Bay 12 Games Forum

No way to go but forward. Most events have been handled, and those that haven't require very specific kind of weather. There's no going back for a very long time, and I just ran out of excuses. Let's go.



No, Cain, they are just taking a nap, and they are extremely heavy sleepers. Of course something happened! It might be a chloroform leak, or a mass outbreak of Venomoths all scattering Sleep Powder at the same time.



I could wait for Emolga, Corsola and Helioptile, but I do want to move things forward at some point. It's not my favorite part of the game, do understand.



Cain, this was a waist-high gate. We could have just jumped over it.

Cain: I'm preventing upskirt shots from happening; you should be grateful~
SQ: This is a top-down game. Just admit you like causing property damage.
Cain: I can't say I don't enjoy it...



I bet we're gonna walk on some gladiatorial games over the privilege of dying while trying to save a princess, but not before listening to an information booth sing about how orderly Agate City is. I've saved so many princesses already that one more couldn't hurt. Let's go.



Didn't want to go meet your family back in the wasteland? You can't escape now, can you?



Cain, I'm sorry to break it to you, but Aya's dead. The red-haired person is dead too, but I'll pretend to care once we figure out who this is.



I probably wouldn't have trouble falling asleep in the middle of the street. Maybe if Cain stayed in contact with his family, he'd know his sister is narcoleptic.



See? It's that easy. I'll totally take a nap too, so when your wallet goes missing, you'll know I have nothing to do with that. Wait, don't fall asleep now! I need you to be a cannon fodder for when we get attacked!



We're back in 2005! Who woulda known that I'd be traveling in time so early in the game! There's even a Lol So Random glitter girl! Reminds me of Gaia Online! What's up with the comically large hammer though?



Lady, Cain is a different kind of emo. Your styles clash too much, it will never work out.



Spoiler: this, as well as many more strange occurences surrounding this girl, is never explained. It's jarring and out of place.



I figured. Cain, we're outta here.



I didn't ask. I can't help to notice that she was the one telling us to get away, and now she's keeping us around with idle chatter.



In a way, Terra is even more unlikable than Fern. I don't have a single positive thing to say about her.



Cain isn't the sharpest cheese in the pantry, but I was hoping he would figure it out right after coming here. Now if only he would figure out that we should be leaving FAST or else we end up like his sister, it would be pog.



Aya is dead for reals right now. I wasn't too attached to her; I've only met her once after all. I won't miss Cain too much either. Me? I'll just walk, thank you.



Cain insisted on walking too. Even he can make good decisions sometimes. The circus will become my new base for a LONG time. It's not that bad of a place though - it's got all the facilities in close proximity to each other, unlike Reborn City where you have to run across the entire city from the move relearner to 7th Street.



Cain: What the hell is a lion?
Terra: liek, y'know, RAWR!!!
Cain: That explains nothing, but I'll leave it at that.
Terra: good choice! you win $75.384.523.845.293, dat's zero after TerraTax!



I don't think Terra has an okay bone in her body.



Oh, she's dead as hell. Go find her corpse, and I'll look around the place. Maybe I'll find something valuable so the whole trip is worth it.



The vendors here sell good items. The prices are surprisingly reasonable for a place like this, that being said they are still too high. Eviolite has its uses, not for me though.



Time to clown around. I'm gonna win so hard it's not even funny.



Belladonna is making a name for herself, that's for sure. Her specialty is kicking and stepping on opponents; unfortunately some pokemon seem to enoy it.



This man here is a move relearner, since we can't go back to Reborn City. Amethyst thought of everything.



It's a sliding puzzle, but not the difficult kind that I absolutely hate. It was really not worth even doing this because I've got a Carracosta already.



Delibird had to be on lv. 75 to be any danger. Of course Frost Breath is always deadly to Microcline, except when she has full HP. She had full HP and survived no problem, then smashed Delibird's face in with a rock.



One more essential service that I normally can access in Reborn City. Despite the fact I'm stuck here, I don't hate this place all that much.



Yeah, I'm stuck, because they don't even try to solve the mystery. I guess waiting for things to fix themselves is a viable strategy, because I've seen it being done like this in real life so many times.



This woman exchanges shoal salt and shoal shells for a shell bell. It's an item that heals you when you hit an opponent. Unlike leftovers, the amount of HP healed depends on the damage dealt, which works well for heavy hitters, not so much for defensive types like Snow Pea.



If it shocks on touch, it's probably electric. If it's resistant to electric moves, then it always has Lightning Rod. The problem is, pokemon with Lightning Rod may have other abilities. There is another possibility - a ground type! Ground/electric, to be exact, and there's only one pokemon that comes to mind.




Guardian is among the worst Vulpixes I've ever seen in my entire life. All stats other than special defense in single digits, bad nature, and only like half legal. This checkpoint counts as its own area, fortunately, so if I find something in the Circus, I can use it.



No.



Luxray was sort of threatening, but Pyroar was not. Seriously, let these poor pokemon out of their cages!



Balloons for keeping your Heatran alive! It helps to protect pokemon against dirt type moves, which might be useful considering I'm yet to face a dirt type leader. Have we met someone whose name is connected to dirt? Nah, I don't think so.



A magical girl? Heather? No, this woman is too old to be Heather in disguise. Either way, she can change the type of Hidden Power, which is based. I've got a psychic memory for Alexander, so maybe I could use her services.




Alexander is now a being of pure psychic power, both externally and internally. With his stats Multi-Attack and Hidden Power have roughly the same power. This is not a good thing, mind you.



Really now? I have a reason to believe that early versions of the game didn't have the option to change a pokemon's name from the menu. At least the clown does it for free.



This one was worth it. Archeops is one of these pokemon that suffer greatly from their atrocious abilities - Defeatist halves its attack stats when its HP is below 50%. That's fine, because I can't get another pokemon in Spinel Town anyway; I'll just revive this one and to the PC it goes.



Clowns sure are belligerent in this place. Their pokemon sure are colorful, but not strong enough to impress me.



They don't even have the super-expensive blue moon ice cream. Calico and Bijou can find those on the ground, so whatever.



Alexander is demonstrating his psychic power by easily destroying the clown's two Gurdurrs.



I don't want to be racist, but I'm getting sick of all these clowns. They don't pose much threat, but they interrupt me while I'm trying to explore and gather freebies.



Mister donkey-jawbone man! My second or third favorite Binding of Isaac character right after Judas and maybe Keeper!



What kind of circus has a morgue in its back room? There must be a lot of accidents happening to necessitate that



Before I follow Samson to the big top, I've got to finish my exploration. This puzzle is not like the fossil puzzles - pressing one tile rotates it and four tiles around it. Just use a guide, I won't shame you for that.



Timburr and its evolutions are all about physical stats, and to that point Veincent does really well. The rest of his stats are bad on both base level and IVs level. As long as he's not made fight special attackers, he might be quite useful one day. You hear that, Titania?



Ah shit, I'd have prefered a Clefairy to a Timburr. Such an amazing pokemon, and I'm not even allowed to use it. Do I even have any fairies I can use? Besides Spritzee and Swirlix, that is. I don't think I do.



Oh, the main prize is just Swagger. Maybe if I were to regularly fight Wobbuffets it would come in handy, but that's not gonna happen.



Huh, these moves are not atrociously bad. Drill Run is something Lady Flayne could learn. Hyper Voice is a viable option for Alexander, but it does nothing for his type coverage, and I need him to be psychic for now.



If I didn't have the entire collection, I'd be glad to see they are selling these here. If I didn't have these items, I wouldn't be here yet though. I'd be EV training somewhere in the Bigby Wasteland.




...Aaaaaah? These people really queued up like this to watch Ciel injure herself, huh? I would too, but I've got more important stuff to do. No, wait, that's where I'm supposed to meet Samson! Damn, I'll have to get in some other way. Or maybe I could just get a VIP pass?



That works too.



Before I progress, let's fight some blue pokemon.



These fight can win the player some exp candies and shards, in addition to the usual money prize. It would suck to be stuck here with nothing.



That's not very reassuring. Aya isn't dead yet, is she? I was hoping she was, because otherwise I would be lying to Cain, and I'm no liar.



You'd think they'd be used to these things happening with Terra around. Maybe they don't know she can fly, swing a cartoonishly gigantic mallet, and stay awake in the sleep zone? Wait...



Let me guess, I'll have to go look for who I assume is Hardy? He's probably okay, because he's quite... hardy. That being said, he could be stuck in a hole somewhere. Okay, I can go look for the guy, but I've got a date with Samson like right now.



Oh, she knows. And it probably wasn't the first time. Miss ringmaster, maybe Terra is too much of a liability to keep around? She should face justice and an exorcist as soon as possible before there's casualties.



She's new to this, alright? We all make mistakes, whether it's misspeaking or hiring a dangerous clown entity with no regard for human life.



Lady, your knee bends the wrong way. Is that bone sticking out of your shin? Is it normal?

: Ah, that's the standard fare after my performances. That's why I don't do them that often.



Samson is so relatable. I bet even if I told him my name he would forget it completely, even if my name is just two letters. uses big words, so I guess she's meant to be the opposite of the Son of Sam.



I deduce this long time ago, even before I entered. Chatting with randos can give you a lot of insight, even if in the end it doesn't really matter. Ciel seems to have a really high opinion on herself, which is usually a bad sign, but I can't help but trust her.

Samson: SQ is here for the girl.
Ciel: Superb! I was worried nobody would come to claim her! She's lucky I'm an expert in setting bones, but we can't just keep her here if she can't earn her meals.
Samson: Just looking at her makes it obvious she doesn't have the skill for that.



Big Top is its own area, but I can't get the Donphan to save this guy. It probably belongs to the ringmaster. I don't think there are capturable pokemon here.



This guy is a low tier creepy fan. He's not obsessive yet, but he might become delusional if I don't open up Agate city and let him touch grass.



This will be relevant, and unfortunately mostly detrimental for me. Maybe there is a way to turn things around if I have the resources. I'm talking about the gym battles, of course.



Clown ambush! Clownbush! His Unown's Hidden Power must have been fighting or psychic because it barely worked on type: psychic Alexander.



Oh my, they've got a lot of hardware in this Big Top. It's not a half-assed operation they've got going. What do they use all these for? Maybe... maybe Terra is a complex simulation and this giant computer keeps her in check? I mean, sort of.



No.



What was Cain doing while I was exploring? I haven't seen him around, and there's no way to get out right now.



If she wakes up that means it's enough to take people out of Agate City to wake them up, and Terra could do that easily. But she won't.



Same. I wanted to fight, not chat about your hammer time. The game wouldn't suffer at all if Terra was replaced by a better character. I wish she was just a random, insignificant character so I could just ignore her existence. Enough about her, what's the plan now, Aya? Let me guess, find Hardy?



But it wasn't a date!



I agree wholeheartedly! I'm in the mood to explore and battle, not to talk about plot. We're in an JRPG, not a visual novel.

Ciel: If it's a fight you're after, then you're in a good place. Agate Circus is famous for having not one but three leaders! We are the Agate Triumvirate! Though maybe it would be better if it was duo?
Ringmaster: Don't even say such things, Ciel! You three bring us way too much money to make changes like that! Terra stays no matter what!
SQ: Does that mean this gym's format is triple battles? In that case I quit. I can barely handle doubles, I mean psychologically.
Ciel: No! Each of us fights individually for a badge of their own. We're using a ticket system that is hardly relevant to the conversation at hand, though we had to stop distribution because of the crisis in Agate City.



How inconvenient. Can I go look for him now? It can take some time, but at least I won't have to sit here chatting with you all.



There's no reason to deny it, Aya. Out of all douchebags of Reborn, he is perhaps one of the best to fall for. I mean, he could be Fern.



At least we've confirmed they will let me go soon. Aya and Cain won't be going anywhere though, for obvious reason.

Ringmaster: Right, they won't. The girl needs to recover, and the boy will be useful for something else. An anonymous source confirmed that the sleeping spell put on Agate City was caused by a terrorist group known as Team Meteor.
SQ: Why am I not surprised?
Samson: Why are we to assume that the source is to be trusted?
Ringmaster: Well... The source assured me in a flowery voice that they have their own reasons for helping us. Come to think of it, their way of speaking sounded somewhat familiar...
Ciel: So in the end the trust has not been earned. How will they be held accountable when something inevitably goes wrong?
Ringmaster: What we do know is that they operate not too far away from here, and they go by the name Titawin or "T".



The Ringmaster expect me to not only find Hardy, but also visit Amaria and "compare notes" with her, which means I'm supposed to ask her about her involvment with Team Meteor. I trust Amaria more than I trust any of this Circus' clowns.



And this is for a puzzle I'll be facing very soon. It's not a bad one if you don't overthink it. I did the first time around.



I'm not going to Ametrine or Chalcedon, but it's good to know it's this way. I wonder what cooky and unusual characters I will meet at the checkpoint...



Poor little boy lost his parents in a clown stampede! I'm sure some cotton candy will cheer him up! No, it's not one I had found on the floor at the beginning of the game; I've fed those to my pokemon. This one is freshly harvested from a clown.



That's fine, balloons are only 400 pokemoneys. That's like four dollars, isn't it?



I cry myself to sleep every night and you don't see me complaining. Then again, maybe it would be nicer to have a clefairy plushie to snuggle... Fine, little boy, I'll get one for you. In fact, I should have one.



Good thing the gig is up or else the kid would get some floor ice cream. He's not eating ice cream anytime soon now. Hope you're happy, kid.



Oh, I wonder how long until I can actually see what they sell on that floor.



A craggy, rocky place, like mountain tend to be. There's probably a plenty of craggy, rocky pokemon that tend to show up in the mountain. Let's check it out first.



Not impressed. Momo would be mad at me for hanging out with another Medicham. Perhaps it would have been wise to catch it to compare stats? Too late now.



So I'm going north first. I'll be going there later anyway, but I can always clear the way and collect freebies beforehand.



Jumping puzzles are preferable to extremely specific rock pushing puzzles. The rock I'm standing on is unstable; while it won't crumble, it will make me spill my rage/sleep powder. Most of the times I won't have to jump around with the powder though.



