All the Pokemens

[Aura]

 

Postgame Part 24: Lost Wilderness

We're back to our postgame adventure! Last time, we explored the Concealed Ruins that were revealed after solving the mysteries of Aegis Cave and defeating Regigas who was protecting the treasure there. In the depths of Aegis Cave, we got loads of treasure! And now, it's time to open them up!

 

...and the results were admittedly a little disappointing. I was hoping for a lot of Gummis or Sitrus Berries to boost my team's stats. Instead, I got five  Reviver Seeds and a single  Yellow Gummi.

In addition, that Light Box we got from the locked chamber held a  Rock Sash, so if we can ever get Regirock on our team, physical damage against it will be reduced!

Anyway, it's been a little while since we've done a traditional job. We've been doing Exploration Team Federation Special Missions for a while now. Since we don't have any this time, I think we should finally set out for Lost Wilderness which I've been promising we'd do for a while. I've got a handful of jobs there, so I can't imagine a better time!

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

Lost Wilderness

The music here varies, as you'd expect. Possible themes that can play on each floor include: Amp Plains, Far Amp Plains, Dark Hill, and Deep Dusk Forest.

This is another Dungeon unlocked through the Drink Bar at Spinda's Cafe. In Explorers of Time and Darkness, it would instead be unlocked through an escort mission. In either case, you won't be able to find it until after you graduate from Wigglytuff's Guild in the postgame. It's a pretty standard dungeon that seems best known for the Kecleon Shops it provides.

Items available from the beginning of the dungeon:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Scope Lenses,  Def., and  Pass Scarves,  Detect,  Patsy,  Persim,  Stamina,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Heal Ribbons,  No-Slip Caps,  Iron Thorns,  Gravelerocks,  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren, and  Pecha Berries,  Blinker,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Slip, and  Via Seeds,  Max, and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs and  TMs.

The  Weather Band can only be found in this dungeon in Explorers of Darkness.

Meanwhile, the TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill Swap, and  Stone Edge are exclusive to Explorers of Time.

As for those  Kecleon Shops I mentioned, there's two reasons they're special. Odd-numbered floors have Tier 2 Evolution Item Shops, which means you can look here for evolution items! But Even-numbered floors have a much more limited pool selling  Apples as well as  Gray and  Silver Gummis. Making this a great place to come and shop if you're looking to raise the IQ of Rock or Steel-type pokemon.

Additionally, if you're lucky enough to stumble across Hidden Stairs, you'll find those same Gummis and Apples as possible prizes!

Traps:  SelfDestruct,  Explosion,  Grimy,  Gust,  Mud,  Pitfall,  Poison,  Seal,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Sticky,  Summon,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

Monster Houses are also an ever-present threat throughout.

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

Lost Wilderness [B1F - B2F]

Pokemon:  Abra,  Kadabra,  Lickitung,  Mr. Mime,  Magmar,  Tyrogue,  Hitmontop,  Shiftry,  Hariyama,  Meditite,  Medicham,  Spinda,  Croagunk

The name of the dungeon reminded me of Jurrassic Park, so I was half expecting this dungeon to be filled with Fossil Pokemon. Instead, it had a bunch of humanoid pokemon. None of them were particularly threatening. Like most of these dungeons, the pokemon are fairly weak and easily dispatched, though Lickitung can take some special hits making it a bit frustrating for Hail to deal with.

On the second floor, the weather is cloudy.

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

Lost Wilderness [B3F - B10F]

Pokemon:  Abra,  Kadabra,  Lickitung,  Mr. Mime,  Magmar,  Tyrogue,  Hitmontop,  Shiftry,  Hariyama,  Meditite,  Medicham,  Spinda,  Croagunk,  Makuhita

On the 3rd floor, strangely enough, Makuhita joins. Hariyama has been present from the very beginning, but its base form isn't on the first two floors.

 

There was a Sandstorm on the 4th floor, Fog on the 6th floor, and it's rainy on the 8th floor.

 

On the 9th floor, we had to fight the Outlaw Boss Solrock and its gang of Lunatone. We were more than well-equipped to handle this matchup.

    

Starting on the 10th floor, the Berries and Seeds no longer appear, to be sure to seek them out on floors B1F - B9F.

On the 10th floor, the weather is foggy.

 

We also had a boss Outlaw Aggron leading a gang of Grumpig against us. The Fog made this fight a little bit more annoying because it decreased the strength of Blizzard. Even still, I was able to take the foes out, it just took a few extra turns and some help from my teammates' Shadow Ball and Bite.

By the end, I had Hail run off to gather dropped items while the rest of my team ganged up on Aggron to finish him off.

On the way to the staircase, I was surprised to discover that these special outlaw boss floors aren't exempt from traps! It looks like if you're really unlucky, you might trigger a bad one! If you're really unlucky, you might trigger a Pitfall trap before you can KO the boss. That would really suck!

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

Lost Wilderness [B11F - B16F]

Pokemon:  Abra,  Kadabra,  Lickitung,  Mr. Mime,  Magmar,  Tyrogue,  Hitmontop,  Shiftry,  Hariyama,  Meditite,  Medicham,  Spinda,  Croagunk,  Makuhita,  Lucario

Starting on B11F, Lucario begins to appear here, but they're a version exclusive for Time, so they don't appear in Darkness. They're significantly tougher than all the other pokemon here, but as they're the only pokemon that poses any sort of threat, they're still no big deal. But remember the 14 pokemon rule! You're not guaranteed to see one even if it can appear.

The weather is Cloudy again on the 12th floor.

 

On the 14th floor, we arrested the outlaw Golduck.

On the 15th floor, there's a small chamber that isn't actually locked. It always holds a Reviver Seed for you.

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

Lost Wilderness [B17F]

Pokemon:  Abra,  Kadabra,  Lickitung,  Mr. Mime,  Magmar,  Tyrogue,  Hitmontop,  Shiftry,  Hariyama,  Meditite,  Medicham,  Spinda,  Croagunk,  Lucario

Makuhita showed up late to the party in the beginning, and they're also the first to leave. Strange little pokemon.

It was a bit unfortunate, but I wound up running into a Monster House driving me to use a Max Elixir on the final floor. It feels like a bit of a waste, but I suppose it's a worthwhile investment for the boost of Exp and Gummis!

 

On the final floor is a  Deluxe Box for us to claim as a prize before we leave!

This box can contain a  Reviver Seed,  Black,  Purple,  Royal, or  Silver Gummi, or  Sitrus Berry.

And that's the end of our exploration! ...but not today's post.

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

 

As we turn in for the night, a thunderstorm begins to roll in.

 

Thinking about how long ago it's been since the last storm reminds Icarus that it's also been quite a while since our mission to prevent the collapse of Temporal Tower and our fight with Dialga.

 

Finally, after what feels like forever, Skye begins to wonder again about the incident at Luminous Spring. I'm not sure why this took so long to happen. I thought we'd at least bring it up with Chatot to see if he had any answers, but nothing at all came from it. We just accepted we couldn't evolve and moved on. But even though it feels weird it took so long to get here, I'm glad we're finally going to address it. That tells me we're probably finally on the path to solving whatever's going on with the distortion of space.

 

After a lightning strike, Icarus suggests we go ahead and get some sleep.

As we do, we're treated to a shot of a shadowy figure in the forest... It looks to be the same place where Grovyle dashed through before arriving at the Time Gear in Treeshroud Forest, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is the same place.

 

Whoever this figure is, it seems they're responsible for the distortion of space...

 

...It also seems that this very same pokemon is responsible for the collapse of Temporal Tower as well. Apparently their power grows from these distortions... but just what could their motivation be? What do they need power for? And is it worth the destruction of the world?

 

The pokemon soon notices someone coming, and recognizes them as Cresselia who seems to be tracking him down. So, he flees into hiding.

Soon, Cresselia steps into view and searches around, but the shadowy pokemon has already disappeared.

 

Cresselia seems disappointed that the pokemon has gotten away.

 

 

Cresselia is clearly seeking to capture the pokemon, who she name drops as Darkrai, in order to stop the distrotion of space, or the world is going to return to chaos all over again! I don't think the world is ready for Palkia to go primal, too!

And that's where we're gonna leave things off for now! Next time, it looks like we're getting involved in more postgame story progress! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 25: Shimmer Desert

Last time it seemed that our postgame adventure was finally starting to tie back into the postgame adventure. A storm rolled in and we saw a shot of Darkrai in the forest, narrowly escaping the pursuit of Cresselia. Darkrai's soliloquy seemed to imply he had something to do with the collapse of Temporal Tower as well as the distortion of space that prevented us from evolving at Luminous Spring.

But, it looks like we've still got a bit of waiting before anything takes off, so for now, I suppose it's back to the drawing board with doing miscellaneous jobs until something happens.

 

And something did, indeed, happen, but not quite what I had in mind. That's right, we've got another Special Mission from the Exploration Team Federation! So, it looks like we've got our heading for today!

 

Once again, we open the message, receive our mission briefing telling us to recover the Terra Cymbal from Shimmer Desert.

With our preprations made, it's time to head out toward Shimmer Desert!

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

Shimmer Desert

Music that plays here includes: Steam Cave, Northern Desert, Quicksand Cave, Quicksand Pit

Shimmer Desert, not to be confused with the similarly glimmering Shimmer Hill, is one of the secret Seven Treasures dungeons only available through a Special Job Request from the Exploration Team Federation. It can only be accessed after obtaining the Secret Rank by rescuing Scizor from Crevice Cave. Then, you'll need to wait until you receive the Job Request from Spinda's Cafe. You can alternatively use the Wonder Mail S Password in the above screenshot. But if you're playing in Explorers of Time or Darkness, it's only available via Wonder Mail and Wonder Mail S Passwords won't work with Time and Darkness. Instead, you'll need this one:

Quote

#&S6 NY2& YJN=
1P57 F0MN MH7Y

Reminder that this code will only work if you have the secret rank, first.

Anyway, this is the shortest of the Seven Treasures dungeons, so you shouldn't expect too much of a struggle.

Items:  Poke,  Silver Spikes,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  Gone Pebbles,  Grimy Food, and  Brown,  Green,  Orange,  Gold,  Gray,  Purple,  Yellow, and  Wander Gummis

Since it's a short dungeon, the selection of items are fairly limited. Expect to find lots of Grimy Food. On the other hand, that does make this a really good place to look for the Gummis that are available!

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.

This dungeon also contains a solid selection of buried items worth noting! And due to the dungeon's short length, this is a really good place to search for these buried items. So if you've got a need for a bunch of vitamins, bring some Apples, set a Ghost as your leader, and start running through those halls!

Monster Houses are a present threat throughout the dungeon.

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

Shimmer Desert [1F - 2F]

Pokemon:  Ekans,  Arbok,  Sandshrew,  Sandslash,  Nidoking,  Diglett,  Dugtrio,  Sudowoodo

The biggest threats throughout this dungeon are Nidoking and Dugtrio who can both hit your squad with Earth Power. As you've come to expect, the unevolved pokemon are significantly weaker and easily dispatched.

The weather is Sunny on the first floor.

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

Shimmer Desert [3F - 4F]

Pokemon:  Ekans,  Arbok,  Sandshrew,  Sandslash,  Nidoking,  Diglett,  Dugtrio,  Sudowoodo,  Garchomp

Garchomp joins the fray on the 3rd floor. On its own, it's not too scary, especially with a teammate like Hail, but be wary of its Sand Veil ability.

There's a sandstorm on the 3rd floor! This makes Garchomp, Sandslash, and Dugtrio much more frustrating due to their Sand Veil abilities.

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

Shimmer Desert [5F - 8F]

Pokemon:  Ekans,  Arbok,  Sandshrew,  Sandslash,  Nidoking,  Diglett,  Dugtrio,  Sudowoodo,  Garchomp,  Rhyperior

On the 5th floor, Rhyperior joins the fray. It's got some scary moves if it can get in close to you, but in general, you can take it out pretty easily. Earthquake is usually your biggest fear, but that'll damage any allies it has, too.

The sun is shining brightly on the 6th floor!

Be especially wary on the 8th floor, there's a significantly higher 50% chance of running into a Monster House there.

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

Shimmer Desert [9F]

Pokemon:  Ekans,  Arbok,  Sandshrew,  Sandslash,  Nidoking,  Diglett,  Dugtrio,  Sudowoodo

On the 9th floor, Garchomp and Rhyperior are gone.

And there's a Sandstorm on this floor! With Garchomp gone, you thankfully have one fewer Sand Veil enemy. Unfortunately, Rhyperior is gone with it, so the proportions aren't actually changed at all with Garchomp's removal.

I ran into a Monster House on the 9th floor instead of the 8th. The enemies were easily dispatched with a couple of Blizzards, though Sand Veil made it frustrating to take out the Sandshrew.

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

 

After only 9 floors, we arrive at the Pit of the desert where we're faced by the Guardian of Shimmer Desert, Groudon!

 

 

We're given Gorudon's spiel as one of the guardians and then we accept his challenge to claim the treasure!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Walrein F); Lv. 49

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Safe Scarf*

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

*I've finally decided to ditch the Sleet Bow a few explorations ago. While it has its uses for sure, it has far more frequently proven to be a massive inconvenience since enemies can't be damaged while frozen. More often than not, it just buys an attacking enemy a free second turn which has led to incredibly awkward situations. The final straw was a point where an enemy kept thawing, attacking, and re-freezing on my Sleet Bow four times in a row. It just doesn't seem worth any niche benefit it can unreliably provide. Freezing enemeis in generally just doesn't seem like a very useful status condition in this game unless you have a Fire type who can damage the enemy before they thaw. Even then, it's still pretty situational.

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 53

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. 54

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

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

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

Fog (Haunter M); Lv. 42

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse+Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Groudon

And our fight with Groudon for the Terra Cymbal begins! Of course, Groudon's Drought ability makes the weather Sunny.

 

We are super well equipped to handle Groudon thanks to Hail, so all this battle took was a little bit of setup to get Groudon cornered by my teammates. Before we knew it, he was done for.

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

 

On defeat, like the other guardians, Groudon disappears and leaves the treasure behind! Thus, we've obtained the  Terra Cymbal!

The Terra Cymbal is our fourth of the Seven Treasures! This one increases the recruitment rate of Ground-type pokemon by 20%! But... that's not all!

Unexpectedly, Groudon reappeared after we claimed our treasure!

 

As it turns out, I was lucky enough to be able to recruit Groudon! Well, I say "lucky," but I'm kinda overdue for it at this point. Each of these is a 50% chance to recruit any of these guys. I was kind of under the assumption I just needed to be adjacent to the boss in order to recruit it. As it turns out, nope. It's just a 50% chance after every fight and I just so happen to have failed three 50% chances in a row. But hey, that's just one more dungeon we don't have to redo later!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Mars (Groudon); Lv. 49

Item: None

Ability: Drought | Moves: Slash, Bulk Up, Earthquake, Fire Blast

Groudon is in IQ Group E with Spheal. It's our first big legendary recruit, though he doesn't have much synergy with our current team members. The obvious recommendation to pair Groudon with any pokemon that benefits from Sun. Specifically, pokemon like Charizard and Shiftry might benefit a lot. The sun will power up Charizard's Heat Wave and make it a truly devastating room-wide attack that can also be followed up by Groudon's Earthquake which Charizard's weakness to is mitigated with its Flying type. Shiftry, or any Grass-type that resists Ground attacks. It's great to design a Sun squad without needing to dedicate PP to Sunny Day. But be wary that dungeons with pokemon that have abilities like Sand Stream or Cloud Nine will mitigate this boon as they spawn in. 

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

And that's the end of our exploration of Shimmer Desert!

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

 

That night is a peaceful one, no storm at all. Skye and Icarus are sleeping in their hideout.

 

Music: Welcome to the World of Pokemon!

Suddenly, we're taken into Skye's dream... all of a sudden, I'm getting major Rescue Team vibes.

Skye is barely conscious of this dream, but to drive the parallels with Rescue Team even further, someone is approaching her...

 

Suddenly, a figure appears before us: It's Cresselia! The pokemon that was chasing Darkrai before!

Of course, Skye has no clue who Cresselia is or why she's coming to her.

 

Unfortunately, this isn't exactly a friendly visit, it seems. Cresselia tells us that our very existence is pushing the world to ruin. That... can't be right, can it? We're only here because Dialga was able to make it so! Surely you wouldn't insist that to be a mistake, right?

 

Skye naturally asks Cresselia what she means by this accusation, but Cresselia only adds that her mere existence in this world is driving the world to ruin.

 

And suddenly, the dream comes to an end with a flash of light. No answers are provided at all, only a vague and ominous warning.

 

It's still the middle of the night and Icarus is asleep, so there's no discussing the dream just yet. She decides to just try and get more sleep for now.

And that's the end of our update for today. Once again, we'll have to wait and see what tomorrow will bring! See you soon!

[Aura]

 

Postgame Part 26: Grass Cornet

We're back for more of our postgame adventure! Last time, Skye had a strange dream where we met a pokemon named Cresselia who warned her that her existence will lead the world to ruin. The dream ended abruptly, leaving Skye puzzled and without answers. Just what does it mean? What is she supposed to do, exactly?

The next morning, there's really not much that can be done about it. We greet Icarus the same as normal and continue to go about our regular exploration team business.

 

You guessed it by the title of this post we've received yet another Special Mission!

 

This time, the target is the Grass Cornet located in a place called Mystery Jungle.

 

The dungeon is unlocked which means we'll be on our way!

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

Mystery Jungle

The music that plays here is random in each floor. It can be: Aegis Cave, Concealed Ruins, Sealed Ruin, and Blizzard Island Rescue Team Medley

This is our fifth Seven Treasures dungeon! We've already nearly gathered them all! Anyway, just like the others, you need a specific Special Mission to unlock the dungeon. In Explorers of Sky, you can get this code randomly from Spinda's Cafe, but you can alternatively use the Wonder Mail S Code above. If you're playing on Explorers of Darkness, you'll need a regular Wonder Mail code to get this mission:

Quote

X%8S WYY+ S-JF
PFH@ @##K 5W8K

Keep in mind that this Special Mission can only be unlocked after reaching the Secret Rank by rescuing Scizor from Crevice Cave.

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,  Geo, and  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Apples,  Chesto,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Eyedrop,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Warp,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max, and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs.

The TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill Swap, and  Stone Edge can only be found here in Explorers of Time.

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

Monster Houses are a present threat throughout the dungeon.

Curiously, unlike the other Special Mission dungeons, you can find Kecleon Shops here! There isn't anything particularly special about the Kecleon Shops here, at least as far as I can tell. No evolution items or anything of the sort.

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

Mystery Jungle [1F - 29F]

 Bulbasaur,  Ivysaur,  Venusaur,  Metapod,  Rattata,  Raticate,  Spearow,  Nidoran F,  Nidoran M,  Vileplume,  Venonat,  Bellsprout,  Weepinbell,  Victreebel,  Exeggcute,  Koffing,  Scyther,  Eevee,  Snorlax,  Chikorita,  Bayleef,  Meganium,  Aipom,  Sunkern,  Sunflora,  Teddiursa,  Treecko,  Grovyle,  Sceptile,  Wurmple,  Silcoon,  Cascoon,  Seedot,  Nuzleaf,  Roselia,  Gulpin,  Flygon,  Turtwig,  Grotle, Torterra,  Bidoof,  Roserade,  Lopunny,  Stunky,  Skuntank,  Munchlax

That's a lot of pokemon! Indeed, this dungeon is like a massively expanded version of Mystifying Forest. The pokemon available on each floor don't change, but the 14 species rule makes it so that each floor still feels unique! Unfortunately, that comes with a side-effect of not really knowing what floors to search for what pokemon. Much like the Unown forms, you might have to take a few trips through if there's a particular pokemon you want to recruit. And if you see them, try to wait out the floor's timer before moving on! Just don't get too greedy with that, you've got 29 floors of dungeon to crawl, you don't wanna be caught with an empty stomach!

 

Floors 7 and 8 are foggy.

 

The weather on floors 5, 10, and 15 are all random, I just happened to get Foggy weather on the 10th floor, it was a Sandstorm on the 15th!

 

I also got a couple of new recruits along the way through the earlier parts of the dungeon.

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Wind (Spearow M); Lv. 12

Item: None

Ability: Keen Eye | Moves: Peck, Growl, Leer, Fury Attack

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

Nest (Exeggcute F); Lv. 10

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll | Moves: Uproar, Barrage, Hypnosis, Reflect

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

On the 16th floor, there's a pretty drastic tileset shift. It looks like some sort of really dark desert cave. It's actually really cool looking!

 

The weather is always Foggy on the 17th and 18th floors,

 

And random on the 20th and 25th floors. In my case, I got Hail and Fog again!

And yet another new recruit down here, too!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Bananas (Aipom F); Lv. 14

Item: None

Abilities: Run Away, Pickup | Moves: Tail Whip, Sand-Attack, Astonish, Baton Pass

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

After 29 floors, you finally arrive at Deep Mystery Jungle.

 

And it's here that we meet the challenge of our next guardian: Mew!

 

 

Mew gives us the same rehearsed speech as the other guardians and then it's time for our battle!

===========

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Walrein F); Lv. 49

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Safe Scarf

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

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 54

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. 55

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

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

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

Fog (Haunter M); Lv. 43

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse+Confuse Ray

==========

Vs. Mew

And now it's time for our fight with Mew! But, I think you already know the drill by now.

 

Yes, we surround Mew and attack him from every direction! Before you know it, Mew is down just like all the other guardians.

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

 

And, as always, Mew drops the treasure we're after: The  Grass Cornet!

The Grass Cornet is our fifth of the Seven Treasures. You can probably guess what it does: It boosts the recruitment rate of Grass pokemon by 20% while it's in your inventory. We've got five of the seven treasures! Only two more to go!

Anyway, that's it for our exploration!

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

 

Later that night, we see Icarus and Skye snoozing in their beds.

Music: Welcome to the World of Pokemon

It seems that Skye is having another strange dream...

 

And once again, Cresselia appears before her.

 

Once again, Skye asks for clarification on what exactly Cresselia meant when she said that Skye's existence would drive the world to ruin. She confirms what we've already suspected: She believes that us being a human from the future is the problem at hand.

 

Cresselia elaborates that our presence in this world is creating distortion in the fabric of space because we are not of this world.

 

Beyond that, she adds that the expansion of this distortion is what will ruin the world. We know how catastrophic the collapse of Temporal Tower was, so you can only imagine how terrible it would be if Space, too, began to fall apart.

 

 

With a foreboding insistence that we must not remain here, Cresselia takes her leave, leaving Skye once again with more questions than answers. But that's where we're going to leave things off for now. Next time, perhaps we'll finally start investigating these strange dreams? I've kinda been thinking that's what would be happening the last couple updates. But I dog et the feeling things are going to start picking up soon. Until next time, see you soon!

