[Gen 5] First time going through Pokémon Black

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Hi! I haven't really posted much on here yet, but I figured, why not try to post more by having a journal? I wanted to do a journal, but since I didn't join this site until after I was already finished Violet, I didn't really have many Pokémon games that I didn't own (I don't know where my GBA charger is, so the only option of Pokémon Leafgreen is out). But, I was finally able to find a good deal on Pokémon Black, as I had missed out on the first game of the gen because of rough times. I have played White 2, but I didn't pick too many Gen 5 Pokémon on that run (half of my Pokémon were gen 5 at least), so I wanted to try to see how it'll go with only being able to use Gen 5 Pokémon. Let's go! (even though I have never even played Let's Go XD)

Chapter 1: How can things be rough and also way too lucky at the same time?

After debating between picking a Snivy again or Oshawott, I decided to go with the adorable Oshawott. I start the first match… and get critted immediately…

So, starting over (I didn't want to start with a loss), I beat Bianca and Cheren (I love how you can interact with the Wii and see that there's no scratches on it, but your poor bed), and head out. I check in on Cheren's and Bianca's home, then head to Professor Juniper's lab. I get to name my Oshawott, so I name him Ryoma, after the famous samurai and the characters in Live a Live and Fire Emblem Fates. We get the Pokedex, and I try to save… only to realize that this was the gen where you needed to clear the save data first, as you can start a new game but not save over the old one….

So… After another reset and needing to go through the Bianca and Cheren fight again (multiple times. No idea why Oshawott just kept losing to Tepig, either by not dealing enough damage or crits), I finally get to save the game with Ryoma the Oshawott. We head out Route 1 together (I do think the taking steps together was cute), and we go through the obligatory catch tutorial. I catch 2 Pokemon on this route, special mention being Peppy the Lillipup with the Pickup ability. After wasting 3 pokeballs on one stubborn Patrat, I was off to Accumula Town.

After exploring the area and getting a free Pokeball from one of the houses (and seeing Team Plasma saying they need to get ready, I was wondering what stops you from continuing), I finally get the Pokemon Center tutorial over with. After that, Team Plasma's speech finally happens, and I get my first encounter with N. It was Ryoma vs his Purrloin… and Ryoma got a crit on Purrloin (oops, that kinda killed any tension XD). N goes off, and now I can head out of Accumula Town.

With finally getting the running shoes (I'm glad it doesn't take too long to get them), I head through Route 2. I catch Uso the Purrloin, and started leveling up Peppy, as I planned on using Peppy for the upcoming gym battle. I am surprised by Bianca challenging me before I get into town when Ryoma was not at full HP, but fortunately I win the fight without any problems.

Now in Striaton City, I pick up some Great Balls and a Dusk Ball (man, it's crazy that they give you one so early!). I head into the trainer's school, as the gym leader is apparently there… No, they're not. Instead, Cheren fight, where I was surprised Snivy was sent out first when I thought it would be his Purrloin, as I had my Oshawott out… Though at least the 2-level gap I had over his Snivy helped me out.

With that, now I can go into the gym… Though first to be told to train in the Dreamyard (I wish I could, but I can't get to the grass yet, so I only have the couple trainers there…). I pick up my free Pansear, Burn, who I more kept as a backup for the boss battle. I go into the gym and battle the 2 trainers, with a Patrat knocking out my Oshawott through misjudged hit range (man, don't underestimate them). Once they are fought, I train up my Oshawott and my Lillipup to 14.

While training, Pickup finally triggers, and I get a nice Escape Rope. Pretty expected. Though what really surprised me was when, right in front of the gym leader, I got a Hyper Potion (I think Peppy is nervous about the battle if she's giving me that, but that's very overkill). So, with quite a few potions, and one hyper potion I doubt I'll use anytime soon, time for the gym battle.

Ryoma takes on the Lillipup, making Cilan use up his potion early, which is reassuring. Ryoma gets to a little over half health, but I didn't plan for using Oshawott against Pansage for obvious reasons. With that, Peppy the Lillipup is sent up against Pansage. I got nervous, seeing Pansage use Work Up to boost its attack, wondering if it'll be too strong for my Lillipup… only for Peppy to crit hit for over half of Pansage's health. After one Vine Whip, which didn't even take half of Peppy's HP, the Pansage was down. Very anticlimactic, but I'll take it XD.

Now I can finally talk to Fennel, and finally get Cut, which goes on the Patrat, at least for now. We meet Bianca after chopping down the tree (Does she have Cut? No idea. Though this game isn't too bad for not having cut most of the time at least), and chase after the mysterious noise, to see Team Plasma beating up Munna. We fight, it going fast given the trainers only had 1 Pokémon each (and the Purrloin was crit KO'd immediately, so really went fast). Musharna tricks them away with multiple Ghetsis illusions (Which I would think is obvious, given that 3 of them appear, but ok I guess), so team Plasma run off, saying too much about their boss. Musharna leaves behind Dream Mist (as a Pokeball item, so even the wild Pokémon leave all their items in Pokeballs, huh), so quest done.

I leave Dreamyard Pokémon catching for later, as I want to get to the next route and catch my actual second team member (Peppy will stick around as backup/pickup). I do all the Preschool battles, and get interrupted before getting to the new Pokémon by Cheren. So after Peppy 1 hit KO'd Snivy, we now have to chase after Plasma because they stole a Pokémon (man they're busy, I just saw them a few min. ago). I pick up a Super Potion in the grass, encountering and catching a Pidove just because I must catch every Pokémon I see that I don't have, even in games where I'm not even trying to complete the Pokedex (playing my Nuzlocke was rough, as I just wanted to catch them all). I rush past all grass and enter the cave, as I really want to start encountering for my team members.

In Wellspring Cave, my first encounter is Myrrh the Woobat, named after the FE Dragon, who I am thinking of using, or at least will give a trial run. Second one is my actual target, Alcryst the Roggenrola, (FE Engage this time) who was easy to weaken and catch due to Sturdy. Alcryst even had an Everstone, which I will give to Peppy when grinding her up. Grabbing Myrrh and Alcryst from the PC, I actually go do the fight in Wellspring cave, sending out Alcryst for his first battle. The Patrat used Bide, and I did hit it, but fortunately Alcryst couldn't be 1-hit KO'd, and Patrat wasted its next attack with Leer, so Alcryst wins. Now for the double battle, I swap Alcryst for Myrrh, to let her have a shot… only to then realize "oh right, Patrat have Bite…" So, Myrrh died to the second bite, as I wanted to test my luck… Oof XD. Ryoma finishes off the second Patrat (Cheren took out the first, which was being annoying with Detect), and we finally get the stolen Pokémon back.

I decide now to go back to catch the Dreamyard Pokemon, as it felt wrong to go do that when a kid's Pokemon was stolen (never mind how I went back to town to pull out Woobat and Roggenrola, shh). I go back to Route 3, and try giving Myrrh a better debut battle… Only for it to be a Blitzle the next trainer sends out… Ouch. The next battle she gets revenge on Patrat, with some help, so at least she got her vengeance/better introductory battle. We grind up a bit, with Ryoma evolving into Dewott, before reaching Nacrene City, where we pick up the Mystic Water before stopping for the night.


So far, I'm having quite a lot of fun. I do like how important the journey feels, and I am glad that I can finally actually use a trade evo, so I'm excited for when Alcryst gets to become a Gigalith. Not sure on if I should trade him as soon as he becomes a Boldore, given that it may be a little overboard to get Gigalith stats immediately after Roggenrola, though I really love Gigalith's design (I'm a rock/precious stones collector, so I've always wanted to use this line). When do people normally do trade evolutions?

Main party members:

Ryoma the now Dewott
Alcryst the Roggenrola
Myrrh the Woobat
Peppy the Lillipup (mostly just for pickup)

Pokemon caught this time that aren't on the team:
Ray the Patrat
Uso the Purrloin
Burn the Pansear
Quill the Pidove
Yumi the Munna (yes, I know dream in Japanese is Yume, but I think Yumi sounds cute)
Kiki the Audino

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Alright. Back to Pokémon, now that I have beaten Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (though I still have other games to play XD).

Chapter 2: Staring at Rocks While Relying on One
Heading to Pinwheel Forest (or at least, the area outside of the forest. Team Plasma just like blocking routes when they should really be concerned about being seen and overheard…), I catch some Pokémon and start leveling up. I catch a few fighting types, though I'm holding out on that for a later one (I bet people can guess which one), so I'll use another strategy. I even go back to Route 3 to get a Pokémon I missed… Who really ate through my Pokéballs. Oof. Though, I guess my Lillipup wanted to make it up for me losing those Pokéballs, as she ended up picking up a Nugget! (So, upgraded to Great Balls easily, thank you Peppy)

When I got my team Pokémon up to Level 18/19, I decide to go deal with the gym trainers… Only to then encounter N who expected my Pokémon to be around level 13… Oops. He even sent out his Pidove out first when I had my Roggenrola out… So, that battle was also not hard (I don't intend on having such easy time with these N fights. Oops XD). He mentions Zekrom and dashes away. Well, time for the museum tour!

I do like the fact that the gym starts off with a museum, seeing fossils, a meteorite, and a white stone that they say isn't special, but I want anyways (again, Rock Collector, the White Stone looks cool). Course, I can't get it yet, so I guess I'll go to the gym… Though, I'm definitely glad to see Armaldo in the museum (my favourite Fossil Pokémon). The part of me that wanted to be an archaeologist is happy with this cute small museum.