Teal trees dispense sleep powder, the only truly important one. There's no strategy to the powders, you pick up this one unless you've made a mistake.



Orange trees give you rage powder. Their only role is to reset the puzzle.



Crustles emerge from the holes in walls if you foolishly decide to stick your head inside. Poking a Crustle without sleep powder, or waking a sleeping one wiith rage powder makes them cranky. Since I've been catching event pokemon...



A sleeping Crustle may be safely pushed around, and when it it's pushed into a hole it makes a convenient platform. It can be removed with rage powder, but there's only one place where it's ever useful, though still not necessary for progress. And this is the whole puzzle.



Get jumped on, nerd!



These mountains are one of the only places where Noiseferatu isn't a great choice. Rock attacks are especially effective here, and both trainers and local wild pokemon tend to have rock attacks. Microcline will be taking his spot in the party.



Earlier I said that there isn't much jumping with powder. This is an instance where it was necessary, but avoiding an unstable rock was easier than actually stepping on it.



There's actually much more jumping with powder than I remember. Disregard everything I've said so far then. It only makes it somewhat more tedious, not harder.



Dark spots on the ledges signify that a Crustle can be pushed off. It might look like crustacean cruelty, but I'm sure they actually love it.



Pal, you better decide fast, because my pokemon are pysically incapable of holding back. Maybe Snow Pea could, but I'm not even sure he's here with me.




Impressive, he made his choice in maybe 15 seconds.



Sky Drop is one of the moves of all time. It's not very powerful and very few pokemon can actually learn it. Even if I had a pokemon that could learn this move, I would teach it a way better attack.



This is not towards progress. It's explorin' time, not progressin' time though. Let's go play cave explorer!



Ametrine Mountain is where I caught Winnie the Peeh, my Beartic. It's a paradise for ice pokemon and...



...for people who like swimming. The water here is clean, but it will cease to be once it hits Lake Diarrhea. This is also a dead end for now, and a way the game tells me that I should be going somewhere else.



I'm not leaving the circus for long, unfortunately. Meanwhile I can help Quad Bike fulfill his destiny of slaying dragons. Drampa is something of a mystery to me; I don't really know what it's capable of. Apparently Drampas know Extrasensory, which is not beneficial to Venomoths that try to kill them.



The gate to the south is open. Now it's way easier to move around.



Lord Goomy somehow lost to Otter von Bismarck. I've defeated a real god once; get on my level.




At least rangers are well prepared for... whatever rangers do here. He was a formidable opponent, and by "he" I mean "his Gourgeist".



ShareX has been shitting itself lately. The hiker also had a Snorlax that was hit with Bismarck's Aqua Tail, then weakened itself further with Belly Drum, then died to hail. Always nice to see opponents shooting themselves in the foot.



It's good having 200 IQ. I could have trouble with this if it wasn't for that, but it was simple. The only issue about this part is that it's not always clear on which tile the Crustle is, which might lead to mistakes.
Amethyst understands that difficult and annoying puzzles should lead to optional stuff, and the easier ones should lead to progress, and I admire her for that; some big game devs can't grasp this idea. That isn't to say there isn't some compulsory malding ahead.



New area, new pokemon. I've never caught anything pulled out of water. I'll try my hand at fishing.



Eh... I wasn't intending to catch him, but Iron Tail didn't kill. I already have both Remoraid and Octillery in the pokedex, but Browning can be used to evolve a Mantyke.



The state of this sign implies that Amaria and Titania took over some building and turned it into their house. I don't know how property laws work in Reborn, but apparently you can simply conquer a place and calim it as your own. No wonder this place went to shit.

We begin this update with the second coming of the messiah. He was supposed to come back in all his glory though. Well, nobody will know anyway. Nobody has to know that he's the child of Lombardi and Noiseferatu. I caught Lombardi when she was a Pidgeotto, so I didn't have Pidgey registered in the pokedex yet.

The people in the temple will be delighted with their new Bird Jesus. Great IVs, Hurricane since hatching, what's not to love?



I'm messing around a bit while "training" Bird Jesus. Jaw Fossil was given to me by the priest of HELIX, and now I've turned it into a beautiful little Tyrunt blessed by His Tentaclicity.



He's ready.



But... I've already got an Aurorus... Now they expect the return of HELIX himself. I can do that, and I can do that fast. I bet the reward will be...



...great? A great waste of time, that is. I just realized that HELIX was actually my first encounter in Spinel Town (Flayne was a legal trade), and that she was stuck in the Holding Facility for no reason. Oh, and the priest hasn't taken her.



What is this? An illegal Sunkern? Yes, it is. I want to do as many in-game trades as possible before moving further, because there will be no going back for a long time. You might remember a man in the Rhodesia Jungle asking for  Sunkern. Or you might not, I won't blame you.



I could catch a Carbink in Luna's hideout. This one came with and exp share. This trade can result in a Carbink, Furfrou, Mime Jr., or Cryogonal, a seemingly random mix of pokemon. I'm glad it wasn't a Furfrou.

Next trade requires a Furret. To Obsidia Ward! I'll stop to buy a few nest balls on the way.



Here it is. From a babby raccoon to a respectable ferret in one candy. This is really good for my pokedex.



It's a shiny Castform. It's stormy grey instead of candy pink too!

Next pokemon to find is a Watchog. Shouldn't be hard. In fact, I know exactly where to get it.



It's another shiny! Very yellow! I'm not that lucky, believe it or not; shiny pokemon are quite common in Reborn, though I didn't have enough luck to catch a legal one. In the previous playthrough, the first pokemon I encountered was a shiny Meowth.



Karl Marx took my high quality shiny Watchog and gave me a particularly crappy Nosepass. Redistribution of wealth my ass.

More trades! There is a trade where they expect me to have a Ledian, but it's too late to catch one right now, maybe later (earlier?). Next one is Luvdisc. They can be found in Tanzan Cove near Belrose Mansion.



Luvdiscs tend to come with heart scales, and that's good. I've used some of the scales to change natures of several pokemon. Now, to the Apophyll academy! Time to pay Victoria a visit!



Neat, a Darumaka! Personally I wouldn't give it away for a Luvdisc. Very few things are worth less than Luvdisc. Next pokemon on the list is Mothim. I believe I will need a pokemon with Headbutt for this. I'll just take Linoone out of the Holding Facility and off to the Aventurine Woods I go.



What? Wormadam? Yes, Wormadam. I've been Headbutting a tree for half an hour, and I haven't seen a single Mothim. I'll breed a Mothim myself.



Eg. Can I hatch a male one on the first try?



Luckily it's a male. He was created with the virile seed of Quad Bike, of course it's the highest quality. It's actually shit.



Bruxish is definitely not a pokemon you think about often, unless it's big in competitive, which I'm willing to believe.

Are there any more trades to do? I could get an Accelgor. I'd have to get a Karrablast which can only be got through trade, the same one that got me Lady Flayne. But now Flayne is an Escavalier. Breeding time it is!



Here she is, the daughter of Lady Flayne and Quad Bike. I wonder if that guy from Spinel Town ever expected to get a Karrablast back.



Ninja slug get! Maybe when I continue the update later, I'll get the Ledian.

It's the next day! Time to get Ledian!



The first pokemon I've encountered today. Fed it a candy, and it evolved into a Super Sentai bugman. Wouldn't that be Kamen Rider? Never mind that, time to trade this vermin away!



It's a dinosaur. I already happened to have a Bastiodon that I evolved from a resurrected Shieldon. At least being here I have an opportunity to break some treasure rocks with blast powder. It's always good to replenish shards and heart scales.



Stunfisk is needed for a trade further down the road. I wasn't looking for it, but I'm glad I stumbled upon one.



Now that I'm done with trades, I can do all events I've missed. Again, a lot of things change after this moment, so I want to do this so I don't miss out. Surskit should have been caught way earlier. I'm glad this wasn't my first encounter in this area, though honestly Spinarak wasn't much better.



This lady normally rates your pokemon's happiness, but if you bring a Glameow from the other salon, she will get mad and initiate a fight. The reward for this is a Bounsweet with Play Rough. Unfortunately my Glameow, Blaze, evolved into a Purugly and can no longer be used for this purpose. Tsareena can be caught somewhere else, so that's no problem.



This is what a cat egg looks like. This is a long shot, but maybe Blaze's child will be good enough to provoke that lady?



Hey, that worked! The child of Blaze the Cat and Donald is already causing controversy! She inherited Bite from her father, though that's irrelevant because nobody is gonna use her.



I expected a fight with some wimpy low level pokemon, but here we are. Microcline used Explosion, immolating the Tsareena and knocking herself out. It was never meant to be a serious fight anyway.



I think a pokemon with hair would do better as a mascot for the salon. I could lend you a Furfrou or a Mightyena if you want.



I thought I wouldn't be able to get this onem but I could. And it's actually legal, because this building counts as a separate area.



Belladonna seems to focus on defense, which is okay since Tsareena isn't squishy by any means. Low attack is a big problem, however. Play Rough move is a nice touch, allowing her to better deal with dragon and fighting pokemon. Despite her shortcomings, Belladonna is still quite viable.



The first part of making Belladonna usable was evolving her all the way to Tsareena. I also IV trained her in attack and speed, and changed her ability to Aroma Veil. The psychiatrist made her adamant so she gets even more attack. Basically I rebuilt this plant girl from ground up. Finally a grass type that isn't String Bean.



That's one way to (temporarily) deal with problematic fields. It beats Charge Beam that Nala can't really use well.



Another event is the abandoned egg in Malchous Forest. There's a secret path in the southwestern corner of the map that leads to an egg that can contain Nincada, Deerling, Skiddo, or Girafarig. In this case it's Nincada, which is good since it's three pokemon registered to the pokedex.



I was right, it's a Nincada. It's crap, but it has Night Slash. Not that I can actually use it.



Now, I'm using a data chip, but it's not for cheating, believe me. This is more like an easter egg. This code allows me to access a special pokemon that can't be found anywhere else. To the Underroot!



This is an Aevian Misdreavus, a pokemon form from Pokemon Rejuvenation, one of the sister projects to Pokemon Reborn. I can't really say anything more about it, because I never played that game.



It was confined to this cage in the southwestern Underroot, but I forgot to take a screenshot earlier. Would Nuzleafs be able to eat the Misdreavus? Is it flesh? Ectoplasm? Swamp moss?



It evolves through leaf stone rather than dusk stone. I have plenty of stones of all kinds thanks to my treasure rock busting. If only I had an escape rope to get out of this hole quickly.



One of Gothitelle's daughters decided to join my cause! I promise she will be safe with me, and I won't send her out against a ferocious monster or a furious god. Wait, is she a legal catch? You bet she is!



In competitive play, Gothitelle is mainly used to stall stallers, as it has the access to Shadow Tag ability. It's very finicky and situational, not for me, really. Enoby is well-suited for her typical role. There are better psychic types though. Unless I really need her, she will stay in the box.

Looking at the list of special encounters, there's Pichu, Helioptile, Tropius, Corsola, and Zorua events that I can't do because of the weather or time of day. I've also wasted the chance to get a Turtonator, though that one can be caught way later anyway.



I was in the Pyrous Mountain anyway, and Magcargo is on the list, so... Magcargo can be fought as many times as necessary, so this event is hardly special.



This is a place I freed Cain from that one time. Apparently a bum moved in and demanded a Chimecho. No idea what this is all about. Chimecho itself appears later, but I can get Chingling right now.
The point of me coming here at all was crossing Foongus off the list, but they appear as regular encounters and will continue to do so, so whatever. I might have eradicated event Foonguses (Foongi?) when I was here earlier, but they weren't any different from regular ones.



The Grand Stairway hides these tiny guys. With a bit of training with soothe bell, it will turn into a Chimecho soon.



Crap, I didn't have a spare pokeball in the bag, so I didn't get a Shedinja. I thought I didn't need it 

I just discovered another issue - Chingling only evolves at night.



That's more like it.



The bum locked something in the basement, and the Chimecho is supposed to help somehow. Disconcerning. At least I was allowed to keep Chimecho, which is good because I forgot to take my soothe bell back.



I honestly expected something more... sinister. Chikorita isn't what I need either. String Bean blessed me with his presence at the very beginning.



Snow Pea is a legal catch, and he's far better than String Bean. His speed is inferior, which doesn't matter much for a Meganium, while his defense stats and special attack are better. He also has Grassy Terrain, which is a plus, maybe. Looks like String Bean is getting his deserved retirement.



I was looking for the place where they teach Giga Drain, but I've found this dinosaur instead. The wiki says that it appears during sunny days, but it's a windy night. I just don't know man.

Snow Pea is fully trained now. The next stop is Bigby Wasteland where I can make use of an odd keystone.



I hate stumbling in the dark underground passages of Bigby Wasteland. This place is not too far away from Squirtle's fountain. I have no idea how I missed it.



I never trained a Spiritomb, even though it's one of my favorite pokeymans. It's 108 evil spirits bound to a rock, which is pretty poggers.



Did you know that Kiki has two graves in the wasteland? Why would that be the case? Microplastic's late husband might have had something to do with transporting the gravestone here, but why are there two?



Because I'm not allowed to use physical violence against other trainers. I would have saved you if they let me have Cheeks hypnotize Solaris and make him jump into the volcano.



Wow, death sound like it sucks. I've notice a certain discrepancy in your statement - you seem to have a voice despite being dead. How is that possible?



I never seeked your death, no matter what you say. You should know I had nothing to gain from your death. It is highly out of character for you to blame me for it despite the fact that I tried my best to stop Team Meteor. To get to the bottom of this, we have to fight.



Medicham came back with its trainer. It is stronger dead than alive, but I am also much stronger than I was back then.



I'm hard to deceive, "Kiki". Shed your disguise and we can finish this peacefully.



Misdreavus feeds on fear, but I'm a poor source of that. Akko will come with me, because I strike fears into the hearts of my enemies.



