we'll just have to keep pressing onward without saving.

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

6th Station Pass

Here we're treated to a remix of Stormy Sea from Red and Blue Rescue Team! Our mountain climb is getting a bit more serious! Once again, same items, same traps, and pretty much the same pokemon as well. Monster Houses present.

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

6th Station Pass [1F - 3F]

Pokemon:  Ivysaur,  Raticate,  Weepinbell,  Bayleef,  Roselia,  Flygon,  Torterra,  Fearow,  Primeape,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Bibarel,  Skuntank

Added to the list of pokemon is Furret!

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

6th Station Pass [4F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Primeape,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Bibarel,  Skuntank

On the fourth floor, all of the pokemon that have been here from the beginning, except for Skuntank, are suddenly phased out! Leaving primarily a bunch of Normal and Fighting types.

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

 

After four more floors, we arrive at the 6th Station Clearing where yet another base has been built!

Unfortunately, we're also met with some unfortunate news: From this point forward, the mountain is covered in snow which apparently means these bases can't be set up anymore for the rest of the mountain. I suppose that means the rest of the mountain is going to essentially be one large dungeon broken up by 3 more waypoints with no access to storage or safe fast travel back to the village. So before setting out, you'd better make sure you're prepared for the long haul!

 

Shaymin thanks Breloom for all of his help and we look forward to meet each other at the summit! And that's exactly what we'll do next time! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 9: Ampharos

We continue our climb of Sky Peak! We're at the 6th Station Clearing now and we've been warned that there's too much snow ahead for Team Frontier to establish any more bases, which means we're probably on our own the rest of the way up. Last time, we saw that Sneasel had caused some trouble with the local Carnivine by stealing some treasure they had their eyes set on. And Sneasel has seemed a little flaky as we've spoken with him on the way up. He didn't seem to have any interst in the Sky Gifts, suggesting a treasure you can't keep for yourself is useless. It's clear Snasel isn't much of a team player after all.

Once we've made our preparations, it's time to begin the final stretch!

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

7th Station Pass

As we were warned, the 7th pass is completely covered in snow! But if you thought that meant you could expect Ice-types, well do I have news for you! You're wrong! Unfortunately, that just means you'll be dealing with more of the same Normal and Fighting types. And, of course, the threat of Skuntank's Memento, too. Once again, items and traps are the same as the lower passes and you do have to watch out for Monster Houses.

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

7th Station Pass [1F - 4F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Primeape,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Bibarel,  Skuntank

You know the drill with these guys, just keep climbing!

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

 

After four floors, we reach the 7th Station Clearing where we find Sneasel! But he's unconscious!

 

Breloom is unsure of how exactly Sneasel fainted, he suggests it might've been the cold or running out of items... I'd suspect the latter considering he's an ice type, but I suppose you never really know. But regardless, as rescues can't be organized, this situation isn't looking good for Sneasel.

 

Noticing the difficult situation, Shaymin suggests that she'll go and get help, surprising Team Frontier who, up until now, were under the impression that rescue missions were impossible!

 

Shaymin explains that there's a Rescue Expert up ahead at the 8th station clearing, so it sounds like we're gonna need to hurry our way there!

And so, it's off to the next Pass!

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

8th Station Pass

I don't know if I need to tell you that you can't expect too much different here, but you might be delighted to know that the pokemon are changing up yet again!

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

8th Station Pass [1F]

Pokemon:  Skuntank,  Fearow,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Shedinja,  Bibarel

Right away, we've got two new pokemon: Marowak and Shedinja. Definitely be wary of Marowak's Bone Rush! And watch out for Shedinja in the walls! Remember to throw Gravelerocks if you need to to kill them easily form a range!

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

8th Station Pass [2F - 4F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Shedinja,  Bibarel

After the first floor, you no longer have to deal with Skuntank!

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

 

After reaching the 8th Station Clearing, we find that the game's pulled a fast one on me! While Team Frontier can't establish any more bases, it seems that our friendly neighborhood rescue expert Ampharos already has one established in a small cave!

 

And friendly, indeed. Ampharos seems to be quite a pleasant pokemon to be around.

 

It seems Ampharos is a little disappointed they can't enjoy each other's company just yet. But for now, Ampharos must hurry back to the 7th Station Clearing to offer their help!

 

As Ampharos arrives on the scene, he's glad to say that it appears he's arrived just in time to save Sneasel! But they've gotta hurry and carry him to the 8th Station Clearing.

 

After a while has passed, Sneasel awakens in the bed at the 8th station clearing.

 

Music: Goodnight

Team Frontier explains to Sneasel what happened and how much danger he was in, but that Ampharos carried him all the way here to save him.

 

Sneasel seems surprised to find out that everyone did so much to save him for seemingly no reason at all. He tries to say something, but he still seems injured.

 

Shaymin assures him everything's okay and that he doesn't need to say anything, she urges him to just rest up for now.

 

Ampharos encourages everyone to continue making their way up the mountain. He'll stay behind and take care of Sneasel.

 

Mawile shows reluctance to just leave Sneasel behind, but Ampharos assures Team Frontier that there is nothing they can do to assist in Sneasel's recovery, so there's no point in everyone staying behind.

 

And with that, Breloom agrees and Team Frontier prepares to set out as Ampharos suggests. Likewise, we'd better prepare, too. As it turns out, the game's pulled a bit of a fast one on me. When Breloom warned that Team Frontier wouldn't be able to build any more bases along the mountain pass, I figured that meant we'd essentially just have on large stretch to the summit with no more bases in between. But as it turns out, while Team Frontier can't establish any bases, Ampharos already has a base of their own. So we can make preparations here as well! That said, we can't actually return to Shaymin Village from here since there's no Drifblim Gondola. Regardless, we still have another break where we can access storage, so I'm still going to count this as another separation between dungeons. So next time, we'll continue up to the mountain's summit! We're almost there! There shouldn't be any more interruptions going forward. See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 10: Sky Peak Summit

This should be our last time covering Sky Peak! Last time we reached the 8th Station Clearing and enlisted Ampharos's help to save Sneasel who had fainted at the 7th Station Clearing. The 9th and 10th Station Passes, however, are longer than the ones we've climbed so far. But we've shaved off so many floors thanks to the bases, there really shouldn't be too much to worry about. Without further ado, let's finish our climb of Sky Peak!

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

9th Station Pass

We're in the final stretch! Just a little bit further! As per usual, items and traps are the same throughout the mountain.

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

9th Station Pass [1F - 2F]

Pokemon:  Bibarel,  Fearow,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Shedinja

The first couple of floors feature the same selection of pokemon as the previous pass. I said last time you need to watch out for Marowak's Bone Rush, but apparently they also know Bonemerang! This is a much more dangerous attack you'll definitely need to watch out for! Much like Pin Needle, it's a ranged multi-hit move. Though it only hits twice, it can still be a painful experience for you if you don't see it coming. I also probably should've provided some warnings about Fearow's Agility, as it could potentially make things incredibly dangerous in a Monster House.

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

9th Station Pass [3F - 5F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Shedinja

Starting with the 3rd floor, however, Bibarel stops appearing. Now you're gonna have to deal with more of the mountain's heaviest hitters. There's also an additional fifth floor starting at this pass, so don't get cocky on the 4th floor!

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

 

After five floors, we arrive at the 9th Station Clearing! But this seems... rather ominous, doesn't it? I'd expect Sky Peak's Summit to be a lot... prettier than this.

And as expected, Shaymin seems to thing something is wrong, too. Perhaps we'll learn more when we get to the summit? Either way, it looks like Team Frontier has already gone ahead.

So, we should probably get going, too!

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

Sky Peak Summit Pass

We're drawing ever closer to the summit! This is the final stretch! Same items, same traps, and same threat of Monster Houses. If you've made it this far, you should be pretty set.

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

Sky Peak Summit Pass [1F - 5F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Furret,  Ursaring,  Shedinja

The pokemon don't change here, so you've got 5 floors with the hardest hitters of the mountain!

On the second floor, the weather is foggy.

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

 

After five floors, we finally arrive at the Sky Peak Summit! But... Shaymin's concerns are certainly affirmed. Something is clearly not right up here. The sumit os covered in a thick fog and everything is murky and polluted...

 

Team Frontier soon arrives behind us, it seems we were able to pass them at some point in the dungeon. But, like us, they're also surprised at the state of the mountain.

 

Music: Rising Fear

As Shaymin tries to figure out how the summit wound up in this condition, some odd voices can be heard. And before long, we find ourselves surrounded by Grimer and Muk on all sides!

 

Shaymin politely asks the Grimer and Muk to return to their home, but the intruders don't seem to believe her words.

 

It looks like there's no way out of this one but a battle!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Spheal F); Lv. 34

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Powder Snow, Water Gun+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 44

Item:  Joy Band | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 43

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Steadfast, Inner Focus | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Shaymin; Lv. 55

Item: None

Ability: Natural Cure | Moves: Natural Gift, ???

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

Vs. Muk & Grimer Squad

Much like the Carnivine before, we're surrounded by a large number of enemies! But unlike with the Carnivine, these Grimer not only aren't weak to Powder Snow, but they also outnumber us even with the help of Team Frontier!

Naturally, the only thign I can really do is let Skye provide support and Icarus go out on an all-out offensive while Hail stays safely in the center attacking all the enemies with Powder Snow! Not only do I get constant damage, but I can occasionally freeze some of the Grimer, allowing some extra breathing room for my allies. But there are a few hinderances to this strategy.

The biggest of these is Muk's Fling, which can displace my teammates by throwing them into each other! But beyond that, both Grimer and Muk have the Stench ability. I've explained how this can be annoying as far back as Waterfall Cave in the original games, but it's especially bad in a fight like this. Stench can make your teammates scatter and even restrict you from using your attacks! It's important for Skye to get some solid buffs up early so anyone can pick up the slack for anyone else's misses. If you're not prepared, this fight can actually be fairly difficult. I'd say I'm not particularly well equipped for the fight, myself. Ideally, I'd like to have a stronger room-wide attack like Blizzard. But, you can't be fully prepared for everything! And I can certainly say that I can imagine much worse situations than this one. Imagine if I didn't have any room-wide attacks at all! I shutter to think of it!

 

Anyway, like the Carnivine, these Grimer and Muk are surprisingly resilient. It took several turns before they started to drop off.

Try as I might to keep everyone alive, Shaymin unfortunately suffered a solid hit that took her out and had to be revived with a Reviver Seed.

 

But, with a little more vitality, we were able to defeat all the remaining enemies!

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

 

Upon their defeat, the Grimer begin to back down.

 

When Shaymin asks the pokemon if they've come to their senses yet, they seem surprised to realize they've been fighting against Shaymin!

 

Shaymin asks why they're here! This isn't their home!

 

But the Grimer insist that this is their home! They think so because everything is so polluted!

 

Music: Sympathy

It seems to sadden Shaymin greatly that this place is so terribly dirty, but Shaymin informs them that this is the mountain's summit.

 

The Grimer are just as shocked to hear this! It's far too dirty to be the summit they're familiar with!

 

Shaymin explains that the area must've gotten like this while nobody was watching, but kindly asks the Grimer to return to their home. The Grimer apologize, admitting they had no idea they were even on the summit at all.

 

As thanks for their cooperation, Shaymin promises to visit them with a gift! And with that, the Grimer and Muk say goodbye and disperse. But now, we've got another issue to deal with.

 

This place needs to be cleaned up! Thankfully, Shaymin seems to be the perfect pokemon for such a job! Apparently, she has a special ability to clean up the land!

 

Soon, Shaymin begins charging up her powers and starts to suck up all the dirt and grime in the area!

 

Then, after a warning, a strange power is released from Shaymin!

 

Music: Time Restored

And after the explosion, the beauty of the mountain's summit is fully restored!

 

Team Frontier is mesmerized by the beauty of the summit in its full glory.

 

With Shaymin's congratulations, it finally sinks in for everyone that they've finally reached the summit of Sky Peak!

 

Mawile draws everyone's attention to the beautiful view from the summit. It's true that this mountain seems to be taller than any others! It truly looks like you're on top of the world from here!

 

Breloom and Mawile are deeply moved by the beautiful view. Just like the fountain from the Fogbound Lake, it seems the beautiful view from this place is the legendary treasure of the mountain's summit. But unlike Fogbound Lake, there's no literal treasure in the form of a Time Gear here.

 

Shaymin returns the gratitude of Team Frontier and suggests that everyone should come again!

 

Finally, it's time to leave. And that's when both Mawile and Breloom slowly come to the realization that... they completely failed to plan for a way down the summit. Really, it doesn't seem that bad. We just need to head back down to the 6th Station Clearing and take the Gondola back.

However, it seems that Shaymin has a much better idea to get down!

 

Shaymin then explains that the flowers here are Gracidea Flowers. Of course, we know what that means. Shaymin touches one of the flowers and suddenlyt ransforms into her Sky Forme!

 

Everyone is surprised by Shaymin's sudden transformation, but suddenly it's clear how we'll get down from the mountain: Shaymin will fly us down! I'm not sure how this one, single Shaymin will carry all of us down. I suppose she'll just take her time and fly us all down one by one? Or maybe she'l lget help from Shaymin Village?

 

With that, Shaymin flies everyone back down to the base of the mountain!

 

Team Flight thanks Shaymin for the adventure, and return to Treasure Town where a party was held at Spinda's Cafe! ...Offscreen...I guess we're not interested in seeing that party, huh?

 

And the next morning, Icarus and Skye awaken at their base and discuss the recent happenings at Sky Peak! And for now, that completes our first postgame plot thread, as well as our first Sky-exclusive plot thread in the main story. Next time, we'll return to our normal daily life, and probably back to material that was present in Explorers of Time and Darkness as well. Maybe we'll find some sort of lead toward fixing the supposed distortions of space?

 

For reaching the summit of Sky Peak, we've unlocked a new feature: The Sky Jukebox! I suppose next time we can take a look at that as well, then. Though it sounds like it's just a simple sound test, it's still a nice feature to have access to!

Well, we'll just have to see what our next session brings to us next time! See you soon!

[SimonGhostRiley]

Damn, sounds really interesting!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 11: Shimmer Hill

Last time we finished our first postgame plot thread by reaching the summit of Sky Peak. Shaymin cleaned up the polluted summit and, after everyone enjoyed the beautiful view, she flew everyone back down to Shaymin Village. After we returned home, we unlocked the Sky Jukebox! So before getting into today's adventure, we're going to take a quick look at the Sky Jukebox.

 

This is exactly what you expect it to be. It's a sound test! Considering I've sung so many high praises about the game's soundtrack, it's fantastic to have the entire soundtrack listed out like this! In an era where the music couldn't so easily just be found in high quality online, I'm sure this was a wonderful way to listen to your favorite songs! I'm sure a lot of kids probably have memories of pulling out their copies of Explorers of Sky to listen to some of these songs when they're feeling emotional.

If you want to minimize spoilers, though, I recommend not scrolling too far into the page as there are many songs listed in the Jukebox we haven't heard yet. There be spoilers before us!

 

With that out of the way, it's time to return to our postgame adventure!

I while back, I accepted this mission which unlocked the dungeon Shimmer Hill. I'm digging up the old screenshot because the Wonder Mail code doesn't appear anymore after the job is opened and these new area exploration missions can't actually be suspended after they're opened.

Since that point though, we also happened across another job request that would take us to this dungeon, so we've got a couple of jobs to do here! Let's get going!

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

Shimmer Hill

The music in this dungeon changes between that of Treeshroud Forest, Crystal Cave, and Crystal Crossing.

This is another dungeon that was available in Explorers of Time and Darkness, which means we're back to formatting these dungeons to differentiate between Darkness and Time exclusive items! This dungeon is fairly similar to Midnight Forest. You can only gain access to it from a New Area Exploration mission like the one listed above, feel free to use the Wonder Mail code if you're playing along. Do note, however, that, like Midnight Forest, you'll need to be at least Bronze Rank and have graduated from the guild in order for this mission to be made available. This dungeon is notable for two major reasons. But before you go in, you're probably going to want to make sure to bring a key with you if you want access to a certain item up ahead.

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  Gold, and  Heal Ribbons,  No-Slip Caps,  Pecha Scarves,  Power,  Stamina, and  Twist Bands,  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Hunger,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Slip, and  Via Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs and  TMs.

Traps:  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Poison,  Pokemon,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky, and  Warp Traps

Worth noting if you're playing along in Explorers of Time and Darkness, there are far fewer version-exclusive traps in this dungeon! It doesn't appear you're quite as safe from the opposite version's traps here in the postgame any longer. Worth noting, however, is that SelfDestruct Traps only appear on the lower floors in Explorers of Darkness.

Throughout the dungeon, there is an everpresent threat of Monster Houses, but you can also find Hidden Stairs if luck is on your side!

