Rainbow Chara X
Impossible to gauge!
- 129
- Posts
- 9
- Years
- Shiny Hunting in Sinnoh
- Seen May 12, 2025
We may as well call this the exposition chapter because yikes there's a lotta text in this game.
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #11 - Revelations[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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We beat Darugis's 2nd form (I consider it the second after the Shadow Lugia from the first game) and now we're dealing with the aftermath.
Monica knows that Ziyah was forced to fight her and Ziyah declares her vengeance against the big dumb overlord. However, she notices that Monica has a peculiar shiny stone:
Turns out good ol' Giovanni dropped a shard after he committed suicide(???) back in the Omega Facility. Ziyah mentions that even with the Omni Megastone being destroyed, the shards still glow if they're close to another... meaning someone around here has a mega.
Anything mega-evolution related would be infinitely cooler in a better game with a better story.
Oh hey, the loser crew's finally complete! Everyone's here except for Noah, though.
"Just know that you won the battle, alright? It doesn't matter how strong Darugis is. We'll defeat it!"
: ("I hope so...")
: "And don't forget, we have Arceus on our side now. Once it regains its full power with your help, it'll be an end to all of this."
Optimistic, but have you seen that guy? He's uh... not exactly the kind to have a fair fight.
Meanwhile, Dray brings up that any normal person would flip if they learned about the stuff that happened in the Sealed Chamber. He notices Monica's feeling insecure but just asks her where she's going. (Hyetal City, by the way)
Alcina congratulates us and tells us the secret of Arceus's true power along with some other stuff about the shards and how we're not ready to use them or something? (Aka. they're not able to program in actual Mega Evolutions that we can use)
She also tells us to get stronger by fighting Zale, the gym leader of Hyetal City. Sorta comes with the territory of all this other stuff, doesn't it?
Sydney tells us about a place that's pretty much Icefall Cave from the Sevii Islands and that's all she brings up. Thrilling.
Oh shit, papa's here to lay down the plot.
"Your friends brought me here... Said I had a lot of explaining to do. They're right, heh."
: "I thought you were going home? Is Mom alright?"
JB: "Yeah, she's good. I called her. In the Core Region, did you run into a person called Amaris?"
Okay, good, Darugis hasn't discovered Monica's mom and planned to use her as a hostage.
: "Yeah, she was being controlled by Darugis."
JB: "... She's dead."
Oh no, the person I didn't know anything about is dead. Still though, that has to sting for Blake considering she was his ally before this.
JB: "Darugis hunted her down. Without her and Sigurd, I wouldn't have defeated it 27 years ago."
Alright, Jean Blake was told to be the only person to defeat Darugis despite Darugis existing for centuries? That uh... seems a bit improbable considering the timespan and the disparity in strength. (At least he used to work with Sigurd in the LP, so I guess that alleviates some of it.)
: "Why is Darugis still around? Tell me."
JB: "Because I couldn't bring myself to die, Monica. I just met your mother... I had a great life, I couldn't sacrifice myself to assure Darugis will never return."
Wow, dude...
: "Selfish..."
JB: "Yeah, I know, kiddo. Now, because I couldn't, you're going to do it... Right?"
[Monica stares at him with disgust. Sigurd looks away]
JB: "Exactly. It's tough, isn't it?"
Looks like for all the games built up to him being a hero, he was ultimately kind of a coward. That's... frankly a lot better than having him be some paragon of faith because it makes him relatable. Who's to say another person wouldn't have done what he did if they were in his shoes?
Wow, this is actually a really good plot twist. Good job, DRG.
: "... I'm leaving."
If I learned my father condemned me to die because he couldn't do the job himself, I'd probably feel some resentment too. But oh well, it's our job now I guess.
"I'll meet you in Hyetal City, alright?"
: "Don't bother."
Ouch. Poor Monica.
Florina gathers everyone to leave to Hyetal while Kayo stays behind for some reason.
arrrgh
Long story short, he gives us a Deino with a Macho Brace and says that he'll come after our championship title. Hopefully Monica lives long enough to see that through? I don't really care about Kayo, to be honest.
He was there in the first game to pester us and suddenly gained a change of heart towards the end, although I'm not convinced he's not just Silver with a different name.
(Also, if you try to talk to him after he gives you Deino, he turns into a Nonverbal NPC. Smooth.)
Hey, here's the place Sydney was talking about. At least there's no stairs that bend the laws of physics.
I'll admit, the town maps are really cool this time around... but the dungeons could have used some serious work. If I'm not mistaken, the only original one was the Lunar Cave from around Chapter 2 (I think) while everything else is a either a terrible palette swap and unchanged from the original game.
The same items as in the last game and in the vanilla FireRed. Yawn.
But hey, at least someone's actually here to challenge us for it!
