Had to run back to the Nurse to heal everybody up, as the last set of battles took its toll on us. Fortunately, we earned a LOT of experience on the climb. So let's hop to it.
Available for capture: Golbat, Sableye, Spiritomb (all 43-45). The Sableye we call Bounce, after its Mega's infamous ability.
We start by kicking a thing, as May is wont to do.
Oof, hard counter. Level difference saves the day, though, as Rock Slide 2HKOes while May takes a Zen Headbutt comfortably.
It's a kicking duel! May whiffs her first one, allowing Medicham to nearly knock her out, but May pulls through.
Damn right I do. Protagonist power, yeah!
Wisp's go begins with a pair of Thunderbolt 2HKOs (Since when was Crobat so bulky? 85/80/80 isn't too bad at all.)
Well, that's not a Crobat. He lives a Shadow Ball, because everything is getting bulkier.
Actually, I've legitimately yet to come even close to wiping. That could change...
Buzzy Bo wins the Sturdy duel.
Into Shade because I'm not dealing with 114 Speed, and he comes in on a Psychic, to boot! Crunch OHKOes.
Props for good taste in mons, but +1 EQ flattens her nonetheless.
I mean, you're not
wrong... Ooh! Ooh! I have just the reference for this!
(Three guesses which game I've been obsessed with as of late.)
All gone, with minimal damage taken.
Consider yourself shaken and stirred.
Damn near an OHKO, but Durant's pretty bulky so not quite.
Once Shade gets a Moxie boost, the rest is gravy. Level up!
Very.
So that's enough for you to overlook the mass murder and destruction?
The "free Pokémon" are swiftly kicked.
Lest it get kicked.
Cheeky gets Prankster Cotton Spored, which is, uh, not fun.
STAB Itemless Acro does actual damage, but Cheeky hangs in there.
She at least outspeeds this, earning a level.
What, you thought I'd forfeit the free XP because you're an optional? Tatsu's reliance on the rain is worrying me, since she's the only mon on the team who actually needs her setup move. But there isn't much that can eat rain-boosted Water STABs.
(This Grunt has a Seviper as his second mon, but I blanked on screening it and the game auto-saved before I realized my mistake. It dropped in one hit as well.)
This is the first fight in a while I'm switching out of turn one. Buzzy Bo can handle this. Absol uses Future Sight, but Buzzy Bo somehow outspeeds and OHKOes him.
Easy-peasy.
See, these folks know what's up. There's another Nurse, presumably in their employ, right before the stairway. Let's see who awaits us.
Apollo, who is unhappy with his boss, and it appears Artemis is with him. The two are having a friendly chat.
Poor performance tends to result in your bosses thinking poorly of you. (Or at least, the perception of poor performance--they're doing as well as they can against a protagonist, after all.)
Speak of the devil, and she shall appear.
I appreciate at least the allusion that Jake is doing other things during his long absences from the plot.
Aaaand right on cue.
Wow, how original. Also, Jake is being Wazowski'd by Wisp there, poor guy.
Oh, so losing is part of the plan? They're adapting!
Here we go. This is the first battle in this game I've legitimately felt nervous about in a while, not because of levels but because of the chaos of a Multi Battle. I have no control over what Jake does, and that could prove a problem.
We have three movesets to go over here. Illegal moves will be italicized.
- Charizard's moveset: Fire Fang, Slash, Wing Attack, Dragon Claw.
- Jake's lead is based on your initial starter choice. Remember, I chose Magby initially. If you chose Horsea initially, Jake leads instead with a Feraligatr, Bite/Water Gun/Dragon Claw/Ice Fang.
- If you chose Bellsprout, he leads with a Sceptile, Leaf Blade/Screech/Brick Break/Quick Attack.
- Ninetales' moveset: Hypnosis, Psychic, Calm Mind, Flamethrower. Ability: Drought. TIL Ninetales gets Calm Mind. It also gets Hypnosis though breeding, but it cannot learn Psychic.