                 

And once again, I'd like to call attention to Kecleon's store! Just like in Mystifying and Midnight Forest, Kecleon Shops on even-numbered floors sell special items related to evolution! These are:

 +  => 

 +  => 

Coronet Rocks used for evolving pokemon that evolve in the main series by leveling up at Mt. Coronet,

 +  => 

Frozen Rocks used for evolving Eevee into Glaceon, substituting for the requirement of leveling up near the Ice Rock in the main series,

 +  => 

Mossy Rocks used for evolving Eevee into Leafeon, substituting for the requirement of leveling up near a Moss Rock in the main series,

(M) +  => 

(F) +  => 

Dawn Stones used to evolve Male Kirlia and Female Snorunt into Gallade and Froslass respectively,

 +  => 

 +  => 

Dusk Stones used to evolve Murkrow and Misdreavus into Honchkrow and Mismagius,

 +  => 

 +  => 

Shiny Stones used to evolve Togetic and Roselia into Togekiss and Roserade,

 +  +  => 

Oval Stones which, when paired with a Sun Ribbon, allow Happiny to evolve into Chansey,

 +  +  => 

Razor Claws which, when paired with a Lunar Ribbon, allow Sneasel to evolve into Weavile,

 +  +  => 

Razor Fangs which, when paired with a Lunar Ribbon, allow Gligar to evolve into Gliscor,

 +  +  => 

Deepseascales which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Clamperl to evolve into Gorebyss,

 +  +  => 

Deepseeteeth which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Clamperl to instead evolve into Huntail,

 +  +  => 

Dragon Scales which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Seadra to evolve into Kingdra,

 +  +  => 

Upgrades which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Porygon to evolve into Porygon2,

 +  +  => 

Dubious Discs which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Porygon2 to evolve into Porygon-Z,

 +  +  => 

Electirizers which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Electabuzz to evolve into Electivire,

 +  +  => 

Magmarizers which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Magmar to evolve into Magmortar,

 +  +  => 

Protectors which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Rhyhorn to evolve into Rhyperior,

 +  +  => 

and finally Reaper Cloths which, when paired with a Link Cable, allow Dusclops to evolve into Dusknoir.

As this shop is tied to several more complex evolution items that rely on secondary items and much fewer basic evolution items, and it's harder to get to, I think it's fair to call this a "Tier 2" Evolution shop. Just like the "Tier 1" Evolution shops found in Mystifying Forest and Midnight Forest, most of these items are otherwise only available as job rewards, so you'll definitely want to keep a lookout for these shops on even floors throughout this dungeon!

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

Shimmer Hill [1F - 17F]

Pokemon:  Primeape,  Arcanine,  Rhyhorn,  Tauros,  Sentret,  Mareep,  Espeon,  Girafarig,  Ursaring,  Houndour,  Stantler,  Miltank,  Linoone,  Camerupt,  Castform,  Skuntank

There's quite an array of pokemon here! A lot of them are familiar from Sky Peak, too. The one that stood out to me th emost was Castform who can freely change the weather between Rain, Sun, and Hail and change type as a result. They aren't particularly dangerous, though. The main dangers are Primeape, Ursaring, and Arcanine. Stantler can also threaten you with Hypnosis and Miltank's Bulk can make it annoying if you find it at a bad time.

 

The weather is Cloudy on the 7th floor and Foggy on the 8th.

On the 9th floor, we found ourselves in an incredibly precarious position against our outlaw. We just happened to spawn right next to a wild Primeape who just so happens to be immediately adjacent to our client, Golem. Yikes!

 

Thankfully, with a little bit of luck, I was able to freeze Primeape with Powder Snow, allowing me to protect Golem while dealing damage to the outlaw Ekans. If worse came to worst, I could always have just used a Warp Seed to send Primeape packing. But I'm glad we were able to resolve things the old fashioned way.

And with that, we were able to retrieve Yanma's stolen Chesto Berry.

On the 10th floor, the weather was rainy.

 

On the 15th floor, you'll find a Locked Chamber with  Yellow Silk inside! Just like the Red Silk we found last time, this is an exclusive item that works for any Electric-type pokemon, boosting their Special stats by 5 each.

 

And, of course, we were able to make many new recruits for Team Flight along the way through the dungeon!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Taurus (Tauros M); Lv. 33

Item: None

Abilities: Intimidate, Anger Point | Moves: Pursuit, Rest, Payback, Zen Headbutt

A very tough and aggressive pokemon, but again, I don't really need another hard hitter when I have Icarus. Tauros is in IQ Group C with Riolu as well, so that's even more redundancy.

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

Storm (Mareep F); Lv. 17

Item: None

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

Storm is a fairly generic Electric type. And since the actual Speed stat is downplayed in favor of the separate Movement Speed stat, Mareep is probably one of the better options for Electric types out there. But I don't really see myself having too much of a need for an electric type anytime soon. Mareep is in IQ Group F with Eevee. From a certain angle, it could make sense to temporarily replace Skye with Storm, but considering upcoming dungeons will force me to use Skye, I think it's for the best to keep bumping her up as much as I can.

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

Front (Houndour M); Lv. 14

Item: None

Abilities: Early Bird, Flash Fire | Moves: Ember, Growl, Smog, Roar

This one makes me a little nostalgic for our days in Rescue Team! Poor Smoke never really got much of a chance to shine and unfortunately I don't think Front will be, either. At this point I think my team's a bit too specialized to really branch out. Besides, I don't think I'm gonna be getting a better ranged attacker than Hail anytime soon. While type diversity might be nice, I think focusing on the squad I've got going right now would be a much smarter idea. Houndour is in IQ Group C with Riolu and Tauros.

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

Fresh (Miltank F); Lv. 30

Item: None

Abilities: Thick Fat, Scrappy | Moves: Bide, Rollout, Body Slam, Zen Headbutt

Once again, from a certain angle I could see replacing Skye with Fresh. She could probably take hits better than Skye and as part of IQ Group H with Pollen, she would likely be better equipped for the support role. But again, replacing Skye isn't too much of an option when many dungeons will require me to use her.

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

 

When we finally reach the 18th floor, we're greeted by the theme of Deep Star Cave signaling the end of the dungeon! We're rewarded with a single Deluxe Box. And that completes our job with Golem! Now we can freely come back here to Shimmer Hill at any time!

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

 

As we return from our exploration, it seems we've gotten enough points to receive another promotion!

Team Flight is now a Diamond Rank exploration team! With this promotion, we see another huge spike in our storage allowance all the way to 480! We're also gifted a free Protein as well.

In Rescue Team, Diamond Rank was the second to last rank. It might seem like we're shooting up in ranks really fast, especially with how long we were in Silver Rank. But keep in mind how few missions we were doing while we were stuck in Silver Rank because of the many story interruptions. You might have caught on that this seems to be going by a little too quickly and you'd be right. Explorers of Time and Darkness added a few additional ranks and Explorers of Sky added even more! We're actually not even halfway to the highest rank right now. We've still got a lot of room to grow!

With all that out of the way, we'll have to wait and see what awaits us next time! Maybe we'll be able to find something out about the distortion of space? I would really like to progress the main plotline as soon as possible in hopes of evolving Skye and Icarus. I'm curious just how much of the postgame we'll reasonably be able to do with our evolved starter and partner... Obviously, I already know I'll have to resolve all the major conflicts and only be left with arbitrary dungeon exploration at that point, but I'm hoping there's still a sizeable chunk of the game left. Anyway, see you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 12: Blizzard Island

We continue with our postgame adventure! Last time we explored Shimmer Hill at the request of Golem. We do have one more dungeon that we can explore, but for now, I'm going to put it off until we can hopefully get at least one job there.

And speaking of which, we've managed to amass a lot of jobs in Treeshroud Forest, so that's gonna be our first order of business today.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, an egg we received a while back hatched into a Krabby! I actually forgot to check on this egg after we got back, but here it is!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Bubbles (Krabby M); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Hyper Cutter, Shell Armor | Moves: Mud Sport, Bubble, [Egg Moves]

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

 

From Croagunk, I also managed to get my hand on another  Riolu Card. Combined with the  Riolu Tail and  Valiant Rock, we can swap these tree treasures for an  Emit Ring which is a special item that allows Riolu and Lucario's Fighting attacks to hit Ghost-types with increased damage. Essentially, it's a permanent Odor Sleuth except it only effects Riolu and Lucario's attacks. This is the rarest exclusive item for Riolu but, in all honestly, I don't think it's worth the trade. Between the Riolu Card, Riolu Tail, and Valiant Rock, Icarus is essentially 6 levels higher. Granted, that does mean it takes up 3 item slots instead of 1, but until I get more repeats of these lower-tier exclusive items, I'm gonna hold onto the buffs I'm currently getting.

From the lottery, I also got a  Scope Lens! This is a very useful held item I'll be giving to Icarus to potentially increase his DPS even more!

Without our preparations made, we head out for Treeshroud Forest to do some missions!

 

Now, I didn't actually notice when I first accepted the job, but one of these missions is a joint effort with Magnezone! He wishes to assist in the arrest of Mismagius. I didn't know this sort of outlaw mission existed. It's essentially a hybrid escort mission. But instead of escorting your client to a friend in a dungeon, you're escorting an officer to an outlaw for their immediate arrest. Unfortunately, that means yet another day where Fog will just have to sit things out.

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

 

Right away, I swapped some held items around, giving the Scope Lens to Icarus and the Lime Bow to Skye.

 

We rescued Illumise and found a lost Blast Seed,

 

On the 14th floor, we found the outlaw whose arrest Magnezone wanted to personally attend to. After completing the mission, he thanks us for our cooperation and exits the dungeon, leaving us alone for the rest of the dungeon.

 

Of course, we dealt with Magmar's monster house. This was where I realized that, thank god, Vespiquen's Pressure doesn't stack in Monster Houses. Even if there are several pokemon with Pressure in the room, the PP consumption for Powder Snow is only decreased by 2 each use, not 1 for each Pressure Pokemon it hits. In hindsight, I suppose that makes sense since the Pressure Ability only doubles PP consumption and doesn't actively decrease PP itself.

 

Moving right along, we arrested Gliscor on 17F in another Monster House.

Here, Hail reached Lv. 37 and tried to learn Rest. I didn't learn it, though, because I'm not entirely sure how Rest interacts with the Insomniscope. I doubt it would allow you to heal without falling asleep. If I had to guess, it would just outright fail if you try to use it since you can't fall asleep. Regardless, I'm not really a fan of Rest in these games anyway. I feel like if I'm safe enough to be able to use a move like Rest, I'm probably safe enough to be able to just wait for natural healing. In a pinch, I'd rather use an Oran Berry.

 

Anyway, our final task was to arrest Steelix. And I was surprised to find that this seems to be more of an organized gang. It seems Big Boss outlaws are another variant of Outlaw mission in which you'll be dealing with exceptionally tough outlaws with squadrons of strategically placed henchmen rather than generic Monster Houses with random enemies strewn about. Here, there were seven Geodude surrounding us and an eighth that just kind of awkwardly hid behind a tree the entire time. It went down before ever actually being able to do anything, so I'm not entirely sure what its purpose was.

Anyway, this fight was actually fairly scary because Steelix has Rock Polish to rapidly boost its movement speed! Before I knew it, it was already in my face. But even still, the typical boss strats worked just as well as they always have once it was just down to us and Steelix.

 

And it didn't take long at all for Big Boss Steelix to go down!

And that's that for the dungeon! I'm pretty sure that's the most missions we've done at a time in Explorers yet! That's some major progress toward our next rank up already!

In the end, we inspired Volbeat to join our team!

===========

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Volt (Volbeat M); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Illuminate, Swarm | Moves: Flash, Tackle

===========

 

And, sur eenough, we'd gained so many points from this exploration that we've already jumped the shortlived Diamond Rank to Super Rank! With this, we gain even more storage space and a Calcium!

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

While I was exploring Treeshroud Forest, I had intended to teach Hail Surf, but realized the hard way that HMs actually do work the same way they did in Rescue Team. They're infinitely reusable but, as a balancing measure, they can't be used in dungeons. While regular TMs can't be used outside of dungeons, it turns out HMs actually can. So, I went ahead and taught Surf to Hail. This is a much stronger attack than Water Gun and will hopefully help to pick off enemies that manage to surprise her up close--it would've been very handy to have against Steelix, for example.

 

Outside of Spinda Cafe, I spoke with Mr. Mime and he began telling me about a famous explorer called Scizor with exceptional talent. But in spite of his legendary skill as an explorer, he went missing while exploring Blizzard Island in the southwest... curious... Apparently many have tried to rescue him, but were always turned away by the bitter cold of the area. It is said that he was after another legendary treasure when he went for Blizzard Island. After many years of rescue attempts being called off, people have stopped trying.

 

But it seems that Mr. Mime suspects we just might be able to do it since we were able to save the world. Either way, the promise of treasure definitely seems like something that we'll want to look into!

 

And with that, Mr. Mime shows us the location of Blizzard Island to the southwest! If you recall, the Frozen Island we visited In the Future of Darkness was once called Blizzard Island. So it looks like we'll now be exploring this area from the present!

With our preparations made, it's time to begin our next postgame plot thread!

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

Blizzard Island

Where Sky Peak was our first post-graduation plot thread in this story, if you're playing along with Explorers of Time and Darkness, this will be your first post-graduation plot thread. In order to unlock this dungeon, you'll first need to hear about Scizor from Mr. Mime. In Sky, you'll find him outside Spinda's Cafe like I did. But in Time and Darkness, he'll instead by found by the Kecleon Shop. He'll only tell you about Scizor after you've graduated from the guild. If he isn't there or isn't telling you about Scizor yet, don't worry too much. Just do a few missions from the bulletin boards and he'll appear after a few days pass.

The music in this dungeon was already playing in a dungeon we've already explored, but it's still really nice! It's a medley of various dungeon themes from Rescue Team including Mt. Freeze Peak, Sky Tower, Mt. Thunder, and Thunderwave Cave. Hearing all these songs, especially Sky Tower, kick in, really reminds you of how far we've come and just how many Mystery Dungeons we've explored when we factor in Rescue Team. It's kinda empowering. We've been through so much already, of course we can handle anything this game can throw at us!

Items:  Poke,  Insomniscopes,  Scope Lenses,  Curve,  Detect,  Patsy,  Persim,  Power,  Racket,  Stamina, and  Twist Bands,  Gold, and  Joy Ribbons,   Pecha,  Sneak, and  Warp Scarves,  Geo and  Gone Pebbles,  Gravelerocks,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Heal,  Reviser,  Sleep,  Slip,  Stun,  Totter,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs.

Exclusive to Time only here are the TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill Swap, and  Stone Edge. There are no Darkness-exclusive items.

There are quite a few new items here, so let's start going over them, shall we?

 Curve Band

First is the Curve Band which allows hurled Thorns and Spikes to bounce off of walls. In general, it's not a very useful held item when you could be using a number of much more powerful items, and I believe it can even put you at risk of damaging yourself. Still, there are some satisfying trick shots you can make by hitting specific enemies with well-placed rebound shots.

 Detect Band

The Detect Band increases your evasion. It's great to slip onto low-level pokemon you're trying to train up. But its name is a bit misleading, they aren't going to be totally safe from attack or anything like the move Detect.

 Patsy Band

The Patsy Band is an extremely situational held item that increases your opponent's chances of hitting you with a critical hit. There are some niche strageties you can take advantage of this with, such as with Endure+Counter Builds, but in general this thing just puts you in terrible danger of getting killed by random crits. I always prefer to take the initiative with the damage rather than rely on my opponent to make stupid decisions, so this item seems rather useless to me.

 Racket Band

The Racket Band instantly wakes up any pokemon that were sleeping when you entered the room. It can be helpful for attracting enemies to you so that you don't have to cross the room if you want to kill them while looking for Exp or Treasure Boxes, but it can also get you into some unfortunate situations with some of the more dangerous items. In general, I don't think it's worth it since you're better off just getting the jump on that sleeping enemy most of the time. You might think the Racket Band would have the additional benefit of keeping your team from falling asleep but that's not the case. It only wakes up pokemon that are already asleep when you enter the room. Other than that, it's useless.

 Sneak Ribbon

The Sneak Ribbon is the opposite of the Racket Band. It will make it so that you can't wake up sleeping pokemon just by stepping next to them. Just be wary that this applies only to the pokemon with the Sneak Ribbon equipped. If any of your teammates step near it, it'll still wake up as normal. You can use this to slip right by a sleeping pokemon that's near an item, or potentially to slip through to a hallway peacefully.

 Warp Scarf

The Warp Scarf is an incredibly powerful item disguised as a really frustrating one. Every few steps, the equipped pokemon will warp to a random tile! As long as you remember to equip and uniquip it to suit the situation, it can allow you to skip entire floors effortlessly. In Rescue Team, this item was even more useful since you could often switch leaders to keep any party pokemon safe while warping around with another pokemon. Here in Explorers, I recommend going into a dungeon alone if you want to use the Warp Scarf strategy to prevent your brain-dead AI partners from getting themselves killed.

Traps:  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Pokemon,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky, and  Warp Traps.

Worth noting, all traps are present here in all versions. Also note the absence of the Poison and Trip Traps that are usually present. You can tell these dungeons are starting to get serious, but we all know we haven't seen anything yet.

The threat of Monster Houses persists throughout the dungeon, so be wary as you progress and bring relevant items. There are no locked chambers to worry about, so don't worry about bringing any keys with you.

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

Blizzard Island [1F - 9F]

Pokemon:  Golduck,  Marill,  Azumarill,  Sneasel,  Piloswine,  Delibird,  Smoochum,  Vigoroth,  Azurill,  Nosepass,  Swablu,  Snorunt,  Piplup

I wasn't kidding when I said this dungeon is where the game starts to get serious. While some of these pokemon are total pushovers, some of them are incredibly powerful! In particular, Golduck's Fury Swipes is something you've gotta be especially careful of. Delibird's Present has a small chance to heal you, but also a small chance to outright destroy you, and don't ever underestimate the sheer power of Vigoroth's STAB Slash. These pokemon are at levels that rival Skye and Icarus, so Hail especially needs to tread carefully.

On the 4th floor, the weather is Snowy! This actually proves to be fairly annoying since Hail is now faster than everyone else in the squad. I have to constantly stop and wait to prevent my teammates getting lost.

 

Also on this floor, Fog reached Lv. 12 and tried to learn Curse. While I'm sure that could get some use, I don't find stall tactics to work very well in a game like this. I generally find that layering strong attacks onto the enemy generally yields much higher DPS than wasting a turn to set up damage-dealing statuses like Curse or Toxic. Then again, I do believe Curse is one of the most powerful of these damage-dealing statuses...