Mismagius focuses on speed and special stats, completely forsaking physical stats and HP. Akko's IVs are pretty good, and the special thing about her is Destiny Bond that can instantly remove troublesome enemies.



I have no idea how I missed this egg. I got it now though.



May I Axew a quastion? Haha, that will never stop being hilarious. It never started being hilarious in the first place. Oh well. Next destination: Tanzan Mountain!



The place where Saphira burst through the wall fighting Lin used to be off limits for me. Now that I have the crystal key, I can get here with no issue.



I'm on the ledge called the Chrysolia Pass. I do believe this is a separate area, but unfortunately there's no wild pokemon. Standing here on a windy day such as this seems dangerous, so let's get going.



And now I'm in Bigby Cave. Seems like I got under the wasteland wall. I doubt filth will spread through the hole with PULSE Garbodor gone. Even if it would, it would be Saphira's fault, not mine.



If this isn't ominous, I don't know what is. It's always bad if you see Leet Speak offline.



Right, there's this annoying puzzle... There are three tubes that need to be turned red, but they are blocked by a pile of pushable rocks. Alright, let's try.



Through many tries and as many errors, I managed to activate all tubes. I didn't even use a guide for this. A new entrance appeared due to my fiddling, and I don't wanna stay here for much longer.



What a pretty sight! Too bad I won't be able to watch it; there's a yet another annoying puzzle to do. I will use a guide for this one, because I hate it.



Inverse field is this game's version of inverse battles. There's not much else to it other than maybe the effects on Secret Power and seeds. You probably already know I don't like gimmicky fields.



Score! The key is the... well, key to evolving several pokemon, and the orb... not as useful as the flame orb, really. But this is not why I came here.



Dhelmise was trapped in the tube for some reason, and it didn't appreciate me freeing it. Weird, but I'm not going to argue with a haunted anchor. It took way too many dusk balls to catch.
This place was infuriating, so let's leave at once. The power plant is waiting for me.



The formerly locked rooms of the power plant have an electric field that can be used to evolve Charjabug, Nosepass, and Magneton. There's also some more stuff worth noting.



I actually managed to catch one of these without having it explode in my face! Even if it was legal, it would absolutely not listen to me. Lv. 85 is ridiculous and unexpected.



There is many more Electrodes. An Explosion barely scratched Snow Pea, in part to his Reflect. He is much better than String bean ever hoped to be.



Disabling all Electrodes caused lights to go off. Interacting with a terminal underneath the screen summoned a Rotom. The tiny plasma ghost went to sleep, and when it woke up, it was already in the PC.

The rest of the events are reliant on weather. The pokemon from these events can be encountered in the wild, so missing out on them won't be a problem if I ever need them. In case of Zorua, its event is available later, just in different places.



Well, here's something that Cheeks might enjoy. Z-moves are a lame gimmick, but they are useful nonetheless. A single exceptionally powerful blow can change the tide of a battle dramatically.



Look, an Emolga! It's windy, so it spends the day just flying around. When it's clear, it settles down in the tree, and it's possible to catch it.



Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's gonna be clear any time soon.

Is it wise to trust this guy? No. Is it wise to follow him? No. Will I follow him to keep everybody, that means Luna, safe? I will.



Who woulda thunk these guys would be involved in this shady business? They can't possibly have common goals with El.



At least he didn't assume I'm a complete moron. Even Cain was getting suspicious, and his judgement and decisions have been dubious so far. Surely Radomus was ready for such eventuality, right?



I'm fairly certain it wore off exactly when he planned it to. The Hat Man is so tricky, he's a thousand steps ahead of us.

El: If it wears off of me so qickly, then how is my daughter still taken in?
SQ: Maybe she's just not hypnotized?
El: Perhaps, and yet she still defies me.
SQ: I'd be ashamed too if I had a father like you, to be honest. And she's in her rebelious age anyway.
El: Then it is more than ever necessary to extricate her.
SQ: Extri... Let me check the dictionary... What? You just accepted she's acting of her free will, not under the Hat Man's influence!



Please reconsider. In the previous playthrough Radomus broke not only my balls but also my soul; now I managed to beat him on the first try. I'm the strongest version of me right now.



Of course their mission would attract weirdos such as El. He'll be a valuable asset to them if he wasn't the one who lost to me despite having a level 75 Arceus,



Should I tell him that they have no intention of restoring the ruins? And that the ruins will cease to exist with the entire universe? Then again, in a new world there would be no desacrated temples.



Did I call it or what? It's a miracle she didn't get kidnapped earlier, with her wandering around and attaching herself to older men. That being said...

Victoria -1
Heather - 2
Noel - 2
Anna - 1
Charlotte - 1
Cain - 1
Saphira - 1
Gardevoir - 1
Luna -1
Total - 10

Ace's involvement is surprising - they are not who I imagine when I hear the term "dirty work".



Cain decided to fight El on his own while I go look for Luna. What about Radomus and Gardevoir? Who knows, but there's no way they would be setting up some cunning scheme, is there?



Plot twimst! Cain should definitely inform Ame about this, but he won't. He's a dumbass.



The Hat Man is here! He can save my ass from Meteors who lurk in this labirynth. Do I need help? I don't know, but I'm grateful anyway.



7th street? I've heard about it, though I don't remember the context. That place is one of the most important ones in the whole region. Time to move! Radomus knows where that is, but he won't told me. I'll have to ask some of my criminal friends.



The hedges are actually brick walls painted to look like bushes. It's a clever trick that prevents guests from cheating, and removes the need to water the maze. The grass is also plastic.



I'm so lucky to be a criminal and have friends who are criminals. The Lapis Ward streets are weirdly numbered, with 6th and 8th but not 7th. Authorities apparently don't know about 7th Street, but then what about 6th and 8th? I'm not even going to make sense of this.



Huh, I think the elevator is somewhere else if you side with Team Aqua.



I already like this place; feels like home.



It's been some time since I could just casually fight bums and junkies. Moving up is all cool and good, but it's good to remember your roots.



No, but I've got some "Scooby Snacks". Sire... By the way, who are you listening to?

Junkie: Delicate Steve.
SQ: Delicate Steve?
Junkie: Yeah.
SQ: I like it.



Some pretty neat items for sale, some of them less than useful. I used a soul candle once to get a Pumkaboo, but there's at least one event where it's relevant. I should buy one. It's much better to allocate money in items than in cash, at least in cases where I know these items will come in handy.




There are still some delusional Team Aqua members who don't accept their gang's downfall. I should make my team more balances; I still have the pokemon I used against Radomus, which is not ideal for everyday use.



This friend charges way too much for blast powder. Unfortunately Calico and Bijou will soon stop finding it. They will start finding dusk balls extremely often, and will have a small chance to find big nuggets. I love my nuggies. Ability capsule will also start to show up, which is poggers.



In this place I can trade shards for rare and exciting pokemon. Some of them are necessary for an important sidequest, so I better not get them first. They might look a little familiar. These are the pokemon I used to get out of the Team Meteor base. I could get a Ditto in this place had I not rescued it back then. I don't exactly want any of these. Lickilicky would be fun, but it's not something I need right now.



There's a pretty random assortment of moves to be got here. There's nothing that really cathes my eye, unfortunately.



This might be more useful. I've got some capsules in my bag already, so this guy won't be getting my shards soon. I will keep him in mind though.




What a way to treat new arrivals. I hope that once Adrienn fixes Reborn City, this place will become more... exclusive. I'm talking mob bosses instead of crackheads. Yes, I'm gatekeeping crime now. That's how you know I'm serious about this gangster stuff.




Still more Team Aqua gimps. I have a reason to believe they haven't disbanded at all.



And then there's some more moves that aren't top tier. I mean, some people would argue that Trick is a good move, but despite me using somewhat competitive builds, this is very much not competitive play.



Where could I be now? This sterile white environment in a grungy underground hive of crime? Does that mean...?



Ah, it's these guys. I liked Pokemon Sun despite all its problems. The atmosphere of that game was great, and the Switch Pokemon games just couldn't compare in that regard. Z-moves kinda suck as a concept though.



Lady, I'm not one of these bums from the street; I'm an elite with half of Reborn's badges, and I also have pointy hair accessories. I can even be beneficial to you if you promise to pay me.



If that's how it's gonna be, then I'm not above proving myself through battle. I hope I don't accidentally release whatever is sitting in that giant cage.



Yeah, I might have an idea. It's neither Mewtwo nor Genesect, it's the third one. And since the funding has run out, they need help from a random girl who happens to be good at fighting. She requested a Carvanha which I don't have. Since it's for a quest, how about I just catch it?



Here we go. Carvanhas live in this puddle in the former Team Aqua base. Easy to catch.



Unfeazant is only trickier because I'll have to evolve a pigeon to get it. Out of all birds they could request, it's the one I don't have...



This bird lived in the slums and was probably Coco's former neighbor. Now she's getting absorbed into a genetic abomination. I hate when that happens to me.



I checked out Team Magma hideout out of curiosity, and there was this little guy hanging out. I already have an illegal Houndoom.



Oh, I've got one of these, but I'm not giving Nala away. She's in the top percentage of all Luxrays. Shinx can be bought from the arcade, but I'd either have to spend a lot of money, or spend half hour grinding on slot machines.



This is the child of Nala and Bismarck. For once Pink Gordo had nothing to do with breeding business.



She has Ice Fang! I wish I could keep her. Other than attack IVs, nothing about her is all that good though.



Here she is in her final form. She will never feel the thrill of battle because she gets immediately mulched down and fed to Null.



Sometimes a family is a scientist, a teenage girl, a pheasant, a fish, a lion, and their messed up chimera child. He has my eyes.



In that case Null will remember Nala and Bismarck as his parents! Oh, and Nadira might be dead.



Alexander was actually captured in a nest ball, not a timer ball. He's borderline illegal - all three pokemon used to create him were illegal, but he's the first encounter in this area. I'll say he's legal.



Silvally is basically a worse Arceus with shallow movepool. Using Alexander as anything else than special attacker would be silly, considering his IVs. For that, I'll have to gather some good TMs and TMXs, because unfortunately neither Null nor Silvally learns any good special moves on its own.



Back to exploring the black market. This fella is the important one. He sells ill-fated dolls needed for a few events, data chips used for cheating, magnet powder that is useful for one event, and the TM for Explosion. I'll get the TM and a doll or two.



Bat on bat action? Doesn't seem fair if one of the bats is a dragon. Might as well clear this place out so I don't get bothered by hobos later.



Oh, it's granny! Hey, granny, can I come over and rob you again some day? Shame that they don't have any good pokemon on the market, eh?



Honestly, I'm not bothered by that too much. It's not like I'm gonna be a regular visitor here.

Maxwell: Well, it does bother me! This is a place for the strong to survive in, but this rich old hag can do whatever she likes because she's got money.
SQ: Are you upset because you had to bust your ass to get where you are, while all she had to do was to poison her husband? I won like three battles to get here; are you jealous of this too?
Maxwell: Uh... Listen, money casts a dangerous curse. She can get all stolen pokemon she wants, but she ain't getting the respect she would if she stole them herself. And without respect, you are a perfect target for people like us. Come meet us outside her house.

There are still other things to do here, but this is something to do.





With Alexander in tow, I can finally buy all these cool pokemon. I'm really no better than granny. It's all extremely important stuff though, because without buying them, I wouldn't be able to get an item of great value. I've spent a ton of shards on this.



This dude sells a super-rare pokemon, but...



A gentleman thief appeared! He took the pokemon and disappeared into the shadow as suddenly as he appeared! I'm just not allowed to have nice things, am I?



Hey, it's DJ Arc Welder or whatever his full name is. He's the owner of the strip club in North Obsidia, and the only person in the city who owns a mega ring. I should be surprised to see him in a place like this, but I'm not.



No shit? It's almost like it advertises itself as a secret black market. Only complete dirtbags would make business here.

Arc: I've seen you buying pokemon from that guy. And dolls from that other one. And you brought pokemon to that secret hideout...
SQ: I can explain! I just don't respect the law and want to sow chaos, that's all!
Arc: That's bodacious to hear! Listen, these pokemon you just bought could have ended up with some scumbags, but now we can give them back to their rightful owners. If we can find 'em, that is.



This is nice. It will make training Alexander somewhat easier.



Hey now, stealing pokemon and doing crack I can tolerate, but you can't say things like that to a teenage girl! Shit, you can't say things like that to anyone! I'm glad this guy is too weak to be a threat to anyone here.



This is the pokemon psychologist. For a price of two heart scales, he can change the nature of a pokemon to whichever I choose. Lady Flayne is now adamant, meaning her attack is higher, and her special attack is lower, exactly the opposite to what she was before.
You'd think someone like him would run his business somewhere on the surface, but the rent here is so low that it makes you forget that you're surrounded by methheads.



Oh mein Gott! Zis is ein cave full of Blüntsmoken!



Basculin? More like emasculin. Call me once your Basculin evolves into Basculegion so you can have even a slight chance to survive the first hit.



Drugs don't really help you win pokemon battles, do they? I know, because I hoard my drugs in case I need to start dealing if I ever need money.

What do I do now? There's a few options:
-Advance the plot
-Look for the gentleman thief
-Give back the pokemon to their owners
-Train Alexander
-Assault granny again

I suppose dealing with granny will be fast and simple, so that probably goes first. Then I could search for the thief, because it's also uncomplicated. I'd like to evolve pokemon before I give them back, and I can do that while training Alexander. Then I can save Luna who definitely isn't in any hurry to be saved.



I wouldn't come here if I wasn't invited by my criminal friends. I'm guessing we have to fight, because that resolves all conflict in pokemon games.



Good one, but at the same time my Golem can explode with great force, and it's in your home right now. By the way, my brother Fern should be somewhere nearby, if you decide to kill my family anyway.



I bought all the worst ones, but I also got Alexander! Alexander who is not currently here. Okay, I do have some that I caught in overgrown parks, underground passages, and trash cans.



This is the end of your villainous ways, granny! In the name of Lunala, I'll punish you!