Siegfried roasts the giant living snowflake into nothing thanks to that critical hit. There's not even vapor left, that's how powerful Triple Soul is.
At least Waterfall is actually useful now, I guess? It was just kinda there in the first Dark Rising.
This again? Really?
Also, I was wrong about Chapter 10 being the last time we see Nathan because there's this too. Still, it's not like he's a good character - even Dray's more charming than him, to be honest. Sure, the anime references are really stupid and out of place, but he's at least far more developed and cares about Monica.
Monica sees Benga trying to attack Keldeo in the distance and teams up with Nathan to stop the hooded kids.
This will never cease to amuse me, though.
I know Gengar is a trade evolution, but there's just no sense in keeping them a Gastly. There's not even an emotional reason either, seeing as all of these hooded kids are puppets for Darugis.
Monica explains that these guys worship Darugis, they give another hoo-rah for the guy and Benga yells about Keldeo in the background.
Me and Monica share the same thoughts: ("Ugh, what is he doing?!")
While I don't like him, he's still willing to fight. If he dies trying to fight Darugis, not only will I not care as much if someone like, say, our loser crew were to bite it... but he'll also slow down the bastard a bit while we get more time to think.
I'm kinda cutthroat that way.
He screams at the grunts to get out of here. They comply, surprisingly enough.
: "It's not that easy, Nathan. Darugis is-"
Nathan: "Nevermind. I'll find Darugis myself."
If someone makes a drinking game out of all the times we say Darugis (ding!) throughout this game and Dark Rising 1, you will not survive even if it's non-alcoholic.
Also... you really want to take on a person whose power is almost double that of Arceus (720 vs 1280 and that's just the second form) complete with a gradually increasing army made up of super Darkmons that all have stat totals higher than Kyurem at the very least?
It was nice knowing you, buddy.
Okay, let's stop this idiot from doing any more things... because honestly?
"Leave me alone. I'm THIS close to getting revenge for my ancestors. I've got this My-Little-Pony clone cornered and trapped like a rat. Friendship and Magic can't save it!"
...
Excuse me, but:
God fucking damn it, Dark Rising Girl.
Even In-Game Monica thinks this is stupid because even she has ellipses before she decides to say anything else.
Benga is so convinced about killing Keldeo that it's not even funny. The kid has problems. Then Keldeo telepathically tells Monica to stop him, although we were planning on doing that a long time ago.
Bootleg Tyrantrum has Intimidate now, so that's fun.
Although it didn't really mean much at the end of the day.
I am still not convinced Heatran would be anywhere near enough to defeat any of the Swords of Justice. Sure, there's the level gap, but Keldeo is strong against both of its types... Not to mention the slaughter that'd happen if they all ganged up on it.
Wave does another amazing thing and takes out the Volcarona despite it being way more powerful than her. This water weasel, I swear.
It's one thing to go after a certain group, but it's another thing entirely to have a deep-seated hatred for literally every single Pokemon in existence just because your fucking grandfather told you a story.
Monica and Keldeo bond minds and they tell him the real story, although I'm not sure that even matters because if this kid is really this far gone just from a story, then honestly there's no helping him.
Blah blah, humans are pricks that wanted to expand their grasp, the Swords of Justice were only fighting back, you know the rest.
He buys into the mind-bonding thing, fortunately enough. Monica tells Benga that his ancestor died trying to protect Keldeo and that shuts Benga up for good. I... don't know how or why, but I'll take it.
Benga leaves while Keldeo stays behind so we can catch him.
... Honestly?
Benga's entire character arc is easily the most ludicrous in the game, although second to the V complications due to that being a thing since Dark Rising 1. Lemme break it down:
He decides all Pokemon are evil based on one story that his grandfather told him. Not an actual incident or him having an upbringing of always hating Pokemon (the opposite if you know how Alder's like) - no, just one story and they're all bad.
Not to mention the game never seems to keep it consistent: Does he hate all Pokemon or just the Swords of Justice? The fact they never stick to one makes it especially fucking aggravating, not helping the fact that he has his own team.
It's so impersonal too, because he does this for people that he didn't even grow up with - his ancestors are long gone, so even if the Swords of Justice were responsible, there'd be no reason to hunt them down unless they were actively slaughtering more people... which they're not.
I guess that's the mindset behind this, but if he really wanted to show off a hatred of Pokemon, then maybe he should show that attitude with his own team? Not once does he ever belittle his own Pokemon aside from the generic "hate all Pokemon" moans.
Honestly, the worst part about this is that you could remove Benga from the game and nothing would be changed. His arc impacts nothing revolving around Darugis, which is actually even worse than Jalice in that regard because at least her mom unsealed the barrier or something.
The biggest problem about Dark Rising is that it has too many plot points/characters, zero focus and a lack of direction... not to mention all of the things she put in that don't even add up like Benga's story. The only consistent thing is going after Darugis and Jean Blake, but everything else is tacked on.