The Gym battles went fine. The puzzles were cute, and the fights weren't too hard. I forgot to check if my Pokémon can use Rock Smash before doing the gym trainers, but my Roggenrola was able to take them on due to its high defence (I usually use faster Pokémon, so it is interesting trying out a more defensive one). I head back out to get my other 2 team Pokémon up to level 20. During all this training, my Lillipup gave me multiple Antidotes (She really took that Nurse's warning about enemies inflicting poison to heart), and a full heal (she at least didn't forget about the other statuses). Though right as I got back in town, she ended up picking up a Revive… Man Peppy really wants to prepare for fights ahead of time.
Teaching my Roggenrola Rock Smash before Lenora's battle, I use it to lower the Herdier's defence, leading the following Rock Blast to take it down. I switch to Dewott to face the Watchog, who survives the first Retaliate, and crits hit the Watchog to almost red. Though Watchog heals, and I misjudged how strong the second Retaliate would be. Nevertheless, Alcryst the Roggenrola finishes the fight, though in 2 extra hits (yeah, I'm not keeping Rock Smash forever XD).

Immediately after the fight, Team Plasma stole the obvious Dragonite Skull, so Lenora asks Burgh and I to go to the forest (Finally!). I go in, and try to rush to the grass… only for a double battle and a Team Plasma fight first… Can never just go to the grass immediately. But once I can get to the grass, I immediately skip the next trainer fights to grind for party member number 4… Who came after I got 1 of every other Pokémon I could get in the area. Though I was definitely relieved when I finally found her, my new Venipede Mareeta (FE Tharacia, about a character that at first hurts your party because she's possessed by a sword, then controls the sword and uses it to help, which I equate to Venipede's poison). I have only been trying out poison types more recently, so I want to give this one a go.

Mareeta's first battle, against the next Team Plasma grunt, was more of a stalling game, letting the enemy's health go down by poison and using protect to stall. Not the most honourable win, but hey, she got the experience XD. We catch another Cottonee, as I traded the first one when I went back for Mareeta, and then head further in. The battles drag on a bit while Venipede only had Poison Sting… so I was glad to see that Poison Tail came early.

After some long battles and going back and forth to either heal or pick up a party member, I catch up to the Team Plasma Grunt that the other ones tried to buy time for (How much more time do they need? I haven't been speedy…). I succeed in getting the skull back (kinda a creepy thing to have in your bag for a while…), and a old man named Gorm appears, says that the obvious Dragonite skull isn't a legendary, and introduces himself as one of the Seven Sages of Team Plasma when the 2 gym leaders catch up. They escape (Burgh, I thought you said you were going to block the exit… Good job). We give back the Dragon Skull to Lenora immediately, with no chance to move around (was it even in the bag? Why even mention it being in the Key Items bag if we can never see if it is indeed there? I want to know if anyone has actually looked in the data to see if it was there at all) and can now head to Castelia City.

Crossing the really long bridge (I get that it looks good, and fits New York, but how many times do people actually travel across this bridge after the first time?), I enter the large city. I decide to explore some of the docks before stopping for the night, picking up a Fire stone for my Simisear and stopping to save next to the totally not suspicious black boat.

Team Members:
Ryoma the Dewott
Alcryst the Roggenrola
Myrrh the Woobat
Mareeta the Venipede
Peppy the Lillipup/team medic apparently, based on how she wants to be the most prepared

Caught Pokemon:
Timothy the Timburr
Penelope the Tympole
Shawn the Sawk
Bolt the Blitzle
Leif the Sewaddle
Fluff the Cottonee (traded for Lillil the Petilil)
Colleen the Cottonee

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Chapter 3: The Big City (Too Big?)
Now I get to explore Poké New York. I've only ever been in Vancouver before, so I'm not used to big towns like this.
So, first off, I had to get a dance crew together, though I kinda wish their Pokémon got to dance with them, given that they have the full monkey Pokémon set. Though I definitely will not complain about getting an Amulet Coin, though not sure who'll use it yet… Well, I got more city to explore, things to do.
I explore some random buildings, going into a café that gave me Lemonade (shouldn't I have to pay for that? Not sure how that café runs…), entering a party with people from different countries (too bad I'm rusty on my French, and none of them spoke Japanese, so I didn't know what they said), and decided to change Myrrh's name to Embla, as I remembered that there was actually a bat-themed character in Fire Emblem (whoops. Well, better late than never XD). I even got an Eviolite because of my Pokédex, just in time for the gym. I then decide to go catch the new Pokémon up ahead before exploring the rest of the area…
Though, I was only able to catch a Sandile right away, as I kept critting the other Pokémon (oof). I get in a battle with a trainer that causes confusion to knock out my starter, and where Lillipup just had to take enough recoil to knock herself out (oof again). So, I checked out more of the city while on my way back. I see that a Harlequin in the art museum wanted to see a fire type, so I go pick up Burn, while using this opportunity to evolve Yumi and Burn, since I now have their stones. I get a free Chesto Berry from it (I definitely don't need Pecha with how many Antidotes Peppy gave me).
Going back on Route 4, I immediately find the healing house I could have used instead of going all the way back… (oof). Moving past that, I get into a battle with a Roggenrola that decreased my Accuracy 3 times before I could knock him out (mixed with sandstorm, you can tell this wasn't the funnest battle). After finding so many Sandiles, and then so many Darumakas after finally catching one, I finally get a second chance at my 5th party member, Caspar the Scraggy (FE Three Houses this time), a fitting Pokemon to cover some of my Pokemon's weaknesses, taking into account who party number 6 will be… (Plus, got to represent Dark types!)
With 5th party member caught, and the rest of the town explored, it's time to train. Caspar's first battle, against a wild Darumaka, helped me see how strong he is, but also how fragile, so I'll need to account for that (good thing I got that Eviolite for any battles he needs to be in!). While grinding, Mareeta evolved into a Whirlipede, and finally got Bug Bite, so that's nice. After getting Caspar to level 19, I head back to town and head to the gym… only to see that Burgh had to leave right after fighting Cheren (Did he only just learn about Team Plasma being in town right after Cheren left, because Cheren didn't bring it up at all, so when did this happen?).
We end up going to the dock with the totally not evil looking boat, and we find out that Bianca was the latest target, with Iris dedicated to keeping Bianca safe. The Team Plasma jerk got greedy and came back for more, but ran away, giving away that they were staying in the building across from the gym (I do appreciate that they say it was the sake of comedic irony, but you can clearly go into the building earlier and not see anyone there. They're really good at hiding XD). Caspar gets a better battle now that he's not getting pelted with Sandstorm, and we get past the guards. Ghetsis does the whole "pretend to be honourable and right" thing, giving back Bianca's Munna Munny (I love the name, but maybe that's because my Kingdom Hearts side is reminded of what money is called in that game XD). I do like that Burgh challenges Ghetsis on the whole "bringing out the best in Pokémon" thing, as it's cool to see people taking those words to heart, even if Ghetsis clearly has ulterior motives. Though I do think that just letting them go was not the best move, but whatever.
Now for the gym! I use this as an opportunity to level up Caspar, and fortunately he did finally get to level 20 and learn an actual fighting type move. The gym trainers weren't too hard, as I had so many bug counters or counters for their secondary types. By the time I reached the gym leader, most of my team was 22, except Mareeta at 23 and Caspar at 20, though I wasn't planning on Caspar being used in this fight. My Woobat also had enough friendship at level 22 for her to evolve into a Swoobat, so that will definitely help (I always seem to have an easier time grinding for friendship on bats XD).
I heard so many stories about how tough this gym match can be… But Burgh didn't even damage my Pokémon. His Whirlipede had a chance to attack my Swoobat, but it used Screech instead of the dark type move that I know it has (why?). The Dwebble was knocked out immediately by Ryoma (I thought it was supposed to have Sturdy. I guess not…). As for Leavanny, it used string shot, and then it was just cycling through potions until Swoobat got a high damage roll, knocking Leavanny out. Well, that was anti-climatic XD.
With that, I get a call from Bianca, who wants to battle in the gatehouse before Route 4 (I find it so cute that she learned from the room incident and actually asks if battling inside is allowed). Caspar ate away at Bianca's Super Potion stash while fighting the Herdier, Ryoma knocks out Pignite immediately, Mareeta took on the Pansage and easily won, and Caspar takes on the Munna. It wasn't too hard, though I don't really think she would have had much time to train with Iris if I immediately went to the gym and came out so soon after Munna was returned, so I guess it makes sense. It's good to see that the whole Munna thing didn't make her regret going on the journey, and good that she's still going even if she doesn't win against her friends.
I head to Route 4 after, and spot Cheren pretty quickly… Why didn't we contact him to tell him what happened? He could have helped with the Munna situation if he was still in the area. Either way, we beat him, with Alcryst taking on the Pidove, Embla taking on Servine, and Caspar taking on the Panpour and Liepard (I can't wait till I can counter water types…). With that, we can now head to the next town… But of course, we go to the desert resort instead!
Trekking through route 4, I get the TM for dig, which will definitely help coming up. That goes on Scraggy, as the only other team member option, Dewott, shouldn't be going up against Electric types, and has other ways to counter fire and rock. Nothing too rough, more just dealing with sandstorm and any trainers I couldn't get to before.
The desert resort outside area isn't too hard, as by the time I got there, my team members are 22 and up. It's more annoying dealing with the sandstorm, and Roggenrola isn't fast enough to reliably run away… But I have to go for the encounters, as I need to go get grab a Maractus… That I only remembered existed when one of the trainers used one (oops XD). At least I find a Maractus without too much trouble, with trouble mostly coming from 2 rangers in the outside area and 1 psychic that kept inflicting burn on me. But grinding goes well, and I even level up Peppy so that she'll pick up better items.
Inside of the Desert Resort building, it starts off with a rough battle against a Sigilyph (don't underestimate them), but we win, after annoying strategies and damage ranges. I end up accidentally pressing A to the cover fossil, but I wasn't planning on using either of the fossils in this run, so it doesn't really matter. I started wondering if I would only find Sandiles in the floors I could access, but I do find a Yamask quickly at least. After that, every Pokemon I encounter was Yamask (funny how it happens like that).
Heading out, I realized that I never caught a Sigilyph for myself, realizing that I got a Maractus before a Sigilyph even appeared outside of a trainer battle… Weird…. And then I found out Dwebble was here (Man, I do not remember the Resort Pokémon as well as I thought). After encountering 3 Maractus first (I thought this Pokémon was infamous for being rare to encounter, it doesn't feel like it), I finally find a Sigilyph, but oh boy, this guy didn't want to get into the ball. So many balls wasted, just to catch this jerk that tried to whirlwind me away multiple times. So many shakes 3 times, to look like it might just work this time… Nope. I only had 1 Great Ball and 2 Net Balls left over when I finally caught him… Ouch. But finally I can leave!
With an uneventful trip back to Route 4 to head to Nimbasa, I find Professor Juniper and Cheren, who I forgot I was supposed to go meet (It felt like Sandile and Sigilyph were the only thing on my mind). Fortunately, Juniper gave me 10 Ultra Balls, so that at least helped fill the space made by that Sigilyph. Cheren goes back to catch Pokémon he missed, while I was just happy to finally get to the new town.
Stepping into town, immediately I spot Team Plasma attacking the Day-Care Man. Having to fight a Watchog that put my Scraggy to sleep, I thought it was going to be an annoying fight after that rough one, but fortunately Shed Skin kicked in. Team Plasma literally give away that they're going to hide in the Amusement Park (That's a dead end. Why did you think that was a good idea?), and the Day-Care Man thanks me with a bike! Finally! Biance walks past me, but this was enough for one night, so I'll go check on her later…

