Lets Play Pokemon Black!

[Jair Barik]

After much debate as to wether or not to wait for the third iteration of the current generation or to get the newly released game I have finally succumb to temptation and bought pokemon black. To celebrate this I will be playing through the game and writing up my adventures and I want the playground to be there with me for the ride!
One quick rule though... No spoilers!

Not another Nuzlocke!

Yes I will be doing a nuzlocke run, yes I know a lets play cannot survive on just the premise of being nuzlocke but I want to do a nuzlocke run as I feel it will give new life to a series that has been becoming slightly stale and too easy in my eyes. This won't be a true Nuzlocke. The rules I will be using are as follows.
-Can only catch the first mon in any area (no repeats), can catch legends/one offs but cannot use them.
-If a mon faints I cannot use it aymore.
-Switching turned off.
As I said earlier the Nuzlocke aspect is for my own benefit. Having played every generation I have gotten pretty good at the games and so want something a bit more challenging (I have never done a Nuzlocke run before). Also I am going into this game completely blind. Unlock Pearl I have avoid all preview images of the game. The only mon I have really seen are the two box art legends and the three starters. I have no idea of the 'plot' the gyms, the map, the new mons, nothing. As a result no spoilers please. I don't expect the plot to rival that of mystery dungeon time (a game that surprised me in that the plot was actually pretty good) but wether I actually enjoy the story or just snark my way through I'd like to avoid any spoilers.

The playgrounds job

This is a lets play so you guys will get to participate too. First of all what starter do I pick? Fire, water or grass. Feel free to suggestnicknames but I have a feeling I already know what I will call it.
Later on you guys will get to pick names (once I reach the namerater) and who makes up my roster (after I have caught some mons). Also if need be you will pick wether or not I take the red pill or the blue pill rubbish fossil or the even rubbisher fossil if such a decision does come up.

So join us on another pokemon adventure! Starringg Tim, the ghost of Hopkirk Groyvle deceased and a host of weirdos with awful fashion sense and dreadful hair as we treck out into the continent of (checks rulebook) Unova!

[Lord Loss]

This looks quite interesting. I'm not familliar with the new pkmn gen, so this'll be refreshing and new. However, perhaps you could describe or post pics of the new starters, i'm unfamilliar with this generation.

[Eldonauran]

I always go for the fire starter. :smallsmile:

[Jair Barik]

As of yet I haven't actually so much as turned the game on.
You can see the three starters here (http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/05/14/pokemon_site_update/) though.

[Cogwheel]

Grass.

http://img.pokemondb.net/artwork/snivy.jpg

Could someone remind me why this is even a question?

[Deme]

I'm going to vote for the grass-snake, Snivy. Also, if a he, he shall be called Louis. That is my opinion.

[John Cribati]

Go for the Water Otter. Name it Skipper. You will not be disappoint.

[Domochevsky]

Hmyes, needs pictures of the starters, since that's our picking metric by default. :smallwink:

Edit: Tsk, pictures have already been posted... yeah, grass. Smug coolness! o/

[Lord Loss]

Go with the Fire Pig and call him Dinkie!

Seriously. It's a Fire Pig. A. Fire. Pig.

[Mirrinus]

How can you not pick the Grass starter? He's the only one that actually looks not totally laughable!

(I would only vote for the Fire starter if you promise to name him Pignition. There's no way I'm considering the Water one.)

[Cogwheel]

How can you not pick the Grass starter? He's the only one that actually looks not totally laughable!


http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/327/f/a/metal_gear_pokemon_by_arkeis_pokemon-d33fyi2.jpg

You were saying?

[Mirrinus]

You were saying?

I'd link to Halolz's "Nobody Likes Wotter..." picture in response, but it's got NSFW language.

[Jair Barik]

Chapter 1-Wait so the box art is intentionally confusing?

So...the start of a brand new adventure. Another delve into the world of pokemon. What excitement awaits! What hideously malformed creatures shall I meet! What eccentric-
Hey! I take offense at that!
What being called eccentric?
No! The other thing. The one you said before!
Excitement? I really don't think thats applicable to nouns...
Deformed! You said deformed! We are not all deformed! Some of us are actually really cool looking and awesome
Fine fine... Now where was I... you kind of interrupted the flow of thought there Groyvle.
You'd gone yadda yadda excitement. yadda yadda racial slur. Yadda yadda eccentric
Don't make me turn the silph scope off mister! Ehem. As I was saying. What eccentric people will we meet! As we journey into the land of...ummm...hang on...I have it here somewhere...land of...Unova! Okay now here we go! Onward to adventure!

Ummm... whats this about? Okaaayyyy. Opening cinematic.... kind of nice... err.... so the king uses a rubix cube? Ummmm....yeah....not really getting the relevance here, am I the king?
I think its foreshadowing or something
You sure? It may be a dream sequence.
(theres a video here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuozx28FdUQ)for the curious, it isn't mine)
okayyyy.... Now thats over, lets move on.

Hi! My name is professor juniper! I'm also known as the pokemon professor!
I thought oak was the pokemon professor?
Silence puny trainer! Listen to my authority! I am the Pokemon professor! I demand respect! I am a significant improvement from all of those elderly looking fools who have proceeded me!
I don't think Elm and Birch were actually that old....
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/screenshot_34322_thumb142.jpg
Actually I know all this already. In truth I have beaten the elite four of like, four different regions
Silence! Now are you a boy in trousers or some kind of female strumpet with next to nothing covering her legs!
ummmm.... I'm a boy. Do you think... do you think maybe you need glasses perhaps?
Silence! Now here are your two childhood friends! Flighty broad and arogant twit!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Black_White_Bianca.png
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Cheren.png
Don't you mean Bianca and Cheren?
Silence boy with cap! Now go! Go to your house! Go to house get, pokemon fight to death! Bwuhahahahaha!
My name is Tim...

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Kanoko_Town_BW.png

Well... That was strange. Don't laugh Groyvle, nobody likes a smug lizard plant thing. Now on to adventure and-wait did that say Pokemon white? (checks box) so the box with the black pokemon on is white and the one with the white is...that is so stupid. Huh... Looks like we will be getting our pokemon before even leaving the house this time. That's certainly a change but clear as day a present (with no air holes I might add) has been left waiting on my desk for me Bianca and Cheren. And that sounds like her now so we will be getting our first pokemon as soon as she comes up-
Who are you talking to?
Quiet Cheren! I'm narrating!
Hey! Why do you get to speak in blue? I'm the guy who wears blue, you have a red cap
I'm narrating so I called dibs!
I bet Bianca gets to speak in green...
No groyvle gets to speak in green, Bianca can have teal
Whose Groyvle?
Hi guys! ZOMG! POKEMANS! Wow! Super lols! How awesome is this!!! I want the green one, green matches my hat and bag and is super awesome wow I bet Juniper picked these three especially for us I mean a blue one for Cheren and a red one for Tim and a green one for me and wow lets totally have a fight right here and right now and oooohhh is that a Wii? Did your dad get that for you? Cause that is weird because your mom is the only one who seems to live in this town and do you think its weird that your parents are happy for you to run off into the world without any form of protection other than pokemon in a world full of vicous creatures that fight anyone they see on sight and I was watching the TV in my house before I left and there was a program that said how many times you have slept in your bed Tim! Voyueristic or what!
Okay....
Actually I think the pokemon correspond to our personalities. Look, the smug lizard is meant for me, the super happy looking pig is meant for Bianca and the mentally ret- ummm the brave and heroic otter is meant for Tim

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/2lj111j.png

...That's it I'm taking the grass type.
I thought you said nobody likes a smug-
Quiet you

I take the otter then! Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Now we fight because our eyes have met and we both have pokemans and that is the law!!!
I don't think that is the law-
Four uses of tackle later my room is trashed and SmugLeaf is almost at level 6
Here let me heal both your pokemon up, I have healing hands
Wait what?
Yeah cool I know. Now, let us fight Tim!
....three tackles later SmugLeaf is level 6.
Wait...how come the pokemon footprints are on the ceiling
I think I'll call him spiderpig...


Having explained things to my mom I had a quick look around town, briefly watched a domestic dispute in Bianca's house and then begrudgingly made my way over to the lab
Names! Pokemon need names! Name them and I will give you a pokedex free of charge on the basis that you help me fulfill my lifes ambition of filling the pokedex by going on a dangerous task I myself am too lazy to do
Wait what was that last bit-
I will name him Skipper! I will love him and squeeze him and we will have fantastic adventures together beating up small furry animals all across the world!
Spider pig. Nuff said
I think I'll call him...V
That is a dumb name! You are all idiots! There is a special place in hell for people who are rubbish at givbing things names! Now go! Go to route 1 and begin to fulfill my childhood dream by proxy!
Isn't route 1 in Kanto?
Out!