Oh, and I also got a new recruit on this floor, too! Quite an eventful floor!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Drizzle (Piplup F); Lv. 5

Item: None

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Pound, Growl

It's kinda like having Pep join Team Flight! How sweet! I could headcanon that maybe Drizzle is Pep's sister or something, but ultimately she probably won't be doing much here. Unlike Pep, though, this Piplup can actually evolve, though. So that's a plus.

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

Blizzard Island [10F - 20F]

Pokemon:  Golduck,  Marill,  Azumarill,  Sneasel,  Piloswine,  Delibird,  Smoochum,  Vigoroth,  Azurill,  Nosepass,  Swablu,  Snorunt,  Piplup,  Castform

Starting on the 10th floor, you can begin running into Castform! Don't be deceived by their small appearance! Their Weather Ball can do a ton of damage and is very likely to be super effective since they can freely change the weather, and it will always be STAB, too. If you're in a large room with this little guy, he just might ruin your day with one well-placed attack and a lucky shot. Make sure you're not lined up with it and use items if you have to!

On the 12th floor, Fog reached Lv. 15 and tried to learn the move Night Shade! 

Unfortunately, a few floors out from the end of the dungeon, Skye got KO'd by a Golduck. I ran out of Reviver Seeds due to various unexpected deaths, so she had to return home. Let me just say that the Run Away ability is an incredibly annoying detriment and just another reason I can't wait to be able to evolve Skye.

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

 

As we reach the end of the dungeon, we arrive at the entrance to a new one! This place seems to bear a resemblance to the crevice Grovyle and Dusknoir sought shelter in after fighting Mamoswine and the Glalie. Perhaps something that happened during the planet's paralysis caused this cave to be sealed up? It's entirely possible there is no relevance to this similarity, though. There's a Kangaskhan Rock nearby to prepare for the next dungeon.

The location of the new dungeon, Crevice Cave, is also added to our map, so I suppose we can start a new exploration from here as well if we need to turn back! And... yeah, even if only to get Skye back, I should probably turn back real quick.

But next time, it looks like we're going to continue exploring Blizzard Island by venturing into Crevice Cave! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 13: The Legendary Explorer Scizor

We continue with our search for Scizor, the Legendary Explorer who went missing long ago while exploring Blizzard Island. Our adventure brought us across Blizzard Island and to the entrance to a new dungeon: Crevice Cave. However, for now, we're going to be turning around and heading back to Sharpedo Bluff because Skye ended up getting KO'd in the previous dungeon.

But after returning home and making some preparations, we decide to move right along to Crevice Cave! Thankfully, we can leave right for it without having to go through Blizzard Island again.

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

Crevice Cave

This dungeon is another that plays several different songs. The songs that play include In the Nightmare, Mt. Travail (a place we've yet to explore), Foggy Forest, and Quicksand Pit.

This is another dungeon with a gimmick similar to Mystyfing Forest. The pokemon you encounter on each floor are chosen randomly from a larger pool.

Items:  Poke,  Def. Scarves,  Power,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,   Gone Pebbles,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  Apples,  Black,  Blue,  Brown,  Clear,  Gold,  Grass,  Gray,  Green,  Orange,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal,  Silver,  Sky,  White,  Yellow, and  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Pure,  Quick,  Reviser,  Slip,  Sleep,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixir, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

The items available here seem to correlate to main story dungeons... I have to wonder if maybe this dungeon was originally conceptualized as one?

Traps:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimer,  Gust,  Mud,  Poison,  Pokemon,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky,  Summon,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

Monster Houses are a present threat throughout the dungeon as well.

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

Crevice Cave [B1F - B10F]

Pokemon:  Golduck,  Jynx,  Marill,  Azumarill,  Sneasel,  Swinub,  Piloswine,  Delibird,  Smoochum,  Slakoth,  Vigoroth,  Slaking,  Azurill,  Nosepass,  Swablu,  Altaria,  Zangoose,  Snorunt,  Piplup,  Prinplup,  Empoleon,  Snover,  Weavile,  Glaceon,  Mamoswine

Every floor, 14 of the above pokemon will be chosen at random. Some pokemon to watch out for: Of course, all the pokemon that were dangerous before are still dangerous now. As are any evolutions such as Jynx and Slaking. If it begins hailing at any point, you can expect to find Snover.

 

On Floors B3, B6, and B10, the weather is Foggy.

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

Music: Welcome to the World of Pokemon!

After 10 floors, you'll arrive at the Waypoint! That means we must be nearing the end of the dungeon, and also a boss fight... We'd better be prepared!

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

Lower Crevice Cave

The music down here is the same as the upper floors. And same with items, traps, and the threat of Monster Houses.

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

Lower Crevice Cave [B1F - B4F]

Pokemon:  Golduck,  Jynx,  Marill,  Azumarill,  Sneasel,  Swinub,  Piloswine,  Delibird,  Smoochum,  Slakoth,  Vigoroth,  Slaking,  Azurill,  Nosepass,  Swablu,  Altaria,  Zangoose,  Snorunt,  Piplup,  Prinplup,  Empoleon,  Snover,  Weavile,  Glaceon,  Mamoswine

The pokemon that can be found down here are the same as above as well. Once agian, only 14 different pokemon can appear.

In a bit of a lapse of judgment, I ended up deleting Fog's Hypnosis for Confuse Ray when he tried to learn it. They both have some advantages, but Hypnosis actually is more useful for boss fights because it actively stops bosses from attacking.

 

And while exploring the second floor, I ran into this incredibly awkward experience where there were two traps that essentially extended the hallway here. This was really awkward to navigate. In Rescue Team, I'd be able to just have everybody wait in place then take control of each pokemon and navigate them through manually. But as that's not an option here, the only alternative was to just turn on and off everyone's ability to follow while being extra careful to make sure they don't end up stepping to the side and hitting that Warp Trap. Eventually, I was able to get everyone through but it took a lot of floundering. And I was forced to step on the Wonder Tile with a few pokemon undoing some buffs from Skye's Helping Hand. Man I really miss the ability to just change leaders mid-dungeon.

On the 3rd floor, I recruited a new teammate!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Cold (Sneasel M); Lv. 14

Item: None

Ability: Inner Focus, Keen Eye | Moves: Taunt, Quick Attack, Screech, Faint Attack

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

 

Crevice Cave Pit

When we arrive at the pit of Crevice Cave, the area is ominously quiet, there isn't even any music playing. But we find Scizor! He's frozen at the far end of the chamber! But as we approach, a cold wind blows through the cave!

 

A voice suddenly begins to speak up before a mysterious figure appears before us: Froslass.

 

 

Froslass introduces herself as a host to anyone who wanders in here. She briefly seems concerned for us having endured the harsh blizzards of the island, but then things turn hostile when she threatens us with the same fate as Scizor! We're treated to a special boss transition with the blizzard piling up before the fight begins!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Spheal F); Lv. 39

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Powder Snow, Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 46

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail,  Valiant Rock

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 47

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Eevee Card,  Evolve Charm

Abilities: Adaptability, Run Away | Moves: Sand-Attack+Helping Hand, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 20

Item:  Detect Band

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Fire Punch, Psychic, Night Shade, Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Froslass

Thus begins our boss fight with Froslass! It's... actually a bit of a joke. I was worried she might blast us with Blizzard from a range or something, but she never even ended up using Blizzard, so in the end I'm not really sure what the deal was.

 

She opened up by using Hail to get some gradual damage on us over time. But eventually Fog wound up confusing her and causing her to attack in the wrong directions. All the while, everyone started to wail on her in the usual manner. Skye spammed Sand-Attack and Helping Hand, Fog would use Fire Punch, Icarus Bites, and Hail was spamming Surf and Defense Curl.

In the end, Froslass went down putting up very little of a fight at all.

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

 

As soon as she's defeated, Froslass disappears into the icy winds and the ice trapping Scizor slowly begins to crack!

Music: In the Depths of the Pit

 

It takes a moment for Scizor to get his bearings, but he eventually recalls getting bested by Froslass and realizes that we must've come to rescue him! After an apology, we all return home with him!

===========

Music: Treasure Town

When we return to Treasure Town, Scizor seems extremely grateful for our rescue, admitting that if it wasn't for us, he likely would've remained frozen forever. Even still, he's surprised to find that decades had passed since his he was trapped, so eveything must feel completely different!

 

Unfortunately, Scizor confesses he now feels alone in an alien world and doesn't have a single Poke. Icarus happily accepts his gratitude as enough.

 

Scizor explains to us that he's actually a member of the Pokemon Exploration Team Federation!

 

As it turns out, being a member of the Exploration Team Federation means that he has the authority to bestow a special promotion to exploration teams that are held in high regard. To that end, Scizor has found a suitable reward for Team Flight: The Secret Rank!

 

With this rank, Scizor elaborates that we'll be able to take on secret, Special Missions, assigned directly from the Federation itself... I wonder just what kinds of jobs these will be?  It seems like we'll find out about them eventually...

And with that, the Secret Rank mark is added to our badge! This special star doesn't mean much for now. It's not so much a separate rank as it is a secret secondary title that grants us the special permissions Scizor had just described. Unfortunately, it doesn't earn us any extra storage space, inventory space, or immediate rewards like a typical rank up. For all functional purposes, we're still a Super Rank Exploration Team.

 

And with that, Scizor thanks us once again and then takes his leave. Icarus seems a bit confused about all of this, but at least we were able to save the legendary explorer Scizor! That's exciting in its own right, right? Just another W for Team Flight!

And that's where things are going to be left off tonight. Next time, it's back to the drawing board! If nothing else comes up, we still have Oran Forest to explore. But we'll have to wait and see what happens! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 14: Oran Forest

We continue with out postgame adventure! Last time, we rescued the legendary explorer Scizor from the depths of Crevice Cave on Blizzard Island. When we returned, it turned out hew as a member of the Exploration Team Federation and bestowed upon us a special Secret Rank with the promise that we'd be able to accept "Special Missions." He didn't elaborate much on what exactly these Special Missions were other than the fact that they'd come directly from the Federation. He explains that in due time we'd understand. Until then, we're in the dark.

 

 

I decided to ask around in the guild, but not even Chatot or Wigglytuff seem to know anything about this "Secret Rank." How strange.

Regardless, back to my preparations, I fixed my mistake from before and gave Fog Hypnosis back over Confuse Ray. I think it's generally a lot more useful.

 

Moving right along, there is one more dungeon, besides the Zero Isle dungeons, that we have unlocked: Oran Forest. I believe I unlocked this dungeon back in Explorers of Darkness but never actually explored it. Today, we got not one, but two missions there. They're low-level, meaning not much in the way of rewards, but the main point is to explore a new dungeon. So, let's get going!

===========

Oran Forest

The music in this dungeon is that of Blizzard Island. Oh, and this dungeon is a total joke compared to what we're used to. To be fair, we did take quite a while to get to it, but I'd like to remind you that we naturally unlocked this dungeon after the point of no return at Crystal Crossing. I don't think the wait made it any easier. I suppose I should've brought some other pokemon and let Fog be the leader?

To unlock this dungeon, you just have to advance Project P which means recycling a bunch of items! It takes recycling 60 items before Oran Forest becomes available.

Regardless, this is essentially a miniature version of Apple Woods with significantly lower-level enemies. And when I say low-level I mean the type of pokemon you'd see near the beginning of the game. Waterfall Cave is scarier than this place.

Items:  Oran Berries,  Apples,  Max Elixirs

Item-wise, it seems this dungeon is intended to be really easy with how little variety of items there are to reward you. It's all basic necessities. I suppose this is intended to just be a place to go to restock on basic necessities if you find yourself running low? You'd probably wanna go to a place that offers Reviver Seeds, though.

Anyway, to match the easy difficulty of this dungeon, there are no Monster Houses. Not that a Monster House would be particularly scary here. There also aren't any Traps! So this is certainly the most basic dungeon we've had in a while.

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

Oran Forest [1F - 4F]

Pokemon:  Caterpie,  Oddish,  Hoppip,  Wurmple,  Starly,  Budew,  Burmy (Trash Cloak)

As mentioned above, all of the pokemon are really low-level, around Lv. 10. So you can just slap 'em around with ease. None of these pokemon are particularly difficult or even capable of attacking you before going down. Especially in such a short dungeon, you're not even likely to run out of PP.

 

On the second and third floors, the weather is Foggy!

 

And it was on the 3rd floor where we also had to track down the thief Alakazam! ...But I didn't consider before starting this that Alakazam knows Teleport to warp away, making him incredibly difficult to track down for an arrest. He just warped away before I was able to spot him. And if you don't catch up to him in time, he'll disappear and the mission will be a failure. That's rough.

Thankfully, I was able to snipe him across a large room with Aurora Beam as he tried to make a getaway through a nearby hallway.

With that, we'd recovered Snubbull's stolen Radar Orb from Alakazam before he was able to get away!

And on the fourth floor, I rescued Kirlia!

 

Throughout this dungeon, we also got a handful of new recruits!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Dew (Caterpie M); Lv. 10

Item: None

Ability: Shield Dust | Moves: Tackle, String Shot

I can't say I'm super interested in using a Caterpie, or its evolutions, but hey, a new friend is a new friend.

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

Litter (Burmy F); Lv. 11

Item: None

Ability: Shed Skin | Moves: Protect, Tackle

And neither Burmy nor Wormadam are particularly exciting to me, either. But at least the Steel typing of Trash Cloak Wormadam is arguably the best defensively.

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

Music: Deep Star Cave

On the final floor, there are two Deluxe Boxes with standard prizes in them.

 

And that's the end of the dungeon! Yeah, really straight-forward. But I'd honestly rather walk-in-the-park dungeons like this to the obnoxiously difficult late-game ones. There's definitely gonna be a good handful of these really easy dungeons sprinkled in throughout the postgame. But this one in particular isn't actually a postgame dungeon to be fair, it is accessible during the main story, we just didn't get around to it before getting locked into the Hidden Land thread.

Anyway, that's where we're leaving things off! I know, it's a short update, but we're coming along swimmingly! Next time, we're in the dark with what's gonna happen. Who knows? Maybe we'll get one of those Special Missions? See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 15: Manaphy

We continue with our postgame adventure! Last time we explored Oran Forest. There wasn't much special going on there and now we're finally out of new dungeons to explore which means our priority today will be to find a new place to go!

 

At the crossroads, we run into Corphish who tells us Sunflora's been talking really excitedly about a place called the Surrounded Sea. It's seeming like this place at the crossroads is going to be the place to go to get information about new plot threads, so when I don't know where else to go, I guess this is the first place to check, huh? Anyway, it seems like we're going to want to pay a visit with Sunflora soon. But for now, I want to do some missions.

Our missions today are going to bring us to Brine Cave! Among these new missions is a Golden Chamber mission which... apparently I didn't take a screenshot of the job before doing it. But essentially, the mission is a standard escort mission where you escort your client to a specified floor in the dungeon. If you manage to do it successfully, the given floor will be a special type of floor called a Golden Chamber. These types of missions only begin to appear after graduation and only once you've reached the Diamond Rank.

 

Music: Beyond the Dream

Golden Chambers will only appear while one of these jobs are active and your client is still in your squad. I'm not certain if the client has to be in your squad or if you can still find the chamber even if your client is KO'd, but I'd suspect not. It seems like your client knows the secret of getting to the Golden Chamber.

Anyway, the Golden Chamber replaces an entire floor of the dungeon with a special layout that is always the same. You'll want to make sure your leader is capable of crossing the water in the center, either thanks to their species, IQ skill, or the use of an item.

This is because, at the center of the room is a small isolated island surrounded by narrow streams through solid walls. You'll need to cross through the water or the walls in order to get to it. On this island are two  Deluxe Boxes. And, when opened at Xatu's Appraisal Shop, these Boxes will hold some incredibly worth-while items.

Inside a Deluxe Boxes from Golden Chambers can be:  Gold and  Sun Ribbons,  Sitrus Berries,  Golden Seeds,  Golden Apples,  Gold Gummis,  Sun Stones, and  Lost Loot

Gold Ribbons, Gold Gummis, and Golden Apples are perhaps the least exciting items you could get from these, though Golden Apples do still have a decently solid use. It's just very temporary comapred to what the other items can do for you.

 Golden Apples

Golden Apples restore your bully fully no matter what when eaten. And expands your maximum belly by 50 for the duration of the dungeon you're in. 

 Golden Seed

The Golden Seed is five Joy Seeds in one! That's right, it increases your level by 5! This can save you a ton of grinding for evolution or learning a particular move. Try to get the most out of it by using it to level a pokemon up at a really high level. After all, it takes exponentially more Exp to level up each time.

 Lost Loot

Lost Loot has no objective value. It's essentially just a bunch of treasure that can be sold for a lot of money! That might not sound very exciting, but money is something you do want a lot of in these games to stay on top of valuable TMs and Keys.

 Sun Ribbon

The Sun Ribbon is an evolution item that replaces the requirement of daytime for evolution in the main series. It usually needs to be paired with IQ of a certain threshold.

 (100 IQ) +  -> 

 (100 IQ) +  -> 

 (100 IQ) +  -> 

Eevee, Budew, and Riolu can evolve into Espeon, Roselia, and Lucario respectively at 100 IQ with the help of a Sun Ribbon. The first IQ Skill Eevee learns after 100 IQ is Type Advantage Master at 105 IQ. Riolu and Budew both learn Brick-Tough at exactly 100 IQ. Considering Roselia isn't a particularly rare pokemon nor does it have a negative recruitment rate, I really wouldn't recommend using a Sun Ribbon on Budew unless you've already invested a ton of resources into one or you just have a spare Sun Ribbon. Even then, you've still gotta invest a significant handful of gummis to get Budew to 100 IQ, so I'm still not sure it's worth it.

As you can see, Skye and Icarus, and though I don't intend to use her anymore, Pollen also all benefit from the Sun Ribbon. It's always good to have a lot of options!

 +  +  -> 

Likewise, Happiny requires a Sun Ribbon alongside an Oval Stone to evolve into Chansey. So look into that one, too!

