After being invited to the PWT, I decided to head over there. Upon arrival, the VERY first thing I did was use a Heart Scale to have the move reminder teach Icy Wind to Icecap. YES! A special Ice-type attack that actually uses his good stat! Now I don’t have to use crappy physical moves here! It does have an underwhelming 55 base power though, and that’s the best I’m gonna get for a little while, but hey, I’ll take it. Anyway, I took on the PWT. Not much to comment on there, Sapphire did most of the work. And Fake Love was not doing as much with her Air Cutter as I would have liked her to, which was annoying. Afterwards, Team Plasma had the frigate parked at the dock, so we had to confront them there. Fake Love continued to disappoint me, her Air Cutter not even doing half to a Koffing that one of the grunts used. But Icecap and his new Icy Wind allowed him to do some nice damage. Anyway, after we took care of all of them, we were thrown off the boat.
I then headed to Route 6, and decided to skip the trainers because there was a Pokémon I wanted to get. Along the way, I got HM03 for Surf from Cheren, which I wasted no time in teaching to my two Water-types. And I was met with Cobalion, which was prowling about for some reason that Rood wondered of. In Chargestone Cave, I met with Bianca, and heard from some guy who was talking really fast. Then I skipped every trainer I could until I was at the basement. Before that, Bianca said she was doing research on a Pokémon named Tynamo, which she was having a hard time finding. Allow me to do the honor, shall I? Unfortunately, I was caught by a trainer with a Zebstrika…only for her to not use Spark a single time. I had Fake Love in front then switched to Bouncy, the latter of whom she used Flame Charge against. What is your problem?!?! It’s Elesa all over again, basically. Thankfully, it wasn’t long at all before I found a Tynamo, and I managed to catch it right away and named it Circuit. Sadly, it was time for me to part with Bouncy, because he didn’t have great attacking stats and I wanted to use Eelektross.
Anyway, I went through the Relic Passage, and the trainers there did have a few strong Pokémon that gave some decent EXP, but I gave the Exp. Share to Circuit, and that leeched quite a bit of EXP off, so my other team members gained noticeably less. And there were two Ace Trainers in Mistralton Cave with Axews that hit relatively hard with Dragon Claw. Before continuing, I went to the Move Relearner and taught Dark Pulse to Sapphire, because that should provide good coverage. Then it was Chargestone Cave time, and I forgot to buy more Super Repels, so I had less than ten on me, but it was enough to get me through the cave. There were some tough trainers, I'll say that right now. Anyway, I then arrived in Mistralton City. Also, when I saved my game after making it there, the time I had was 13:37. Haha.
Anyway, at Mistralton City, I met with Juniper and got the Master Ball from her, then met with the super-happy Gym Leader herself, Skyla. I checked out Mistralton City for a bit then went to Route 7. But before doing anything else, I wanted to get the Lucky Egg. However, I accidentally ran into that Nursery Aide with the Cinccino. She did use Tickle on Ashigatana, but I got the Defense drop from Razor Shell…and then she would proceed to BS Brimstone, barely making it against that and living on a tiny bit of health. Ashigatana then finished her with an Aqua Jet. Then after beating her, I got the Lucky Egg, which is just awesome. There were two Twins that used Zangoose and Seviper, which was comedic. There was also a Triple Battle with three Flying-types, but I had plenty of coverage for that. And… Icecap was faster than a dude’s Stoutland, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Then we came to the Celestial Tower. There were some tough trainers there, or at least annoying, which wasn't helped by Fake Love's missing Air Slash multiple times.
Next up was the Mistralton Gym itself! I decided to go after the trainers to get some EXP because why not. As far as those guys went, we did have a few annoying Unfezant that tried to use Detect. But then it was Gym Leader time! Also, remember how I said that her dialogue gets pretty suggestive? Yeah, I still stand by that…
This was my second try. First time, Swoobat got in some Attract shenanigans, and when Icy Wind from Icecap would have killed, I hit through Attract but missed. The Swoobat outed almost half my team right there, and I ended up with only Brimstone and Ashigatana left against Swanna. I had to go anyway, so I was in a hurry and just stopped. So here was the second go!
I began with Fake Love, my own Swoobat, against her mirror-match, because first try Sapphire wasn’t OHKO’ing with Ice Punch, even with the Expert Belt. She used Acrobatics for over half my health, while my Air Slash did around 1/3, maybe even less. She used Psychic for some reason…but it scored a critical hit, which finished me off, so hey, give or take. I went in for Icecap, and she used Attract…and I hit with Icy Wind this time, finishing it off.