After recieving a pokedex to the head I was inclined to accept the professors demands. My mom (who was standing outside apparently ignorant to the ruccuss inside) was waiting to give the three of us a map each. Let's open this thing up!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Kanoko_Town_Isshu_Map.gif
Well that's weird...
What now?
Well one of the little green dots close to town is labelled Team Plasma secret island headquarters... Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

End of part 1

[Lord Loss]

Hehehe. I love the characters and the commentary. Needs more screenshots, though. Keep it up! It's really, really, awesome!

[ThePhantom]

Interesting. I'm playing White right now, so I know a little more about Professor Juniper and the reason behind the trip you are taking. But not a word more.

[Domochevsky]

Ok yeah, good start for the narrative. :smallbiggrin:

(But needs bigger/more screenshots. At least twice the size/amount. >_> )

[Ozymandias]

I was so disappointed when I realized that Cheren wasn't wearing a tie.

[Mando Knight]

How can you not pick the Grass starter? He's the only one that actually looks not totally laughable!

Well, when you look at the final forms...
http://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/thumb/0/0a/Unova_starters_evolution_artwork.png/536px-Unova_starters_evolution_artwork.png

Samurott/Daikenki, the final form of the Water starter, has armor which is made of sword-shells.

[Forum Explorer]

glad to see you chose the grass starter.

[onasuma]

Grass.

http://img.pokemondb.net/artwork/snivy.jpg

Could someone remind me why this is even a question?

Because until its dream world power comes out its pretty much a sub-par sceptile?

[Innis Cabal]

Because until its dream world power comes out its pretty much a sub-par sceptile?

It is a Lets Play and EV'ing and Meta-Game issues are irrelevant?

[Lord Loss]

He's Nuzlocke-ing it. he needs all the strength he can get... :smallfrown:

[Jair Barik]

Part 2-Gym Leaders are Jerks, So are your friends

Setting out onto route 1 I saw both my friends and the 'Professor' waiting up ahead.
Heeeeeyyyy Tim lets all take our first step together ready? Onetwothreegoooooooo yeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Not so fast!
What now?
I need to show you how to catch pokemon!
But I already know how to catch-
Show you how to catch pokemon!
Ugh...
And show us how to catch them she did... She fought some weak little creature that looked like the horrid offspring of a Bidoof and an Aipom and caught it
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/patrat.jpg
And that is how you catch pokemon... Now here take six pokeballs each and go off to complete my lifes ambition, whoever catches them all first is the winner!
Didn't you have like, thirty pokeballs with you though?
And?
Well if you aren't going to use them and you want us to help you out couldn't we have them? I mean you might as well give one of us that Patrat to help us start off seeing as it is your dream you want us to fulfill...
No! Buy your own stinking pokeballs! Now go, go away and to Accumula Town!

And go I did.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/TWO21.jpg

On the way I caught a strange Chiuaha pokemon, it looks like what you'd get if a mankey and a Zigzagoon had a kid and then dropped it out of the ugly tree.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Lillipup--article_image.jpg
I named it DogFace.

Reaching Accumula town I popped into a few buildings and talked to the locals.
Hey there! Here have a free pokeball!
Really? ummm thanks!
Thats a Silph brand pokeball! When I catch pokemon I always use Silph! Silph Co! For a brighter tomorrow! Today!
Wait do you work for Silph Co or something?
That's right! At Silph Co our studies show that trainers who run out of pokeballs prior to catching seven pokemon only go on to buy more pokeballs a low 5% of the time! However trainers who catch seven or more pokemon realisticly go on to continue catching every new pokemon they meet a wopping 83% of the time!
I think my faith in humanity just died a little

Deciding not to talk to any more of the locals just yet I went into the pokecentre where I was greeted by the Prof.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/rect2429-1.png
Not the word I would use to describe a hospital but each to their own I guess... Oooh is that a gist shop?
Yes, but first lets get you registered here!
Taking me over to the healing machine I was given a form by the nurse to fill out as I waited for Dogface and V to be healed.
Just sign this sheet and your pokemon will be signed up for full health care for life here at the poke centre and pokemart combined centre!
Wait your the same company now? Isn't that bad for business? I mean free health care is pretty crazy but wont that also hinder your sales of healing items, I mean if I get free health care why would I ever by potions? If any of my team get Ko'd I can just revive them here.
Just sign the sheet
After I finish reading it
Sign the sheet!!!!
The prof is a scary woman. I signed very quickly
Thank you! You are now signed up for complete free health care, revives excluded!
Wait what?
It's all there in the small print. Also you signed a clause that forbids you buying revives from our shops or using any you find in the field
...I'll take three potions and some more pokeballs then.
I thought you might

Going outside there was something going on in the town square.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/rect2429.png
Team plasma? Is that like Team rocket or something?
No! How dare you compare us to those fools in the Popular people's front! We are the pokemon Liberation Front!
So...more like Team Magma and Team Aqua?
The Popular Pokemon Front and the People's Pokemon Front? Hardly!
Sooooo more like team Galaxy then?
We have nothing in common with the Anti-Pokemon People's Front! Men to me! Away!

If that wasn't strange enough one of the members of the crowd came up to me and introduced himself as N. Started talking about pokemon speaking.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/rect2429-3.png

Well I certainly believe you on that! The ghost of my Groyvle talks to me sometimes
No it doesn't ghosts don't exist
What about ghastly?
That's a ghost type not a ghost
What about the ghost of Marowak?
Shut up. Excluding the imaginary voice in your head do any other ones talk to you
If I listen to them sure. Hey V!
'Sup
How are things
Awesome. Everything is awesome when you are as cool as I am
Man V is so cool! You could practicly freeze water on that smirk of his!
What kind of name is V?
What kind of name is N?
That's it. To prove you can't talk to pokemon I challenge you to a battle!
Well that's just everyones response to everything now days isn't it?
A few vine whips from V later and his Purrlion is down.
What would you say Purrlion is a cross between?
I don't know... Maybe a Skitty and a Wailord?
How so?
Well I think it may be a dark type and I can't think of any other unholy union that could result in an evil cat monster being produced

How did I lose!?
Ummm only having one pokemon was probably a good start

The dude ran off and after healing up at the pokecentre I headed west to route 2. A lady there warned me that trainers like to fight here so I decided I should probably train up a little before going further. First though I had a quick walk around the grass to catch a new pokemon. First thing to show its face was a Purrlion like the one N used.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Purrloin--article_image.jpg
I name you Nepeta.

A little training and a little healing later I was ready to take on route 2. Not much of interest really. A few Youngsters, a few Lasses, all of them newbies with only a single pokemon each ad nothing I hadn't seen already.
As I got ready to head north into Striaton City though I got jumped from behind.
EEEEEEEEEE!!!! I have been waiting for you Tim! Time for a rematch I just healed up at Striaton and now we shall battle again!
Ummmm can it wait? My team is a little beat up from fighting trainers and could do with healing.
No! Now we battle! yay!!!!
Bianca opened with a Lilliput. Nepeta was in pretty bad shape and Dogface wasn't looking great so I switched to V who made short work of Lilliput and thanks to his new vine whip saw off Skipper with ease.
There now you can't battle me again because all your pokemon have been K'od happy?
What? I can still get them healed! Cheren showed me what parts of the forms to fill out back at the centre!
Ugh... Of course he did

Moving on I had a quick look around the city, healed up and was told the gym leader wasn't home.
A guy gave me a Greatball for free. I asked him why.
Studies show that 75% of trainers who use greatballs never buy regular pokeballs again and eventually move on to purchasing ultra balls!
I really should learn to stop asking people questions.
Seeing as the gym leader was out I decided to head west out of town to pick up some new members for my team. This old guy stopped me.
Boy! You don't have a badge! You lack the experience to go any further and so I shall stop you here!
So your saying to go on I need to beat you in a pokemon battle?
What? No! I'm just going to stand here and not let you past! If we battled I might lose and then you would get to go through here!