Outside of Golden Chambers, Sun Ribbons and Sun Stones can still be obtained as job rewards or even from Kecleon Shops in select dungeons, but if you need one, you want as many chances to find them as you can get!

 

Finally, once you're done exploring the Golden Chamber, make your way to the stairs to return to the dungeon. This will complete the mission and your client will leave the dungeon!

 

As for the rest of the dungeon, we took out a very unfortunately placed Fleeing Graveler who didn't stand a chance, and a Glaceon who also couldn't do much at all to stand up to us.

And that was it for our missions!

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

As a reward for capturing Glaceon, we were rewarded with a  Metal Coat!

 +  +  -> 

 +  +  -> 

When paired with a Link Cable, the Metal Coat allows Onix to evolve into Steelix and Scyther to evolve into Scizor.

I opened my Deluxe Boxes to find a  Sitrus Berry and  Sun Ribbon! Nice! Now we should be able to evolve Icarus once he's able to use the Luminous Spring!

 

I decided it's now time to ask Sunflora about this Surrounded Sea she's been excited about. She tells us it's an uncharted part of the ocean to the south that's been encased in ice for thousands of years. But there's recently been a break in the ice that makes it possible to explore!

 

More than that, apparently, all the ocean currents in the world pass through the Surrounded Sea, meaning lots of rare treasures are carried there, too! Uncharted territory with lots of treasure? It all sounds like an exciting adventure to me! What could be awaiting us at the Surrounded Sea? We'll just have to... Sea for our-shells!

With that, Sunflora marks the location of Surrounded Sea on our map. It's east of Blizzard Island. It shouldn't be too hard to get to at all!

So with that, it's time to make preparations and set out for the Surrounded Sea!

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

Surrounded Sea

We've heard this song a few times now, but this is the dungeon it's named after! Anyway, this is our next serious post-game story dungeon as as you'd probably expect, there's some scary floors you'll need to watch out for. But in general, I found myself having fewer issues in this dungeon.

Unlocking this dungeon requires having rescued Scizor from Crevice Cave and then hearing about Surrounded Sea from Sunflora. You'll know Sunflora is ready when Corphish appears at the crossroads. He appeared in the same place as Mr. Mime who told us about Blizzard Island, so I suspect in Explorers of Time and Darkness he'll also appear in the same place as Mr. Mime in front of the Kecleon Market again.

Items:  Poke,  Def., Pass,  Sneak and Scarves,  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip and  No-Stick Caps,  Racket,  Special,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Gaggle Specs,  Gone Pebbles,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  Iron Thorns,  Silver Spikes,  Apples,  Big Apples,  Blue,  Brown,  Grass,  Green,  Orange,  Silver,  Sky,  White,  Black,  Clear,  Gold,  Gray,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal,  Yellow, and  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough, Dropeye,  Eyedrop,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs.

The TMs for  Skill Swap and  Stone Edge are exclusive to Explorers of Time only here.

Traps:  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  Poison,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky, and  Warp Traps.

Monster Houses are present starting from the fourth floor on.

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

Surrounded Sea [B1F - B5F]

Pokemon:  Shellder,  Carvanha,  Wailmer,  Slowbro,  Tentacruel,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Kingdra,  Clamperl,  Finneon

What can I say that hasn't been said? There's lots of Water pokemon down here. Water Pokemon tend ot have ranged attacks like BubbleBeam and Hydro Pump. Just be wary when approaching these guys and try to take them out from a range when you can. Just like Blizzard Island and Crevice Cave, the pokemon here are pretty tough so you want to play it safe when fighting them off. But also just like those dungeons, some of these pokemon are significantly weaker than the others. Shellder, for example, is only Lv. 1 here. In particular, you'll want to be especially careful around Kingdra who knows Hydro Pump.

Starting on B4F, the threat of Monster Houses begin and persist for the rest of the dungeon.

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

Surrounded Sea [B6F - B9F]

Pokemon:  Carvanha,  Wailmer,  Slowbro,  Tentacruel,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Kingdra,  Clamperl,  Finneon

After the fifth floor, Shellder no longer appears.

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

Surrounded Sea [B10F - B14F]

Pokemon:  Carvanha,  Wailmer,  Slowbro,  Tentacruel,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Kingdra,  Clamperl,  Finneon,  Lapras

Starting on the 10th floor, you start to enter Lapras territory. Just like in Rescue Team, this means Perish Song is at play. And unlike Jynx and Smoochum, Lapras doesn't go down so easily. Be very careful around them!

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

Surrounded Sea [B15F]

Pokemon:  Wailmer,  Slowbro,  Tentacruel,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Kingdra,  Clamperl,  Finneon,  Lapras

On the 15th floor, Carvanha no longer appears.

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

Surrounded Sea [B16F]

Pokemon:  Slowbro,  Tentacruel,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Kingdra,  Clamperl,  Finneon,  Wailord

On the 16th floor, you're free from Lapras territory and Wailmer also no longer appears in favor of its massive evolution Wailord!

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

Surrounded Sea [B17F - B19F]

Pokemon:  Slowbro,  Tentacruel,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Kingdra,  Clamperl,  Finneon

The Wailord are very shortlived, only appearing on the 16th floor and immediately disappearing.

On the 19th floor, I got a new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Twinkle (Clamperl M); Lv. 15

Item: None

Ability: Shell Armor | Moves: Clamp, Iron Defense, Water Gun, Whirlpool

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

Music: Deep Star Cave

On the 20th floor, it's three more  Deluxe Boxes! Each of these will contain a  Reviver Seed.

But more importantly, there's one more item you're probably more interested in your first time through this dungeon.

 

At the far end of the room is a  Wonder Egg. It looks pretty familiar, doesn't it? At least, to us. Nobody in this game's world seems to recognize it. For now, all we can do is just pick the egg up and carry it with us. Maybe someone at home will know something about it?

 

Once we're done, we step on the Warp Zone at the end to exit the dungeon!

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

The next morning, we find that Icarus and Sky have set the egg in the bed that Grovyle used before.

 

Icarus begins to question what the strange egg is and mentions that it's glowing with a mystical light.

But as we talk, the Wonder Egg begins to move!

 

Soon, it's clear the egg is about to hatch!

And from the egg, a new pokemon appears!

 

The pokemon is really cute! It's like a little baby and it seems really excited!

 

Icarus tries to ask what kind of pokemon it is, but the pokemon doesn't seem to understand the question. It is newborn, after all. It's gonna be hard to get any information on it like this...

After wondering what to do, Icarus decides to bring Manaphy to Chatot and see if he knows anything about this pokemon and how we should go about taking care of it!

 

As suggested, Team Flight takes the pokemon to Chatot who also admits it's the first time he's ever seen this kind of pokemon... But he still seems to have an idea of what kind of pokemon it is based on our story: A Manaphy.

 

Chatot explains to us that Manaphy hatches at the bottom of a cold sea and travels the seas over thousands of miles. He emphasizes the pokemon's rarity as well. Because of that, not much is known about Manaphy at all.

 

Icarus is amazed at the fact that we've discovered such a rare pokemon at the Surrounded Sea, and Manaphy seems to share in his delight despite not really understanding what's going on! It's kinda sad, though, when you consider that it's not very likely Manaphy will run into any other of its own kind anytime soon... But, its egg was all alone when we found it, so maybe it'll be happier with us?

 

Chatot then asks what we intend to do with the child, Icarus realizes we don't really have a plan for what to do yet... then, suddenly, Manaphy begins to cry!

 

Chatot suggests that Manaphy must be hungry, but we're unsure of what to feed him.

 

When trying to figure out what to feed Manaphy, Chatot suggests that, since it's a Water-type, we should try feeding him some Blue Gummis.

 

With that, Icarus suggests we go and get some Blue Gummis from Craggy Coast! Unfortuantely, since every Blue Gummi I've gotten has gone straight to Hail, I am gonna have to go out hunting for some. As it turns out, this is the reason for that oddity back in Explorers of Time and Darkness where Blue Gummis were present in Craggy Coast regardless of version. Back then, it had me convinced that maybe the soft-exclusivity of the gummis wasn't such a general rule and that other version-exclusive gummis would be found in specific dungeons, or at least Red Gummis or something. It's possible that's true, but the obvious explanation now for Blue Gummis being available in Craggy Coast regardless of version is because they're needed to progress this postgame plot thread.

Anyway, this is where we're gonna leave things off for now! We actually do have a handful of jobs set in Craggy Coast by pure coincidence, so Craggy Coast actually is a really convenient place to go look! So next time, that's where we're headed and we'll see what kinds of paths open for us when we feed Manaphy! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 16: Taking care of Manaphy

Today we're not actually going to be exploring any dungeons. Last time, we found a mysterious eggs at the depths of the Surrounded Sea which wound up hatching into a Manaphy! Shortly after hatching, Manaphy began crying. At Chatot's suggestion, we decided we should try to feed it some Blue Gummis. But that's going to involve doing some exploring because unfortunately all of our Blue Gummis have been going straight to Hail. Icarus suggested we go to look in Craggy Coast, but you can actually look anywhere that Blue Gummis can spawn. As it just so happens, though, we have several jobs queued for Craggy Coast. So it looks like we're headed there anyway!

With preparations made, we set out for Craggy Coast! Just like when we had to go through Waterfall Cave again in the main story to visit Torkoal and ask about the Hidden Land, exploring Brine Cave again is a bit of a breath of fresh air.  The dungeon has no traps at all and you're going to be appreciating that as you explore these dungeons.

 

Since we're actively looking for specific items, we're going to be exploring this dungeon a little bit differently. So far, I've been basically making a beeline for the staircase as soon as I see it every time. But this time, we'll be exploring the dungeons thoroughly. The general tips are all the same for exploration in this way, just pretend you haven't found the staircase on the floor and keep going. Once you've found the stairs, you can feel a sense of security in knowing you can move on to the next floor whenever you're ready. Until then, you have two major things that'll push you to the next floor: The time limit and hunger. Every dungeon has a time limit before the wind starts to stir. If a certain number of turns passes, you'll get a few warnings before the wind carries you out of the dungeon and it's an instant failure. If you get two warnings and haven't found the stairs yet, use an escape orb and hope for better luck next time. The other element is hunger. While exploring every floor thoroughly, your hunger will drain a lot faster. It's ideal to bring a  Stamina Band with you while exploring thoroughly like this to make your foot last longer. It's when exploring like this that you might find Huge and Golden Apples more useful.

Anyway, as long as those two factors aren't an issue, explore the floor thoroughly. You can also use Scanner Orbs or Goggle Specs to see items on the map even if you're not in the room with them. This'll help you make beelines for the items and even potentially help you find the stairway, too! But since I don't have Goggle Specs and Scanner Orbs are consumable, I'm just gonna be hunting items the old fashioned way.

For the first two floors, I didn't find any gummis. The floors were thoroughly explored despite the fact that the maps above appear to show unfilled areas. But rest assured, all of these unfiled areas just led to redundant hallways or dead ends.

On the third floor, I finally found the Blue Gummi we were after! But we may as well keep looking. We might need more than one, after all.

 

Of course, we've also got the jobs we've gotta clear: We rescued Butterfree and defeated the outlaws Pineco and Mothim, reclaiming Ivysaur's stolen Escape Orb.

We also found another Blue Gummi on the 7th floor!

 

And finally, on the 9th floor, we have a boss fight with Big Boss Trapinch and his Kabuto minions. The kabuto were all dealt with quickly enough via Powder Snow leaving Trapinch to be bullied alone by all our attacks. It was an easy enough fight.

 

 

Of course, we've also gotten a handful of new recruits along the way, too!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Shower (Dratini M); Lv. 11

Item: None

Ability: Shed Skin | Moves: Wrap, Leer, Thunder Wave, Twister

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

Muggy (Gastrodon F); Lv. 11

Item: None

Abilities: Sticky Hold, Storm Drain | Moves: Mud Sport, Harden, Water Pulse, Mud Bomb

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

Butter (Krabby M); Lv. 11

Item: None

Abilities: Hyper Cutter, Shell Armor | Moves: Bubble, ViceGrip, Leer, Harden

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

Poo (Wingull F); Lv. 11

Item: None

Ability: Keen Eye | Moves: Growl, Water Gun, SuperSonic, Wing Attack

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

And that's a successful exploration! We were able to get our hands on two  Blue Gummis! Hopefully Manaphy likes them!

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

 

The next morning... yikes, I didn't consider that we'd return to our home before sleeping. Did Manaphy go the whole day without eating anything!? Parents of the year...

 

Before anything else, we need to get a Blue Gummi to Manaphy ASAP!

 

Manaphy is a bit confused, but Icarus tells him what the item is and encourages him to eat it.

 

And as he tries it, to our relief, he seems to like it!

 

After this, it seems Manaphy has bonded with us quite a lot already! So, Icarus suggests we continue to take care of the little guy for a while. He seems delighted by the idea!

 

Unfortunately, Chatot has some reservations about that idea. He suggests that Manaphy is a pokemon from the sea. It might not be very healthy for it to live out the beginning of its life here on the land. This could be a good place to explore in-universe the way Water Pokemon are able to travel on land. Especially that kinda freaky thing where fish pokemon just kinda float through the air. But it seems that they continue to dodge that question.

 

Icarus doesn't want to just bring Manaphy back to the sea. It could be dangerous for him! So he continues to insist that they continue to look after him until he gets bigger and can hold his own.

Reluctantly, Chatot agrees to allow his proposal. But honestly, I'm kinda with Chatot's advice. Frankly, it seems like we shouldn't have taken the egg in the first place. But I can't lie, at this point, there's not really much else that can be done. Still, we should probably at least keep him in the sea close by. That's what we'll do, right?

 

No, of course not, he's going to stay in Sharpedo Bluff with us! This definitely doesn't seem like a good idea. We should surely create some sort of home for him in the water, right? Or ask Chatot if there's any place we can take him where we can make sure he'll be safe and we can visit him regularly? But no, Sharpeo Bluff high in a cliffside on solid ground sleeping in a hay bale... But, okay, maybe the rules are just different then I'd expect. Manaphy does seem happy, after all!

 

It doesn't take long for Manaphy to ask for another Blue Gummi. So it looks like it's a good thing we continued searching for that second Blue Gummi!

 

So, we give Manaphy another Blue Gummi and he once again seems delighted by it!

 

 

But suddenly, Manaphy seems to get tired and collapses into bed. For now, Icarus supposes we should just let him be...

 

The next morning, we eagerly greet Manaphy!

 

To our surprise, Manaphy responds with our names!

 

Icarus tries to think of something to do with Manaphy so that he's not just eating and sleeping all day, and he comes up with the idea of taking Manaphy for a walk on the beach!

And so, we can make our way to the Beach with Manaphy in our group! It's kinda strange walking around with two pokemon following you...

 

When we bring Manaphy to the beach, he seems amazed by what he sees!

 

Icarus starts to teach Manaphy about the sea where he came from.

 

 

Manaphy seems to really love the beach! He continues playing along the seashore.

 

That night, Manaphy wakes up in the middle of the night and seems to long for the sea again...

 

The next morning, Manaphy is missing! Where did he go!? We've gotta go and look for him!

 

On our way to look at the beach, we pass through the Crossroads where we end up running into Chatot who was just on his way to see how Manaphy was doing, but now isn't exactly a good time! Icarus tells Chatot that Manaphy disappeared overnight!

 

Chatot scolds us for not taking proper care of Manaphy, but offers to help us look for him. He suggests that since Manphy's still a baby, he couldn't have gone too far. He offers to look in the guild, leaving us to search the beach.

 

As expected, we find Manaphy at the beach. But something seems strange... why did he come back all by himself...?

 

He also doesn't seem to be responding to us...

 

Suddenly, Manaphy collapses! He's got a fever!

 

We bring Manaphy back to his bed and Chatot tries to help figure out what's wrong with him. He suggests the condition must be caused by spending too much time on land.

 

Naturally, this causes Icarus to feel incredibly guilty. But Chatot tells him that the most important thing to focus on is curing Manaphy's condition.

 

Chatot tells us he's heard a rumor of a cure-all item known as Phione Dew. In order to get it, our best bet is to search for a pokemon called Phione at Miracle Sea in the west.

With that, Miracle Sea is unlocked for exploration. This post has actually had quite a bit of story involved, so even though there was no exploration of a new dungeon today, we're going to save our exploration of Miracle Sea for next time. So, next time, we set out for Miracle Sea to seek out Phione Dew to save Manaphy! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 17: Finding Phione

After taking care of Manaphy for a while, despite our best efforts to keep him healthy by feeding him lots of Blue Gummis (I'm... sure they're nutritious in this world), Manaphy has fallen terribly ill! Chatot suggests it's due to spending so much time on land in his early days of life. Right now, the most important thing we can do is cure Manaphy's illness. To do that, we'll need to get Phione Dew from a pokemon called Phione in the Miracle Sea. It sounds like we should get going ASAP!

 

While making preparations, we wound up unlocking a new dungeon from the Juice Bar! This is Lost Wilderness. So we've got another new dungeon to explore in between story dungeons if we need to.

I also managed to get my hands on a  Gastly Veil which boosts Gastly's evasion in foggy weather.

Once again, with preparations made, it's time to head out for Miracle Sea!

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

Miracle Sea

The music here is a somewhat faster version of Treeshroud Forest... I think I accidentally mislabeled a song in a previous dungeon as Treeshroud Forest when it was actually this. Oops! Anyway, this dungeon is essentially a more serious version of Surrounded Sea with a very similar yet expanded selection of pokemon and some minor changes to the items. More traps are here, too.

I recommend bringing a  key when first exploring this dungeon because you can find a locked chamber deep inside.