Annoying! Granny's Victreebell hit Dogmeat, and didn't even have the decency to get roasted to death!



This was planned! I swear! I knew that wouldn't be enough, but I didn't want to get any other pokemon damaged. Noiseferatu is fast enough for finishing weakened enemies efficiently.



See? Even a mighty Slaking couldn't withstands my Noivern's revenge-killing powers. Shame about Coco's face that now has a massive fist mark on it.



Lady Flayne is not as good as this job as Noiseferatu. Unfortunately it WAS time for crab. We're cutting it close...



Microcline's sacrifice was for nothing, because Amogus is extremely tough and can heal. Sadge. Fortunately grass pokemon are known for not having any move variety, so Lady Flayne could set up as much as she pleased.



Victreebell? More like Defeatreebell. Fully boosting attack was not necessary, but it was funi.



Can I have them then? They weren't exceptionally impressive, but they were still a bit of a challenge.



I don't think she will, because they are dead lmao. Now what are you gonna do, Maxwell? Burn her house down? If so, I was never here. Wait, you were going to blame me for whatever you're gonna do all along? I knew it!



I not only bought illegally traded pokemon, but also stole and regularly use one. Don't give grandma any ideas, dude!

And that was it, the whole sidequest. Granny sorta promised not to come to 7th Street, and Maxie promised she won't be enjoying whatever happens when she does come to 7th street.



Sunny Day as a prize? It's useful for a lot of strategies. I'm not sure if I have any pokemon for that other than general fire types. I suppose Sunny Day could deal with Luna's field, but Microcline's Earthquake does that better.



Huh, apparently there's no catching the gentleman thief just yet. He should be stationed in this very place, but he's evidently not here.



While training Alexander, I took some of the pokemon from the black market to get their evolved forms in the pokedex. Lickitung was first, as he was ready to evolve from the get go.



Abra was vital for getting me out of the storage are in the Meteor base, and I feel no regrets wasting a link stone to evolve it into an Alakazam.



Hidden Power is Alexander's only special attack. Dark type is not horrible. It was neutral to a lot of types, so I was worried it would be dragon. Once Alexander evolves, he will gain access to some more special moves, but for now he's stuck with this. Welp, let's get back to work, everybody! That includes Calico and Bijou.



Another one evolved before Alexander. Typhlosion is one of the pokemon I don't need for Arc's quest.



I think this thing's owner will be happy to see his little fat babby all grown up. I didn't even train its EVs wrong, and this is something I would do just to spite someone.



Sure, why not? I won't have the chance to register it in the pokedex once I give it back, so there goes another link stone.



That's it! Alexander has broken the mask that limited his power! His base stats remained the same, except for speed that grew to be equal to other stats. Most importantly, he can learn more moves! Unfortunately all these moves are physical. Alexander learns Air Slash on lv 60, and that's withing my reach.



Now it's coming together! Heat Wave is available way later, around the same time when I can find Pidgeotite. At one point I said that training Lombardi is playing a long game, and now you know I wasn't joking.

I just realized something horrible - those poor stolen pokemon can't be returned yet. All that's left is plot.



Another weedcave, this time with a familiar looking machine. Hmm... Anyway, time to assert dominance over the local crackhead population.



Alexander did a pretty good job for a pokemon with no moves. He is a legendary so it evens out.



That's right, you Dr. Stone looking ass! I knew you would be behind this, because you can overcreep even Cain, and he's creepy as hell!



I'll be sure to watch my drinks carefuly when I'm near you, but I suppose it's too late to warn Luna. The only thing I can do now is to prevent this creepy business from happening! And I'm telling your mom!



No, I'm trying to save her.

Bennett: This is also what I'm doing! I'm going to save her from whatever curse has been cast on her! Only true love's kiss can lift curses of this caliber. Of course she's not herself, so I need these pills to...
SQ: Okay, okay, fine! I get the picture! Still, I can't allow anyone to harm her.
Bennett: If that's the case, then we have a common goal. Our super-secret hideout is hidden in here. I'll leave the way open for you.



How a wimpy kid moved a huge shipping container is anyone's guess. I'm grateful for his stupidity AND tremendous physical strength.



How devious! Drugs that I need for something were hidden behind a treasure rock that can only be fully removed with blast powder! Fortunately I have a cat and a gerbil that pick up stuff when I train. I could also just buy blast powder.



Some bum bumped into me and stole the drugs that I was going to give to someone anyway! So impatient, these junkies.



Archer, give me back my crack, you bitch! How am I supposed to save a little girl's innocence without my dose of crack!



No? Bad answer! Now your chicken is fried, and you have only four more chances to give me back my crack!



Turtling? I'm all about reckless offense, baby! Ignore the fact that I'm using an Excavalier this very moment.



Relicanth? More like relican't! I'm still all about offense even though I sent out a Palossand.



Seaking is not a top tier pokemon, but its special defense is just barely respectable. With rain boosting its power, it could take down Cheeks with a few Waterfalls. Then Dogmeat came in. Don't dog on fire pokemon, it might come back to bite you on the ass.



A hybrid of Nala's child, Coco's former roommate, and a random fish cannot be defeated by a mere shark.



Man, are you sure this is the monologue you want to give after losing miserably?

Archer: I've spent hours writing this victory speech, and I WILL deliver it regardless of the outcome of our battle.
SQ: You should really find a hobby.
Archer: I will have to now, because I'm done with being a gangster. This hasn't been working out lately, and it probably never will with you around. Have this, I won't be needing it anyway.



Rain Dance. I could use this thing with my Beartic, Winnie the Peeh. Of course to utilize the strategy to its fullest, I'd have to have some water pokemon on backup. My only water pokemon is Forb the Ludicolo. Like with Sunny Day, some fields react with Rain Dance in interesting ways.

Archer didn't have my crack after all.




This guy has my crack, I'm sure of it! It's kind of scary how junkies in the streets have giant dragons and knife samurai. I wouldn't feel safe if I wasn't so powerful.



That's a fair trade, drugs for a penguin. I'm not a big fan of Empoleon; Torterra and Infernape are just better. I do use an Empoleon as my secret weapon in Pokemon GO though.



Huh, this place doesn't look all scummy. When things stop looking scummy, it's usually when trouble start. Gotta be careful.

You're not Eddie Van Halen. Actually, isn't he supposed to be dead? This girl doesn't look like Wolfgang Van Halen either.



What the hell is this hat? He's like a freemason grandmaster or something?



You're the one who's been harrassing Bennett live on TV, aren't you? Why aren't you in Serra's mansion then?

Gardevoir: Well, you see...



How convenient. Maybe she could teach Momo how to do this? Not that I'm interested what Momo has to say. She'd probbly say something like "teach me a move that doesn't almost kill me every time I miss" or something like this.



So you're not related to those Van Halens? Radomus sounds like a wizard name, similar to Rasmodius, the cucking wizard from Stardew Valley.



That begs for a question - how did that happen? How does a pokemon get her own show on TV? And another question - had she always lived in this place?



Welp, at least the whereabouts of Luna are no longer a mystery. She ran away from Bennett, and got adopted by Radomus. Or... maybe she's his real daughter? Nah, probably not. She does have a lot in common with me, appearance-wise.



Now she's a maid? Imagine adopting a girl and making her your maid. Hey, as long as she's kept away from Bennett...



Radomus seems to be quite knowledgable, so I assume he's right about El being the real father. So... why should I get involved in another family drama? I just want a badge and I'm out of their lives.



So she wears the real Emerald Brooch. She's putting herself in extreme danger just running around the houses of rich people while Team Meteor is on the loose.



From an outsider's perspective this looks kinda sussy. Should have informed authorities first. I swear, people of Reborn have no common sense whatsoever,



Yea, to me El never seemed based. Is he dangerous? Probably; he does have that villainous aura around him.



It's this dork. Long time no see, Cain!



I kinda missed that. I think Cain was talking about Heather staying with a guy named Blake in Amertine City. Heather has been found, so she's no longer a lost girl, is she?



Something tells me there's more to that, but sure. So now I have to have a chess match against Cain to decide who battles Radomus first? I've played a lot of Fire Emblem, but I was never good at the version with no waifus. Being a certified genius doesn't automatically make you good at chess.



Let's settle this the only way I know how - with a pokemon battle! Show me a good time, Cain!



Strength is more powerful on the chessboard, but it took barely half HP from Muk. Aqua Tail turned out to be more effective after all, but not before Muk's Gunk Shot almost took Bismarck down.



And then Bismarck died. We're both left with five pokemon.



I should have switched as soon as I saw the Primarina. Despite that, I let Noiseferatu get wrecked. Fortunately String Bean is still relevant enough to defeat Cain's ace.



Microcline was a queen in this match, which probably empowered her Stone Edge even further. Quick claw saved her from Bone Rush or whatever dirt type move the Marowak was gowing to throw at her.



Nidoking, ironically, was also a queen, and also used Earthquake. Unfortunately for Cain, Microcline's defenses are unbreakable.



Lady Flayne wanted to be a knight, but she was assigned the role of a bishop. That's okay; this increased her attack stats. Meowstic set up a Light Screen, as if Cain thought Flayne would be using special attacks. Do some research, pal!



Checkmate. Cain hope that his king could utilize Swords Dance and Shadow Sneak to cause massive damage, but unfortunately for him, Flayne is clad in steel armor that can't be penetrated with brute force.



Same. I tried to utilize the field, but in the end not doing that was a better choice. I've got a readout on the field, so I can learn how to fight on it properly if I choose that route.



Robes are never a good sign, regardless of the color. Could it be a ransom letter? Because Gardevoir seems to be missing.



Would you look at that, I was right! I don't want to brag, but I'm right more often then not.



Man, I was right about El being sussy, wasn't I? One more point for me, and one more point to the kidnapping counter:

Victoria -1
Heather - 2
Noel - 2
Anna - 1
Charlotte - 1
Cain - 1
Saphira - 1
Gardevoir - 1
Total - 10

Luna: This man is not my real father, you are. I wish he would admit it already. I beg you, master, don't send me away to him.
Cain: You're telling me she was just captured? She was right there when we came in!
Radomus: They were perhaps waiting for such diversion as your battle.
SQ: So you're trying to tell me it's all our fault?
Cain: Come on, I'm sure he didn't mean it like...
Radomus: Indeed! It was neither my fault nor Luna's, so it must have been you!



Speaking for me again, classic Cain. We don't even know where they took her, and Cain is already making promises. If you never make promises, you can't break them. What are we even supposed to do in a situation such as this?



Is that so? Then how about we have a fight right now? Well, not right now, because I need to prepare, but soon.



Springing into action with nothing to go with is such a Cain thing to do. That guy is going to get himself killed one day.



Mister Van Halen, are you sure you want to leave Luna alone while there are people out trying to get her? By the way, nice new hat. Wait a minute, isn't he Hat Man who I've met in the library? He was talking about "dreamsickness" or something silly like that.



Luna's Umbreon is kind of a tsundere. Well, that's two eevee lads pet: Flareon and Umbreon. It's a long way ahead of me if I want to pet them all. And I do want to do this!



Do you guys suppose Radomus plays TF2? Just a thought.



I just can't help but think there's something more to his sudden change of heart. Maybe it's for the best, because with his silly Sherlock Holmes hat Radomus looks way more capable than Cain.

you don't seem to care at all!


He just kind of implied that Gardevoir is his opponent, and that it's her own fault she got kidnapped. Maybe it's just a convoluted way of saying that he's got everything under control? That would be silly.



There's nowhere else to go, really. But how well does the Hat Man really know El?



I went back to Reborn through the woods and railnet, the wrong way.  I needed to pick something up, but since I'm already here, I picked up another thing - the Dunsparce.



This is the main reason why I went to Reborn City. I shouldn't know about what to expect, but unfortunately I do. Pink Gordo is trained in HP because that's the only thing that matters.



Oh, so Dunsparce quest was not a quest but just a trade. Well, to the holding facility you go!



Me. I'm here to solve yet another kidnapping, because at this point I'm doing it full time. I like the way how that bum on the right just watches.



Is that so? I know how things work in JRPGs, and things never go as expected with these robed types. Ironically, I know what to expect.



Help me, step brother, I'm stuck! Hopefuly no creepy character sneaks up on him from behind. Cain is on this side, so that's a relief.



He fucking killed Cain! Oh wait, Cain is cursed to never die. It was fun watching him stand on air before falling Looney Tunes style.



Welp, we jumped too, and we're not dead. This place is called the Grand Gate, so it's a separate area rather than another part of the stairway. You already know what that means.



Nothing. I used one of my many jars of honey I got from Nyu just to make sure.



Of course Cain would rush to do some vigilante justice. For someone with so much daddy issues, he's pretty confident.



I know that pace! We're under the Grand Stairway! Not that it's completely unexpected, because we were just under the Grand Gate a second ago.



We're under Grand... Somewhere, but there's no pokemon here. Sad. There are treasure rocks though.



I... I think I know where I am, and it's somewhat concerning that I could get here without the proper keys.



This was strange. Some weird seal just got shattered, and what Cain just said doesn't make sense. He must have been far ahead of us, or else we would have seen him.



Oh, and there's this kid and Gardevoir too. Nice place you've got here, kid, though it doesn't make much sense, does it? It's not dark despite there being no light sources, and there's plants and stuff growing around. Could there be another source of energy giving life to grass here?



As weird as it sounds, Luna has a tendency to kidnap and brainwash herself. That's the kind of person she is. More importantly, why would you trust a robed guy who just marches into your weird temple that's been sealed for god knows how long, and tells you his life story?

: He also had your Gardevoir, and... What have you done to it? She doesn't seem to care for you as a trainer at all!
SQ: Kid, do you know what a Gardevoir can do to the very fabric of reality if threatened?
Gardevoir: I have always been to afraid of Radomus to ever say anything. You'll protect me, won't you, Adrienn?
Adrienn: You're safe with me, Gardevoir.
SQ: What, you're gonna protect her with your wimpy arms better than she could do with her psychic power?
Gardevoir: Maybe my nature lowers my special attack?
Radomus: Your nature is sassy, it lowers your speed.



Somehow I'm not buying that. I understand why she would be afraid of Radomus, but she doesn't seem like the type who would keep quiet about this.



I agree with her on this one. He doesn't even share his hats with her.



Of course he would do creepy things to his Gardevoir. I've been on the internet for too long to expect him not to.



Cheeks, hit her with Shadow Ball! We can't afford to lose the Pendant! No? We can't do this? Okay, we'll get it back some other way.



Maybe, just maybe, I should have stored these gems digitized in the PC? If nobody managed to steal my pokemon yet, my items should be safe too. Unless Nyu fucks something up.



He knows something about these. He's more than just an eccentric billionaire, isn't he?



How convenient that Gardevoir took only one key when she could have easily taken both. And why won't Radomus recall her into the pokeball?



He uses psychic pokemon. Hypno and Malamar are pretty good at brainwashing, you know.



There's so many star pieces scattered around this place. I'd be rich if I didn't hoard them like a dragon.



Ayy lmao. My catch for this strange place is a little alien fella. Do I really need another psychic pokemon? I've got Shimmer and Tourmaline already.



Does shouting cause permanent damage? Does it bothers anyone using this... temple? No. It's disrespect at most, not defilement

Gardevoir: El has done nothing to me. He has freed me. Why is it so hard to believe?
SQ: Because you're a poor liar? Radomus also gave us a bit of a hint.
Radomus: I did no such thing.



How much of a lord Arceus can be if you can catch it in a ball? I suppose this might be something like an avatar of a real divine being. It's my headcanon that this is the case with many legendary pokemon.



Adrienn staying here alone forever would equal El never coming here, but would it really be the best outcome for the city? DOesn't matter now, because we're here already.



We know that something is wrong with time in this place, so... how long has Adrienn been here really? Let's be honest, it was no longer than since 2015. Who was that girl, and how long ago did she come here? So many questions unanswered.



Yeah, apparently it's a key, and that's what keys do - they open doors. I'm guessing the ruby ring opens the ruby door.



What awaited me inside was a simple logic puzzle. I need to decide which one of these monkeys are liars and which tell the truth. In this case Chumchar and Monferno are liar, and Infernape tells the truth.



What a weenie. Politely asking your enemy to give you the important trinket instead of assaulting them with your pokemon? That's like something Shelly would do. No, even worse; it's more like Lumi's style if she wasn't merged with Zero and Eve.



It would be best if nobody knew their value. That way the only conflicts that would arise would be about their material value rather than about what they can do.



It could be me; I'm a bastard.



I can't attest to anything. I've played the entire Ace Attorney series and watched some Columbo, so I know that at this point we can't say for sure that Radomus isn't lying. I don't have enough evidence to turn this case around, so let's go with his version for now.



Look, another logic puzzle. It's not a problem for a certified genius like me.



This was to be expected, wasn't it? There are four keys for a reason.



Now that's an understatement, and El isn't the only person who has questions to answer. Pretty much only Cain doesn't keep any secrets I wouldn't know about.



Maybe it's a place for resolving conflicts through pokemon battles? I mean, we don't have the keys, we can't argue, I'm not fighting an adult man since I'm a teenage girl. What else is there to do?



That would explain the supernatural stuff going on. I was convinced that Arceus came into being somewhere in Sinnoh. Guys... I think there might have been a big misunderstanding somewhere along the way.



It was supposed to be an egg. Mybe we're not talking about the same Arceus? Maybe this Arceus is this thing:



El also wants to recreate Arceus, which doesn't sound like worship to me. He won't do that since he can't enter the inner sanctum. But... what would prevent me from just beating the god llama into submission.



Now we're getting to what really matters. Luna comes and goes, she's always on the run to escape Bennett. Maybe Amaria would agree to take her in next time she escapes?



Come on, it's no longer a matter of how, but rather why Radomus would do all that. It's a lot of risk for too little reward. He could just hire a maid; no need to kidnap a girl and brainwash her into servitude. On the other hand, El just told us about his villainous plot to revive Arceus and use its power, and if that's not a red flag, I don't know what is.



Radomus, don't think you presented yourself as a trustworthy person; you're just less sussy than the obvious villain.



That's right, Gardevoir was Pink Gordo's sibling all along! The only thing we've achieved was losing the Amethyst Pendant, and it's all Cain's fault. If we did what Radomus decided, meaning nothing, we would have the keys, Gardevoir, AND Luna. You know what this means?

Victoria -1
Heather - 2
Noel - 2
Anna - 1
Charlotte - 1
Cain - 1
Saphira - 1
Gardevoir - 1
Total - 9



I don't think I like it. I'm afraid there might be a way to take advantage of this power, and I don't only mean the special field...



We won't be fighting a simple Ditto, as funny as it would be to send Pink Gordo against it. This won't be a trivial battle, this much you can be sure of.



What’s a man to a king, what’s a king to a god, what’s a god to a girl with pointy hair accessories? Let's rock!



Pink Gordo has achieved apotheosis, he's a god now. While story-wise that Arceus is a Ditto, mechanically it's a regular Arceus. There are differences between El's Arceus and Pink Gordo:
-Pink Gordo has the same HP as a regular lv 60 Ditto; that's base 48 vs Arceus' base 120;
-Pink Gordo is holding a fist plate. It doesn't change his type because he turned into the same form as the enemy, but it gives his Judgment a fighting type.

There's a certain air of sanctity to Arceus, but not like in a divine sense. It just feels special because it used to be the ultimate pokemon, the most powerful one, something it shared with Mewtwo. Even though there are more powerful pokemon now, nothing else feels the same. Not Mega Rayquaza, not Black Kyurem, not even Eternamax Eternatus.



And that's how a false god has fallen... to a weaker false god. The turn order was up to chance due to equal speed stats, and I'm naturally lucky. Judgment was empowered by the crystalline field, and also turned into fighting type by fist plate. All of that guaranteed a one-hit victory. There's no denying it - Ditto is the perfect counter to Arceus.



Turns out Radomus had everything under control, just like we all expected. Gardevoir teleported in and everyone is happy again.



El even took a nap, exhausted from all this excitement. How about we toss him out of this tower? Nobody is going to find out.



A new hat! Radomus is all of the Village People at once.



This is literally your fault, you stupid fuckhead!



And Luna's, but I don't blame her because she's a precious angel and she looks like me.



If it wasn't for me and Pink Gordo, El's Bongcloud Attack wouldn't have mattered; the other king would be in check. I never get any recognition, even though it's always me who saves the day.



Once again, thank you Amethyst for inserting some space for saving inbetween lengthy cutscenes. Some professional game designers can't grasp this concept. And hey, the gear is turning on its own! Does that mean the gate is open?



Haha, what a ridiculous hyperbole. Nobody could have survived underground for eight years with no food or water.



My exact reaction when I first booted up the game. You get used to it, Adrienn.

Cain: It would look a lot better if Team Meteor hadn't roughed up the Grand Stairway.
Adrienn: The Grand... Where the hell are we?
Cain: Reborn City, North Obsidia Ward, to be exact. You must have been here already.
Adrienn: This isn't Reborn City. Where is the center? Where are the cabins, the port, and... and the lake? Why is is full of diarrhea?
Cain: You must be new here.
Adrienn: I've lived in Reborn my whole life! This isn't the Reborn City I knew! This place is disgusting!
SQ: You haven't seen the worst of it - the people.



Gardevoir seems like one of these people. Who would have thought she of all people would lack tact that much.



Adrienn is actually from the future. Arceus' power reversed time from the point where I fixed the lake to now.



Adrienn is gonna have a bad day. The Coral Ward gym isn't exactly in a good state; in fact, it's completely ruined. If there was ever a time to leave someone alone, it's now. Well, I've got that one sticker I haven't used yet.



It's gems. These are nice to have for this extra kick, though it sucks that they are only one-time use. Flying gem and Acrobatics is a particularly deadly combo.



Now for the new pokemon - Gnorts is a very good Elgyem, though boosted special attack would be better than special defense. Still good. Beheeyem is extremely powerful thanks to its monstrous special attack and Analytic ability combined with low speed. I might have an idea where this little guy would be helpful...



With the gate opened, I can easily access Route 1 without the need to traverse caves, forests and whatnot. The Tauros on the right can take me all the way to Castle Val Halen, and I don't even have to fight it!



Yeah, yeah, how about you let me and Radomus go so we can finally have our fight? I want to get over this already.



Temporal displacement is a bitch.

Radomus: The city designated your gym as a historically significant building so it wouldn't get torn down. Apparently restoring it wasn't a priority.
SQ: Then... who is the fairy leader right now?
Radomus: The spot has been vacant since 2015.
SQ: How does the league even function?
Radomus: Hardly. It hardly functions.



That's what I've been trying to do the whole time, but someone keeps forcing me to burn orphanages and save pokemon that are not in any danger. Maybe Adrienn won't have to deal with "friends" like that.



He switched hats again, and he's a Gallade now. Does it make him a furry?



Seriously? Is this a joke of some kind? The guy just wanted to smite me with the power of Arceus, and now the Hat Man hires him as a butler? Or maybe he doesn't even see who this is? And apparently El was telling the truth about being Luna's father?



And now he denies it, perhaps only because Luna doesn't want it to be true.



Wait, El has been hypnotized. Radomus was supposed to be above doing things like this. I'm not, so does that mean I can finally use Cheeks' Hypnosis for my heroic deeds?



If I get through this, I'll be halfway there. Woah whoah, living on a prayer.



The chess puzzle isn't that hard. I'd have to move my pieces to checkmate the black king which only requires basic understanding of chess. There are three or four of these, and they only get somewhat tricky. Skipping the puzzle also skipped the trainer battles, so I'm clear to challenge Radomus. Oh boy.



I could have a shot at fighting on the chess board, but there is a serious problem with that - Radomus prefers double battles. That complicates things to an extreme degree.
You might be surprised that Coco is taking part in this battle. The key here is her Stomping Tantrum, a move that allows her to just flip the board, removing the field altogether. I don't expect her to do anything else, honestly. Her quick claw gives her a chance to destroy the board before enemies take advantage of it.



Noiseferatu will come in with Coco for no other reason than the fact he's immune to Stomping Tantrum. Still, he can do quite a bit of damage with special attack boosted by synthetic seed.



Cheeks is here to (maybe) deal with the Gallade that will inevitably be thrown at me. Then again, she will be bodied by Ice Punch that it inevitably has. There's no way of telling if it works out, because double battles are horrid.



Still lacking in special moves, Dogmeat's role is to destroy Metagross. I know Radomus has a Metagross. I know because how could I forget that wretched thing?



Lady Flayne is a perfect counter for Gardevoir, one lady knight against another. I would have prefered to have her hold a steel gem, but that's the one I don't have, and it's not that much of a deal to actually spend money on.



Chanel is not fit for fighting Gardevoir because she doesn't have poison attacks, and she doesn't resists fairy moves. She, however, has Night Slash that has high crit ratio combined with razor claw that increases crits even further.



I don't suppose there's any need for further discussion. I won't be cheating this time around; this will be a clean battle of wits and extreme brutaity. Let's go!



Everything went according to plan. Malamar is dead, both of my pokemon are still up, and the board is gone. I suppose Radomus wanted to take down Coco with Malamar, but since it got defeated, the only punishment went to Noiseferatu. And one more thing, stomping tantrum doesn't hit every pokemon as I believed.



Not good, I wanted that Hurricane to hit, and I wanted it badly. Somehow Coco escaped karma once again, but it will not be the case for much longer - Reuniclus set up Trick Room so slower pokemon will move faster.



The ape is out of control! Her quick claw allowed her to take Outrage Slowking to death. Pretty poggers, but I wanted Cheeks to hit the pink guy with Giga Drain.



It was inevitable. I didn't expect Reuniclus to be slower than Cheeks, but alas.



It really isn't good. I'll have to use a revive or two to get through this.



Both Reuniclus and Gallade are gone, but Chanel is the only one left on the battlefield. It's one vs two, and I wouldn't bet on the underdog.



There still is a chance, but not for Dogmeat. Gardevoir has ridiculous special defense, and Extremespeed is not good enough. There is just one thing that can be done:



Aftermath traced from Chanel did a lot of damage to Lady Flayne, but in the end she reigned supreme. Who laughed at me bringing a fighting pokemon to the psychic gym?



Trick Room, huh? I do have some slow pokemon, but I also have a lot of fast ones. It may come in handy if I ever need to field multiple slow pokemon in a double battle.



Luna's strength comes from an easily removable field, so of course she would prefer her own place. Wait, if she's a leader, then why didn't Serra seem to know her? You'd think she would, since their gyms are so close to each other.



Oh, she's edgy! I wonder how well she will hold the edge once I show up in her valley with my selection of bugs and fighting pokemon.



Definitely planned by someone, unless Lyn blew up her power plant. Even then it's not impossible she planned to do that.



What an over-dramatic way to say you don't want to waste your time staying here and talking anymore. But I shall leave in the embrace of shadows as well.

Laura? What are you doing in hell? Just because you're not an interesting character doesn't mean you're a bad person.



That's what falling into a pool of boiling brimstone does to you.



I've been rolling in this stuff; don't even imply it's anything dangerous.



Maybe we should focus on finding our way out of hell rather than counting barrels of toxic waste? There's seven of them, and number seven doesn't resonate with magic or something.



That's pretty cool for a little girl. The disturbing part is that nobody ever felt like teaching her about consequences, not other kids, not Team Meteor. I'll have to be the first one, huh?



The Good Doctor zapped her so hard she split into two - the good Lyn, and the evil Lin. That makes so much sense! Okay, not that much.

Laura: Some say she escaped, some say she was killed. But... there's no way she would be working for Team Meteor; she would be too young.



Then maybe we still are in Chrysolia? That would be a reasonable assumption.



Snick the Porcupine joins the fray! Not really. Sandslash has a few weak points that are hard to ignore, namely its low special defense and speed.



So here's the missing sister. Wait, where is she? At the bottom of the ravine? But of course. We'll have to find some way to get her out of there.



