Rainbow Chara X
Impossible to gauge!
- 129
- Posts
- 9
- Years
- Shiny Hunting in Sinnoh
- Seen May 12, 2025
Crazy train only gets more intense from here.
In fact, this is the first time in my let's playing adventures that I had to split a chapter in two because of how much happens in it. Both parts of Chapter 14 add up to a total of 247 screenshots, which is absolutely bonkers. But hey, you get more bang for your buck I suppose.
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #14 (Part 1) - Debauchery[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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We start off this chapter of Dark Rising by running into this peculiar woman. You can't ignore her - she stops you if you try to go past. Let's transcribe this conversation, because believe it or not, it actually deserves it for once:
Kaede: "But I hope you are not encouraging our youth with tales of the outside world. The outside world is harsh, filled with evil people. The cruelty I've seen and experienced in my life... I am happy these children do not have to go through with it. We were all peaceful... until you outsiders came to our island! Please, leave at once."
How many people regularly travel around the Core Region? This is an honest question because everybody's like "oh that place is too dangerous" or "we were peaceful until you people came along", which makes me question what the history of this place is, and not in a good way.
: "I'm sorry if you've been getting a lot of visitors lately, but some of us aren't bad. Your life was tough and some people mistreated you, I feel, but that's no excuse to tell the people on this island that the world we live in is all bad. You're blinding these children. You're supposed to teach them about life, good or bad.
Monica, I love you. You're a better character than even some real video game protagonists. I just wish you got the proper fleshing out you deserved... that, and removing the V sympathy thing would kick you way up there.
Kaede: "Life... is nothing special. We live and we die. In between that, we must endure the cruel world. You know nothing, child. You're brainwashed. Now, begone!"
Damn, you are one nihilistic old hag.
: "Don't even start. You let your personal feelings pass judgement on everyone and now you want these kids to think like you."
Arguably the worst thing you can do to a new generation is to teach them the wrong things at a young age. The more they grow up, the more they learn things, the harder it becomes to let go when you're an adult, good or bad.
That said, we're giving this woman a master class ass-kicking.
(By the way, not to detract from the scene, but DRG seriously needed to space out the events. Why are Ash and Misty there waiting for us when we've already got this to deal with? This is what I meant earlier about breathing room.)
Kaede: "I'll make you leave. Go, my pure Pokemon!"
Kaede is a chump. She doesn't really have anything dangerous or interesting up her sleeve, so just go full ham on her.
I SAY AS THIS HAPPENS
WHAT THE FUCK - FAFNIR'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE
Oops. Funny thing about this - Fafnir replaces Venusaur in the Pokedex, much like how Sigurd and his Riolu form replace Bulbasaur and Ivysaur. Apparently Kaede had a Venusaur on her team, but now she has Sigurd's sister aboard.
To be fair, it still fits. She did say "pure" Pokemon, after all.
: ("What the - where the hell did you come from? This was supposed to be my time off!")
: "You got me. But since we're here, we might as well duke it out."
: ("It's not like I had kids to take care of or anything, no... But I guess I can't pass up an opportunity like this. Bring him out.")
: [Snicker] "Good luck, buddy."
: ("How long has it been, Sigurd?")
: ("Too long, Signe. I know we've gone through this before, but why do you still listen to that man?")
: ("Shut up! Don't call me by that name! I won't have a trainer to go back to if Master doesn't feel satisfied with me. He's always watching me. I-I can't rest until I get rid of you.")
: ("Then why not just join our side? Monica is the strongest trainer I've ever met. She can take care of you.")
: ("Sigurd, you don't understand. You just don't understand what kind of a monster he's become... so please, make this quick for at least one of us.")
: ("I don't want to do this, but if you insist...")
: ("... What sort of family trouble have I walked onto?")
: ("This is stupid. Signe, just trust --")
: ("There's no point in arguing! You and Monica are going to die if you go against Master! If he won't get you, then Loki will...")
[She runs away]
: ("... Well, this keeps taking a turn for the worse. Who does she mean by 'Loki?' Why does Sigurd call her by a different name than everybody else?")
: ("I'll explain later, miss Bellamine.")
"How could your foul, city-infested Pokemon defeat my pure-hearted ones?"
: "It's hard to imagine how someone like you lost, isn't it? Someone that shuts away the truth just to keep themselves satisfied... Heh."
The in-game dialogue is nowhere near the same as what I wrote here, as it's just some "our experiences made us stronger than you" thing. I didn't quite care for it.
You can't walk into this building, by the way. Why does the door exist? To tease the player? That's silly.
... [Inputs walk-through-walls code]
It takes you all the way back to Kyurem's Lair? What the hell is that all about?
Bah, nobody cares. She's possessed by Darugis and we have to beat her up. Nothing we haven't seen before.
But there is something stupid that the game tries to do here: They try to justify Kaede's behavior by saying "oh hey possessed misty ruined this place". Dark Rising Girl has tried to dodge responsibility with a lot of these characters, but this is just ridiculous. Like damn, what's the point of tough character choices if nobody's actually at fault for their actions?
Oh yeah, and Misty is totally jealous about Ash hanging out with Dawn, Iris and the other girls. Of course.
Yes, we have to stuff Suicune in there somewhere because we beat Raikou and Entei. Poor thing.
Misty, solid black with no shading looks horrible on you. Hey, if we're already here, I might as well criticize her fashion sense.
Holy shit, Wave actually froze one of her Pokemon. I think this is the first time one of the team have actually frozen another Pokemon... in Dark Rising, at least. I know I've done it a couple of times in Snakewood.