Items:  Poke,  Def., and  Sneak Scarves,  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip, and  No-Stick Caps,  Racket,  Special,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Gaggle Specs,  Gone Pebbles,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  Iron Thorns,  Silver Spikes,  Sticks,  Apples,  Blue,  Brown,  Grass,  Green,  Orange,  Silver,  Sky,  White,  Black,  Clear,  Gold,  Gray,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal,  Yellow, and  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Eyedrop,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs.

The TMs for  Skill Swap and  Stone Edge are once again only found in this dungeon in Explorers of Time.

Traps:  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Mud,  Poison,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky, and  Warp Traps.

Monster Houses are a threat throughout the dungeon this time, instead of excluding the first three floors. But they surprisingly appear at a slightly lower rate.

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

Miracle Sea [B1F - B5F]

Pokemon:  Shellos (East Sea),  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Cloyster,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Chinchou,  Lanturn,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Mantine,  Kingdra,  Sharpedo,  Wailmer,  Craydily,  Clamperl,  Huntail,  Gorebyss,  Relicanth,  Luvdisc,  Finneon,  Lumineon,  Mantyke

Just like in Mystifying Forest, Crevice Cave, and Surrounded Sea (Though I may have failed to mention it in my coverage of that last one), the game will choose only 14 of the above pokemon on each floor. That means some floors may be significantly more difficult than others. Same advice holds for dealing with most of these guys as in Surrounded Sea. Don't underestimate your opponents and take them all out from a range if you can. Shellos takes Shellder's place as the randomly super weak pokemon that only appears on the early floors, this time it's Lv 2!

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

Miracle Sea [B6F - B9F]

Pokemon:  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Cloyster,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Chinchou,  Lanturn,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Mantine,  Kingdra,  Sharpedo,  Wailmer,  Craydily,  Clamperl,  Huntail,  Gorebyss,  Relicanth,  Luvdisc,  Finneon,  Lumineon,  Mantyke

Shellos can no longer appear starting on B6F.

While exploring here, Fog reached Lv. 26 and tried to learn the move Payback which allows you to counter physical attacks. I'd rather Fog avoid damage altogether, so I'm not learning this move.

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

Miracle Sea [B10F - B17F]

Pokemon:  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Cloyster,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Chinchou,  Lanturn,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Mantine,  Kingdra,  Sharpedo,  Wailmer,  Craydily,  Clamperl,  Huntail,  Gorebyss,  Relicanth,  Luvdisc,  Finneon,  Lumineon,  Mantyke,  Lapras

Once again, Lapras joins the fray starting on B10F. Of course it's not guaranteed to appear on any given floor and, unless you're looking to recruit one, pray that it doesn't. Perish Song can really ruin your day. One idea I've thought of to work around Perish Song is to use a Pure Seed to warp straight to the stairs and enter them before your Perish Count drops to 0. Otherwise, to my knowledge, there is no way to avoid death for any pokemon who heard the song.

 

In the middle of a confrontation on the 13th floor, I had an interesting moment where Fog stepped into the wall and just happened to pick up 179 Poke. This might seem like strange behavior until you recall buried items. I haven't mentioned it yet because they've yet to really have anything relevant, but yes, buried items do return in this game and have been present in most dungeons. So far the buried items have only been Poke, so I've never felt it worth mentioning. But since I found one on accident, I figured I'd go ahead and touch on them. This is one advantage to bringing a Ghost-type in your squad. Sometimes, if you're lucky, this can happen.

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

MIracle Sea [B18F]

Pokemon:  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Cloyster,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Chinchou,  Lanturn,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Mantine,  Kingdra,  Sharpedo,  Wailmer,  Craydily,  Clamperl,  Huntail,  Gorebyss,  Relicanth,  Luvdisc,  Finneon,  Lumineon,  Mantyke

After the 7 floors of fear, Lapras is gone.

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

 

After 18 floors, you'll arrive at a waypoint to rest up at. We've just got a little further to go!

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

Deep Miracle Sea

Items and Traps are the same on these lower floors, the pokemon are mostly the same but, as you'd probably expect, they're higher level down here.

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

Deep Miracle Sea [B1F - B2F]

Pokemon:  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Cloyster,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Chinchou,  Lanturn,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Mantine,  Kingdra,  Wailmer,  Finneon,  Lumineon,  Mantyke,  Sharpedo,  Craydily,  Clamperl,  Huntail,  Gorebyss,  Relicanth,  Luvdisc

Just like before, 14 of these pokemon will be selected randomly each floor.

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

Deep Miracle Sea [B3F]

Pokemon:  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Cloyster,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Chinchou,  Lanturn,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Remoraid,  Octillery,  Mantine,  Kingdra,  Wailmer,  Finneon,  Lumineon,  Mantyke,  Sharpedo,  Craydily,  Clamperl,  Huntail,  Gorebyss,  Relicanth,  Luvdisc,  Lapras

Just as you thought you were safe, Lapras returns once again. Painfully, it's only on the same floor as where you'll be searching for the Locked Chamber! You definitely want to hope you don't end up running into Lapras down here!

 

And yes, there is a Locked Chamber down here you're going to want to open. Inside, you'll find a  Nifty Box. You're not going to know what's in it until you bring it to Xatu.

The items this Nifty Box contain may include: An  Air Blade,  Seabed Veil,  Silver Veil,  Reviver Seed, or  Wonder Gummi

 Air Blade

The Air Blade is an exclusive item for Palkia that boosts the damage it deals by 50%.

 Seabed Veil

The Seabed Veil is an exclusive item for Kogre that increases its Attack Speed in the rain, allowing it to attack multiple times in one turn. Very powerful considering its Drizzle ability.

 Silver Veil

The Silver Veil is an exclusive item for Lugia which increases the PP Consumed by enemeis that attack it, essentially powering up its innate Pressure ability.

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

Deep Miracle Sea [B4F]

Pokemon:  Sharpedo,  Craydily,  Clamperl,  Huntail,  Gorebyss,  Relicanth,  Luvdisc

Along with Lapras, most pokemon cease appearing on B4F leaving only a handful of deep-sea pokemon. Frankly, I find these to be som eof the easiest pokemon to deal with down here, so you're pretty much set. Just be wary of traps.

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

 

Music: Mystifying Forest

After four more floors, we arrive at the Miracle Seabed. Just as Chatot suggested, there's a whole community of Phione down here! It looks like we've come to the right place for some Phione Dew!

 

Music: Rising Fear

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like things are going to be so easy. Just as we arrive, someone else comes to: A hostile Gyarados who doesn't seem too friendly! He frightens all the Phione by charging in with a loud roar.

 

It seems this Gyarados is some sort of bandit seeking to obtain some sort of monopoly on the highly sought-after Phione Dew. If I had to guess, he intends to sell it at marked up prices to people who desperately need it. Of course, we're not about to just sit back and let that happen!

 

As we approach to stand up to Gyarados, he mocks us. But we're about to make him eat his own words!

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

Team Flight

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

Hail (Spheal F); Lv. 41

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Powder Snow, Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 48

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 48

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm, Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 28

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Night Shade, Hypnosis, Sucker Punch

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

Vs. Gyarados

Okay, first of all, don't underestimate this guy the way I did.

 

The fight started out as they usually do, with me standing back while my squad surrounds Gyarados. But when Fog hit him with Hypnosis, I was horrified to discover that it has the Nonsleeper IQ skill! That protects it from sleep! Suddenly, the only way to prevent Gyarados from attacking was Skye's Sand-Attack.

Gyarados's attacks were incredibly powerful. While Dragon Rage is relatively weak, he has Dragon Dance which can be especially devastating. I tried to get Hail up there to soak up some hits so my teammates wouldn't go down and Hail ended up getting OHKO'd. Yikes! But after Skye got a few Sand-Attacks in, the fight became a lot safer and we were able to defeat Gyarados with no more causalites!

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

 

On his defeat, Gyarados flees in humiliation.

 

Music: Mystifying Forest

After this, the Phione return to thank us for coming to their rescue!

 

In the end, they reward us with Phione Dew as a thank you gift! With this, we should be able to save Manaphy!

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

 

We return to Sharpedo Bluff with the Phione Dew and give it to Manaphy.

 

Music: At the End of the Day

As Manaphy takes the Phione Dew, he seems to already be on the road to recovery!

 

With this, Chatot reassures us that it looks as though the Phione Dew is working and that Manaphy should be okay after a few days of rest.

 

A few days later, Manaphy seems to be in high spirits once again! The Phione Dew really worked wonders!

 

But Chatot reminds us of the bittersweet experience this is. Now that Manaphy is better, it's clear we're going to need to return him to the sea so that this never happens again.

 

At the end of the day, we bring Manaphy to the beach. It seems Chatot and the Guildmaster have already made arrangements to provide Manaphy a caretaker in the form of Walrein from the Northern Sea. He's already been told the full story and is prepared to raise Manaphy as his own child.

 

Music: In the Hands of Fate

Just when you thought you were done crying to this song, it sneaks right back in at the worst possible time, man. Icarus bids Manaphy farewell.

To make matters worse, Manaphy seems completely unaware of what's going on right now.

 

As Icarus begins to cry saying goodbye to little Manaphy, Manaphy can begin to tell that something is wrong.

 

After a moment of silence, Chatot insists we get on with sending Manaphy on his way. The longer he stays here, the harder the scene will be to bear.

 

Walrein agrees and tells Manaphy it's time to go.

 

It's clear that Manaphy still doesn't understand what's going on and he doesn't want to go. But we know that he must in order to feel better.

And as Walrein takes Manaphy away, we listen to him crying out to us, not understanding why we have to go!

 

And with that, Manaphy and Walrein disappear into the sea. I'm sure we'll see them again one day, but man, this goodbye is really hard to stomach. I still think we shouldn't have taken the egg from the sea to begin with, but it almost feels cruel to separate Manaphy from us after he's gotten so attached. Still, it's important for his development and this isn't a forever goodbye. I'm sure we'll be able to see Manaphy again one day!

The next morning is incredibly quiet. No music is playing and all that can be heard is the crashing of the waves. Manaphy's absence is felt by both of our explorers.

 

We console Icarus for a little bit, and he agrees that this is for the best. He suggests as well that we'll be able to see Manaphy again one day. We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds!

 

With that, Icarus insists that, even though it's difficult to just move on like everything is normal right away, we should work toward that feeling and keep moving! Which means business is back to usual! And that's the end of the Manaphy arc. It wasn't quite as in depth as the main story, which I really wouldn't expect, but even still, it managed to strike a few chords with me. Though I feel like a lot of the crisis was contributed by the rather selfish decisions on Skye and Icarus's part, it still did a really good job of getting you just as attached to Manaphy as they were. There are some unfortunate implications of the typical gameplay loop such as Manaphy going entire days without eating anything, but those can easily be filed under the category of "video game logic" rather than actual canon, so it's easy to look past it. All in all, I think I was more invested in this than most postgame plot threads from Rescue Team.

And that's where we're leaving things off. Next time, we're going back to completing jobs and perhaps exploring this new Lost Wilderness dungeon. Or, perhaps we'll find our way to the next main story dungeon. We'll just have to see! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 18: Fiery Drum

We're back to the normal gameplay loop! Last time we sadly had to say goodbye to Manaphy, but we can't dread on those feelings for too long. We've got to get back into the swing of things! Of course, that's going to start with doing some generic missions.

By the way, that  Nifty Box I got from the locked Chamber in Miracle Sea held an  Air Blade, which is probably the item I'd want most out of the three since Palkia is the only pokemon in the game capable of learning the IQ skill Absolute Mover.

 

Anyway, I've gathered a solid handful of missions from a few dungeons, so but the one that drew my attention in the most was Waterfall Cave since it would lead me to another Golden Chamber which means another chance for really rare goodies! So, off we go!

Waterfall Cave is an easy dungeon for us now, and so it was quite easy to escort Sandslash to only the fourth floor for this Golden Chamber mission.

 

Anyway, we grabbed our  Deluxe Boxes and moved on to complete the mission.

 

Further along, we knocked out the Outlaw Clamperl and rescued Dragonair who'd gotten lost in the cave.

And that's the end of the exploration!

 

On return, Sandslash rewarded us with an Egg and Dragonair asked to join our team. Who are we to say no?

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Twister (Dragonair M); Lv. 1

Item: None

Ability: Shed Skin | Moves: Wrap, Leer, Thunder Wave, Twister

Dragonair is in the IQ group D which seems to focus heavily on travel and self-sufficiency as an AI on its own. It also provides IQ skills for boosting the efficiency and effectiveness of thrown items. Most significantly, like Group G, it has access to some useful skills for evading traps in the long-term. But I still want to hold onto Fog because, in general, a floating Ghost-type pokemon would definitely be far more handy to keep around for navigational purposes.

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

 

The  Deluxe Boxes from the Golden Chamber contained a  Sun Ribbon and  Gold Gummi. Not the most exciting reward, but not particularly disappointing, either!

Completely unexpectedly, I found a Lunatone at Spinda Cafe who presented to me a private message from the Exploration Team Federation: A Special Mission to explore Giant Volcano in order to retrieve a rare treasure known as the Fiery Drum. This wasn't at all what I was expecting to do today, but it doesn't seem like I could look for a more direct call to action than this! It looks like we have our dungeon to explore for the day!

I suppose I should go over these Special Missions in a bit more detail now that we've gotten one. As mentioned before, these missions can only be received after reaching the Secret Rank by rescuing Scizor form Crevice Cave. In Explorers of Sky, they can be obtained by meeting with messengers in Spinda's Cafe. In Explorers of Time and Darkness, however, these dungeons couldn't be obtained in-game and could only be obtained through Wi-Fi or Wonder Mail passcodes. There are 7 Special Missions, each requesting you to retrieve one of the 7 treasures hidden in a different secret dungeon. Each of these dungeons have a legendary or mythical pokemon guarding the treasures, which can be seen as an additional reward if you devote the time to trying to recruit them. Just like in Rescue Team, I'll try to make it a point to, at the very least, recruit the static bosses that have non-negative recruitment rates just like I did in Rescue Team, though there's less incentive to do so here for me personally since there aren't any Friend Areas to unlock by doing so.

 

 

As we look at the job, a lot of the details are hidden. We'll need to accept the job in order to see the details. The message inside tells us of the location of Giant Volcano and describes the Fiery Drum of one of the seven precious treasures.

 

After unlocking the Giant Volcano dungeon, the message self-destructs and is no longer accessible.

And, sure enough, it's completely gone form our list of jobs! Thankfully, completing the task is as simple as clearing the dungeon once.

With that in mind, it's time to set out for Giant Volcano to complete our first Special Mission!

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

Giant Volcano

As mentioned above, this is our first Special Mission dungeon. As a result, the most consistent way to access it is via a Wonder Mail code. You can use the above code to access it, but as that is a Wonder Mail S code, it only works for Explorers of Sky. In order to access the mission in Explorers of Time and Darkness, you'll need a different code to unlock this dungeon.

Quote

FH0T HYNH R0QF
86N8 +SY@ &%YN

Of course, you'll have to have reached the Secret Rank by rescuing Scizor from Crevice Cave before this code works.

The music in this dungeon changes between that of Steam Cave, Upper Steam Cave, and Dark Crater (a dungeon we've yet to explore).

This dungeon is fairly challenging for our current position in the game, though I'd say the specific selection of enemies at Blizzard Island and Crevice Cave were a lot more frightening. That said, there are still some scary combos to look out for here. 

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  Scope Lenses,  Curve,  Detect,  Patsy,  Power,  Racket,  Stamina, and  Twist Bands,  Gold,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip Caps,  Pecha,  Sneak, and  Warp Scarves,  Silver Spikes,  Gravelerocks,  Geo and  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Heal,  Quick,  Reviser,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

Some things to note: For some reason, Pecha and Rawst Berries are not present in Darkness despite being present in all other versions. I have to wonder if that was a mistake considering Cheri and Oran Berries are present regardless of version and there don't seem to be any counterpart abnormal exclusives for Darkness over Time. Maybe in another dungeon?

In addition, notice that there are no Max Elixirs, only Mix Elixirs. Keep that in mind whenever you see them. They're probably not worth the risk of traps. Even still, items can't spawn or land on the same tiles as traps, so if one's conveniently in your path, you should go ahead and pass over it. Just don't go out of your way for them unless you just want extra fodder for recycling.

Traps:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  Poison,  Pokemon,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky,  Summon,  Trip, and  Warp Traps

In addition, I mentioned Buried Items when I found some buried money in the Miracle Sea by accident, and it's convenient that I did, too, because this is our first dungeon that has special buried items you might actually be interested in!

Buried Items:  Sitrus Berries,  Joy and  Life Seeds,  Calcium,  Ginseng,  Iron,  Protein,  Zinc,  Black,  Blue,  Brown,  Clear,  Gold,  Grass,  Gray,  Green,  Orange,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal,  Silver,  Sky,  White, and  Yellow Gummis, and  Lost Loot

Note, none of these items have any version exclusivity meaning you can find any Gummi in any version, even the opposite versions where they're a lot rarer! I'm sure there is probably a more convenient dungeon to hunt for buried items in, but the strategy is more or less the same. Unfortunately, you still can't see buried items even with Radar Orbs or X-Ray Specs so the only way to intentionally hunt for buried items is to run along the walls with a pokemon that can walk through walls, such as a Ghost Type or a pokemon equipped with a Mobile Scarf, as the leader. When you're running, you'll keep moving in a straight line automatically but stop wherever a turn is possible, or whenever you're adjacent to an enemy or item. That last part is the most significant because, if you stop running for seemingly no reason, it's likely due to the presence of an invisible item.

If you have the IQ skill Acute Sniffer in your squad, it can help you sus out the presence of buried items on the floor because the count of items will include any buried items. So try to keep count!