His plan... It was flawless.
Deciding to check out the school for any trainers or errant gym leaders some kid quized me on what items heal what status effects. For getting it right he gave me a full heal... clearly on the basis that if you know what status problems are healed by what you should use the more expensive universal healing items anyway.
Then I saw Cheren.
Hi, you seen the gym leader?
He just left actually. While your here though...Pokemon fight!
I hate you soooo much.
He opened with SpiderPig, I opened with DogFace. Dogface had learned a new trick since last time though and beat up Piggy with its bite attack. He was in pretty bad shape after it though so I switched to Nepeta when he pulled a Purrlion of his own. It was a cake walk.
That business dealt with I went over to the gym but a guy was standing in the way.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/VSCilan.png
Hey! Quick quiz! What was the first pokemon you ever got?
A Snivy
And what other pokemon are in your team...
Wait? Are you the gym leader?
Sort of yes. I'm just tailoring my team to beat you up
...
This in mind I headed east into the local abandoned construction site to train my team a bit more. There were a few trainers and someone who randomly gave me a new pokemon for no apparent reason.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Panpour_BW_Sprite.png
I named him brass.
A bit more training to get everyone to level ten and I was ready for the gym.
Hi there may I take your order?
[color=blue]Wait I thought this was a gym? It looks a little like a resteraunt...
Actually its both! here have some complementry fresh water!
Heading through the 'gym' I had to solve an incredibly easy puzzle of identifying what elements beat what and battle a waiter and a waitress. Easy as pie (though the waitress almost Ko'd V with bide...) Overall I would give the establishment one star as when eating I really don't want to have the staff picking fights with me.

Headed up to the gym leader I saw the guy with green hair again, only two other guys stepped out from behind him...
Who are they?!
We are three brothers! All gym leaders! We screw contestants over by making sure that the brother whose pokemon works best against them always fights!
That is kind of... cheating. Also I thought the guy with blue hair was a girl
Hey!
He's right you look incredibly effeminite, seriously go get a haircut or something. But anway you chose grass so you fight me today.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/VSChili.png
Fine... Brass I chose you!
.... ****
Round one was brass against Lillipup. Despite the enemies level advantage it was an easy fight. Round two the enemy pulled out something called Pansear
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Pansear_BW_Sprite.png
It did not last long.

That was... Depressing. Here take the badge and TM and get lost kid. By the way, TM's have been improved so that you can use them indefinitey now. Silph Co studies show that-
I don't want to know the business reason why they have done this, please please stop....

End of Part 2

[Lord Loss]

HE GOT THE CAT THING!!!! :cool: Great update. I looked through screenshots a while back and was hoping you'd catch one of those...

[Deme]

Also, yay for getting a Lillipup as opposed to a dumb rat. I mean, if you're going to get only 1 pokemon, getting the one with pick up is clearly the most important.

Also, I like your buisness speak and Life of Brian references.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Also, yay for getting a Lillipup as opposed to a dumb rat. I mean, if you're going to get only 1 pokemon, getting the one with pick up is clearly the most important.

Also, I like your buisness speak and Life of Brian references.

The one with Pick Up doesn't get Intimidate upon evolution. Also, he had no choice.

[Jair Barik]

Part 5 3-A rocket by any other name is still an Idiot

Leaving the gym I was jumped by a lady called Fennel. I seem to recall the prof mentioning her as being an associate but when I was in town earlier I was told I couldn't see her cause she was busy. She tells me that I should go fetch her some magic dust produced by a pokemon called Munna that lives in the Dreamyard and gave my the HM cut to get past the incredibly small tree that was inexplicably barring my path.

After all of three seconds of debating what to do next I decided that if she didn't have time for me earlier I certainly didn't have time for her now. I went back to route 2 and cut down a tree to get some free stuff then headed back to the man who had been blocking my path earlier.
Hey, I got the badge let me through
Boy! You helped Fennel yet?
I fail to see how that is important. I got the badge so I'm okay to come through here right?
No! Go help Fennel!
Look, can I just come through please?
No! Watch as I stand here barring your way! hehehehe!

He's like some kind of evil genius...
Headed back into town a guy in a dark alley behind Fennel's lab beckoned me closer with promises of giving me a 'dusk ball'.... No I really don't think so.
Well on to the dangerous looking construction site that responsible adults feel its is necessary for children to wander round on trivial errands...

Tim!!!!! Hi!!!! Are you looking for Munna too? I bet it is super special awesome and really cute and special and magical and it will be the start of an amazing new adventure and man I am so excited that I don't actually want to battle you right now and Isn't that cool!
Your right that is cool
Kick it harder! It has to drop some dream dust sooner or later!
Did you hear something Bianca
Dream dust? I thought we were just kicking it for laughs
Nooooooo didn't hear anything
*kick kick*
Cause I think something is happening over there
What if we both kick it at the same time?
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/plasma.jpg
It seems I was right. A pair of those guys in jumpsuits from earlier were kicking a pokemon for some reason. One of them seemed to be really enjoying it.
Hey stop that!
I really don't think we should get involved, those guys are like twice as big as we are bianca
Beat it kid!
Not until you leave that pokemon alone!
Uh oh
That's it! I'm going to deal with you the only way I know how!
These guys are terrorists Bianca! He might have a gun or something!
I challenge you to a pokemon battle!
...Okay I really should have seen that one coming.

Long story short grunts will remain grunts regardless of what they wear. With only one pokemon each they went down faster than a feebass fighting the elite four. After beating them both they began wigging out and this weird image of their boss kept teleporting around. They ran and then another Munna (or its evolution to be more precise) appeared and lead the other one to safety. At this point Fennel burst from the shade and nabbed herself some dream dust, saying something about Munna making dreams into reality to scare off the grunts.
Wait a minute Tim... Thay must be their evil plan!
To use pokemon as a means of blackmailing the world through its peoples dreams into releasing all their pokemon into the wild?
Well I was going to say to exploit pokemon as a cheap form of recreational hallucenogenics but what you said makes sense too!

Moving on... There were a few bushes and items in the dreamyard that I could get to with the shrubbery gone. Grabbing the items I walked into the bushes and met another new pokemon.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/audino.jpg
You shall go by the name of Jazz
Checking its entry it turns out it can be found on routes 1 and 2 as well. Guess it must be rare or something.
Headed back to Fennel's it turns out her own plans for the dream dust were much more sinister as she intended to use it to power an evil 4th wall breaking wifi device. And for that sin Fennel I refuse to narrate actually give you any lines in this lets play!
What about me?
Quiet Fennel's assistant!

I begrudgingly accepted a Pal pad from her and left.
Walking past the old guy at the gate west I went by completely ignored. I take his silence as a begrudging acceptance of my right to walk to other towns. Headed down the road I came to a combination pokemon day care centre and kiddy school complex.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/daycare.jpg
I was tempted to make some snide joke about the parrallel within societies pokemon and children that this all represented but considering it was only kids around I instead opted to beat everyone up and take their lunch money (in my defence they challenged me).

Continuing on I had a quick look in the bushes and was attacked by a weird lightning zebra thing
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/blitzle.jpg
I dub thee Blitzen. That brings my team up to six... nice.
Continuing on and uh oh is that Cheren. Great that is Cheren.
Hey Tim!
Umm hi Cheren...
Sure is a nice day we are having!
Err...yeah sure is
...
...
...
So I'll just be going now...
IChallengeYouToARematchPokemonBattle!
HateYouSoMuch!!!!

Thankfully his team hadn't really changed since we last met. It had levelled slightly but with my six to his one it was plain sailing, even though two of my guys were already injured from fighting each other.

*Whack*
As I finished him up to guys came running by. More Plasma grunts but they were in a hurry and didn't seem to want to talk.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/plasma2-1.jpg
Hey Tim! Did you see some men come by here they totally stole this girls pokeman and it was really unfair because it was her only one and she didn't do anything to deserve it other than flipping the bad guys off and they totally had that coming from kicking that psychic pig thing!
Come on Tim! For some reason they ran into that cave that is a complete dead end up ahead! Let us go rescue her pokemon!
...Seriously guys? Terrorists! Am I the only one who gets what that word actually means? It has some negative connotations you know!