Sigilyph was next. Oh dear. I stayed in, and she hit with Hypnosis. She had…Flash Cannon?! That did slightly over half my health, and I continued to snooze. I did wake up and get in an Ice Shard, however, but Glaceon’s weak physical Attack meant that it didn’t do much at all, not even 1/4. I went in for Brimstone, and she used Flash Cannon, which got me to Sturdy…only for me to miss with Rock Tomb! GAH!!! Then she finished me off. I went to Sapphire, and she used Air Cutter for less than half. Ice Punch didn’t quite kill her. She healed, and Ice Punch did around 2/3, then she used Psychic…and I lived that with 6 HP!!! That allowed me to finish her with Ice Punch.
Swanna was next and finished me with Surf, also scoring a critical hit that meant nothing. I went to Circuit. She used Surf for enough for me to survive thanks to the Eviolite (last time she OHKO’d without a crit), and paralyzed her with Thunder Wave just in case I don’t OHKO. Which it didn’t, and her Sitrus Berry didn’t help… But she got fully paralyzed!!! That allowed me to finish her with another Spark.
Skarmory was last, and she finished me with X-Scissor. With only Ashigatana left, I had to go all-out. She used Aerial Ace, which did 1/4 my health, while my Surf did JUST over half, but her Sitrus Berry got her out of KO range from another hit. Another Aerial Ace got me literally at half, while Surf got her very low (like 10% or so, not even). After juggling between whether to use Aqua Jet and risk not KO’ing, or use Surf and risk her finishing me with a critical hit… I went for the former, which did indeed finish her off. Whew!
I will say, in hindsight, I should’ve dropped Bone Rush from Sapphire for Rock Tomb, because I knew the former was gonna be completely useless in the Gym, while the latter would’ve been a huge help for that Swoobat. But no, I didn’t bother. Dang, having a -Speed nature is really showing its effect.
So I got the Jet Badge and TM62 for Acrobatics, which is nice. And as soon as I was outside, it was raining. Gah. But Skyla was right behind me, and wondered where Professor Juniper was. I followed her into the Mistralton Cargo Service and boarded her plane along with Professor Juniper and Bianca, but not without getting some nice items. Then we were in Lentimas Town. After meeting with some people who don’t know anywhere else, and one who made a callback to the Sinnoh region, we took for Reversal Mountain, where we beat two Cyclists with fast Pokémon. One had a Zebstrika that paralyzed Icecap but the other had an Unfezant, which triggered the first activation of Sapphire’s Steadfast ability so far. Very interesting. And we explored the Strange House, which does live up to its name.
I then entered the cave, and Bianca claimed she was weak, so she clung to me. Shortly after, we entered battle with two wild Woobat…one of which Circuit couldn’t OHKO with Spark despite a four level advantage. But after the battle, he leveled up, and evolved into Eelektrik! I could evolve him into an Eelektross whenever, since I have a Thunderstone, but decided not to do that just yet. This thing being able to fight reliably on its own is enough. Anyway, the trainers here in Reversal Mountain ended up EXTREMELY annoying more times than one, but we got through them. I could name some of the occasions but that'll make this already long enough post more arduous.
Anyway, there were like one or two more trainers, but they weren’t worth mentioning. As soon as I arrived in Undella Town, the first thing I did was take on Hugh. Brimstone beat Unfezant, Icecap took care of Serperior, and Circuit somehow handled the Simisear thanks to Charge Beam boosts and paralysis. Then I decided to head up to Route 13, because here’s where I plan to get my final team member. After accidentally running into an Ace Trainer who proved to be pretty annoying, I caught a Tangela named Pesto. I then used her against a couple of the Swimmers at Undella Bay, and she reached Level 40, learned AncientPower, and evolved into Tangrowth. I did decide that Fake Love would be left behind for her, at least for right now, because despite getting the TM for Psychic just before catching her (Pesto), she was definitely having problems and really testing my patience. Once I was done with those trainers, I finally traded Brimstone to get him to evolve into a Gigalith.
After that, we took to Route 14. The only trainer there worth talking about was the Triple Battle. Icecap got triple ganged up on and almost finished, but Sapphire almost OHKO’d the Lilligant with Expert Belt boosted Ice Punch, then Icecap used Icy Wind, which finished off the Lilligant, OHKO’d the Gligar, and lowered Basculin’s Speed. Then Sapphire beat the Basculin from 90% or so with a crit. The Rotation Battle was a little cumbersome, but not all too tough. As for Route 13, there were some easy trainers, some that got unlucky, and some that I beat without too many problems.
I then arrived in Lacunosa Town, where Juniper and Bianca caught up to me. After around two minutes of spamming A+B, I healed up. I will say, it is pretty cool how Drayden wrestles with his Pokémon to toughen them up. Anyway, Hugh was right there, and me and him beat Zinzolin and a random grunt in a battle that there wasn’t a lot to. At least Circuit grew to Level 43 as a result. For Route 12, I remember there being a lot of Pokémon weak to Psychic and Flying, so I decided to bring Fake Love back for right now and leave Pesto behind. She did alright there.