Still, that's no small feat. I'd talk about the movesets of Misty's Pokemon, but she's so nonthreatening it doesn't even matter. I reserve that for the really wacky shit.
: ("Hey, Siegfried. Do you think we could ever get sis back on our side?")
: ("Well, she seems really determined about what she's doing...")
: ("But at least we have each other! Plus, maybe... we can convince her that we can take care of her.")
: ("Yeah. That's right... You and Monica are here. But still, I think that's easier said than done. Signe looked like she was losing her mind even more than the last time we met...")
Sometimes I get so bored during fights that I write dialogue. Honestly, that's much better than some boring recap of the enemies and how hilariously inept they are compared to the team.
Suicune was here... but now they're not. I'd nerf Aura Saber and Sigurd himself by extension, but maybe I wouldn't have to do that if everything wasn't level 80+ with maximum EVs.
Of course we did, you bunghole. She's in the way, anyway.
You know, given where this game has gone before (and what it's going to pull later on), I'm shocked to say that there's no sparkling vampires or ripped, shirtless werewolves in that cave. Would have been perfect, in my opinion.
I like that these rom hacks take out trade evolutions and just lets them evolve by leveling up. That's one point I'll give to Dark Rising Girl, at the very least.
"You've endured all trials and tribulations to come this far. You're worthy of using Arceus's power. Come, Monica. You have one final test before you're worthy of using Ability Bonding."
: "Oh boy, here we go."
Ability Bonding? Oh lord, what is the game going to throw at me now? But hey, let's humor her and go ahead.
Oh, my mistake - we're suddenly in the Twilight Zone!
Now we just need the intelligent writing that usually accompanies it.
This is Navel Rock from the original games, by the way. (The place where you get Lugia and Ho-oh via an event-only item)
I can tell because there's a million stairs to go up through and they're all the same maps from the original game.
At the very least this is different. I don't know what she did to the background to make it look all space-like, but it doesn't look half bad.
What, did you not expect Monica to come after you taunted her with the "one final test before being worthy of god's power" thing? Don't try to act all "mystical" on me because the illusion is paper thin right now.
: "Where are we?"
Dark Rising Girl, who is she fooling: "This is the Twilight Zone. This is where Arceus first began its eternal life. You have been chosen to bring peace and stability back to this world."
The world you so obviously copy-pasted over? Will the Core Region go back to being Kanto if I finish?
: "Why me? I wasn't even a Pokemon Trainer before I was chosen. So what made me more qualified than say... Ash Ketchum? Is it because I'm the child of someone who defeated Darugis the first time?"
Dark Rising Girl: "No. You were chosen along with Noah and Light because you three all have special skills that nobody else has. Also, your connection with Sigurd is beyond valuable."
I had to throw that last part in 'cause I actually forget Sigurd exists as part of this plot sometimes.
: "Light? Have you met that guy? He isn't a good guy at all. And don't pull that 'in due time' bullcrap on me, because--"
Dark Rising Girl: "In due time. He will understand soon enough. Now, are you ready for your final test?"
: "Oy vey. Sure."
Of course we have to fight Dark Rising Girl herself. It wouldn't be a bad fanfiction if you didn't have the self-insert character to deal with.
To top it off, she uses my favorite Unova Elite Four member as her sprite. Good taste, but at the same time I'm insulted because now I can't see Shauntal the same way again.
[Theme song for my beatdown: Megalovania (Halloween Hack edition)]
In any other game, this team would reek of "holy shit overpowered creator favorites", but given how high the level bar has been set for this game... it's just another workday for us.
Ordinarily I would give theme songs to fights that deserve them, but I consider this a giant exception. We're fighting Dark Rising Girl herself - I consider that a good opportunity for a "get wrecked" song. (It's meta as shit too - this version of Megalovania was originally from a rom hack and I'm hacking just to keep up with this game. Fancy that.)
I should make a list of the legendaries that don't get used in this game, because this is getting ridiculous.
I'm not going to question why Mew is here because I value my sanity. What I am going to question is how well they can stand up to a Void Bomb.
(Answer: haha are you joking
)
She had the whole set barring Manaphy for some reason. That's neat, but at the same time horribly ineffective against our own cute legendary.
Deoxys was here too, but he wasn't worth shit. That's unfortunate, seeing as Deoxys is one of my favorite Gen 3 legendaries.
Basically, Tarea/Dark Rising Girl explains that Monica has the power to mentally connect with legendary Pokemon. Whoop-de-doo, every protagonist of mine can do that naturally and legendaries are generally touted as having "psychic talking powers" for the sake of plot anyway. I think the more important reason why Monica was chosen is because she managed to train up her Pokemon to god-like levels despite the fact she just started on her journey.
Just sayin'.
Dark Rising Girl tells us to go look for the legendaries she just released so we can add them to our team. That's very considerate, but I don't have the time to raise these little munchkins.
(Read that screenshot carefully, though: she somehow managed to mash Celebi and Serebii together. Well done.)
To get the three cute legendaries, you go down this fork in the path. They're all on the way down, so you can't miss them.
: ("Wait... I recognize her. Chloris, is that you?!")
: ("Oh hey, miss Bellamine! So we finally found you! Where did you go?")
: ("It's a long story, to be honest... but I'm helping Monica.")
: ("You gave us quite a scare... but Jack will be so glad that we found you! Do you mind if I tag along for this new adventure?")
: ("Of course not. I'd rather be surrounded by new and old friends alike.")
: "'Kay, cool."
Chloris was a Celebi I got back in Snakewood... through unorthodox means. It wasn't through cheating, it was actually a feature in that game. So there's that.