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

Giant Volcano [1F - 7F]

Pokemon:  Chimchar,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Numel,  Charmander,  Growlithe,  Cyndaquil,  Slugma,  Charmeleon,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Quilava,  Magcargo,  Combusken,  Camerupt,  Monferno

As you'd probably expect, Giant Volcano is filled exclusively with Fire-type pokemon. If you're interested in recruiting any Fire starters for your squad, this probably the best place to come! I think I've come to realize the 14 pokemon rule is just a general rule for the game and isn't a special gimmick of certain dungeons, as it holds true here, too. It's just that it only comes into play when there are more than 14 different pokemon that can appear on a floor. Of course, if there are fewer than 14 different pokemon that can appear, obviously, all of them will appear. Anyway, of all these pokemon I'd say the ones to watch out for most are Camerupt, Rapidash, and Monferno. Rapidash has Agility and we already know how that can ruin your day, and Camerupt knows the room-wide Earth Power, which also gets STAB. Monferno also has some deadly range with STAB Mach Punch. If you find yourself in a Monster House with these guys paired with Rapidash, you'd better have a Spurn Orb or an Escape Orb or you can kiss your run goodbye. Though it doesn't really contribute to its difficulty much, Rapidash also has Run Away which can make it really annoying to finish off if you don't KO it right away.

 

Floors 3 and 5 are Sunny. And on 5F, Fog reached Lv. 29 and tried to learn the move Shadow Ball! I replaced Night Shade because, frankly, it's not doing nearly as much as other moves due to his low level.

On the 6th floor, it's Cloudy.

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

Giant Volcano [8F]

Pokemon:  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Numel,  Charmander,  Growlithe,  Cyndaquil,  Slugma,  Charmeleon,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Quilava,  Magcargo,  Combusken,  Camerupt,  Monferno

Chimchar stops appearing after the 7th floor.

And it's Cloudy on this floor, too.

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

Giant Volcano [9F]

Pokemon:  Numel,  Charmander,  Growlithe,  Cyndaquil,  Slugma,  Charmeleon,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Quilava,  Magcargo,  Combusken,  Camerupt,  Monferno

Ponyta and Torchic are gone after the 8th floor.

 

It was this floor where I ran into a terrifying Monster House, but thankfully, I had a Spurn Orb to avoid any complications.

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

Giant Volcano [10F]

Pokemon:  Charmander,  Growlithe,  Cyndaquil,  Slugma,  Charmeleon,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Quilava,  Magcargo,  Combusken,  Camerupt,  Monferno

Numel is gone, now! It seems as we get higher, only the toughest Fire-types can stand the heat!

It's cloudy up here, too!

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

Giant Volcano [11F - 18F]

Pokemon:  Charmeleon,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Quilava,  Magcargo,  Combusken,  Camerupt,  Monferno

Once we cross this threshold, indeed, only the toughest pokemon are able to continue opposing us.

===========

In the end, we arrive at the Peak of Giant Volcano. There doesn't seem to be anything here... Did we miss the treasure?

 

Suddenly, Heatran drops in on us and makes his grand introduction!

 

 

It seems if we want the Fiery Drum, we'll need to prove or worth to Heatran!

===========

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Spheal F); Lv. 42

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Powder Snow, Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 48

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Detect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 49

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 30

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Hypnosis, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball

===========

Vs. Heatran

And thus begins our boss fight with Heatran!

 

Right away, I'm starting to notice a trend with recent boss fights that doesn't exactly bode well for Fog's viability in them. I might have to rethink my reliance on Hypnosis because this is the second time in a row a boss has had the Nonsleeper IQ skill. It makes sense to prevent extreme cheese but man, does that mean I actually have to start taking these bosses seriously again? Anyway, surrounding Heatran like my normal strategy doesn't really seem so viable. It worked out in the end, but Heatran's Lava Plume caused some devastating blows to the entire squad. If possible, it may be for the best to stand back and blast Heatran with ranged attacks. Going forward, I think I am going to replace Fog's Hypnosis with Confuse Ray. It'll help to keep bosses at bay while we pelt them with ranged attacks.

Regardless of whether or not it's a good idea, after we all piled on Heatran, we did manage to take him out, though I did have to waste a Reviver Seed after a powerful attack hit Hail.

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

 

Upon defeat, Heatran disappears and leaves behind a treasure box.

 

With that, we've obtained the  Fiery Drum! ...Although, that's a bit of a lame sprite for it, don't you think?

This is what the official art for the Fiery Drum looks like! It's understandable that they'd just use a generic sprite for these items since they're generally not going to be seen in the overworld at all, but it still feels like they're too special to just be represented with generic music notes. These seven treasures have really cool designs and it's a shame they don't seem to be represented anywhere in-game. I assume this art was used in promotional material.

Anyway, the Fiery Drum is a fantastic item to have. It adds 20% to the recruitment rate of Fire-type pokemon! This will make a lot of Fire-types a lot easier to recruit without having to power-level all the way to 100. The best part is that, unlike the Friend Bow, this drum acts like an Exclusive Item, meaning it just has to be kept in your inventory and its effect will always be active!

In addition to the Fiery Drum, if you're luckier than I was, you can recruit Heatran here! I wasn't certain if you could do it your first time through the dungeon, but it turns out you can. In addition, I initially figured I'd just wait to come back for it until a future date to make it easier to recruit, but I also just found out that the 50% recruitment chance is static and unchanging. Even if you bring the Fiery Drum with you, you'll always only have a 50% chance of recruiting Heatran. So, be prepared to charge through Giant Volcano around 2-3 times and be pleasantly surprised if you recruit him on your first try!

Anyway, that's it for our exploration and that's it for today! Next time, we'll continue on with our daily life! Probably either get swept up in the next plot thread or continue doing some missions! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 19: Team Charm Returns!

Now that we're back from Giant Volcano with the Fiery Drum, we've got some more filler missions to do. But first, we're going to stop by Electivire's Link Shop to have Fog learn Confuse Ray over Hypnosis. I have a feeling most important boss fights going forward are going to have Nonsleeper, so I don't think Hypnosis will be nearly as useful anymore.

 

Anyway, we've gathered a bunch of missions in Crystal Cave, so it's time to take a visit!

This place is significant because it's related to a gimmick I've hinted at before, but after graduating from the guild, many dungeons have starters and their evolutions begin to spawn! Since the list of starters are changed in Explorers of Sky, the pokemon  Riolu and  Donphan are normally not available until after graduation, though they were always available here in Time and Darkness.

There are a handful of new recruits available in main story dungeons, here are their details:

Amp Plains:  Phanpy [1F - 8F],  Shinx [4F - 10F; Far 1F],  Pikachu [9F - 10F; Far 1F - 4F],  Pichu [9F - 10F; Far 1F - 4F],  Luxio [Far 5F - 9F],  Luxray [Far 5F - 9F]

Phanpy, Shinx, and Luxio are only relevant in Sky. Luxray is significantly higher level than most other pokemon. Strangely, Manectric isn't added here in Sky.

Crystal Cave:  Riolu [B4F - B8F],  Donphan [B6F - B11F]

Both of these pokemon are only revelant in Sky. Though reminder that Riolu is also a Time exclusive in the original versions.

Crystal Crossing:  Froslass [B9F - B13F]

Froslass is a strange addition since she's not a starter, and being added hear means you can encounter her as a wild pokemon before fighting her at Crevice Cave. Most bosses can't be encountered in the wild before being fought as a boss.

In hindsight, I definitely should've covered this a lot earlier than I am, but I didn't think it would take this long to get around to a point where I'd actually visit one of these dungeons. Ironically, I didn't wind up getting a screenshot of Riolu or Donphan because I forgot to do so, so the wait wasn't even worth it. Oh well, I don't exactly promise perfection if the broken images throughout the majority of the beginning of this thread are anything to go by.

While exploring, we got a new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Omen (Seviper M); Lv. 24

Item: None

Ability: Shed Skin | Moves: Lick, Bite, Poison Tail, Screech

Seviper is in IQ Group C with Riolu. There really isn't much more to say about this one.

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

 

Among the missions for today was a Sealed Chamber mission! This one is as simple as escorting your client to a sealed chamber on the destination floor. You'll notice I have Spore along. That's not really by decision, this particular mission just requested I bring a Grass-type.

 

After inspecting the door, your client will do a little dance to magically unlock the door and reveal the contents of the chamber!

 

To complete the mission, simply retrieve the item inside the chamber. Unfortunately, you don't actually get to keep the item, but thank God we didn't waste an entire key only to be rewarded with a Rawst Berry!

 

Moving right along, we rescued Cherrim, Walrein, and Volbeat and took arrested Wurmple.

And that's the end of our exploration!

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

Inspired by our rescue, Walrein decided to join our team!

===========

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Blizzard (Walrein M); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Powder Snow, Growl, Water Gun, Encore

Needless to say, I've already invested a ton of resources into Hail, I don't intent on replacing her anytime soon. Certainly not with the exact same pokemon.

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

In addition, our missions today were able to promote us up to the Ultra Rank! With this promotion, we can now store up to 640 items at Kangaskhan Storage and we're gifted a free  Iron. Fantastic!

Now then, before we move on for today's focus, I think it's finally time we visit Luminous Spring.

You might be wondering why I haven't evolved Hail or Fog yet. Am I just holding them back to fit in with Skye and Icarus? Not quite. Actually, it was pretty intentional because I've been holding out for them to learn certain moves early before evolving them. Since you have to wait until postgame to evolve pokemon anyway in this game, I find it a lot more convenient to wait and evolve later. But, while exploring, Hail reached Lv. 43 and finally learned the move Blizzard! A much more powerful variant of Powder Snow.

Because of that, as you can probably guess, I'm finally ready to evolve Hail!

 

And with that, Team Flight has finally seen its first evolution! It's a little sad that Skye and Icarus have to be left behind a little longer, but there's no reason to turn down evolution!

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

Team Flight New Evolution

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

Hail (Sealeo F); Lv. 43

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

As mentioned before, Exclusive Items work for the entire evolution chain, not just the stage they're correlated to. So Hail doesn't have to give up her Sleet Bow just becuase she evolved!

If you're curious why I'm not evolving Fog, it's for the same reason. I want Fog to learn the move Shadow Ball before evolving. Technically, I could circumvent all this waiting by simply using TMs, but if I think it's for the best to avoid using a TM wherever it's possible to get the moves I want. I might find myself wanting to splash these TMs onto other pokemon later down the line!

Music: Wigglytuff's Guild Remix

Moving right along, as we make preparations and head toward Croagunk's Swap Shop, we find a commotion going on at the base of the guild.

 

Before us are a rather familiar trio: Medicham, Lopunny, and Gardevoir! It's Team Charm! Of course, Team Flight doesn't actually know these three, but everyone is gathered around them, excited to be in their presence! They really are like celebrities! It turns out this is where Team Charm is originally introduced in Explorers of Time and Darkness. But we know them instead from their special episode! We've already gotten a solid taste of just how cool these girls can be.

 

Of course, Icarus asks Chatot who they are, and Chatot is shocked they don't know about Team Flight. He then goes on to explain everything we already know: They're a famous Master Rank Exploration Team who've recovered countless treasures and pride themselves in their style and grace. 

But what Chatot doesn't know is... why are Team Charm here?

 

 

Music: Guildmaster Wigglytuff

Wigglytuff comes out to greet Team Charm, and everyone is shocked to hear that they seem to have met before!

 

Sure enough, Wigglytuff seems to confirm that he's met Team Charm before!

 

The girls just heap praise onto Wigglytuff who just happily laughs along.

 

Team Charm explains that they went exploring with the Guildmaster long ago! Even Chatot is shocked to hear about this! Of course, we know the full story now.

 

Music: In the Depths of the Pit

Finally, Wigglytuff asks the girls what they're here for and Gardevoir inquires about a key they apparently found long ago.

 

As it turns out, they've discovered the location the key is used to open: A place called Aegis Cave! And, of course, this place is rumored to hold a vast trove of treasure.

It seems they've left the key in Wigglytuff's care, so there now here to retrieve it.

 

Unfortunately, Wigglytuff doesn't seem to know what they're talking about...

 

Medicham is angered that Wigglytuff would have lost the key, but it seems they have a plan to jog Wigglytuff's memory involving a special gift...

 

As soon as Wigglytuff begins balancing the Perfect Apple on his head, he suddenly remembers the key they're talking about--it was shaped like an Unown!

With that, he disappears into his chamber and causes a huge ruckus, probably tearing everything up looking for the key.

 

Music: Wigglytuff's Guild Remix

Then he returns with the key just as requested! Team Charm couldn't be more delighted!

 

They try to invite Wigglytuff along on the exploration, but he seems to enamored by his Perfect Apple to really care all that much. It's kinda funny how easily he can be distracted from an exploration.

 

With that, Team Charm begins to take their leave.

 

That is, until Icarus speaks up to ask if we can go exploring with them! It seems hearing about Aegis Cave has puiqed his interest. And, of course, it's piquing mine as well! It definitely sounds like our next big adventure!

 

Of course, everyone in the guild seems to want to go!

 

Of course, Lopunny is delighted that everyone wants to go exploring with her, she happily welcomes them all along. After all, we know Team Charm isn't afraid of competition. They have no doubt they'll get to the treasure first anyway! A little friendly competition is always fun! They agree to go on ahead to open the entrance to the cave and everyone can follow after them!

With that, they tell us the location of Aegis Cave. And... that's where we're gonna leave things off for now. I did continue playing ahead, but the session actually took a lot longer than I expected. Looking at the dungeon's Bulbapedia Page, I thought this dungeon was going to be structured similarly to Sky Peak, but it's actually a lot more annoying for reasons we'll get into when we cover the dungeon. So, next time, we visit Aegis Cave for a chance to find that treasure they're after! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 20: Aegis Cave

We continue with our postgame adventure! Last time, we met Team Charm: The ladies we first met in the fourth Special Episode. But now it's Team Flight's chance to meet them! Team Charm came to the guild to request an unown-shaped key they'd left in Wigglytuff's care because they've discovered the place the key is meant for. They set out to explore a place called Aegis Cave with the key in hand and invited the whole guild to come along on the exploration! And so, now that we've made preparations, it's time to head out ourselves and meet them there!

 

Of course, Team Charm have already gotten to the dungeon ahead of us, and some other members of Wigglytuff's Guild are also here!

 

Naturally, the guild members' attention are immediately drawn to the strange stone in the center of the chamber.

Just like before, Medicham is the first to suggest that there must be a trick to the dungeon, and her competitive nature drives her to want to be the one to solve the puzzle... even though it's Gardevoir who's known as the brains of the group.

 

Before moving on ahead, Lopunny asks us our team's name, so they learn the name of Team Flight!

 

With that, Lopunny makes this exploration into a challenge to see who can get to the treasure first! And they're off!

 

Naturally, the other guild members follow after them to get to the dungeon as well.

 

But let's not rush ahead just yet. Instead, we'll investigate this stone marker. On it are the inscriptions of the word "ICE" written in Unown letters. Along with that is a message telling us to close our eyes and "submit [our] proof". What could that mean?

We can't do anything just yet. Perhaps we'll get some more answers if we move on.

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

Ice Aegis Cave

Welcome to Aegis Cave! This is the first section of a larger dungeon. Like Sky Peak, it's divided into smaller subsections making it surprisingly convenient... to an extent... to explore. We'll get to the main gimmick of this dungeon in a little bit. In order to unlock Aegis Cave, you'll need to have met Team Charm at the guild. In order to do that, you'll have to complete the Manaphy Quest and see Manaphy off. After a few days, Team Charm will appear at the guild. You'll need to find them at the bottom floor, so try to visit Croagunk's Swap Shop every so often.

Right away, you'll find yourself faced with Unown... and lots of 'em! They're pretty much the only thing that spawns here, so be prepared to fight them off! They're really easy to KO, but because of Hidden Power, they just might be able to do a surprising amount of damage, so try to take them out from a range where you can!

Items:  Poke,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  Apples,  Blue,  Brown,  Grass,  Green,  Orange,  Silver,  Sky,  White,  Black,  Clear,  Gold,  Gray,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal, and  Yellow Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran, and  Pecha Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max Elixirs,  Escape Orbs,  Key

The items here are very simple. Just the basics, but interspersed with them are Gummis and Keys! It looks like this is the place to go if you need more keys before exploring a specific dungeon!

Traps:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  Pitfall,  Poison,  Pokemon,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky,  Summon,  Trip, and  Warp Traps

Strangely, this dungeon only has Darkness-exclusive traps. No traps are exclusive to Explorers of Time, meaning that Explorers of Darkness has a larger variety of threats. However, that does mean in Time you're more likely to run into PP-Zero, Grimy, and Sticky Traps, so be careful! Of course, this also means that Explorers of Sky shares an identical list of traps with Explorers of Darkness.

There are no monster houses in the dungeon.

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

Ice Aegis Cave [B1F - B3F]

Pokemon:  Zubat,  Golbat,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z,  !, and  ? Unown

On every floor, every form of Unown can spawn. Each one counts as its own species as far as spawn conditions count, so the 14 species rule applies, meaning only 14 different pokemon from the pokemon above will appear each floor. You're quickly going to realize why this leads to an incredibly frustrating experience while exploring this dungeon.

When you defeat an Unown, it has a chance of dropping an  Unown Stone depicting its shape. You can probably see where we're going with this. But for now, let's keep going.

I wound up with a new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Deacon (Unown); Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Hidden Power

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

 

After three floors, we find ourselves back at the entrance again! We find Team Charm at the marker. They've concluded that you must solve the mystery here in order to progress. And I'm sure we've all figured out the solution by now, but it's not a very fun one.

 

Gardevoir suggests there must be a correlation between the Unown-shaped grooves in the stone and the Unown populating the dungeon...

 

With no other ideas at the moment, Team Charm decide to go on ahead and see if they can't come up with a solution as they explore. Let's go, too!