Team Members:
Ryoma the Dewott
Alcryst the Roggenrola
Embla (formerly Myrrh) the now Swoobat
Mareeta the now Whirlipede
Caspar the Scraggy
Peppy the Lillipup

Pokemon Caught/Evolved:
Dust the Sandile
Yumi the now Musharna
Burn the now Simisear
Darling the Darumaka
Mary the Maractus
Cleo the Yamask
Dwebbie the Dwebble
Jay the annoying Sigilyph

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

I don't know if anyone is really reading this, but I'm having fun, so let's continue!

Chapter 4: Fun at the Amusement Park, and the Power of Crystals!
Ah, Nimbasa City. I go get Strength, and a soothe bell to help with my new Return TM (That'll help with a Pokémon I plan to get later). I try to go to Route 5, but Bianca goes all "you need to check out the Musicals!" I'm forced to dress up a Pokémon, so I pick Embla the Swoobat… only to realize that she couldn't really use that many of the accessories (sorry girl. You're cute to me). After that, I use the Sun Stone I got in town to evolve Lillil into a Lilligant (just because). I step outside, and see Bianca with her dad, and Elesa standing up for Bianca wanting to travel, which is a cute scene. She tells me to go to the gym… But first, the nearby routes!

I get to catching new Pokémon, even in the dark grass. Peppy almost gets 1-Hit Ko'D when I swapped her out to try to catch a Liepard, as it used Pursuit, but she survived with just 1 HP (She's very determined!). During fighting the trainers on the route, Alcryst evolved into a Boldore. As soon as he evolved, I immediately went to the Pokemon Center. Using my copy of White 2, I get Boldore evolved, as I figured, this isn't a challenge run, so let's just have fun and use Gigalith immediately! I even give my Black copy a Solosis by trading Colleen the Cottonee, so I have more covered!

I decide to go to the Battle Subway, just to go to Anville Town, though I do get the Vs. Recorder by a random stranger (just gave me one and left. Huh). No trades I can do today (I visited on a Sunday, just nothing I could trade), but the depot guy does give me a Rare Candy, and the music is nice, so the trip was not wasted. With that done, I go to face the other trainers on Route 5 that I skipped to get a Gigalith, now with so much power! Alcryst's first Gigalith battle ended up annoying because a Blitzle caused him to miss 2 turns because of Paralysis, but he took out both Blitzles immediately. I even took out a Sigilyph in one hit, which is satisfying after how much trouble the last Sigilyph gave me.

With Route 5 done, given I can't cross a raised bridge, I figured it was time to go to the Amusement Park, as I knew N would be there. With that, I get to go on a Ferris Wheel ride, with him pretending it's to scope out the park to try to find those team Plasma grunts I forgot headed here. Really, he just wanted to tell me in secret that he's Team Plasma's King, as well as distract me so those guys I had forgotten about could get away (really didn't need to, they could have just slipped by while I did everything else). We battle, with N now having the Team Plasma name and logo. I had my Whirlipede out first, so I was worried she would get knocked out by Sandile, but it only used Embargo, so she knocked it out in 1 hit with Bug Bite. Ryoma came out to fight Darumaka, no trouble there. Embla fortunately outsped the Scraggy and dodged a Stagger, so fortunately didn't have trouble there. Lastly, Alcryst comes out once again to make sure Sigilyph didn't give me anymore trouble (I don't know how long it'll take for me to not be so annoyed with Sigilyphs XD). He then challenges me to get to the Champion first and stop him. Things are getting tense… Let's just go to Route 16 to cool things off.

Training on Route 16 goes well, though man the trainers just kept being ones that Whirlipede didn't like, which sucks when she's in front. I even stop by Lostlorn Forest, though I can't do much here yet, and that woman in the rv camper won't talk to me without event Pokémon. Though not like I was going to use the secret Pokémon here, given I used one in White 2, so I don't mind missing the opportunity right now.

After checking that there were only 2 trainers in Big Stadium and Small Court combined, I grind up my Pokémon to level 27 on the routes… Forgetting about the trainers before the gym leader (oops xD). But now it was time to go fight those electric types! Alcryst leads the team, holding the Amulet Coin after the second trainer. With him having Mud Slap and all the Emolga in the gym, he was an easy electric counter. Though Caspar the Scraggy also helped out, as he knew dig, good against Blitzle. I get to the gym leader without that much trouble (the only annoying thing was paralysis).

I had Alcryst out first, to deal with the Emolgas. The first one Volt Switched, as expected, so the second one was taken out with Smack Down. I had used Smack Down again, but the first Emolga used Volt Switch again, so the attack hit the Zebstrika, taking it down to half. Zebstrika used Spark, but wasn't able to bring Alcryst even down to red before the next Smack Down, though it did paralyze him. The first Emolga returned, and did one last Volt Switch, bringing Alcryst down to red, but Alcryst uses his newly learned Rock Slide to take it down, winning the fight without even using Scraggy's Dig.

I head to Route 5 to continue, though buy a couple TMs and items first with the money I won in that gym. Cheren stops me just outside the route, as I guess it was time for another match. His Liepard was not ready for my Whilipede Mareeta (he said he was surprised to see me use a bug type move on a dark type. Weird). Alcryst shows off his strength against flying type Tranquill (though not actually using the move Strength XD). For Panpour, I just send out Embla, who got lucky with a crit and knocked it out immediately. Finally, Mareeta deals with Servine, as it really couldn't do too much against her, though he does stall her out with leech seed and mega drain. With that, the rival match is done!

Elesa catches us after the match, finding our friendship cute. Before she can lead us to the Driftveil bridge though, we get spotted by Alder, who I am still surprised isn't a fire type trainer with that hair of his. Alder tries to school Cheren on focusing on more than just getting stronger, by making us battle against 2 preschoolers (at least Cheren healed me before the fight, that was nice). The Herdiers… really did not like Cheren's Pokémon, as it kept using Take Down on them, with only one Take Down hitting my Pokémon because of Cheren's Pokémon being knocked out by the first attack. Oof, but hey, I won't complain. He congratulates the kids for having fun in the match, bringing up how different ways of thinking are to be encouraged, and to really think about what your goal is, though Cheren won't be getting that bit of character development just yet. With that though, Elesa gets the drawbridge pulled down (why was it just perpetually up? That doesn't seem good for business….). Well, let's get crossing!

Driftveil bridge is at least not as long as that last bridge, and there are actually things to do on it. I catch the only encounter after finding 2 feathers. We then enter the town of great music, finding Clay complaining to Cheren about team Plasma getting away when he lowered the bridge, and makes us deal with them (maybe you should have thought of a different way to keep them imprisoned). Well, now to go do everything else before Team Plasma, but that's for next chapter XD.

Team members:
Ryoma the Dewott
Alcryst the now Gigalith
Embla the Swoobat
Mareeta the Whirlipede
Caspar the Scraggy
(Peppy wasn't really in the party this time, as I needed a Pokémon with cut…)

Caught/evolved Pokemon:
Lillil the now Lilligant
Trey the Trubbish
Glory the Gothita
Leia the Liepard
Minnie the Minccino
Sally the Solosis (traded from my White 2 during evolving my Boldore into Gigalith) Colleen the Cottonee was traded to keep Sally.
Peace the Tranquill
Cott the Cottonee (to replace Colleen)
Duke the Ducklett