By the way... If you go and capture any of the overworld legendaries, their scripting doesn't work properly and you can get an infinite amount of them as a result.
Second best gameplay / most engaging hack for Pokecommunity 2012, guys.
If you beat them up or run away, this happens instead. As stupidly out of context and nonsensical as this sounds, Audino actually can learn Dig as part of their moveset. To make things better (or worse, depending on your perspective), Dark Rising Girl copy-pasted this faulty script for something plot-important later on in chapter 14-2, so it only gets more amazing from there.
There's no glue strong enough to put the game back together after what she's done to it, I swear.
The other fork in the path brings you here. It takes you through the Regi maze from the original game, so I have to assume Deoxys is down there somewhere. Is it worth it? Hell no.
Anyway, let's leave before I get an aneurysm.
Wait, what -
Oh, are we suddenly kidnapping people now?!
I didn't cut anything out, either - they randomly decide to take Monica with them without explaining anything.
I'm surprised/impressed you idiots were even able to find this place to begin with.
Monica questions what happened to Sydney (oh by the way I finally got why her name is spelled with a y - there's already an existing Sidney and he's one of the Hoenn Elite Four) and she just tells Monica to come along.
Oh hey, a room full of the people I've already beat up. We're working together now, so that takes you all off of the hitlist at least.
: "What's going on?"
Florina: "Darugis is getting stronger, that's what."
: "Right now, we're the Core Region bad guys."
"We're wanted all over the region now."
Jesus christ, just how powerful is this man?! If he can just do this without even trying, how is anybody supposed to beat him? I'm glad we're getting actual plot development after all of the mind-numbing fighting, but Sigurd's already at level 100. A regular Pokemon game would have ended by half of that by now.
The guys say that the large machine in front of them can "negate Darugis's power by temporarily removing all negative thoughts in a person's mind" somehow. Yeah, whatever you say, game. It requires the Ruby and "Sapphire" (
) along with an Emerald - if this doesn't sound familiar to you, then you've never gotten to One Island in the original game as this is almost literally the same event but written around Dark Rising's plot.
Then again, did you expect anything less from this hack?
The Meteorite is supposed to "help" us find the Emerald, even though it's completely worthless. The police badge is supposed to fool regular people that Monica is a cop, even though cops won't fall for it. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that in real life, but we need more crutches to explain why the following townspeople don't attack us.
They also give us a town map for our troubles. That's nice.
Yeah, this is totally the Core Region and not that other place I keep talking about. Scout's honor.
One major thing that happens after the big plot scene is that they disable your PC usage. The reason being that the police will trace your location if you use one - mind, this applies to every PC in the game and not just the one in headquarters.
To be fair, this is a very interesting concept that manages to tie plot and gameplay together in a way I didn't imagine out of Dark Rising Girl and her group.
But then again, have you seen how hard this game is? Imagine if I didn't switch back to the A-Team just in time, or if I had an ill-prepared set of Pokemon to use for this part of the game? It would not have been pretty.
There's also this fellow right outside of headquarters that... uh... will provide a generous amount of entertainment for us.
"Changed this palette for some reason."
Just... get out your popcorn, guys.
Bruh, stop. Being associated with this rom hack is not something to be proud about. It only gets worse from here!
hinkage: "Why am I here? When I saw the name Dark Rising HQ, I assumed it meant 'people that worked on Dark Rising.' This place isn't actually for that, but oh well. Yeah, so like, one day I was minding my own business when I got a PM from DRG. "Oh, hinkage!" it read. "You're so smart, cute and funny!" I had never talked to a girl before and didn't know how to reply. So I didn't. Women are so confusing..."
If this is actually how it happened, then oh my god.
my best friend hinkage: "She tried again a few weeks later, asking me to finish scripting this game here. Now THAT I understood. I replied THAT MINUTE so she would know I was always lurking. 'Got it, I'll have it done." I said, all sauve-like just like in the James Bond movies. I was so happy I couldn't concentrate on kill-stealing in Call of Duty."
Goddamn, you are a dork. How old were all of you when you started on Dark Rising? How long did it take you to finish?
my main man hinkage: "I told my mom about it, but she didn't respond. Ever since the funeral, she's been real quiet. Wait, that last part wasn't true. Forget I said that. Uh... Oh, right!"
Holy shit dude, don't joke about that kind of stuff! Like have at least a little bit of tact before we roast you.
the one and only hinkage: "Anyway, I hope you're enjoying Dark Rising! At least, the parts I scripted. I don't care if you enjoy the other parts or not. You probably do, though! :D"
Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Not only is the game awful, but the people behind it had no dignity or sense of humility at all. I just hope you guys are happy with what you've released into the world, because this is so unprofessional I don't even know where to start.
Like listen. I can understand wanting a friendly cameo in your game... when it's a non-serious backyard project between you and your friends. That or it's hidden somewhere where you have to go out of your way to find the cameo.
Given the notoriety of Dark Rising and the various actions the creators have done, having Hinkage and DRG appear in the main plot (as in it actually being them - hinkage is blatantly here and DRG doesn't even try to hide her identity as Tarea) is the same as throwing a giant red bullseye sign on both of them.
I don't want to be the "stop having fun" guy, but sometimes this shit gets way out of hand.
Despite looking like an open cave, you can't walk into it. That's peculiar.
There's cops all around the next area, but I think this dude's just a pig. Fun fact, there was a cop named Vinny and I swear to god I couldn't help but make parallels to the Vinesauce guy.
Millennium City... Oh no, is the game really going in that direction?
