Last time, I got fossils!

Right then, let’s find out what the sail fossil holds.

Amaura, apparently. Looks cute and like what Serena should have. Time to reset until I get a girl.

And I get a girl on my next try! Luck favors me so much this game.

This ancient Pokemon was restored from part of its body that had been frozen in ice for over 100 million years.

Hm, well, that does fit slightly better with people talking as if they’re still alive, but in that case, shouldn’t there have been some sign the cave was cold? Also, it looks a bit powerpuff girls for my taste in this picture.

Also now I have an an aerodactyl.

It was regenerated from a dinosaur’s genetic matter that was found in amber. It flies with high-pitched cries.

To my slight disappointment, it seems you can only get aerodactyl from the old ambers. Given how easily they’re acquired, be even more fun if it just spat out a random fossil pokemon – maybe not too random, just those that’d be on land.

Let’s shift the team around again. My current crop of pokemon are nearing the L20. I’ve got zubat just hanging out getting happy off my running, so I’ll kick off another for an inkay – she’s only L15.

Current team:
Inkay L15
Fletchinder l17
Skiddo L18
Zubat L irrelevant
Ralts L19 who’s a cute exp sink, you are, yes you are!
Espurr L18

Now back because some guy wants to sky battle me and last time I didn’t have any flying types. Also, still haven’t caught a helioptile.

Huh, inkay are some weird pokemon. Tail whip boosts defense, they’ve got a move to do that stuff to their opponents too, and they’re not actually water types of any sort, and also the type they actually are is dark/psychic. Nice, designers! And the rest of the moveset is clever too – there’s swagger, which can be turned into an attack-lowering move with topsy-turvy, the move that makes other pokemon act like inkay, or you can steal that attack boost for yourself by using it followed by foul play. And all this from a silly looking pokemon.

Look at it! It looks like it’s psychic/water, maybe pure psychic since it does surprisingly show up in the grass, maybe part electric to go with the lights. At a stretch, psychic/normal since they’re handing out normal type to everyone this game. Even if you knew it was a weird type, it couldn’t be part dark because look at it! It is so silly!

And that’s how it gets you. Very nicely played, designers.

Sky battle time! He claims that his rubber suit protects him from electic moves. Really doesn’t work like that. Also, he sends out a ledian despite knowing sky battles are only going to involve flying types so the odds of someone having a flying move to crush his bug are high. (Also, either the AI is worse than usual or its only offensive move is silver wind, which is at best going to have no type advantage against any flying pokemon.) This is definitely someone who lives on the edge.

And yet, his pokemon beats my fletchinder thanks to level and knowing to keep my pokemon confused.

Then my zubat confuses it to death right back.

Finally caught helioptile! It’s…electric/normal. Okay, wasn’t expecting that, it totally seemed like it’d be electric/ground or maybe /fighting, since I often can’t make sense of what rules that one follows.

They make their home in deserts. They can generate their energy from basking in the sun, so eating food is not a requirement.

Also, you can make the rhyhorn walk backward, which is really funny.

On to the aquarium. You can’t zoom to actually look in the aquariums, unfortunately. (Unless there’s something I’m supposed to be hitting – sometimes the screen goes to a different angle in the pokemon center, which is nice, but I’m not sure if it’s just programmed to be every X times or something or if pressing the direction pad can do it.)

There are many types of Pokemon in the wider world. Solely water types are the most populous… After Normal types, of course!

Aren’t water types the most common? I know they were by a mile in the second gen. Hm. Bulbapedia agrees with me, but it’s only up to gen V. And with stuff like helioptile being half normal, maybe the scales have tipped.

And now I have an old rod! Finally. Seems to only be able to catch luvdisc.

It lives in warm seas. It is said that a couple finding this Pokemon will be blessed with eternal love.

And that’s a lot easier now that it’s this generation’s magikarp.

And now I have a dowsing machine. Wow, really handing stuff out now. I’m liking the current setup. It’s just difficult enough to make it feel like you really earned the item. Ones that are too hard to check all the time mean you miss stuff, but if it’s too easy it makes it cheap.