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Chapter 5: Cold, dirt and static. What a weird trio
So, instead of dealing with Team Plasma like I was told to, I head straight to Route 6. I have a good reason to, don't worry XD. After catching the other Pokémon in the area, and only finding the wrong gender version for the nickname I wanted, I finally caught my 6th party member, Leo the Deerling (named after the Fates Conquest character, who uses nature themed magic and was always riding a horse). I pick up my Deerling, and rush to the Season Institute to get the current season's form registered, as it was 2 days before the next month when I caught him XD. Best to not have to wait 4 more months.
I turn the game back on once it became August, so the season is now Winter (I mean, August where I live is more early fall, but that's ridiculous XD). After turning in the Deerling for the month (Winter is my favourite of the Deerling/Sawsbuck line), I head back to town, as I needed to heal after some matches. First house I go into, the girl asks if I could show her a Pokémon who knew the move Return. Given I bought that TM specifically for Deerling, it was the best time to teach him the move, getting a heart scale in trade. All the TVs in town called out how I didn't leave any Pokémon in the Day Care or the GTS (sorry, I might have if it was open). I also try out one of the few times Rotation Battle exists in the franchise…. Poor battle style…. Also, one of Charles' Pokémon was knocked out by hail because I am playing this in August… oof. Before going to cold storage, I got to train up Leo on Route 6, and even catch a Vanillite there XD.
Once Deerling was almost level 27, time for Cold Storage… Where he accidentally knocked himself out with Jump Kick (oops). Once I cleared out the outside, we go into the cold building, where Team Plasma decided to hide out in there despite the name literally warning them that they would freeze. Cheren leaves me alone to do most of the battling and ice puzzles, only catching up at the end (he probably cheated somehow XD). Cheren tells me to deal with the left half, but technically he makes me do 1 more than he faces, given that I doubt he fought the guy that was behind one of the other grunts. Clay comes into to finish the job that he forced us to do.
I grind up my Whilipede up on the route, as I wanted her to be caught up, but do not plan to use her in the ground-type gym for obvious reasons. With that, I finally get her strong enough to evolve into a Scolipede! I tried repelling to get an Audino to appear, but Emolga appeared instead (I had thought the route didn't have Emolga, so good thing it randomly appeared so I could catch it xD). Swoobat was next, but ended up in 2 annoying Audino matches, with both using Attract, and one even using Secret Power to make Swoobat sleep, which was annoying enough with attract making my attacks miss. No rustling bushes appeared when I was repel tricking for Scraggy, so I had to level him up normally… with a rustling bush appearing while I was not using repels (of course).
With that, I decide to go to the gym to train up Deerling and Sawsbuck. I watch Ghetsis just walk up and take the guys we helped captured with him (because of course it's fine if he does it willingly, but if we accidentally cause it through no real fault to us, then he gets mad at us. Huh…). Getting past that, the gym goes fine but slow, with Deerling taking out almost every Pokémon, just with Grass Knot and Leech Seed… Yeah… I had to finish leveling up Deerling and Dewott outside of the gym, but it didn't take that long at least, fortunately.
For the gym battle, the Krokorok was the most annoying, as it slowed down my Deerling after he used Leech Seed, then used Swagger. Any Grass Knots I got in didn't knock it out, so both Hyper Potions of Clay's were used up here. He even used Torment so I had to switch things up with Return, annoyingly… After that, Excadrill came out, who died to one Hi Jump Kick to Scraggy (I wanted to just try to get rid of it immediately, and fortunately that did happen). Leo the Deerling came back for Palpitoad, who didn't do any damage to him, and thus wins the battle. At least the other 2 Pokémon weren't as annoying XD.
I heal up and head back to Route 6 to meet Clay there… Only to once again get a Bianca battle (At least these battles don't have 6 Pokémon yet, as otherwise the amount of them would get annoying). Herdier is taken out by my Deerling since he was out front, the starter match of Dewott vs. Pignite went how ost people would expect, Swoobat came out to deal with Pansage, and Scraggy took on Musharna. No real trouble here. But she finally gives me FLY! YES! Finally, I no longer need to cross bridges to go back to old towns.
With Fly, I go back to Nuvema Town, to finally let Professor Juniper see my Pokédex. 66 Pokémon seen, so I get False Swipe (good for someone like me that tries to catch everything) and Protect (which Mareeta the Scolipede already knew but could be useful). Still confused about how I have never found the Exp. Share in this game, I look it up, and see that I missed it back in Castelia City, in the one building I didn't go into because I thought it was a post game or later on challenge, the Battle Facility. Oops XD. As you can guess, the battles were easy, but I did get some Quick Balls, Timer Balls, a Revive, and a Scope Lens at least. I beat the president of the Battle Facility, get the Exp. Share, and head back to Route 6. I pick up Bulldoze, and teach it to Alcryst so that my Gigalith can have an actually good ground type move, instead of Mud Slap…
I enter Chargestone Cave, encountering N and the Shadow Triad (who walked me towards him, even though there was no way I could walk further into the cave without passing him by anyways, so kinda unnecessary). He tells me that Ghetsis has been gathering information about me and the rivals (does N not realize that that is kinda creepy for someone to do?), and says I'll see more of Team Plasma later before heading further in. With that, I follow him, and find a dust cloud… only for the cutscene where Bianca and Juniper come into the cave to prevent me from getting either the item or Pokémon that would have spawned (NO!!!). I'm asked to go spot a Klink, to which the first encounter in the area is a Klink, so that was easy.
After catching all of the Pokémon in the area (and needing to go back to town because I didn't have repels, oof), I continue further in, with the Shadow Triad pushing me across the bridge (again, that was the only way I could go, was that really necessary?). I have to battle Plasma grunts, where one of them claims I was being manipulated into following (uh, no, there is literally no other way I could go). They "lead" me to N, who asks if I have a dream, to which I make sure to say yes. Even with him appreciating that, he still challenges me. Ryoma takes out Boldore in 1 turn through successfully burning it with Scald. Ferroseed takes Alcryst some time to take down, though didn't ever use the steel type moves that would have been super effective. Joltik is taken out by Alcryst quickly after that last slower battle, and Klink is beaten by 2 Jump Kicks from Leo because I wanted to get him closer to evolving. N leaves disagreeing with the professor, and I finally leave Chargestone cave.
I encounter Juniper's dad, who thanks me for spotting a Klink that was literally impossible to not see due to N having one. He introduces the next gym leader Skyla, though Skyla has to go to Celestial Tower first… Well, time to heal up and get ready to climb a tower!

Team members:
Ryoma the Dewott
Alcryst the Gigalith
Embla the Swoobat
Mareeta the now Scolipede
Caspar the Scraggy
Leo the Deerling

Caught Pokemon:
Fungy the Foongus
Leanna the Swadloon
Kni the Karrablast (like Knight, but without the ght)
Icy the Vanillite
Lightning the Emolga
Gear the Klink
Static the Joltik
Darla the Drilbur
Ferrera the Ferroseed
Tai the Tynamo

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Chapter 6: Everyone's fully evolved, but oof...

Yeah, just as a heads up, my laptop forced the document I had open that had my journal entries closed when it did an update without even asking me (my laptop sucks), so this and the first half of the next entry will be a little vague, as I need to try to remember what happened (NEVER AGAIN)

Alright, now I tried exploring the town before heading to the tower... though man this town barely counts as a town. After a quick look, I head to the route, picking up the Charge Beam tm early, which I have Embla learn for the gym coming up... Leo and Caspar train out here, as they won't be the best in the tower, with Leo evolving quickly into a Sawsbuck, and Caspar... still not evolved... I decide to go the other direction from the tower first, to see how far I can go, as well as to level up my Pokémon. Though, I can't enter Twist Mountain because Clay told a guy to not let me through until I beat Skyla's gym (this is the third time Clay specifically has blocked progress. It's getting really annoying...). I guess I'll have to go to the tower...

The climb up the tower isn't too hard, and this gave Ryoma plenty of training. I keep having to switch who is in front, as I try so hard to keep them the same level (at least the exp share isn't the later games' version, as I often end up needing to carry other Pokémon while travelling to avoid getting overlevelled). After getting around some gravestones and trying to figure out how wide some of the gaps between them are, I reach the top of the tower, seeing Skyla. She has fortunately healed the Pokémon that I'll never get to know the species of, and tells me to ring the bell, to hear how it sounds when I ring it (though that doesn't really mean much unless I hear someone else ring it, so...). Apparently the ring shows I am kind and caring, so Skyla lets me battle her... though, first I got to climb down the tower... Why can't dig or escape ropes work here?

After the long trek down, and some extra grinding, I head into the gym, where I will admit, I did get tricked by the cannons, as I didn't think I could fit into the space next to one of the cannons. Alcryst covers most of the flying types, while Swoobat covers Ducklings with her Charge Beam.... though it doesn't take it out fast, so those matches take a bit... After getting sent into the wall by a cannon (She couldn't have put a mattress or something on that wall, or re-aim the cannon?), I take on Skyla.

Alcryst takes on the Swoobat and Unfeazant, not having too much trouble. Not wanting to risk anything, Embla takes on the Swanna. Takes a couple Charge Beams, even with the special attack boost... But at least Embla takes it out without getting too low in health. With that, I can finally enter Twist Mountain!

Rushing over to Twist Mountain, I... have to battle Cheren.... I just want to go into the mountain... Well, Alcryst takes out the Unfeazant, Caspar defeats the Liepard (still not having High Jump Kick miss on him, only Jump Kick on Sawsbuck... huh), Leo takes on Simipour (though, his grass moves aren't the best...), and Embla defeats the Servine. Alder comments on us having a good fight, with Cheren whining about how he's being complimented when he lost... Alder tells us to go on ahead (finally), after trying to get Cheren to ask what he'll do if he gets stronger. With that, we head inside... Just to see Clay... yay... He tells us the gym leaders are trying to come up with a plan, so we should just keep on going ahead (I do at least appreciate that the gym leaders are trying, without needing to just have all plot go on in the background while the player goes through the gyms). Cheren heads off, just as glad as I am about not needing to help Clay.

As I entered Twist Mountain in Winter, I end up being able to get to ledges and such that I couldn't any other season (why I made sure to get here before August ended, yeah, this journal is pretty far behind). I a least don't have too much trouble catching Pokemon, though Cryogonal took 3 attempts because I knocked it out twice... oof... Ryoma evolved early on into Samurott, nice, while Caspar took a while longer, though I was so happy when he got to level 39! I get lost and confused trying to figure out which paths I can take in Winter and which I can't, accidentally spotting Cheren and Team Plasma before exploring everywhere I could... Just left them there for a bit longer... Eventually I go talk to them, with Cheren already beating the team Plasma member. He questions how they justify hurting and stealing Pokémon if they care about them, they give the basic "because we're doing the right thing!" answer, and then we just let them leave (no sage even came this time, and no N to distract us. Why did we let them go?). Cheren stays in the mountain, now actually starting to take Alder's words to heart, wondering why he is obsessed with strength, if he is getting stronger, and what goal he has that requires that strength (I'm glad he apparently thought over those words while I was getting twisted up in this mountain). With that, I leave the cave, arriving at Icirrus City.