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

If you haven't come to understand the gimmick of the dungeon yet, it's time to figure it out! The solution lies in those  Unown Stones I've mentioned before. We'll need to bring an I-, C-, and E-Stone to the stone marker at the entrance in order to progress deeper into the dungeon and escape this infinite loop.

And if you can't guess by the theme of Ice and ancient ruins, I'll just go ahead and say you're also probably going to want to try and hold onto the stones to spell R-O-C-K and S-T-E-E-L, too. It should probably be obvious what to expect going forward. Unown stones of any other shape are completely useless, they're just throwables that do deal a solid amount of damage, but they don't stack so they're really not worth lugging around. They're also only worth 10P when selling, so don't bother with the ones you don't need.

The trick to getting these is really convoluted and, due to only up to 14 of the 28 different Unown Forms being available on each floor, chosen at complete random, this rapidly becomes a nightmare of begging and praying for good RNG. Thankfully, the dungeon itself is fairly short, so you don't have much concern for starving. As such, I recommend thoroughly exploring each floor and, on the final floor, stopping near the staircases and waiting for as many Unown to come to you. Once you've seen 14 different species and/or forms of Unown, you can leave the floor knowing you don't need anymore. But if you run into an Unown of one of the shapes you need, you want to spend as much time as you can on that floor. Just be wary of both your hunger and your time limit! If the winds start to stir, get to the stairs!

You don't have to worry too much about PP consumption or anything, either, because you'll be fully healed every time you return to the entrance.

At the end of the day, there is next to no difficulty in this dungeon. It's just a test of perseverance. And that test is further pushed when you realize... there's no Kangaskhan Rock. Not only does that mean you have no access to storage, that also means you can't save. And because of that, you've gotta have a lot of patience to see this dungeon through to the end. There's gonna be a lot of clearing 3 floors, waiting at the stairs, and repeating. And even when the form you want appears, there's no guarantee it'll appear consistently. So you've gotta be especially careful while exploring these dungeons.

 

After a few runs through, I eventually got my hands on an  I- and  C-Stone. Coupled with the  E-Stone I got on my first time through, this should be enough to progress in the dungeon!

Along the way through this section of the dungeon, I also recruited yet another Unown!

===========

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Might (Unown), Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Hidden Power

===========

 

Once we reach the end of the dungeon again, we once again find ourselves at the entrance, but now we have the items we need.

 

With the I-C-E stones in our inventory, we close our eyes at the stone marker and, soon, the stone begins to glow!

 

The stones disappear and, with them, so does the marker! That reveals a hidden stairway we can use to progress!

That looks like an invitation to me! Let's keep going!

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

 

Regice Chamber

As we take the stairs, we're "Greeted" by the legendary pokemon Regice! And Regice doesn't hesitate at all to challenge us to prove our strength before permitting us to continue! So, let's get ready!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Sealeo F); Lv. 43

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 48

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 49

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 32

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Regice

And so the fight begins!

 

...if you can really call it a fight. I'm assuming these guys have Nonsleeper, so this right here is a solid demonstration that Confuse Ray was definitely a good choice.

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

 

Upon defeat, Regice disappears into a strange light that envelops us!

And with that, we've been granted permission to proceed from the guardian of this section of the cave. Unfortunately, you cannot recruit Regirock, Regice, or Registeel on your first time through this dungeon. So if you want to recruit them all, you'll need to come through this dungeon again.

There's more ahead, so let's not waste any time!

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

 

As we reach the entrance to the next chamber, Team Charm catches up to us and applauds us for our performance in that fight--apparently they were watching, and impressed! But now they're ready to get serious and pick up the pace. It seems they've underestimated us so far, but not anymore! We'll have to prepare to compete with Team Charm at their best!

 

With that, Lopunny insists they'll get through this next section first and move on ahead.

As expected, the Stone Marker here has the engravings for R-O-C-K. Sure enough, you're gonna need even more.

So, let's get going into the next section of the dungeon!

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

Rock Aegis Cave

It's Rock Aegis Cave! This is where you find out that all the traps and items are consistent throughout all sections of this dungeon, so there's no point in going over it all again.

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

Rock Aegis Cave [B1F]

Pokemon:  Zubat,  Golbat,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z,  !, and  ? Unown

At first the pokemon are exactly the same here.

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

Rock Aegis Cave [B2F - B3F]

Pokemon:  Zubat,  Golbat,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z,  !, and  ? Unown,  Machoke,  Machamp

Starting here, you begin to run into Machoke and Machamp... or, might. They're still just two more pokemon added into the mix and only barely dilute the cesspool of Unown. Unfortunately, that just means two more slots that decidedly aren't R-O-C-K or S-T-E-E-L Unown. You might have your best luck on the first floor in this section. But I like to play things safe, so I continued to only wait at the stairs on the third floor.

And I got another recruit? Can you guess what pokemon?

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Rock (Unown), Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Hidden Power

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

When we reach the end of the section, we once again find our way back to the entrance. And this time, there's a note!

 

Sure enough, it seems Team Charm isn't messing around anymore. They've already solved the mystery of this room! We've gotta speed up to keep up with them or they'll surely get to the treasure first!

...What followed this was a total nightmare.

In the time it took to get the remaining Unown Stones I needed, I found myself stuck in an infinite loop of never being able to find C-Unown. Or whenever I did, they'd just refuse to drop Unown Stones until the time limit forced me to proceed to the stairs. It was agony going through this section again and again and again.

To put into perspective just how long this section took, here's what I accomplished:

Fog grew to Lv. 33 and tried to learn Dream Eater, I passed on it since he obviously doesn't know Hypnosis anymore and has no means to put anyone to sleep.

 

 

And I recruited four new Unown!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Poise (Unown); Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Hidden Power

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

Greatness (Unown); Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Hidden Power

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

Energy (Unown); Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Hidden Power

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

Obscure (Unown); Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Hidden Power

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

Good lord, we have enough Unown to overthrow Dialga at this point.

 

It took several runs and then several more before I could finally get my hands on the C stone. I don't know if I can really quantify just how many times it took through this section to reach this point. It was agonizing. In the process of getting the C stone, I'd already collected all the S-, T-, E-, and L- stones I'd need for the rest of the dungeon, too!

 

But, eventually, we made our way back to the entrance to the Chamber with our Unown Stones and, just as expected, the marker revealed stairs leading deeper! Let's keep going!

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

 

As expected, we've got yet another boss fight on our hands. This time, with Regirock!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Sealeo F); Lv. 43

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 49

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 50

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 33

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Regirock

It's another "boss fight"!

 

Once again, the battle is as simple as bullying Regirock into submission until he grants us his permission to progress! It's as easy as that!

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

 

That leads us to the final stretch of the dungeon! Just as expected, this marker has the inscriptions for S-T-E-E-L. Team Charm must still be ahead, so maybe this is our chance to catch up? We already have all the Unown Stones for this section, so I could skip it entirely if I wanted, but I'll humor the game a bit and just do a quick playthrough here, too.

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

Steel Aegis Cave

Items and Traps are the same here as well.

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

Steel Aegis Cave [B1F - B4F]

Pokemon:  Zubat,  Golbat,  Machoke,  Machamp,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z,  !, and  ? Unown

The pokemon throughout this section of the dungeon are the same as the previous floors, just slightly higher level. Not noticeably so, though.

===========

 

Thankfully, this one was much less of a nightmare since I'd already done my suffering in the Rock section. I already had the keys needed to progress quickly here! So let's get going!

===========

 

And of course, we're met by Registeel in the end. Who would've guessed?

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Sealeo F); Lv. 43

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 49

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 50

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 33

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray

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

 

Vs. Registeel

You guessed it, this fight is as straight-forward as possible, too. No surprises here!

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

Of course, the light once again envelops us, granting us permission to continue.

 

Shortly after defeating Registeel, Team Charm appears before us!

 

It takes Lopunny to recall what happened, but it sounds like they were defeated by Registeel! Honestly, I'm really not sure how given their team dynamic. Apparently Medicham of all pokemon got them in trouble despite being the best equipped for the fight.

 

 

But, they give credit and thanks where it's due: It's obvious that we saved them, and they're surprisingly happy to admit that they've been bested! There doesn't seem to be any mention of their spotless record, though. Maybe they've already lost their perfect success rate? Or maybe it really just doesn't matter that much to them. Either way, it's really big of them to be able to admit that they've been bested by a team like ours! Then again, I suppose Team Flight has started to gain quite a reputation, hasn't it? Maybe that's why they're so willing to accept falling behind this time?

 

Anyway, as thanks, Lopunny offers to provide backup for us if we find ourselves needing it while exploring the rest of the dungeon! And so, off we go to the next section of the dungeon!

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

Aegis Cave Pit

"I thought this dungeon would be done after the three legendary golems!" said no one ever. This is a gen 4 game, of course there's more! And you already know who the true boss of the dungeon is going to be. Thankfully, there's no shenanigans with Unown Stones anymore. We're free to just continue onward through the rest of the dungeon at our own pace.

Once again, items and traps are the same as the rest of the dungeon.

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

Aegis Cave Pit [B1F - B3F]

Pokemon:   Machoke,  Machamp,  Zubat,  Golbat,  Crobat,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z,  !, and  ? Unown

The pokemon are still mostly the same, but with Crobat added now! And, once again, slightly tougher but not noticeably so. But since we're not after specific Unown this time, it's not nearly as frustrating to have more pokemon diluting the pool. Let's keep going!

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

Aegis Cave Pit [B4F]

 Crobat,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z,  !, and  ? Unown

On the 4th floor, for some reason, Machoke and Machamp as well as Zubat and Golbat cease appearing. But you're not likely to even notice their absence due to the prominence of Unown.

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

Aegis Cave Pit [B5F]

 Crobat,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L,  M,  N,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S,  T,  U,  V,  W,  X,  Y,  Z,  !, and  ? Unown,  Zubat,  Golbat

Even stranger, Zubat and Golbat appear again on the 5th floor! Once again I have to wonder if this was a mistake?

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

Regigigas Chamber

After five floors, we arrive at the end of the dungeon: the chamber of Regigigas, of course. This place seems a lot larger than the others, though.

 

Up ahead, we see a bunch of statues of pokemon, including one that appears to be a giant!

As we approach, we feel a rumble.

 

Suddenly, a commanding voice speaks out over us.

And before we know it, the status suddenly come to life! They're real pokemon!

 

There's a lot of enemies, but Team Charm has already offered to provide backup, and they're holding true to their promise! So let's do this!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Sealeo F); Lv. 43

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 49

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 50

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 33

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Regigigas

You might think the large number of enemies might cause us to rely a lot on Team Charm's assistance...

 

That is, until I open up with Blizzard and... immediately KO nearly everything in one turn. Yeah, this one isn't quite balanced the same as those boss fights at Sky Peak. Oops. And thanks to Regigigas' Slow Start ability and Lopunny setting up Agility for us, this fight is a total joke already.

 

Icarus takes out the last Bronzong that I happened to miss, Team Charm and Skye take out the two frozen Bronzong, and then everyone else gangs up on Regigigas for an easy KO. Poor guy never even stood a chance. This is just another reminder that switching my leader to Hail was definitely the best decision I could've possibly made.

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

 

Music: In the Depths of the Pit

On defeat, Regigigas collapses to the ground and a giant stone marker appears in front of him!

 

The marker has further instructions to close our eyes and let our aura flow into the ground. I suppose this must be related to the lights that enveloped us after defeating the legendary golems? The only way to find out is to close our eyes, I suppose.

 

As we proceed, our aura flows into the ground and the stone begins to glow!

 

As the marker glows, Regigigas begins to rise to its feet again!

 

With a powerful roar, Regigigas crashes its fist into the ground! This can't be good!

As the chamber begins to rumble, Gardevoir alerts us that we'd better get out before the chamber collapses!

 

And everyone gets out! Well... everyone except... the explorers from the guild... I'm... sure they left early, huh?

 

Unfortunately, the collapse of the cave also means the treasure must've been buried with it...

 

But suddenly, Medicham seems to notice something in the distance!

 

It seems that the collapse of Aegis Cave actually revealed the location of a new location!

 

Everyone concludes this must be where the treasure is actually hidden! In which case, this exploration is a true success!

 

Of course, Gardevoir offers the credit for the victory to us, after all, they've already conceded defeat. And frankly, we'd better get the credit! We all know Hail hard carried that final boss fight. They didn't stand a chance against her!

 

Medicham doesn't hesitate to praise us. It seems we've greatly impressed Team Charm with our triumph!

 

With that, Team Charm bids their farewell to us, and allows us to explore ahead to reap the treasure left by Regigigas! I wonder what awaits us up ahead?

In order to find out, we'll have to explore the Concealed Ruins! And we'll probably be doing that next time! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 21: The Rock Horn

We return to our postgame adventure! Last time, we explored Aegis Cave and discovered the entrance to the Concealed Ruins with the help of Team Charm who left exploration of the Ruins to us before taking their leave. Today, we planned to explore the Concealed Ruins but, as the title of this update implies, the game had other plans for us.

 

But before we get into that, our egg hatched into a Lotad! So that's yet another new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Lily (Lotad F); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Swift Swim, Rain Dish | Moves: Astonish, ??? [Egg Move]

===========

 

Once again, we received a job from the Exploration Team Federation! It was entrusted to us in secret through an Ivysaur. So it looks like our plans are going to be a bit derailed!

 

Once again, tells us of a mysterious cave known as World Abyss. It sounds kinda scary, doesn't it?

Well, the job provides us with the location of World Abyss before self-deleting. We should probably act on a mission from the Exploration Team Federation ASAP, right? So we're shifting our attention away from the Concealed Ruins for just a bit longer.

With our preparations made, we set out for World Abyss to look for the Rock Trumpet!

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

World Abyss

The music here alternates, as you'd probably expect. Possible music you can hear include the music from Chasm Cave, Sealed Ruin Pit, Aegis Cave, as well as the song In the Nightmare. All of these songs, combined with the name of the dungeon, really make you feel like you're slowly making your way to the end of the world. It's really ominous and foreboding. I actually really love the atmosphere of this dungeon.

Anyway, in order to gain access to this dungeon, you'll of course need the Special Mission request from the Exploration Team Federation. The only way to be able to accept these missions is to have obtained the Secret Rank by rescuing Scizor from Crevice Cave. In Explorers of Sky, it can only be obtained in-game through visitors to Spinda's Cafe. In Time and Darkness, it's only available through Wonder Mail password. The password above is a Wonder Mail S code, so it can be used to receive this mission in Sky, but if you're playing along in Time or Darkness, you'll need a different code.

Quote

WNWY JXTK &5C1
4N3- P4NM 8K&C

Again, you have to have the Secret Rank in order for the request to work.

Anyway, this is another Seven Treasures dungeon. Likewise, the available items and traps are similar.

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  Scope Lenses,  Curve,  Detect,  Patsy,  Power,  Racket,  Stamina, and  Twist Bands,  Gold,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip Caps,  Pecha,  Sneak, and  Warp Scarves,  Silver Spikes,  Gravelerocks,  Geo and  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren, and  Pecha Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Heal,  Quick,  Reviser,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs

Buried Items:  Sitrus Berries,  Joy, and  Life Seeds,  Calcium,  Ginseng,  Iron,  Protein,  Zinc,  Black,  Blue,  Brown,  Clear,  Gold,  Grass,  Gray,  Green,  Orange,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal,  Silver,  Sky,  White, and  Yellow Gummis, and  Lost Loot.

Traps:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  Poison,  Pokemon,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky,  Summon,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

Monster Houses are present throughout the dungeon, so watch your step!

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

World Abyss [B1F - B7F]

Pokemon:  Taillow,  Pidgey,  Murkrow,  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Loudred,  Pidgeotto,  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon

Most of the pokemon here are very easily dispatched. As per usual, a handful of the unevolved pokemon are laughably underleveled and so you can take them out with basic attacks if you want to conserve PP. The main pokemon to watch out for are Nidoqueen for Earth Power, Electrode and Weezing for Explosion, and Umbreon because its Bulk helps it tank a handful of hits. Pidgeotto can be easily taken out, but it's also dangerous to keep alive because of Agility. If you miss or aren't in position to get rid of them in a monster house, Agility can create a nightmare scenario for you. Electrode and Weezing's Explosion, likewise, aren't too dangerous on their own since they only halve your HP, but when paired with other enemies, this can lead to deadly combos as other pokemon now only have to do 50% of your HP to one-shot you. Explosion also has a really wide 2-tile radius it affects, so be especially careful around items you want to keep.

 

On the 7th floor, I landed in a Monster House! Thankfully a quick Blizzard from Hail is enough to deal with most of the bigger threats before Nidoqueen and Pidgeotto can cause any problems. But if you're unlucky, some major problems can turn up if you end up missing any of them!

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

World Abyss [B8F]

Pokemon:  Taillow,  Pidgey,  Murkrow,  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Loudred,  Pidgeotto,  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Delcatty

Delcatty joins on the 8th floor and is another dangerous foe thanks to the terrifying combo of Cute Charm/Attract and DoubleSlap. Take it out from a range! If it's the opposite gender, you are done for!

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

World Abyss [B9F - B10F]

Pokemon:  Pidgey,  Murkrow,  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Loudred,  Pidgeotto,  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Delcatty,  Swellow

Taillow stops appearing on B9F, but its evolution, Swellow, begins to appear. Naturally, Swellow's a bit scarier but still pretty easily taken out before it becomes a problem.

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

World Abyss [B11F - B14F]

Pokemon:  Murkrow,  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Loudred,  Pidgeotto,  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Delcatty,  Swellow

Pidgey is also gone on the 11th floor!

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

World Abyss [B15F]

Pokemon:  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Loudred,  Pidgeotto,  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Delcatty,  Swellow

Murkrow is the next to go.