Given that this is what we're working with, I'm sorry but I have to decline.
Wait, aren't you part of Noah's party?
Oh and to top it all off, he was really Siegfried in disguise.
: ("What? No.")
We might as well move on. I'd care more about the Milotic thing if it actually mattered.
[War Agony]
Why would you ever want to swim in a place like this?
What could be so important here that Arceus has to stop us? Also, hi, Arceus.
: "Arceus, how did you-?!"
: ("I freed myself from the device you used to contain me. This place, I sense something... Yes... I sense the calling of time and space. Dialga and Palkia.")
You know, in hindsight, that does make perfect sense. If Arceus is actually god, then a Pokeball can't really contain him. I've always held the theory that the Arceus you catch in the real games is only like a fragment of the real one's power - like he's some eldritch abomination that hides in a dimension we can't comprehend.
: "Dialga and Palkia are in this building?"
Just... out of nowhere. The Space/Time dragons are in this random building in the Omni Region. There's no real lore to make sense of why they're here, they just are.
Arceus also mentions that Darugishas poisoned the waterhole I mean, Darugis has cursed the water so we can't surf on it. I'm adding that to the list.
: ("Yes... That is why I shall lend you my power. It is the power of god. I bestow you as a true chosen one, capable of using this power. You can now walk on water.")
: "... You're kidding, right?"
I love how even she doesn't buy it anymore.
: ("The dark waters will not harm humans, only Pokemon. When you see dark water, walk over it. I shall return to the device now.")
[Arceus pops back into the Pokeball]
Well... that was a thing. Honestly, with all the shit going on, Monica might as well be a 20 year old girl version of Jesus. Reasons below:
* She's a chosen one
* Everyone gives her shit despite her status as a messiah
* She's about to sacrifice herself for the greater good
* She can walk on water
The only things she's missing is turning her blood into wine and the long flowing beard.
Anyway, the Dimension Castle is pretty boring.
I'm glad they never changed this, though.
The books are just talking about Dialga and Palkia. It would be a bigger surprise if Arceus didn't straight up tell us that they're in here. That kills whatever mystery there could have been.
Also, have a drugstore's worth of vitamins. Just take all of them - all that matters is cash.
So as it turns out, these two TMs were here not because of anything Dark Rising Girl did, but because they're leftovers from the real game. Smoooooth.
Alright, I'll bite.
This would be way more appreciated if they were at level 90, but they're not. Even then, it's not like we even need them thanks to the presence of Sigurd and the rest of our overpowered entourage.
Wait, was the entire point of this stupid castle just to give us Dialga and Palkia? You have this big epic name like the "Dimension Castle" but in reality it's just the Pokemon Mansion painted blue and purple with the Time and Space dragons inside.
There's zero lore attached to it - Dark Rising Girl just decided to open this place up to you for some reason. It only seemed to be a stopping point for you to meet up with Arceus.
You get this message if you try to use surf like normal, but did Arceus really give us the ability to walk on water?
... That he did.
Except not really because you could still walk on the water even if you didn't to talk to him. It wouldn't have been that hard to create a temporary invisible blockade to make it seem like Arceus really did give us the power to walk on water.
I've noticed this entire game that Dark Rising Girl and her crew have not improved when it comes to eventing because you still have to talk to NPCs even after you defeat them... among other things. The loose, patchwork feeling of how events work in Dark Rising 1 and 2 make the games feel even shoddier than they already are.
Oh, and here's Overheat in a place surrounded by water.
I also have to mention that even though you're walking on top of the water, you can still run into wild Pokemon... so that was fun to deal with.
[City of Hopelessness]
With how close we are to the end, the moody rain and the overall dark atmosphere here, it makes perfect sense to put this song out.
(Oh yes, I should mention that there was a guard trainer standing at the gate to this place that didn't interact with you unless you fought him... and even when you beat him, he turned into a Nonverbal NPC. Incredible.)
: "I'm tempted to punch this guy's nose in and I haven't even properly met him yet. Good start."
Oh, that is not pretty. I take back my claim earlier about the town maps looking good.
Oh hey, this place has its own Department Store. (It's properly labeled as such, to be fair, unlike the first game where it straight up said "Celadon Dept. Store" despite it being in Numassity)
You can find Professor Mercury at the top and she'll be a bitch unless you give her some water... given how the original NPC was a bratty little girl, that's actually perfect.
I wonder if the dialogue is the same if you picked the boy option.
Holy shit, she actually paid attention to detail.
I can't even really be like "this is totally an NPC from the normal game" because I looked it up - there's no text like this in the vanilla game. She took out the time to pay attention to detail... on a minor character we would have never seen otherwise.
If only DRG did this with the important things in the game...
Back in Universe One, however...