Peer pressure forced me to go into the cave (that and Bianca wouldn't let me down the road to the next city).
I took the dude on the left, Cheren took the dood on the right. Easy. As. Pie. Annoying though as for some reason the grunt insisted on having his Rat use Detect every second turn despite it providing no real benefit other than delaying the inevitable defeat.
With those two out the way though another two showed up.
Prepare for trouble,
And Make it double!
To protect the world from devastaion,
To unite all people within our nation,
To denounce the evil of truth and love,
To extend our reach to the stars-
I thought you said you weren't team rocket?
Shut it kid! Let's double battle!
Wait you want me to team up with Cheren to fight you? But he doesn't even have any pokemon! I knocked them all out!
Healing hands remember
Hate you sooooo much!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/plasma-1.jpg
Thankfully they picked on SpiderPig the whole battle so V could pretty much beat up both their patrats at his own leisure. After the first one went down though I was sorely tempted to trying offing that stupid pig though.
Ugh... that didn't go as planned. Well you win I guess you can have the girls pokemon
Ummm what? You guys are much bigger than us. Plus there is four of you. You could just run off with her pokemon and there is nothing we could do to stop you!
Yeah but we are Lawful evil. So here take the pokemon.
Wait... You aknowledge that you are... Lawful evil but you think that what you are doing qualifies as good? That makes no sense whatsoever!
Pfffhhh. Sure kid. Whatever you say. Besides, we aren't all lawful evil.
Oh
Yeah Ted is chaotic evil
Which one is Ted?
kicking things is fun!
Nevermind
Gogogo Team Plasma ninja vanish! Look over there!
Whilst we were busy 'looking over there' they all ran past us and out the cave
Where did they go!? Wow real life ninjas... Whelp, I'll go take this pokemon back to its owner. Smell ya later Tim!
hate you so much...
With the cave to myself I decided to go get an item that was sitting up on a ledge. But first...what is that weird dust cloud?
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/drilbur.jpg
Right... so either dust clouds are pokemon or a pokemon jumped me before I could find whatever item that dust cloud was. Anyway, I shall call you Kamina. Now how long before I am swamped by Zubats and Geodudes.
Surprisingly I was not swamped by zubats or geodudes. Instead I was swamped by these totally origional brand new pokemon!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/roggenrola.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/woobat.jpg
Roggenrola and woobat to be precise (I kid you not). Still at least roggenrolla is more common than woobat. The rock type seems slower but thankfully the woobats are really dumb and easy prey for Nepeta as they fruitlessly attacked with dark and psychic moves instead of their flying type gust attack.
Next stop. Gym two!
End of Part 3

Vote time!
I now have 7 pokemon. So who shall I train up for the next gym?
Currently they are as follows
-Purrloin (Nepeta) dark type cat pokemon with only normal moves and sand attack (lvl12) decent speed but otherwise pretty average. Special ability is limber that prevents it being paralysed
-Lillipup (DogFace) normal type dog pokemon with bite and tackle. Has amazing attack compared to my other pokemon and the ability vital spirit (wont fall asleep) (lvl 14)
-Snivy (v) starter, has vinewhip and wrap. (lvl11) will be keeping hold of him for sure
-Audino(Jazz), another normal type, moves are pretty lackluster but it has good defensive stats, refresh to heal status conditions and it heals itself whenever it switched out during a battle (lvl11)
-Panpour (Brass), water type monkey with scratch, lick, water gun and work up (the TM move from gym 1). Adequate offensive stats and three different types of attack. Ability is gluttony causing it to eat berries more quickly. (lvl11)
-Blitzle (Blitzen), electric boogaloo zebra. Great speed but otherwise pretty mediocre. Has quick attack (pretty redundant) and shock wave, a decent strength 100% accuracy electric move. Has lightning rod as an ability causing it to draw electric attacks in multibattles and increases its Special attack by them (lvl11)
-Drilbur (Kamina) Ground type mole pokemon with good attack. Gets faster in a sandstorm and has mud slap and rapid spin as well as scratch and the awful mud sport.

So vote now. Who stays... who goes?

EDIT: Quick update.
Turns out there is another place I could get more pokemon before the gym. So to add to the list of guys I actually train up there is also...
-Pidove! (Valiant) Basic flying/normal type with gust and quick attack. Special ability prevents its defense being lowered by attacks.

Also some thoughts pre-update.
-Wild pokemon levels are pretty dangerous, often coming out around the same as the trainers. One of the new 'features' makes this particularly dangerous.
-Wild pokemon should not have bubblebeam this early on:smallfurious: Have almost lost several of my team due to unexpected super move.

[Lord Loss]

The pink pokemon looks boring... :smallfrown:. Still, a great update! Also, they could keep the evil team between games once in a while, no need to switch it up every time. And this Pokémon game seems oodles better than the last few. What kind of DS do you have? I appreciate how they've put in so many original pokemons, but do no traditional ones remain?

Not sure if we vote for the one we most want to keep or the one we want to get rid of.

Votes:

Keep: Nepeta! I love cats!
Get rid of: The blasted monkey. (or Audino. whichever works for me)

And what level is Karmina? You didn't specify.

[Mando Knight]

The pink pokemon looks boring... :smallfrown:. Still, a great update!Audino is... mostly a blob of XP. Other than that, it tries to be a more balanced Chansey.

I appreciate how they've put in so many original pokemons, but do no traditional ones remain?
Not until you get the National Pokédex.

[Xondoure]

I vote on worshipping Kamina, ground types are fun. Audina or the cat can go in my mind. Boooring.

[Mando Knight]

I vote on worshipping Kamina, ground types are fun.

Indeed, but now I insist that you (that is, Jair Barik, the OP) watch Gurren Lagann the whole way through. I insist. It will spare me the lecture as to why you named your Drilbur incorrectly.

[ThePhantom]

You don't need Audino.

Use the rest of them, and I wish you luck with the next gym. You will need it.

[Jair Barik]

Indeed, but now I insist that you (that is, Jair Barik, the OP) watch Gurren Lagann the whole way through. I insist. It will spare me the lecture as to why you named your Drilbur incorrectly.

I am aware that it is the 'wrong' name but I felt Simon was too generic and less likely to be recognised (plus later on I fully intend to try finding a cape and some awesome shades to stick on this guy when I reach this games contests).

So it seems Audino is getting dropped. That means I now have 7 more to put down to six after I added Valiant to the list.

[Lord Loss]

Panpour. I don't like him...

[billtodamax]

Enjoying reading this. I'll definitely try and keep up.

[FantasyFoxMan]

This is humorous. I'll be looking forward to updates to this.

Also, ditch Audino. Trust me, you won't regret it.

[Jair Barik]

Gym Battle MK2! In Which Tim is filled with dread by what people say about it!

Well with the Team galaxy fiasco sorted it was time to get back on the road to head to Nacrene city, beat the gym leader there, grab the badge and move on in my quest to become pokemon champ via horrific animal abuse. But I'm sure by now that pokemon are used to being forced to duke it out for other people's entertainment and that there is no real concern to be had at the whole 'free the pokemon' thing team plasma has going on.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pokemon2.png
Hey! Tim!
Incoming battle in 5,4,3,2-
Quiet you. What is it Cheren?
I just thought I'd give you some advice! You see that really deep grass over there? If you walk around in it be careful as wild pokemon will group up and double battle you!
Really? They've actually learnt to work together and hunt in packs?
Yeah but only in deep grass. Smell ya later!
Wait? What? You mean you don't want to do... something else before you leave?
I'm flattered but I really don't-
I meant battle!
...Tim, we just fought like, three minutes ago. Geez you really are obsessed with fighting pokemon aren't you? See ya!
:smallfurious:So. Much. Hate.

Moving on...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pokemon.png
Nacrene city! Also known as hobo town! Seriously everyone here lives in old warehouses and this guy tried selling me some drugs for my pokemon. X-attack and such like. Pretty sure it's steroids.
Whelp time to hit the gym/museum!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pokemon3.jpg
Not you again...
Your pokemon...I sense they are weak. Life is pain and there is nothing we can do to relieve it. Pokemon must be free, not confined, we can try to change the world but deep down there isn't a think we can do about anything, we are but puppets moving down rails we cannot control.
Yeah, Nice to meet you to. That sure is some nice nihilism you've got going there, perhaps try cutting down on the mixed metaphors though
You truly are insufferable. You hide your own despair behind sarcasm. I will prove I am you better though.
Through a children's card game?
No, by beating you senseless with a length of lead piping.
Wait what?
I kid, I'm going to fight you at pokemon.

He went down easy enough. His team hadn't really improved that much since we last met. He had a new guy I hadn't seen before though.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/timburr.jpg
Meet Timbur, the horribly ugly steroid pokemon!
You already made a steroid joke
Shut up
Defeat...tastes bitter. We shall meet again, not that it means anything really.

Moving on....again.
having a quick look in the museum/gym there were some interesting fossils but all things considered my team needed to train up before we took on the leader. So we headed west to Pinwheel forest.

Or at least we would have if a gang of team plasma wasn't blocking it off...
Fear our non violent protest!
Our being here is a moderate inconvenience to multiple people!
Kick tree! Get wood!

Pinwheel forest a dead end we headed to some cliffs south of it. Beat up a few trainers and had a good time. Met some new pokemon too.
First up...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pidove.jpg
I call you Valiant. Pidgeon pokemon eh? They've never done that before!

Then some more interesting critters who I sorely wish I had met instead of dull bird pokemon.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/tympole.jpg
Tympole, the absolute evil pokemon.
Looks harmless doesn't he? Allow me to show my thought process of this little guy.
1-Oh a new poliwag, go get im Blitzen!
2-Nice 1 hit KO Blitzen! huh... pretty decent xp. Perhaps we could level you here on them
3-Rats! Didn't quite kill it in shot. Ah well what's the worst that could-
4-Oh GOD! WHAT THE!? IT KNOWS WHAT!!?! IT IS LEVE 13 AND IT KNOWS BUBBLEBEAM!? WHY! WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS TO ME!?
Nobody died but we are now very careful around Tympoles.