Also, how far apart are these places? Despite this place looking like Kanto with the names changed around, I have no frame of reference as to how far apart some of these areas are. So for all I know, this "shortcut" could wind up teleporting Monica from the other side of the world.
Paul's here with the three legendary catdogs to fortify our army of legendaries.
They say their respective spiel about how Monica saved them and junk. I appreciate the thought, but given what's up ahead... Yeah, you wouldn't be able to help any more than the Pokemon I already have.
Anyway, this is where the chapter changed drastically upon going through this part of the game for a second time.
The thing that caught my attention when I glanced through the map was the area called "Light's Factory". See, I had gotten to the ending of the game only to realize "oh shit - I skipped an entire chapter's worth of stuff" because this entire section was, in all fairness, completely optional. The worst part is that there's plot-relevant stuff here that's supposed to explain what goes on in chapter 15+ and you can't fix the PC if you don't do this, so...
Despite this and my feelings about Dark Rising, skipping an entire chapter's worth of stuff is still bad form on my part. So I went to the appropriate cutoff point and formed an entire new chapter from there.
This place is just the Rocket Warehouse from the original game, so there's not much to go over here. Unless you like to see me dance around spin tiles set to vaguely irish dancing music.
I loot your things without remorse so I can give it to someone who deserves it more - ME!
How sadistic do you have to be to get a Croagunk to level 71 and not let them evolve? Like god damn, there's being attached to your Pokemon's pre-evolution and then there's a lack of common sense.
Basic human decency? I thought that died from the world the instant Monica started on her journey! I am pleasantly surprised.
This man has to be the biggest creeper of all. He goes "hehehe" and wants to do experiments on Monica... which is all kinds of gross. In her own words:
: "Weirdo. Whatever, let's do this."
His set reminds me of that one possessed scientist we met back in the Waterfall Cavern, which gives me the impression he was really a creepy douchebag the entire time.
Oh well, who cares - he's fodder anyway.
"You're too strong for words!"
Obviously, given how easily Monica and the team trounces through most of your army without even so much as blinking.
: ("It would be smart of you to comply. You really don't want to see her mad.")
"How can someone as young as you be this strong?"
: "From training and by defeating losers like you. I'm getting tired of this, so I'll only ask this once - where is my father?"
: "Dead!!"
[He vanishes in the following fade to black transition]
: "... At least he was honest. Ugh, god... This isn't good."
: ("Don't lose faith, Monica. You can do this.")
: "... I gotcha. We better hurry, though."
"You're always making me look like a fool!"
: "No, you make yourself look like a fool. Vladimir, do you really think helping Darugis is going to get you anywhere in life? He's only using you."
Tell him like it is.
Vladimir: "Quiet, kid. Heh, heh... I'd watch your mouth if I were you. All I have to do is make a call to the police station and you'll be behind bars now."
Yeah, he taunts Monica by saying that Team Dark Rising will get arrested because they "stole Pokemon and experimented on them". Effective strategy considering all of the police are brainwashed, but then Monica ruins it by throwing out a non-existent Landorus at him.
Third verse, same as the first. You're not sneaky, Vlad, don't even try it.
(You have to talk to him to get this dialogue by the way)
He mentions something about Pax Town, so guess where the "Dark Hideout" barfs us out at?
Well, there's this first, I suppose. Let's talk to that jolly fellow.
Aaaaaand he's an unedited NPC. Typical. I will forgive your blatant copy-pasting on the grounds that you gave me a Nugget, but after the Big Pearl incident back in Kyurem's Lair... Yeah, not even worth it.
By the way, sir, are you aware that there is a megalomanical group of people poised to take over the world in the entrance right in front of you? Maybe you shouldn't get this close to them.
Say hello to Pax Town and its eye-gouging border tiles. Imagine if you yourself lived in this town and you had to look at that the entire day. Not exactly pretty, is it?
"With a bunch of bad people inside? I've been seeing a lot of strange men and women come out."
: "Something like that. Take my advice and don't go inside."
Aren't these people supposed to be possessed? Why aren't they attacking Monica? Whatever, I'm glad DRG couldn't even keep that consistent. But yeah, don't go inside you poor summer child.
"He's been selling some really good items since his arrival."
Noted, random gentleman.
Oh wow, this man actually DOES sell something interesting!
My buyable Ether comment from the previous chapter was prophetic, because I didn't know about this when I talked about it then. But oh man, this is great. I can't wait to unload my vast fortune on these alone, seeing as this is a source of infinite PP that doesn't involve backtracking to the Pokemon Center from time to time.
He also sells Heart Scales and Macho Braces (in case you needed to boost your EV intake, but who really cares) so that's neat.
: "Uh..."
: "Nobody's watching, right?"
Oh, nobody... but the audience.
An item that nobody ever uses! Lucky Punch boosts Chansey's critical hit ratio, which is completely useless because you don't attack normally with Chansey to begin with. Seismic Toss is a fixed damage move, so the Lucky Punch goes straight into the dumpster.
I should mention that I don't have walk-through-walls on. The outside of the Chansey girl's house mystifies me in many ways, because it's like the place doesn't even exist. Maybe it doesn't.
I'll uh... just leave you two alone. You definitely seem to be having a good time.
Well, there's the Game Corner. I see Dark Rising Girl taking a day off of making her game.
If you try to participate, you can get some unedited Pokemon... which is laughable seeing as they're around level 20 or so.
Oh dear god, can someone please get grandpa off of the shelves before he breaks something?
: "Hang on, I'll just leave the guys to do their thing while I go get some snacks."