[Warning]

Color me impressed. I see this thread pop up often and I know I've checked it before but you really seem to have printed full playthroughs of pokemon games across 34 pages of this thread. You even posted screenshots of every of your steps in the games. I am sure that it must have taken a huge amount of time and patience to do so. It's even laid down in a way to tell us the story of your adventures. Such dedication that you have, Aura. Well, I am sure you enjoy it, to put so much time on this. I don't even know if I'd manage to read all of this even if I wanted to. I was gonna say if you have a table of content and you DO. The amazement is getting better. You have organized this so well.

You are quite a dedicated fan and while I admittedly don't like every pokemon games, it's nice to see the time you put on so many of them. I might take a good look and see if any of them feel interesting to play or play again. My only question would be this: Would you recommend any of the Pokemon games on 3DS to someone who is looking for a nice and fun experience but without too much difficulty? I've heard that the dungeon games were pretty hard to play and keep up with. If you'd have any recommendations since I played no games on 3DS.

Edited September 13, 2023 by Goddess Aurora

[Aura]

5 hours ago, Goddess Aurora said:

Color me impressed. I see this thread pop up often and I know I've checked it before but you really seem to have printed full playthroughs of pokemon games across 34 pages of this thread. You even posted screenshots of every of your steps in the games. I am sure that it must have taken a huge amount of time and patience to do so. It's even laid down in a way to tell us the story of your adventures. Such dedication that you have, Aura. Well, I am sure you enjoy it, to put so much time on this. I don't even know if I'd manage to read all of this even if I wanted to. I was gonna say if you have a table of content and you DO. The amazement is getting better. You have organized this so well.

You are quite a dedicated fan and while I admittedly don't like every pokemon games, it's nice to see the time you put on so many of them. I might take a good look and see if any of them feel interesting to play or play again. My only question would be this: Would you recommend any of the Pokemon games on 3DS to someone who is looking for a nice and fun experience but without too much difficulty? I've heard that the dungeon games were pretty hard to play and keep up with. If you'd have any recommendations since I played no games on 3DS.

Thank you a lot for the praise! It does make me wish it'd be easier to go through and fix all the broken images in tge earlier chapters. But yes, I don't really expect anyone to read through *everything*. Hence the Table of Contents!

Anyway, that's an interesting question. I would definitely say that the 3DS games are generally on the easier side of the spectrum. If you're looking for an easy experience, I think XY would be the way to go. It's the game that introduces the modified Exp Share which is quite divisive, but it's not until Gen 8 where that becomes baked in. XY also has a lot of different pokemon at your disposal, so if you're a returning fan of old, you're likely to run into at least a handful of your favorites.

SM are also a really interesting experience that is notably different from the rest of the series, but it's also unfortunately annoyingly heavy-handed with tutorials and barricades. I personally prefer the narrative in SM than USUM which completely changes the central conflict in a way that hinders some of the characters, I feel. But if narrative isn't your interest, you might find USUM more interesting.

Then there's ORAS, which is great if you like Legendary hunting because there's tons of them there in the postgame! The game overall expands on the world of Hoenn really well, and it's not afraid to make pretty major changes. If you've played and enjoyed RS, then you might be interested in playing their remakes.

[Warning]

To be fair, I don't know if I liked Ruby and Sapphire. It's been quite a while since I played them. I thiiink I played XY before, though. Now that I think about it. I played the original RS but I don't remember liking the starters (Same problem as DP, really). Honestly, I also only care about eevees most of the times so yeah... I remember there was a game without a eevee and I tried to avoid that game, can't remember which. Are the Pokemon dungeon games on 3DS as hard as people seem to say? Also, I think I have USun but I never played it. Didn't have much time,

[Aura]

10 minutes ago, Goddess Aurora said:

To be fair, I don't know if I liked Ruby and Sapphire. It's been quite a while since I played them. I thiiink I played XY before, though. Now that I think about it. I played the original RS but I don't remember liking the starters (Same problem as DP, really). Honestly, I also only care about eevees most of the times so yeah... I remember there was a game without a eevee and I tried to avoid that game, can't remember which. Are the Pokemon dungeon games on 3DS as hard as people seem to say? Also, I think I have USun but I never played it. Didn't have much time,

In my experience, people tend to say the opposite, the 3DS games are generally considered to be some of the easiest, and they've kinda only gotten easier with the Switch titles. SM is definitely harder than XY, I'd say. But it's still fairly straight-forward. Money is really abundant, so you can feel free to abuse items a lot.

That said, as a fairly experienced pokemon fan, it's hard for me to judge newer games on their difficulty since a lot of the stuff I used to think were difficult as a kid are a walk in the park to me now. But in general, I think the devs have been intentional about making the games easier in many ways starting with XY.

If you wanna use Eevee, XY and SM are definitely solid choices! You can get Eevee in the wild fairly early on in both of those games. In SM, with a bit of luck, Eevee can even call wild Umbreon or Espeon as backup! You get an Eevee for free from an egg given by an NPC in SM, but they're more common in the wild in XY.

The game that you tried to avoid because it didn't have Eevee may have been Black and White on the DS. But you can get Eevee fairly early on in Black and White 2, as well! Though it's a DS game and not a 3DS game, it is playable on any 3DS! BW2 is actually my favorite in the series. As a sequel, it does spoil the ending of Black and White, but it's up to you if that really matters much. Even if you haven't played the original games, the story does summarize the prior events.

[Aura]

 

Postgame Part 27: A Very Bad Dream

We return with our postgame adventure! Last time, we explored Mystery Jungle to retreive the Grass Cornet form the jungle's guardian, Mew. We also had yet another dream where we met Cresselia who told Skye that her presence would lead the world to ruin because she is here from the future. It is a concerning sentiment to be sure, but can it even be possible? Dialga is the reason we're still here, after all... or perhaps whatever power is above him that allowed him to save Grovyle and his friends as well.

 

The next morning, it appears we have difficulty waking up. That dream must've lasted much longer than we realized!

 

As Skye goes over what Cresselia told her in her dream, she suddenly recalls that the distortion of space was noted as the reason she couldn't evolve at the Luminous Spring!

This realization seems to add credence to what Cresselia was saying... maybe her existence here really is bringing the world to ruin...

 

Noticing we're lagging behind, Icarus tries to cheer us up and encourages us to get moving!

 

At Icarus's encouragement, Skye begins to cheer up and is ready for another day of exploring!

But as soon as we step out, something is up: Bidoof comes calling for us! There's trouble?

 

It's Azurill! Bidoof tells us he was brought to the guild! We'd better go see what's going on!

When we get to the guild, we find Azurill is asleep in one of the beds with everyone gathered around him.

 

Marill explains to us that Azurill seems to have been asleep for a long time and can't wake up... it's a curious condition, for sure.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a pleasant sleep, either. Azurill seems to be suffering... is he having a nightmare?

 

It seems everyone is at a loss for how we could cure Azurill's condiiton. Even Chatot doesn't seem to have any ideas. Chimecho explains they can't administer any berries or anything because he's asleep.

 

After a little while, Bidoof suggests that we should try and figure out just what kind of nightmare Azurill is having. Maybe it could give us a hint as to how we might be able to wake Azurill. It's actually quite a smart suggestion from him. But of course, there's an obvious follow-up question.

 

Loudred gets angry, suggesting that looking inside of a dream is impossible, though to be fair, I didn't take Bidoof to mean it literally. Even still, it seems the literal interpretation has struck a chord with Chatot...

 

 

Chatot suggests we find Drowzee: The very first outlaw Team Flight worked to arrest way back when we were still just fledgling explorers.

 

As it turns out, there's a rumor that Drowzee is capable of entering people's dreams, and that just might be helpful in figuring out what's wrong with Azurill! But... is it really okay? Drowzee was a terrible outlaw when we faced him at Mt. Bristle... and it was little Azurill he'd kidnapped.

 

Icarus asks Magnemite what happened to Drowzee after we last saw him. Magnemite explains that he was grilled by Magnezone, vowed to never break the law, and then... was released? What a justice system. If I'm being hoenst, this was actually kind of upsetting. After the lengths we went to save Azurill, Drowzee doesn't seem to have gotten much of any actual penalty for his crime? How many other outlaws have gotten off this easy!?

 

Even Corphish seems to agree with me that releasing him seems a bit suspect, but Sunflora scolds him because that isn't what's important right now. I suppose that's fair, but it's still a conversation that should be had!

 

With that, Sunflora asks where Drowzee is now, which Magnemite answers that he went to Mt. Travail, a place in the mountainous region, to reflect on his decisions and study self-discipline. So, it looks like we have our heading!

 

Before we leave, Marill stops us to thank us for, once again, coming to their rescue.

 

And with that, the Guildmaster tells everyone that this matter will be entrusted to Team Flight! With the guild relying on us, we certainly can't let everyone down!

After making our preparations, we set out for Mt. Travail!

 

Unfortunately, this is where we run into one of the scarier parts of the postgame: This is one of many dungeons we can only explore with our player and partner. Your player character will automatically be the leader and your partner will be AI. Unfortunately, that means we're stuck in the same nightmarish situation we were in back in the Future arc with just the two of us. Here's hoping we don't run into too many problems ahead. The explanation here is that Icarus is worried Drowzee will be unlikely to hear us out if we overwhelm him with numbers. Hopefully we'll be able to convince him more easily if we come alone.

So, before you go, you'll have to agree with your partner to go as a pair.

And with that, we head out!

 

We arrive at the base of Mt. Travail and prepare to head inside! Let's get going and get Drowzee's help to save Azurill!

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

Mt. Travail

This is our first postgame dungeon that forces us to use Icarus and Skye alone. It's actually a little bit of a relief to be down to only two team members, it really does have a tangible effect on mobility. The first time through here, you can't recruit any pokemon. In future visits to this dungeon, we'll be able to bring any pokemon you want and freely recruit pokemon encountered here. But the first time, it's your starter and partner only. And that means we're back to our usual complaints about these two as a pair. I'll be relying on Icarus a lot for DPS again. But at least I have Shadow Ball now, so I'm not quite as helpless as I was during the main story.

In order to gain access to this dungeon, you'll have to have explored Aegis Cave with Team Charm, though Concealed Ruins is optional. After a few days have passed doing jobs, you'll find the events above begin to play out. You'll know it's on its way when the dreams with Cresselia begin to play each night. The dungeon itself isn't too terribly dangerous or anything, you may want an Apple just in case, but it's only about 20 floors wPolitoedhich seems to be pretty standard for dungeon length.

Items:  Poke,  Geo Pebbles,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren, and  Pecha Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Reviser,  Sleep,  Slip,  Via,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds, and  Max and  Mix Elixirs.

Item-wise, there isn't much going on in this dungeon. That's why I recommend bringing an Apple or two to be safe because you won't be finding any in here!

Traps:  Grimy,  Mud,  PP-Zero,  Seal,  Sticky, and  Warp Traps

The traps are also a fairly simple list, but don't overlook the fact that some of the most dangerous traps are here! Steer clear of them!

There are Monster Houses present throughout the dungeon as well, so be careful while exploring.

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

Mt. Travail [1F - 7F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Mankey,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Kangaskhan,  Mr. Mime,  Sentret,  Furret,  Ledian,  Scizor,  Heracross,  Ursaring,  Tyrogue,  Shedinja,  Meditite,  Medicham,  Bibarel

We've got some fairly standard mountain pokemon to be found here that we've seen a few times now, though I believe this is our first time encountering Scizor and Heracross as enemies. Heracross seems to be high enough level that Endure isn't among the last 4 moves it can know, but I'm not sure if that means it actually won't have it. Try to take 'em out quick just to be safe! Warp Seeds can help get away from pokemon with Endure up!

 

 

The weather is Rainly on 2F, Foggy on 3F, and Cloudy on 5F and 6F.

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

Mt. Travail [8F - 14F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Mankey,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Kangaskhan,  Mr. Mime,  Sentret,  Furret,  Ledian,  Scizor,  Heracross,  Ursaring,  Tyrogue,  Shedinja,  Meditite,  Medicham,  Bibarel,  Onix

On the 8th floor, you can also find Onix.

 

It's Sunny on the 8th and 9th floors, and foggy again on the 11th.

 

On the 12th floor, I found Hidden Stairs leading to five Deluxe Chests! It's a lucky day!

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

Mt. Travail [15F - 19F]

Pokemon:  Fearow,  Mankey,  Primeape,  Marowak,  Hitmonchan,  Kangaskhan,  Mr. Mime,  Sentret,  Furret,  Ledian,  Scizor,  Heracross,  Ursaring,  Tyrogue,  Shedinja,  Meditite,  Medicham,  Bibarel

And Onix is gone after the 14th floor.

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

After 19 floors, we arrive at the peak of Mt. Travail.

 

Up ahead, we see Drowzee standing at the ledge and looking out over the land. As expected, he's shocked to see us again! We are the ones who apprehended him originally, after all.

 

We tell him we're not here to arrest him, but to seek his help.

Icarus begins to explain to him the situation, that Azurill is locked in sleep and can't wake up.

 

 

It seems that Drowzee really has been reflecting hard on his actions, thankfully. He feels remorse for what he did to Azurill. He knows this can't possibly make up for what he's done, but even still, he'll be glad to help if it can help Azurill even a little bit. So, he agrees to come back with us and see what he can do to help!

With that, we all take our leave! And that's where we're gonna cut things off this time! Next time, we return to the Guild with Drowzee to help Azurill! See you soon!

[Warning]

On 13/09/2023 at 16:32, Aura said:

In my experience, people tend to say the opposite, the 3DS games are generally considered to be some of the easiest, and they've kinda only gotten easier with the Switch titles. SM is definitely harder than XY, I'd say. But it's still fairly straight-forward. Money is really abundant, so you can feel free to abuse items a lot.

That said, as a fairly experienced pokemon fan, it's hard for me to judge newer games on their difficulty since a lot of the stuff I used to think were difficult as a kid are a walk in the park to me now. But in general, I think the devs have been intentional about making the games easier in many ways starting with XY.

If you wanna use Eevee, XY and SM are definitely solid choices! You can get Eevee in the wild fairly early on in both of those games. In SM, with a bit of luck, Eevee can even call wild Umbreon or Espeon as backup! You get an Eevee for free from an egg given by an NPC in SM, but they're more common in the wild in XY.

The game that you tried to avoid because it didn't have Eevee may have been Black and White on the DS. But you can get Eevee fairly early on in Black and White 2, as well! Though it's a DS game and not a 3DS game, it is playable on any 3DS! BW2 is actually my favorite in the series. As a sequel, it does spoil the ending of Black and White, but it's up to you if that really matters much. Even if you haven't played the original games, the story does summarize the prior events.

A bit late to respond to this but I meant Pokemon dungeon games uniquely. (For my last question anyway). I was a little hyped when I saw that 3DS had like 2 Pokemon dungeon games but I heard that they were very hard and items oriented.  I just thought to ask you if you would recommend any of them. IF not, what Pokemon dungeon games would you recommend in general? (I just want a different touch of pokemon.) The issue is I don't have much but a 3DS right now so my options may be a little limited right now but I'm still looking, in case.

As for normal Pokemon games, Black and White series were my favorite games. (Black 1 and 2 in my case) and yes I played both. How would you play DS games on the 3DS by the way? I don't seem to know how to do that. (I am using a hacked 3DS in my case). For the time being, maybe I could try the remake of Ruby and Sapphire as I probably can get access to it easily. For pokemon dungeons, the game that I really enjoyed was explorer of skies? There were fun games that didn't seem too hard back then. I was looking for a similar experience or etc.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Goddess Aurora

[Aura]

45 minutes ago, Goddess Aurora said:

A bit late to respond to this but I meant Pokemon dungeon games uniquely. (For my last question anyway). I was a little hyped when I saw that 3DS had like 2 Pokemon dungeon games but I heard that they were very hard and items oriented.  I just thought to ask you if you would recommend any of them. IF not, what Pokemon dungeon games would you recommend in general? (I just want a different touch of pokemon.) The issue is I don't have much but a 3DS right now so my options may be a little limited right now but I'm still looking, in case.

As for normal Pokemon games, Black and White series were my favorite games. (Black 1 and 2 in my case) and yes I played both. How would you play DS games on the 3DS by the way? I don't seem to know how to do that. (I am using a hacked 3DS in my case). For the time being, maybe I could try the remake of Ruby and Sapphire as I probably can get access to it easily. For pokemon dungeons, the game that I really enjoyed was explorer of skies? There were fun games that didn't seem too hard back then. I was looking for a similar experience or etc.

Ah! Mystery Dungeon! I'm sorry. I completely misread that! I really can't say much about the 3DS games. Explorers is the extent of what I'm familiar with. Even then, this thread is my first experience actually finishing these games, and everything in the postgame is completely blind.

I know nothing beyond the demo of Gates to Infinity and I've never touched Super Mystery Dungeon. I've taken a few peeks at what to expect from Gates to Infinity. The major points that stood out to me are convenience features--IQ skills are replaced with Team Skills that affect the entire party (a very welcome addition I'm looking forward to, making me feel much more comfortable switching up my squad more often). Hunger is now only a factor in certain dungeons. From what I understand, the story dungeons no longer require you to manage your belly stat at all. But most postgame dungeons do require you to manage belly again, so it's kind of just a tease of removing a fairly annoying mechanic. I believe GtI introduces the Apple Trap which is by far the most potentially devastating trap in the game as it can turn *any* item into an Apple. Unlike a Grimy trap, it isn't limited in what it can affect, and unlike a Sticky trap, the item doesn't get returned to you after you leave the dungeon or use a Cleanse Orb. I also know that GtI allows Virizion to join your team during the main story, which is a first allowing you to get a Legendary before the postgame. 

The biggest change of difficulty, though, is the way Speed works. It's tied to evasion, so if you have no way of boosting your speed, you're basically going to be missing a lot more. This is the detail I'm most nervous about because I already get frustrated with my attacks missing a lot in Rescue Team and Explorers.

TL:DR -- I can't say anything about the difficulty of the 3DS games because my knowledge of those games are minimal. My playthrough when we get to them here will be entirely blind from beginning to end.

Oh, and about your question on playing DS games on 3DS: It's actually quite simple, the 3DS is simply capable of playing DS games natively. You can just plug them in. But with a molded 3DS, I'm sure there would be a way to sail the seven seas and get those games digitally through very legal means, I'm sure.

[Warning]

36 minutes ago, Aura said:

Ah! Mystery Dungeon! I'm sorry. I completely misread that! I really can't say much about the 3DS games. Explorers is the extent of what I'm familiar with. Even then, this thread is my first experience actually finishing these games, and everything in the postgame is completely blind.

I know nothing beyond the demo of Gates to Infinity and I've never touched Super Mystery Dungeon. I've taken a few peeks at what to expect from Gates to Infinity. The major points that stood out to me are convenience features--IQ skills are replaced with Team Skills that affect the entire party (a very welcome addition I'm looking forward to, making me feel much more comfortable switching up my squad more often). Hunger is now only a factor in certain dungeons. From what I understand, the story dungeons no longer require you to manage your belly stat at all. But most postgame dungeons do require you to manage belly again, so it's kind of just a tease of removing a fairly annoying mechanic. I believe GtI introduces the Apple Trap which is by far the most potentially devastating trap in the game as it can turn *any* item into an Apple. Unlike a Grimy trap, it isn't limited in what it can affect, and unlike a Sticky trap, the item doesn't get returned to you after you leave the dungeon or use a Cleanse Orb. I also know that GtI allows Virizion to join your team during the main story, which is a first allowing you to get a Legendary before the postgame. 

The biggest change of difficulty, though, is the way Speed works. It's tied to evasion, so if you have no way of boosting your speed, you're basically going to be missing a lot more. This is the detail I'm most nervous about because I already get frustrated with my attacks missing a lot in Rescue Team and Explorers.

TL:DR -- I can't say anything about the difficulty of the 3DS games because my knowledge of those games are minimal. My playthrough when we get to them here will be entirely blind from beginning to end.

Oh, and about your question on playing DS games on 3DS: It's actually quite simple, the 3DS is simply capable of playing DS games natively. You can just plug them in. But with a molded 3DS, I'm sure there would be a way to sail the seven seas and get those games digitally through very legal means, I'm sure.

Hmm, I see. The information provided remains useful and to be honest, I'm a little afraid to try them now knowing these gimmicks. I might still try them sometimes if I feel it. I will probably still take a look at your own playthrough if you get to them but I would really love to try them myself sometimes for the sake of adventuring with a partner. I loved explorers of skies because of that even though the game was still a little hard to me. The story was nice and interesting enough to keep me going.

And yes, the 3DS might be capable of playing 3DS games but the only thing I really have access to right now is the shop if you see what I mean. I don't really have access to ds games. I used to own many of them in the past but it's been so long that I don't really have them anymore. I might play Black and White again if I did. My only regrets is that I never owned those games in physical forms. They truly were the most fun games in terms of story and adventure "RPG" so I'm looking for MORE.

[Aura]

Postgame Part 28: Into The Nightmare

Our adventure continues! Last time we found that Azurill was trapped in a nightmare, unable to wake up. At Chatot's suggestion, we went to seek out Drowzee, the criminal we'd apprehended in the beginning of the game. With his power, he's able to see inside Azurill's dream in hopes that there might be something we can do to help Azurill wake up! We reunited with him at Mt. Travail where he's been reflecting on his mistakes. He was glad to go with us for a chance at even beginning to make reparations for what he'd done to Azurill before. And so, we return to the guild with him.

 

When we check in with Drowzee, he tells us that we need to prepare for an exploration. It turns out, he can send us into Azurill's dream!

 

But Drowzee is sure to warn us that the dream is going to be dangerous and he's not really sure what is going on, but something isn't right... just what could it be...?

 

As you might've expected, this dungeon, too, we'll have to explore alone with Skye and Icarus. Drowzee suggests he'd go as well, but he's not confident in his abilities. To be fair, he is probably significantly lower level than us. I kind of appreciate that this isn't a forced escort mission.

With that, we have to go and get ready for our exploration!

 

Once we've made preparations, we return to Drowzee and tell him we're ready to enter Azurill's dream.

 

We stand close to Azurill, and in a flash of psychic energy, we're beamed away.

 

Before we know it, we're inside of Azurill's dream.

Shortly after arriving, we hear Drowzee's voice speaking to us. He once again reminds us to be careful in here. Frankly, I'm just more worried that we're once again trapped without Hail's support. (By the way, this is going to be the standard for the rest of the postgame story dungeons. So get used to it).

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

The Nightmare

This is our next postgame story dungeon. You'll unlock it as soon as you return from Mt. Travail with Drowzee. Just like Mt. Travail, you're only able to explore this dungeon alone with your starter and your partner. Turns out its an incredibly important choice in the beginning! Anyway, this dungeon is only a one-time deal, similar to the Future dungeons. So you can't recruit any of the pokemon here, probably because they're only figments of Azurill's imagination. The dungeon is 17 floors. You may want to bring an Apple or two, though, because you won't be finding much in the way of food.