It's just a pack of Digletts, right? They are more scared of me than I am of them, right? Oh how nice it would be.



The local pokemon are pissed about the Abra teleporting trash into their home. I've seen a few pieces of media where people used hell for mundane purposes. Never ended well.



Uhh... Saphira? Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if your sister fell over and died? Nostra told me not to catch her, so it's not my fault!



I just don't know, man. Do I care about Laura enough to get between her and this thing? Charlotte would never forgive me if I let both her sisters die.



Fire, ape fists, and the unstoppable nature of Mother Earth herself. No being can withstand these forces combined.



Maybe throw a pokeball at it instead of riding a wild pokemon that Coco infected with rabies?



So these two will take a stroll home, while I will fight Team Meteor. Of course the hardest work is always left to me.



These two are not having the best of times with the Abra. Not surprising; Abras exist to be annoying.



Then just let me fight it, and then we can all get out of here before Lin arrives.



This looks interesting. Abra's power might have been amplified by the machine, but and Abra is an Abra.



Hyper Beam's need to recharge doomed the PULSE. Actually, no - Microcline would survive literally anything thanks to her ability; Abra was doomed from the start regardless of the move it used.

Now the Good Doctor and ZEL are relieved that the rogue PULSE won't destroy the entire region with its teleportation powers. Eve confirmed that all weird phenomena will end, and that includes the twisting paths of the woods.



I did that! Though I have to admit I got thumbs up from the Doctor and this conglomerate of losers.



Take the fall? I mean, it was my fault. Not that I like accepting the consequences of my actions, but I worked so hard to make a mess of this project that I actually want the recognition.



Time to brag about my achievement to Lyn's evil side, Lin. She could so kick my ass.



Laura implied that these two may know each other. The case is complicated, and I don't expect to learn the whole truth here and now.



So Amaria has the Sapphire, and Cain has the Emerald? Is that how it is? These things are hard to keep track of.



Wait, that means that Cain wanted to give Sirius Black the real Emerald Brooch? I'll remember not to praise that jackass ever again. But then who was supposed to do in the fake brooch explosion? Sirius Black? The Good Doctor? Solaris himself?
Anyway, Lin tried to force Sirius Black to admit his inferiority by bringing HIS loyalty into question. The thing is, he's loyal to Team Meteor, not to this woman, even if she's his superior.



Guys, you better prepare your apes and sandcastles!



Saphira, you can do this! She doesn't have any apes!



It's not about family bonds, it's about destroying the base with a giant steel snake.



Well, a lot of people have various reasons to put Lin in her place. It's a miracle that Saphira is the only one who ever tried that.



Thanks, Lumi. I hope you manage to get out too, preferably without Zero, however that would work. Saphira and Lin are about to destroy this place. You're the only Meteor I have some respect for.



Yeah, Saphira is dead, just like all the grunts she murdered.



Yeah, both fortunately and unfortunately. On one hand, there will be this less angst, but I also don't like Saphira all that much. Eragon is kinda lame if you're not a dragon obsessed teenage girl. I knew a dragon obsessed teenage girl, and fortunately it's not Amethyst. I checked out Amethyst's Youtube channel, and she doesn't have an accent.



Apparently Anna couldn't see Lin. She must have an extremely weak aura. That would check out if she was Lyn's evil side, because she's just a part of a person.



Thanks for the exposition, but we've all figured it all as soon as we saw the gate under the stairway.



Want me to go there to check it out? I'm sure Nala's X-ray vision could get through the gate. The problem would be learning what she saw in there. Okay, that was a bad idea.



Then somehow they ended up with Amaria?

Laura: Fine! I was out of cash, so... Wait, I know! They must have been destroyed by the fire!
Anna: Fire? Is this where you got these scars from?
Charlotte: Anna, for the last time, I don't have any scars!
SQ: It's, like, the scars of your soul. What about the fire though?
Laura: That's when Charlotte burned the house down and killed our parents. Don't worry about it.
Charlotte: Shit, that takes me back. I gotta go.



Finally something worth discussing. Actually, I'd rather act than talk. Let's go!



That's the battle we've all been waiting for. Prepare for a defeat of epic roportions, Noel!

Noel: I've already prepared myself for the possibility, but I'd rather win.
SQ: What I meant was... You know what? Have at you!



I thought Noel wouldn't benefit much from the grassy terrain, but five hits from boosted Bullet Seed was painful. Momo just about survived, and punted the rodent beyond the mountain. It should land soewhere in Spinel Town, hopefully not on Serra's roof.



Swellow is extremely fast, but quick claw allowed Microcline to act first. The bird could abuse U-Turn, or maybe do some silly stuff with Endeavor.



Damn bear lushie had Ice Punch, the greatest counter for Noiseferatu. One additional kick in the bear nuts, and it's over for this one.



I missed what it was supposed to be, and sent Dogmeat instead of Lady Flayne. No problem, because Clefable couldn't do a whole lot besides healing itself. Flamethrower did roughly half HP of damage.



I panicked and started juggling revives when Porygon survived the apeout. Finally got my shit together and finished the job. To think it was so easy up to that point...



Hidden Power. Noel's pokemon all had fire type Hidden Power to cheese the terrain. All my pokemon probably have some lame power, like dragon or steel.



Seeing me battle would have picked her right up.



Yeah, I almost burned down your house for the second time with my Arcanine's Flamethrower.



Oh Anna, you are wize beyond your age. Let's get Laura some salami, as a treat.



Noel thinks the others are deluding themselves, but it's in fact him that's delusional - thinking that Saphira has no plot armor is just silly. I haven't fought her yet, she can't die. Even Corey in the House waited for me to beat him before he an heroed.



I think I might have an idea where Saphira is...



Yeah, this looks about right. Saphira, despite all, does crave destruction. Maybe she's strives to be as destructive as Charlotte one day?



Nice hole you made there. The kids were worried about you, and here you are expanding the caves.



The base was already empty when I was there the last time, except for Sirius Black and ZEL. Wait, did you kill Lumi?



I guess if someone is to be a target for Team Meteor, it's better if it's me than anyone you care about, eh, Saphira? Right now the bad guys don't have a single trinket, and that's gucci.



Time for spelunking! Saphira made a new path, and I'll be the first to explore it.



Oh. We'll be coming here later, I guess.



Back to where I fought the Steelix. Metal Coat can evolve Onix and Scyther, but it also boosts steel moves. If I need that, I'll give the coat to Lady Flayne.



Nice, an upgrade for my Porygon. I'm not upgrading it right now, but that's a possibility.



This is where it really begins! This girl here is a move relearner, and I found her key in a wall down in the underground railnet. I'm not even gonna start guessing how it got there.



Bismarck is a bit more versatile now. He's been struggling with that, and that's why he hasn't been used much.



Noiseferatu really needed this upgrade. He went from amazing to fantastesticular.



Something against fairies for when I don't have Flayne around. Microcline is heavy as balls, so Heavy Slam will be amazing.



This... I don't really know why I did that. Quad Bike may not be extremely useful from now on.



The days of Momo being a one trick pony are over! She's now as psychic as she's fighting.



Getting new moves is pretty cool, but how about a new pokemon? One more for the pokedex! That was Coral Ward, if anyone was wondering.



Simon here would really like to know Tara's last name so he can engrave her tombstone. Otherwise she will come back as a vengeful ghost and rip people's libs off. Maybe I could fish up her ID?



Come on, Simon, you know a loser like you wouldn't be allowed in the new world. Sorry, mate, both your wife and Tara are gone forever.



This officer wants to give his colleague a Growlithe in place of one stolen by Team Meteor. I have ways to make eggs, and Dogmeat is more than willing to become a mother.



What a pretty egg. It's the child of Dogmeat and Pink Gordo. It won't have the privilege of hatching in my possession.



The dude gave me a "mystery egg", but I'm pretty sure it's just Starly.



I was right. Staraptor is an amazing pokemon, however the police station is where I got Dogmeat.

Have you noticed that I'm just doing random stuff before progressing the plot? Yeah, the ext part of the game is one I'm not exactly fond of, though it's nothing compared to the one after that. I'll start it in the next update.

That ain't it chief, try again. The kid has this Dr. Stone hairdo; he might be a fellow protagonist.



This pokemart is kinda why I came here, so could you let me through so I can buy the herb for Nostra? There's a plushie Jirachi dying in the Belrose mansion. Don't ask.



Serra. She criticized my fashion sense the first time we met, but I'm better than badmouthing her baby blue/cotton candy pink hair in revenge. I could have Microcline use Explosion to clear the way if they asked me nicely.

Serra: That will... not be necessary. I'd rather have the pokemart perched on my balcony than having no balcony at all.
SQ: What about the people inside?
Serra: I might have a Delibird stashed somewhere; it can carry them down.
Bennett: Provided the pokemart doesn't teleport again.
Serra: Why don't we go inside?



Sera fights on a mirror arena. Evasion and accuracy greatly affect the crit rate here, meaning Serra will be using moves that affect those stats. Light and beam moves, including Aurora Beam, will be boosted. I can use the arena to my own advantage, provided I have the right moves, but I can also deny Serra her strategy by shattering the mirrors. Too early to compose a strategy yet, but I think I'll be breaking the glass as soon as possible.



That means he catches butterflies and staples them to a cork board. Quad Bike, be careful around him!



They live for too short to forget things. Sucks to be a bug. The best thing I can do is to give Quad Bike and Lady Flayne the best lives they can have, full of violent battles and ruthless training. I guess the Scatterbug won't be eaten by a Pidgey in the PC.



Serra: Unfortunately, buildings appearing on top of my house is beyond my qualifications. I don't get to resolve these problems on a regular basis, because whatever is going on started just recently. All we can do is hope that it will eventually reappear in some more... convenient place. How about you stay around, and maybe get your badge from me?



Didn't ask + don't care + ratio
I don't even know who Luna is, kid! Why are you so obsessed with her?

Serra: We're not talking about her, Bennett. She's not even here.
Bennet: But...
Serra: Cringe + mald + touch grass + get bitches.



He's describing be. Though personally I'd mention the pointy hair accessories. No wonder he confused me with Luna at the door.

Serra: Bennett, for fuck's sake! She will come back when she wants! As for you, SQ, your dress isn't that fancy. I suppose I should explain it to our guest. Serra is, or maybe was, my adopted daughter. She just appeared one day, which tends to happen in this town, and claimed I was her mother. I would remember having a daughter, and I don't. Now she disappeared apparently without a reason.



Ameno, ameno, latire, latiremo.

El: My name is El, I am a humble servant of Lord Arceus. Blessing upon this house.
Serra: At least this time it's not Jehova's Witnesses.
Bennett: I hoped it would be Luna.
El: About that... I'm here looking for my daughter.
Serra: Aren't you people supposed to be celibate?
El: I'm from the Reformed Church of Arceus, not the orthodox one.



I also walk the path of darkness, especially at night. Maybe have her carry a flashlight around?

El: This daughter of mine renounced me as her father, and ran away.
Serra: I see a pattern here. She also ran away from me. Right now I have no idea where she might be. Maybe she found a yet another family to attach herself to? I wish the pokemart would attach itself to some other building...



It's Dream Eater. I'm stealing it from someone's bedroom, which might have some implications. For me the implications include teaching this to Shimmer. Quad Bike, unfortunately, can't learn this.



First, I've found all the furniture and got an extremely important item. Exp. all not only makes training easy, but also caps the exp gain at the point where pokemon still listen. Usually I loathe this item because it makes it too easy to everlevel, but here it's almost necessary to have.



Time to clear the gym before challenging Serra herself. Curious design... Mirror theme is strange for an ice leader, but it makes some sense, I guess.



These little ice cream freaks denied me my vanilla ice cream. Coco belongs to the group of people who hates the Vanillite line, and broke them into pieces.



The room isn't perfecty mirrored. The women had different sets of pokemon, which is pretty lame, to be honest.



Serra is actively trying to physically hurt her challengers so she doesn't have to fight. Good thinking, but probably highly illegal.



One of the mirrors is a way forward. Of course I had to swallow copious amount of glass shards to find out which.




What a bunch of ass-lickers. They deserved the beating. Stomping Tantrum may be extremely useful later on.



This was not in the contract! There was no contract but still, I didn't sign up for this. Still, I accept your challenge.



He's got the Fern style going on. His mother must roast him about this on a daily basis, because there's no way he looks better than me.



Here he is, using his mom's arena like it's his own. I have an idea what to do. Or at least I would if I had Microcline with me.




It was easier than I expected. The last Flamethrower actually missed, but it bounced off a mirror and hit anyway.

Now, before fighting Serra, I'll have to train. Bijou and Calico will help. I might evolve some pokemon I'm not gonna use too. I'll have them registered in the Pokedex.




Some of the worst pokemon are now slightly less crap! I'm still not using them.



Bismarck is now useful! Floatzel is definitely a late bloomer among water pokemon, but it's worth playing the long game.



Chyna! Donald is a truly presidential pokemon now! Too bad his ability to build a wall is lacking, with strangely low defenses.



Turns out I had two Calicos? Now I have Blaze the Cat on my team.



More evolutions! I had 6 whole sun stones! There's not even that many pokemon that evolve with it.



Blaze really let herself go after Sonic's death.



Shiver can finally tame sharks as she was destined to from day one. She will have to do that from the comfort of the PC.



Notice how Reborn Vivillon has the four-gem pattern we've seen so many times? It's likely the influence of the meteor that hit the place in a distant past. Also, did you know this buterfly is the pokemon number 666? The beast truly is demonic in nature.



Did you guys know that the word "gas" wasn't actually used all that often in Saw movies? Doesn't change the fact that if you breathe in the GYASS, you die.



I would have to do this eventually, so why not right now? I don't have all that many leaf stones, but I don't have many pokemon that evolve through a leaf stone either.



Cheeks finally got a dirt type attack! She's much more useful now, but not against Serra.



I'm so proud of these two. They've been with me since the beginning, and now they are in their final forms. If only Microplastic's ex-husband could see her now!



So quick happiness evolutions are viable. That bodes well for Tourmaline. Unfortunately it's the night, so she won't become an Espeon.



Now that's a pokemon! Lamarr is ready to rumble, but her time will come a bit later. The psychic leader won't know what hit him!



Tourmaline became poggers! I can train her properly now.



It's a sunny day perfect for training Espeons and picking up stray Petilils in the park. I don't need Tourmaline right now, but by training her now I can get more items from the Pick Up team, and also evolve illegal pokemon to fill the pokedex somewhat.



The ill-fated doll can be used to awaken four different pokemon here - Golett and Baltoy that I have, and also Natu and Elgyem. I believe that under certain curcumstances, Natu appears even without the doll.

Enough lollygagging, time to callenge Serra!



The first thing I'm doing is destroying the mirror field. Microcline won't get hit with shards because she will already be dead. Quick claw might prevent the enemy from using evasion-affecting moves.



I hope Coco will be able to use her Close Combat more than once. She should be able to outspeed many ice types, but even if she can't, she will take down at least one.



Serra is bound to have at least one water type. It probably won't be Lapras, because that's Amaria's signature pokemon. It could be Dewgong or Walrein. I like to think Nala is capable of beating whatever it is.



Fire is the classic counter to ice, but Serra's pokemon will definitely have something to counter Dogmeat. Even so, this gym doesn't use a field that lowers the effects of fire, like icy cavern. If Serra has anything like Glalie or Froslass, this will be an opening for Dogmeat to step in.



Lady Flayne has a unique advantage over grass types like Obamasnow that Serra might have. She is also generally well-equipped for handling ice types.



Momo's job is to deliver a mighty kick to a Mamoswine, should Serra have one. With 208 attack she might have a chance of one-hitting it.



Same. I can look at myself for hours, admiring my luscious mane, alluring eyes, beautiful smile... We're supposed to be fighting.



Serra, face me! Make it a battle to remember!



That went according to the plan. Quick claw failed to proc, but that didn't matter. The key element to Serra's strategy is now gone.



I initially sent out Coco, but I know what Jynx can do to. That turned out to be something of a mistake - Coco should have been able to outspeed, and Jynx's meager defense should have guaranteed one-shot.
Flayne switched into a Psyshock, then tanked a Focus Blast. Now for the star of the show:



So it was Lapras after all. Two hits was all Nala needed to bring it down. Luxray's defenses aren't exceptional, but enough to take a Surf with plenty of HP left.



That wasn't a Glalie. Still, a great chance for Dogmeat to show off. Ninetales is not only fast, but also has high special defense. Dogmeat was faster, and could break through defenses. The Sandslash used the hail and its ability to double its speed and hit Dogmeat with Icicle Crash. The effects were underwhelming.



That could have ended better. Dogmeat missed miserably just to be destroyed with Shadow Balls.



Good luck surviving Lady Flayne's iron skull. Wait, she doesn't have a skull. Iron armor, I suppose.



Yeah, this was not the battle to remember that I expected. It was sort of pathetic. Probably the easiest gym battle yet.



Hmm... An overzealous preacher having a one-on-one conversation with an impressionable boy with a strange obsession with the preacher's "daughter". I feel something sinister brewing.



Aurora Veil - halves damage in hail for five turns. It would be good on a pokemon with Snow Warning ability, like Alolan Ninetales, but otherwise it's too much setting up. Do I even have an ice pokemon?



Does El really have this kind of connections, or is it something else? He saw Bennett lose to me miserably, and suddenly he wants to make him a member of Elite Four? I'm worried that he might be building up the boy's ambition to use it for his own sinister plans. No, I'm sure his intentions are as pure as can be.



Uh...



If it's only about Luna's whereabouts, then it should be fine, right? Still, Van Halen Castle? She wants to be adopted by Eddie Van Halen now? Probably much better than being stuck with Bennett.



The Emerald Brooch? Didn't Cain have it on him? It's all so confusing! I think Amethyst and Ruby have been snatched, while Sapphire and Emerald should be in possession of Team Good Guys. That's at least what I believe.



Serra knows of Bennett's ambitions now. You'd think a member of the league might have greater influence than a random priest. Well, she never seemed like someone who would take initiative in moments such as this.



Right, Gossip Gardevoir interviewed Bennett at the beginning, and from what could be deduced, she used to live here. What happened to her? I'd rather not push Serra too hard. She has a lot of regrets, and I know better than to open wounds that just barely healed.



So this is where the pokemart went. Let's grab some meds for Nostra and get moving.

Bye, Cain's and Aya's old folks, I'm off to confront your loser son about his reluctance to face you after running away from his responsibility. Don't expect him to come and say hello.



Cain, you pusspuss, go talk to your parents! Now!



How about I drag you there by force? I had to fight both Ace and Fern, two most annoying pricks in Reborn to get there; his family can't be worse than those two.



I just realized I don't like Cain enough to care about his family issues. This moment of sincerity from Cain at this point always struck me as out of place. There's almost no buildup to this, and there's not much about it later on. This tiny little plotline just seems pointless to me.



I'm telling Ame.



Beating me won't make your badge valid just because I beat Aya!



Even though it was an Alolan Marowak, Nala wasn't a great counter against it. Bonemerang almost crushed her, but fortunately she was faster.



It was probably the first time I had Quad Bike use Signal Beam. It was a bad choice of pokemon, even if my moth won.



I forgot about the damn field! Muk wasn't able to deal enough damage, so it had to suffer the might of a critical Explosion.



Primarina is a fairy, gotta remember. Or at least I should remember not to send dragons against things that know Moonblast.



Yeah...



I'm even cuter when I'm enabling my own avoidance issues. Now go talk to your parents.



Cal, my pal, I just really want to get back into action. Cain's drama worn me out despite it being so short.



Okay, I'm willing to believe that. I'm not the one you should be trying to convince. Victoria may not be as understanding as me.

Cal: I really did want to change, and I did. I think... But when Team Meteor found out I was there, they gave me the order to set up the PULSE. I was the one who sabotaged it though. Maybe "sabotaged" is not the right word. Other than ZEL, nobody really knows how to install these things correctly. I intentionally ripped the entire cooling system. I really didn't want Kiki to die. Do you believe me?
SQ: Sure, but I'm not reverting the betrayal counter.



I'm a merciful god. No need to be so hard on yourself though. Just blame someone else, just like I tend to do. That helped me love myself.



Now that's a problem. Victoria is a nice person, but you kinda fucked up hard by, I dunno, killing her mentor and mother figure.



Oh, Strength! It's a pretty good move, but also an extremely important thing.





The bridge is getting crowded. After each badge there's more and more chumps to beat. I wonder if they come here specifically to fight me?



Corey's Croagunk was chilling down in the icy cave. I probably could have got it earlier, but I missed it somehow.



Coco is back! She gave the bully Beartic a serious beating, and now I can pick up the Smoochum. In fact, I didn't even get the option to not pick up the Smoochum.



Hello, blue man. Who might you be?



I still don't know who that was.



Poor Mr. Biggles, he needed help coping with the harsh reality, yet I only came here to beat him and his children up. Sleep powder once again turned out to be invaluable. Same for PomPom who should be retired twice by now.



Mr. Biggles essentially turned into a katamari. He would have been crushed under all the crap he hoarded. There was a couple of treasure rocks in his cave, and not much else.



Remember this place? Time to explore it.



We've dealt with one bear, and now there's a whole gang of them bullying little thug lizards.



This jumping puzzle is as annoying as it looks. Not hard, just annoying.



I'll be working with Scraggies to bring justice to the slums. No bear is gonna stop me. Now to open the gate...



Another bear bites the dust.



Pangoro boss was defea...ted? How many of these are here? I can keep beating them, but it has to end at some point.



And here's where the sidequest ends. Scrafty beats up the remaining bears, and his son joins me on my adventure. By adventure I mean the holding facility, of course.



The other prize was the brave mint. An adamant mint would have been better, but Microcline doesn't need speed anyway.



Now I'm at the volcano, desperately trying not to do what I'm supposed to be doing. There's some kind of rock pushing puzzle, and I don't know what's the prize for completing it is.



Right, I can get a hog here! I remembered it was here, but I thought it was a weather-dependent encounter, not a puzzle.



There's no escaping now, hog! Unless you throw yourself into the volcano, in which case you wull be grilled to perfection.



Simple. This pokemon will be extremely useful for a certain quest. I won't use it, naturally.



There's one more event I want to do, but it needs to be raining. With nothing else left to do, I'll just go ahead and save the kids. I could use the help from Cain and Victoria, maybe some gym leaders too. Florina and Lyn are close by, so maybe they could come over and assist me? We all know they wouldn't even consider being useful.



Here he is! I thought he went sulking somewhere in a dumpster. I can't help but think that he's calling me out for doing sidequests. Well, up yours, Cain.



So Yureyu HQ had not been completely destroyed. Can't imagine it is structurally stable, considering all these ravines around it. It's too dangerous to enter. Can't help it, I'll go home instead. Ugh, fine, I'll risk my life for those kids. Most of them, at least.



I had lost a good deal of respect for Cain when he forced me to raid that orphanage, and now I learn he's a dirty weeb. We're still friends, I guess, but only barely.



Alas, it was not their chance. Dogmeat is just that good.



Oh, Team Meteor destroyed the corporation that was under their control. It was insurance fraud all along! I can respect that. However, stopping me on my rampage is not respectable at all.



People here have teams built specifically for beating String Bean. Screw them, and this green dinosaur too.



Damn, Shelly is too likable of a character to let her die like this! If only they had Heather instead. No other choice but to keep moving. They won't hurt her if we don't come close.



I'm here too, you know.For everything I've done for you against your will, you could at least acknowledge my existence.



Hello, Simon and Tara! These two seem to be in a greater danger than Charlotte is. She could kick their asses without her pokemon, but she takes too much pleasure torturing them emotionally.



Of course they wouldn't let her go. Their salaries are at stake here. Not my problem.



They will have to let Charlotte go now; they have no choice now, because Quad Bike has many ways of harming a person without killing them.



I'm in Team Good Guys despite the fact that I only wanted to sell my illegal iguanas, but so far it turned out pretty well for me. Got myself a big rock, a dragon bat, and a cool moth. The downside is regularly meeting Fern. Come on, we can go fuck up some fools together.



Cyrus tried that and failed miserably, just saying. It's not a dream worth pursuing. Never ends well.



Yeah, that always turns out well, doesn't it? Ignoring the fact that their plans will never come to fruition, I doubt the Meteor leaders will even remember about these guys.



Based. Let's leave them to their delusions and go stop the villains.



Cold. But when you think about it, if they pussy out, it's a win for us; if they kill her, that means we wouldn't have been able to save her anyway. I know that's not Charlotte's reasoning, but in the end this is what it all boils down to.



Remember that part in JoJo Battle Tendency where Straits held the woman hostage, and Joseph pretended not to care? That's where we're standing here. What I'm saying is, the Meteor grunts are going to destroy themselves with Hamon.



Charlotte slowly inched towards the switch while the grunts were shitting their pants from the tension, then quickly snatched Shelly from them. And Shelly didn't even have to lose a single tooth.



Enough trickery, time for violence!



Again, everything is against String Bean. He really can be useful in certain situations, but those situations haven't appeared as of late. He's a defesive pokemon, but grass is weak to a ridiculous number of types, some of them very common.



I suppose it's nice to have an attack that isn't grass type.



Violence dispensed.



Favor for a favor; Charlotte can go back to not caring, and go her own way. Alright, she might be a sociopath, but that doesn't mean she has to be a bad person.



Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss. Charlotte is really good at this, but if the grunts saw through her bluff... Yeah.



At least they didn't lock them in tiny plastic balls that they couldn't leave unless to fight to unconsciousness. That would be messed up.



I suspect Amazon may have something like this.




That's pretty much what I've deduced already. Perhaps letting a private company supply the entire city with power was not the wisest idea?



It was me! And Florina and Lyn. And also Fern, but he doesn't deserve the credit.



For God's sake, let String Bean have at least one victory!



Nothing goes right in this battle. Microcline just straight up murdered Cain's Nidoking for no reason, and it's all my fault.



All in all, it wasn't a hard fight. All the issues were because of String Bean.



I guess Heather is in there too, but I don't care. Since Good Doctor is there, I probably need to prepare for his Electivire.



That's the fourth gem. Ruby Ring, Sapphire Bracelets, Emerald Brooch, now Amethyst Pendant. So that's the whole collection, and other than the last one, everything is in the hands of Team Good Guys.



Did their real father also buy them from a travelling merchant, and then had to fight an evil doctor for it? Just asking. Incidentally, that's what I'm about to do.



Speaking of the evil doctor, the Good Doctor is in! As soon as he explains what's going on, he'll be out.

Sigmund: What makes you think I will reveal the nature of the arrangement?
SQ: Villains never carry out their plans without revealing them to the hero
Sigmund: ...Very well.



Oh, I just remembered how that went! Corey couldn't have given me the ring because Heather still had it! The whole time I thought someone on my team had it!



Even the Good Doctor doesn't want Heather. He's keeping her only because it's his obligation. I can actually respect that.



I think I know where this is going. Certain shockingly effective methods of interrogation had to be used, right? Her not talking might have been a result of exactly that.



Okay, I didn't know that. Most of my patients were plants, and they rarely talk. Sundew also reacts better to acidic rain water than to electricity.



I can't punish the Good Doctor in a way that matters. He also doesn't care for Team Meteor's style of villainy. I say I should let him go in case I need to fight Sirius Black. Cain will heal me, but it's about mental fatigue.



So that's the reason why he sticks around those jabronis. Even if he can't retrieve the kids, he can satisfy his curiosity and see an old patient.



I'm sorry, Mr. Black, there's no door. Unless by knocking he meant knocking out the Good Doctor, but no such luck. It was a stealth mission, except everyone saw me.



So nobody actually cares for this deal anymore? The only things that matter are the pieces of jewellery that Sirius would like to take from Heather and Anna.



