UPDATE 20: Riley Isn’t Invited To My Birthday Party
Oh! I didn’t see you come in. Actually that’s a lie, my network of 4k cameras and occupancy sensors doesn’t miss anything . But let’s keep rolling.
Welcome to scenic Iron Island. A tiny speck of rock in the (presumably cold (because Sinnoh’s deal is it’s Cold and Ancient)) ocean that somehow has a mine on it.
Anyone ever find a seed in Minecraft that starts on an island? I’m not ruling it out.
And as we ascend up the stairs, someone in a stylish hat is there!
Careful, I just heard the fourth wall creaking.
And now, if I so chose I could just turn around and walk away since there’s nothing really in the caves for me except free experience.
But it’s for me, and it’s free.
I bet it smells lovely down here. I’m sure the slowly rusting barrels add a wonderful layer to the aroma.
The usual partnering rules apply: All wild Pokemon battles and most trainer battles are going to be doubles, and you’ll get a free full heal after each battle.
Riley uses a Lucario because it’s not enough that it’s the ace of a Gym Leader, Gamefreak wanted to make sure that you saw the Pushed Mascot Pokemon.
“Didn’t you say you came here to train?”
Riley’s smile turned fixed as he slowly nodded. “I… haven’t had a lot to do lately.”
And yet all the barrels got left behind. They’re red barrels in a video game, so are they explosive? I don’t think Pokemon has confirmed that all red barrels are explosive. If they’re not full of explosion, what do you think is inside them?
“Oh no Roark specializes in Rock types.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Spamigo had a look of deep concentration on his face for a few moments as he mulled over what Riley said. Hesitantly, he ask, “But wouldn’t Lucario be a good pick to fight a Steel-type because it’s Fighting-type?”
Riley stopped. “I meant metaphorically.”
While slogging through the endless random battles, this happened:
At level 37 Anomalo was set to learn his first Bug-type move. And it’s Fury Cutter . This is why that detour to get X-Scissor was so important.
Alright, so I started a battle with two Ace Trainers, who send out this Staraptor/Medicham team. I don’t screenshot their dialog, or the first turn, but here’s what happened: Medicham and Staraptor dog-piled Riley’s Lucario and knocked it out almost immediately. It turns out Lucario really doesn’t like taking a High Jump Kick to the chin.
After withdrawing his fainted Lucario, Riley stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest, not seemed to notice Spamigo’s worried expression. “Aren’t… Don’t you have another Pokemon?”
“I find it’s more effective to train with one Pokemon at a-”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T BRING ANOTHER POKEMON?!”
Now I’m panicking! In between the screaming internally and the shaking my fist at Riley and telling him he’s never allowed to partner up with me again, I remember that I do have a spread move I can try to cheese things with.
Extremely luckily for me Reina did not eat a Hi Jump Kick+Close Combat turn and get wombo combo’d out of existence.
Thankfully the challenge was front-loaded in this Randomly Difficult Trainer Battle.
And that’s why Riley isn’t invited to my birthday party.
Ah yes, Galactic Grunts! Probably the source of these troubles. We’ll just-
ahem
We’ll just deal with them now.
I’d take you more seriously if you didn’t just almost lose me the last battle, Riley.
In contrast this isn’t even worth showing. Anomalo uses Swords Dance and then it and Lucario go to town, stop for lunch, do some leisurely shopping, and make their way back home.
The Grunts run away after losing, like Grunts do.
I think I went home to deposit someone and pick up this Egg. It’s a Riolu egg. Technically speaking there’s nothing in the rules that say I couldn’t hatch it and the Togepi egg to keep them around for moral support.
If you have a good nickname for a Riolu and/or Togepi to be our mascot/tagalong kid share it in the thread!
I do take care on the way out, but I stand by what I said before about the invitation. The real reason I take care on the way out is that Anomalo is very close to level 40, which means he’s very close to…
Evolving!
I’ve always been a little torn on Armaldo’s design. On the one hand, something about the proportions (namely the big trunk and stumpy straight legs) scream classic Godzilla movie to me, and I like that.
On the other hand, Anorith hews very closely to the design of Anomalocaris and hearkens back to the oddities of form in the Cambrian era, a period which has always fascinated me. Losing the compound eyes and radial mouth and making it more conventional both adds something to the design and takes something away for me.
But you know what I don’t feel torn about?
These stat gains!
He’s lost 20 Speed, so the era of Anomalo randomly being faster than some Pokemon is likely over. But at minimum he’s gained 25 points everywhere, with a whopping 42 added to his Defense. This is the point where I’d say that Anomalo has truly come into his own and man am I glad for it.
NEXT TIME: Uncharted waters.
This is actually a very special update! Like I mentioned into the OP, I was originally posting this on another forum that has since been sadly closed. Up until now it’s been all my old material and screenshots. But this update covers the last time that I played before putting this on hiatus as I didn’t have a place to post.
Going forward it’ll be all new material. I’m excited for you to join me! Who knows what will happen?! I mean, it’ll be Pokemon Platinum. I’m not dropping this thread to start LPing Magical Starsign or Infinite Space, be as they may DS JRPGs I remember fondly. But I have no more advance knowledge of how things will go than you do.
Also, if you have any suggestions to make, NOW! IS! THE! TIME!