Items:  Poke,  Gravelerocks,  Geo, and  Gone Pebbles,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren, and  Pecha Berries,  Wander Gummis,  Blinker,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Reviser,  Quick,  Sleep,  Slip,  Via,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

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

Monster Houses are an ever-present threat throughout the dungeon as well. And without Hail, I'll need to be especially careful--I brought a Spurn Orb and a Cleanse Orb like the "good" ol' days.

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

The Nightmare [B1F - B4F]

Pokemon:  Meowth,  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Cleffa,  Wynaut,  Spinda,  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk

Many pokemon found inside Azurill's nightmare can be found in and around Treasure Town which is interesting attention to detail considering it is Azurill's dream, after all. So it makes sense it would be populated by a bunch of pokemon he recognizes. Other than that, there are lots of Normal types and Psychic types, too. So get ready! There are also a handful of pokemon from Pokemon Square in Rescue Team... I have to wonder if Marill's family has been there at some point?

Croagunk and Espeon have some ranged attacks that can be a bit annoying. Spinda's Teeter Dance is also potentially devastating, though it confuses any other enemies in the room with it. The main threat is you or your partners running into traps as you try to avoid danger. Then there's Wobbuffet and Wynaut which we all already know why they're annoying.

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

The Nightmare [B5F]

Pokemon:  Meowth,  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Cleffa,  Wynaut,  Spinda,  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk,  Persian

Persian begins to appear on the 5th floor.

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

The Nightmare [B6F - B9F]

Pokemon:  Meowth,  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Cleffa,  Wynaut,  Spinda,  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk,  Persian,  Igglybuff

Igglybuff is the next to join on the 6th floor. Not sure why Igglybuff and Cleffa aren't grouped together, nor why JIgglypuff would be available from the beginning and its weaker baby form encounterable later, but it wouldn't be the first oddity for sure.

 

Onthe 9th floor, I ran into a Monster House! Thankfully my Spurn Orb saved the day in that department.

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

The Nightmare [B10F - B11F]

Pokemon:  Meowth,  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Cleffa,  Wynaut,  Spinda,  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk,  Persian,  Igglybuff,  Lickilicky

On the 10th floor, you can begin to find Lickilicky.

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

The Nightmare [B12F]

Pokemon:  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Cleffa,  Wynaut,  Spinda,  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk,  Persian,  Igglybuff,  Lickilicky,  Grumpig,  Happiny

Grumpig and Happiny join the fray on the 12th floor! But they take the place of Meowth and Spoink.

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

The Nightmare [B13F]

Pokemon:  Spinda,  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk,  Persian,  Igglybuff,  Lickilicky,  Grumpig,  Happiny,  Clefable,  Wigglytuff

On the 13th floor, Clefable and Wigglytuff replace their previous forms, though Igglybuff is still around. Wynaut also goes away.

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

The Nightmare [B14F - B15F]

Pokemon:  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk,  Persian,  Igglybuff,  Lickilicky,  Grumpig,  Happiny,  Clefable,  Wigglytuff

Spinda is gone on the 14th floor.

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

The Nightmare [B16F - B17F]

Pokemon:  Lickitung,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Miltank,  Blissey,  Whismur,  Skitty,  Swalot,  Croagunk,  Persian,  Igglybuff,  Lickilicky,  Grumpig,  Happiny,  Clefable,  Wigglytuff,  Chansey

Chansey joins on the 17th floor as well.

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

After 17 floors, we arrive at the depths of Azurill's Nightmare. It looks to be a wide, empty hallway here. I suppose we're at the end of the dungeon?

 

Suddenly, the whole place goes dark and a voice cuts through that darkness... it's incredibly foreboding.

 

Suddenly, Cresselia makes her presence known to us! Strangely, Icarus seems to recognize her...?

 

Music: Welcome to the World of Pokemon

Cresselia is surprised to see us here in Azurill's dream. However, it seems she's been hoping to meet us in person. However, judging by her foreboding messages in our dream, I don't think this is necessarily a friendly meeting.

Suddenly, Icarus drops a bombshell: He's been having these same dreams, too!

 

As it turns out, it's not just us for being from the future! Cresselia also has told Icarus that he, too, does not belong because he has been to the future and returned to the past...

 

Icarus apparently already suspected that we might've been having these same dreams based on our actions. That actually makes it all the more powerful that he was so peppy those days... it's actually really sweet, I think. Granted, again, a little bit of communication would've gone a long way to helping us understand this issue. But that doesn't exactly seem to be our strongsuit.

 

With this, Icarus begins to ask Cresselia how the distortion of space will cause the world's ruin.

Cresselia finally elaborates that, if the distortion of space continues to expand, the power of darkness will grow with it. It is that power of darkness that has driven Azurill to this unending nightmare, and she tells us that the nightmare will spread to more and more pokemon if the distortion isn't stopped.

 

Riolu asks the difficult question, what will it take to stop the distortion of space? Of course, I think we all already know Cresselia's response to this question.

 

Now that it's come to this: Cresselia finally makes the reason she wanted to meet us known. Though we could've guessed it already: She intends to make us disappear!

 

Of course, Icarus doesn't want to fight. And he tries to plead with her to share more information about what's happening.  But of course, Cresselia is wholly convinced this is the only way to save the world from the fate of a perpetual nightmare.

 

Cresselia assures us the only thing driving the world to ruin is our existence... frankly, I think that's an odd assertion considering she's obviously pursuing Darkrai for some reason, too... surely she suspects he's related as well? I have to wonder just what is going on... is this even Cresselia...?

 

Regardless, it seems there's no stopping Cresselia. And she prepares to attack us!

 

But, before the anticipated boss fight begins, we hear a familiar voice call out to us!

 

Frustrated by the intrusion, Cresselia suddenly feels a need to take her leave, despite leaving her job unfinished. It seems like she doesn't want to be seen... But she doesn't leave before urging us to... commit suicide? Wow, that's pretty dark.

Icarus is relieved that Cresselia left when she did. That was definitely a bit too close for comfort.

 

As it turns out, Drowzee ended up coming in after us anyway! He grew worried about us after he realized we were taking a while. And it's a good thing he did! His mere presence saved us from Cresselia's attack!

 

As Drowzee arrives, he reminds us that there's something dangerous here and that we shouldn't stay, so for now, the best course of action is to return to the guild.

 

We leave in the same way we came: Through a beam of psychic energy.

And that's where we leave things off for now. I don't think we were able to help Azurill. Even worse, the only solution to this doesn't seem to be a very good one. There has to be another solution, but what could it possibly be...? We'll have to wait and see if we can figure something out next! See you soon!

[Aura]

 

Postgame Part 29: The Choice to Disappear

Last time, with Drowzee's help, we were able to enter Azurill's dream to figure out why he couldn't wake up. In the depths of his nightmare, we encountered Cresselia who told us that this nightmare was caused by the power of darkness which grows stronger with the distortion of space. We were warned that this nightmare will spread across all pokemon as the distortion of space continues to expand. She once again left us with the worrying message that we are the cause of the distortion of space and that the only way to stop it is for us to disappear... we did find out, however, that Icarus was sharing the very same dreams as us these past few nights.

Anyway, it seems we've caught the guild up with everything we experienced in Azurill's nightmare, but it seems we've carefully left the part about us needing to disappear out of the discussion.

 

Icarus asks Chatot about Cresselia. Of course, what he knows about the pokemon comes only from rumors, but it's said that Cresselia appears only under the quarter moon and that she has the powers to heal emotional scars with the light from her body.

 

It is also said that she has the power to banish darkness, which certainly implies that if anyone were to know how to stop these nightmares, it would be her. That doesn't bode well for us, to be sure...

 

Drowzee soon asks us if Cresselia said anything about the Distortion of Space. It seems he isn't knowledgeable about our conversation with her, perhaps because he had to go in after us.

 

Icarus reacts pretty drastically to Drowzee's question, causing him to wonder why Icarus was so jumpy. After a moment of hesitation, Icarus decides to hide what Cresselia said, telling everyone he doesn't remember her saying anything about how to stop the distortion. It's a lie, but can you really blame him? Something about all of this feels off.

 

With that, Wigglytuff and Chatot dismiss everyone with the intention to begin investigating the distortion of space starting tomorrow!

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

 

That night at our hideout, Icarus expresses his guilt for lying to the guild.

 

Icarus begins to question whether or not this is even something we should tell everyone about in the first place. It's clear he's thinking about what must've been going through our head back during the events at the Hidden Land, how we didn't tell him we were going to disappear until after everything was said and done... perhaps he's considering it might be for the best to disappear without anyone knowing why.

 

He begins to ask us what we should do. Questioning if this is really how everything has to end...

 

It's clear he's starting to lose hope. If we have to disappear to save world from this nightmare, do we not have an obligation to do that? Even still...

 

It seems that Icarus is worrying himself to exhaustion. So, for now, he decides we should try to get some sleep and think more on all this later.

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

 

Later that night, Skye struggles to fall asleep and her mind begins to go over everything that's been happening.

 

Skye begins to think about all that's been happening and how strange it all seems. How little is actually being explained... there has to be more to this story, right?

 

Skye recalls how peppy Icarus had been the morning after she'd had that dream, and knowing now that he must've had the same dream, he must've known even then. It shows a lot of growth on his part to be able to be strong for the both of us after everything that happened with Dusknoir and Grovyle. Even though he must've been sharing in those same feelings of fear, he was more concerned for us than himself. It's little details like this that really show that he truly is a really good person in spite of his shortcomings.

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

 

Later that night, we wake up again to find that Icarus is missing from his bed...

We find him outside, standing at the edge of the bluff and looking over the sea.

 

It seems he's having trouble sleeping just like us, and just like before with the Time Gear situation.

 

He decides to take this opportunity to vocalize what's going on in his mind. He wants to know if there's any way we might be able to stay here. It couldn't be more obvious that he doesn't want to disappear.

 

He finally brings up what happened at Temporal Tower. Even though we knew we were going to disappear, we fought on anyway for a better future.

 

 

As Skye reflects on what Icarus has to say, we're reminded of just how odd everything is here. There's something missing that wasn't there when we found our resolve at Temporal Tower.

It's here where we're actually given a really cool series of dialogue options that feel pretty impactful. Icarus asks us if we should really disappear, which I'm not so certain I can agree with last time. I've already listed my many suspicions on the matter. After all, we found Cresselia in Azurill's nightmare, and, while Skye doesn't know this, we do know that Cresselia was in pursuit of Darkrai, a pokemon capable of spreading nightmares. I've mentioned it before, but I'm suspecting that "Cresselia" we met in Azurill's nightmare and our own dreams was actually Darkrai using his powers to turn dreams into nightmares with the intention to deceive us into believing we're speaking with the real Cresselia. Perhaps the truth is just the opposite--perhaps we're necessary to stop the distortion of space, and Darkrai wants us to conveniently disappear.

 

As we continue to talk, we begin to think through our conversation with Cresselia more critically.

 

Icarus still feels totally convinced that there was nothing strange about what Cresselia said. To be fair, he brings up some solid points--The fact that we're forbidden evolution at the Luminous Spring as well as the fact that this spacial distortion is causing Azurill to remain trapped in his nightmare... though I think they fail to pick up on the suspicious element at play: It's not the spacial distortion that she said was the problem, it was the power of darkness that grows with it. My thought process is that if we can stop this power of Darkness--which I can only assume is Darkrai--then we can save the world from at least the immediate pressures of the spacial distortion. From there, maybe we can find another solution that doesn't involve our disappearance!

 

But that doesn't seem to be the direction Skye is taking this one. Instead, she recalls that her decision to disappear when fighting Dialga wasn't really a choice she consciously made, so much as a consequence of her actions.

 

It seems Skye is approaching this from the angle that we don't truly know what will happen after we disappear. The only certainty with our disappearance is that we'll disappear. There is no guarantee it will reverse the effects of the spacial distortion. We've had such a surprise happen before with the Time Gears, after all. We understood that returning the Time Gears should return the flow of time to normal, but it did nothing since Temporal Tower was already beginning to collapse. For all we know right now, something similar could be related to our presence. Even if we disappear, space might continue to distort. It would be irresponsible to jump the gun and disappear right now. We need to find out how to not only stop the spacial distortion, but reverse it in order to preserve the world's peace!

 

As we speak, the sun begins to rise over the horizon.

 

 

Seeing the sunrise like this drives Icarus into a desire to reminisce about the last time he saw such a familiar sight before. He's reminded of his conversation with Grovyle.

Music: In the Hands of Fate

 

 

 

 

As he reminisces, he tells us all about his conversation with Grovyle, and how that was when he came to realize that he was only able to stand up bravely in such a hopeless situation because we were there with him. He's told us that he needs us to be brave, but this is the first time where he's told us the extent of how much our presence really helps.

 

 

 

After recalling being entrusted with Grovyle's last wish, Icarus convinces himself that he will refuse to give up as long as Skye doesn't! And so, now we must think of another way to fix the distortion of space without having to disappear!

 

We return to the hideout to discuss what to do next, where Icarus brings up the similarities between the distortion of space and the destruction of time. Perhaps that line of thought may lead us to answers for how we might stop the Distortion of Space?

 

That's when Icarus comes up with the idea that Lapras might know something about the Distortion of Time. After all, he's the one who gave us so much insight on Temporal Tower and the Hidden Land. Maybe he's knowledgeable in the matters of Space as well...? With no other leads, it's certainly worth a shot!

 

And so, off we go to speak with Lapras!

 

Along the way, I checked in at Spinda Cafe where I found a special request! It was a Challenge Letter from Jirachi of Star Cave! That's right, the dungeon from Bidoof's Wish! I'll be covering this in more detail at a more appropriate time. But for now, we've got bigger fish to fry.

As we make our way down to the beach, we meet with Lapras to see if we can get any new leads.

 

 

Unfortunately, Lapras admits he doesn't know anything about the distortions of space.

 

However, he does have some helpful info! Lapras tells us of the existence of a pokemon that embodies space itself.

Music: Time Gear Remix

 

He elaborates that, just as Dialga exists to control Time, there is another powerful pokemon that governs space. That pokemon is, of course, the Legendary Pokemon Palkia.

 

He tells us that Palkia has the ability to distort space itself, which sounds like he could certainly be related to these distortions! Palkia is said to live in a palce called Spacial Rift. But much like the Hidden Land, we're kind of out of luck with actually getting there.

 

As you might expect, Lapras sadly cannot take us to Spacial Rift the way he did with the Hidden Land. He has no knowledge of its location, let alone how to get there. But that's probably to be expected. With how tightly kept the secret of the Hidden Land was, it would only make sense there would be similar but separate security surrounding Palkia's domain.

 

We thank Lapras for his help. Now it looks like we're back to investigating on our own, though. But at least we have something to go off of!

 

We return to the Bluff to discuss what we know. For now, we'll just have to rest up and continue our investigation tomorrow. Maybe we can enlist the help of the Guild or go and ask Torkoal if he knows anything, just like we did with the Hidden Land?

 

That night, however, we're met with a very rude awakening! Icarus and Skye are awakened by violent tremors before... Palkia appears out of nowhere right in our base!!

Music: Down a Dark Path

 

Palkia is clearly not at all happy with us. It's obvious he, too, is totally convinced that we're the cause of the spacial distortions. He's clearly dead-set on making us disappear just like Cresselia!

 

 

With little intention to wait, Palkia uses his power to envelop us in a bright light and carry us off.

 

Music: Sealed Ruin Pit

When the light clears, we find ourselves in a mysterious location which Palkia soon reveals is Spacial Rift! I... I guess that makes our task of getting here a lot easier, doesn't it? Hehe... Oh dear. This was definitely the last direction I was expecting this story arc to go. Things just got a lot more tense so suddenly!

 

Palkia is beyond furious with us, could he be going primal just like Dialga? Or perhaps he's just thoroughly convinced that we really are the cause of the distortions! But why is he attacking us like it's our fault!? Isn't Dialga the one responsible?!

 

We're backed up against a ledge with nowhere to run. So Palkia makes one powerful attack to finish us off, but we end up falling into the pit.

 

 

Frustrated by our escape, Palkia pursues us once again by transforming into a ball of light and following after us into the pit below. He's not about to let us get away.

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

At the bottom of the pit, we land at what appears to be the entrance to a dungeon.

 

And as we recover from our fall, we have a brief discussion about how much of a shock all of this is. Ultimately, we have to give in. We have to get going before Palkia tries to attack us again. And there's only one way forward.

And that's what we'll be doing next time. Once again, we didn't get around to doing an actual dungeon, but there was quite a bit of in-between story content to cover. Next time, we'll be exploring the Spacial Rift to see if we can't escape the wrath of Palkia! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 30: Palkia - The Embodiment of Space

Last time we had a rather dramatic turn of events. After returning from Azurill's dream and discussing what to do next, Wigglytuff's guild began investigating how to stop the Spacial Distortions. All the while, Icarus and Skye discussed whether or not it would be right to disappear, only to come to the conclusion that they should do their best to find another way to stop the distortions. We went to Lapras seeking more intel and learned of Palkia who lived in Spacial Rift. But that presented us with a familiar issue to what we ran into trying to restore Temporal Tower: We needed to find a way to get to this Spacial Rift which we didn't know the first thing about. That question got answered for us, however, when Palkia game to us at Sharpedo Bluff that night and abducted us in a bright light! He took us to Spacial Rift and nearly defeated us before we fell into a pit.

A lot happened in that last post to summarize! But that's how we ended up here. And now, we've gotta make preparations for another dungeon!

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

Spacial Rift

This dungeon, which we were quite rudely dropped into, is our next story dungeon! And things are starting to get quite climactic, telling me we must be nearing the end of this story arc. Anyway, like the others recently, I probably don't need to explain that we can only explore this dungeon with your starter and partner once again. And that means, again, no recruits are possible, either.

Obviously, unlocking this dungeon requires you to clear the postgame story up until you've explored Azurill's Nightmare. After asking Lapras about the Spacial Distortions, Palkia will abduct you in the night and bring you here.

If it's an option for you, you may want to bring a key with you as you explore this dungeon. Don't stress too much if you can't get it just yet. 

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  No-Aim Scopes,  Curve,  Detect,  Persim,  Power,  Stamina,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  Munch Belts,  No-Slip, and No-Stick Caps,  Pass, and  Warp Scarves,  Iron Thorns,  Silver Spikes,  Sticks,  Geo Pebbles,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  Apples,  Blue,  Brown,  Grass,  Green,  Orange,  Silver,  Sky,  White,  Black,  Clear,  Gold,  Gray,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal, and  Yellow Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Hunger,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max, and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs.

As per usual you can only find the TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill Swap, and  Stone Edge here in Explorers of Time.

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

While the lower floors of the dungeon don't have Monster Houses, you'll need to be wary of them toward the end.

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

Spacial Rift [B1F - B3F]

Pokemon:  Chatot,  Drapion,  Xatu,  Gallade,  Kadabra,  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire

There are lots of fairly dangerous pokemon in this dungeon. Charizard and Electivire being among some of the scariest. Charizard's Fire Blast can do a sizeable chunk of damage from a range, and you'll especially need to watch out for its attacks if you just barely fail to KO it, as Blaze will power its Fire Blast even further. Meanwhile, both Electivire and Magnezone have Discharge to worry about as well.

An  Escape Orb is guaratneed to always spawn on the first floor, so if you're in need of any, be sure to seek it out!

It's Cloudy on the 3rd floor.

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

Spacial Rift [B4F]

Pokemon:  Chatot,  Drapion,  Xatu,  Gallade,  Kadabra,  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Solrock

Solrock joins the fray on the 4th floor.

It's also Cloudy here, too!

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

Spacial Rift [B5F]

Pokemon:  Chatot,  Drapion,  Xatu,  Gallade,  Kadabra,  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Solrock,  Chimecho

Chimecho joins on the 5th floor, next.

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

Spacial Rift [B6F]

Pokemon:  Chatot,  Drapion,  Xatu,  Gallade,  Kadabra,  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Solrock,  Chimecho,  Gligar

On the 6th floor, there's Gligar!

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

Spacial Rift [B7F]

Pokemon:  Xatu,  Gallade,  Kadabra,  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Solrock,  Chimecho,  Gligar,  Bronzor,  Toxicroak

Bronzor and Toxicroak join the fray on the 7th floor, replacing Chatot and Drapion. Toxicroak's the same deal as Craogunk in The Nightmare and you already know what to watch out for with Bronzor.

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

Spacial Rift [B8F - B9F]

Pokemon:  Gallade,  Kadabra,  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Solrock,  Chimecho,  Gligar,  Bronzor,  Toxicroak

Xatu is gone now on the 8th floor.

It's also Sunny on the 8th floor!

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

Spacial Rift [B10F]

Pokemon:  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Solrock,  Chimecho,  Gligar,  Bronzor,  Toxicroak

Gallade and Kadrabra are both gone on the 10th floor.

The weather is Cloudy here!

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

Spacial Rift [B11F]

Pokemon:  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Chimecho,  Gligar,  Bronzor,  Toxicroak,  Kadabra

Oddly, Kadabra rejoins on the 11th floor. I guess it just didn't like the sun? Unfortunately, it seems Solrock had the opposite response: It leaves with the sun.

This is the floor where Monster Houses begin to spawn, so be wary of those going forward!

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

Spacial Rift [B12F]

Pokemon:  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Chimecho,  Gligar,  Bronzor,  Toxicroak,  Kadabra,  Tropius

Tropius joins on the 12th floor.

The weather here is Foggy.

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

Spacial Rift [B13F - B14F]

Pokemon:  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Chimecho,  Gligar,  Toxicroak,  Kadabra,  Tropius

Bronzor is gone on the 13th floor.

It's Sunny on the 14th floor, so watch out for Tropius's deadly Solar Power and Chlorophyl combination.

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

Spacial Rift [B15F]

Pokemon:  Charizard,  Jolteon,  Sableye,  Honchkrow,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Chimecho,  Gligar,  Toxicroak,  Kadabra,  Tropius,  Drowzee,  Spiritomb

Drowzee and Spiritomb now appear on the 15th floor.

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

 

After 15 floors, we arrive at a waypoint leading into the final stretch of the dungeon.

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

Deep Spacial Rift

In the latter portion of the dungeon, the items and traps are the same, but Monster Houses are present throughout. The tileset is darker down here. If you brought a Key into the dungeon for the Locked Chamber, you should still have it with you.

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

Deep Spacial Rift [B1F - B2F]

Pokemon:  Tropius,  Drowzee,  Kadabra,  Jolteon,  Honchkrow,  Spiritomb,  Charizard,  Gligar,  Sableye,  Chimecho,  Toxicroak,  Magnezone,  Electivire

The pokemon you could find at the end of the first section of the dungeon can be found at the start of the second.