Before stopping the game for the day, and for the chapter, I go pick up a couple mushrooms in the snow, and made sure to check in on a certain ex-grunt in town, as it wouldn't be right skipping over him. With that, this chapter ends.

Team Members:
Ryoma the now Samurott
Alcryst the Gigalih
Embla the Swoobat
Mareeta the Scolipede
Caspar the now Scrafty
Leo the now Sawsbuck

Pokemon caught:
Frostbite the Cubchoo
Wyona the Watchog
Zebes the Zebstrika
Hikari the Litwick
Eternal the Elgyem
Greg the Gurdurr
Symmetry the Cryogonal

Next chapter, I at least remember most of what happened, so it shouldn't be as small of an entry.

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Chapter 7: Ooh, what's that over there? Oh right, main plot…

So, I finally get to exploring Iccirus City. As I arrived in Winter, I got to explore the parts of the town I can access with the snow. I enter a game show by just entering a house, get an easy question and a cute prize. I explore the outside of the Dragonspiral Tower, even checking the water to see what I'll get on here before the area gets a bridge added. After that, I check the nearby route, getting annoyed by the ice sliding that prevents me from reaching some areas, both on the normal route and in the Moor of Iccirus. Still some items left over, and my Pokémon are not yet at the level of the gym leader, so… the start of my surf backtracking!

First I fly back home, and start on my path to the west, catching multiple Pokémon, not getting too lost on my first trip… However, there was no way I could hold the egg offered to me, and my Pokémon levelled up enough, so… let's take on the team so that I can have my full team if needed!
The sliding puzzles in the gym are at least less annoying than on the route, so at least this wasn't that annoying… Though, I'm glad I wasn't the one that actually had to slide and launch across the chasm in the gym, as my fear of heights would make me feel sick… The gym isn't too difficult for Caspar and Alcryst, with Alcryst dealing with most. After that, it was time to take on the gym leader that I remember more for his movie role in White 2 than for actually being a gym leader XD.

Alcryst takes on Vanillish and Cryogonal, knocking them out in 1-2 hits… though I had forgotten that Vanillish had Mirror Shot, so whoops. At least Alcryst didn't faint… I have Caspar take on the Beartic, as I knew that one had Brine (yet I missed Mirror Shot… huh). With more tempting High Jump Kick to miss and not yet seeing a failure, I beat the gym!
I leave the gym by fun slide (I'm glad this gym had a shortcut, as going backwards through the ice puzzles seems annoying), and I meet Cheren and Bianca outside. Cheren is facing doubt about if he is getting stronger himself, or just his Pokémon, while Bianca is trying to just bring up how nice it is to see everyone. Brycen exits the gym and calls out the invisible Shadow Triad (that is cool, and they are impressed, though I wish they actually explained how he knew they were there…). The Shadow Triad informs me (and the others, who weren't supposed to hear it) that N wants me to climb the tower, and that he'll awaken the legendary dragon. Cheren rushes ahead with the gym leader, while Bianca stands still in confusion of what she should do. With this at stake… Time to complete that surf backtracking!

I finally go back to get that egg, though I will admit, I actually got more lost on the route, as I noticed I missed 1 item, but forgot how to get there… Not my smoothest moment. I travel back to the previous routes, one by one, though not too much was found (though at least there was a useful TM). I accidentally go through Viridian Forest at this point, before activating the Swords of Justice, so I had to go through it a second time later on… Oops.
Soon it was time to go to Mistralton Cave. After needing to get a Pokémon with Flash, and getting so many dead ends that I really should have known were dead ends based on how I already went down those paths, I get to the 3rd level of the cave. I meet a man who explains the Swords of Justice's backstory, and how they went into isolation from people, but may be able to learn to trust people again. Asking me to find the Pokémon at the end of the cave, and getting past the Strength boulders that I guess he couldn't get passed himself (Reasonable explanation at least, compared to Eusine who didn't literally see the Suicune down the hole…), I take on Cobalion.
I had Ryoma out first, and decided to weaken it with Scald… Only for Ryoma to burn Cobalion (probably should have remembered that, as Ryoma has 1 turn KOed a lot of Pokémon with Sturdy because of burn), so… Time to keep throwing Dusk Balls and hope that I didn't just mess up! After 3-4 Pokéballs, with Cobalion having just a little bit of health left, I actually was able to catch him at the very last turn I could! Man, that was more intense than it really should have been….
The man catches up behind me, and tells me that the other 2 must have noticed Cobalion's capture, and come out of hiding (not sure how he knows this, but he's correct). I exit the cave immediately, and go back to the forest for the second time that day. Going into the cove I couldn't go in before because a guy blocked it, it was time to fight Virizion!
Mareeta took on Virizion, as there wasn't really much Virizion could do against a Bug/Psychic type. Fortunately this time, I didn't accidentally poison it with poison moves… though I did use it (I may never learn this lesson XD). Though Virizion was actually caught in one ball, which was nice after that last legendary XD. With that, and checking the last couple routes for surf, I guess it's time to go to that tower I was supposed to go to…
The climb up the tower isn't too bad. Taking the short cut with strength, I get passed a couple Team Plasma grunts because of Cheren and Brycen, though they clearly missed a bunch of them…even I ended up surrounded by 4 Team Plasma grunts ordered by one sage… Who each only attack with 1 Pokémon (I wish they would have just made a group sprite and had the battle be 4, would save time). I keep being told that N wants me to get to the top, but then keep being delayed by the grunts… do they notice the irony? After navigating jump puzzles and a dizzying circle maze, I find N with his shocking Zekrom. He declares that I need to get a legendary to counter him (ignoring the 2 I already have, those poor guys were just insulted), he escapes (how? Did he just have Zekrom ram into the wall? Poor Zekrom). Everyone only now catches up, just to get a glimpse of the legendary, and now we need to go looking for the white stone… But since we need to be convoluted, and can't just have us go to the museum straight away, time for the Desert Resort!...
Yeah, I took a long break because I didn't want to do the Desert Resort XD, along with my journal entries being erased, which isn't very encouraging. I pick the game back up again in September/Spring in-game, so I go to get those items around Iccirus that teased me in August, and battle the trainesr that I just couldn't get to in Winter. I go to register the Spring Deerling… only for it to still be in Winter form when I get there (I took it out of the PC, went into battle with it, ran between routes, man changing the formes is trickier than I thought). With all the running around to get this Deer to finally shift seasons, even turning the game on and off, the egg finally hatched, giving me a baby Larvesta (I wish it evolved at a higher level, it would have been fun to use…). With all of that done, let's head to the relic castle!
Flying to the relic castle, I learn the painful way that bikes don't go through the deep sand fast… Too stubborn to get off the bike, I just try to avoid the deep sand when I can. I rush to the castle, though Cheren stops me before entering. He talks about how the wild Pokémon slowed him down, thanking his Pokémon for dealing with them (I mean, the Pokémon in this area are not that strong, you could have just used a Repel Cheren…). With that, I enter the castle, and immediately fall down the first sinkhole because I forgot how they work (whoops XD). Going slowly and carefully, I finally get down the stairs, and get greeted by Sage Ryoku staring at me (he only talks once you walk up to him, so for a second, he was just staring…. Creepy). He tells me that they'll test me… only to let the grunts do all the fighting (do any of the sages actually fight? What is their role in this?). After falling down holes (1 accidentally too early, one I had to do again because I didn't noticed an item on the other side of the ledge…), I finally find Alder and Ghetsis, with Cheren falling down right behind me (I wonder if in-universe, he also fell down the wrong holes XD). Ghetsis challenges me to go get Reshiram who isn't here, and taunts Alder about how the death of his Pokémon made him a lone wanderer (man, that's just mean. Poor Alder). Alder accepts the same challenge, with me being the plan B, though N doesn't really care at all about Alder's attempt to stop him. Ghetsis shows his sadistic side with admitting he loves seeing people when all hope is gone. Ghetsis leaves, and Cheren warps us to outside (good, no backtracking).
While Cheren and Alder lament over Ghetsis' and N's goals, I get a call, telling me to go to the museum. Alder goes ahead (I do appreciate that they actually show the animation for him getting on a Pokémon and flying away), and Cheren stays behind because he's too stubborn to accept that Ghetsis actually was right about the Light stone being there. I head straight to the museum, as theres no way I wouldn't want to pick up the cool stone!... Oh, and also to get the legendary.
Both of the professors, Alder, and Bianca meet me at the entrance, with Lenora coming out shortly, holding the Light Stone. Juniper's dad tries to take credit for figuring out that the stone is just as old as the Dragonspiral Tower, with Juniper not allowing it (I'm glad Lenora turns to the correct person to compliment on the research xD). We think back to how the "boring" look of the Light Stone is what saved it when Team Plasma took the dragon skull instead (hey, they may think it's boring and ordinary, but I think it's cool even without a legendary inside). Alder at least makes sure I agree to fighting N before I am given the stone (that's very polite of him, I'm glad he cares). I now hold the Light Stone… and no one knows how to summon Reshiram… So let's go ask dragon type experts, they apparently should know everything about all dragon types… I guess that kind of makes sense?
With Alder flying away and the professors leaving, I end this chapter. It's already way too long, so I'll include getting to the city as part of the next chapter. Until then, I at least get a cool stone to look at.
Team members:
Ryoma the Samurott
Alcryst the Gigalith
Embla the Swooba
Mareeta the Scolipede
Caspar the Scrafty
Leo the Sawsbuck

Pokémon caught:
Tracy the Stunfisk
Niles the Vanillish
Mio the Mienfoo
Cary the Deerling (just so I can continue the seasonal check ins)
Akari the Basculin (red stripe)
Quill the Frillish
Kokoro the Alomomola
Sediment the Crustle
Aoko the Basculin (blue stripe)
Axel the Axew
Athos the Cobalion
Aramis the Virizion
Beatrice the Beartic
Siegfried the Golett
Speedy the Shelmet
Solar the Larvesta

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Chapter 8: Oh dear, what am I going to do about this gym?