[Monica leaves]
[Monica comes back with soda in hand. The opponent's Pokemon are left a bloodied mess on the carpet floor]
: "Damn, guys. I know they're in the way, but don't make a mess."
: ("Sorry, we sort of got carried away.")
The grunt mentions something about...
V being back from the dead? Okay, this is getting interesting for all of the wrong reasons.
Oh, come on. Really?
Amateur writing mistake: You brought attention to something stupid and lampshaded it so it wouldn't look as bad. It never works, so why even bother? It's not some magic cure-all for bad writing because you're still guilty of putting it in and it doesn't make you look any more clever than you actually are.
Plus, given all of the other things you've blatantly stolen from the vanilla game, this is one serious "biting the hand that feeds you" situation we have going on here.
I'm surprised it took this long for the Dark Thugs to actually function like the Rocket members they're based off of.
The weird thing about the Dark Lab is that barring one random thug and three recognizable characters, it's completely empty. I'm tempted to throw this song in here to complete the mood: Opening to Hell
[Darugis's shadow follows Monica as she descends through the empty, dimly-lit labs]
Snatch is an interesting move in that it steals the effect of a stat-boosting move. Like let's say your opponent tries to use Swords Dance, only for you to steal the 2x attack boost for yourself. Neat idea, but extremely situational to actually use.
Please.
Excellent.
Remember the incidents with the Big Pearl and the Lucky Egg?
Same deal, but this time with a plot-important item. I'm still amazed that this game got an award despite Dark Rising Girl not even trying with the... anything, really.
Oh no, they've been possessed by Darugis! What a shocker!
... Yeah, right. Like anybody really cared about these two. I'm sorry to be so cold, but I really don't like anybody in this game. When everybody is a palette swap of an existing character or horrendously unlikable (V's children fit both of those), I can't really get into it.
Business as usual, with Zen Headbutt at its finest.
Too bad Siegfried kept missing and almost paid dearly for his mistakes.
: ("Hey, lighten up. I don't feel that bad.")
: ("You're wobbling to the point where I can just poke you and you'd faint.")
: ("Stuff it, Sigurd! You're not helping...!")
: "Huh. Maybe I could use her as a statue for our front lawn..."
: ("Uh... Don't. Monica, concentrate.")
: "Oh crap, sorry. I dunno, I get really bored sometimes."
: "Okay, come on. I need a matching pair anyway."
Not even once.
: ("Okay, that's sneaky. I'll give you that. Then again, amateur hour's over.")
: [Gasp]
: ("Hmm... You'd think I feel bad after beating up so many people without a second thought. Nah.")
: ("I believe me and my trainer shared the same sentiment after a while.")
: ("Glad to know it's not just me, then.")
What's happen to him? He's stoned.
That is my new favorite out of context line. That's great. If anything, Dark Rising is good for the unintentional hilarity.
Uh.
Juan? Buddy? Are you aware that there is a Missingno ready to eat your head? Because I don't think that looks safe at all. Oh, wait that's supposed to be V. Why does he look so different, though?
V-Rebirth: "Do you like the new look, Monica? I must say, I truly miss my youth."
: "You're... younger?"
V-Rebirth: "That's right - younger and reborn by the power of Darugis."
: ("Yeah, banishing him to hell was kind of boring of me to do. He'll provide a better show like this. Have fun!")
[Darugis's shadow fades away from the wall]
: "Wow, you're twisted. Okay... V, why did you turn Kaiden and Sakura to stone? They're your children or some junk. I honestly don't care about their fate seeing as they've done nothing but hound me for doing the world and honestly themselves a favor."
Gotta love that extra snark for Let's Play!Monica.
: ("That's it? No snappy one-liner or dramatic speech about how you'll kill Monica?")
: ("I was looking forward to that, actually.")
: ("Being brought back from the dead doesn't do much for your intelligence, I suppose.")
He ditched the pink vest and slicked his hair back. Ooh, how threatening. It'd certainly be more effective if he wasn't just a palette swap of Maxie.
: ("I see you aren't thrilled about our reunion.")
: ("Shut your mouth. I met Signe again. I'll take her back from you and Darugis even if it means losing an arm and a leg in the process.")
: ("Your loyalty for your sister knows no bounds, but it may be misplaced. For you see, her name is Fafnir now and it will remain that way. I'm afraid to say that even you cannot stop this, master Sigurd.")
: ("Don't test me. I will make you regret it.")
: ("I won't stop until I save my sister. Not even your precious Darugis can stop me.")
: ("You truly are a remarkable man...")
Plot aside, V-Rebirth isn't a threat in the slightest. He has basically the same team as last time, barring one new addition that makes no sense no matter which way I look at it.
You'd think this would be a horrible idea given how strong Honchkrows are... but Arthur shows him a thing or two. I haven't forgotten about you, buddy.
The new Pokemon is Genesect and he sticks out like a sore thumb. We have to fill out the legendary quota or Dark Rising won't get game of the year - that's how things have to be around here.
But no seriously, you couldn't give him... I dunno, Giratina Origin forme? It would fit more with his team of "omg dark and ghost types" than some purple mecha-bug. One baffling thing about Genesect is that it has Color Change as an ability, so that can only end in misery for it.
Game, set and match. At this point, you'd have to cheat to make things more interesting. You'd have to boost the stats of legendaries (that don't need them, by the way) and make them more grueling to fight just to make some lame villains look competent.
But Dark Rising wouldn't do that to us, would -
Yes. It would.
How are you guys surprised by this? If anything, you should be playing a drinking game counting how many people have doubted Monica's skills despite clearly bulldozing through a fair amount of your numbers. Noah notwithstanding because he was just being a dick.