This lady says she came from Mystic Falls in the Core Region and that she was too lazy to unpack her stuff... honestly, I don't understand why the boxes are even there. They're a red herring even in the real games.
"White Hand... it's real... It's coming for you tonight... In your sleep. Bye"
What is with this woman, I swear. So not only do you mention My Little Pony, you had to drag creepypasta into this.
Show of hands: who forgot this was supposed to be a "serious" take on the Pokemon series's story again? At this point it's just a really, really, really bad fanfiction.
Oh, and the kid pops out of existence because Rule of Scary.
I have no idea what this key is used for or why some kid obsessed with creepypasta had it, but we'll be taking it.
Jesus christ, that guy has a pretty big ego if he's willing to write down all of his wins. Too bad we can't fight him right now.
who names these places
But wait, I thought Jean Blake had a lab in... okay, screw it, I don't care anymore.
There's no such thing as too evil to study, remember?
If you expected anything other than the lab from Cinnabar, then you're sorely mistaken.
JB: "Monica, wait. I know why you're upset with me. We need to talk."
: "I thought you were going back to Fells Town to be--"
Okay, this is just telling us what we already heard before. Lemme just skip to the new stuff:
JB: "I know you're not proud of my decision years ago. But you need to understand, I couldn't just leave you both. So I sealed Darugis away, hoping and praying the seal would never be broken. There's a lot of things you just don't understand, Monica."
So in summation, he was too much of a coward and now he's trying to find excuses to justify why he doomed his kid. He's a good dad.
: "I guess I get what you're saying."
JB: "Do you? I've been fighting back my emotions about all of this, but I can't anymore. You've barely lived your life, Monica. Now you're going to throw it away and die? You're my child, damn it!"
Okay, he's finally shown that he does care about Monica's wellbeing instead of being a cold asshole about it.
Blake: "Fine... I'll be there for the final battle. Take care of her, Sigurd. Mom and I will always be here for you."
: ("It's the least I can do, sir.")
Obviously, dum dum. If God is real, then anything is real.
Oh hey, Dray wanted to send us his regards.
He says everyone went on ahead, but he stops us because he knows we're feeling down. Monica explains that Darugis felt overwhelmingly powerful and (blech), but he tries to keep her spirits up. Also, he says this:
"I may not be Super Saiyan God-Mode like you, Noah and Light are, but I can sense your doubt. You're scared of Darugis, aren't you?"
The fun thing is that Dray brings up that Shadow Lugia was cheap as fuck thanks to Dark Chaos, so at least DRG is aware her games are ridiculously unbalanced.
I appreciate the sentiment, dude, but...
Really though, it's not that fair of a comparison after what we've already seen.
I mean, you sort of have to. It's either you get cheap enough to defeat the overpowered bad guy or he wins. There's no middle ground.
"Let's go inside before things get out of control in there."
: "Thanks, Dray. I needed that."
: "No problem, it's what I do. I'm like that guy in the anime who has to snap some sense into the protagonist every now and then."
After that he tries to be like "oh, I could totally beat you if I wasn't taking it easy to make you not depressed", but I can't really get mad at him because he just told us he's nowhere near as good as we are.
This is a path. It is a thing. Commentary levels dropping to critical levels, beep boop.
They put a guy here to bar our progress... curse the Pokemon protagonists' inability to push people aside without using Pokemon.
... Wrong timing? Wrong timing.
This is the real one we have to go to. I'm not sure why they built a Battle Tower right next to the super evil with dark clouds tower of demise. It makes a good tourist attraction, obviously.
[Tower of Fanatics]
It's... a purple Pokemon tower. That's about what I expected.
Oh hey, Mason's here with another person that's... not Darugis. What the hell?
Mason gloats about our accomplishments. The Loser Crew got annihilated by Mega Evolutions and they introduce the shady red dude right next to him.
Alcina mentions that he's one of the Four Majestic Gym Leaders - the Omni Region had twelve gym leaders in total until Zale turned out to be invincible and stole work from the four of them. They disappeared for over twenty years, leaving Darugis to recruit them because why the fuck not, right?
Mason mentions that Darugis is going to flood the city with the tower (somehow???) and that we have to get going. He also makes a lusty remark toward Alcina and everyone nearly barfs at it.
Mason taunts him for having a temper and everyone makes it up the tower. I'll give Mason this, he's a pretty effective troll.
I'll leave any questions for this place later, because trust me I have a lot.
Anyway, next time on Dark Rising 2, we storm the tower and get closer towards the final battle. See you then.
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Team setup:
(Corin, level 90,
,
/
) - "Yeesh. This place is pretty spooky."
(Sigurd, level 97,
,
/
) - [Shivers]
(Siegfried, level 89,
,
/
) - "No kidding. This feeling of dread beats out any ghost, to be honest..."