We fly back to Iccirus city after bringing the summer deerling to the season institute (I got distracted with Inktober on my DA). With that leaf stone that I will probably not use, we now head to the next city, going through the route I have already been in multiple times. When I finally reach the building that was formerly blocked… Bianca interrupts me, talking about how she doesn't know what she wants to do in the future, and asks for a battle (I do like the rivals, but I do think you battle Bianca and Cheren too often. Why couldn't they just swap between gyms?). Alcryst fights Stoutland… until he's roared away for Embla, who finishes this match. Alcryst comes out to fight Emboar, as I honestly forgot about it being a fighting type… good thing it never used any fighting type moves XD. Mareeta fights Simisage with no trouble. Her Musharna comes out last, Munny's ability warn her of Caspar's Hi Jump Kick… Even though I used his dark type move instead… Huh… With that, the battle is done. Bianca thanks me for the fight and cheers me on in my fight to stop Team Plasma.
With that fight done, I now travel… another bridge… I get that it's accurate to New York, and shows off the DS' capability, but the bridges are pretty boring… Ghetsis just waits for me at the end of the bridge, and makes the Shadow Triad move me a couple spaces forwards (I don't think this is effective use of ninjas). He brings up his plan again, and says that they plan on being the only ones with Pokémon, with anyone else being shamed into giving them up (I wonder if he consciously dropped the pretense of caring for Pokémon here…). He leaves, and I head to the short route. I immediately get hit by a pitcher throwing the Fling TM at me (I know it's a gift, but how rude to just throw it).
I explore the route, catching some Pokémon, including one with Black Sludge (that'll be useful on Mareeta). I go to the mall there and buy some Pokéballs, Dusk and Quickballs. With that quick grind/shopping trip, I now arrive at Opelucid City, future version, just in time to meet up with Alder and watch another Ghetsis presentation. The people do consider Ghetsis' proposition about freeing Pokémon, though I find it funny that they just believe that N befriended the legendary without any proof (I mean, he did, but N isn't there to prove it XD). Alder brings me to Drayden and Iris so that they can tell me the lore, while Alder leaves to actually do his champion job.
They explain how Zekrom and Reshiram were once one Pokémon, but somehow divided into 2 (technically 3 I guess, as they left behind Kyurem, I do not get how this whole thing is supposed to work) when a duo of trainers fought over what was right. The first duo stopped the fighting when they saw how no one would win, though apparently their kids didn't learn their lesson, as they ended up destroying Unova (I would think the parents would have tried to avoid that…). Drayden and Iris bring up how people forcing Pokémon to fight for their views is really how Pokémon fight and get hurt, and Iris brings up that the 2 dragons would normally get along (though, I would think that the Pokémon choosing to support a different trainer like Reshiram and Zekrom did would demonstrate that they can have opinions and get into fights of their own, but I digress). Nothing can be done yet to get Reshiram out of the stone (no mascot legendary before gym 8), but I can at least prove myself by fighting Drayden (I get that you need the badges to go to the league, but it feels weird going "hey, we need to fight before you go and stop the guy trying to change the world.").
I explore the city quickly before going to the gym, meeting musical fans (I don't feel as drawn to the musicals as I did the Pokémon contests. Maybe the lack of ribbons…), finding 2 people who live across the room from each other, but don't know each others' histories (I mean, if they express their views and histories in front of me, in the same room as the other person, how does the other not hear it?), and get into some Rotation battles in order to grind my Pokémon just a little more (I do like Rotation Battles, but man this battle style is so neglected). I even find some time paradox questions with a dad that wants to contact the past to speak to his dad, who lives in the past version of Opelucid City in White version (how does time in this city work lore wise?). But with that done, it's gym time…
Since I don't have any Pokémon with ice-type moves, it's more just enduring each fight. The first few fights, my Pokémon outsped the dragon-dancing dragons, but still it took multiple hits. Surprise Night Slashes and a boosted Dragon Claw does take out Embla twice, and I get low health a few times, but I get past all the trainers, running around on these dragons until I finally get them to point at the gym leader…

Drayden's first Pokémon, Fraxure, faces off against Caspar, who almost knocks it out completely with Hi Jump Kick (so close…), though that did lead to a hyper potion getting wasted, and Fraxure wasting his dragon dance by using dragon rage (really? Why does it have that move?). For Druddigon, Leo starts off, trying out his new Nature Power… Which doesn't do much with turning into Tri Attack damage wise, but the second one actually froze the dragon! Drayden uses another hyper potion on the frozen Druddigon, and it does thaw, using revenge on Leo, knocking him out (I really should have noticed that XD). Alcryst comes out next, and sets up Stealth Rock for the last Pokémon. Druddigon shouldn't be able to do much against my rock type, but a crit does get him into yellow, so that was scary. I decide to send out Mareeta for the Haxorus, to poison the Haxorus while it dragon dances. It dragon dances again, showing that it was already faster than Mareeta at this point, scary, but X-Scissor and poison takes him to red. I switch Mareeta out so that she can keep the experience, and have Ryoma take the boosted Slash, which fortunately doesn't knock him out. The Haxorus dies of poison, and I win the gym battle! I gain the Dragon Tail TM (I decide to try it out on Samurott for now), and am now heading off to Victory Road!
Professor Juniper immediately meets me at the gym, to tell me that she found nothing for getting Reshiram to appear though at least does compliment by battling skills. She leads met to route 10's entrance, which I'll have to immediately walk away from because of needing to heal my team. I reassure her that I have enjoyed the journey, and she gives me a Master Ball, which I will try not to use on any legendaries, but we'll see… She leaves, and I essentially follow to get to the Pokémon Center.
I enter the route… and immediately get stopped to be told that the 3rd legendary is available, back on Route 7. I accidentally forgot that I needed to trigger the encounter first, so I will admit, I tried encountering it in the rain for a while XD. I do learn at least, and try to get to that house… falling off those ledges first because I couldn't see with the wind… I encounter the first Pokémon to ever be pure flying type, exciting for the flying type fan in me. Tornadus flies away, and now for an annoying chase… Yay…
I at least get told to go to Route 9 first… took forever for the storm to appear. And then once the storm appeared, it disappeared after 2 other Pokémon appeared… Then I get told Tornadus is on Route 11… Which I can't even go to yet… So, more running back and forth for it to appear on Route 10… for one non-Tornadus encounter. Annoyed, I just ran back and forth between 10 and the gate to 10, and got a storm even when the weather report said it was sunny (Even the Pokémon games have the weather network being wrong). Annoyed and not wanting to chase it more, I used the Master Ball, so Kaze is mine!
Now I go for the normal Pokémon on Route 10, which is mostly just getting Vullaby (why does it appear so late? A dark/flying type would have been great!). After that, time to get through route 10 to get to actually saving the Unova region.
The trainer battles aren't too rough, and I even have a battle where my Scrafty beats another Scrafty with the other one only using Scary Face. I get… halfway through the route before the rivals appear, Cheren challenging me to make sure I'm ready (I did at least go back to heal before it, even though I didn't even remember where exactly to trigger him). Ryoma was out, and I decided to try out Dragon Tail on the Unfeazant… barely doing any damage. Oh well, at least Ryoma took out the Liepard in 2 hits without too much damage. Mareeta takes on Serperior, poisoning it. Alcryst gets annoyed a bit at Unfeazant because of either missing Rock Slide or Detect… oof. Leo defeats the Simipour, avoiding a burn with Scald, ending the battle. He heals my Pokémon fortunately (I really didn't want to go run back again), and cheers me on, wishing he could help. Bianca skips the battle and gives me Max Revives, which will be nice for the Elite 4 and after, and brings up how everyone had changed in their own way, encouraging Cheren to smile about how he has improved. Cheren leaves to get stronger (of course), and Bianca leaves after giving a quick motivational speech, leaving me to continue. I at least don't mind this encounter, as it does fit the moment and helps reflect back at the journey.
After finishing up Route 10, I go through the badge check (I can see this one actually checking badges, unlike BDSP), and I do like some of the themes, though I still prefer just not going through multiple checks (it's not even like Gen 1 where you can actually get to the route before the first gym, so it feels weird needing to do each one instead of just all 8…). I prefer the ground theme (because gems) and dragon theme (you can actually go into their mouths for some reason xD). I am surprised that there isn't a Pokémon Center before you go into the Victory Road, yet you can fly to Victory Road… weird… I take a flight to a Pokémon Center that feels really unnecessary, and get ready to climb Victory Cliff!
Travelling through Victory Road, Caspar almost faints by a Spark and a surprise Gust, making it with 1 health and paralyzed. That was a rough starting battle. I get to catching Pokémon in the cave, and this is where I'll say that I am upset with how many Dark type Pokémon I am finding this late that I can't use. Either you use the ones in the desert, wait forever for them, or have to trade a Zorua in. I want to try to figure out a situation where I could use some of these naturally… Oof. Anyways, I travel through the caves, falling down a lot. I even find the Pokemon League before going every path, so I go in there for a quick heal and an easy teleport point later. I even buy 48 Full Restores, for the rest of the grinding and the upcoming fights.
The rest of the exploration involved me teaching Caspar Dragon Claw once I found it. I decide to ditch Dragon Tail on Ryoma for Blizzard, and think about what to teach Alcryst for a stronger Rock type move. I end up finding Terrakion before obtaining one annoying item… Well, alright, Legendary it is!
I send Ryoma out against Terrakion, hitting the first 2 Blizzards (I'm surprised it didn't miss once. Though Ryoma is known for having gotten the burn chances a lot, so I guess he's determined). Ryoma ends up fainting following up, and I just stare at my team and remember just how many of them are weak to Terrakion's type combo… oof. Embla comes out to take damage, but a Rock Slide takes her down after a few turns. Mareeta comes out, fortunately dodging the first Rock Slide and tanking the Sacred Sword attacks and Retaliates. I heal her… Only for her to get crited with Rock Slide… Leo comes out, and I revive Ryoma first, just to have someone that Terrakion isn't strong against… Only for the very next Ultra Ball thrown afterwards to catch Terrakion… Well…
After that, and a bit more falling and getting lost, I finally get that last TM, Wild Charge. I give it to Leo, replacing Nature Power, so that he can counter flying types if he ever faces them. With that, I fly back to the Pokémon League. I go sell my items… And realize that I never did go to revive the Cover Fossil… Huh… Well, maybe I'll do that while I go get grinding down.
Not too much grinding needed fortunately, but I'll leave that for the next chapter, as this is already pretty long, and this feels like a good cut off point. There's a lot coming up, so look forward to the ending! (I mean, I can continue describing the long post game too, but the main plot is ending at least). With that, now for some grinding… yay…

