UPDATE 30: Next Steps
Hello! Last time, we wrapped up a whole bushel of plot. A bumper crop of plot. You think you’ve seen a fresh plot before but this is the tiny farmer’s market with the plot so good you think the old farmer sold his soul to the devil for the ability to grow perfect tomatoes.
What I’m getting at is the last few updates were relatively important in the grand scheme of things.
Remember way on way back when Rowan made Spamigo promise not to reckless endanger himself? For some reason after the dimension hopping it seems like an especially long time. Although maybe Spamigo endangered himself but not recklessly and thus fulfilled the obligation of the geas in an overly technical way.
Probably should go inside instead of putting this off further.
It seemed like so long ago that Spamigo had walked through these doors, and the last thing that he had expected to happen then was that Rowan would give him five more Pokemon after he’d already let him take care of Mina. Finally, something had come along that was even less expected than what had happened that fateful day.
Namely, that he would not get two steps in before Rowan pulled him into a bear hug that smelled faintly of aftershave. “You’ve- You’ve really done it! You’ve left me speechless! In all my sixty long years I’ve never seen such a show!”
In comparison to the Professor’s exuberance, Dawn seemed timid and almost sheepish as she stepped over too. “The Professor was really worried, calling everyone he knew. Uhm… I’m really glad you’re safe, Spamigo.”
Spamigo stepped back once he was released, a little embarrassed by the display. “Is… Is that how Cynthia found me?”
“Yes!” Neither Rowan’s excitement or his volume had faded. “When- When we found Barry after the lake I contacted Cynthia and told her everything. She said she had an idea where to go. I’m so glad that she found you! Please, come in, I want to hear everything!”
Rowan ushered Spamigo into a sitting area and started an electric kettle to make some tea. Spamigo didn’t drink tea, but this didn’t seem like the time to mention it. He did tell them everything. About the speech that Cyrus gave, about freeing Mespirit and the other lake Pokemon, and about climbing Mt. Coronet. He tried to tell them about Giratina and the distortion realm, but even as he spoke he wasn’t sure his words could accurately convey what it was he saw in the Distortion World. Trying to say what had happened made him almost not believe what he’d seen.
Rowan and Dawn were quiet listeners. Rowan out of interest and consideration, Dawn from some mix of awe and horror. Rowan asked only a few polite questions when Spamigo paused, mostly about the legendary Pokemon he had seen. A few about Cyrus. Spamigo didn’t really want to go into more detail about that then he had to.
Although he didn’t drink tea, by the time he was finished there was only a thin puddle of cold liquid in the bottom of his mug.
Dawn was the one that broke the silence first with a question: “So… what are you going to do now?”
The only answer Spamigo had was a shrug. So Rowan cleared his throat and made a suggestion.
"All you’ve done so far, earning seven badges, defeating Team Galactic… I see no reason you shouldn’t get your eighth badge from Sunyshore and challenge the Pokemon league. You’ve more than earned a rest. I believe you could do it.
“But,” he said as he got up to gather everyone’s mugs, “Your journey is your own.”
So he stopped home for a quick rest.
And then started on the road to Sunyshore. There used to be a guy here saying that you couldn’t go to the town because of a blackout that’s lasted… half the game so far.
Ultimately Route 222 is extremely short. Compared to how winding previous routes were, this is almost a straight shot with almost no required Trainer battles. Really just seems like Game Freak’s ready for you to get to the end too.
Looks directly at the first half of 2020 Huh… Yeah.
In my head Flint sounds like the kind of person that ends every sentence in bro.
Anyway, Flint wants us to fight Volkner because everyone who’s been here to challenge the Gym has been lame and Volkner’s bored and spending all his time renovating the Gym.
How bored you have to be before getting involved in building renovation sounds more fun I don’t know. I’ve never been so out of it I thought “You know what let’s paint that wall and put in a floating shelf.” In the real world, at least. Sometimes I get board and start playing House Flipper.
Or does that mean I get so bored I turn to home renovation?
The first Gym was in a town that was famous for its still-active coal mine.
Do they mine the coal just to look at it?
NO IDEA DON’T KNOW WHERE HE IS NOW SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
Scenic Snorlax Rock.
Well that looks like a unique character sprite.
Perhaps… one day… Jasmine will face someone with “spam” worked awkwardly into their name.
After this, I decide to get everyone up to 48 before challenging the Gym.
Incidentally, I had to spend a lot of time trawling through decade-old forum posts to try to figure out exactly how Pokemon Platinum Action Replay codes worked to find something that would work without nuking my entire backpack and giving me 999 Dragon Scales or giving me 999 of every possible item or give me a level 100 Arceus with 999 stats.
70 power and a boosted crit chance vs. 80 power an a 20% chance to lower the target’s Defense. Since Sid doesn’t outspeed most things I suppose there’s an argument for Night Slash there. I stuck with Crunch because big numbers make me feel a little happier.
But also, if you know what the Dragon Scale means, you know what’s coming up!
It’s time for Reina to finally evolve! Now that we’re in the final stretch it seemed a fine time to let her be a Kingdra. Queendra? Time to let one of the best be even better.
If Kingrda actually learned any Physical Dragon-type moves at all maybe there would be a world where I give her Dragon Dance. But that’s not the world we live in.
NEXT TIME: I’ve done low-voltage electrical work for three years and all I still really know about electricity is I don’t wanna touch it.