"You're somehow still better than me."
: "Duh. Anyway... Turn Kaiden and Sakura back to normal. As misguided as they were, they still did so much for you."
V-Rebirth: "I don't care for them."
: "Oh wow, you really are--"
V-Rebirth: "Farewell, Monica!"
[Fade to black transition]
: "I think I hate him more now. I didn't even think that was possible."
As much as I'd love to continue, I have to cut the first part of chapter 14 off here. Catch you later.
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Team setup:
(Bellamine, level 83, has Sand Cloak,
,
) - "So... Signe is Fafnir's real name? Strange. What could have caused her to be like this?"
(Corin, level 95, has Dragon Fang,
,
/
) - "I'm curious too. She was helping kids before we encountered her... but who knows what she was actually doing. But can I just say that V can go suck a million chodes?"
(Sigurd, level 100,
,
/
) - "Agreed. But yes... Signe was the sweetest person I had ever known. She always knew a way to make me and the guys happy when we were young, so I can't forgive Darugis for what he's done to her."
(Siegfried, level 93,
,
/
) - "Not only that, there's Loki. See... Loki was another brother of ours. He was a Hoopa that loved to play pranks and stuff, but he was a really nice guy. I don't remember what must have happened to him, but if what Big Sis said is any indication..."
(Gale, level 91,
,
/
) - "This is a lot to take in. I agree about the V thing though."
(Arthur, level 91,
,
/
) - "A Hoopa, a Victini and two Riolus... You must have had a loving family back in the day based on how fondly you still talk about each other. Too bad it's come to this, I suppose."
(Wave, level 91,
,
) - "Don't be like that, Arthur. The last thing they need is to be more depressed."
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Back up team:
(Hel, level 76,
,
/
) - "Oooh, that V character! He deserves nothing but the fiery pits of hell for what he's done!"
(Lumis, level 72,
,
) - "Are you alright, Hel? You don't normally lose your temper like this."
(Ignell, level 80,
,
/
) - [Sprains his back] "Aagh! I guess I still can't move..."
(Sathala, level 73,
,
) - "Yo, Siegfried has another brother? He's a trickster too? ... Is he cute?"
(Vera, level 76,
,
) - "If you like them like that, I suppose."
(Chloris, level 70,
,
/
) - "I'll just... sit here, then. Do you have any idea what's going on?"
(Cinder, level 40,
,
) -"Nnnnnope. I just take care of the team, new girl."
In fact, this is the first time in my let's playing adventures that I had to split a chapter in two because of how much happens in it. Both parts of Chapter 14 add up to a total of 247 screenshots, which is absolutely bonkers. But hey, you get more bang for your buck I suppose.
[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Chapter #14 (Part 1) - Debauchery[/FONT][FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]
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Spoiler:
We start off this chapter of Dark Rising by running into this peculiar woman. You can't ignore her - she stops you if you try to go past. Let's transcribe this conversation, because believe it or not, it actually deserves it for once:
Kaede: "But I hope you are not encouraging our youth with tales of the outside world. The outside world is harsh, filled with evil people. The cruelty I've seen and experienced in my life... I am happy these children do not have to go through with it. We were all peaceful... until you outsiders came to our island! Please, leave at once."
How many people regularly travel around the Core Region? This is an honest question because everybody's like "oh that place is too dangerous" or "we were peaceful until you people came along", which makes me question what the history of this place is, and not in a good way.
Monica, I love you. You're a better character than even some real video game protagonists. I just wish you got the proper fleshing out you deserved... that, and removing the V sympathy thing would kick you way up there.
Kaede: "Life... is nothing special. We live and we die. In between that, we must endure the cruel world. You know nothing, child. You're brainwashed. Now, begone!"
Damn, you are one nihilistic old hag.
Arguably the worst thing you can do to a new generation is to teach them the wrong things at a young age. The more they grow up, the more they learn things, the harder it becomes to let go when you're an adult, good or bad.
That said, we're giving this woman a master class ass-kicking.
(By the way, not to detract from the scene, but DRG seriously needed to space out the events. Why are Ash and Misty there waiting for us when we've already got this to deal with? This is what I meant earlier about breathing room.)
Kaede: "I'll make you leave. Go, my pure Pokemon!"
Kaede is a chump. She doesn't really have anything dangerous or interesting up her sleeve, so just go full ham on her.
I SAY AS THIS HAPPENS
WHAT THE FUCK - FAFNIR'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE
Oops. Funny thing about this - Fafnir replaces Venusaur in the Pokedex, much like how Sigurd and his Riolu form replace Bulbasaur and Ivysaur. Apparently Kaede had a Venusaur on her team, but now she has Sigurd's sister aboard.
To be fair, it still fits. She did say "pure" Pokemon, after all.
[She runs away]
"How could your foul, city-infested Pokemon defeat my pure-hearted ones?"
The in-game dialogue is nowhere near the same as what I wrote here, as it's just some "our experiences made us stronger than you" thing. I didn't quite care for it.
You can't walk into this building, by the way. Why does the door exist? To tease the player? That's silly.
... [Inputs walk-through-walls code]
It takes you all the way back to Kyurem's Lair? What the hell is that all about?
Bah, nobody cares. She's possessed by Darugis and we have to beat her up. Nothing we haven't seen before.
But there is something stupid that the game tries to do here: They try to justify Kaede's behavior by saying "oh hey possessed misty ruined this place". Dark Rising Girl has tried to dodge responsibility with a lot of these characters, but this is just ridiculous. Like damn, what's the point of tough character choices if nobody's actually at fault for their actions?