Team Members (levels before grinding for elite four):
Ryoma the Samurott: level 46
Alcryst the Gigalith: level 46
Embla the Swoobat: level 47
Mareeta the Scolipede: level 47
Caspar the Scrafty: level 46
Leo the Sawsbuck: level 48

Caught Pokémon:
Blaire the Gothorita
Cinnamon the Cinchino
Gigi the Garboardor
Penny the Pawniard (WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO EVOLVE SO LATE?!?!)
Kaze the Tornadus
Vully the Vullaby (WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO EVOLVE SO LATE?!?!)
No Jokes the Amoongus
Blister the Heatmor
Durable the Durant
Tragedy the Deino (OK, LEVEL 64 IS WAY TOO LATE, I REALLY WANT TO USE A DEINO!!!)
Porthos the Terrakion

 

[Angel-of-Light-Kelly]

Chapter 9: The end of the main plot, but still lots to do!
Alright, so, I got everyone up to level 48 for the elite 4, so it didn't take that long. Only really notable thing about this was Gigalith getting Stone Edge and getting really tired seeing the big dramatic animation every time I went back into the Pokémon League to heal.
Once I was healed, it was time for the elite 4. I entered, and decided to just pick a path at random. I ended up walking into Grimsley's Room, so first I'll be fighting one of my favourite types. Grimsley mentioned a previous challenger (I just find it funny that N actually did bother to go battle the Elite 4, instead of just challenging the champion. The elite 4 don't seem like they just fought a legend XD). I send out Embla against Scrafty, a risky move. She uses Acrobatics, and takes out over half of Scrafty's health, and gets Crunched. Luckily, she survived with 16 HP, so she out sped Scrafty and took it out. I swap out Ryoma to battle the Krookodile, and kill it with 1 surf after taking one hit. Now it was time for my main Pokémon for this fight, as Bisharp came out (no one brings up how Bisharp is clearly 2 levels before evolving). Sending out my own Scrafty, Caspar survives an Aerial Ace and takes out Bisharp in one Brick Break. I keep him out for the Liepard, though the first move was useless because of Fake Out. Liepard uses Aerial Ace, and since Caspar had 46 health, I thought he would faint… but he survived with 6 HP! Defeating the Liepard with Brick Break afterwards, he won the clutch fight!
The second path I pick ended up being Marshal's. I keep Embla out front to fight the Throh, He doesn't mention the previous challenger, but does say Alder trained him, so he will test me! Embla uses Acrobatics to try to take out the Throh, but it survives and uses Payback, leaving Embla with 6 HP (ok, why is it always 6 HP? Give me a heart attack will you…). She at least takes out Throh again with Acrobatics, so at least she didn't faint. I decide to switch out to Mareeta to give Embla a break, but she gets critted with Stone Edge after hitting Sawk with Poison Jab. I had to heal Embla quickly, and Sawk… used Retaliate… when it wouldn't be boosted… instead of the rock type move… huh… Well, Embla took out the Sawk with Acrobatics, so she ended up being lucky. The Conkeldurr that came out afterwards survives an Acrobatics and takes out Embla (I will say, Marshall definitely has good coverage for his weakness), so Ryoma gets revenge with Scald. Now it was Ryoma vs Mienshao, with Mienshao immediately hitting with Jump Kick. Scald couldn't take it out, only getting it half-way, so Mienshao unfortunately took out Ryoma. I send out Alcryst, as I at least knew his sturdy would let him survive 1 hit, though he did survive with 23 health… only for him to only get Mienshao to the red… with a full restore coming afterwards… oof. I decide to revive Embla, and Mienshao decided to use U-turn to take out Alcryst (ok, just showing off with that bug move). Embla fortunately could take out the Mienshao with Psychic, so we won the fight! This one was definitely rougher than Grimsley.
The third path ended up being Caitlyn. I decide to have Mareeta out against Reuniclus, as it does have a counter for my dark type. Mareeta almost took it out in 1 hit with X-Scissor, though sadly fainted in 1 psychic. This did let me get Caspar in, and use Crunch after Caitlyn uses the full restore. Caspar outspeeds the Reuniclus and wins. I send out Alcryst for… the Sigilyph. Remembering the pain this Pokemon had put me through, I did not like seeing Sigilyph taking Alcryst down to half, and seeing Stone Edge missing. I heal, and then it immediately crits him to 1 HP, only surviving because of study. Seeing it try to use Ice Beam to take it out even though I used Full Restore, leaving more than half, I decide to try another Stone Edge… ONLY TO MISS AGAIN. Another full restore, another Ice beam, another Stone Edge attempt after a Psychic, though fortunately this one did hit and one-hit KOed it. Sigilyph continues to be a pain to my existence in this game, but at least it's gone. I swap back Caspar for Gothitelle, using crunch immediately, knocking it to yellow. Fortunately it doesn't have a counter for fighting types, so a second crunch takes it out. I keep Caspar out for the Musharna, using Crunch again and surviving a Charge Beam, finally ending the fight with Crunch. Now as difficult as Marshal, but Sigilyph will apparently haunt me.
Last path had to be Shauntal's. Disrupting her writing her story already about N's challenge (she works fast), she sends out Cofagrigus against my Alcryst. This decision was to set up Stealth Rock, though he did actually survive the Cofagrigus and took it out with 2 Stone Edges (so it really is just Sigilyph that hates me, I see). For Golurk, I send out Ryoma, to take out the surf in one hit (I think the small Stealth Rock damage actually did end up making the difference, so nice!). Leo comes out to fight the Jellicent, using Horn Leech the first turn, and Wild Charge after the Jellicent healed up with a full restore, getting a hit and winning the fight (Good job Wild Charge! If I didn't have it, I couldn't have hit it with my fighting and normal type moves and disabled Horn Leech XD). Caspar comes out to face off against Chandelure, who gets quite a bit of damage because of the stealth rock! Chandelure used Fire Blast immediately, and I do at least survive, but Crunch doesn't take it out, and in fact I get burned… Oof. Well, we both used Full Restores, so I try to attack again with Crunch, tanking another Fire Blast. I tried to see if Fire Blast would miss… Nope… Oh well, Ryoma took out the Chandelure with Scald, so I won anyways! Definitely not as bad as the last 2.
With that, I now take the glowing statue down, only to have to go up a bunch of steps, apparently with a different building outside on top of a bunch of steps underneath and behind the elite four (ok, is this dramatic layout really necessary?). I enter the temple looking building, up more stairs, and find out I just missed N beating Alder (I blame that Sigilyph). He claims that Alder's tragic loss and trying to get over the pain left him weak, and while feeling sympathy, that was what let N win. N goes about saying he'll give the order, and apparently only now just noticed I was here. He knows I have the Light Stone because of Zekrom (who isn't in the room, so is Zekrom just roaring in the distance to tell N?), and, deciding that this dramatic setting isn't dramatic enough, and summons out a castle around the elite four, along with way too many stairways shooting out to hit the elite 4. We see that one of the stairs ended up right next to N (how did it not hit ANY of us, never mind him?). He declares that I have to go into it, the place where he would declare all Pokémon be free if I lose. N goes up the stairs, and Cheren arrived at just the right time to miss N.
Cheren checks on Alder (I am glad that he was concerned, given all the destruction and stuff), and Alder acknowledges how Cheren had to have been strong enough to beat the Elite 4 (ok, how quickly do the elite 4 heal up their Pokémon?). Cheren asked me to tell N that Pokémon and humans sometimes need each other to get stronger, with him proving it. Alder warns me that N must be determined if he won against him, but begs I try to convince him, even if I lose (man, intense). With that, I go up yet another staircase, going from one dramatic building to another.
I immediately get greeted by 6 of the 7 sages, giving me philosophical lines about strong/right people, not being able to see the full scene unfolding, etc etc. They decide to just stop me here to try and make sure N wins, even though they know N wouldn't like it (well, at least they actually explain why they are fighting me if they serve N). Before they can fight (even though they never had Pokémon, and no one ever thinks of just surrounding me and never letting me leave, so how were they going to do it?), Clay interrupts, along with the other gym leaders from the last 7 gyms I went to. They revealed Bianca got them there, and that they will help with fighting off this team (Well good job Bianca!). With them outnumbering the sages easily, I get to skip past them, going upstairs (Nice!).
Now I get to explore the day-to-day lives of Team Plasma, where they just pace around and stand still, gloating about their victories and how evil they are (such pretty rooms though, why do they get to live here?). Before I can check out the second room, the ninjas reappear, telling me to step forward, though actually let me step forward myself instead of pushing me (they're learning!). I get told that the girls in the next room will heal my Pokémon (and apparently let me get some sleep too, given the purple hair girl says that I got energy too). I meet the two underutilized caretakers of N, who bring up how N was raised, only seeing miserable Pokémon, and having realized that there are good trainers, but it being too late for N to turn back now… I even see what might be the scariest part, how they have a working PC and could release everyone's stored Pokémon (even if I beat N, they could just end up doing this anyways, that is scary). I do at least appreciate how some Team Plasma members seem to be showing hesitance regarding N's plan, that does show that they aren't just blindly following. I end up finding a guy that can teleport me to the Pokemon League Pokecenter without a teleporter (HOW?! Is he a psychic?), so I get a chance to buy some supplies, and get warped back (again, how?). One of the ninjas stop me in front of the 3rd set of stairs to tell me what I already know, about the upcoming battle against N and how they think he'll win (I get it, he's strong).
