Update 08: Walk On The Wooded Side
Welcome to scenic Eterna Forest! I always want to call it Eternia. I never even watched a He-Man in my life but I read it as Eternia for years.
In Eterna Forest is Cheryl, the first of the game’s NPC partners. You get a partner with a single Pokemon, all battles are double battles, your team gets fully healed after each battle because Cheryl has a Chansey, one of the designated nurse Pokemon.
Cheryl is afraid of Team Galactic, even though Zubats and Purrloins aren’t that much of a threat.
One thing that passed completely over my head until I was fact-checking myself was that time flowing funky in Eterna means that time-of-day evolutions don’t work.
It’s just a shame you probably won’t be coming back here for anything while you’re trying to evolve an Umbreon.
Anyway, it’s an Early Forest in a Pokemon Game. It’s full of Bugs, people talking about Bugs, people battling with Bugs, and random early Pokemon that seem forest-creature-y.
Here’s basically all you need to know about Cheryl’s Chansey:
One lone Buneary huddled and shivered, surrounded by craters. All the leaves had been blasted off a nearby bush, and there were missing chunks from the trees where stray Egg Bombs had hit. The Chansey screwed its face into an intense look of concentration as it readied another throw.
Spamigo just looked over to Cheryl. “You don’t say about that battling thing.”
Oh, also!
BEHOLD HER DEADLY
BIPEDAL WALKING
And that’s all you need to know about the forest.
I mean.
There weren’t any Team Galactic members in the forest.
Also I think Chansey could face-tank everything.
But we get a hold item out of it!
I don’t even remember what the Soothe Bell does.
Of course, now that we’re out of the forest there’s Galactic Grunts around. They just don’t like to pick random fights on city streets? Maybe Sinnoh’s got some Big Brother CCTV going on or something.
I dunno. I’m starting to think they might be evil? Maybe they just have very forceful personalities and stealing Pokemon and kidnapping people are just how things worked in their family growing up.
I’ve been working on a theory that-
Or Barry’s here and we’re roped into the plot.
Oh hey it’s that guy who’s not relevant to the plot in any way!
Weird how this game wants to make him a thing.
Please, I need all the help I can get with this team at this stage in the game.
And that’s exactly why I’m soon going to teach an 80% accurate TM to one of my Pokemon.
But I’ve also been thinking-
“Oh, it’s… It’s Spamigo.” Something about the blonde lady’s stare unnerved Spamigo. He had the feeling that no Galactic Grunts had ever tried to shake her down for her Pokemon.
She cocked her head a few degrees to the side. “Is there something wrong with your name?”
“No, just… It sounds like… Nevermind.”
She asks, even though this encounter happens when you’re walking away from the hill with the mysterious Pokemon statue (no spoilers about what it is please).
(it wasn’t on any box arts for previous games)
Even beneath her glare Spamigo couldn’t let out an internal scoff. Legendary Pokemon were legends, and if there was no Pokemon in the lake there was no weird spike monster with metal bits sticking out of it.
Look they were a little daring making the first HM not Cut. They’re not that daring. It’s second instead.
It wasn’t until she’d gone around the corner and Spamigo had finished with the polite waving that he realized he hadn’t mentioned Rowan at all. How many assistants had the professor had?
Any more interruptions? Bad guys in a Final Fantasy airship? Radio broadcasts? Wormholes? No? Alright.
…Well, I can’t figure out what they’re going for. Let’s ask this person in front of the doors!
“…Barry mentioned me?”
“I think so,” the Gym Leader nodded. “It was sort of hard to make out because he didn’t really leave spaces between his words, you know? I think he said something about his amigo following him. And your clay pot is cheating? I wasn’t clear on that.”
Wait.
We didn’t ask her what type she uses.