Okay, Flare’s knocked out but I don’t want to go all the way back down, so let’s see if I can sneak my way through aaaaaaaaaaaaand it’s Brendan. You gonna heal my pokemon, Brendan? God, for the days when seeing a rival meant I needed to slink away in terror before they dragged my half-dead team into a fight. Also, how the hell did you get up here, you ran the other way.

It took a long time to make it this far. Even I felt like I needed a little break. Looks like your team could use one, too, Lucki. Lemme patch them up for you. …There. That’s them sorted. I’m on my way to meet this Professor Cozmo fellow, right? He’s super famous for his research on Meteorites.

“on Meteorites” god I hate people.

He even worked with my dad–I mean, with Professor Birch–on figuring out if Meteorites could have any effect on Pokemon. OK! Time to get moving again! I think Fallarbor’s pretty close now. Let’s both give it one last push!

YOU LITTLE COWARD GET BACK HERE.

Okay, so time to backtrack to the trainers I skipped.

Ooh, my zubat’s evolving! I’ve got a golbat now. One that’d better evolve again soon if it knows what’s good for it.

Golbat loves to drink the blood of living things. It is particularly active in the pitch black of night. This Pokemon flits around in the night skies, seeking fresh blood.

So that’s the same thing twice.

Oh hey there’s the rest area, forgot about that. So Brendan’s healing was totally unneeded.

I head up and find one of the cliff holes that make for secret bases. Well, still a little more close than I’d like, but anything’s better than currently, and it’s got a narrow, defensible opening. It’ll do for now.

Ah, and now I’m into the ashfall area and a skarmory appears.

Skarmory is entirely encased in hard, protective armor. This Pokemon flies at close to 190 mph. It slashes foes with its wings that possess swordlike cutting edges.

See, golbat entry? This one had a different piece of information in every sentence.

Ooh, speaking of, my golbat’s evolving. Good, good. This pleases me, and I will reward your loyalty by sticking you in a box.

If this Pokémon is flying by fluttering only a pair of wings on either the forelegs or hind legs, it’s proof that Crobat has been flying a long distance. It switches the wings it uses if it is tired.

Time to go back down the mountain.

I decide to swap Flare for Tryke, as Flare’s now L25 and Tryke’s only L23.

So naturally I send him out against a L28 skarmory. A lucky paralyzation lets him pull off a win, barely.

Sandshrew’s body is configured to absorb water without waste, endabling it to survive in an arid desert. This Pokemon curls up to protect itself from its enemies.

This is the polar opposite of the machop entry, suggesting a very realistic and low-key pokemon. Sandshrew needs water, like all living things. It’s damaged by an excess of the stuff, not any water at all.

Ooh, now the shroomish is evolving. I guess I’m getting to that point of the game.

When first I played, I raised the damn thing up to L50 to get spore on it. Not again, game.

Breloom closes in on its foe with light and sprightly footwork, then throws punches with its stretchy arms. This Pokémon’s fighting technique puts boxers to shame.

Hm, who should I do next…

Okay, and Lanette is by the PC.

Oh, hello. You are? OK, you’re Lucki. I can see that you’re a Trainer. So that means you use the Pokemon Storage System I developed. How I arrived at that conclusion is a simple deductive process. You spoke to me because you wanted to access something on this PC. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m Lanette. Honestly, I’m glad to meet you. It’s great you’re using the Storage System. If you could, please visit me at home. My house is on Route 114.

Well then.

I decide to go with a skitty.

Ah, there’s a spinda. I really love the animation.

All the Spinda that exist in the world are said to have utterly unique spot patterns. The shaky, tottering steps of this Pokemon give it the appearance of dancing.

One of the kids says that the volcano proves the world is alive. There really is no school system in this place.

Apparently collecting ash is done through the piles and not by running in grass. Not sure how I feel about that. The really high encounter rate and few pokemon did make that pretty tedious, but running into a pile, into the house, out to the pile, into the house…seems more repetitive, really. I get enough for two flutes. That’ll do for now.

Back to town, Brendan pops up yet again.

Lucki! C’mere! Everything’s a mess! He leads me inside a building where there’s a pink-wearing skirted woman. Wait, is… It’s ridiculous… Professor Cozmo… They say he

Okay nope she’s probably the guy’s wife or something. Of course.

was just up and kidnapped by some nuts calling themselves Team Something or Other…

I don’t know what’s up with this. It can’t even be that they were just two lazy to write two version of the same dialogue, because they had to do that for the character’s gender. Why will no one say the team’s name?

Pink not-professor speaks. Those shady characters… They called themselves Team Magma.

Okay, so you can say it but he can’t? What’s with this?

It seems as though they plan to do something with the Meteorite that the professor has been researching. The professor is just too gullible. If you show the least bit of interest in his research, he would happily go with you anywhere, without question.

Also, why is professor no longer being capitalized? Why can’t they even be consistently wrong?

Lucki… I know it’s a lot to ask, but we’ve gotta help Cozmo! I can’t just stand by here and watch them use his life’s work for their own corrupt reasons! I’m going to head to Meteor Falls right away. Come catch up to me as soon as you can. I’m counting on you, Lucki!

Feh.