(Wave, level 89,
,
) - "Just gotta... keep my cool. Yeah."
(Gale, level 85,
,
/
) - "Stay strong, guys. We're heading straight into the depths."
(Beatrice, level 88,
,
/
) - "This place honestly gives me a chill... given how we had to deal with the undead a few years back, that's saying something."
(Arceus, level 80,
) - "Haha..."
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Back-up Team:
(Signe, level 88,
,
/
) - "The tower seems to be a burial ground... so why would they call it the Tower of Demise? That's not exactly a comforting place to bury your family."
(Arthur, level 86,
,
/
) - "I just hope they'll be alright."
(Quote, level 81,
,
/
) - "Yowza, that's foul. I'm not even there and I'm still getting chillzzt!"
(Ambes, level 81,
,
) - "It doesn't help that I have a really awful gut feeling."
(Johnny, level 47,
,
) - "Yeah, no kidding."
(Shadow, level 60,
,
/
) - "... I agree with Signe, though."
(Rubus, level 25,
,
) - [Uncontrollable shaking]
(Bellamine, level 84,
,
) - [Holds Rubus in her arms] "It's alright, sweetie... Good lord, the amount of evil energy coming from that tower is enough to make my skin crawl too."
(Ignell, level 82,
,
/
) - "I'm not going to lie, this does seem pretty grim."
(Candelabra, level 82,
,
/
) - "You know, Ambes, I have a bad feeling too! Could it be that they...?"
(Beowulf, level 56,
,
) - "Hmm... I'd offer to help, but I'm afraid I'd get stomped out by whatever beast they're facing."
(Linoura, level 60,
,
/
) - "I'm feeling sick and I'm not even close to that tower. Beowulf, what do you think is even going on in there?"
(Iris, level 60,
,
) - "Ah! I just thought of something. What if other Pokemon can mega evolve too?"
(Lucera, level 60,
,
) - "Maybe you could if you gave it a try, Iris."
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #11 - Revelations[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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Spoiler:
We beat Darugis's 2nd form (I consider it the second after the Shadow Lugia from the first game) and now we're dealing with the aftermath.
Monica knows that Ziyah was forced to fight her and Ziyah declares her vengeance against the big dumb overlord. However, she notices that Monica has a peculiar shiny stone:
Turns out good ol' Giovanni dropped a shard after he committed suicide(???) back in the Omega Facility. Ziyah mentions that even with the Omni Megastone being destroyed, the shards still glow if they're close to another... meaning someone around here has a mega.
Anything mega-evolution related would be infinitely cooler in a better game with a better story.
Oh hey, the loser crew's finally complete! Everyone's here except for Noah, though.
"Just know that you won the battle, alright? It doesn't matter how strong Darugis is. We'll defeat it!"
Optimistic, but have you seen that guy? He's uh... not exactly the kind to have a fair fight.
Meanwhile, Dray brings up that any normal person would flip if they learned about the stuff that happened in the Sealed Chamber. He notices Monica's feeling insecure but just asks her where she's going. (Hyetal City, by the way)
Alcina congratulates us and tells us the secret of Arceus's true power along with some other stuff about the shards and how we're not ready to use them or something? (Aka. they're not able to program in actual Mega Evolutions that we can use)
She also tells us to get stronger by fighting Zale, the gym leader of Hyetal City. Sorta comes with the territory of all this other stuff, doesn't it?
Sydney tells us about a place that's pretty much Icefall Cave from the Sevii Islands and that's all she brings up. Thrilling.
Oh shit, papa's here to lay down the plot.
"Your friends brought me here... Said I had a lot of explaining to do. They're right, heh."
JB: "Yeah, she's good. I called her. In the Core Region, did you run into a person called Amaris?"
Okay, good, Darugis hasn't discovered Monica's mom and planned to use her as a hostage.
JB: "... She's dead."
Oh no, the person I didn't know anything about is dead. Still though, that has to sting for Blake considering she was his ally before this.
JB: "Darugis hunted her down. Without her and Sigurd, I wouldn't have defeated it 27 years ago."
Alright, Jean Blake was told to be the only person to defeat Darugis despite Darugis existing for centuries? That uh... seems a bit improbable considering the timespan and the disparity in strength. (At least he used to work with Sigurd in the LP, so I guess that alleviates some of it.)
JB: "Because I couldn't bring myself to die, Monica. I just met your mother... I had a great life, I couldn't sacrifice myself to assure Darugis will never return."
Wow, dude...
JB: "Yeah, I know, kiddo. Now, because I couldn't, you're going to do it... Right?"
[Monica stares at him with disgust. Sigurd looks away]
JB: "Exactly. It's tough, isn't it?"
Looks like for all the games built up to him being a hero, he was ultimately kind of a coward. That's... frankly a lot better than having him be some paragon of faith because it makes him relatable. Who's to say another person wouldn't have done what he did if they were in his shoes?
