Okay, finally going to talk to Steven hanging out on the bridge for real this time!
Hm?
And cutscene triggers.
Lucki? So, we meet again. How has it been? Have you been using the Mega Bracelet wisely? I suppose I needn’t even ask, though. Not when it comes to you and your team.
Indeed, as if Lucki could mega evolve pokemon.
I wonder… Have you noticed? Hm?
Of course not.
There’s something here you can’t see.
Oh, right, right, the invisible kecleon where somehow I can fight them when I run into them being invisible in grass but not when they’re standing around elsewhere.
Actually, hm, the mechanics are looking kind of weird, aren’t they? The hidden pokemon thing establishes pokemon run for it if they hear you coming, and all other pokemon attack when you stumble on them. Are these really stoned kecleon or something?
Now, if I were to use this device on the invisible obsstacle… No, no… Rather than describing it, I should just show you. That should be more entertaining. Lucki… Are you and your Pokemon ready for battle?
Seriously, game? Seriously?
Good. In that case… I want you to take this. Try it on. I’m sure it will fit you.
Ah, and it actually shows my avatar putting on the kind of ridiculous Devon Scope of Doom on. Somehow, the kecleon can tell I can see it and flips out.
The startled Pokemon attacked!
Which suggests kecleon being /psychic and able to tell when it’s seen would make more sense.
It’s only L30, so what’s the big deal?
Just as I expected, says Steven. Uh, yeah.
Or – hm. Okay, so if what’s special about the main character is the speed of raising, then this makes sense. Steven sees your pokemon a little while ago, so the fact you’re already stronger-
No, wait, that’s when we got a L30 latios, so even if you don’t level at all between the two, managing to beat a L30 pokemon should be easy.
That’s called a Devon Scope. It’s a fantastic piece of tech that lets you see Pokemon in hiding.
“And is absolutely not in any way ripped off from stolen Silph Scope ™ designs, in fact we don’t even know Silph has any sort of Silph Scope ™, this was definitely invented by our company.”
Consider it a gift from me. Take it.
I can’t remember what else this is good for. Is it just the kecleon?
And one more thing…
Oh hey, now I could mega evolve my grovyle if it were a sceptile and if Lucki could use mega evolution.
This stone ranks as one of my top five favorite stones in existence.
What, and you’re not going to list the others?
No, seriously. I’m curious if two of them are the stones to mega evolve the other Hoenn starters or if it’s only my starter whose evolution stone you love and if so, is it in part because of your crush on me or is your crush on me in part because I picked that starter?
I have no doubt that your Pokemon will like it, too.
Well, the one might, but now all the others will be jealous she got a special gift and they didn’t.
You know, Lucki… I like to see Trainers and Pokemon trying their best. That’s why I like you so much. A giant question mark pops out of his head. Hm? It sees as though something just…shone for a moment in your Bag. I’m sure I sensed the power of some kind of stone… A Meteorite…? No, it couldn’t be.
Yep, move along and don’t steal my items, nothing to see here.
Let’s meet again someday.
…wow, it worked! Good lying, Lucki!
And he disappears.
I continue on to face a flying pokemon trainer who asks if I have moves that can hit them, then doesn’t use fly at any point in the battle, then confirms he was talking about fly. What. Game you are drunk go home.
A little beyond, someone says I can’t keep going unless I prove my worthiness by showing Winona’s badge. I should just be able to beat them up and progress, but it actually does make sense that they wouldn’t suggest this as knowing an area is dangerous and being powerful enough to defeat anyone too weak to enter don’t need to have any overlap – if anything, it’s the weaker trainers who are more likely to be aware of the issue. I’ll assume therefore that Lucki views the warning as extremely helpful advice and chooses to obey it rather than my button-pressing, rather than that the NPC is actually able to force me away.
Barboach evolves!
Whiscash is extremely territorial. Just one of these Pokémon will claim a large pond as its exclusive territory. If a foe approaches it, it thrashes about and triggers a massive earthquake.
I replace it with a goldeen.
To the gym! This time, the kecleon just runs off upon being spotted.
In the gym, I see what looks like a prettified version of the third gen puzzle. Promising enough.
Thanks to Winona, the people of Fortree can live without fear, says a picnicker. Uh…huh?
Well, the puzzles go by quickly but they’re fun. Also, I really like how the sprite hits the rotating door things if they won’t turn. That’s exactly what I mean when I push against them when they aren’t turning! Games really are getting great.
Team:
L31 Irin
L30 Judgement 
L29 Flare 
L36 Silver
L30 Saurius
L32 Tryke
Anyway, Winona is hanging out standing on her tiptoes or something.
I am Winona. I am the Leader of the Fortree Pokemon Gym. I have become one with bird Pokemon and have soared the skies… However grueling the battle, we will triumph with grace… Witness the elegant choreography of my bird Pokemon and me!
Winona… Well, she’s not Skyla, and that’s great. But comparing Ruby to Omega Ruby…
I mean, ignore the general posture. Ignore even that somehow she’s apparently battling with her back to us. Just look at the face. One of these people is doing something. Another is posing for a photographer.
Basically, Ruby Winona is to Omega Ruby Winona as actual movie stars are to lookalikes doing porn as them.
That aside the actual battle!