- Stantler's moveset: Role Play, Zen Headbutt, Jump Kick, Imprison. That's just its last four moves.
The sun's up, which'll help Charizard once Ninetales goes down, but Wisp is looking at two Psychic moves. On the other hand, strange AI and all that.
Shadow Ball into Ninetales does barely half, with Charizard's Wing Attack providing some extra chip. Wisp eats a Flamethrower and Stantler uses Role Play, which copies Drought but does nothing since the sun is already up.
Another Shadow Ball KOs Ninetales, and Wisp levels up to potentially learn Hex (I still have Hypnosis, but I'll pass) before dropping to a Zen Headbutt. With sun up, I bring May out--and regret it immediately.
Solrock's moveset: Explosion, Stone Edge, Psychic, Rock Polish.
This Solrock needs to go. Now. And thank Arceus, it does. May then takes a Zen Headbutt from Stantler with no sweat, while Charizard chips him with Fire Fang.
Rapidash's moveset: Bounce, Agility, Flare Blitz, Inferno. Ability: Flame Body.
Rapidash being safe and all, I Rock Slide for safety rather than let Bounce force a High Jump Miss. Sure enough, Rapidash goes for Bounce. Should have kicked Stantler in retrospect, but it's fine. Charizard also attacked Rapidash, and Stantler Jump Kicks Charizard.
Buzzy Bo is vulnerable as hell, Cheeky could get burned hitting Rapidash...guess Tatsu it is. She takes the Bounce/Zen Headbutt double-up comfortably while Charizard gets a solid crit Slash on Rapidash.
Now it's Rain time. (Second shameless Xenoblade reference of the episode, no I will not stop.) Rapidash opts for Inferno into Charizard, Charizard is taking forever to kill Stantler, and Stantler kicks Tatsu.
Waterfall into Stantler to finish him off as Rapidash tries for Bounce again and evades another attack from Charizard.
Lunatone's moveset: Heal Block, Stone Edge, Future Sight, Explosion.
The Lunatone also needs to die right now, so it does. Bounce goes into Charizard, who retaliates with Dragon Claw.
Gallade's moveset: Psycho Cut, Helping Hand, Feint, False Swipe.
Gallade is more dangerous due to Psycho Cut crits and neutral damage generally, so down he goes, handing Tatsu a level. She has a chance to learn Blizzard--Ice spread damage sounds awesome right now, but that accuracy...we'll pass, we have enough Heart Scales if we need it. Rapidash goes for another Bounce.
Espeon's moveset, coming in chipped thanks to Charizard targeting the right slot for once: Last Resort, Morning Sun, Power Swap, Psychic.
Espeon drops, bringing Artemis down to her last mon. Bounce misses, Charizard is one hit away from taking his first kill of the battle, and the rain expires.
Xatu's moveset: Wish, Psycho Shift, Future Sight, Stored Power.
No rain means no guarantees. Rapidash Flare Blitzes Charizard and survives the recoil, and Tatsu outspeeds Xatu by herself and hits a Hydro Pump to put one of the two Commanders away. It's iced, and we even get to be Kingdra twins!
Jake's Kingdra has Twister, Brine, Ice Beam, and Agility. His Victreebel would have Gastro Acid, Leaf Tornado, and two moves listed as unknown (I'm using the game's wiki to fill in gaps in my own knowledge, and they don't know), while his Magmortar would have Feint Attack, Lava Plume, Focus Blast, and Confuse Ray.
Apollo switches Rapidash out for this Larvesta, which has Flame Wheel/
X-Scissor (illegal)/Flame Charge/
Amnesia (not until level 80) as Tatsu sets up the rain, which allows Jake's Kingdra to OHKO with Brine. Rapidash falls and the battle is won.
It was a hell of a fight, I'll give y'all that.
Damn right we do!
That sounds...arbitrary.