 

The weather is foggy on these first two floors.

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

Deep Spacial Rift [B3F - B4F]

Pokemon:  Drowzee,  Kadabra,  Jolteon,  Honchkrow,  Spiritomb,  Charizard,  Gligar,  Sableye,  Chimecho,  Toxicroak,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Porygon

Tropius seems to be sick of the fog and leaves on the 3rd floor. In its place, Porygon joins the fray!

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

Deep Spacial Rift [B5F]

Pokemon:  Spiritomb,  Charizard,  Gligar,  Sableye,  Chimecho,  Toxicroak,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Porygon

Drowzee, Kadabra, Jolteon, and Honchkrow all disappear on the 5th floor.

It's sunny down here

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

Deep Spacial Rift [B6F - B8F]

Pokemon:  Spiritomb,  Charizard,  Gligar,  Sableye,  Chimecho,  Toxicroak,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Porygon,  Kadabra,  Jolteon,  Honchkrow,  Hypno,  Lunatone

Starting on the 6th floor, Kadabra, Jolteon, and Honchkrow rejoin again. I'm not sure what this weird pattern is for, but it's not something you're likely to notice in actual gameplay. Joining them are Hypno and Lunatone.

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

Deep Spacial Rift [B9F]

Pokemon:  Spiritomb,  Charizard,  Gligar,  Sableye,  Chimecho,  Toxicroak,  Magnezone,  Electivire,  Kadabra,  Jolteon,  Honchkrow,  Hypno,  Lunatone

On the ninth floor, Porygon takes its leave.

It's raining all the way down here. Maybe Porygon will short circuit!

 

But don't let a little rain discourage you from exploring this floor in search of the sealed chamber! Inside, you'll find a  Pretty Box!

The contents of this box can include: A  Lunar Veil,  Plasma Veil,  SkyHigh Veil,  Reviver Seed, or  Wonder Gummi

 Lunar Veil

The Lunar Veil is an exclusive item for Cresselia that causes her to share her Stat buffs with the rest of the squad. More specifically, moves targeting her that would boost her stats also boost the stats of her squad. If I understand the effect correctly, if she uses Calm Mind, it should boost the Special Attack and Defense of every pokemon in the party, rather than just her. And if she uses Agility, it might boost the Speed stat of everyone else twice instead of once. It's an interesting exclusive item, though it's possible I've misinterpreted the meaning.

 Plasma Veil

The Plasma Veil is an exclusive item for Rotom. This causes enemies that attack Rotom to occasionally get paralyzed.

 SkyHigh Veil

The SkyHigh Veil is an exclusive item for Rayquaza that allows it to attack twice in one turn during clear weather. Paired with his Delta Stream ability, this basically means you're always going to be getting those double attacks. It's fantastic!

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

 

After 9 more floors, we arrive at the Bottom of Spacial Rift where we reach a dead end! It looks like there's nowhere else to run...

Suddenly, we begin to experience familiar tremors...

 

Music: Down a Dark Path

Once again, we find ourselves face-to-face with Palkia who only wants us gone.

 

 

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

Team Flight

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 57

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card,  Eevee Tail

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

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 55

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

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

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

Vs. Palkia

We've got unique boss music for our final confrontation with Palkia! But I'm no tnearly as worried about this fight as I was with Dialga. We've got this!

 

The battle went the way most of them do, though without Fog to confuse Palkia, I had to rely on an X-Eye Seed to make Palkia go cross-eyed. Once that was done, though, it was just a matter of bullying Palkia into submission.

Eventually, I wound up defeating Palkia in the most unceremonious way possible: I threw a Gravelerock at him because he was at an odd angle and he just happened to have less than 20 HP left. Rest in peace.

This fight was actually a total joke despite all the dramatic buildup.

===========

 

After being defeated, Palkia roars out in pain before suddenly... freezing in place...? The whole room goes dark as he does...

 

Just as we question what exactly just happened, a voice fills the dark room to tell us that Palkia has been enveloped by the nightmare, just like Azurill... That can't be good, knowing what happened when Dialga went primal... how is this going to effect the world...?

 

The voice doesn't answer any of our questions, instead, it continues to explain just how much the power of darkness has grown.

 

However, the voice asks us if we would enter Palkia's Nightmare...

 

The voice promises that, by entering Palkia's Nightmare, we'll be able to learn why he attacked us. It only makes sense to do so, right? After all, it's what we did with Azurill...

 

But, where I expected to leave and come back with Drowzee's help, it seems we're being sent right in by the source of this voice! Uh-oh! Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...

At that's where we're leaving things off for now! Next time, we explore Palkia's nightmare! It's seeming more and more like this Spacial Distortion plot is coming to an end really soon. So, see you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 31: The Power of Darkness

We return with our postgame adventure! Last time, we fought with Palkia in the depths of Spacial Rift and, just as the battle concluded, Palkia found himself caught in the nightmare just like Azurill. A stranve voice spoke out to us and sent us into Palkia's nightmare so we could learn of why he attacked us. We ended our last update getting sent into Palkia's nightmare. And now, we appear inside. It seems to be a small room with just Palkia inside. Thankfully, it looks like we won't have to explore another dungeon.

 

Palkia seems confused to see us in his dream, and he soon recalls our battle, which confuses him even more. Why is he suddenly dreaming after having just been battling?!

 

Music: In the Future of Darkness

Icarus tells Palkia what we were told: That he's been eveloped by a nightmare.

Music: Planet's Paralysis

 

 

Naturally, Palkia doesn't react kindly to this information. He takes it as proof that we shouldn't exist and prepares to attack us again!

 

Just before Palkia attacks, Icarus asks him why he wants to get rid of us, which he takes as mockery.

 

Palkia tells us he wants to get rid of us because we're recklessly distorting space and causing the power of darkness to grow. This lines up pretty much exactly with Cresselia...

 

Desperate to find another solution, Icarus asks Palkia why he can't simply correct the distortion with his own powers over space.

 

Unfortunately, this distortion is something that Palkia can't seem to correct himself, and he's unsure of why. Just like Dialga couldn't fix Temporal Tower without the Time Gears, it seems that Palkia, too, can't fix this problem on his own. Unfortunately, just like Primal Dialga, he doesn't at all seem convinced we're here to help.

 

Palkia is thoroughly convinced that the cause for this limit to his power is our existence. So he must be rid of us!

 

With Palkia and Cresselia's words lining up so well, Icarus starts to become convinced that maybe they're both correct... even still, there's clearly something off about all of this...

 

It seems, however, that even Palkia begins to pity us, realizing we aren't just ne'er-do-wells. Even still, it must be done.

 

It looks as though there's no convincing him, but another voice begins to speak.

It's Cresselia! But... that doesn't mean much for us, does it...?

 

Music: Sealed Ruin Pit

As Cresselia appears, she insists that they must hurry and eliminate us before we reach the point of no return.

 

Icarus laments that we were unable to change our fate. It seems there's no convincing these two to seek another way. They're dead-set that this is the only option...

 

We ask Cresselia if our disappearance will truly save the world, and she assures us that it is a gurantee.

 

 

In the end, it's looking like every single one of our strands of hope are being crushed. Even still, it's clear there's something wrong, but even Skye is struggling to hold onto the hope that we'll get to the bottom of all these oddities...

 

Suddenly, however, even Palkia seems unsure of whether or not eliminating us is the correct decision to make. He admits that he attacked us in his fury, but now that he's thinking more rationally, we don't seem evil to him at all...

 

Palkia then mentions that Cresselia came to him in his dream, just as she did with us, and told him that we were driven by malice and wickedness... that only adds more suspicion here. Clearly, there is something wrong!

 

Cresselia tells him not to be deceived by appearances and then insists that they get rid of us now to bring an end to all these troubles. Skye seems to pick up on this suspicious behavior as well! It seems "Cresselia's" lies are starting to catch up to her and she's desperate to end things quickly since she's so close to what she wanted.

 

Unfortuantely, desperation can be quite a dangerous motivator: Cresselia prepares to make one last attack to finish us off!

Suddenly, a dark force fills the room.

 

Another voice fills the room!

 

Suddenly... a second Cresselia appears? No, of course that's not accurate...

 

Suddenly, the true Cresselia reveals the identity of the fake one. As I suspected, it's Darkrai! Suddenly everything makes so much more sense! And it's a good thing, too. Things were about to get real ugly real fast. Ironically, this is revealed right after Darkrai warned Palkia not to be deceived by appearances.

 

Music: Rising Fear

Darkrai is, naturally, frustrated for his trick to be exposed so suddenly.

 

Cresselia explains to all of us that Darkrai has been fooling us by assuming her identity. Obviously, nothing he said to us can be trusted.

 

 

Cresselia goes on to explain that, while it is quite typical for Darkrai to disguise himself as Cresselia to fool those who would trust her, it is quite abnormal for Darkrai to personally get involved in his own schemes, as he usually perfers to pull the strings from the shadows... so that only begs the question, what would drive him to get personally involved to this extent...?

 

Darkrai suddenly confesses to being solely responsible for exploiting the distortion of space and shrouding the world in nightmare.

 

He invites us to try and stop him at a place called the Dark Crater.

 

Cresselia tried to stop Darkrai from getting away, but he disappeared before she could capture him. It looks like he got away again.

 

With that, Darkrai leaves us with the ominous warning that Cresselia will never catch him. And he announces that he'll be awaiting us in the Dark Crater... and that's where we're going to leave things off for now. Next time, I suppose we'll be heading out for the Dark Crater. Again, we'll have to see how things play out. See you soon!

[Aura]

 

Postgame Part 32: Waking Up

Last time, we went into Palkia's nightmare within Spacial Rift where we were nearlye liminated by Cresselia and Palkia! But just when all hope seemed lost, another Cresselia appeared! She revealed the first Cresselia was an imposter whose true identity was Darkrai! With his trick exposed, Darkrai revealed that he was the one responsible for the distortion of space.

Now, we return to Treasure Town to find that Azurill's already woken up from the neverending nightmare!

 

Marill thanks Cresselia for saving Azurill, and Azurill thanks Drowzee, too!

 

Apparently, Drowzee stayed behind with Azurill the whole time to make sure he was okay. It seems he really has learned the error of his ways. Though I'm still not sure I would have trusted him so much. Regardless, it all worked out in the end! Everyone is okay!

 

Icarus asks about Palkia and Cresslia tells us he stayed behind to work toward fixing the distortion of space. She suggests it's not likely he'll be appearing here again considering how important his role is.

 

Chatot heaps high praises onto Cresselia! And they're truly deserved! None of this would've been possible without her help!

 

Music: Welcome to the World of Pokemon

Cresselia elaborates that Darkrai's powers are the opposite of her own. Where she can dispel darkness and wake people from deep sleep, Darkrai can trap people in sleep with endless nightmares. We've already seen these powers in play quite a bit so far, but now it's spelled out for you in case you've struggled to follow along. Of course, both Cresselia and Darkrai have the ability to enter and leave dreams, as well as send other pokemon into dreams, just like Drowzee.

 

Cresselia further clarifies how Darkrai's illusions were able to work. They only worked because we only ever met Cresselia in dreams! We first met them in our own, then in Azurill's, then in Palkia's. All of these were parts of a grander plan to fool us into believing our disappearance was the only way to save the world from the nightmare! Of course, this wasn't at all lost on me. I actually felt quite good about seeing through this twist. Though perhaps it wasn't exactly subtly foreshadowed.

When Cresselia brings up the suggestion that Darkrai's plan was to eliminate us from the world, everyone seems shocked! We never did bring up the possibility to the guild, so I imagine it would be quite surprising to find out the stakes were so high in hindsight... But of course, I can't really blame Icarus and Skye for wanting to keep quiet about it.

 

 

Drowzee questions why Darkrai would take such a roundabout approach to eliminating us rather than fighting us directly, but Cresselia suggests that he likely feared us due to our triumph over Dialga.

 

Cresselia then drops the bombshell that Darkrai is the one responsible for the collapse of Temporal Tower. And it certainly makes sense. The world of eternal darkness created from planetary paralysis is likely the perfect world for Darkrai's power to grow. It also explains a lot about the paralyzed planet. It's not just dark because dime doesn't pass and it's always night: It's likely dark because of Darkrai's influence shrouding the whole world! Though there didn't seem to be any sort of nightmare plague from what we've seen of the future, it's possible the world was in a later stage of Darkrai's long-term plan. But really, who knows what Darkrai's real plan is? The only one who truly knows that is Darkrai himself, and he's not exactly likely to tell us.

Anyway, we foiled Darkrai's plan before, so it's likely he wanted to get rid of us before enacting his next plan. That's why he took this roundabout approach to getting rid of us using Palkia by pretending to be Cresselia in dreams.

 

 

Cresselia goes on to explain that Darkai is responsible for the distortion of space that threatens the world with the intention of plunging the world into nightmare. Icarus seems surprised by this and asks about the distortion caused by us, but Cresselia assures us that while our presence does cause distortion, it is incredibly small by comparison and also not expanding on its own. This elicits an incredibly emotional response from Icarus.

 

Music: In the Hands of Fate

It's such a relief to Icarus to realize that they aren't unwanted in the world, and that they can stay without causing any issues.

 

 

Wigglytuff then pipes up to tell us how much he cares about us, and how it would be impossible for us to be unwanted because our disappearance would make him and the rest of the guild incredibly sad. He insists our presence makes them happy and that alone is reason enough for us to stay. It's a really sweet sentiment even if it is very simple. But that's kind of just the way Wigglytuff looks at the world, that makes it a lot more genuine, I think.

 

 

Wigglytuff extends that sentiment further to all pokemon in the world! He firmly believes that everyone has a purpose! Which definitely explains a lot about the way he interacts with others. He truly sees the good in everyone. I have to wonder if that even includes Darkrai...?

As a rather awkward segue, Corphish suddenly chimes in to call out everything Darkrai's been doing, kinda ruining the mood a bit.

 

 

This leads Cresselia to question Darkrai's motives in his recent actions. He normally operates from the shadows and flees when confronted. So why would he suddenly invite us to face him head on?

 

It's plain as day to see that this is a trap set up by Darkrai.

Music: Through the Sea of Time

However, whether or not it's a trap matters not to Icarus.

 

And he's right. If we don't stop Darkrai, he'll end up bringing the world to ruin! And we can't just allow that to happen! We have to go to Dark Crater and defeat him in spite of whatever trap he has planned for us!

 

Cresselia agrees and decides to accompany us to the Dark Crater as well. This will be a great time to settle their fight for good. Darkrai won't get away this time!

 

Everyone else offers to go, as well,

 

but as you've probably come to expect, Cresselia insists the three of us go alone because bringing too many people would likely just scare Darkrai off.

 

 

With that, everyone agrees to entrust this task to us. We've already done so much. If anyone can be successful here, it'll be us! Of course, we'd probably have a bit more success if we were allowed to bring Hail and Fog, too, but I guess nobody wants to make that suggestion... sigh...

 

In the end, Cresselia points us to the direction of Dark Crater to the Northwest. And that's gonna be it for now! Once again, I know, it's just an isolated cutscene, but we've got a pretty sizeable dungeon ahead of us. Next time, it's off to our final confrontation with Darkrai! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 33: The Final Battle

Last time was admittedly a bit uneventful. We returned to Treasure Town with Cresselia and basically had a heartfelt conversation with the locals. It was revealed that Darkrai is the true source of the expanding distortion of space and, while also a part of the distortion themselves, Skie and Icarus are not responsible for the expanding distortion and are ultimately not a problem at all. This is great news as it means we no longer have to worry about having to disappear to save the world! The only thing left bothering us is that Darkrai's invitation to stop him at Dark Crater is likely a trap, but that doesn't change the fact that we have no choice but to stop him anyway. So, it's time to make our final preparations and set out for Dark Crater to finish things off once and for all!

There's a few things to cover that popped up during our preparations.

To start with, the  Pretty Box we got from Spacial Rift was holding a  Wonder Gummi.

 

Next, we actually got another Special Mission! But since we've actually got a story dungeon to explore right now, I don't think I'm going to be doing this one just yet. Unfortunately, my Job List was full as well, so I needed to clear up some space.

Remember that Challenge Letter from Jirachi? Thinking it would work like one of the Special Mission letters and delete itself after unlocking the dungeon, I decided to go ahead and open it up.

 

This unlocked the dungeon Star Cave! Unfortuantely, this didn't actually get rid of the job letter, so I ended up having to throw out one of the other jobs I'd gathered anyway.

But that's not all!

 

We've also recycled enough items to unlock our next Project P dungeon as well! This time, we have access to Lake Afar! That's three whole dungeons we can explore once we're ready! We don't have to worry about being starved for content anytime soon. But for now, our priority is still Dark Crater. We can't keep the fate of the world hanging!

And so, once we're ready, we return to Sharpdo Bluff and ask Cresselia to guide us to Dark Crater for our final confrontation!

 

We arrive rather abruptly at the entrance to the dungeon. Cresselia warns us proceed with caution before we go inside. There's no telling what Darkrai could be up to.

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

Dark Crater

This is the final dungeon of the main story focus of the postgame. Expect some tough enemies and an even tougher boss fight. I strongly advise bringing an abundance of Reviver Seeds and items like X-Eye and Totter Seeds. I won't go into too many details just yet, but the boss of this dungeon is pure, unadulterated bullshit. I'll just say I'm glad I've been using save states.

Anyway, as you've come to expect, we can only explore this dungeon with Skye and Icarus. But accompanying us is Cresselia! I can't tell you exactly what Cresselia's moves are, but I know she used Slash, Double Team, Aurora Beam, and, I think, Confusion. A pretty solid moveset, but she comes with all the frustrations of the idiot NPCs we've been dealing with throughout the game. I swear she's scripted to always use the worst move possible in every encounter for no reason at all. Don't rely on her alone to handle any enemies, even if she should have the type advantage. And be extra careful trying to navigate her around traps, too.

Of course, the fact that we can't bring just any pokemon we can't recruit any pokemon the first time through the dungeon, either.

You've got 30 floors of dungeon ahead of you with a single waypoint after the 15th floor. So you'll probably want to bring an Apple or two as well as some Max Elixirs just in case.

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Insomniscopes,  No-Aim Scopes,  Lock-On Specs,  Scope Lenses,  Curve,  Detect,  Patsy,  Persim,  Power,  Racket,  Special,  Stamina,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Def.,  Mobile,  Pass,  Sneak, and  Warp Scarves,  Friend Bows,  Gold,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip, and  No-Stick Caps,  Iron Thorns,  Silver Spikes,  Sticks,  Geo, and  Gone Pebbles,  Gravelerocks,  Graveleyrocks,  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  Weather Band is available here only in Explorers of Darkness.

The TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill Swap, and  Stone Edge are exclusive to Time here as always.

There are some really nice items to be found here! Some particularly useful ones you might want to seek out:

 Mobile Scarf

This held item allows any pokemon to wander over any tile as though they were a ghost-type. I've already boasted about how useful a Ghost-type can be to play as, but if you don't have a Ghost-type or you just want to use a different pokemon in place of a Ghost type, this held item is a godsend. Many Mystery Dungeon fans consider it a staple necessity since it can save you from heart-wrenching moments where important items drop into water with no way to retrieve them. It helps with finding buried items and, in general, it's just a useful item to have.

 Friend Bow

The Friend Bow is nerfed here compared to Rescue Team, but it's still useful. If the leader has it equipped, the recruitment rates of all pokemon are boosted by 5%. Don't roll your eyes just yet though, this isn't close to the only support you'll have for boosting recruitment rates. Not only do you have the Seven Treasures, but there are items in this game that are even better than Rescue Team's Friend Bow! But for now, every little bit can help! It's a good idea to hold onto these if you see them.

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

In addition, Monster Houses are present starting with the 3rd floor and pervade throughout.

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Dark Crater [B1F - B2F]

Pokemon:  Charmander,  Cyndaquil,  Chimchar,  Hippowdon,  Numel,  Slugma,  Growlithe,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno

The pokemon available here are very similar to what we dealt with in Giant Volcano, and they can be quite scary on their own! As per usual, the weaker-looking pokemon are generally a lot lower level than the tougher-looking ones. And the presence of Hippowdon means many floors will appear to have a Sandstorm by default. But no floors have any dedicated weather.

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

Dark Crater [B3F]

Pokemon:  Charmander,  Cyndaquil,  Chimchar,  Hippowdon,  Numel,  Slugma,  Growlithe,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt

Camerupt joins on the 3rd floor and its Earth Power is as scary as it's always been. Try to take them out quickly if you can! It's a lot rougher when limited to your starters, but try to make things work! Use items if you have to to avoid devastation in large rooms.

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

Dark Crater [B4F - B5F]

Pokemon:  Charmander,  Cyndaquil,  Chimchar,  Hippowdon,  Numel,  Slugma,  Growlithe,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Rapidash

Rapidash appears on the 4th floor.

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

Dark Crater [B6F - B10F]

Pokemon:  Charmander,  Cyndaquil,  Chimchar,  Hippowdon,  Numel,  Slugma,  Growlithe,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Rapidash,  Arcanine

And then comes Arcanine on the 6th floor whose bulk and power is incredibly devastating. Arcanine are incredibly scary, so make sure you're extra prepared for them!

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

Dark Crater [B11F]

Pokemon:  Numel,  Slugma,  Growlithe,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Rapidash,  Arcanine,  Quilava

Charmander, Cyndaquil, Chimchar, and Hippowdon all take their leave after the 10th floor. Thankfully, that means no more sandstorms. In their place is Quilava.

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Dark Crater [B12F]

Pokemon:  Slugma,  Growlithe,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Rapidash,  Arcanine,  Quilava

Numel is the next to go.

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Dark Crater [B13F]

Pokemon:  Growlithe,  Ponyta,  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Rapidash,  Arcanine,  Quilava,  Magcargo

On the 13th floor, Slugma is replaced with its evolution, Magcargo.

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Dark Crater [B14F]

Pokemon:  Torchic,  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Rapidash,  Arcanine,  Quilava,  Magcargo

Grolwithe and Ponyta disappear on the 14th floor.

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Dark Crater [B15F]

Pokemon:  Charmeleon,  Flareon,  Combusken,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Rapidash,  Arcanine,  Quilava,  Magcargo

Finally, on the 15th floor, Torchic is gone, too.

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

 

After 15 floors, we arrive at a waypoint. After resting up a bit, it's time to progress to the final stretch of the dungeon.

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

Deep Dark Crater

This is it, the final stretch of Dark Crater and arguably the toughest dungeon in the central story of the postgame. Items and traps are the same here as in the higher floors, but monster houses are present throughout.

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

Deep Dark Crater [B1F - B4F]

Pokemon:  Charmeleon,  Quilava,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Combusken,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Magcargo

The first few floors, of course, are nearly identical to the ones at the end of the first section.