Oh yeah, and Misty is totally jealous about Ash hanging out with Dawn, Iris and the other girls. Of course.
Yes, we have to stuff Suicune in there somewhere because we beat Raikou and Entei. Poor thing.
Misty, solid black with no shading looks horrible on you. Hey, if we're already here, I might as well criticize her fashion sense.
Holy shit, Wave actually froze one of her Pokemon. I think this is the first time one of the team have actually frozen another Pokemon... in Dark Rising, at least. I know I've done it a couple of times in Snakewood.
Still, that's no small feat. I'd talk about the movesets of Misty's Pokemon, but she's so nonthreatening it doesn't even matter. I reserve that for the really wacky shit.
Sometimes I get so bored during fights that I write dialogue. Honestly, that's much better than some boring recap of the enemies and how hilariously inept they are compared to the team.
Suicune was here... but now they're not. I'd nerf Aura Saber and Sigurd himself by extension, but maybe I wouldn't have to do that if everything wasn't level 80+ with maximum EVs.
Of course we did, you bunghole. She's in the way, anyway.
You know, given where this game has gone before (and what it's going to pull later on), I'm shocked to say that there's no sparkling vampires or ripped, shirtless werewolves in that cave. Would have been perfect, in my opinion.
I like that these rom hacks take out trade evolutions and just lets them evolve by leveling up. That's one point I'll give to Dark Rising Girl, at the very least.
"You've endured all trials and tribulations to come this far. You're worthy of using Arceus's power. Come, Monica. You have one final test before you're worthy of using Ability Bonding."
Ability Bonding? Oh lord, what is the game going to throw at me now? But hey, let's humor her and go ahead.
Now we just need the intelligent writing that usually accompanies it.
This is Navel Rock from the original games, by the way. (The place where you get Lugia and Ho-oh via an event-only item)
I can tell because there's a million stairs to go up through and they're all the same maps from the original game.
At the very least this is different. I don't know what she did to the background to make it look all space-like, but it doesn't look half bad.
What, did you not expect Monica to come after you taunted her with the "one final test before being worthy of god's power" thing? Don't try to act all "mystical" on me because the illusion is paper thin right now.
Dark Rising Girl, who is she fooling: "This is the Twilight Zone. This is where Arceus first began its eternal life. You have been chosen to bring peace and stability back to this world."
The world you so obviously copy-pasted over? Will the Core Region go back to being Kanto if I finish?
Dark Rising Girl: "No. You were chosen along with Noah and Light because you three all have special skills that nobody else has. Also, your connection with Sigurd is beyond valuable."
I had to throw that last part in 'cause I actually forget Sigurd exists as part of this plot sometimes.
Dark Rising Girl: "In due time. He will understand soon enough. Now, are you ready for your final test?"
Of course we have to fight Dark Rising Girl herself. It wouldn't be a bad fanfiction if you didn't have the self-insert character to deal with.
To top it off, she uses my favorite Unova Elite Four member as her sprite. Good taste, but at the same time I'm insulted because now I can't see Shauntal the same way again.
[Theme song for my beatdown: Megalovania (Halloween Hack edition)]
In any other game, this team would reek of "holy shit overpowered creator favorites", but given how high the level bar has been set for this game... it's just another workday for us.
Ordinarily I would give theme songs to fights that deserve them, but I consider this a giant exception. We're fighting Dark Rising Girl herself - I consider that a good opportunity for a "get wrecked" song. (It's meta as shit too - this version of Megalovania was originally from a rom hack and I'm hacking just to keep up with this game. Fancy that.)
I should make a list of the legendaries that don't get used in this game, because this is getting ridiculous.
I'm not going to question why Mew is here because I value my sanity. What I am going to question is how well they can stand up to a Void Bomb.
(Answer: haha are you joking
She had the whole set barring Manaphy for some reason. That's neat, but at the same time horribly ineffective against our own cute legendary.
Deoxys was here too, but he wasn't worth shit. That's unfortunate, seeing as Deoxys is one of my favorite Gen 3 legendaries.
Basically, Tarea/Dark Rising Girl explains that Monica has the power to mentally connect with legendary Pokemon. Whoop-de-doo, every protagonist of mine can do that naturally and legendaries are generally touted as having "psychic talking powers" for the sake of plot anyway. I think the more important reason why Monica was chosen is because she managed to train up her Pokemon to god-like levels despite the fact she just started on her journey.
Just sayin'.
Dark Rising Girl tells us to go look for the legendaries she just released so we can add them to our team. That's very considerate, but I don't have the time to raise these little munchkins.
(Read that screenshot carefully, though: she somehow managed to mash Celebi and Serebii together. Well done.)
To get the three cute legendaries, you go down this fork in the path. They're all on the way down, so you can't miss them.
Chloris was a Celebi I got back in Snakewood... through unorthodox means. It wasn't through cheating, it was actually a feature in that game. So there's that.
By the way... If you go and capture any of the overworld legendaries, their scripting doesn't work properly and you can get an infinite amount of them as a result.
Second best gameplay / most engaging hack for Pokecommunity 2012, guys.
If you beat them up or run away, this happens instead. As stupidly out of context and nonsensical as this sounds, Audino actually can learn Dig as part of their moveset. To make things better (or worse, depending on your perspective), Dark Rising Girl copy-pasted this faulty script for something plot-important later on in chapter 14-2, so it only gets more amazing from there.
There's no glue strong enough to put the game back together after what she's done to it, I swear.