In the end Team Meteor benefitted from all of this. They wouldn't have got the Amethyst if the Good Doctor didn't insist on capturing all the runaway children. To think that it all happened because Corey in the House traumatized Shelly by splatting on the pavement right next to her.



I sure am glad I have never met him, and probably never will! I hate these types!



That's generally how gems work though. You need to polish and cut them into shape, or else they are just rocks.

Sirius: The same goes for people. Except for the rock part. If you polish a gem too hard, it may break. Your father was very broken indeed.
Cain: Buddy, could you stop talking and give the girl her stuff?
Sirius: "Her" suff? It was ours before she was even born. Both the Ruby Ring and Amethyst Pendant. You cannot even imagin their true worth. I will NOT relinquish such items because some 2000s emo kid asked me nicely.
SQ: And he hasn't even asked that nicely!
Cain: Whose side are you on now?
SQ: My own. This is going nowhere. Let's solve this dispute with violence!



Two against one. I like it when it's to my advantage. Last time when I fought Cain, he didn't even have a full part, but Sirius Black is still outnumbered.



Sirius Black chose to buff his slow-ass poekomon instead of trying to destroy us outright. Smart, but hopefuly futile. Minior is the biggest threat right now, so let's try hitting it next.



Shiny Minior has very reborny colors. Pretty! It probably won't use Shell Smash for the third time, so it might be the time for String Bean to go. Hopefuly Cain will be smart enough to target the rock rather than the bird.



Welp, that went exactly the opposite from ideal. Minior attacked with Dazzling Gleam that didn't kill anything, then Nidoking killed Minior with Throat Chop. String Bean embarrassed himself only to be pulverized by Toucannon's Beak Cannon.



Chandelure thought it would be safe with its synthetic seed. This is the first time Microcline didn't disappoint with Rock Blast.



I want this Toucannon dead. Not fainted, dead. There's no way it would survive that!



It's finally over. I don't want to see a toucan ever again.



I was in control of the battle for long enough to win. Some of my pokemon are still up. Momo, use High Jump Kick! Bust this guy's head open!



Shit, High Jump Kick has low accuracy; Momo could accidentally hit Anna, and nobody would want that.



Cain, you absolute fucking moron! Now the bad guys will have three out of four pieces! If you knew what I know, you'd understand that Anna's well-being is of little significance compared to this!



Old zealot and his daughter... Have we met anyone like that? I think not. Don't worry, we will.



I take back everything I said to Cain; he just earned some respect points. Remember the explosives Fern and I found in the first Meteor base? Yeah, Sirius Black is dead.



Would you look at that, Charlotte's atisocial tendencies save the day again. Remember, being good doesn't pay!



Shelly is actually the only one with a place to go, but whatever. I'm still for contacting Ame about this situation. Maybe she would help Shelly get back to Japan?



Anna Nostra isn't taking this well. Let's hurry, or at least let's pretend to hurry.



This is the event I couldn't do earlier because of the weather. Squoitle is cool, I guess, but this place is pretty well hidden.

Let's progress the plot some other time.

In the last episode of Edgymon Edgeborn: Kiki wasted SQ's time because she had lost TMX Strength!



Ash Breathing, Third Form: Silicosis Complications!



Looks like Victoria is preparing for the moment she inherits the academy. Apologizing to everyone is a good start, but she needs to learn how to be more dishonest.



Would be funny if it turned out it's just an innocent group of hikers. That's probably not it, but it would be funny.



Hmm, that doesn't sound like hikers. We should probably go and check it out.



Of course. At least she realizes she won't be of much assistance. I'll be going alone then.



Someone needs to keep a hand on the phone just in case there's a need to call the ambulance for Kiki. But remember, Victoria - if I fail there, Kiki will die along with you and the students.

Azurine island awaits! Let's go!



Here we are, the natural wonder of Reborn! In the middle of Lake Diarrhea, covered in filthy swamps and poisonous pokemon. Let's do some recon!



The recon yielded results in the form of Lady Flayne, the most chivalrous bug on the island. I won't talk much about her, because she's not going to see any action unless I also catch a Karrablast, which is unlikely. There is an in-game trade where I can get an Escavalier for her though.



How convenient that Cain managed to lose one of his earring in this puddle. I wouldn't know he's being held here otherwise.



I'm not so sure if replacing Iron Defense with Infestation was smart, but I would replace it with Earth Power anyway.



Oh great. I knew things were a bit too calm for too long. Maybe except for the Foonguses (Foongi?) that kept tricking me into picking them up.



Shimmer was supposed to hypnotize, not get hypnotized! At least I know I'm at an advantage now. In the previous playthrough I had massive trouble with this fight. And now I remembered why I had so much trouble - both Lunatone and Solrock spam Rock Slide that flinches more often than not, while the swamp field lowers the speed of everything that touches the ground.



Chanel slashes, Shimmer heals; that's how this works. Now that both rocks are dead, the enemy mons will also be affected by the swamp.



Another issue is that Oranguru's Nature Power becomes a field-enhanced Muddy Water that totally wrecks my pokemon.



I was not worried for a moment.



Eclipse, did you think I didn't except there to be a secret base in a place like this?



In the secret hideout I've found a readout on PULSE Camerupt. It's basically nothing but pure power, designed to cause a borderline apocalyptic volcanic eruption. I could just send Bismarck against it, and beat it with a single Aqua Jet.



A hidden room! There seems to be a big battle ahead, hence the healing.



Scar! Long time no see! Thanks for releasing me from the cage back in Rhodesia. I get the Camerupt, but is Cain also vital to your plan? The volcano will just spit him out, come on.

Anyway, kidnapping counter:
Victoria -1
Heather - 2
Noel - 2
Anna - 1
Charlotte - 1
Cain - 1
Total - 8



Back in the Whatever Park you could one-up me with fully evolved pokemon, yet I won. Now you don't have even that advantage. Can I take the Camerupt and go? You guys can tell your boss I beat you, and go working on the next PULSE.



Alright, I'll take Cain with me too.



It's the only building, the only man-made structure in this god-forsaken swamp. If it wasn't here, where else would you set up a base?



Maybe that's why it was so easy to track you down. You're not putting too much effort into this, are you?



Could we just stop this talking and fight already? I get it, you want to destroy the academy as yet another warning to the people of Reborn, to show them that they either get out or die.



I know these people are like roaches - they won't run away, and they somehow won't die. I'm doing it for your own good, Scar!



What is a critical Mirror Shot to a rock who can't die? Klefki can be horrifying if it decides to use its Prankster ability to a good use, but I don't even know if this one had this ability because it went on the offensive instead of tossing Spikes or setting up Reflect.



Gligar is always tricky for me - every time I face one, I somehow fail to bring a water or ice type pokemon. Microcline short-circuited the field, which made ghost and dark type moves stronger, which was a double-edged sword. Gligar had Night Slash that's super-effective against Cheeks, while Cheeks used her Shadow Ball to its full potential. Unfortunately for Scar, his bat thing couldn't take two hits, but it did manage to waste some Shadow Ball PP with its Roost.



I expected a regular Exeggutor, but whatever. I was lucky that Shimmer decided to listen to me even though I don't have enough badges to train Her.



Kicking birds may sound like a silly idea, but I didn't feel like healing Microcline.



Why would I allow him to do that? I could easily handle three nameless grunts, and I don't think this jabroni has a gun.



We? Out of the three of us you were the only one to trust Ace. I don't expect Cain to make smart decisions anymore, but I don't appreciate him dragging me down to his level.



Convenient that they left it here. Is anyone still not convinced that Scar is on our side?



Corey's Ruby Ring, Amaria's Sapphire Bracelets, now the Emerald Brooch? What did Solaris say the emerald signified? It was faith, if I remember correctly.



You wouldn't believe what kind of stuff a 16 year-old girl can get just by hanging out with the right people.



Cheeks, hypnotize him and make him jump off the cliff.

Cain: SQ, you can't do that! If he refuses to fight, using our pokemon against him would be immoral!
Grunt: Which means you're not getting through. That's what I'm here for!



Just so we're clear - what I intended to do was much less violent than just pushing the guy.



Of course there would be an ambush. Well, let's get to it.



I just remembered that I was supposed to retire PomPom. She finally got to use her psychic gem, obliterating the Gabite with a mighty Psychic. Meanwhile, Victoria's Garfield almost took down the Noctowl. I love this pokemon, no matter what anyone might say.



Now PomPom is unbeatable. Doublade's Night Slash was weakened by the burn caused by Garfield's Fire Fang, so PomPom can utilize her buffs.



Shuckle is graciously offering its HP as an offering to PomPom, but the bat's time has come. She won't take much more of this.



I lied, she ended the fight swiftly, never giving the opponents a chance.




There were no painful consequences nowhere near these guys.



I know, I know, but could you leave this for after we've finished here? I wanna be supportive, really, but we're in the middle of something that requires deep concentration.




This battle seemed like it was made to be as easy as possible for PomPom and Garfield, seriously.




Credit where credit is due, Victoria's pokemon did more killing than mine. This one I wasn't all that well prepared for.




This battle was annoying because of Tsareena and Delcatty hit String Bean with the combo of Attract and Teeter Dance. It just wasn't worth switching. I'm proud that I managed to sneak in an Explosion in there.



Maybe it lives here? Gee, Victoria, you should know more about this place's ecology. Seriously though, I'm already aquaintanced with this Absol. It seems to want to be caught by me, but every time I'm close to doing it, some disaster interrupts me.



Cain: SQ!
SQ: Cain!
Taka: Solaris!
Solaris: We are NOT doing this.



He never got down to heal his pokemon after I kicked his ass. He was getting ready to ump into the volcano to avoid becoming yet another number on my kidnapping list.



Now I'm "anyone else", am I? I thought we were besties! Do I have to add you to the betrayal counter?



I kinda wanna see that, not gonna lie.



Huh, I thought Solaris would let me just pull the plug and we'll all be friends. Disappointing.

Solaris: Enough! Taka, take care of the girl.
Taka: I will! Thank you father!
Cain: Woah, you're that creep's son?
Taka: Seems so.
SQ: It really sounds weird when you call someone a creep, you know, Cain?
Solaris: I'll deal with SQ; she's too annoying to be left alive. I won't need more than one pokemon to secure this victory.
SQ: I doubt it.



I no longer doubt it.



My first wipe against an actual trainer rather than just an uncatchable pokemon. It's a scripted one, so it means nothing.



With the right preparation I could do it. Technically I could grind a pokemon to lv 100 using rare candies bought with money from Pay Day and items from Pick Up. I'm pretty sure Cheeks would have been impossible to damage, and sooner or later she would listen to me and blasted the Garchomp with Earth Power. I didn't do that only because I'm that merciful.



Kiki, you are significantly weaker than me. Go home, where the only thing that can hurt you is your terminal 7.



We're talking about your pokemon, Kiki! What are you gonna do, suplex the Garchomp into the volcano?



I've stopped justice a few times already; wasn't that hard. But yeah, I agree that Kiki can't do it.



Speaking of expectations, shouldn't some gym leader be looking into this situation? Amaria and Titania are currently smashing Cloysters at their mansion, while a Grachomp that is just asking for an ice beam to the face is rampaging among defenseless nobodies.
Were you saying somethin, Kiki?

Kiki: My teachings were my ideals, ones I could not live up to. Despite that, they helped so many people. Weak, imperfect and powerless as I am, I can still make a difference.



Canis, like Canis Major, the constelation to which Sirius belongs. Therefore, Sirius Black is actually this guy's underling! Maybe I'm overthinking this a bit.



Oh, Cal is Canis! Not that I didn't know that. That calls for...

Betrayal counter: 2



So it's Canis Minor, not Canis Major. Sad. The brightest star in this constellation is Procyon that translates to "before the dog". Procyon is also the generic name for a raccoon. This seems to imply that Cal eats trash.




Looks like Victoria won't be getting that referall bonus after all. I don't appreciate this place either, just for the record. It was nice finally getting a chance to steal a TV though.

Kiki: Say what?



"Sorry" is not gonna cut it, I'm afraid.



Jesus, this guy gets no breaks. Cal, you can redeem yourself! Just dive into the volcano and save Medicham!



Amaria could have preventad that from happening, just saying.



She would have died of the volcanic flu regardless, but that's not a nice thing to do anyway. Have you seen me or Victoria use pokemon against people? No, because we're decent people.



Dunno, Cal, it sounds like Kiki was just insulting you. That's not really her style, but maybe she her illness made her do it?



Holy shit, Magmortar just completely disintegrated the Camerupt with a single flash of light! I need to teach some of my pokemon that trick!



Cal: Maybe I'll start a podcast nobody will listen to? Or start begging for money on TikTok? Maybe I'll buy some land in the Metaverse and lose everything when the people who own the app shut it down and run with the money? There's plenty of chances for a worthless loser like me?
Solaris: I can't even listen to this. Taka, pick up your toys, we're leaving.



That's harsh but true. If he intended to help somehow, then he made a piss-poor job. Scar was much more helpful, even though he did absolutely nothing to help us.



Victoria keeps asking him questions, then gets mad when he tries to answer. I mean, she gets even more mad. Maybe she should give him a chance to say whatever stupid thing he wants to say before he leaves?



That seemed pretty important, but I don't want to sit here for much longer. Can we leave as well?



She had very little to do with protecting. Maybe if she hadn't showed up things would have gone better? No point thinking about it too hard, at least right now.



Victoria: We did everything we could, and yet it wasn't enough. It was not our negligence that ended her life, just our incompetence. Maybe it was the former too... I brought Cal here.
SQ: If the discounts really are that good, then who would blame you?
Cain: How could you have known he was one of them?
Victoria: Maybe the hair-trigger temper might have been something of a red flag?
Cain: Stop blaming yourself already, sheesh!
Victoria: You're right, this arc has been way going too long already.



Cain and his family aren't on speaking terms since that time he killed Abel. He is obviously ashamed to face Adam, Eve, and Seth, but he knows he can't just stand idly after telling Victoria we did everything we could back on the volcano. As Cain runs away, so can I finally leave. My soul is free...