After doing what must be done, I head on back to apartment Professor Fennel lives in. Instead of a small boy, Fennel herself is blocking the stairs. Greeting me, she invites me upstairs and goes on ahead.
Why yes, I would enjoy some Hot Coffee, thanks for asking It turns out that Fennel is sharing this apartment with her roommate Amanita, who is too busy with her science to talk to me right now. And speaking of Fennel's apartment, it manages to cram as much SCIENCE! into every corner as Juniper's entire Lab. Whereas Juniper's Laboratory at least appears to be funded by somebody, Fennel's apartment has that personal touch commonly associated with mad scientists or
Doc Brown.
Like this, with pastel colors and a Pokemon theme Allow me to properly introduce myself- my name is Professor Fennel, and I am a Pokemon Researcher. Juniper and I attended the University of Unova together; whereas she studies Pokemon, I study Trainers!
And now you want to study me? For some reason I am less than enthused.
Juniper said you might be in town, so I've got something to give you. Here!
Oh. It's, ah, it's very... what is it?
This is an HM. HMs are like TMs, except they are more useful, more difficult to find and more difficult for a Pokemon to forget. Specifically, this is HM01- Cut! It allows your Pokemon to cut down small shrubs and tall grass.
Well, that's useful, I suppose.
Say, as long as you're in town I was wondering if you could do something for me? There's a Pokemon called Munna in the Dreamyard that gives off a rare substance known as Dream Mist. I need a sample of it to continue my research.
I'm afraid I can't help you catch a Munna, I've already caught a Pokemon in the Dreamyard.
That's alright, you don't need to actually catch it, you just need to collect a sample of Dream Mist. Here, have a Mist Extractor.
...That's just a stick.
No, no, you're a scientist now- we call them Mist Extractors. Now get out there!
After some uninteresting farewells, I head off to the Dreamyard- as you may recall, there was a shrub preventing me from advancing further on my last visit. Of my party, only Marvin can learn Cut, and although I hate to waste such a weak HM on him I don't have much choice. I seem to recall a Move Deleter in Gen II, so hopefully somebody like that exists in this game.
Here Marvin, I'm going to teach you how to cut something other than yourself.
[The pain on the outside helps me forget the pain on the inside]
Hey Monk, are you looking for the Dream Pinata too?
The what now?
I hear the Dream Pinata can show you your dreams! I had a dream about a chocolate Frisbee once...
Marvin cuts our way past the shrub in the Dreamyard, and we head inside. At this time, I start having serious questions about what the Dreamyard is, exactly. This whole place feels like a ruined laboratory or military installation, what with all the shattered concrete and random barrels, but the latticework seems fit for an Olive Garden and the traffic cone makes absolutely no sense. Not that I expect much sense from the world of Pokemon, mind you, so I shrug it off and get ready for some exploring. Not a lot of exploring, as just inside there appears to be a Munna just chilling out.
[La di da di daaaa...]
Well that was surprisingly easy.
Not so fast!
That Dream Pinata is the property of Team Plasma!
Our boss wants the Dream Mist so we can show people their dreams! If we can show people their dreams, we can manipulate their hearts into making them let their Pokemon go!
Why are you telling me this?
If we don't say our assigned task aloud and with authority we have a tendency to forget our objective!
Yeah! Now to thrash this Dream Pinata to extract the delicious Dream Mist! *kick*
Hey! Stop kicking that Dream Pinata!
Why should we?
Because you can't break a pinata with your feet! You need a stick!
Hey! That guy has a stick!
Hand over the Mist Extractor!
Not bloody likely.
Go, Patrat!
[NO]
NO! PLASMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
You fool! Are you going to allow a twelve year old to stop us? Go, Purrloin!
[ALSO NO]
NO! PLASMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Gah! Stop saying Plasma so much!
Well, I'm not going to stop being a dick just because my Pokemon have died! *kick* *kick* *kick*
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Oh no, it's Ghetsis!
And not the nice Ghetsis, when he's trying to manipulate people! This is the Ghetsis we see when he's ready to hand out a punishment!
[disclaimer- actual in-game dialogue] Let's get out of here!
With that, the grunts run off like this was an old Scooby Doo cartoon. I don't know much about Ghetsis at this point, but if your mere appearance can make your grunts freak out you must be doing something right in the evil department. At this point some random Pokemon emerges from off screen, picks up the Munna, and then gets away before I get a good look at it.
All I could get was this blurry photo What in the name of Mew just happened.
I think I can answer that!
Gah! What are you doing here?
I got tired of waiting, so I came down here myself! I saw the whole thing!
So what you're saying is, you were going to come down here anyway, which means that my presence is wholly unnecessary.
When Team Plasma was beating on Munna, it began to exude Dream Mist. Then Musharna, the evolved form of Munna, used its ability to make dreams become real to create that apparition to frighten off the Plasma Grunts. Once they were gone it was able to take Munna to safety deep in the heart of pinata land.
The Dreamyard is a weird place ...back up a moment there. You're telling me that Musharna has the ability to
make dreams into reality? That's right. Why do you think I wanted some Dream Mist? Oooh, look there's some on the ground there! Come back by my place and I'll give you something for your trouble!
Although profoundly unsettled by the implications of this development, I have little choice but to advance the plot. Although I can see some other items here, my Pokemon are tired and quite frankly I'm getting sick of this whole side quest. On my way back through town I stop by the Pokecenter for a quick heal, and hit up the mart while I'm there. To my pleasant surprise, in addition to the expected assortment of status ailment cures I also find I can buy Great Balls and Super Potions- objects reserved for the mid-game in past versions of Pokemon. I pick up a handful of potions and an escape rope on my way out- the Escape Rope, for the uninitiated, is an item that allows you to retreat to the entrance of a dungeon when used. Not really worth it on standard playthroughs, but in Nuzlocke runs a safe exit strategy can be the difference between life and death.
After taking a quick trip to Route 2 to check out that tree from earlier (just a super potion and great ball on the other side,) I return to Fennel's place so I can get on with the rest of the game.
Here, Monk! For helping me with my studies I wanted you to have this C-Gear!
This what now?
The C-Gear allows you to connect with your friends across the world to engage in Pokemon Fights! You see, by-
Yeah, that's nice, don't care. Can I go now?
Oh. Well, if you'd like to meet Amanita, she developed the Pokemon Storage Sys-
Still don't care. Have a nice day, I've got places to be.
As you may have gathered, the C-Gear is the immersion-breaking way for the game to incorporate multiplayer battles. Considering the fact that trading with another human would break an implicit rule of a Nuzlocke Challenge, it is nothing I'm ever going to use in this run, and I skimmed through her exposition. In fact, getting the C-Gear is an annoyance, since every time I start up the game from now on it will ask me whether I would like to also turn on the C-Gear. The answer is NO, Pokemon Black- STOP ASKING AND LEAVE ME ALONE.
Somewhat depressed by this entire waste of time, I turn my feet towards Route 3... and the PLOT!
NEXT TIME: Terrible Toddlers
Nuvema Town- "Marvin", Oshawott
Route 1- XXX
Accumula Town- ??
Route 2- "Pompey", Lillipup
Striaton City- ??
Dreamyard- "Mojo Jojo", Pansear lvls 10-12
Route 3- ??
Wellspring Cave- ??
Comments, Criticism and Suggestions welcome as always.