Then we met a wild Timbur! The wild Tinbur used bide! We ran away. A lot.

Didn't meet many but occasionally a Throh jumped us.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/throh.jpg
He may look silly but this guy knows bide, seismic toss and generally seemed to have ridiculous hp and defensive stats. Thankfully Dogface dealt with them using takedown. Which reminds me...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/herdier.jpg
Meet herdier! The new and improved Dogface! Now with 100% more intimidate! With that first evolution out the way it wasn't long before my second one ocurred.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pokemon4.jpg
V evolved into Servine! V lost smug points! just doesn't look as smug as he used to. We are all very sad.

Training up some more in the long grass we were ambushed by not one... but two Tympole's. They have learnt to hunt in packs. They have also learnt to concentrate fire, one distracting V with it's face long enough for them to flank him and combine bubblebeams for massive damage. Clever girl.... Thankfully we managed to muddle through and nobody died during these training sessions
What about your dignity?
Not listening.

Fighting some more trainers I met some more new things.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/venipide.jpg
Venipide
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/petilil.jpg
Petlil
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/cottonee.jpg
Cottonee

Note to self. Before entering the forest properly, stock up on a lot of status removing items.

But enough speculation as to the future. It's time to go bust some rhymes beat Burgh senseless! Between Blitzen having learnt a fire move, Dogface being awesome and the rest of the team being pretty average I shouldn't even need to use V! Still, pretty weird that a bug gym leader should live in a museum of archeology, ah well.

Hey! Mister museum curator! Where do I find the gym leader!
At the back of the museum in the library! I'm married to the gym leader you know!
Right.....I'm ummm very happy for you.
Wow. Pokemon is really covering some more adult ground now days isn't it....
Still gym time! yeah!
Hey! Challenger! You know what you look like you could use? Some nice. Fresh. Water. Here! take it!
Ummm thanks... I guess.
Your welcome! It certainly doesn't contain mind controlling drugs to force people into a shopping frenzy! Now to reach the gym leader you will need to read books from the library and battle the trainers here. Enjoy!
Wait what?
Read books from the library and battle the trainers here, theres a really simple puzzle hidden in the books, don't worry champ in the making, I'm sure you'll manage.
No the other thing... the water... ugh never mind.

The puzzle was ludicrously simple. The trainers put up a fight though, using a combination of Patrat, Lillipup and Herdier. The Herdier's trainer buffed it with X-defence but we just pulled through via careful tactics and Dogface's incredible levels of mangrit. Weird how none of them use bug types though.

The puzzle completed I waited half an hour as the worlds slowest moving bookcase slid back to reveal a hidden underground arena.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/gym2.png
Huh? Whose this lady?
Ummmm, hi I'm looking for the gym leader?
That would be me Lenora! Gym leader of Nacrene city!
What
You seem surprised?
Yeah, I was under the impression that the gym leader here was some guy called Burgh. Bug specialist?
What? No he's next city over. Why did you think he lived here?
Well all the town people kept going on and on about gym leader Burgh and how great he was.
What? none of them mentioned me?
Not by name no.
But...but why?
Based on current evidence? I think hiding in a secret underground compartment of the gym might be part of the problem. This does make a bit of sense though. I'm guessing your a ground or rock specialist then, what with you being an archeologist right?
Nope! I specialise in normal types! Beat me and claim the basic Badge for your own!
That... is incredibly underwhelming.

Battle time!
I opened with V she sent out a Herdier. It's intimidate hit V so I decided to go with leaf tornado instead of Vine Whip. First attack knocked off half her health but she retaliated with take down doing pretty much the same to me. Still, I was faster so just repeat the attack and I should take her down in one shot, easy enough.
Leaf Tornado missed!
Huh... forgot that move wasn't as accurate as my other moves.. oops
Herdier used take down!
****
V droped to 4 hp!
Few....
Okay, heal, switch or risk another attack? You only live once...
Leaf tornado!
Herdier was Ko'd!
Sweet.
Now for her last guy.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/watchog.jpg
Watchog. Looks like an evolved Patrat. Well V is in no condition to fight so I think switching to Dogface should work pretty well, drop her attack and escape death in one move.
Watchog used Retaliate!
What?
Dogface drops into the yellow in one hit. Not good. Okay think fast, new plan. Switch to... Blitzen! Blitzen comes out and is hit by hypnosis and falls asleep.
Not a problem I just need to grab am awakening and-
Huh. Out of awakenings. That is not a good thing. Wait! Chesto berry heals sleep! We are still good.
Blitzen takes a retaliate to the face dropping him to the yellow. That puts all three of my best guys in danger. Right... Blitzen should be fast enough to outspeed him so I go for thunderwave and as expected paralys him. He can't act this turn. Awesome. Next I switched out to Dogface and hit him with another intimidate. He is still paralysed. All going good. Next I began spamming bite. Between paralysis and flinching got him into the red. One more bite and he is down- okay, super potion, should have seen that coming but still. Another bite and...no paralysis, no flinch, Retaliate! Dogface is Ko'd!:smallfrown:
Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Right... this means war!Now I switch to Kamina. She spams crunch but kamina (underlevelled though he may be) has one trump card in his repertoire. Say hello to rock smash you uglu rat! Super effective moves are funny, especially when they critical hit :smallcool:

I'll be taking one gym badge to go I think.
Here take this to, it's a TM for retaliate, use it after one of your pokemon has fainted for massive damage.
That is a jerk move.
help! help! Team Plasma are trying to steal from the museum!
Just what I need...

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/museum.jpg

....to protect the world from devestation-
Shut up Steve! We want them to take us seriously!
What do you want this time?
We want respect! And to get respect we intend to steal this pokemon skull!
Ummm wouldn't it be more impressive to steal the whole fossil?
Well yeah, but that thing is heavy...
Quiet Steve! Now Ninjasmokebombsgogogogogo Vanish!

In their defense it was actually a pretty slick act this time.
We have to stop them! Qucik lets follow them!

Outside we ran into Cheren, Bianca and also Burgh, guy seems to spend more time in town than its own gym leader.
Did you see where they went?
Sorry we didn't see anything but I have a present for Tim and it is really cool it's a stick and if you point at things it shows you where hidden stuff is because it is a magical stick that runs on magical water!
It's a dowsing rod. Enjoy.
ummm thanks but back to the problem of criminals. I saw some team plasma grunts in pinwheel forest earlier, lots of them.
Lots? that sounds dangerous... Okay here's the plan!Tim! You and Burgh go check Pinwheel forest, I will go in the exact opposite direction in case they have gone that way instead.
Errr... me and Bianca will stay here... to guard the museum, in casr they come back or something.
Do I get a say in all this
(For curious readers the answer turned out to be no)
Right then... Looks like its you and me then Burgh. Ready to go fight some terrorists?
Dude... Have you ever noticed how big your hands are? I mean like, the closer they are to you, the bigger they get.... Woahhhh
....Brilliant

End of Part4

[Gruffard]

Fun so far,

Can I request you using the spoiler thing to cover your story so you do not have to scroll as far for future episodes.

[ThePhantom]

I warned you. Lenora is tough.

[Jair Barik]

Not as tough as people seemed to be hyping her up to be. The way people had talked I was expecting multiple KOs but a decent party not following Nuzlocke rules would easily take her no problem, especially with two fighting types available in the immediate area plus a rock type from the cave.

So far I think my catches have been pretty bad. 'Lucky' as I was to catch two rares neither of them seem that great (Drilbur is pretty underwhelming to be honest) and Pidove certainly wouldn't have been my first choice. Woobat the thing from the dreamyard both appear to be psychics so I have missed out there and I failed to catch either of the fighting types or the awesome tadpole critter. Blitzle is very good but my capture for the forest is incredibly bad all things considered. Checking the areas for various things the forest appears to be home to all three monkeys (fire monkey? yes please) some bugs and plants. What did I catch? Well wait till the next update but I promise you this, I doubt it will ever see the light of day.

[Mando Knight]

(Drilbur is pretty underwhelming to be honest)

Drilbur is so-so. Excadrill, its evolution, rewrote the book on "Sandstorm Sweeper." Particularly the Sand Rush 'drill. It's a little thing I'd call... Spiral Power. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0tqGjdGYCM&t=14m42s)

[Gaelbert]

Drilbur is so-so. Excadrill, its evolution, rewrote the book on "Sandstorm Sweeper." Particularly the Sand Rush 'drill. It's a little thing I'd call... Spiral Power. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0tqGjdGYCM&t=14m42s)

Don't watch that clip if you haven't seen the entire series. It will spoil a lot for you. Awesome clip, though.