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

Deep Dark Crater [B5F]

Pokemon:  Charmeleon,  Quilava,  Monferno,  Camerupt,  Combusken,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Magcargo,  Rhyperior,  Magmortar

On the 5th floor, Rhyperior and Magmortar join. Two pokemon with some devastating attacks you don't want to mess with. Thankfully, they're pretty easy to dispatch.

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

Deep Dark Crater [B6F]

Pokemon:  Camerupt,  Combusken,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Magcargo,  Rhyperior,  Magmortar,  Charizard,  Typhlosion,  Infernape

On the next floor, Charmeleon, Quilava, and Monferno are replaced by their evolutions: Charizard, Typhlosion, and Infernape. We know how dangerous these pokemon can be from Giant Cavern, so be careful with your approach!

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Deep Dark Crater [B7F - B8F]

Pokemon:  Combusken,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Magcargo,  Rhyperior,  Magmortar,  Charizard,  Typhlosion,  Infernape,  Torkoal,  Mismagius

Oh, it just wouldn't be a good send-off to these starter-only dungeons without a Ghost-type would it? Thankfully, Mismagius isn't too common and is the only ghost-type. I do think this is a pretty solid deal considering Camerupt is now gone for good. Plus, we're much better equipped to deal with Ghost types now that we have Shadow Ball, too!

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

Deep Dark Crater [B9F]

Pokemon:  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Magcargo,  Rhyperior,  Magmortar,  Charizard,  Typhlosion,  Infernape,  Torkoal,  Mismagius,  Blaziken,  Aggron

On the 9th floor, Combusken is replaced with its evolution, Blaziken. Aggron also joins. Aggron's Steel type might be a bit tough to deal with depending on your starter, so be prepared for some tough walling!

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

Deep Dark Crater [B10F]

Pokemon:  Magcargo,  Rhyperior,  Magmortar,  Infernape,  Torkoal,  Mismagius,  Blaziken,  Aggron

For some strange reason, Arcanine, Rapidash, Flareon, Charizard, and Typhlosion stop appearing on B10F, but...

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

Deep Dark Crater [B11F]

Pokemon:  Magcargo,  Rhyperior,  Magmortar,  Infernape,  Torkoal,  Mismagius,  Blaziken,  Aggron,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Charizard,  Typhlosion

They come right back on the following floor...? Can't say I understand this one at all.

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

Deep Dark Crater [B12F - B14F]

Pokemon:  Rhyperior,  Magmortar,  Infernape,  Torkoal,  Mismagius,  Blaziken,  Aggron,  Arcanine,  Rapidash,  Flareon,  Charizard,  Typhlosion

On the 12th floor, Magcargo ceases to appear.

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

After 14 more floors, we finally arrive at the pit of the crater.

 

It looks like Darkrai isn't anywhere to be seen...

But shortly after we arrive, we hear Darkrai's voice call out to us.

 

Music: In the Future

We finally meet with Darkrai face to face, just as he promised... what kind of trick could he be up to?

 

Icarus demands answers from Darkrai. Why is he after us so persistently? Icarus suggests he doesn't know us at all, but Darkrai contradicts this, claiming to know us quite well, particularly singling out Skie.

 

Darkrai brings up the accident Skie experienced while traveling back in time with Grovyle...

 

  

We recall the events that transpired during our time travel, that was framed in the beginning of the game to seem like a shipwreck of some sort.

 

Music: Time Gear Remix

It seems as though Darkrai knows something about what happened during this accident...

 

Though Skie seems a bit confused when Darkrai asks if it hadn't occured to her how odd the accident was, I've definitely found myself wondering it... we've traveled through time multiple times and never run into any issues, even when forcibly grabbed by Dusknoir and pulled through the Dimensional Hole, or when we hastily took the Passage of Time while cornered. I would think one of these instances would be where an accident would be most likely to take place, yet it occured at seemingly the most controlled instance of time travel. Not only that, it has never been explained why exactly that incident resulted in Skie's lost memory or transformation into a pokemon. We got at least some degree of explanation from Gardevoir of why we were turned into a pokemon in Rescue Team, but we've yet to get even an indication so far...

 

Music: Hidden Highland

And now, Darkrai reveals that the accident was caused by him. All with the intention of ensuring the world becomes shrouded in darkness for his power to grow...

 

As he explained before, he's also the cause for planetary paralysis by sabotaging Temporal Tower.

 

Naturally, when he caught wind of Grovyle and Skye's intention of going back in time to stop the collapse of Temporal Tower, he wanted to intervene. So he attacked the pair as they were traveling through time...

 

However, something unexpected prevented Darkrai from stopping our trip. And Darkrai suggests it's related to how we became a pokemon, as well.

 

Apparently, Skye's determination to protect her partner became entangled with the dimensions during the travel and that... caused her to transform into a pokemon? Okay, so the explanation is kind of arbitrary, but I guess us transforming from a Human into an Eevee is just the result of some sort of glitch in the matrix as a result of unexpected movement during the time travel process? Sure, I guess. In Rescue Team it was kind of hinted that it was some supernatural force that made us a pokemon out of necessity to save the world. Here, it just seems like it was a freak coincidence. Admittedly, I think that's a bit of a lame explanation, but I suppose it's possible there's still more to the story. Maybe Arceus made her a pokemon to save her life so she could stop Darkrai or something? For now, it's all in headcanon until it's confirmed or denied, I suppose.

 

 

Darkrai admits he'd completely underestimated us. He'd thought what he'd done would be enough to prevent our further interference with his plans, but Skye's determination and will to fight on ultimately led her to finish the assignment with Icarus's help, causing his plan to fail and forcing him to form a new one to realize his dream.

 

Cresselia finally connects the remaining dots. It's not really hard to figure it out at this point, but this is why he went out of his way to try and eliminate us both by breaking our spirits and encouraging us to disappear. And even now, he's lured us here so that he can defeat us all.

 

Finally, Darkrai confesses that he's actually had a change of heart... I don't know how much I'm willing to buy that.

 

Finally, Darkrai's true intentions show. Rather than trying to eliminate us, he wants us to join him... but there has to be a catch. Obviously we aren't going to agree to such a terrible offer! We don't want the world shrouded in darkness!

 

Music: Planet's Paralysis

Naturally, Icarus and Skye react exactly how you'd expect them to.

 

Darkrai suggests that it will be an easy task to rule the world if we work together. Cresselia immediately turns to us and insists we don't believe his lies. It's clear to her that he just wants to eliminate us, and obviously we couldn't agree more!

 

But... something doesn't seem right... Icarus almost seems... in agreement with Darkrai?

 

Icarus suddenly seems so uncharacteristically downtrodden. The only time he's been so down on himself was during the Future arc where he really had ever reason to feel that way. His whole world view had been turned on its head in just one moment. But this is different. Icarus would never just give in so easily to the threat of resistance... especially knowing Darkrai is a being of trickery. We have no indication of how difficult he really is ourselves. If anyone should be dissuaded, it should be Cresselia who has actually considered that capturing him may be impossible...

 

After Icarus walks over to Darkrai's side, to Skye's shock, Darkrai turns his attention to us...

 

He suggests that, if I join him, the three of us will be able to easily take out Cresselia to ensure our victory. If we don't betray Cresselia, though... we'll have to fight Icarus...?

 

 

Adding to the pressure, Icarus comments that Darkrai will likely get rid of him if he can't have us both together. We're only strong as a pair, after all... If we're separated like this...

 

Even in spite of all of this, our choice is independent of Icarus. We aren't about to turn back on our ideals even if he wants to. We didn't before and we won't now! And we know Icarus isn't in his right mind, this has to be some sort of trickery! Of course we refuse his offer!

 

 

Suddenly, it all makes sense as Skye recognizes exactly what's going on. At some point, we'd fallen into a nightmare! None of that was real! And of course it wasn't! Icarus would never compromise on his views so easily!

In all honesty, it kind of frustrated me the way the dialogue was written here. Sorry, but I'm gonna go on a bit of a tangent because this sort of thing is really frustrating to me in a lot of anime and video games. The cliche of a trickster fooling a hero by creating illusions of their trusted friends trying to discourage them is a really powerful strategy, but it's almost never executed well. The writers usually make it way too painstakingly obvious that it isn't really their friends betraying them. They're betrayal is almost always way too on the spot and impossible to believe. And that might not be so bad, but it's always broken by the hero recognizing how out of character their "friends" are acting because of their arbitrary bond of friendship being too strong for them to be fooled which ultimately begs the question: why the hell would an expert trickster even try such a petty trick if he didn't even bother at least figuring out their dynamic.

I find this issue so particularly annoying because, as I suggested earlier, a hero's trust in their friends is an incredibly powerful asset to toy with and turn against them. If you just eliminated the possibility of the hero picking up that their friend doesn't trust them, like reading their mind and preying not just on their insecurities but on how they genuinely see their friends and presenting them with their worst nightmares, it could be a lot more powerful. It's even more frustrating because it's often handled by characters that absolutely should be able to do better! Darkrai's been looming around from the very beginning. He knows how Icarus and Skye have interacted. And what he doesn't know, he could certainly figure out by hearing their story which has been established to be spread as far and wide as possible. He knows Icarus wouldn't give up, especially while Skye was with him. He should've painted the illusion in such a way where we were in a losing fight. But that just didn't happen. He just had Icarus say "oooh noo we can't beat Darkrai he's so big and strong, wouldn't it just be woooonderful to go against everything we've been doing and rule the world with him? It would be great!"

I know in this case it's just a children's video game. But still, it's an issue I find everywhere, even in more mature media. I want this trick to be handled well somewhere! But it's always handled so badly that it just makes the attempt look pathetic.

Anyway, tangent over, back to the subject at hand...

 

Everyone is relieved when Skye manages to break out of Darkrai's manipulation.

 

Music: Down a Dark Path

In his fury at having failed in his deception, Darkrai attacks Skye and knocks her back.

 

Darkrai tries to check Skye's resolve by asking if that's truly her answer, but she stands firm in her resolve. Of course, Darkrai really should've known better than to think the team that defeated Dialga would stand down to any opposition.

 

Of course, Darkrai isn't so satisfied with our answer. It looks like it's finally come down to the final battle.

 

...But Darkrai isn't so foolish as to come alone. It seems he's used his tricks to tempt many pokemon into joining his cause! This must've been the trap Darkrai prepared in case he failed to sway us to his side.

 

 

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

  

Team Flight

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 57

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Evolve Charm,  Eevee Card,  Eevee Tail

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

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 55

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

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

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

Cresselia F; Lv. 47

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Slash, Double Team, Aurora Beam, Confusion(?)

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

Vs. Darkrai & Minions

Of course, of course, of course, the game wasn't going to end on something as simple as a 3-on-1 fight with Darkrai. But holy hell is this boss fight impossibly difficult. We've had a handful of swarm boss fights like this. The most comparable one probably being the fight against Dusknoir and Sableye at the Hidden Land since we also had a guest squadmate there and it was even a somewhat similar formation. It's also somewhat reminiscent to the fight against "The Grandmaster of all things bad" and his minions. Just like very other swarm boss fight, you can't use the typical answers to Monster Houses. No Totter Orbs, Petrify Orbs, Pause Orbs, or anything of the sort. To be fair, the minions aren't particularly dangerous. They are fairly low level and go down after a couple of hits. but let's stop and look at the awkward-ass formation here. Both your partner and Cresselia are going to get surrounded after the first turn, and Darkrai is a couple of spaces away. I'm still not sure if there's a way to get an AI controlled ally to use a move like Protect pre-emptively in a situation like this. In my experience, even if it's the only move they can use, they'll wait until the enemy is right up against them before they try it. That leaves them vulnerable to potentially wasting an entire turn if Protect fails and getting pummeled by three attacks... sorry, four. We'll get to that one in a bit. But odds are, you rpartner can probably handle themselves at this point in the game. Cresselia, on the other hand... Remember what I said about relying on her to take out enemies? Yeah, don't think at all you're going to be doing a 1v1 against Darkrai and leaving the mooks to your squad. Your partner might be fine, but Cresselia is going to get her ass kicked because she thinks her time is best spent using Slash against Aggron and Mismagius. If you don't lend direct support to her, she'll get KO'd over and over again and eat up all your reviver seeds. (Oh, by the way, if she gets KO'd it's an instant game over because why not?)

But the real icing on the cake is Darkrai. This bastard has two major tricks up his sleeve. The most dangerous is Ominous Wind. That's right, Ominous Wind. It's not uncommon at all for him to use Ominous Wind, get a speed boost, and use Ominous Wind again. While movement speed mechanics are a bit confusing to me, it seems like he can potentially get up to four attacks in a row for free using Ominous Wind while simultaneously boosting all of his other stats. And this is Darkrai alone. So while you're spending time trying to help Cresselia deal with the minions, if you leave Darkrai untouched, he'll just take the opportunity to spam Ominous Wind until he gets stat bonuses. And if him getting 1-4 moves for every 1 of yours isn't bad enough, that's where his second trick comes in: Nightmare. Nightmare in this game puts pokemon to sleep like Hypnosis but also inflicts the Nightmare status which deals 8 HP of damage when you wake up. In addition, Darkrai's Bad Dreams ability causes any sleeping pokemon in the same room as him to take 15 HP of damage every turn. So if you're asleep for only two turns, that's a free 38 HP of damage on top of anything Darkrai can do with his 1-4 attacks every turn and any attacks his minions pile on on top of that. Oh, Darkrai has Double Team, too, in case you were just hoping more of your attacks would miss, too.

AND IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER

Because Darkrai has PP Saver, so he gets extra uses out of Ominous Wind, too. Mismagius has Confuse Ray to confuse your teammates, Aggron has Protect to waste time, and I'm pretty sure some of the minions have the Bodyguard IQ skill that Wigglytuff and Chatot had. There's a lot going on in this fight, so it's hard to really keep on top of every little thing.

Oh, and speaking of IQ skills, Cresselia has Bodyguard, too. That sounds like a good thing, right? Well, it does until you realize she's stuck at the static level of 47. No matter how much you grind, Cresselia will always take the same amount of damage from enemy attacks. And if you or your partner's HP gets low, she'll start taking hits in your place and end up tearing through your Reviver Seeds. Once again, really cool of her. I'm honestly convinced this fight might actually be easier if she wasn't here. Definitely wish I could've brought Hail with me. That would make this whole fight infinitely easier.

So, what's the strategy here? Well, the first step should probably be fairly obvious. Use a seed to stun Darkrai right away and stop him from harassing you with Ominous Wind or setting up Double Team. In this screenshot, he's a bit too close to comfort. I recommend doing this on the first turn, but I know from previous attempts (reminder that I'm abusing save states for Mystery Dungeon games) that the first turn of RNG in this battle causes my seed to miss (that's just lovely, right?)

After that, you really want to focus on keeping Cresselia alive and trusting your partner to beat up the enemies around themself. You guessed it, they're still not gonna be very good at picking the right targets, so they may need some assistance as soon as you can.

 

Since Cresselia got confused, it was taking a bit to deal with all the minions, so I used an X-Eye Seed to follow up on the Totter Seed from the start of the game and continue to keep Darkrai at bay.

Once Arbok was defeated, it was finally down to a 3v1 against Darkrai. It was finally down to the usual strats.

 

Though Darkrai has boosted his evasion a bit with Double Team, I'd managed to also hit him with a few Sand Attacks before he could get any attacks off at all. This buffed whatever attacks slipped through his evasion while also keeping limiting the amount of Ominous Winds he's capable of landing. It took several tries to land any big hits, but after a few Drain Punches managed to slip through his evasion, we were finally able to defeat Darkrai. And even with save states, this took me several attempts to get right. I genuinely have no idea what the devs intention was with this boss fight other than just grinding out a ton for your team.

To be fair, if I actually did get KO'd here and had to redo this boss fight, I'd probably come back with Icarus knowing Foresight to expose Darkrai and eliminate his evasion boosts. Thankfully, Skye's Insomniscope was a tremendous help. I never had to worry about getting put to sleep and being unable to get my buffs and debuffs out.

But now that we're done with this boss fight, good lord, I am never doing another dungeon again without Hail and Fog. And for the love of all that is holy, I am never starting with Eevee again.

===========

 

With that, we've finally defeated Darkrai! Now maybe we can get back at him for all the damage he's done throughout the game.

 

Ah! But even though he's been defeated, Darkrai isn't the type of pokemon to give up so easily.

 

Music: Oh No!

Darkrai creates a dimensional hole to retreat into, just like the one Dusknoir used to travel through time!

 

Darkrai intends to escape through the Dimensional Hole and restart his plans in another era!

 

We desperately try to stop Darkrai's escape, but he's too fast for us and gets to the Dimensional Hole before we can stop him!

 

 

Dakrai boasts about his ultimate victory and how it's impossible to capture him! Just one more step and he can slip into another time period where we'll never be able to reach him...

 

But suddenly, Palkia's voice breaks through the scene, to everyone's surprise!

And Palkia is beyond pissed with Darkrai.

 

Palkia prepares a powerful attack to defeat Darkrai once and for all, causing him to panic!

 

Darkrai retreats into the Dimensional Hole but Palkia unleashes his Spacial Rend into the hole!

 

And with that, the Dimensional Hole shatters like glass with Darkrai inside it! ...what... does that mean for him...?

 

Icarus asks Palkia if Darkrai's scream meant that he'd been killed, but Palkia seems to know what would happen to him. He's been injured and would wind up in an unknown place, but he's still alive out there.

 

Icarus is alarmed to hear that Darkrai's still alive. Does that mean he was able to get away? That he'll be able to plunge the world into darkness from another era?

 

 

Cresselia doesn't seem so sure of that possibility. Since the circumstances here are similar to how Darkrai's attack hit Skye, she suspects that he'll end up in the same situation she did: Awakening in a strange, unknown place with amnesia. Which is an incredibly ironic fate for Darkrai to be faced with. Wandering an unknown world with no knowledge of who he once was or the ambitions he held to rule the world... hopefully he'll find friends in that new world and live a new, better life? I suppose it's also possible history could repeat itself, and he'd eventually relearn of his powers and similar motivations could arise again. Regardless, I'm sure Palkia, and Dialga for that matter, would be much less likely to fall for his schemes again. If distortion happens again, I'm sure they'll be able to stop it before it begins to spread too far.

 

Satisfied with the ending to this conflict, Palkia bids us farewell.

 

 

After watching Palkia depart for Spacial Rift, Cresselia suggests that we all go back home.

 

Music: A Wish for Peace

 

 

 

We get a little scene of Icarus narrating his return to Treasure Town and echoing his thoughts as he reminisces about the moment. He thought about how glad he was to feel like he belonged and was reminded of what Wigglytuff said before about how every pokemon exists for a reason. Even Darkrai has a story of his own. Maybe in his new life, he'll find that purpose and he'll be a help to others instead of trying to plunge the world into darkness...

 

 

He happily announces that he'll continue to explore with Skye. And he better! Skye is absolutely hopeless without him. I know from experience!

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the next little blurb was met by an audible groan from me who thought I might be able to finally evolve now: We still can't evolve at Luminous Spring. I suppose we have to give Palkia time to fix the distortion caused by Darkrai. I suppose we'll just have to be patient a little while longer... But for now, Icarus and Skye are just content with having a home where they belong. That that truly is a sweet sentiment.

I'm not sure if there's gonna be another scene with a second Credits Roll or anything, but I have to say, while this finale isn't quite as tear-jerking as the finale of the Planetary Paralysis arc, it's still really sweet all the same to finally establish that we truly do belong in this world in spite of all the extra stuff that has happened to us. We're okay and we'll keep going. Forever and always! I think that's a really powerful note to end on. I'm glad to finally know how this story truly concludes, and even though we didn't play through it with myself and Pep or Liz and Sprout, I'm sure they were successful all the same. Hell, Pep knowing Blizzard alone probably would've saved a ton of headache in that final battle. This was all completely blind, so I truly had no idea what to expect. The only knowledge I had was a brief lookahead at the upcoming dungeons to know what to expect and what to bring. I haven't kept it a secret that I'm really not much of a fan of Mystery Dungeon when it starts to get difficult. I much more prefer the casual experience of playing through the main story, and even that gets a bit too rough for my liking sometimes. We haven't gotten to anything especially difficult yet which I think is a really big positive. I recall Rescue Team having a pretty significant difficulty spike once the postgame hit, and the game just kept getting tougher. While I do expect the endgame to be much the same, I'm content with handling it the way I did in Rescue Team if need be, but if it's not a constant stream of agony, I just might be more content with pushing through the adventure to the end this time around. We'll just have to see how I'm feeling by the end of this project.

Going forward, I don't think there's much actual plot left. The rest of the game is going to be a lot more systematic like the gap between the Paralysis and Distortion arcs, but we'll have to wait and see just how much story is left. Hopefully we'll be able to evolve soon!

With all that said, next time, we'll continue our postgame adventure and see what new experiences lie in wait for us! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 34: The Icy Flute

We're finally back to the status quo! Last time, we traveled with Cresselia to the Dark Crater to defeat Darkrai once and for all and stop the distortion of space and save the world once again! We learned that Darkrai is responsible for... pretty much everything in the game. We learned that were transformed into a pokemon and developed amnesia because we protected Grovyle from his attack while traveling through time. When we defeated him, he tried to escape through a Dimensional Hole like the one Dusknoir used, to try his plan again in another era. However, Palkia attacked hima nd destroyed the dimensional hole just as he ducked into it. We don't know Darkrai's fate for sure, but we suspect that he ironically wound up with amnesia in an unknown time. For now, the world is saved! Only time will tell, though, if Darkrai will find a new purpose in his new life.

Now that we're back in an era of peace, there isn't much to do but get back into the swing of things! Unfortuantely, Palkia is still fixing the spatial distortions, so we still can't evolve Icarus or Skye at Luminous Spring. Hopefully that'll change soon. But for now, we've got quite a few optional dungeons to catch up on. So that'll be our focus for now!

 

As we leave our base, we'll find Cresselia at the edge of Sharpedo Bluff. She's thankful for our work in stopping Darkrai's schemes. Now, it seems her work is done.

 

Icarus asks what she plans to do now and decides to ask if she could join our exploration team!

 

You have the option to accept or reject Cresselia's recruitment, but it's totally free. If you reject her, you can probably just come right back to recruit her again anyway. But man, the irony of Icarus saying she's the last pokemon he'd consider a burden when she's a major player in making that Darkrai battle difficult.

And so, we've got our first new recruit in a while!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Moon (Cresselia F); Lv. 47

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Safeguard, Mist, Aurora Beam, Future Sight

These are definitely not the same moves Cresselia was using in our exploration with her. And that's further evidenced be the fact that her IQ Skills are reverted to the defaults, too. So she doesn't have Bodyguard anymore. I'd really wish they'd let these powerful recruits keep their IQ skills because if you want to actually use them it's probably going to take a lot of Gummi grinding. Especially for Mono-typed pokemon like Cresselia.