Wow, this is actually a really good plot twist. Good job, DRG.
If I learned my father condemned me to die because he couldn't do the job himself, I'd probably feel some resentment too. But oh well, it's our job now I guess.
"I'll meet you in Hyetal City, alright?"
Ouch. Poor Monica.
Florina gathers everyone to leave to Hyetal while Kayo stays behind for some reason.
arrrgh
Long story short, he gives us a Deino with a Macho Brace and says that he'll come after our championship title. Hopefully Monica lives long enough to see that through? I don't really care about Kayo, to be honest.
He was there in the first game to pester us and suddenly gained a change of heart towards the end, although I'm not convinced he's not just Silver with a different name.
(Also, if you try to talk to him after he gives you Deino, he turns into a Nonverbal NPC. Smooth.)
Hey, here's the place Sydney was talking about. At least there's no stairs that bend the laws of physics.
I'll admit, the town maps are really cool this time around... but the dungeons could have used some serious work. If I'm not mistaken, the only original one was the Lunar Cave from around Chapter 2 (I think) while everything else is a either a terrible palette swap and unchanged from the original game.
The same items as in the last game and in the vanilla FireRed. Yawn.
But hey, at least someone's actually here to challenge us for it!
Siegfried roasts the giant living snowflake into nothing thanks to that critical hit. There's not even vapor left, that's how powerful Triple Soul is.
At least Waterfall is actually useful now, I guess? It was just kinda there in the first Dark Rising.
This again? Really?
Also, I was wrong about Chapter 10 being the last time we see Nathan because there's this too. Still, it's not like he's a good character - even Dray's more charming than him, to be honest. Sure, the anime references are really stupid and out of place, but he's at least far more developed and cares about Monica.
Monica sees Benga trying to attack Keldeo in the distance and teams up with Nathan to stop the hooded kids.
This will never cease to amuse me, though.
I know Gengar is a trade evolution, but there's just no sense in keeping them a Gastly. There's not even an emotional reason either, seeing as all of these hooded kids are puppets for Darugis.
Monica explains that these guys worship Darugis, they give another hoo-rah for the guy and Benga yells about Keldeo in the background.
Me and Monica share the same thoughts: ("Ugh, what is he doing?!")
While I don't like him, he's still willing to fight. If he dies trying to fight Darugis, not only will I not care as much if someone like, say, our loser crew were to bite it... but he'll also slow down the bastard a bit while we get more time to think.
I'm kinda cutthroat that way.
He screams at the grunts to get out of here. They comply, surprisingly enough.
Nathan: "Nevermind. I'll find Darugis myself."
If someone makes a drinking game out of all the times we say Darugis (ding!) throughout this game and Dark Rising 1, you will not survive even if it's non-alcoholic.
Also... you really want to take on a person whose power is almost double that of Arceus (720 vs 1280 and that's just the second form) complete with a gradually increasing army made up of super Darkmons that all have stat totals higher than Kyurem at the very least?
It was nice knowing you, buddy.
Okay, let's stop this idiot from doing any more things... because honestly?
"Leave me alone. I'm THIS close to getting revenge for my ancestors. I've got this My-Little-Pony clone cornered and trapped like a rat. Friendship and Magic can't save it!"
...
Excuse me, but:
God fucking damn it, Dark Rising Girl.
Even In-Game Monica thinks this is stupid because even she has ellipses before she decides to say anything else.
Benga is so convinced about killing Keldeo that it's not even funny. The kid has problems. Then Keldeo telepathically tells Monica to stop him, although we were planning on doing that a long time ago.
Bootleg Tyrantrum has Intimidate now, so that's fun.
Although it didn't really mean much at the end of the day.
I am still not convinced Heatran would be anywhere near enough to defeat any of the Swords of Justice. Sure, there's the level gap, but Keldeo is strong against both of its types... Not to mention the slaughter that'd happen if they all ganged up on it.
Wave does another amazing thing and takes out the Volcarona despite it being way more powerful than her. This water weasel, I swear.
It's one thing to go after a certain group, but it's another thing entirely to have a deep-seated hatred for literally every single Pokemon in existence just because your fucking grandfather told you a story.
Monica and Keldeo bond minds and they tell him the real story, although I'm not sure that even matters because if this kid is really this far gone just from a story, then honestly there's no helping him.
Blah blah, humans are pricks that wanted to expand their grasp, the Swords of Justice were only fighting back, you know the rest.
He buys into the mind-bonding thing, fortunately enough. Monica tells Benga that his ancestor died trying to protect Keldeo and that shuts Benga up for good. I... don't know how or why, but I'll take it.
Benga leaves while Keldeo stays behind so we can catch him.
... Honestly?