Typical Jake. Just throw me into the fire, why doncha?
And so we shall. But first...
See, the game force-marches us into the next area, but it never actually removes control of your character. We're free to break away and run back to the nurse if we so choose. Thus, we can double back to heal before proceeding.
A couple of notes before we do. First, fight this battle at night. Trust me on this one. Remember one of the Pokemon we know Zeus has, and certain attributes it may take on based on time of day. Second, be extremely wary of his ace.
Onward.
And I, you.
That's how these games tend to go. Especially when your actions have claimed the lives of untold numbers of innocent people.
Very well. Let us begin. It's right about here that the game takes its gloves off and starts ramping up the difficulty. For one, take a look at the level of Zeus' lead.
Moveset: Protect,
Air Slash, X-Scissor, Baton Pass. Ninjask actually just got Air Slash in Gen VIII, which is neat. Shade survives the X-Scissor and retaliates with Rock Slide, cutting off any Speed-passing nonsense.
And here is the ace. Moveset: Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Focus Blast, Dazzling Gleam. Item:
Yah. The plan is to chip with Cheeky, then rain-sweep with Tatsu, maybe?
Sooo close...
She just survives, again! Tatsu's bulk has come in so much handy during this journey. Tatsu's able to finish the Gengar off, but now we still have four more mons to get through.
Moveset: Crunch, Ice Beam, Thunder (now with perfect accuracy), Charge Beam. Haha what if we gave an Electric mon a usable Ice move to nail Grounds and Dragons with...haha just kidding...unless?
Tatsu needs two Waterfalls, but gets them with a flinch. We're ahead, somehow.
Oh God, this thing. Moveset: Meteor Mash, Bullet Punch, Zen Headbutt, Psychic. Walled by Buzzy Bo, so let's let the magnet save the day. Thunderbolt 2HKOes, but Buzzy Bo gets its SpD dropped. However, I switched Tatsu out instead of sacking her there. If we need to reset the drop we can.
Two to go. Moveset: Energy Ball,
Air Slash,
Agility, Earth Power (!).
Important:
If this battle is fought during the day, Shaymin will be in Sky Forme. Hence why I'm doing this at night. Air Slash is too early (level 64, Sky Forme only) and Agility is flat-out illegal.
Wisp comes in expecting an Earth Power, and he gets it! Shadow Ball is a 3HKO, but Wisp is able to win.
Last one. Moveset: Shadow Ball, Psychic, Ice Beam, Destiny Bond. Wisp outspeeds and OHKOes. It's over. We've done it. Underleveled, itemless, on Set Mode.
I cannot imagine trying to Nuzlocke this.
Here comes the sore loser.
Well, it didn't have to be
your victory that woke it up, now did it? (Also, that bit of lore is Not a Thing, at least according to my brief research.)
Victini's one of the gentler Legendaries. You don't have to worry about it swallowing you whole or anything.
Now you figure it out!
This will prove darkly ironic in a matter of moments. Nonetheless, the honor is appreciated. And so we are given our chance to catch the box legend.
Still, I have two fainted mons, including the one I would use to catch this. Let me go back and--
Ah, good point. Guess we'll have to heal up the old-fashioned way.
Victini's moves are Flame Charge, Reversal, Flame Burst, and Zen Headbutt. You can Master Ball this if you want, but there are other, harder captures you may wish to save it for. Victini does not, to my knowledge, have an elevated catch rate as a plot-mandated capture, as would become series tradition. The process of Hypnosis/Night Shading down to a sliver and then chucking Ultra Balls while hoping Wisp survives is not fun.
Got it on just the second try, nice! We do not nickname Legendaries in this house, so Victini will go to the PC as Victini.
I've actually used Victini in previous playthroughs. It's a
massive PITA to train up thanks to its experience group and being several levels lower than the rest of the team, and its firepower can lack a bit compared to the heavy hitters we have. Still, it's bulky as hell with a wide movepool once we get access to the Department Store in the next town. It's best used as a special attacker due to having easy access to Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Thunderbolt.
It's not really that hard, Zeus.
One fourth-wall-breaking villainous breakdown, coming up!
Remember what he said about not interfering with the natural laws of the Pokémon world? What exactly do you call bypassing Pokémon combat and attempting to harm the Trainer themselves, hmm? Also, obligatory e d g e, but frankly, him just trying to kill the player is in-character given the established rules of this setting.
Suddenly, a voice. Who has come to save us this time?
These two clearly have a history together. The screen flashes red as our savior reveals Himself.
Also, remember the second existing character this game turns evil? Here he comes.
Oboy. Oh, sweet Lord. Let's unpack this:
- He's called Gold, his name in Adventures and GSC, rather than Ethan, as he's known to us now.
- Eusine is not evil. An arrogant jackass, certainly, but his thoughts and behaviors in no way rise to any level one would consider villainy. I can't speak to his anime or manga incarnations beyond the relevant sections on his Bulbapedia page, but at least in the games, he just wants to see Suicune, man, can't you give him a break?
- Oh yeah, Arceus Himself is here. Literal divine intervention.
So now we're getting into this game's own lore. Also, Normal-type Arceus holds
no Plate. It's kinda His thing.
"You know my plan, and so does the protagonist I'm speaking to, but I'm going to go on my villain monologue anyway."
We've been over this. The important thing we've learned is that Diavevus, the Legendary invented for this game, is in fact the manifestation of a lost eighteenth Plate.
I don't remember if this is explicitly stated later on, so I'll fill it in now: Arceus in Generation IV has a sprite for a ???-type forme, which exists to avoid a hacked ???-type Arceus crashing the game. That forme has no corresponding Plate. In this game, that missing Plate is in fact the Divine Plate. Make of this lore what you will.
I would advise against telling God Himself that not even He will stop you. Zeus departs, laughing maniacally all the way.
Ah. Well played.
So this is a normal thing you do?
See the thirteenth movie for this application of Illusion in action. Although impersonating a god might be pushing it a bit.
Also, you know, type advantage...anyway, that's all four Elite Four members involved in the plot! I genuinely have to applaud this game for that. It's always bothered me how rarely the League actually puts their strength to use for something other than the final boss rush, especially in more recent gens with Teams capable of ending the world. You have the Gym Leader cavalry in BW1, Leon in SwSh, and...that's about it as far as I can remember. So knowing the Elite Four aren't just sitting there patiently waiting for us is a refreshing change of pace.
If he could control it. We have Victini, an apparently very crucial piece of that puzzle. Ultimately, we'll be fine. But the characters on the ground don't know that.
The game telling us directly that the plot is on hold for a while. Don't you worry, though, Zeus will be back. He has to be. We've only fought him once, and we can't have that! Tobias bids us farewell, and we bid the mountain farewell, and I bid you farewell for this installment.
Next time: Our journey continues. Prepare for a difficulty spike.
The Squad:
- Shade (Krookodile): Lv. 55, Ground/Dark, Moxie, Earthquake/Crunch/Rock Slide/Bulk Up
- Wisp (Gengar): Lv. 55, Ghost/Poison, Levitate, Shadow Ball/Thunderbolt/Night Shade/Hypnosis
- Cheeky (Staraptor): Lv. 55, Normal/Flying, Intimidate, Return/Brave Bird/Close Combat/Fly
- May (Blaziken): Lv. 55, Fire/Fighting, Blaze, High Jump Kick/Blaze Kick/Rock Slide/Swords Dance
- Buzzy Bo (Magneton): Lv. 55, Electric/Steel, Sturdy, Thunderbolt/Flash Cannon/Tri Attack/Flash
- Tatsu (Kingdra): Lv. 56, Water/Dragon, Swift Swim, Hydro Pump/Waterfall/Dragon Pulse/Rain Dance
Click here to return to the Index.