Anyway, Cresselia is in IQ Group H with Budew and its evolutions. If you don't have a Ghost pokemon in your squad, Cresselia is a pretty solid pokemon for mobility since she can float over all types of difficult terrain. She just lacks the ability to pass through walls. Her IQ Group also gives her access to Trap Buster which can sometimes destroy traps when she steps on them, making her a good choice as a team leader, too. Unfrotunately, I think nearly everything Cresselia can do, Fog can already do better. And Fog isn't even all that far behind in level compared to her. Granted, her stats are certainly higher up.

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

 

Anyway, while at the guild, I checked the Swap Shop to find that the  Emit Ring I'd been saving up for all this time was now just... available. I could get it for trading 5 exclusive items rather than saving up for an extra Riolu Card, Riolu Tail, and Valiant Rock. I think it would be a waste to just swap away the second Valiant Rock, though. I'll probably sell it sometime down the line. Regardless, now Icarus will be able to hit Ghost-type pokemon without needing to rely on Bite! That means I can probably replace Bite with some other move... choices, choices, choices... Honestly, if this option had come up before, I probably would've taught him Vacuum Cut to help with Monster Houses in the dungeons that were exclusive to us, but it seems like those dungeons are going to be few and far between soon enough. I'm thinking of maybe replacing Bite with Swords Dance and linking it with Drain Punch? Decisions, decisions. For now, I won't be making any changes to his moveset.

When I went to talk to Guildmaster Wigglytuff, he brought up that after all we've been through, we might even be equal to the legendary "Team Raider". I've never heard of Team Raider before, maybe they'll be part of another plot thread?

When I got to Spinda's Cafe, I received another Special Mission request! Slow down, guys! This'll open up yet another of the Seven Treasures Dungeons, the last of them, actually.

 

Anyway, needing to free up some space to accept this new mission, I decided to open up the Special Mission for the Icy Flute.

 

With this, our sixth of the Seven Treasures dungeons is unlocked and we can go to explore Mt. Avalanche in search of the Icy Flute! That'll be our heading for today! And now that we've freed up some space in our Job List, we can go ahead and take the job for the final of the Seven Treasures dungeons, too.

 

Just like when we defeated Dialga at Temporal Tower, after defeating Darkrai at Dusk Forest, we'll unlock some of the story dungeons we previously couldn't revisit. We can now go back to Spacial Rift and Dark Crater whenever we want. But The Nightmare is only available for the one exploration, and that makes sense since Azurill, obviously, isn't trapped in it anymore.

But for now, the important thing is to go to Mt. Avalanche and complete our sixth special mission!

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

Mt. Avalanche

The music in this dungeon alternates between: Blizzard Island (Rescue Team Medley), Dark Hill, Mt. Bristle, and Mt. Travail.

This is our sixth of the Seven Treasures dungeons! As always, this dungeon must be accessed by a special mission from the Exploration Team Federation, which means you need to have rescued Scizor from Crevice Cave and obtained the Secret Rank in order to receive the mission. In Explorers of Sky, you can receive the mission from Spinda's Cafe or form the Wonder Mail S Code above. However, in Time and Darkness you'll need a regular Wonder Mail Code:

Spoiler

4MP= K98# CT%Y
R@-- &P7% %K86

Reminder that you have to have the Secret Rank in order for this code to work, so make sure you have that first!

While it feels good to finally be able to bring Hail and Fog along on missions again, Mt. Avalanche is a bit of an unfortunate case in that regard. As you can probably guess, there's Snow throughout this dungeon which causes Hail to move faster, causing my party to get separated a lot. For the most part, that's fine, but there are some unfortunate situations that can arise from my teammates getting scattered. Namely, Skye getting caught up against an Enduring Piloswine. She truly is helpless on her own, isn't she?

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Def. Scarves,  No-Slip Caps,  Power,  Special,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Gravelerocks,  Gone Pebbles,  Apples,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Reviser,  Sleep,  Slip,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max, and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs

Buried Items:  Poke*,  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.

*Poke is unlisted on Bulbapedia as a buried item, however Fog happened to pick up some of it occasionally throughout the dungeon while wandering through walls after getting separated. This tells me one of three things: One, I was incredibly unlucky with the buried items I'd found; two, Bulbapedia erroneously lists this dungeon as having the stat-boosting items based only on the assumption that it would be like the other Seven Treasures Dungeons that do have these items, but it actually only has Poke buried like most dungeons in the game; or three, there's some sort of mechanic in these dungeons where you only find Poke as buried items your first time through the dungeon and it's only on repeat playthroughs where the stat-boosting items appear. I'm not really sure which of these could be the case, but it wouldn't be the first time something like this was mistaken on Bulbapedia.

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 as well.

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

Mt. Avalance [1F - 11F]

Pokemon:  Jynx,  Marill,  Sneasel,  Piloswine,  Delibird,  Smoochum,  Slakoth,  Vigoroth,  Slaking,  Azurill,  Nosepass,  Swablu,  Altaria,  Zangoose,  Armaldo,  Snorunt,  Piplup,  Prinplup,  Empoleon,  Weavile, Mamoswine

The pokemon available in this dungeon are very consistent throughout. Among these pokemon, the most dangerous are of course Jynx and Smoochum due to Perish Song, but there's also Piloswine and Mamoswine who can tear you up with Earthquake. Weavile is also really annoying to run into because of Pressure. It also knows Fling which can mess up your formation if used at a bad time. For some reason, I found myself missing a lot in this dungeon. I don't know if it's just because Skye and Icarus's attacks are more accurate, but it felt like every time Hail ran into an enemy it took three misses before I could get Surf or Aurora Beam to connect. That combined with an obnoxious frequency of Weavile left me with an incredibly frustrating experience through what would otherwise be an extremely simple and straight-forward dungeon.

 

The weather was Snowy on the 2nd, 4th, and 6th floors

 

And the weather was Cloudy on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th floors.

I ran into a Monster House on the 3rd floor!

 

And while clearing the Monster House, I also got a new recruit out of it, which was kind of funny since it was in the middle of the entire room getting demolished with Blizzard. (Oh, how I missed having Blizzard to deal with these sorts of challenges, by the way).

I also got another new recruit on the 11th floor!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Yawn (Slakoth M); Lv. 15

Item: None

Ability: Truant | Moves: Scratch, Yawn, Encore, Slack Off

It would be incredibly difficult to justify trying to fit Slakoth onto my squad right now. Truant is a terrible detriment that afflicts Slakoth with Pause if it uses any attacks or Wonder Orbs. It's a miserable experience in a game where you can get surrounded by enemies at unexpected moments. He's also in the same IQ Group as Icarus, and is a Normal type like Skye which means they'd be competing over scarce resources for IQ boosting... sorry, but this is gonna be a solid pass for me.

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

Fight (Zangoose M); Lv. 42

Item: None

Ability: Immunity | Moves: Embargo, Crush Claw, Taunt, Detect

Zangoose is a bit more desirable than Slakoth, but even still, it's not saying much. He's also in the same IQ group as Icarus and suffers from the same lack of resources Skye does. I'll have to pass once again even though I do really like Zangoose.

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

Mt. Avalanche [12F - 19F]

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

The only oddity that keeps this dungeon relatively consistent is Golduck on the 12th floor. I suppose they just wanted to make sure the earlier floors could get all that weather in before introducing a pokemon with Cloud Nine that would nullify it all.

On the 13th floor, I got yet another new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Bubble (Piplup M); Lv. 5

Item: None

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Pound, Growl

We already have a Piplup from Blizzard Island, actually, so there's no real need to bring another one along. But, if we ever wanna go for total completion and go for a living dex of sorts, this might get us out of having to recruit a Prinplup or Empoleon in the long run!

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

 

After exploring 19 floors, we arrive at the mountain's peak where we meet the guardian of the dungeon: Articuno!

 

 

It's been a while since we've heard this monologue. It's time to prepare for battle!

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Walrein F); Lv. 51

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Safe Scarf

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

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 57

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

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

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 58

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

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

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

Fog (Haunter M); Lv. 45

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse+Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Articuno

It's another legendary boss! It's been a while, and I actually forgot some of the muscle memory and kinda flubbed a bit on this fight. To be fair, Articuno is actually quite a bit more dangerous than the other legendary bosses. Powder Snow can damage everyone at once, AncientPower is strong against Hail, and each of these attacks do a significant amount of damage!

 

But as always, all it takes is a little bit of ganging up on him and Articuno goes down. Once we have a solo boss surrounded, they're done for.

 

As per usual, upon defeat, Articuno drops a treasure box containing our legendary treasure: An  Icy Flute!

The Icy Flute is our 6th of the Seven Treasures. Similar to the others, it increases the recruitment rate of Ice-type pokemon by 20%. I do have to offer a correction on these items, however. I initially said they worked like exclusive items where they had passive effects and just had to be carried with you in your inventory. That was entirely incorrect. Upon looking further into them after questioning whether or not these items stack with each other, I realized that these items only work when equipped. I'm not sure where I got the idea that they just had to be in the inventory, but I swear I didn't just make that up. It's incredibly disappointing for the items to be limited like this. It pretty much renders them completely pointless in the long run because there's a much better alternative to all of them.

 

But, just before we left, Articuno reappeared! It looks like we've gotten another recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Aurora (Articuno); Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Powder Snow, AncientPower, Agility, Ice Beam

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

And with that, we're done for today! We've got one more of the Seven Treasures dungeons to complete! Then we can go take on Jirachi's Challenge in Wish Cave, too! We've also still got to explore Lake Afar as well. There are quite a few options available to us! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 35: The Aqua-Monica

We continue with our daily lives after bringing peace to the world! Last time, we completed our sixth special mission and rerieved the Icy Flute form Mt. Avalance. This time, it's time for our seventh and final of the Special Missions from the Exploration Team Federation, where we'll obtain the last of the Seven Treasures.

 

Before getting ahead of ourselves, though, I was able to get my hands on a  Walrein Torc from Croagunk's Swap Shop! This exclusive item causes any Electric damage Hail receives to be absored and heal her instead! Since Walrein have a lot of weaknesses thanks to their Ice-type, eliminating one of them is something I'm more than happy to do.

Anyway, all of that aside, it's time to open up our next Special Mission to Explore the Bottomless Sea!

 

We open up our letter and receive our briefing! This unlocks our dungeon for today: The Bottomless Sea.

And so, off we go for our new misison!

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

Bottomless Sea

As per usual, the music in this dungeon is random each floor. Music that can play includes Drenched Bluff, Sealed Ruin Pit, Surrounded Sea, and Lower Brine Cave.

This is our seventh and final of the Seven Treasures dungeons! It's tied with Sky Stairway as the longest of the seven dungeons, that means we've got 50 floors of pain to endure. In many respects, this dungeon can be seen as a parallel to Stormy Sea in Rescue Team.

You know the deal with these Seven Treasures dungeons. Access to this dungeon can only be obtained through the Special Mission from the Exploration Team Federation. You can only get these from Spinda's Cafe in Explorers of Sky or Wonder Mail in any version. In Sky, you can use the Wonder Mail S code in the above screenshot. In Explorers of Time and Darkness, you'll need a standard Wonder Mail code:

Quote

FN01 HWN- 00%F
8678 +XY@ &%#3

Regardless of the method, Special Missions can only be obtained after reaching the Secret Rank by rescuing Scizor from Crevice Cave. 

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Def., and  Sneak Scarves,  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip, and  No-Stick Caps,  Special,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Gravelerocks,  Gone Pebbles,  Apples,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Doom,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Quick,  Reviser,  Sleep,  Slip,  Via, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max, and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs

Only available in Explorers of Darkness:  Gold Gummis*

Only available in Explorers of Time:  Big Apple, and the TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill Swap, and  Stone Edge.

*Note: These are only relevant for items found on the ground. All Gummis can be found in Explorers of Sky as buried items.

Buried Items:  Sitrus Berries,  Joy, and  Life Seeds,  Calcium,  Ginseng,  Iron,  Iron,  Protein,  Zinc,  Blue,  Brown,  Grass,  Green,  Orange,  Silver,  Sky,  White,  Black,  Clear,  Gold,  Gray,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal, and  Yellow Gummis,  Lost Loot

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

*The SelfDestruct Trap doesn't appear on the early floors in Explorers of Darkness.

**The Pitfall Trap doesn't appear on the early floors.

***The Poison Trap is only available on all floors in Explorers of Darkness. But it is present in Sky on a select range of floors.

Monster Houses are present throughout the dungeon. Across 50 floors, it's pretty likely you'll run into one or two. Come prepared!

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

Bottomless Sea [B1F - B20F]

Pokemon:  Gyarados,  Remoraid,  Kingdra,  Wailmer,  Clamperl,  Finneon,  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Octillery

As expected from a sea-based dungeon, there are lots of scary enemies to deal with. Kingdra, Slowking, and Octillery are the toughest foes to deal with for all the reasons I blieve I've covered. Octillery in particular were incredibly difficult to handle because they loved to use Bullet Seed and take me out repeatedly.

Starting on the 10th floor, all traps are present in accordance to their version exclusivity.

 

On the 17th floor, I spawned into a Monster House! This is something I found happening a lot more frequently in Rescue Team, but if you aren't prepared for Monster Houses, it is something that can be a run ender, especially in a dungoen like this! Thankfully, we've got Hail to deal massive DPS across all the enemies!

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

Bottomless Sea [B21F - B25F]

Pokemon:  Gyarados,  Remoraid,  Kingdra,  Wailmer,  Clamperl,  Finneon,  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Octillery,  Lapras

On the 21st floor, you might start to run the risk of Lapras! Tread carefully at the risk of Perish Song!

On the 21st floor, I got a new recruit in a Clamperl!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Sparkle (Clamperl M); Lv. 15

Item: None

Ability: Shell Armor | Moves: Clamp, Iron Defense, Water Gun, Whirlpool

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

Bottomless Sea [B26F]

Pokemon:  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Octillery,  Wailord

Wailord joins on the 26th floor. Gyarados, Kingdra, and Lapras as well as most unevolved pokemon except for Horsea take their leave.

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

Bottomless Sea [B27F - B49F]

Pokemon:  Tentacruel,  Slowbro,  Horsea,  Seadra,  Starmie,  Slowking,  Qwilfish,  Octillery

Wailord takes its leave on the 27th floor. Now we're safe from Lapras and Kingdra, but Slowking and Octillery are both still pretty prominent. Things will stay this way for the rest of the dungeon.

On the 27th floor, I recruited a Qwilfish!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Balloon (Qwilfish M); Lv. 43

Item: None

Ability: Poison Point, Swift Swim | Moves: Revenge, Brine, Pin Missile, Take Down

===========

Starting on the 30th floor onward, Poison Traps no longer appear in Explorers of Sky.

===========

After 49 floors, we arrive at the Depths of the Bottomless Sea.

 

It's here where we meet the final of the guardians: Kyogre, Guardian of the Bottomless Sea!

 

 

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Walrein F); Lv. 53

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Walrein Torc,  Safe Scarf

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

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 58

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

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Bite, Force Palm, Focus Blast, Protect

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 60

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

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

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

Fog (Haunter M); Lv. 48

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse+Confuse Ray

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

Vs. Kyogre

Of course, Kyogre's Drizzle means this battle will always be in the rain, which is really bad news if you bring any Fire-types here. Though getting all the way down here with a Fire type is quite an achievement in and of itself.

 

You don't want to underestimate Kyogre's raw attack power with its STAB, rain-boosted water attacks. The best approach here is to stun Kyogre with an X-Eye Seed and immediately start surrounding him! Since there's rain, it's definitely most efficient to have Hail attack Kyogre with Surf as much as possible.

And the fight is over before we know it.

===========

 

Upon defeat, Kyogre leaves behind a treasure box. You guessed it!

Inside, we find the  Aqua-Monica!

The Aqua-Monica is the 7th and final of the Seven Treasures. It boosts the recruitment rate of all Water-type pokemon by 20% when held by the leader, the same effect as the other Seven Treasures in spite of my prior claims that they worked like Exclusive Items. You can only have one equipped at a time, so only use them if you're trying to recruit a specific pokemon!

 

And speaking of recruitment, it seems we're lucky enough to get Kyogre to want to join our team as well! As it turns out, though we've had rotten luck with these recruits from the beginning, the last three in a row ended up nudging our numbers back to fair odds with each of these 50/50 recruitment rates.

 

Anyway, welcome to the team, our new legendary friend!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Hurricane (Kyogre); Lv. 49

Item: None

Ability: Drizzle | Moves: Body Slam, Calm Mind, Ice Beam, Hydro Pump

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

And that's it for our exploration! I forgot to get a screenshot of the dungeon end screen, but we made it! Next time, we've still got a handful of other dungeons, but we're starting to see story thread after story thread finally close their curtains. The end of the game is just on the horizons! But for now, we've got a few more dungeons ready for us that we want to explore. See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 36: Jirachi's Challenge

We return to our postgame adventure! Last time, we've assembled all of the Seven Treasures requested by the Exploration Team Federation! Now we have them all!

Heatran of Giant Volcano's Firey Drum for Fire-types,

Giratina of World Abyss's Rock Horn for Rock-types,

Rayquaza of Sky Stairway's Sky Melodica for Flying-types,

Groudon of Simmer Desert's Terra Cymbal for Ground-types,

Mew of Mystery Jungle's Grass Cornet for Grass-types,

Aricuno of Mt. Avalanche's Icy Flute for Ice-types,

And finally, Kyogre of Bottomless Sea's Aqua-Monica for Water-types.

I haven't brought it up until now, but the Seven Treasures are fairly odd items. I believe I've already addressed that they're completely outclassed by another item, one that is required to get every recruit, but the sheer number and selection of types is... odd. By nature of only having seven treasures, only 7 types are supported by these items meaning over half the types are completely left out. There is no counterpart set of items to cover the remaining 10 types. I don't know the statistics, but I'm not sure these are the most common types in the game or anything like that. But it seems as though the types were chosen first, then the treasures, then the guardians, then the dungeons. I say that because, while you have the Weather trio Groudon Kyogre and Rayquaza, there are oddball pokemon included here. Articuno is here without Moltres or Zapdos, and Giratina is here with no in-universe correlation with Dialga or Palkia. Then there's Mew, which is the only one that is a Mythical pokemon instead of a Legendary. The dungeons do seem to fit the guardians pretty well, but the treasures don't all quite line up very neatly which is what makes the type selection so odd to me. To me, it seems obvious that Giratina would protect a Dragon or Ghost treasure, neither of which are claimed by the other types. And the dungeon World Abyss doesn't really scream "Rock type," either. I would think a cave or quarry for that. It's more likely to me Giratina was selected simply because there was no Rock-type legendary besides Regirock, who already had a better-fitting role at Aegis Cave. And Mew was probably chosen to protect the Grass cornet because there was no Grass legendary period, but Mew was discovered in a Jungle. Even still, I'm really not sure why they wouldn't go with Celebi. I suppose they just didn't feel right leaving Mew in the base game and wanted him to be attainable by special means.

Anyway, tangent aside, let's get back into today's adventure! It's a fairly short session today, hence the second update in a row.

 

Before getting into our exploration for today, we gained access to a new dungeon from Spinda's Juice Bar: Destiny Tower! This'll be a future dungeon exploration for sure!

 

I've previously opened up this job before, thinking it would disappear like the special missions. It didn't, but this is going to be our heading for today: Another "new" dungeon made available through Jirachi's challenge request! Though it might seem a bit familiar from the beginning of our playthrough...

Before we leave, though, we're given a warning. We cannot be rescued in this dungeon! That sounds a bit scary, but it's not a big deal.

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

Star Cave

Yes indeed, this is the very same Star Cave we explored as Bidoof! But this is our chance to explore it with Team Flight instead of Bidoof. To my current knowledge, this is the only of the Special Episode dungeons that can be unlocked in the main story. It is done so by use of the challenge letter from Jirachi. You'll only be able to receive this challenge letter after obtaining the Secret Rank which means you'll have to have rescued Scizor from Crevice Cave, just like with the Seven Treasures dungeons. The dungeon will unlock after you accept Jirachi's challenge.

The dungeon itself is mostly identical to its counterpart in Bidoof's Wish, but the context of its exploration is a little different. Without the story events from Bidoof's Wish breaking up the dungeon into smaller parts, there are no waypoints. That's totally fine because, even with all three sections together, the dungeon in its entirety is only 15 floors.

It's been a while since we've had a Sky-exclusive dungeon, and being an early-game dungeon, it's a nice breath of fresh air to go through a dungeon without fear of traps. So this one is going to be a relative breeze to cover. It may be redundant since we've already explored this dungeon in Bidoof's Wish, but this is technically a different experience, even if the added "difficulty" is completely trivialized by the fact that there's no way you'll get here at a level comparable to Bidoof's in standard gameplay without going out of your way to make it so difficult. You're gonna be able to take everything out here with your basic attacks.

Items available from the beginning:  Poke,  Apples,  Cheri,  Chesto,  Oran, and  Pecha Berries,  Reviver, and  Totter Seeds,  Max Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

Due to the simple nature of the dungeon, this is a really good place to come for treasures and items.

There is only a risk of Monster Houses at the very end of the dungeon, but the majority of the dungeon has none and, as already explained, the enemies here are a joke for you at this point in the game.

Kecleon Shops also appear really frequently in this dungeon. Though without Snover, their importance in aiding you in getting your hands on Sunny and Rainy Orbs isn't quite so significant anymore.

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

Star Cave [B1F - B3F]

Pokemon:  Poliwag,  Anorith,  Chingling,  Kricketot

As mentioned above, all of the pokemon here are really low-level, so there is pretty much no concern at all.

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

Star Cave [B4F]

Pokemon:  Poliwag,  Anorith,  Chingling,  Kricketot,  Lotad

Lotad joins the party on the 4th floor, but again, there's nothing particularly special it brings to the table.

Just like before, new items begin to appear on this floor:  Insomniscopes,  Def., and  Pecha Scarves,  Persim,  Power,  Special,  Stamina, and  Zinc Bands,  Gravelerocks, and  Iron Thorns

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

Star Cave [B5F - B7F]

Pokemon:  Poliwag,  Anorith,  Chingling,  Kricketot,  Lotad,  Bonsly

Bonsly begins to appear on the 5th floor. Same difference with these little ones.

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

Star Cave [B8F - B9F]

As mentioned before, there is no distinction between Star Cave and Deep Star Cave this time around. That means no waypoint, but aside from that, this part of the dungeon is functionally identical to its Special Episode counterpart.

Pokemon:  Kricketot,  Lotad,  Bonsly,  Gulpin,  Psyduck

Poliwag, Anorith, and Chingling stop appearing down here and are replaced by Gulpin and Psyduck.