VIllage Bridge was next, and there were some strong trainers there but we handled them despite a few annoyances. Before going to Route 11, I beat Cobalion. Sapphire took care of that, despite me accidentally misclicking and using Ice Punch first turn. There was one trainer on Route 11 who I brought back Pesto for, as he used a Tympole and Palpitoad - perfect for her. And a Breeder who used two Flying-types that are perfect for Icecap. “If you don’t raise your Pokémon with love and care, they’ll grow up to be sad Pokémon that don’t want to battle!” Thank god I’m not doing a Nuzlocke… And I came to Virizion, who I used Pesto and Sapphire against. The latter survived Sacred Sword with 2 HP while around 4/5 or so.
Then we arrived in Opelucid City! After meeting with Iris, I decided to leave Icecap behind for a bit. Anyway, Opelucid City isn’t all that cool in B2W2 as opposed to BW, but I did get a few items. Then I took to Route 9, where there were a bunch of Roughnecks and Bikers who weren’t tough at all, but we did run into two of my favorite guys of all time… “Hey, hey! A bad one teamed up with another bad one! Do you know what that means? That means we are very bad!” I beat them, then had a look in the Shopping Mall Nine, there wasn’t a lot of significance but it was alright having a look around.
Afterwards, looking for something to do before the Gym fight, I caught a Level 35 Wailmer at Undella Bay, and named it Super Sub. Then I trained it against some Audino to get it to become a Wailord…but the catch was I waited for Level 41 to do so, so I could get Dive. I think this was the first time I actually did real grinding since before Burgh. At that point, I took to the Abyssal Ruins, and found most of the Plates there, and a lot of the treasures, but only on the first floor. I did give the treasures to the maniac in Undella Town, and that had me set on money for the rest of the game. But the main thing I came for was the Icicle Plate, which is good for Icecap since the Never-Melt Ice isn’t until post-game.
Then it was finally Gym time! I was juggling between leaving behind Fake Love, Circuit and Pesto, and chose Circuit, since he only has Electric-type attacks and Thunder Wave (at least Pesto has good physical Defense and can paralyze the opponent OR put them to sleep, whichever I so desire). I also taught Blizzard to Ashigatana for good measures. We beat the trainers, and once we were done there, after an epic clash between dragons…it was Gym Leader time!
This was my third attempt. First time things were getting to an annoying start, including a low-end damage survival, and one of my Pokémon being outed without the chance to do anything thanks to a miss and a Sp Def drop. Second time I missed a total of FOUR Blizzards, two against Druddigon with Ashigatana and two against Altaria with Icecap. So yeah, I decided to try again.
I began with Pesto against Druddigon. First two tries I had started with Brimstone, but here I wondered how helpful it would be if I led with one who can status. He used Crunch for almost 1/3 my health, but he took Rocky Helmet damage before I hit the Stun Spore and paralyzed him. I used Giga Drain, which did okay for a resisted hit (1/6 his health or so) and healed some of my health before he used Crunch and we were both brought right near half. My next Giga Drain got his Sitrus Berry to trigger, unfortunately. Another Crunch had me at 1/4 and him a little below half. I used another Giga Drain, and he got fully paralyzed. Nice! Another Giga Drain got him into the red, then he used Dragon Tail…which finished me from slightly over 1/3 with a critical hit, but he died to the Rocky Helmet.
Flygon was next, and I brought in Ashigatana. His Earth Power did JUST over half, but my Blizzard connected and OHKO’d him, and got Ashigatana to Level 46.
Altaria came afterwards. In fear of being put to sleep and/or missing, I switched to Fake Love, as he used Cotton Guard. I decided to see if she could potentially do anything, so I used Calm Mind, and he used another Cotton Guard. I used Air Slash…and still did not even 1/3. Then he hit with Sing. I snoozed and took a Dragon Pulse for almost half. But I woke up next turn and got him right near half…only for him to score a critical hit Dragon Pulse and beat me. I swear to god, Fake Love is continuing to test my patience here. I went back to Ashigatana, and he missed with Sing and allowed me to finish him with Blizzard.
Haxorus was last, and I switched to Sapphire for this. He used Dragon Dance, which is scary, but I did resist all his attacks, though we’ll see how far that gets me. He used it again, and my Ice Punch…did less than half. Uh-oh! He used another Dragon Dance, while Ice Punch got him into the red…and froze him solid!!! But his Sitrus Berry got him to the range where I was unsure if Ice Punch would finish him off. He remained frozen solid, and Ice Punch finished the job. Whew! And Ashigatana grew to Level 47.
Sorry for the massive wall of text, but I like to be descriptive and in detail. I can guarantee the next post won't be quite as long, though. Anyway, I got the Legend Badge and TM82 for Dragon Tail, which is okay but nothing I’m likely to use. That was fun. I didn't even need Icecap for that, which was interesting. He did get pretty unlucky on more than one occasion, I'll say. After I left the Gym, Drayden informed me that he was ready to tell me the story of the legendary Pokémon of the Unova region, but we’ll worry about that next time!