Also, there’s an “advanced” trainer tips thing behind a broken rock that just says that hey look you broke a rock good job. Don’t be so condescending, game.

Helioptile is getting her butt kicked. I guess I should’ve expected that, with how many I knocked out trying to catch one. And she doesn’t have any strong attacks right now either – thundershock is not cutting it as we approach the L20s.

Well, to the next city! The one I’ve been seeing from below all this time and that seemed so much bigger.

First building has people telling me about trading, and a guy who gives me a “whipped dream” and says some pokemon like it. Okay…? Next has more people telling me about trading, including the bit about being able to write the name you want in manually. Also I get a bike by walking into a bike store. And there’s someone who gives pokemon massages, but happiness evolution seems pretty easy as it is.

At the pokecenter, some idiot is willing to trade a steelix for a luvdisk. Don’t know why it’s not an onix+steel coat to illustate the holding items thing. Also, just kind of dumb since they’re apparently the most common thing around. And it’s named Thumper for some reason.

Then more poetry:

So many lives were lost–both man and ‘mon.
It seemed a night that ne’er would bring dawn.
No beauty, no joy in those days of yore.
Only the pain of parting was in store
For victims of the ancient Kalos war.

Well, that’s less awful than last time. Have a small tip.

Beyond, someone’s selling soda pop for 300 not-yen. You can buy a dozen at once. Can pokemon open cans yet?

Then someone quizzes me and gives me some berries for getting it right, then gives me a strategy to use in double battles. See, this is the proper way to dole out information, not stupid cutscenes where you talk to the other NPCs.

Pokemon are good at some things, and humans are good at other things. If we come together and combine our strengths, we can achieve great things!

That sounds reasonable. I like the part where it’s not followed by saying pokemon built the house as an example. Also look, humans and pokemon and not people and pokemon!

Sleep and sleep talk TMs! And I got yet another o-power, this time for prize money. That’s really awesome except I’ve got lots of money already.

And there’s a cafe where you have to pay money to enter, and you get to talk to people who show you pokemon, and also there’s some juice you don’t see.

Gym leader gave strength TM, also apparently there are bike races.

Also, my berries need harvesting.

And I can’t pass up the chance to punch rich people for money, though I make sure to swap my team around first. Also, the earl guy I’m fighting has a L25 rhydon I don’t think that’s legal. Can you buy early evolution?

Ledyba to ledian.

When the stars flicker in the night sky, it flutters about, scattering a glowing powder.

And combee to vespiquen who’s looking more buglike than I recall in a single fight.

It houses its colony in cells in its body and releases various pheromones to make those grubs do its bidding.

But also it commands non-grubs, right? Grubs aren’t too useful all by themselves.

And now ralts too. I should probably get a boy ralts and raise that as well.

The cheerful spirit of its Trainer gives it energy for its psychokinetic power. It spins and dances when happy.

And doduo to dodrio.

An enemy that takes its eyes off any of the three heads–even for a second–will get pecked severely.

Zubat to golbat…

Once it bites, it will not stop draining energy from the victim even if it gets too heavy to fly.

…to crobat.

It flies so silently through the dark on its four wings that it may not be notices even when nearby.

Hey, bagon! I know who’s getting dumped in the daycare next!

Its well-developed neck muscles and iron-like head can smash boulders to pieces.

Axew. Huh, seems there are a lot of rare pokemon you can miss in areas.

They use their tusks to crush the berries they eat. Repeated regrowth makes their tusks strong and sharp.

Hm, let’s see if I can get a serviper.

While I was trying to get a serviper, I ran into some taillow!

It has a gutsy spirit that makes it bravely take on tough foes. It flies in search of warm climates.

But serviper continues to elude. I almost managed to get it, but then the one surviving zangoose killed it with a quick attack. This is frustrating yet fun! I may be ridiculously overleveled, I may have swapped out two teams, but this avails me naught when trying to catch this poor snake.