[Jair Barik]

I have unfortunately just broken one of the rules of this lets play :smallfrown:.
Don't worry though it was for a very good reason! Shinies don't come around every day you know and I won't let them escape no matter how rubbish they are! :smallamused:

Next update will cover the next gym and go all the way up to gym 4 (wasn't much to do before gym 3 that was really of any interest). I haven't beaten many of the trainers bewteen gyms 3 and 4 so that I have something to train my team against after it is picked because I have a lot of new dudes to pick from. Plus... name rater! So now you guys can have a say in naming them!

[FantasyFoxMan]

Ha. I love Burgh's personality in this. :smallamused:

[Jair Barik]

Yeah....in retrospect had I know what his actual character was like I would have made him ludicrously camp.

[Jair Barik]

Part 5. Bug Pokemon bad. Bug/Grass are worse.

Okay then where didwe leave off....
You, the Knights Templar, the hippy and the forest
Right thank you. Ehehm.
So entering the forest it seemed the team plasma road blockade had moved.
Right... so there's two paths through the forest into Castelia city right? The road that goes straight through it really quickly and with no real danger... and the forest path that curves round in a needlessly complicated manner and is rife with bug pokemon and trainers... So obviously team plasma will have-
We should totally like, split up and stuff.
Ummm I know your a gym leader but here's a thought... why don't we not do that? I mean if for some strange reason team plasma decided to take the forest route we can just head them off where it reconnects with the road.
Nah I like my idea better man... I think I'll like chill at the end of the road, see if any of them come that way, and you can like go through the forest and see if any of them are hiding in there and stuff.
Gym leaders are hired purely on their ability to battle pokemon right? There isn't some minimum level of intelligence required for the job is there?
Dude all I know is that bug pokemon smell reall good. Like really, really good.
Let's take that as a no then.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pinwheel1.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pinwheel3.jpg
Meet team plasma grunt no.1! He had a single pokemon. It wasn't evolved and guess what it was! If you said Patrat give yourself a round of applause! The guy in red was a pokemon ranger. When he isn't spending his time drawing circles in the ground around wild pokemon he harasses random passers by with his Herdier. There were another three rangers who used the three monkey type pokemon and a few kids, plus Plasma grunt no.2, grunt.no1's marginal superior. Easy pickings.
With the sad loss of Dogface I was in need of a replacement for him. Now what did Pinwheel forest have to offer...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/sewaddle.jpg
Say hi to Sewaddle! Sewaddle is a grass/bug type. Truly proof that grass/poison isn't as dreadful as it sounds! Thankfully despite meeting several of these little guys he wasn't the first thing I met. Remember Venipede from earlier? The awesome looking bug/poison type? I didn't catch him either! No, joy of joys I got to catch none other than a Petlil hereafter nicknamed 'A Shrubbery'. Now despite being incredibly annoying to fight Petlil is actually even more worthless than the other critters in this forest as it is effectively Just V with dreadful stats! Yay! Welcome to the team valiant.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pinwheel2.jpg
After training Valiant up some more we finally located the last member of Team Plasma.
Okay dude, hand over the skull.
What skull, I don't have any skull!
Look that thing is pretty hard to conceal, admittedly you are doing an admirable job but you aint fooling anybody
Okay fine, but I still have one trick left up my sleeve. I'm going to-
Challenge me to a pokemon battle?
Wrong! I'm going to challenge you to a pokemon-....Oh you are so dead.
Turns out this was not to be the case.
But...how?
This may just be speculation but how about in the future you carry six pokemon around with you?! Seriously...
What is this delay?

At this point one of the old guys frome earlier turned up. No not the same one as before, despite appearing near identical he claimed he was not the same guy I met back in something something town.

You may have beaten this lowly grunt but you are no match for the true strength of team plasma!
Oh yeah? Bring it! So far every lacky I have fought has been a cakewalk, put your money where your mouth is old man!
How dare you take that tone with me! This is on! On like donkey kong!
Dude...what's going on?
At this point Burgh came to check what was happening (don't ask me how, the direction he came from was blocked off by a ledge).
Gasp! A smelly hippy! My one weakness... But...but how did you know! You win this round Trainer with red cap, but know this! Team Plasma will not go quietly into the night! Ninja Vanish!
And vanish they did. Thankfully they left the skull.
Dude....That is some awesome smelling ninja smoke. Listen. If you like want to, get the insect badge come fight me at Castelia city. My gym, it has art and stuff, and like walls made out of honey. It is sooo hedonistic man.
Ummm earlier when I was looking around with this dowsing rod I found some tiny mushrooms. You wouldn't happen to know anything about those would you?
Woahhh.

Ahem...
After returning the skull to its rightful owner it was time to head to Castelia city. But the team had changed a bit since entering the forest. Nah don't worry, nobody died. But two members did 'evolve'.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/tranquill.jpg
This is the new and improved Valiant. Having gone down the path of enlightenment, he is now feeling pretty....
Tranquill
:smallcool:
YEEEEAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
ahem...
Also...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/liepard.jpg
Nepeta evolved into Persian Purugly Liepard.

Now! On to the longest bridge in any pokemon game ever!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/bridge.jpg
yep. That sure is one long bridge.
Walking along it was pretty I guess but there was a distinct lack of random people trying to goad me into fights.

The city itself was pretty big.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/city.jpg
A few things of note.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/casteliacity.jpg
This guy wanted me to help him form a dance group. This of course entailed battling him and two similarly dressed loons, each of them once again using those stupid monkey critters!
Speaking of monkey critters...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/simipour.jpg
Meet Simipour! Some guy down by the docks gave me a waterstone to use on Brass and this was the result. Turns out Brass is now actually half competent in a fight (yay).
There was also an office building consisting of businessmen+a janitor who claimed to be the manager. Turns out the business revolves around fighting people in pokemon battles (I kid you not).
Also there was a survey office where I was asked many awkward personal questions and some other buildings including a nme raters and some free TM's.
With this all done I headed north to catch a new critter before taking on the gym leader.... or I would have done if the road wasn't blocked for construction work. The area was covered in a sandstorm too so I stuck Kamina at the front of my team. Turns out he is awesome in these conditions. Wandering around some desert to the left of the road block he trounced a load of trainers, learnt dig, and caight me this little guy
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/sandile.jpg
Meet Tick Tock. The ground dark sand crocodile.

Whelp. That all done, nothing left to do but the gym I guess....
Tim!
...No
hey there! I just beet Burgh the gym leader!
And now you want to fight me right?
Nah, I'm heading north to fight the next gym leader.
Oh...okay. In that case I guess there is nothing preventing me fighting this guy uneventfully then right?
Guess not! Smell ya later!

Suddenly plot!
Dude! I would like... love to fight you and stuff but I hear team plasma are at the docks, thought I might check it out and stuff.

well sitting around waiting for him to come back wasn't going to accomplish anything so I tagged along. Hey is that Bianca? And... a girl I have never met before.
Bwaaaaa!!!! They took my Munna! They took mr Awesome sleepy pig! It is sooooo unfair!
Woah... what happenned? Calm down man!
It was team Plasma! They took Bianca's Munna! Burgh, you and Tim go look for them, I'll keep an eye on Bianca!
Okay then little dude. You wait here. Burgh is gonna go lick frogs and kick ass, and I'm all out of frogs.
Sniffle...
What are you waiting for Tim! Go follow him! Team Plasma can't have gotten far!
Okay okay! But first may I just say one thing?
Okay fine... what is it?
Who the hell are you, why is everyone acting as if we have all known you for some time and how on earth do you know my name!?

Still waiting on that answer FYI...

Tracking Team Plasma was real hard. Guess what? Turns out they were hiding in the single building that was completely unoccupied when I checked the town earlier, truly their intellect knows no bounds!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/casteliaplasma.jpg
Burgh ran in to take them on. And then Bianca and the other girl showed up.
Weren't you waiting at the docks?
Waiting sucks. Lets go in there and help Burgh!
Okay Iris...
Iris! Thank you!

As we entered the building there were about three grunts and three of the older sage guys ready to take on Burgh.
You may defeat me smelly hippy but my fellow sages are not powerless against you! Only I suffer this fatal flaw!
Gasp! A girl with purple hair! I am undone!
And someone wearing a green beret! But how could you know!
You have got to be kidding me...
You win this round... We will surrender the Munna back to its trainer without a fight. On one condition though! Tell me.... How did you find us?
Your secret lair. Is an unlocked building. Guarded by several Plasma grunts. Directly. Opposite. The gym you idiots!!!
So... a lucky break then? Well you shall not be so lucky next time! Ninja vanish!