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

World Abyss [B16F - B20F]

Pokemon:  Pidgeotto,  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Swellow,  Exploud,  Mightyena

The next floor sees a notable shift in pokemon, Voltorb disappears and both Poochyena and Loudred are replaced by their evolutions. Delcatty also takes its leave, so no more worry about getting combo'd to death when surprised in a hallway. To match, the tyleset also changes to this otherworldly alien-looking veiny cave. It's really creepy-looking and unlike anything I've seen anywhere else in the game. It kinda gives me Persona 3 vibes.

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

World Abyss [B21F - B27F]

Pokemon:  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Swellow,  Exploud,  Mightyena,  Pidgeot

Pidgeotto is replaced with Pidgeot next.

Down here, Fog grew to Lv. 36 and learned the move Dark Pulse! This is what I was holding out for before evolving! It looks like we're due for another trip to Luminous Spring real soon!

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

World Abyss [B28F - B29F]

Pokemon:  Nidoqueen,  Electrode,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Swellow,  Mightyena,  Pidgeot

Exploud is the last to leave. At this point, it's just one last push to the end of the dungeon!

===========

World Abyss Pit

At the end of the dungeon, we arrive at a dead end.

 

But just like when we went after the Fiery Drum, the guardian of the second treasure appears before us to challenge us! It's Giratina this time!

 

 

Giratina goes through the same Spiel that Heatran did before the boss fight begins!

===========

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Sealeo F); Lv. 45

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 50

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 51

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Lime Bow,  Eevee Card

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Helping Hand+Sand-Attack, Facade, Shadow Ball

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

Fog (Gastly M); Lv. 36

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Dark Pulse

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

Vs. Giratina

It's time to fight Giratina! As you might expect, Giratina has some scary attacks; most prominently Ominous Wind. So you'll want to close the gap and stop his assault ASAP. An X-Eye Seed might assist to that effect.

 

But once he's immobilized, all it takes is ganging up on him as normal! I haven't mentioned yet, but Hail now has the Wary Fighter IQ skill which causes her to step back whenever she misses an attack. It's helpful to put distance between her and her target so she can attack with Aurora Beam or Blizzard from a safe distance. This may actually be a better setup for KOing bosses.

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

Of course, on defeat Giratina begins to disappear into a sparkling light.

 

And he leaves behind the  Rock Horn!

As you'd expect, the Rock Horn has the same effect as the Fiery Drum but for Rock-type pokemon instead of Fire-type pokemon. And this treasure is now ours to keep! If we ever want to recruit any Rock-type pokemon, it'll be important to keep the Rock Horn in our inventory!

And that's the end of our exploration! We've got some exciting evolutions for our team next time! And we'll focus on getting back on track with exploring the Concealed Ruins! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 22: The Sky Melodica

Yup, that's right, yet another Special Mission comes into play. I swear this is a conspiracy from the Exploration Team Federation to stop us from exploring Concealed Ruins.

 

This time, it appears we've got a special treasure at Sky Stairway. But before we get going, we've got some standard rounds to make.

To start with, at the Croagunk Swap Shop, I was able to get my hands on a  Safe Scarf from the Swap Shop! This is an exclusive item for Sealeo and its evolution line. It'll boost Hail's movement speed by 1 while in Hail. Hail doesn't actually know the move Hail, but if we run into the weather condition while exploring, this should be to our benefit.

Beyond that, we've also learned met some particularly important milestones during our last outing, so I think we're due for another trip to Luminous Spring!

 

 

Hail has reached Lv. 44, enabling evolution, while Gastly has finally learned Dark Pulse which was what I was holding out for before evolving him. So now, it's time to evolve them both!

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

 -> 

 -> 

Team Flight New Evolutions

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

Hail (Walrein F); Lv. 45

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Safe Scarf,  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

Fog (Haunter M); Lv. 36

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Abilities: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse+Confuse Ray

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

I was also able to recruit a new teammate from the Juice Bar.

===========

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Song (Chingling F); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Levitate | Moves: Wrap

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

With our preparations made, it's time to accept our mission to explore Sky Stairway!

 

As per usual, we're met with a quick briefing upon opening the message.

After revealing the location of the dungeon, the message deletes itself.

And with all that out of the way, it's time to set out for Sky Stairway!

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

Sky Stairway

The music in this dungeon, as you'd expect, changes from floor to floor. The themes that can play include: Treeshroud Forest, Crystal Cave, Crystal Crossing

This dungeon resembles Sky Tower from Rescue Team in a lot of ways, and I don't believe that's a coincidence. Anyway, you know what to expect out of these Special Mission dungeons by now. However, be prepared for quite a journey as this dungeon is the longest we've explored yet without any breaks. You should find plenty of food along the way, but make sure to bring some Apples or Big Apples just in case. You can only access this dungeon via a special job request. In order to be able to receive the job request, you'll have to rescue Scizor from Crevice Cave. Then, in Explorers of Sky, you'll eventually receive a job request from a client at Spinda's Cafe. Alternatively, you can use the Wonder Mail S Password for the job screenshotted above.

If you're playing in Explorers of Darkness, this dungeon is only accessible with the following Wonder Mail Password:

Quote

HW+8 66%T 5S51
+J5Y 4-K# H@P-

Make sure you've reached Secret Rank or the code won't work!

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  Scope Lenses,  Curve,  Detect,  Patsy,  Power,  Racket,  Stamina, and  Twist Bands,  Gold,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip Caps,  Pecha,  Sneak, and  Warp Scarves,  Iron Thorns,  Silver Spikes,  Sticks,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  Geo Pebbles,  Apples,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Heal,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

Traps:  Chestnut,  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  Poison,  Pokemon,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky,  Summon,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

There are no Monster Houses to worry about throughout the dungeon.

Unlike the other Seven Legends dungeons we've explored, this one doesn't have any buried items. I suppose it's hard to hide items in cloudy walls?

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

Sky Stairway [1F - 4F]

Pokemon:  Rhydon,  Gabite,  Gastly,  Magnemite,  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass

Remember the 14 pokemon rule! Even though all of these pokemon can appear, only 14 will be randomly selected each floor. None of them gave me any particular issues, Magnemite and Vulpix are particularly weak. By this point in the game, you should be well-equipped to handle Ghost-types, but be wary of their presence just in case you still aren't. Steelix is capable of taking a surprising amount of hits, too.

 

On the first and fourth floors, the weather will is Cloudy.

On the 3rd floor, I recruited a new teammate!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Fuzz (Tangrowth M); Lv. 33

Item: None

Abilities: Chlorophyll, Leaf Guard | Moves: Bind, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, AncientPower

Tangrowth is in IQ Group G with Gastly.

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

Sky Stairway [5F - 6F]

Pokemon:  Rhydon,  Gabite,  Gastly,  Magnemite,  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss

Togekiss joins the fray on the 5th floor.

Yet another new recruit on the 5th floor!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Ember (Vulpix M); Lv. 14

Item: None

Ability: Flash Fire | Moves: Tail Whip, Roar, Quick Attack, Will-O-Wisp

Vulpix is also in IQ Group G with Gastly.

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

On the 6th floor, a thick Fog rolls in.

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

Sky Stairway [7F - 10F]

Pokemon:  Rhydon,  Gabite,  Gastly,  Magnemite,  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss,  Spiritomb

Spiritomb joins starting on the 7th floor. Reminder that it still has no weakness, focus on STAB moves to deal with it quickly!

 

The weather is Foggy on the 7th floor, but Sunny on the 9th. On the Sunny floors, be wary of Leafeon, Tangrowth, and Jumpluff. Their Chlorophyll can actually be incredibly dangerous.

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

Sky Stairway [11F - 14F]

Pokemon:  Gastly,  Magnemite,  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss,  Spiritomb

Rhydon and Gible are gone after the 14th floor.

 

The weather is Foggy on the 11th, Cloudy on the 13th and 14.

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

Sky Staircase [15F]

Pokemon:  Gastly,  Magnemite,  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss

After the 14th floor, Spiritomb disappears.

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

Sky Staircase [16F - 25F]

Pokemon:  Magnemite,  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss,  Haunter

Gastly is the next to go in favor of its evolution, Haunter.

 

 

The weather is Sunny on 16F, 20F, and 24F, and Cloudy on 18F

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

Sky Staircase [26F - 29F]

Pokemon:  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss,  Haunter,  Magneton

Likewise, Magnemite is also replaced with its evolution, Magneton on the 26th floor.

On the 29th floor, I got yet another new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Tension (Magneton); Lv. 50

Item: None

Abilities: Magnet Pull, Sturdy | Moves: Screech, Discharge, Mirror Shot, Magnet Rise

Magneton is in IQ Group A with Paras.

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

Sky Staircase [30F]

Pokemon:  Ambipom,  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss,  Magneton,  Gengar

On the 30th floor, Gengar joins in the place of Haunter.

ON this floor, the weather is Cloudy.

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

Sky Staircase [31F - 49F]

Pokemon:  Raichu,  Vulpix,  Muk,  Ditto,  Jumpluff,  Misdreavus,  Forretress,  Steelix,  Skarmory,  Claydol,  Banette,  Duskull,  Shelgon,  Metang,  Mothim,  Tangrowth,  Leafeon,  Gliscor,  Probopass,  Togekiss,  Magneton,  Gengar,  Drifloon

It's odd for it to suddenly be introduced way up here, but starting on the 31st floor, you can find Drifloon! Ambipom also finally calls it quits.

And the new recruits just keep coming! Another one on the 33rd floor.

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Direction (Probopass M); Lv. 37

Item: None

Abilities: Sturdy, Magnet Pull | Moves: Block, Thunder Wave, Rock Slide, SandStorm

Probopass is in IQ Group E with Spheal.

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

It's sunny on the 37th floor,

On the 48th floor, Fog reached Lv. 39 and tried to learn Dream Eater. Once again, I passed on it for the same reason as before.

And on the 48th floor, it's Sunny once again.

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

Sky Stairway Apex

After 50 floors, we arrive at the apex of the staircase.

 

As we enter the chamber, we're met by Rayquaza, the guardian of Sky Stairway!

 

 

And we get our third spiel from the seven guardians! We already know the drill by now, though. It's time for battle!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Walrein F); Lv. 47

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Safe Scarf,  Sleet Bow

Abilities: Thick Fat, Ice Body | Moves: Surf+Defense Curl, Aurora Beam, Blizzard

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 52

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Valiant Rock,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 53

Item:  Lime Bow | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card

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

Fog (Haunter M); Lv. 39

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Abilities: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse+Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Rayquaza

He might have been the final boss of Rescue Team's main story, but Rayquaza is nowhere near as scary as he was there. This fight actually proved to be quite a joke.

 

All it took was the standard beat-'em-up strategy and... Rayquaza didn't even last long enough for us to confuse him. He just couldn't take the Ice attacks from Hail.

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

 

On defeat, Rayquaza drops our third of the Seven Treasures: the  Sky Melodica.

The Sky Melodica increases the recruitment rate of Flying-type pokemon by 20% as long as you carry it in your inventory. Keep it safe and only bring it with you when you plan to recruit a Flying-type!

And with that, we're done once again for today! Next time, I think our priorities might shift a little. I've built up a hefty amount of missions for Lost Wilderness which we've yet to explore, so I'll probably go and do those before trying to go to the Concealed Ruins. See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 23: Concealed Ruins

We continue with our postgame adventure! Last time, we took on another special mission from the Exploration Team Federation and explored Sky Staircase to retrieve the Sky Melodica, our third of the Seven Treasures. I suggested that we might go to Lost Wilderness due to a lack of Job space, but I realized we actually have more space for jobs than I thought, so I'm going to put that off for now. Since we've done two Special Missions in a row, I don't think it's necessary to do any jobs before going out on exploring a new story dungeon anyway, so let's focus on that!

But before leaving, I wanted to call attention to a strange offer at the Recycle Shop: A  No-Aim Scope for 2  Oran Berries and an  Apple. I'm not sure why you would ever want to make this trade. This is a held item that causes thrown items to travel in random directions rather than in front of you, practically guaranteeing they go anywhere except where you want them to. It feels like it's designed as a lookalike item, but it's been around since Rescue Team.

 

Over at the Croagunk Swap Shop, I wanted to point out a couple of things. First of all, I got an  Eevee Tail, just another exclusive item to carry around.

But aside from that, I had an option to get a  Slip Scarf which just doesn't sound very useful to me. It's an exclusive item for Haunter and its evolution line that allows moves and thrown items to pass right through allies without damaging them. It definitely has its uses. You can use this item to throw Spikes through your party to provide support from a range. But this seems especially redundant for a Ghost-type who can just slip through walls to provide support. I think this is one I'm actually going to have to pass on.

And with that, it's finally time to explore the Concealed Ruins. We've been waiting three updates to do this, so let's get going!

===========

Concealed Ruins

In order to unlock this dungeon, you'll have to have cleared Aegis Cave which involves meeting Team Charm at the Guild. It's unlocked automatically after clearing that dungeon. I recommend bringing a  Key and a  Cleanse Orb with you while exploring this dungeon. I don't know if I was unlucky or if the rates are a lot higher here, but I found myself stepping on traps a lot more frequently in this dungeon and it became a fairly frustrating experience. Be careful exploring!

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Def., and  Sneak Scarves,  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip, and  No-Stick Caps,  Racket,  Special,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Iron Thorns,  Silver Spikes,  Sticks,  Gravelerocks,  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Apples,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Eyedrop,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs.

The TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse, and  Skill Swap are only available here in Explorers of Time.

These are the items available through the majority of the dungeon.

Traps:  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky, and  Warp Traps

The traps in this dungeon are pretty brutal. Definitely watch your step. It might be beneficial to enter this dungeon with a small squadron of two pokemon. While the Bulbapedia page doesn't list it, I know for a fact that Warp Traps are present in this dungeon as I've triggered them myself. I suppose it's possible they're Sky exclusive. But since I don't know for sure, be wary of them in any version.

Monster Houses are a threat throughout the dungeon as well, so be careful of that.

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

Concealed Ruins [B1F - B7F]

Pokemon:  Pidgey,  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Taillow,  Loudred,  Nidoqueen,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Murkrow

As mentioned above, this dungeon greatly resembles World Abyss, and that especially holds true with the selection of pokemon you'll find here. The same advice applies. Be wary of Nidoqueen's Earth Power and Weezing's Explosion. The Pidgey, Voltorb, Poochyena, and Taillow are all about as weak as they look, so no worries there.

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

Concealed Ruins [B8F - B10F]

Pokemon:  Pidgey,  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Taillow,  Loudred,  Nidoqueen,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Murkrow,  Delcatty

Delcatty begins to appear on the 8th floor. Be wary of its painful Attract and DoubleSlap combo!

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

Concealed Ruins [B11F - B15F]

Pokemon:  Voltorb,  Poochyena,  Taillow,  Loudred,  Nidoqueen,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Murkrow,  Delcatty,  Pidgeotto

After the 10th floor, Pidgey is replaced by its evolution Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto can be dispatched pretty easily, but be wary of Agility which can speed up other, far more dangerous pokemon like Nidoqueen and Delcatty.

On the twelfth floor, I got another new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

View (Taillow F); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Guts | Moves: Growl, Focus Energy, Quick Attack, Wing Attack

Like most birds, Taillow is in IQ Group D like Dragonair.

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

Concealed Ruins [B16F - B19F]

Pokemon:  Nidoqueen,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Murkrow,  Pidgeotto,  Shuppet,  Electrode,  Mightyena,  Swellow,  Exploud

On the 16th floor, there's a notable shift in the available pokemon. Voltorb, Poochyena, Taillow, and Loudred are all replaced by their evolutions. Delcatty also disappears and Shuppet takes their place.

On the 16th floor, I had an incredibly uncomfortable time thanks to a Warp Trap in the starting room, and even encountered a Monster House at an especially bad time! But thanks to Blizzard, the threat wasn't too serious. I was able to clear the room in a few turns.

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

Concealed Ruins [B20F]

Pokemon:  Nidoqueen,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Murkrow,  Delcatty,  Pidgeotto,  Electrode,  Mightyena,  Swellow,  Exploud

Shuppet stops appearing on the 20th floor.

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

Concealed Ruins [B21F - B29F]

Pokemon:  Nidoqueen,  Weezing,  Umbreon,  Murkrow,  Delcatty,  Electrode,  Mightyena,  Swellow,  Exploud,  Pidgeot

After that, Pidgeotto is replaced by its evolution, Pidgeot.

On this floor, no items appear except for Poke.

 

On the 29th floor, there's a locked chamber! Inside is a  Light Box. This box can contain: A  Reviver Seed,  Ancient Ring,  Ice Sash,  Rock Sash, or  Steel Sash. As you can probably guess by the names, the latter four are exclusive items for the Legendary Golems.

 Ancient Ring

The Ancient Ring protects Regigigas from being afflicted with status conditions.

 Ice,  Rock, and  Steel Sash

The three sashes protect Regice, Regirock, and Registeel respectively by reducing damage from physical attacks. It's a bit odd the items don't protect them from their individual weaknesses since some of them have significantly higher defences than others, but they do all share the Fighting type which has some powerful physical attacks, so I suppose it's still a useful item. Besides, it's objectively better to halve damage from physical attacks than not to! So that's definitely a benefit! You may as well bring these along if you have the Regis in your squad.

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

Anyway, at the end of the dungeon, we're met with not one, two, or even three: We've got six  Deluxe Boxes all for the taking! It looks like Team Charm held true to their promise and left the dungeon untouched for us!

Each of these boxes can hold: A  Reviver Seed,  Clear,  Orange,  Pink, or  Yellow Gummi, or  Sitrus Berry. Any of the above rewards are good for our current squad! How exciting!

 

Once we're finished claiming our prize, we make our way to the Warp Zone and clear the dungeon! And that's it for today! Next time, we're once again between tasks. Maybe we'll discover a new plot thread or we'll finally explore Lost Wilderness. See you soon!