Benga's entire character arc is easily the most ludicrous in the game, although second to the V complications due to that being a thing since Dark Rising 1. Lemme break it down:
He decides all Pokemon are evil based on one story that his grandfather told him. Not an actual incident or him having an upbringing of always hating Pokemon (the opposite if you know how Alder's like) - no, just one story and they're all bad.
Not to mention the game never seems to keep it consistent: Does he hate all Pokemon or just the Swords of Justice? The fact they never stick to one makes it especially fucking aggravating, not helping the fact that he has his own team.
It's so impersonal too, because he does this for people that he didn't even grow up with - his ancestors are long gone, so even if the Swords of Justice were responsible, there'd be no reason to hunt them down unless they were actively slaughtering more people... which they're not.
I guess that's the mindset behind this, but if he really wanted to show off a hatred of Pokemon, then maybe he should show that attitude with his own team? Not once does he ever belittle his own Pokemon aside from the generic "hate all Pokemon" moans.
Honestly, the worst part about this is that you could remove Benga from the game and nothing would be changed. His arc impacts nothing revolving around Darugis, which is actually even worse than Jalice in that regard because at least her mom unsealed the barrier or something.
The biggest problem about Dark Rising is that it has too many plot points/characters, zero focus and a lack of direction... not to mention all of the things she put in that don't even add up like Benga's story. The only consistent thing is going after Darugis and Jean Blake, but everything else is tacked on.
Given that this is what we're working with, I'm sorry but I have to decline.
Wait, aren't you part of Noah's party?
Oh and to top it all off, he was really Siegfried in disguise.
We might as well move on. I'd care more about the Milotic thing if it actually mattered.
[War Agony]
Why would you ever want to swim in a place like this?
What could be so important here that Arceus has to stop us? Also, hi, Arceus.
You know, in hindsight, that does make perfect sense. If Arceus is actually god, then a Pokeball can't really contain him. I've always held the theory that the Arceus you catch in the real games is only like a fragment of the real one's power - like he's some eldritch abomination that hides in a dimension we can't comprehend.
Just... out of nowhere. The Space/Time dragons are in this random building in the Omni Region. There's no real lore to make sense of why they're here, they just are.
Arceus also mentions that Darugis
I love how even she doesn't buy it anymore.
[Arceus pops back into the Pokeball]
Well... that was a thing. Honestly, with all the shit going on, Monica might as well be a 20 year old girl version of Jesus. Reasons below:
* She's a chosen one
* Everyone gives her shit despite her status as a messiah
* She's about to sacrifice herself for the greater good
* She can walk on water
The only things she's missing is turning her blood into wine and the long flowing beard.
Anyway, the Dimension Castle is pretty boring.
I'm glad they never changed this, though.
The books are just talking about Dialga and Palkia. It would be a bigger surprise if Arceus didn't straight up tell us that they're in here. That kills whatever mystery there could have been.
Also, have a drugstore's worth of vitamins. Just take all of them - all that matters is cash.
So as it turns out, these two TMs were here not because of anything Dark Rising Girl did, but because they're leftovers from the real game. Smoooooth.
Alright, I'll bite.
This would be way more appreciated if they were at level 90, but they're not. Even then, it's not like we even need them thanks to the presence of Sigurd and the rest of our overpowered entourage.
Wait, was the entire point of this stupid castle just to give us Dialga and Palkia? You have this big epic name like the "Dimension Castle" but in reality it's just the Pokemon Mansion painted blue and purple with the Time and Space dragons inside.
There's zero lore attached to it - Dark Rising Girl just decided to open this place up to you for some reason. It only seemed to be a stopping point for you to meet up with Arceus.
You get this message if you try to use surf like normal, but did Arceus really give us the ability to walk on water?
... That he did.
Except not really because you could still walk on the water even if you didn't to talk to him. It wouldn't have been that hard to create a temporary invisible blockade to make it seem like Arceus really did give us the power to walk on water.
I've noticed this entire game that Dark Rising Girl and her crew have not improved when it comes to eventing because you still have to talk to NPCs even after you defeat them... among other things. The loose, patchwork feeling of how events work in Dark Rising 1 and 2 make the games feel even shoddier than they already are.
Oh, and here's Overheat in a place surrounded by water.
I also have to mention that even though you're walking on top of the water, you can still run into wild Pokemon... so that was fun to deal with.
[City of Hopelessness]
With how close we are to the end, the moody rain and the overall dark atmosphere here, it makes perfect sense to put this song out.
(Oh yes, I should mention that there was a guard trainer standing at the gate to this place that didn't interact with you unless you fought him... and even when you beat him, he turned into a Nonverbal NPC. Incredible.)
Oh, that is not pretty. I take back my claim earlier about the town maps looking good.