That was certainly.... anticlimactic.
Whelp, on to the gym.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/gym3honey.jpg
Huh. He wasn't kidding about the honey after all.
The gym was full of clowns, and not scary clowns for that matter, just really weak patheric ones.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/gym3.jpg
Gotta hand it to the man, Burgh sure knows how to make a gym gaudy.
Okay Burgh, lets do this.
Dude... yeah.

I opened with the new and improved Kamina. He opened with this thing.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/whirlipede.jpg
Meet whirlipede, presumably Venipede's evolved form. It looked tough and had buckets of hp, heck Burgh even used a hyper potion on it. But it turns out it had one weakness he hadn't anticipated. Dig spam.
With him out the way he sent out Leavanny
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/leavanny.jpg
Presumably the evolved form of Sewaddle (checking the pokedex afterwards implied it was the third stage evolution).
Well I can recognise a fight I'm not likely to win when I see one so Kamina returned and I sent out Valiant. Leavanny used razor leaf to little effect! After that it was all a matter of throwing flying move after flying move at that thing and laughting at its horrible typing.
Finally he sent out his last team member. Dwebble.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/dwebble.jpg
What is that thing? Bug water perhaps? Well only one way to find out... oh no! It used rock throw and killed Valiant in a single hit! What are the odds!
Well that is what would have likely happenned if I hadn;t already met one of this things in a battle in the desert route. So rather than let valiant get squished by the rock/bug abomination I switched out to Brass. Say it with me guys. Water. Gun. Dwebble went down after a single hit. Easiest gym yet.
Badge and TM Burgh
Dude....

The TM sucked.
Leaving the gym I got a call from Bianca for a rematch at the city exit. Not one to disappointe I obliged, hey perhaps she'd evolved her starter by now.
My hunch was correct.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/dewott.jpg
Meet dewott.
Certainly the strongest of her team but that wasn't saying much. Munna, Pansear and Herdier were easy pickings.
Next up on the road was Cheren (big surprise)
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/cheren2.jpg
What's the matter? Next gym too tough for you?
N-No... I just thought I'd fight you first, can't always be about beating the regional champs can it?
Sureeee
Cheren's team was pretty awful to be honest. Liepard, Pansage, Pidove and Pignite
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/pignite.jpg
It took all of one of my guys to wipe them all out. That is coreect. Kamina is so awesome he managed to wipe the entire team single handed. Even Pansage. He is that awesome.

But...but...
What's the matter Cheren? How many of your team do you think it would take to KO a single one of mine?
This. Isn't. Over.
Didn't say it was

Getting to Nimbasa city was pretty easy after that.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/nimbasacity.jpg
I won't bore you with the details of my time there yet but I did catch some new team members to train up.

From the desert we got...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/scraggy.jpg
Scraggy, the fighting dark type.
And
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/sigilyph.jpg
Sigilyph the flying psychic (and a pain to catch he was too).

From the surrounding routes and forests we picked up
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/minccino.jpg
Minccino, the same critter the prof had, it is a normal type chinchilla pokemon.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/solosis.jpg
Solosis, the psychic blob pokemon...thing.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/swadloon.jpg
Swadloon the second stage of the leavanny chain (grass/bug suckitude!)
Also a second Petlil! but this one was shiny! Sooooo shiny.....
End of Part5

So? Who do we train up and what nicknames do we give?
we have...
-Audino lvl11 normal type
-Sandile lvl17 Ground/Dark
-Scraggy lvl20 Fighting/Dark
-Petlil one at lvl15, one at 21 mono grass
-Sigilyph lvl20, psychic/flying
-Minccino lvl19 normal type
-Solosis lvl19 Psychic type
-Swadloon lvl20 bug/grass (evolved)

and my current team
-Blitzle lvl21 Electric
-Simipour lvl22 Water (evolved)
-Servine lvl24 Grass (evolved starter)
-Liepard lvl21 dark (evolved)
-Tranquill lvl 22 Normal/Flying (evolved)
-Driblur lvl25 Ground

[AtlanteanTroll]

Shouldn't have evolved Panpour. He wont learn any new moves now.

[Lord Loss]

Here's the team I'd use:

Valiant, because he is a hardcore boss,
Servine
Liepard
Sigilyph
Mincinno, please, please name him Totoro.
Scraggy

Not sure how optimized the team is, but they're all either cute or awesome, so w/e

[Jair Barik]

I know he won't learn any new moves now but having had a quick check as to what he would learn I didn't really see anything that took my fancy compared to TM's/HM's.

Not sure about the team your recommending Loss. It gives me two dark types, two flying types and two normal types so a fair bit of redundancy.

Liepard has been okay but overall hasn't been doing anything amazing.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Liepard has been okay but overall hasn't been doing anything amazing.

You'gre going to want to dump him for... Actually Scraggy is a very good Pokemon.

[Jair Barik]

That was my thoughts. In the single battle against another trainers Scraggy and in the process of catching him I was surprisingly impressed by how competent he was (considering how ridiculous he looks).

Drilbur has proved pretty handy too. His claw sharpening move is useful against trainers who use healing items/protect at predictable intervals, plus his immunity in the sandstorm areas is quite handy.

[AtlanteanTroll]

That was my thoughts. In the single battle against another trainers Scraggy and in the process of catching him I was surprisingly impressed by how competent he was (considering how ridiculous he looks).

Drilbur has proved pretty handy too. His claw sharpening move is useful against trainers who use healing items/protect at predictable intervals, plus his immunity in the sandstorm areas is quite handy.

Well I had both an Excadrill and Scrafty on ,y team when I beat the E4, so I have a tiny bit of a bias.

[ThePhantom]

This is what I recomend. You have a number of tough fights to go through. Just be careful. The first idea is not always the best.

-Solosis lvl19 Psychic type
-Blitzle lvl21 Electric
-Servine lvl24 Grass (evolved starter)
-Liepard lvl21 dark (evolved)
-Tranquill lvl 22 Normal/Flying (evolved)
-Driblur lvl25 Ground

[FantasyFoxMan]

Personally, I'd go with Servine, Tranquill, Drillbur, Scraggy, Sigilyph and Minccino.

Name the Scraggy Pants. :smallbiggrin:

[Jair Barik]

Servine is a given.
Drillbur will definitely be staying too.
I am a bit wary about taking both Trabquill and Sigilyph as the next gym leader is an electric specialist (this is part of my reasoning behind keeping Drillbur with the team).

[billtodamax]

If it hasn't changed from the previous games, electric pokemon can do precisely nothing against ground pokemon. Drillbur will sweep the gym.

[Jair Barik]

True enough but I can't be certain they don't know non electric moves.
By Blitzen knows a fire attack for example that makes him good against grass types and all sorts of things can learn fighting type moves.

Also NEW DECISION
Cover Fossil
or
Plume Fossil

[Forum Explorer]

go with cover fossil. It sounds much more awesome then plume

[AtlanteanTroll]

Cover. I've regretted Plume for a long time.

[Caustic Soda]

Cover. Plume fossil gets you a 'mon with a defeatist attitude.

[ThePhantom]

I say cover fossil.

[Lord Loss]

Plume. Because it sounds cooler.

[billtodamax]

Plume for probably a grass type.

They're pretty good, right?

And yeah, you can usually scout out any pokemon with that move easily enough. Switching right after you send Drillbur in would work if you're that concerned, but he sounds pretty tanky to me.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Plume for probably a grass type.
Rock / Flying. No. If you have a Wtaer type, you will never need a Grass type this gen.

[Lord Loss]

I assumed Plume was flying cause a plume of smoke rises through the air from a volcano (and Plume is french for Feather but I don't think that was the meaning).

C'mon guys, fliers rock!

[Terry576]

I chose Plume. It's good as long as you get him to L32+ fast, so he gets Acrobatics and can slaughter every opponent in a few seconds.

I hope you get an Axew. That would be unfairly epic.