L33 swellow goes down to Irin, who then goes down to Winona’s L35 altaria, who gets an ice beam to the face from Silver. It roosts, delaying the inevitable. It delays the inevitable a lot.
And…Silver has the option of learning rain dance. Ooh, that’s a tough one. I really like his moveset! Mirror coat is absolutely necessary, of course. Then there’s surf and ice beam, which are also necessary in the more usual sense. Finally, aqua ring. Well, as much as I love healing it generally hasn’t been worth it to set up, and I can always use a heart scale later if I change my mind…
Silver becomes Kyogre Cultist Silver and learns rain dance.
Next is a L33 pelipper, so I send out Flare, who gets the crap beaten out of him. Tryke then tears into it with thunder fang, because Tryke is clearly the superior pokemon even if he does miss his first move. Then L33 skarmory. Tryke’s static kicks in, so that it loses out on its second turn. Before Tryke can finish it off, Winona heals its HP but not its paralysis. Full restores are for later, I guess? The skarmory manages a sand attack, then dodges the next thunder fang despite being too paralyzed to manage an attack, then dodges again and smacks him with a steel wing. Then it dodges again and uses sand attack. And again and steel wing. With an ominous thirteen HP left, Tryke finally manages to finish it off and win the battle, so let’s all coo over how much better than Flare he is.
Winona says I command pokemon with more grace than she does. Yeah, that’s how I’d describe making Flare fight a pelipper too!
I recognize your talent and present you with this Gym Badge. With the Feather Badge, all Pokemon up to Lv. 70, even those received through trades, will obey your every command.
It’s still true that it’s only traded pokemon that disobey at all, right? Because the wording continues to imply this is a consideration for pokemon in general.
You will also be able to use the HM move Fly outside of battle. And this… This is a gift from me.
It’s roost, which has been pretty annoying. Good job of featuring your TM’s usefulness, Winona!
Roost… With this move, the user can restore its HP by up to half of its max HP by landing on the ground and resting its injured body. However, the user loses its Flying-type designation during the turn, so be cautious. You won against me… I know you’ll keep aiming higher and higher! Someday, you may even fly up into the sky… That’s the impression I get from you.
…yeah, I just got the HM to do that. Not sure why you’re acting like it’s some big deal.
That guy blocking the path was just weird considering he wasn’t blocking it back in gen 3 Hoenn. Combined with making the player beat Brawly before being able to deliver the letter, I have only two conclusions:
1) They don’t actually check how many badges you have at the League anymore for some reason so have to check to make sure you have them at earlier points, or…
2) They don’t think the player will realize to go back and fight the gym leaders whose badges were optional for travel when they are missing a pair at the League and it’d be too frustrating for the kids playing the game to go back and check which gyms don’t have their name on the plaque. Winnona’s badge is the ever optional Fly and Brawly’s… I don’t think actually unlocks a field move in gen 6. In gen 3, it was Flash (which again is wholly optional). And that honestly could be solved by a simple bit of code that checks which badges are absent and tells the badge checker person at the league to say “Oh, you seem to be missing the badge from Dewford Town/Fortree City.” (Though by that point they’d be such pushovers…)
Come to think of it, this is probably why Brendan gives you Strength on the way to Mt. Chimney (though doesn’t explain his other extra appearances), since it was optional to go to the whismur cave and break the rocks there, where you pick it up in gen 3. That one I kinda get, since by the point you need strength to actually progress you’d be far removed from hints to Verdanturf Town. The forced to get a badge roadblocks however? I’d have much preferred that the League checker just have an extra “if all badges then ok to pass, else check which badges are missing and say where to get them” line in the coding.
I’d assume the one Kecleon that attacks is sick or something, so it feels threatened, I want to know Steven’s favorite stones as well, maybe their like leaf stone and dawn stone an Steven just likes shiny things and the color green, and I kind of like Winona’s new sprite, she seems almost bored which makes sense if she just prefers flying than fighting and wants to just jump and fly off.
It’s quite legitimate to see gym leaders as being less invested in battling than they are in their hobbies, since we reached the point of “I’m in the Elite Four but I’m going to talk about the books I write instead of talking about battling.”
But it raises really uncomfortable questions. If Winona finds battling boring who is making her do it? What writer wants to work in conditions where they can be interrupted at crucial moments? If you’re spectacular at battling but just want to explore could you end up being basically incarcerated in the Elite Four?
And Farla’s right that it’s hardly a triumph to beat people at a thing they aren’t at all invested in. With the more recent generations, when you compare every gym leader’s response being “Oh that was such a great battle; congratulations on being so good at beating me,” to something like Whitney’s bursting into tears, it makes it feel like the gym leaders weren’t honestly trying to defeat you. Which just raises more questions.
My thoughts were there are 8 gyms built a long time ago, when a leader retires or dies the league asks the strongest trainer around, that’s why in Red/Blue to Gold/Silver Blue was the new gym leader, he was asked to take over since he lived near by.
That was why I thought some seem really invested and some don’t, people like Whitney or Flannery wanted and enjoy being leaders, while people like Blue or Winona just either have nothing better to do or didn’t want to argue with the league, which contains the strongest trainers in a region.
“…yeah, I just got the HM to do that. Not sure why you’re acting like it’s some big deal.”
Obviously she is a member of the third cult attempting to obliterate the planet entirely, land and water and everything else, to propel the chosen ones who can survive it into the outer space.