Oh hey, this place has its own Department Store. (It's properly labeled as such, to be fair, unlike the first game where it straight up said "Celadon Dept. Store" despite it being in Numassity)
You can find Professor Mercury at the top and she'll be a bitch unless you give her some water... given how the original NPC was a bratty little girl, that's actually perfect.
I wonder if the dialogue is the same if you picked the boy option.
Holy shit, she actually paid attention to detail.
I can't even really be like "this is totally an NPC from the normal game" because I looked it up - there's no text like this in the vanilla game. She took out the time to pay attention to detail... on a minor character we would have never seen otherwise.
If only DRG did this with the important things in the game...
Back in Universe One, however...
This lady says she came from Mystic Falls in the Core Region and that she was too lazy to unpack her stuff... honestly, I don't understand why the boxes are even there. They're a red herring even in the real games.
"White Hand... it's real... It's coming for you tonight... In your sleep. Bye"
What is with this woman, I swear. So not only do you mention My Little Pony, you had to drag creepypasta into this.
Show of hands: who forgot this was supposed to be a "serious" take on the Pokemon series's story again? At this point it's just a really, really, really bad fanfiction.
Oh, and the kid pops out of existence because Rule of Scary.
I have no idea what this key is used for or why some kid obsessed with creepypasta had it, but we'll be taking it.
Jesus christ, that guy has a pretty big ego if he's willing to write down all of his wins. Too bad we can't fight him right now.
who names these places
But wait, I thought Jean Blake had a lab in... okay, screw it, I don't care anymore.
There's no such thing as too evil to study, remember?
If you expected anything other than the lab from Cinnabar, then you're sorely mistaken.
JB: "Monica, wait. I know why you're upset with me. We need to talk."
Okay, this is just telling us what we already heard before. Lemme just skip to the new stuff:
JB: "I know you're not proud of my decision years ago. But you need to understand, I couldn't just leave you both. So I sealed Darugis away, hoping and praying the seal would never be broken. There's a lot of things you just don't understand, Monica."
So in summation, he was too much of a coward and now he's trying to find excuses to justify why he doomed his kid. He's a good dad.
JB: "Do you? I've been fighting back my emotions about all of this, but I can't anymore. You've barely lived your life, Monica. Now you're going to throw it away and die? You're my child, damn it!"
Okay, he's finally shown that he does care about Monica's wellbeing instead of being a cold asshole about it.
Blake: "Fine... I'll be there for the final battle. Take care of her, Sigurd. Mom and I will always be here for you."
Obviously, dum dum. If God is real, then anything is real.
Oh hey, Dray wanted to send us his regards.
He says everyone went on ahead, but he stops us because he knows we're feeling down. Monica explains that Darugis felt overwhelmingly powerful and (blech), but he tries to keep her spirits up. Also, he says this:
"I may not be Super Saiyan God-Mode like you, Noah and Light are, but I can sense your doubt. You're scared of Darugis, aren't you?"
The fun thing is that Dray brings up that Shadow Lugia was cheap as fuck thanks to Dark Chaos, so at least DRG is aware her games are ridiculously unbalanced.
I appreciate the sentiment, dude, but...
Really though, it's not that fair of a comparison after what we've already seen.
I mean, you sort of have to. It's either you get cheap enough to defeat the overpowered bad guy or he wins. There's no middle ground.
"Let's go inside before things get out of control in there."
After that he tries to be like "oh, I could totally beat you if I wasn't taking it easy to make you not depressed", but I can't really get mad at him because he just told us he's nowhere near as good as we are.
This is a path. It is a thing. Commentary levels dropping to critical levels, beep boop.
They put a guy here to bar our progress... curse the Pokemon protagonists' inability to push people aside without using Pokemon.
... Wrong timing? Wrong timing.
This is the real one we have to go to. I'm not sure why they built a Battle Tower right next to the super evil with dark clouds tower of demise. It makes a good tourist attraction, obviously.
[Tower of Fanatics]
It's... a purple Pokemon tower. That's about what I expected.
Oh hey, Mason's here with another person that's... not Darugis. What the hell?
Mason gloats about our accomplishments. The Loser Crew got annihilated by Mega Evolutions and they introduce the shady red dude right next to him.
Alcina mentions that he's one of the Four Majestic Gym Leaders - the Omni Region had twelve gym leaders in total until Zale turned out to be invincible and stole work from the four of them. They disappeared for over twenty years, leaving Darugis to recruit them because why the fuck not, right?
Mason mentions that Darugis is going to flood the city with the tower (somehow???) and that we have to get going. He also makes a lusty remark toward Alcina and everyone nearly barfs at it.
Mason taunts him for having a temper and everyone makes it up the tower. I'll give Mason this, he's a pretty effective troll.
I'll leave any questions for this place later, because trust me I have a lot.
Anyway, next time on Dark Rising 2, we storm the tower and get closer towards the final battle. See you then.
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Team setup:
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Back-up Team: