PART XXV: Chargestone Cave, Take Two
A girl worth fighting for! Po-ke-mon! [I must be swift as a coursing river!]
[With all the force of a great typhoon!]
[With all the strength of a raging fire!]
Mysterious as the dark side of-
Hang on, wait. What the hell Teddy, you're ruining our montage.
I am most certainly not! I was right on cue, pitch-perfect-
No, I mean you're dead weight, Teddy. Your moves suck, you don't have type advantage against anything, and you've been hogging that Lucky Egg just to keep pace with everyone else. Heck, even Himmler evolved into Unfezant- shouldn't you have evolved by now?
HEY! For one thing, Himmler is a lady Unfezant, you oaf! For another, my specialty in life was fisticuffs, and I can't help it that my new form lacks any kind of punching ability!
It's just, I dunno, Teddy. You've got great Defense, and I'm in no position to turn anyone away, but when the team fills out again... you need to shape up.
Hmph. Fine. Let's go train in the Cave, there should be less Normal types and Dark moves in there.
This is a fair point- while the rest of the team has been beating up on Tranquill and Swadloon in the tall grass just outside the cave, Teddy has been having trouble with the Normal/Grass Deerling that knows
Faint Attack, not to mention he can't hurt Tranquill short of
Curse, which also cuts half his HP. Unfortunately, braving the Cave also means braving the fugly Pokemon who lurk within.
Boldore, you've already seen- a spiky rock/spider thing. His face reminds me of a jack o' lantern, which in turn causes me to order Teddy to spam Will o' Wisp in an attempt to light it up. Apparently Boldore is the evolved form of Roggenrolla, a strange rock-shooty thing I had a shot at way back in Wellspring Cave. Depressingly, apparently
all Boldore have the Sturdy ability, meaning they can't be OHKO'd. This means that Urkel could have just beat him down to 1hp with a Brick Break, and I could have thrown any ball I wanted for an easy catch. Oh well, all part of the fun of a blind run.
Joltik is by far the most common Electric type in Chargestone Cave- heck, for most practical purposes he's the only Electric type you're likely to encounter. He's about as cute as a fuzzy blood-sucking insect can be, which is surprisingly adorable. Coupled with a reasonable color scheme, and Joltik joins the short list of Gen V Pokemon I actually
like. Aesthetically, anyway- I'm not that impressed with Joltik's combat utility. The signature move of the line is Electroweb, and isn't anything to write home about. Average power, chance to lower Speed. Moving on!
Remember when I said Joltik was the most common Electric-type in Chargestone Cave? Well, that's because for a cave crowded with crystals full of frigg'n
lightning, there are very few Electric types floating around. Instead, we get Steel types- Ferroseed and Klink. Ferroseed looks like some kind of iron pinecone... thing, or maybe one of those spiky ball things that show up in the Mario games. It also mixes spots and stripes, so there you go. The fellow on the right is
Colonel Klink, and is more dangerous than it appears. Then again, it would have to be bright pink and polka dot to appear
less dangerous- the startled expression and the large blue nose don't do it any favors. I'm really not sure why none of the gears in the entire species have a little "x" instead of a right eye- to be fair, with all the spinning they do I doubt they can see much anyway. That's probably why they miss so damn often.
These two guys are the most frequent encounters, which is quite unfortunate. The whole reason I've taken my training inside is to get Teddy up to speed, but the Steel type resists Ghost moves, and these guys can dish out enough punishment to Teddy to require healing every other encounter. Then again, Teddy has trouble with the Joltik and Boldore's too- it's a long, frustrating grind for him.
What's that, you say? Aren't there two more kinds of Pokemon in this cave? Well, yeah, but...
Okay, so the electric sperm on the left is Tynamo, and he's actually kinda cool. He's based on those neat bioelectric fish that live deep beneath the sea, he floats, and he's pure Electric, unlike that Joltik jerk. I can't comment on his usefulness in combat, however, because I only ran into two of them in the whole freaking cave. Tynamo is Rare with a capital "R" (although I suppose I didn't have to mention that since this is a written story, you can see that for yourself.) Even if I wanted one, the odds I'd encounter one on a Nuzlocke are pretty terrible.
Drilbur is the guy on the right, and I've already made a dumb "mole" joke with him in this LP, so I'll spare you that. I could talk about how his body looks like a gumdrop with a purple sash or how his expression makes him look like a hyper five-year-old, but after Vanillite he looks downright sexy. Besides, we saw his evolution in Clay's Gym, and it's pretty badass. No, the problem with Drilbur is that he is pretty hard to encounter- wander around Chargestone Cave long enough, and sooner or later you'll see a dust devil spring up. If you can walk to it without being interrupted by a random encounter, you might get a fancy rock, or you might encounter a Drilbur- same deal as Driftveil Drawbridge, really. Since I'm running this blind, I had no idea I might want to hold out for that option, so the chances of me catching Drilbur were slim. Honestly, though, I don't really want one- I already have a Ground type in Gustave the Krokorok, and Drilbur is even more of a glass cannon than he is. Powerful, but very likely to die quickly.
I get everyone up to a decent level before moving on- everyone except Teddy, that is. He's still a few levels below everyone else by the time I get sick of grinding with him- my other mons will have to pick up the slack in the trainer battles. The next few trainer's aren't nearly so exciting as the cave's welcoming comittee, only using somewhat more powerful versions of the mons I'm encountering in the wild. Moving on!
Hi there! Did you find something?*
Gah! You're pretty sneaky for a scientist.
I think we're just about done collecting data. This cave has been around since the distant past, but... Data to prove Klink existed more than a hundred years ago can't be found. So that must mean... Klink suddenly appeared a hundred years ago!*
I'm not entirely certain science works that way. Just because you haven't found data in the week you've been here doesn't mean it doesn't exist. What kind of data are you looking for, anyway? Fossils?
Where Pokemon come from and where they are going... If we can learn that, I believe we can get along even better!*
Are you even listening to me?
Know what Monk? Pokemon are mysterious.*
The inner workings of a toaster are mysterious to you.
I wonder why these amazing little guys stay by our sides?*
It probably has something to do with the fancy balls we use to pluck them out of their natural habitat and haul them around with us everywhere.
SNEAK ATTACK!
Ow! Lemmego! You're pinching my arm!
There are stairs going down ahead. Team Plasma is waiting for you there.*
If I could grab a Pokeball I'd murder the lot of you, ninja powers or no ninja powers!
The Shadow Triad escorts me across an impressively large bridge in the middle of the cavern. I'm not sure who thought it would be a good to run this route through an electricity-charged cave full of horrible monsters, but apparently they also thought it would be a good idea to invest a lot of time and money into building a bridge there.
Clay was probably mining for Mithril before he got into the glowy green rock biz However, it isn't Team Plasma that's waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs on the other side.
Nugget brothers give free nuggets! How did it get so golden without deep-frying? That's a trade secret!*
I- it's a rock! You can't deep fry a rock! I mean, I guess you could, but it wouldn't change color or anything.
Exactly! That's why nobody knows how these nuggets get so golden- nobody but us, anyhow! No matter how much you dig, you'll never get us to reveal the secret!
Look, can we just fight now?
Nuggetaboutit!*
[ENOUGH PUNS]
*Razor Shell* I'm sick of this cave. Let's get out of here.
You... you came here because somebody manipulated you.*
No, I'm here because it's the only way to the next town. Even though my bird can fly.
If you can win against me, I'll tell you a secret!
This better not be about how to cook rocks.
[Damn straight.]
*Razor Shell* Ghetsis of the Seven Sages supports our king, and Ghetsis has three subordinates... they are the Shadow Triad!*
That's not a secret at all! Not that I really expected you to tell me anything useful, but still.
If I win against you, release your Pokemon!*
If you win against me, all of my Pokemon will be
dead.
[Like I'd lose to a random Plasma grunt.]
*Razor Shell* Plasmaaa! I don't understand. Your Pokemon seem happy next to you.*
[...]
Pokemon living in Chargestone Cave are so beautiful. Because they are free from people.*
[Are you saying I'm not beautiful!?!]
*Brick Break* It's bad for ordinary Trainers like you to use Pokemon. It's good for us members of Team Plasma to use Pokemon!*
Stop talking before my IQ drops any further!
You... you are the Trainer that my lord N is worried about!*
Yeah, well, he should be.
We speak softly, and carry a big stick!
*Hex* Because they use Pokemon, people hold competitions to sort out the strong from the weak... Is this fair? Is this right? Are Pokemon just the Trainer's tools?*
Any pearls of wisdom to give him, Teddy?
Urg... I'm feeling... a bit...
[UUUUUAAARGGHLLLLLBLLBLBLLLL!]
...Teddy?
What is with this cave and nuggets? Holy crap, Teddy, your Defense went through the roof!
[SSSGGGRRRRUUGUUBLLLBL!]
...are you still in there, Teddy?
My
friends getting
hurt- that's what a Pokemon
battle is. Why? Is it impossible for me to
win while feeling bad about
being a Trainer? As if I
could pursue my ideals with something as
meaningless as a battle! As if that could make me
worthy to become friends with the legendary Pokemon!*
Violence is always the solution, you fool! If any of the Gym Leaders had the stomach for it, you wouldn't be here to talk right now!
Monk! Just a little further to Mistralton City!*
Bianca, I'm kinda in the middle of something here!
Bianca, you have good ears. I can't believe you heard Monk's voice from that far away.*
Monk's always been a loudmouth. He likes to hear himself talk.
I'm standing right here, you know.
Monk, who is this Trainer?*
Professor Juniper, what
are you thinking? You appear to have no
qualms about the relationship between Pokemon and
people. You put Pokemon into
categories using
arbitrary rules and think you can
understand them like
that... The very idea of a Pokedex
revolts me. What do you have to
say for yourself?*
Oh, my. Looks like you're not my biggest fan.*
Gee, ya think?
Your opinion is understandable.*
No, it really isn't. He's been blathering at me for a while now.
It happens to be different from mine, which is equally understandable. How about if all people get to decide for themselves how to relate to Pokemon?*
No way, that lets the furries in! The CREEPY furries!
You're saying
I should just allow people to
think whatever
they want and treat Pokemon
however they want, no matter whether the Pokemon
suffer? I refuse to
tolerate the existence of a world like that!* N exit,
stage right!
I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but N has a point. The whole reason we need to have laws to govern society is because some people don't care about how their actions affect their Pokemon or society at large. If the common man had his way, Pokemon wouldn't exist in the wild from all the overhunting, and the people with the strongest Pokemon would just take whatever they wanted. You're advocating
anarchy, Professor Juniper.
Well, I didn't expect him to change his mind right away. But I hope he'll spend a little time trying to understand how others feel. Now, then... I think I'll go collect a little more data. For Pokemon and people to get along better, we need to take steps to learn more about them!*
Umm, Monk! I'm gonna go with Professor Juniper now 'cause I'm her bodyguard!*
Wait, aren't I
your bodyguard? Get back here! Bah. Well, looks like Mistralton City really is right around the corner. Let's see what the next Gym is like.
NEXT TIME: Mistralton City
Suggestions, Comments, Criticism welcome as always.
Nuvema Town- "Marvin", Oshawott
Route 1- XXX
Accumula Town- ??
Route 2- "Pompey", Lillipup 6-12
Striaton City- ??
Dreamyard- "Mojo Jojo", Pansear 10-12
Route 3- "Timon", Patrat 8-15
Wellspring Cave- "Cletus", Woobat 11-14
Nacrene City- ??
Pinwheel Forest- "Heinrich", Pidove 12-30
Castelia City- ??
Route 4- "Urkel", Scraggy
Desert Resort- "Gustave", Sandile
Nimbasa City- ??
Route 5- "Miho", Gothita 19-25
Route 16- "Oscar", Trubbish 19-27
Relic Castle- "Teddy", Yamask
Lostlorn Forest- "Himmler", Tranquill
Driftveil Drawbridge- "Dewey", Ducklett
Driftveil City- ??
Cold Storage- "Pompey II", Herdier
Route 6- "Bambina", Deerling, 22-22
Chargestone Cave- XXX
Route 7- ??
Celestial Tower- ??