The third ninja (I at least think they each appeared once), tells me about N's old room, and how he does not feel the sadness in the room that I feel looking at it. Though, I also notice that he doesn't have a bed in here, so where did he sleep? Getting out of the room with creepy music (I can definitely see Ghetsis having that be played in that room), I go past more rooms, up the stairs, and end up in the entryway to where N waits for me…
Though, before I go in, Ghetsis just appears out of nowhere in the door way and pushes me back, gloating about the castle and how heroic N has become. He just straight up says they'll keep Pokémon and have no one oppose them, and gloats that he can now just straight up talk about it (given he slipped up often, how no one else noticed, not sure XD). He doesn't stop me like the other 6 sages, so I get to head towards N.
I run up to N, seeing him in his throne. He restates his dream of a world with only Pokémon (this feels like this could have used the legendaries from the last game, making another world for only Pokémon maybe. Potential story ideas maybe…). He definitely is confident, and will not let the Pokémon he befriended being injured stop him from this goal. Though, he then calls me out for apparently not being a hero if Reshiram hasn't woken up yet (If he only knew I have 4 other legendaries…), feeling sad that the rival he admired and maybe thought could be the one trainer to really bond with their Pokémon through battles ended up not being a hero. He states I'll lose, and that I can back down now to avoid losing, summoning Zekrom and breaking his throne. Though once Zekrom roars at me, the Light Stone decides to finally wake up, summoning Reshiram (N, Zekrom and I apparently disappear during this cutscene, though I guess that's good given Reshiram shooting a wave of fire out around him….). I now get to capture my favourite of the trio in this gen, with Embla sent out first. Though Embla doesn't fight at all, as a Quick Ball immediately ends this fight. I had Embla first so that I could swap her out for Reshiram, as looking at the upcoming Pokémon, she wasn't going to be able to help. With that, I now have 5 legendaries, which is now enough for N to fully recognize me. He heals me pointlessly, since I didn't get hurt, and the Pokémon that was out in battle isn't even my party to be healed. With that, the big battle starts!
Candor is sent out against Zekrom. Obviously I use Fusion Flare, as I know Zekrom will use Fusion Bolt, so I get the increased damage. I try to see how much damage dragon breath would do, but Zekrom's light screen weakened it. I try Slash, but it doesn't knock it out, and Zekrom ended up using Giga Impact. I heal during Zekrom's recharge turn, and work to weaken it again, surviving 2 more giga impacts and finally knocking out Zekrom! Good job Candor!
Now for the normal Pokemon, I send out Leo against the Carracosta, using Horn Leech to almost knock it out but at least surviving the attack to knock it out next turn. I send out Caspar to go against Vaniluxe, who sets up Hail annoyingly and survives a Brick Break. It uses Blizzard, but doesn't knock out Caspar, so another Brick Break takes it out. Klingklang comes out and knocks out Caspar with Flamethrower, so I send out Ryoma to take a hit as I heal Caspar, though it uses a move that missed, so I didn't get hurt. It tried Focus Blast, missing, and gets hit with a Scald, burning it and revealing the Zoroark. The Zoroark takes out Ryoma with Focus Blast crit I think, but the burn takes out Zoroark. Since Ryoma fainted, I couldn't see which Pokemon would be sent out next, so I sent out Alcryst to make sure I don't send Caspar out against a flying type. Fortunately, it was indeed the Archeops that came out, missing its Stone Edge while getting hit with mine (again, it REALLY seems to only be Sigilyph that this moves misses for me…), knocking it out (I didn't realize rock doesn't resist rock, so good to know…). Caspar uses a High Jump Kick on Klingklang, taking it out in one hit. Leveling up to 51 and skipping on Rock Climb, the fight ends.
N is of course devastated about losing (Zekrom isn't behind him anymore, which I don't get. Zekrom was not caught in a Pokeball, so where did Zekrom go?). Ghetsis comes in to insult N, telling him that he doesn't deserve the name Harmonia (I mean, I don't think Ghetsis deserves it…), telling me his plan that was already obvious and wanting to shut me up… Though Alder and Cheren come in to hear about how he wants to be the only one to use Pokemon, so wouldn't he need to fight them too? Also, is he actually planning on killing me? Otherwise I could always reveal… Ah, not important! Time for the real final boss!
Candor gets sent out first against, against Cofagrigus. Candor uses Extrasensory, though sadly no flinch. Cofagrigus hits with Shadow Ball, lowering special Defence. Another Extrasensory, though it doesn't take it out, so it gets to use Toxic. It stalls with a protect, and survives another extrasensory, so we both end up using a full restore at the same time. I just decide to Fusion Flare this time, it ending up doing more damage. Candor fortunately dodges the next Toxic attempt, and takes out the Cofagrigus. Caspar is sent out against the Bouffalant, almost taking it out with a High Jump Kick, though the Bouffalant takes itself out with Head Charge's recoil, not even knocking out Caspar. I try to see if Caspar could outspeed Hydreigon… Nope. Dragon Pulse. Mareeta comes out now, poisoning the Hydreigon and dodging a fire blast. Next she uses an X-Scissor, taking Hydreigon down to over half, but faints to Fire Blast. I send out Ryoma next, and tank a dragon pulse to get a Blizzard on Hydreigon, taking it out! (I'm so glad that keeping Mareeta instead of Embla and giving Ryoma Blizzard ended up mattering!). I have Alcryst fight against Eelektross, tanking a hit to revive Caspar, though fortunately he can survive 2 Wild Charges easily and gets a Stone Edge in. I heal Alcryst, who immediately gets critted (oof. I just wanted to save Alcryst so next turn I could heal Caspar fully). I heal Alcryst, and Eelektross ends up in the red with wild charge. I can confirm that all full restores were used up, as instead of healing, Eelektross ended up knocking itself out before Alcryst could attack again… Huh… Leo goes against the Seismitoad, Horn Leeching it immediately and taking it out. I send out Caspar against the Bisharp, not fully healed yet, but he ended up being faster than Bisharp, and succeeded with High Jump Kick, knocking out the Bisharp and winning the battle!
Ghetsis shows off his god complex, and insults N more, calling him warped. Alder gives N a chance to redeem himself, confusing N, who feels like he doesn't deserve being a hero anymore. Alder brings up how no one is perfect and no one knows all the right answers, to try to encourage N, before taking Ghetsis in. N talked to me alone, telling me about how he had started questioning his goals ever since meeting me, and how he is confused about what steps to take, given he doesn't really understand anyone, so he'll go with Zekrom to find out where he'll go next (I guess he did catch Zekrom). He tells me to follow my dream, whatever it is, encouraging me before he goes off on his own. With that, I have saved the world! (…Would it really be the world? I feel like N would have been stopped by other trainers from other regions, given other regions have god Pokémon… Well, at least we don't have to rely on them!).
With that, the main story is done. I do like the plot of the game, and I did enjoy getting to use these Pokémon that I couldn't get to use in other playthroughs. Quite a lot of intense moments, and I may not be able to look at Sigilyph the same way, but I am glad to have played the game. But of course, I'm no where close to done! Not when I come downstairs from my room and see 2 of my mom! Looker reveals himself from his disguise… Why was he disguised as my mother in my own house, when my mother is there…? How is that going to work…? Anyways, he thanks me and the gym leaders for saving the day, but brings up that he'll need help finding the Seven Sages, as they got away (Why can't the gym leaders/champion ever actually succeed in containing these guys?). He gives me a Super Rod, not for the quest as it doesn't help at all, but just to be nice I guess. He teaches me how to fish before leaving, and with that, I head outside… Only to get stopped by Cheren and Bianca (Ok, I just wanted to go take a picture of Embla's level since she's in the PC, why can't I just get to a Pokémon Center already?).
Bianca apologizes for not being there at the final battle, since she was getting the last gym leaders at the time it ended, while Cheren tries to make her feel better by telling her how apparently Ghetsis got away because he couldn't stop the Shadow Triad when they came to rescue him. She's confused, so he'll tell her the story at another time. Instead, he asks what Bianca ill do, and she brings up Black City (yay…). They bring up how to get there and how there will be new Pokemon… but then Juniper's dad comes out! (Just can't go anywhere…). He gives us the National Dex, calling it a nice coincidence since he can get all 3 of us done at once. Bianca goes home to show off her new Pokedex mode, Cheren brings up going the full trip around Unova again, to see new things (hinting at the changes), challenging me to more battles. With that, I can finally move!
With quickly going to the next town to get Embla (ok, maybe it would have been good to keep her in the final battle so that I could fly immediately after XD), and sending out a Reshiram against a level 2 Lillipup, I get to the nearby city, get to the PC, get wallpapers as my prize for saving the world (I get getting more wallpapers after getting in the hall of fame, as the PC does recognize that, but how does it know I beat Team Plamsa?), swap Candor for Embla to get the full team back, and can now end this chapter entry! When will I go deal with the seven sages? Absolutely no idea, as usually I would rush to get legendaries instead of doing post game plot XD.

Team Members (Levels they are at after the final battle):
Ryoma the Samurott, level 50
Alcryst the Gigalith, level 49
Embla the Swoobat, level 49
Mareeta the Scolipede, level 48
Caspar the Scrafty, level 51 (the highest, and definitely MVP)
Leo the Sawsbuck, level 49
Candor the Reshiram, level 50

Pokémon Caught:
Jill the Excadrill
Candor the Reshiram.