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

Star Cave [B10F]

Pokemon:  Lotad,  Bonsly,  Gulpin,  Psyduck

On the 10th floor, Kricketot ceases appearing.

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

Star Cave [B11F]

Pokemon:  Lotad,  Gulpin,  Psyduck,  Lunatone,  Bronzong

And Bonsly disappears on the 11th floor, too. But Lunatone and Bronzong come to take its place!

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

Star Cave [B12F - B13F]

Pokemon:  Gulpin,  Psyduck,  Lunatone,  Bronzong

Lotad is gone on the 12th floor. And once again, since there's no boss fight with Team Rogue, the dungeon just carries on with no waypoint. It's also worth noting that B13F is where you can start to run into Monster Houses until the end of the dungeon. Again, not that it's really a concern here.

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

Star Cave [B14F - B15F]

Pokemon:  Psyduck,  Lunatone,  Bronzong

For the last couple of floors, all you have to worry about are Psyduck, Lunatone, and Bronzong.

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

 

Star Cave Pit

The special 16th floor is where Jirachi's challenge is held! I haven't really addressed it yet, but this isn't quite the same as other dungeon bosses. This is a special type of job request that works somewhat similarly to an outlaw mission, even sharing the music. We need to defeat Jirachi in battle and, as a reward, we'll recruit her! There are a couple of other pokemon who will appear via Challenge Letter as well, I'll try to cover as many of them as I can if they appear spontaneously, but by the end I'll use Wonder Mail Codes where I can to find them.

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

   

Team Flight

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

Hail (Walrein F); Lv. 53

Item:  Insomniscope | Exclusive:  Walrein Torc,  Safe Scarf

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

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

Icarus (Riolu M); Lv. 58

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

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

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

Skye (Eevee F); Lv. 60

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

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

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

Fog (Haunter M); Lv. 48

Item:  Detect Band | Exclusive:  Gastly Veil

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse+Confuse Ray

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

 

And, yeah, this fight was over way sooner than I could anticipate. As it turns out, even Jirachi is only Lv. 32. It's twice as strong as it was in Bidoof's Wish, but we're still in a whole other league. Sorry, Jirachi!

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

 

After defeating Jirachi, we return to the guild where she asks to join our team! Of course, we agree! It would be a waste to go through all that effort just to turn her down!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Wish (Jirachi); Lv. 32

Item: None

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Helping Hand, Psychic, Refresh, Rest

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

Anyway, our adventure was brief this time, but that's one more dungeon checked off our list! We also discovered yet another one to explore later on. We may be done with the bulk of the postgame, but we've still got our hands full with miscellaneous dungeons! Next time, we've got a few missions in some of these unexplored dungeons, so that's what I think I'll focus on doing now. See you soon!

[Aura]

 

Postgame Part 37: Lake Afar

We continue our postgame adventure! Last time, we explored Star Cave to take on Jirachi's challenge! This time, we've still got a couple more dungeons to explore. But we've already got a job request in one of them, so let's prioritize that one! Off we go to lake Afar!

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

Lake Afar

The music in this dungeon alternates between Surrounded Sea, Crystal Cave, Crystal Crossing, and Mystifying Forest

Lake Afar is a dungeon we unlocked through Project P! To get it, you'll need to recycle 100 items. Worth noting, it'll only unlock after graduation. I imagine if you manage to recycle 100 items before graduating from the guild, it'll unlock next time you speak with Wynaut after graduation. In Explorers of Time and Darkness, this dungeon would instead by unlocked through random Job Requests. It only becomes available after you reach Bronze rank.

This dungeon is fairly scary to explore because of a certain pokemon that's prominent throughout. Tread carefully! Other than that, since the levels are scaled to accomodate teams who've just achieved the Bronze Rank, the levels are fairly low. Even still, I think it was a good decision to delegate this to postgame exclusivity in Explorers of Sky because I can imagine exploring this dungeon during the main story would be a pretty stressful experience.

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle Specs,  Scope Lenses,  Def.,  Pecha, and  Warp Scarves,  Gold,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip Caps,  Persim,  Power,  Racket,  Stamina,  Twist Bands,  Iron Thorns,  Silver Spikes,  Gravelerocks,  Gone Pebbles,  Wander Gummis,  Cheri,  Oran,  Oren,  Pecha, and  Rawst Berries,  Blinker,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Slip,  Via, and  Violent Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  TMs and  Wonder Orbs.

As always, the TMs for  Avalanche,  Dark Pulse,  Skill Swap, and  Stone Edge are Time exclusive here.

        

There's also the chance to find advanced Kecleon Shops here on odd numbered floors starting with floor 3. So if you're in need of basic evolution items, you may want to keep your eyes peeled while exploring! I do have a need for some these items to evolve some of my party members, but once again I wasn't lucky enough to stumble across any of them.

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

Monster Houses are an ever-present threat throughout the dungeon. You may also want to bring a  Key along for a sealed chamber a little over halfway through the dungeon.

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

Lake Afar [B1F - B4F]

Pokemon:  Squirtle,  Mudkip,  Poliwhirl,  Goldeen,  Magikarp,  Quagsire,  Lombre,  Ludicolo,  Corphish,  Feebas,  Croconaw,  Slowpoke,  Politoed

As mentioned above, the pokemon in this dungeon are moderately low level. Not so easy you can just dispatch them all with basic attacks, but usually an attack or two will take them out, even if they resist it. The biggest frustration throughout this dungeon for someone with a Walrein as their leader is Water Absorb. Poliwhirl, Quagsire, and Politoed, along with a handful of other pokemon down the line all have this aspect and it can be quite annoying when your PP my PP is low on Hail's Ice attacks. But Politoed is the pokemon I alluded to before, and you probably already know why: Perish Song. Not only does Politoed have Perish Song, but it can also know Swagger, Hypnosis, and Double Slap. All incredibly annoying attacks that can stall you out until he decides to end your run with Perish Song. And if you're truly unlucky, he might put you to sleep and use Perish Song to kill your entire squad before you even have a chance to wake up and use an Escape Orb. Now that's a new level of sinister. And to add to the frustrations, Politoed can also hang out in the deep water on some floors, preventing you from being able to reach it, and it has Water Absorb just to stick the middle finger up to me particularly. To be fair, nothing's forcing me to lead with Hail, that's just a conscious decision on my part. Anyway, you'd better get used to worrying about Politoed. I strongly recommend bringing Insomniscopes to keep it from putting your leader to sleep and making sure you have at least one Escape Orb and a Cleanse Orb or a duplicate Escape Orb just in case to ensure you always have the option of a quick getaway in case you have a bad run-in with Politoed. Or, again, just abuse Save States to save yourself some gray hairs.

Oh, and I forgot to get screenshots of most floors with weather, but Floor B4F is foggy.

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

Lake Afar [B5F - B6F]

Pokemon:  Squirtle,  Mudkip,  Poliwhirl,  Goldeen,  Magikarp,  Quagsire,  Lombre,  Ludicolo,  Corphish,  Feebas,  Croconaw,  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Totodile

On the fifth floor, Totodile joins the fray. Not really sure why it isn't on the first floors but Croconaw is, but whatever makes it comfortable, I guess.

There's more fog on the 6th floor.

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

Lake Afar [B7F - B8F]

Pokemon:  Squirtle,  Mudkip,  Poliwhirl,  Goldeen,  Magikarp,  Quagsire,  Lombre,  Ludicolo,  Corphish,  Feebas,  Croconaw,  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Totodile,  Seaking

Seaking joins the fray on the 7th floor!

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

Lake Afar [B9F]

Pokemon:  Mudkip,  Poliwhirl,  Goldeen,  Magikarp,  Quagsire,  Lombre,  Ludicolo,  Corphish,  Croconaw,  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Totodile,  Seaking,  Wartortle

On the 9th floor, Squirtle is replaced by its evolution, Wartortle. Feebas also quietly slips away.

It's also cloudy on this floor!

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

Lake Afar [B10F - B11F]

Pokemon:  Poliwhirl,  Goldeen,  Magikarp,  Quagsire,  Lombre,  Ludicolo,  Corphish,  Croconaw,  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Totodile,  Seaking,  Wartortle,  Marshtomp

Marshtomp replaces Mudkip on the 10th floor.

 

It's Foggy again on the 11th floor, and while exploring it, I also happened to recruit a Poliwhirl!

===========

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Swirl (Poliwhirl M); Lv. 30

Item: None

Abilities: Water Absorb, Damp | Moves: Double Slap, Rain Dance, Body Slam, BubbleBeam

===========

Lake Afar [B12F]

Pokemon:  Poliwhirl,  Goldeen,  Magikarp,  Quagsire,  Lombre,  Ludicolo,  Corphish,  Croconaw,  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Seaking,  Wartortle,  Marshtomp

Totodile disappears on the 12th floor.

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

Lake Afar [B13F - B15F]

Pokemon:  Croconaw,  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Wartortle,  Marshtomp,  Poliwrath,  Vaporeon,  Crawdaunt

A sizeable chunk of the early floor pokemon disappear on B12F along with Seaking. Some of their evolutions, Poliwrath and Crawdaunt, do stick around, though.

 

On the 15th floor, you can find a Sealed Chamber! And with the Key, you can find  Blue Silk! If you already have that, it'll be a  Reviver Seed instead. This is an exclusive item that boosts the Special Attack and Special Defense of any Water-type pokemon. Aboslutely a major boon!

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

Lake Afar [B16F]

Pokemon:  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Wartortle,  Marshtomp,  Poliwrath,  Vaporeon,  Crawdaunt,  Feraligatr

Feraligatr replaces Croconaw on the 16th floor.

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

Lake Afar [B17F - B19F]

Pokemon:  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Marshtomp,  Poliwrath,  Vaporeon,  Crawdaunt,  Feraligatr,  Blastoise

Blastoise joins on B17F in place of Wartortle.

B17F was where my mission took place, and I hadn't realized this was actually a new type of Outlaw Mission. I was expecting to confront the Outlaw directly like the usual Thief missions, but instead, this one is more of an investigation where I have to search the entire floor for the thief in question.

 

Said thief was pretty easy to identify since it was a Magmortar in the middle of a dungeon like this. Once we spot him, all we have to do is take him out and recover Jigglypuff's lost Rawst Berry!

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

Lake Afar [B20F]

Pokemon:  Slowpoke,  Politoed,  Poliwrath,  Vaporeon,  Crawdaunt,  Feraligatr,  Blastoise,  Swampert

Of course, following right behind them, Marshtomp is replaced with its evolution, Swampert, too.

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

Lake Afar [B21F - B24F]

Pokemon:  Politoed,  Poliwrath,  Vaporeon,  Crawdaunt,  Feraligatr,  Blastoise,  Swampert,  Milotic

For the last few floors, Milotic begins to appear. It's a rare sight, and a fairly complex evolution, so you may want to try and recruit one here! Just be aware it has a -12% recruitment rate so you'll need supporting items like the Aqua-Monica or a high level.

===========

 

On the final floor, you'll find a single  Deluxe Box.

This box can possibly contain: A  Reviver Seed,  Brown,  Gold,  Green, or  Sky Gummi, or  Sitrus Berry

Once we've claimed our prize, we simply move to the Warp Zone at the end of the floor and exit the dungeon!

And that's it for today's exploration!

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

 

Upon returning to the Guild, we earned enough points to get promoted to the Hyper Rank! With this rank, we can now store up to 800 items in Kangaskhan Storage. We also receive a rare  Joy Seed as a reward!

And so, that's gonna be it for now. Next time, we'll just have to see what's available to us. I think I want to clear out some space in my Job List, I've had some jobs taking up a lot of space for a while now and I'd like to make more room so I don't have to delete any of them. We've been unlocking dungeons at a pretty rapid-fire rate, so it's been pretty hard to find time just to clear some missions. Hopefully that'll change soon!

So, see you soon when we do just that!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 38: A Long Lost Friend

We continue with our postgame adventure! Last time, we explored Lake Afar and recruited Jigglypuff! This time, while we do still have a couple of dungeons we've yet to explore... well... let's just say, peeking ahead at them, I don't think we're quite ready to explore those just yet. Instead, we're gonna focus on completing some of those missions that we've accumulated while hopping from dungeon to dungeon.

 

At Shimmer Hill, we took out the wanted outlaw Scyther and rescued Illumise.

 

More importantly, we went prospecting with Weezing for a rare item: A  Gold Thorn. This is a new type of mission and, unfortunately I didn't think to get a screenshot of the Wonder Mail code. But we've covered a mission similar to this in Explorers of Darkness, though being played on genuine hardware made it less than ideal. But the concept of Prospecting missions is that they're essentially escort missionswhere you guide your escort to the target floor. But instead of escorting them to an NPC, you are in search of a rare treasure. This treasure you get to keep.

The  Gold Thorn, as you can probably guess by the name, is a powerful spike weapon. Despite only looking for one in the mission, it came in a stack of 5, and I assume you simply always get 5 at a time. Where the Iron Thorn has an attack power of 4, a Gold Thorn has an attack power of 20! So it's significantly more powerful, and can be amplified further with certain IQ skills such as Power Pitcher and Pierce Hurler to increase the amount of damage it'll deal and allow it to attack through walls and hit multiple targets. You can also combine them with Lock-On Specs to make sure they land, or Curve Bands for some clever trick shots. Since they're quite rare, you don't want to waste them the same way you might Iron Thorns or Silver Spikes.

Ironically, I believe Gold Thorns are the only gold items that can't be found in Gold Chambers which is kind of a shame because being available in multiple mission types might make them more easily usable. But maybe that would be considered a bit overpowered.

We also got ourselves a new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Forecast (Castform M); Lv. 26

Item: None

Ability: Forecast | Moves: Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Hail, Weather Ball

Castform is in IQ Group G with Fog and the Lake Spirits.

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

And with that, our exploration was done.

 

The next morning, Chatot comes running to our base!

 

Chatot informs us that Manaphy has returned and is at the beach!

 

Music: On the Beach at Dusk

When we arrive on the beach, sure enough, we're treated to an emotional and heartwarming reunion with our little buddy, Manaphy!

 

Manaphy tells us he's grown a lot in the sea and that really does show. He's matured a lot since we said goodbye!

 

 

We're then treated to a tearjerking moment where Icarus realizes Manaphy never forgot about us, but Manaphy tells us she never stopped thinking about us and tells us she missed us! Then we all embrace!

 

Music: Goodnight

We then bring Manaphy back to our base and he instantly seems to get nostalgic!

 

Apparently, this reunion was inevitable. It's just instinct for Manaphy to return to where they hatch. In Manaphy's case, that was our base! So, Manaphy's instinct brought him back to us! It's really sweet!

 

 

After Chatot asks Manaphy what he plans to do now that he returns, Manaphy offers to join us on our adventures. He wants to join Team Flight!

 

Icarus seems unsure of this at first. He goes silent. Manaphy tries to reassure him that since he's grown up he won't get sick from staying on land anymore. But Icarus still remains silent, leading Manaphy to worry that he's not wanted.

Music: At the End of the Day

Of course, Icarus has to cut off this line of thought immediately. It turns out hew as just getting caught up in his emotions and came up with a loss for words. But we assure him that, of course, we want him to join our team!

 

Manaphy is overjoyed by this welcoming!

And with that, we've got our new recruit!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Mana (Manaphy); Lv. 40

Item: None

Ability: Hydration | Moves: Charm, SuperSonic, BubbleBeam, Acid Armor

Manaphy is in IQ Group B. For 100% completion, it is critically important to to have a pokemon in the B or H IQ Groups because of the skill Fast Friend which is outright required for one particular recruit. We'll cover that in our cleanup. And for that reason, it may be a good idea to squeeze Manaphy onto your team ASAP if you're going for 100% completion. You'll want him to be your leader and you'll want him to reach Lv. 99 and leanr this IQ skill. Though it may be that Cresselia has filled that role for you, instead. I guess I didn't realize this fact when I first brought up Cresselia.

Anyway, as much as it pains me to say this, I don't see much need to go out of my way to try and train up Manaphy to join my team. I've already invested a ton of resources into Walrein, and this is yet another reason why I really don't like the absurd amout of resources it requires to optimize a pokemon. It discourages you from changing your team around, so late additions like this, no matter how much I want to make it work, I just have no way of realistically making it happen. It's sad, but Manaphy will probably just be sitting on the bench... I'll just headcanon that he's helping us with miscellaneous tasks with other trusted team members. That sounds nice, doesn't it?

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

 

Anyway, moving right along, it seems we've reached our next milestone with Project P! We can now exchange 10 of any item for a Prism Ticket, the final tier of Lottery Ticket possible! This is how we can get the best rewards possible from the lottery! I honestly can't imagine a higher tier of reward than what we've been getting from Gold Tickets. I'm very curious what those prizes could be, but 10 items is quite a lot for a single draw, that's over an entire page of inventory space! I already often find myself struggling to find 8 items I have no need for at once. But we will need to do some more item recycling to gain access to every dungeon, so we'll get around to pulling some of these eventually. Maybe we'll be lucky enough for a big win?

 

Back on the beach, we find Team Raider, a legendary Exploration Team that Wigglytuff namedropped before! It seems they've helped rescue Dugtrio from drowning, and... that's... it? Yeah, despite being talked about like they're a big deal, and implying they know Wigglytuff just like Team Charm... they don't have any significant role in the story whatsoever. I have to wonder if they were planned to have a story arch just like Team Charm's in the postgame, or if they wanted to make a Special Episode out of them in Sky like they did with Team Charm? Unfortunately, neither of those came to fruition so we're left with what I can only assume is a remnant of a much grander idea.

 

Moving right along, we still don't really have a clear designation for what to do next, so I figure I should go ahead and get back to clearing out mission space. We've got a few missions to clear out in Foggy Forest next! Including a Prospecting mission for an item called a Rare Fossil.

We wen tthrough and took out the outlaw Barboach easily enough,

 

And we stumbled across the  Rare Fossil on the 9th floor.

The  Rare Fossil sounds like a valuable item that you might want to hold onto or sell for a high price, but... not quite. Where the Golden Thorn is the ultimate Spike item, the Rare Fossil is the ultimate Rock item like the Gravelerock. It comes in stacks of 5 as well... I guess they aren't so rare after all, are they? They're lobbed in an arch to hit enemies at odd angles and even over walls and deals flat 100 damage against its target. It comes with all the upsides and downsides of rock throwables over spikes, and that means it'll always only hit one target, even with Pierce Hurler. But I do believe it should be affected by Power Pitcher if you want to give that a try. And Lockon Specs are a good idea if you want to avoid wasting it by missing. Be very careful about missing with these, too, as enemies very well might pick them up and throw them back in the more advanced dungeons.

Lastly, we found a  Rawst Berry.

 

Along the way, we got a couple of new recruits, too.

===========

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Seed (Skiploom M); Lv. 13

Item: None

Abilities: Chlorophyll, Leaf Guard | Moves: Synthesis, Tail Whip, Tackle, PoisonPowder

Skiploom is in IQ Group H with Cresselia

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

Fork (Zigzagoon F); Lv. 14

Item: None

Abilities: Pickup, Gluttony | Moves: Growl, Tail Whip, Headbutt, Sand-Attack

Zigzagoon is in IQ Group with Dragonair

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

And that's the end of another exploration!

Upon returning to the guild, Glameow wants to join our team!

===========

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Glamor (Glameow M); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Limber, Own Tempo | Moves: Fake Out

Glameow is in IQ Group G like Castform

===========

Coincidentally, from a chest, I was able to get my hands on a new Exclusive Item for Icarus! Say hello to the  Lucario Fang, which boosts Lucario and its evolution family's, including Riolu's, Special Attack! I can't help but wonder if that could be foreshadowing, hmmm....?

In addition, though it's not particularly useful, I did get the  Slip Scarf for Haunter. I've mentioned this item and its effect before and passed on it earlier, but I figured what the heck? I may as well nab it. It also pairs well with those Golden Thorns since it allows me to throw thorns through Fog. I don't see myself ever using that strategy, but it's certainly an option.

Anyway, it's back to clearing jobs by heading out to Crystal Crossing next!

 

We went with Lairon to find the Golden Chamber and claimed its loot.

 

And, of course, got two more new recruits!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Bagel (Bagon F); Lv. 28

Item: None

Ability: Rock Head | Moves: Leer, Headbutt, Focus Energy, Ember

Bagon is in IQ Group E with Hail.

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

Coat (Wormadam F); Lv. 26

Item: None

Ability: Anticipation | Moves: Razor Leaf, Confusion, Hidden Power, Bug Bite

Wormadam is in IQ Group G like the others we got today.

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

 

The contents of the Deluxe Boxes included a  Gold Gummi and  Golden Apple! Not the most exciting haul, but a Gummi isn't bad.

 

And speaking of Golden Apples, that's exactly what our next prospecting mission brought us to in Crevice Cave! Humorously, I got this job a long time ago when Crevice Cave was still new and Hail was still a Spheal. Now we're exploring it with two Walrein!

And, of course, another new recruit as well.

===========

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Delivery (Delibird F); Lv. 41

Item: None

Abilities: Vital Spirit, Hustle | Moves: Present

Delibird is in IQ Group B with Manaphy. You can probably imagine my priorities there.

===========

With the completion of this mission, we've reached Master Rank! In Explorers of Time and Darkness, this is the final rank possible and takes quite a while longer to reach, but the requirement for Master Rank is moved significantly lower with the tradeoff that the highest rank this time around requires a much larger grind to reach. And unlike Rescue Team, there's actually a relevant incentive for us to do that grind. You'll see what I mean soon enough.

Anyway, for reaching Master Rank, we can now store up to 1000 items in Kangaskhan Storage! I truly don't see us ever being desperate for that much storage, but more space is always better! In addition, we're once again given a  Joy Seed for our promotion as well.

 

The next morning, Mana arrives at our base!

 

It seems there's something Mana wanted to share with us! While he was exploring around, he found out about a place that seems really exciting to him!

 

He tells us about a place called Marine Resort which is said to be a paradise for pokemon! And apparently we can get a lot of gummis there! It sounds like we can look forward to checking it out!

 

Manaphy is delighted to show us the location of this special place, and so, Marine Resort is now available to explore! And that's a place we'll probably be headed to soon...

 

With our plans arranged, we certainly have to go check out Marine Resort soon!

Anyway, you may have noticed this post is going on for a bit longer than normal and might be wondering why that is. Well, there's one particular detail about this particular scene that makes things stand out...

As we head through Treasure Town, we're suddenly stopped by Ursaring!

 

Apparently, Ursaring was getting frustrated with the fact that people couldn't tell her and her friend apart and wanted to return to Luminous Spring to see if she could evolve again. But her friend Ursaring keeps telling her neither of them can evolve--a statement that hasn't quite aged well anymore now that a certain pokemon exists in the modern era. We'll get there one day, but it'll probably still take a couple of years before we reach that point in this project.