[Jair Barik]

Part 6. Luke, I'm not your father but have a plot twist anyway

So. Nimbasa city.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/nimbasacity.jpg
Upon entering this place I immediately met some Team Plasma goons harrassing an old man. The old man from the day care centre to be precise.
Hey! Stop that! or....something....
When did you suddenly decide to act like a hero?
Shortly after realising that the threat of physical violence is something these loons seem completely ignorant of.
Ah
Oh thank heavens! Save me from these men! i am old and feeble and one of them kicked me in the hip!
hey! That is a filthy lie and you know it! For once I didn't kick anything!
I'm afraid I'm going to have to listen to the old man here guys, now shall we do this the easy way or the hard way?
How about we do things... the pokemon way!
Two very short battles ensued. Seriously. These guys are still insisting on using incredibly basic critters, its almost embarassing watching them fight really.
Curse our sudden yet inevitable defeat!
Looks like we're done for Steve!
Wait! What if we hide in the old abandoned amusement park!
Okay...first of all it isn't abandoned, secondly hiding really doesn't work if you say where you plan on hiding right in front of the guy you are HIDING FROM!
Okay...okay...lets go hide somewhere...that isn't the amusement park, wink, wink.
Did...did you just say wink instead of winking?
Yeah...think about that for a minute would you
They then proceeded to scarper in a direction that looked as though it was roughly towards the amusement park. Hmmmm where could they possibly be hiding?
Thank you for saving me! Here, have this bike. I am much too old to really use it and lately I keep fallig off of it. hahaha!
I'm starting to think the plasma grunts didn't hurt this guy after all...

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/nimbasa.jpg
A quick whistle stop tour of Nimbasa by bike later and it seems this is a hub of trainer activity. Two sports arenas for trainers, a train station for trainers to... train on.
You are a bad person and terrible things should happen to you
Shut up. And also a trainer arena thingy. Keeping out of the park for now I had a peek inside the pokemon musical arena with Bianca and dressed Kamina up in a silly arrangement of clothes. Styling!
Leaving the arena though I once again saw Bianca in an argument with her father.
But I wanna be a trainer!
Now listen here young lady. No daughter of mine is running off around the world when it is full of dangerous people and monsters!
But daaaaaad!!!
No means no! Your coming home with me!
At this point some sort of human stick insect appeared.
Who are you?
That's Elesa dad! She's a supermodel and the gym leader here at Nimbasa!
.....
Gym leader? Well that doesn't change anything. my daughter isn't going to become a trainer!
.... ...... ......
Well that may be but there are lots of points against such a way of thinking!
.... .......
Well fair enough but ultimately a culture cannot be based entirely off of legalised weasel fighting!
....
Now don't go bringing the economy into this!
........
Well I never thought of it like that....
......
Okay I get the point. Bianca in a complete change of character I am completely alright with you being a trainer!
Yay! And it's all thanks to supermodels! IS there anything they can't do?

I honestly have no idea what happenned there.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/route5.jpg

Looking around I found some more pokemon in the surrounding areas. Still haven't got round to naming them yet though. Unfortunately the routes to the next cities were blocked off...
Well, coming to Nimbasa I heard something about a desert resort. Lets go check that out then.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/reliccastle2.jpg
When they said 'resort' this isn't really what I had in mind...
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/desert.jpg
Kamina continues to prove his worth by kicking butt left right and centre with Scraggy and Sigilyph proving to be valuable members of the team.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/reliccastle1.jpg
Unfortunately it turned out that the castle in the middle of the desert was still under excavation and I couldn't get any further than this. I did however meet this little guy
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/Yamask.jpg
and the nice lady to my left in that previous pic gave me something called a Cover Fossil!
Remembering someone mentioning fossils a few towns back it was time to do some back tracking.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/tirtouga.jpg
Meet Leonardo! Raised from the dead by science! Science! Is there anything it can't do?
On my way back to Nimbasa I noticed that an area of forest previously blocked off by a crotchety old man who was warning me about tough critters in the ground was no longer barred. Dude wasn't kidding. Compared to the other mons in the forest these ones were evolved, mostly Whirlipedes, Tranquils and Swadloons, often attacking in pairs.

Well... with nowhere left to go really lets head to the amusement park.
Hello Tim...
Huh? Oh hi...ummmm M
N actually.
Oh right, yeah
I assume you are looking for Team Plasma? Follow me, I think they headed for the ferriswheel.
Actually I cam here looking for the gymleader. Team plasma ran off into here, what? Three days ago? I doubt they are still here.
Follow me
I really rather wouldn't. The last ferriswheel I came across... it didn't end well.
What?
Have you ever been chased around a park by a killer ferris wheel?
....shut up and follow me

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/ferriswheel.jpg

And then we got on the ferriswheel....

Okay... what is this about?
Tim, I am the King of Team Plasma
Okay but I really don't see what that has to do with-wait what?
It's true.
Okay...wow. Ummm you realise what you are doing is evil right? You will probably get arrested for this.
What do you want me to do? Be reasonable. You don't expect me to give myself up...'It's a far, far better thing that I do.' The old limelight. The fall of the curtain. Oh, Tim, you and I aren't heroes. The world doesn't make any heroes outside of your stories.
Okay you've lost me. What stories? Also think of the victims of what your doing! You steal from people!
Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you 20,000 Pokémon Dollars for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money? Or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man, free of income tax. The only way you can save money nowadays.
Seriously? What are you talking about?
At this point the ferrishwheel had gone full circle and we were back at the ground.
In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed-
Seriously? What are you talking about? Those aren't the names of Countries or anything! What are you talking about!
Lord N! There you are! That kid beat us and we've been hiding here ever since. What should we do?
Run. I will deal with Tim. You leave this place
Ummm okay.
Tim. I can abide theft. I support rebellion. I have no trouble with defeating the gym leaders and the elite 4 to take over this land. But the one thing. The one thing I cannot abide. Is people. Interrupting. Me. While I'm monologuing. Prepare yourself!

Battle time!
I opened with Scraggy, he opened with Sandile.
So, dark ground type v a Dark fighting type? He really didn't stand a chance. Brick break for the 1 hit KO with the net benefit of Scraggy boosting himself from having so much Moxy.
He then switched out to his own Scraggy but mine was faster and another brick break saw me sitting on two attack boosts for little damage in return.
Now he sent out Sigilyph....
Problematic.
Now his psychic moves can't touch me but from personal experience I know it likely knows air cutter by now...
That said Scraggy is slow and still has a lot of hp. So I risk it.
As expected he gets me with an air cutter but Scraggy just about survives. In return he hits it with payback. yeah. Scraggys naturally high attack, plus two boosts, plus super effective, plus it being a 100power move... Sigiyph wasn't standing after that hit.
Now for the final member of N's team
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/darumaka.jpg
I have met this little dude in the desert before. He knows fire punch and can pack quite the punch. So all things considered time to beat a hasty retreat. Scraggy return! Go Brass!
As expected things didn't last long after that.
Well played. But you haven't seen the last of me, not by a long shot.

Okay then. That dealt with time to heal up and go for the gym.
Gym was a simple affair again. Pretty linear but I had to hop about it via a network of rollercoasters. Electric types didn't trouble V in the slightest, meer speed bumps really. However there was a startling number of these little guys.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/emolga.jpg
Meet Emolga. The Electric flying type. Annoying little critters that have Static and a ground immunity. Whose betting Elesa has one? Thankfully they didn't know any flying moves so V mopped them up with leech seed.
I wasn't taking any chances against the leader though and put Kamina up front.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/gym4.jpg

Seriously. She is like, half the width of every other sprite in this game!(head excluded)
Okay then! Ready to battle?
....
had a feeling you'd say that!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/elesa.jpg
I opened with Kamina (duh) she opened with a Emolga (rats). So... opening gambit time! Rock tomb! As expected though Emolga is faster than my little mole and I suffer an air cutter to the face.
Ouch.
Still, it looks like Kamina will be able to survive two of those to the face before he needs healing.
Unfortunately Emolga proved capable of surviving rock tomb as well. That is...annoying.
New plan!
Elesa healed her critter up after a second hit at which point I began operation item spam!
Drillbur kept sharpening his claws to boost attack and accuracy with me healing him whenever necessary. She kept air cuttering away using quick attack when it looked like kamina was about to drop. After a little of this her Emolga suffered a 1 hit KO from rock tomb.
Round 2!
Emolga.
Youv'e got to be kidding me... Looks like somebody hates grass types.
I hit KO from rock tomb though so all is good.
Suddenly Zebras!
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc97/dragonhunter55/zebrastrike.jpg
zebrastrike to be more specific.
More healing. He hits me with flamey hurtiness. Ouch.
I dig.
And another 1 hit Ko.
And that is how you fight an electric gym leader without either team ever using a single electric type attack.

...
Thanks
For my troubles I got another badge and a TM of Volt Switch, that in the grand tradition of gym leader TM's being uutterly useless for me none of my team could actually learn it.
yay
End of Part 6
So... ideas for nicknames anyone?

[Forum Explorer]

The turtle should be named Theodore. I don't really know why.

[Domochevsky]

Some of these spirit 'mons used to be human? :smalleek:

[Xondoure]

Some of these spirit 'mons used to be human? :smalleek:

I was under the impression that all ghost mons were well, ghosts. Although I think some used to be other pokemon.