 

 

Of course, when the Ursaring went to the Spring so she could try to evolve, she couldn't. However, her friend noticed the atmosphere of the spring seemed different somehow...

 

 

In the end, neither of them can really explain what's going on, but recalling that we couldn't evolve before, they suggest that we might be able to now!

With that in mind, it's time to make a way overdue visit to Luminous Spring!

 

And, sure enough, it seems Skye and Icarus are capable of evolution! As described before, we'll need to use one of the Sun Ribbons we've collected to evolve Icarus. Apparently, the game outright tells you which item you'll need to evolve and is even capable of pulling it out of your storage for you!

 

And with that, finally, after all this time, Icarus has evolved into a Lucario! Now his appearance truly reflects how much he's grown since the start of our adventure!

As we return to Treasure Town, I can say it's certainly extremely surreal to have a Lucario following us around everywhere! Unfortunately, we're going to have to spend a little bit of extra time with Skye unevolved. While I can evolve Skye into Espeon, I don't think that's quite the pokemon we'll need ahead.

 

Now that Icarus is evolved, I wanna stop by the Electivire Link Shop to rework his moveset. I want to replace Focus Blast with Aura Sphere. It may be weaker, but it isn't going to be missing. It also has more PP! I'm also replacing Bite with Metal Claw which may not be super-effective against Ghost-types, but it's still a STAB attack capable of boosting his attack! And lastly, I'm reverting my decision of replacing Endure with Protect. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but paired with Drain Punch, I think Endure can be a really powerful move. Especially considering it can be refreshed simply by being used repeatedly. Endure also protects from a lot more than Protect and Detect do.

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

Team Flight New Evolution

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

Icarus (Lucario M); Lv. 60

Item:  Scope Lens | Exclusive:  Emit Ring,  Valiant Rock,  Lucario Fang,  Riolu Card,  Riolu Tail

Abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast | Moves: Drain Punch, Aura Sphere, Metal Claw, Endure

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

And... that's going to be it for now! While I do really want to entertain Mana with her request to explore Marine Resort, I do think I'm gonna have to put that request on hold for a little bit because my priority is about to shift quite a bit. There is a particular item I'm going to need to evolve Skye into what I want her to evolve. I believe I've mentioned what exact pokemon that is earlier, but we are going to have to be patient just a bit longer, though it's much more bearable knowing the wait is on my terms now. Next time, we're going to focus on getting some evolution items! See you soon~

[Aura]

Postgame Part 39: Lightning Never Strikes Twice

We're back with our postgame adventure! Last time, we were reunited with our old friend, Manaphy and he's now joined our team! When I first got him, I was worried about retiring Hail for his sake. But thinking about it now, I think I do want to start pushing for that. But such a feat isn't going to come easy--I've invested a lot of Gummis into Hail. But, as a fellow Water-type, Mana can learn many of the same moves as Hail and even though he won't have access to STAB Blizzard, I think he provides a much more useful set of IQ skills than Hail did. However, the biggest thing holding me back from making the jump now is that I don't actually have a Blizzard TM. I could've sworn I did, but apparently not. Maybe I sold it at some point? Or maybe I just saw it in the shop and decided not to buy it. Either way, I'm really kicking myself for that, now. Hopefully I can get another Blizzard TM before long.

But for now, we're gonna set that concern aside because we reached another major milestone last time: After Manaphy told us about Luminous Spring, Skye and Icarus were now able to evolve! I didn't mention this last time, but the specific story flag that unlocks this in Explorers of Sky is simply Manaphy telling you about Marine Resort. However, in Explorers of Time and Darkness, there's actually one more requirement for this: You have to recruit Palkia. I recommend going back through Spacial Rift during that lull between clearing Dark Crater and unlocking Marine Resort. Quite a few days have to pass in-game, so you have plenty of time to do that. But personally, I really wanted to focus on doing as little of what we have left as possible until I had my starter and partner at their full potential. I've been so sick of Skye's Run Away triggering.

And that's where we come to today's focus: I want to evolve Skye as soon as possible and, as it turns out, that wound up being quite the ordeal.

Of course, Skye can evolve into one of many different pokemon. But there's one in particular I feel will be especially beneficial. However, to get it, we'll need an Evolution Stone from the tier 1 Advanced Kecleon Shops. It just so happened that we had a mission in Mystifying Forest, so let's head there!

The mission itself is quite simple: I just had to stop Gloom at a Monster House. I decided to bring Mana with us, too, to see if I could get some Exp on her. She can actually hold her own quite well here already. But of course, the real focus is looking for those Kecleon Shops. Starting on the 5th floor, I had to thoroughly explore odd-numbered floors until I found a Kecleon Shop. There's a 5% chance of one appearing on each floor. Across the 8 floors following the 5th, that's 5 floors or a total of a 25% chance of running into a Kecleon Shop during any exploration of the full dungeon. And even if one does appear, it's entirely possible it won't hold the items I want.

In addition to the item I need to evolve Skye, I'm also interested in a  Link Cable to evolve Fog into Gengar, but I'm not about to waste time hunting for that right now if I don't get in the process of evolving Skye.

 

 

 

 

On my first trip through the dungeon, I actually did find a Kecleon Shop, but it didn't contain any of the items I needed, so I kept going. It took me several runs through this dungeon to get the item I was after. Across these many attempts, I was able to recruit several pokemon from Mystifying Forest. Ironically, one of these included another Eevee!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Buck (Bidoof F); Lv. 10

Item: None

Abilities: Simple, Unaware | Moves: Tackle, Growl, Defense Curl

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

Potential (Eevee F); Lv. 9

Item: None

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand, Sand-Attack

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

Aroma (Roselia M); Lv. 40

Item: None

Abilities: Natural Cure, Poison Point | Moves: Sweet Scent, Ingrain, Toxic, Petal Dance

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

Ted (Teddiursa M); Lv. 15

Item: None

Abilities: Pickup, Quick Feet | Moves: Lick, Fake Tears, Fury Swipes, Faint Attack

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

Rumble (Gulpin M); Lv. 10

Item: None

Abilities: Liquid Ooze, Sticky Hold | Moves: Pound, Yawn, Poison Gas

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

Seasons (Chikorita M); Lv. 5

Item: None

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Tackle, Growl

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

Chestnut (Turtwig M); Lv. 5

Item: None

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Tackle, Withdraw

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

Tracks (Raticate M); Lv. 42

Item: None

Abilities: Run Away, Guts | Moves: Crunch, Assurance, Super Fang, Double-Edge

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

Garlic (Bulbasaur M); Lv. 5

Item: None

Ability: Overgrow | Moves: Tackle, Growl

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

Smell (Stunky F); Lv. 13

Item: None

Abilities: Stench, Aftermath | Moves: Focus Energy, Poison Gas, Screech, Fury Swipes

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

Eggs (Eggsecute M); Lv. 10

Item: None

Ability: Chlorophyll | Moves: Uproar, Barrage, Hypnosis, Reflect

===========

In addition, I was also able to find a  Pledge Rock; an exclusive item for Lucario that boosts its Special stats by 3 each. It normally requires a  Lucario Fang and  Lucario Card, but I was able to get it by swapping in three arbitrary items instead.

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

Now, I'll be honest, I did get a bit cheaty with my approach to hunting these Kecleon Shops after a while. I started to scum save states a bit more than normal by using a Trawl Orb near the stairs to see if there is a Kecleon Shop on each odd-numbered floor starting from floor 5. I was okay doing this considering the alternative, and what I'd probably be doing if I were playing on official hardware, would be to simply use a Wonder Mail Password to receive the item I want as a mission reward. The especially cheaty-feeling approach would be to use a Wonder Mail generator, but the approach that feels more in the spirit of it is to look online for Wonder Mail passcodes shared by other players.

 

Eventually, I did manage to get the item I was after! I also stole the whole inventory... hehe.. This is actually a fairly common strategy for getting lots of valuable items from Kecleon. It's also a really powerful money making strat to drop a bunch of Gold Ribbons off, go to the stairs, use a Trawl Orb to steal them all back, and dash for the stairs before Kecleon gets to you. But this is a high-risk strat! Escape Orbs can't be used while Kecleon is after you and if he KO's you, you cannot be rescued and every item in your inventory is replaced with a Plain Seed. Crime never pays!

So anyway, I stole all of this Kecleon's inventory. If you're going to try this, make sure you have plenty of empty space in your inventory so your teammates can help pick up the remaining items. And if you have Agility, it's a good idea to set that up, too. Unfortunately, there was no Link Cable among the items.

Anyway, now that we've got the item in question, I want to revisit Luminous Spring!

 

We got both a Thunderstone and a Fire Stone in that last exploration, but I think it's probably obvious by now which one I'm evolving Skye into.

 

Using my  Thunderstone, I was able to evolve Skye into Jolteon! Though this ironically won't help at all with the lack of Gummis she can benefit from, it does mean no more Run Away ability! Instead, Jolteon has Volt Absorb, an actually helpful ability. Hopefully I'll never have to use a Run Away pokemon again for the rest of my Mystery Dungeon career.

Just like with Icarus, the first thing I did after evolving Skye was to take her to the Link Shop where I replaced Facade with Thunderbolt. Jolteon no longer gets the benefit of Adaptability, but I believe ThunderBolt is a lot stronger than Facade and even deals damage directly. I thought Jolteon would know Agility by now, but it turns out she's still got a couple of levels to go before then.

Anyway, it feels good to finally have our starting duo fully evolved! And next time, I think we're finally going to pay a visit to Marine Resort! See you soon!

[Aura]

Postgame Part 40: Marine Resort

We're back with our postgame adventure! Last time, we finally evolved Skye after thoroughly exploring Mystifying Forest over and over again. Now, we've got our team nearly fully set up for the long-term! Eventually, I'll probably have Mana take the lead. But while he's still catching up on levels, and without Blizzard, he's gonna be in the middle of the pack. In the meantime, Skye will be taking the lead just like old times! But now, I'm much more comfortable doing so since she's a lot better prepared.

 

Before progressing, we're at the point now where we have a lot of exclusive items to manage. Right now, I'm prioritizing Exclusive items that assist with stats only, the Evolve Charm being an exception because Skye actually still has a couple of useful moves ahead of her--though I'm not sure she'll ever reach the point of learning Discharge by the time we're done, that is certainly a move I'd love her to have access to. But she'll be approaching Lv. 80 by the time she gets there. I don't think we'll eve realistically reach that point, even with Joy Seeds.

Once we've made our preparations, it's time to head out for Marine Resort!

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

Marine Resort

The music in this dungeon is random each floor: The songs that can play include: Brine Cave, Craggy Coast, Beach Cave, and Random Dungeon Theme 1 which is a higher-pitched version of Surrounded Sea.

Marine Resort isn't much of a dangerous place to explore. Instead, it's more like a reward for having gone through the main story. As Manaphy mentioned before, this place is primarily known for having lots of gummis, but there's also other kinds of useful items that can be found here as well! You don't really have to worrya bout any particular danger here.

Items:  Poke,  Gaggle, and  Lockon Specs,  No-Aim Scopes,  Insomniscopes,  Scope Lenses,  Curve,  Detect,  Patsy,  Persim,  Power,  Racket,  Special,  Stamina,  Twist, and  Zinc Bands,  Def.,  Mobile,  Pass,  Pecha,  Sneak, and  Warp Scarves,  Friend Bows,  Gold,  Heal, and  Joy Ribbons,  No-Slip, and  No-Stick Caps,  Gone Pebbles,  Graveleyocks,  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,  Dough,  Dropeye,  Eyedrop,  Quick,  Reviser,  Reviver,  Sleep,  Slip,  Totter,  Via,  Warp, and  X-Eye Seeds,  Max and  Mix Elixirs, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

 Friend Bow

The Friend Bow is a new item you may have overlooked in that big list. Though this item is nerfed from its Rescue Team counterpart, if held by the leader, it boosts the recruitment rate of all pokemon by 5%. Obviously, if the Seven Treasures are outclassed, the Friend Bow is, too, but until we get that other item, this one is the best option you have for pokemon that aren't one of the types covered by the Seven Treasures.

In Explorers of Darkness only, you can find  Weather Bands here, too.

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

Monster Houses can appear in this dungeon, but not in the very beginning.

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

Marine Resort [1F]

Pokemon:  Corsola,  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Spinda,  Wynaut,  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk

As mentioned before, none of the pokemon here are particularly threatening. I suppose you'll need to watch out for Kabutops's Aqua Jet, Bellossom's Petal Dance, and Miltank's Rollout, but none of these are particularly dangerous.

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

Marine Resort [2F - 5F]

Pokemon:  Corsola,  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Spinda,  Wynaut,  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Cleffa

Cleffa joins on the 2nd floor. Starting on the 4th floor, you can begin to find Monster Houses. So don't rule those out!

 

It's Cloudy on the 3rd floor, Sunny on the 4th, and Foggy on the 5th.

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

Marine Resort [6F]

Pokemon:  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Spinda,  Wynaut,  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Cleffa

On the 6th floor, Corsola is gone!

I was also able to find a Friend Bow! Not sure how useful it's going to be for this playthrough considering I'm definitely not recruiting every pokemon, but it's always a good item to have!

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

Marine Resort [7F]

Pokemon:  Spoink,  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Spinda,  Wynaut,  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Cleffa,  Buizel,  Lickilicky

Buizel and Lickilicky join in on the 7th floor.

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

Marine Resort [8F]

Pokemon:  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Spinda,  Wynaut,  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Buizel,  Lickilicky,  Igglybuff

On the 8th floor, Igglybuff joins in place of Cleffa. Once again, Igglybuff is oddly higher level than its evolution, Jigglypuff. Spoink also disappears.

 

The weather is sunny here, and I got a new recruit on this floor as well!

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

Team Flight New Recruit

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

Whisper (Whismur F); Lv. 16

Item: None

Ability: Soundproof | Moves: Pound, Uproar, Astonish, Howl

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

Marine Resort [9F]

Pokemon:  Clefairy,  Jigglypuff,  Spinda,  Wynaut,  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Buizel,  Lickilicky,  Igglybuff,  Swalot

Swalot joins the fray on the 9th floor.

And it's Cloudy down here, too!

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

Marine Resort [10F - 11F]

Pokemon:  Wynaut,  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Buizel,  Lickilicky,  Igglybuff,  Swalot,  Clefable,  Wigglytuff,  Ambipom

On the 10th floor, Clefairy and Jigglypuff are replaced by their evolutions, Clefable and Wigglytuff. Spinda also takes its leave to make room for Ambipom.

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

Marine Resort [12F - 14F]

Pokemon:  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Buizel,  Lickilicky,  Igglybuff,  Swalot,  Clefable,  Wigglytuff,  Ambipom

Wynaut slips away on the 12th floor.

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

Marine Resort [15F - 18F]

Pokemon:  Slowbro,  Krabby,  Lickitung,  Kabuto,  Kabutops,  Dratini,  Bellossom,  Espeon,  Wobbuffet,  Snubbull,  Phanpy,  Smeargle,  Miltank,  Wingull,  Pelipper,  Whismur,  Croagunk,  Buizel,  Lickilicky,  Swalot,  Clefable,  Wigglytuff,  Ambipom

On the 15th floor, Igglybuff disappears, too!

===========

Finally, on the 19th floor, there are four  Deluxe Boxes!

Each of these Deluxe Boxes may contain: A  Blue,  Brown,  Grass,  Green,  Orange,  Silver,  Sky,  White,  Black,  Clear,  Gold,  Gray,  Pink,  Purple,  Red,  Royal, or  Yellow Gummi regardless of version, making this by far the best place to come for Gummis, especially in Explorers of Time and Darkness where half of these gummis are not readily available.

 

Once we've claimed our reward, we make our way to the end of the dungeon! And that's it for today! We've still got a handful of miscellaneous dungeons. Fo rnow, I think we're just going to have to focus on a mixture of Job Clearing, Gummi searching, and rematching old bosses. Things are about to get a bit more unpredictable as we mainly focus on seeking out some of the more oddball dungeons to unlock. This was the last of the main-story adjacent optional dungeons. The only other dungeons we currently have unlocked are definitely best saved for last as they're considered to be the games' ultimate challenges. So, next time, we'll just... see what comes up next! See you soon!

[Aura]

 

Postgame Part 41: Lush Prairie

We continue with our postgame adventure! Last time we left ourselves in a rather precarious position where we didn't exactly have a clear path ahead of us after having cleared Marine Resort. So for now, I'm going to be focusing on grinding out gummis to help catch Mana up to the rest of my team! Between completing missions, I'll be taking trips thorough Marine Resort to get lots of gummis for everyone!

 

 

During the process, I got a handful of new recruits, of course. Including a newly hatched Eevee!

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

Team Flight New Recruits

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

Thought (Slowpoke F); Lv. 10

Item: None

Abilities: Oblivious, Own Tempo | Moves: Curse, Tackle, Yawn, Growl

Slowpoke is in IQ Group B with Manaphy.

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

Beginnings (Eevee F); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Run Away, Adaptability | Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Sand-Attack, Covet

This is my third Eevee, now. Kind of funny how that's worked out so far.

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

Wings (Wingull M); Lv. 11

Item: None

Ability: Keen Eye | Moves: Growl, Water Gun, SuperSonic, Wing Attack

Wingull is in IQ Group D like most bird pokemon.

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

Swing (Ambipom M); Lv. 44

Item: None

Abilities: Technician, Pickup | Moves: Double Hit, Fling, Nasty Plot, Last Resort

Ambipom is, obviously, in IQ Group F with Aipom as well as Eevee.

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

Fungi (Shroomish M); Lv. 1

Item: None

Abilities: Effect Spore, Poison Heal | Moves: Absorb

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

 

During one of my explorations of Marine Resort, I was lucky enough to run into a MOnster House! In this dungeon, that means lots and lots of Gummis! With Skye as a Jolteon, these aren't nearly as scary without Hail. Jolteon can damage all adjacent enemeis with ThunderBolt to minimize received damage. She really only has to worry about ranged attacks.

 

The end result of that excursion is this large haul of gummis I used at the start of this post. We are feasting like kings! Or... spoiled children on Halloween?

 

Anyway, while going down the list of Gummis, we found the location of not one, but two dungeons at the bottom of the glass! These are Lush Prairie and Happy Outlook! We've now got new dungeons to explore!

 

In addition, we also received an egg from a Swalot.

I've been trying to put missions like this off for a while, but I'm quickly building jobs up in the same dungeons as them, so I think it's finally time to jump the shark and address one of the more important types of prospecting missions for 100% completion. I got a mission to prospect with Honchkrow for a  Secret Slab in Quicksand Cave.

 

Since it was in Quicksand Cave, it didn't take long at all to find the treasure in question! But... what is it?

 Secret Slab

The Secret Slab is one of two very important key items in recruiting a number of pokemon. I'll get into the specifics soon, but if you recall, I found an item called the  Mystery Part in Explorers of Darkness but mentioned I'd elaborate its effects later on and never got around to it... well, it turns out the circumstances surrounding my ability to even get that item in my playthrough are an unexplained enigma. Once again, I'll elaborate in a bit. But these two items are functionally identical and, to my knowledge, you only need one or the other. I'm not really sure why they would both exist. Either way, you'll want to keep this item in Kangaskhan Storage. I think it's best left as an asterisk for now.

Across all of this, Skye grew to lv. 62, but at these high levels it's taking quite a bit to level up. And frankly, while I don't have a move like Blizzard on my team. There's one move in Jolteon's learnset I'd really like Skye to know ASAP. So, I decided to bring some  Joy Seeds to Spidna's Cafe.

At Lv. 64, Skye tried to learn Agility! While Sand-Attack can cause the enemy to miss, Agility can effectively skip enemy turns, allow us to close distance, and escape from pursuing enemies. By linking it with Helping Hand, I can buff my entire team's offense and increase their opportunities to attack!

 

Furthermore, from the Swap Shop I also found a  Tidal Cape, which is an Exclusive Item for Manaphy which heals him by 20HP while he's standing on water! In Explorers of Time and Darkness, this item required a Wonder Mail code to access:

Spoiler

H+F6 S3-1 CY5R
4F5Y 9=96 -MCW

 

This passcode is linked to a mission to rescue Magikarp from B7F of Crystal Crossing, you'll receive the Tidal Cape as a reward for completion of the job. This job was distributed via Wi-Fi as well as through the Wonder Mail code posted on the official pokemon website.

Finally, to see things off for today, I figured I'd go ahead and explore one of the new dungeons we've just unlocked: Lush Prairie. Don't worry, this one's short. As in, really short.

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

Lush Prairie

The music in this dungeon is random per floor, of course. The music can be Mt. Horn, Cave and Side Path, Drenched Bluff, and Deep Dusk Forest.

This dungeon is randomly unlocked through Spinda's Cafe drinks in Explorers of Sky, but in Explorers of Time and Darkness it instead becomes available with an escort mission from the bulletin board after reaching Bronze Rank. Since this dungeon has to be balanced for such an early point in the game, you can probably expect that it's not all that long, challenging, or rewarding this late in the game. Frankly, even for the earliest point you can unlock the dungeon, it's still fairly straight-forward.

Anyway, the following Wonder Mail code will provide a job that will make this dungeon available to you in Explorers of Time and Darkness:

Spoiler

#JQN 1-+Q %=@&

QP-% PR16 #6H5

Note: You'll have to be at least Bronze Rank to gain access to this code.

Items:  Poke,  Apples,  Iron Thorns,  Cheri,  Oran, and  Pecha Berries,  Max Elixirs,  Blast and  Heal Seeds, and assorted  Wonder Orbs.

In Explorers of Darkness only, you can find  All-Hit,  Foe-Fear, and  Foe-Seal Orbs here as well, but strangely not in Explorers of Sky despite all of these items being readily available elsewhere.

Traps:  SelfDestruct,  Grimy,  Gust,  Poison,  Pokemon,  Slow,  Slumber,  Spin,  Summon,  Trip, and  Warp Traps.

There are no threats of Monster Houses at all in this dungeon.

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

Lush Prairie [1F - 5F]

Pokemon:  Exeggcute,  Skiploom,  Yanma,  Silcoon,  Beautifly,  Cascoon,  Burmy

All of the pokemon in this dungeon are under Lv. 20. Like I said, it's a really simple dungeon with nothing to worry about at all. None of these pokemon are even unique enough to warrant searching for them in such an uneventful place.

On the third floor, the weather is cloudy.

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

 

Before you know it, you arrive at the 6th floor where there are two  Deluxe Boxes and that's literally it!

Each of these Deluxe Boxes can contain: A  Heal or  Reviver Seed, or a  Blue,  Grass,  Red, or  Yellow Gummi. So yeah, once you have access to Marine Resort, there's pretty much no reason to ever come here unless you're just being thorough. Next time, we'll likely head out to Happy Outlook! Unless something else cuts in, that is. So, see you soon!