The other fork in the path brings you here. It takes you through the Regi maze from the original game, so I have to assume Deoxys is down there somewhere. Is it worth it? Hell no.
Anyway, let's leave before I get an aneurysm.
Wait, what -
Oh, are we suddenly kidnapping people now?!
I didn't cut anything out, either - they randomly decide to take Monica with them without explaining anything.
I'm surprised/impressed you idiots were even able to find this place to begin with.
Monica questions what happened to Sydney (oh by the way I finally got why her name is spelled with a y - there's already an existing Sidney and he's one of the Hoenn Elite Four) and she just tells Monica to come along.
Oh hey, a room full of the people I've already beat up. We're working together now, so that takes you all off of the hitlist at least.
Florina: "Darugis is getting stronger, that's what."
"We're wanted all over the region now."
Jesus christ, just how powerful is this man?! If he can just do this without even trying, how is anybody supposed to beat him? I'm glad we're getting actual plot development after all of the mind-numbing fighting, but Sigurd's already at level 100. A regular Pokemon game would have ended by half of that by now.
The guys say that the large machine in front of them can "negate Darugis's power by temporarily removing all negative thoughts in a person's mind" somehow. Yeah, whatever you say, game. It requires the Ruby and "Sapphire" (
Then again, did you expect anything less from this hack?
The Meteorite is supposed to "help" us find the Emerald, even though it's completely worthless. The police badge is supposed to fool regular people that Monica is a cop, even though cops won't fall for it. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that in real life, but we need more crutches to explain why the following townspeople don't attack us.
They also give us a town map for our troubles. That's nice.
Yeah, this is totally the Core Region and not that other place I keep talking about. Scout's honor.
One major thing that happens after the big plot scene is that they disable your PC usage. The reason being that the police will trace your location if you use one - mind, this applies to every PC in the game and not just the one in headquarters.
To be fair, this is a very interesting concept that manages to tie plot and gameplay together in a way I didn't imagine out of Dark Rising Girl and her group.
But then again, have you seen how hard this game is? Imagine if I didn't switch back to the A-Team just in time, or if I had an ill-prepared set of Pokemon to use for this part of the game? It would not have been pretty.
There's also this fellow right outside of headquarters that... uh... will provide a generous amount of entertainment for us.
"Changed this palette for some reason."
Just... get out your popcorn, guys.
Bruh, stop. Being associated with this rom hack is not something to be proud about. It only gets worse from here!
hinkage: "Why am I here? When I saw the name Dark Rising HQ, I assumed it meant 'people that worked on Dark Rising.' This place isn't actually for that, but oh well. Yeah, so like, one day I was minding my own business when I got a PM from DRG. "Oh, hinkage!" it read. "You're so smart, cute and funny!" I had never talked to a girl before and didn't know how to reply. So I didn't. Women are so confusing..."
If this is actually how it happened, then oh my god.
my best friend hinkage: "She tried again a few weeks later, asking me to finish scripting this game here. Now THAT I understood. I replied THAT MINUTE so she would know I was always lurking. 'Got it, I'll have it done." I said, all sauve-like just like in the James Bond movies. I was so happy I couldn't concentrate on kill-stealing in Call of Duty."
Goddamn, you are a dork. How old were all of you when you started on Dark Rising? How long did it take you to finish?
my main man hinkage: "I told my mom about it, but she didn't respond. Ever since the funeral, she's been real quiet. Wait, that last part wasn't true. Forget I said that. Uh... Oh, right!"
Holy shit dude, don't joke about that kind of stuff! Like have at least a little bit of tact before we roast you.
the one and only hinkage: "Anyway, I hope you're enjoying Dark Rising! At least, the parts I scripted. I don't care if you enjoy the other parts or not. You probably do, though! :D"
Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Not only is the game awful, but the people behind it had no dignity or sense of humility at all. I just hope you guys are happy with what you've released into the world, because this is so unprofessional I don't even know where to start.
Like listen. I can understand wanting a friendly cameo in your game... when it's a non-serious backyard project between you and your friends. That or it's hidden somewhere where you have to go out of your way to find the cameo.
Given the notoriety of Dark Rising and the various actions the creators have done, having Hinkage and DRG appear in the main plot (as in it actually being them - hinkage is blatantly here and DRG doesn't even try to hide her identity as Tarea) is the same as throwing a giant red bullseye sign on both of them.
I don't want to be the "stop having fun" guy, but sometimes this shit gets way out of hand.
Despite looking like an open cave, you can't walk into it. That's peculiar.
There's cops all around the next area, but I think this dude's just a pig. Fun fact, there was a cop named Vinny and I swear to god I couldn't help but make parallels to the Vinesauce guy.
Millennium City... Oh no, is the game really going in that direction?
Also, how far apart are these places? Despite this place looking like Kanto with the names changed around, I have no frame of reference as to how far apart some of these areas are. So for all I know, this "shortcut" could wind up teleporting Monica from the other side of the world.
Paul's here with the three legendary catdogs to fortify our army of legendaries.
They say their respective spiel about how Monica saved them and junk. I appreciate the thought, but given what's up ahead... Yeah, you wouldn't be able to help any more than the Pokemon I already have.
Anyway, this is where the chapter changed drastically upon going through this part of the game for a second time.
The thing that caught my attention when I glanced through the map was the area called "Light's Factory". See, I had gotten to the ending of the game only to realize "oh shit - I skipped an entire chapter's worth of stuff" because this entire section was, in all fairness, completely optional. The worst part is that there's plot-relevant stuff here that's supposed to explain what goes on in chapter 15+ and you can't fix the PC if you don't do this, so...
Despite this and my feelings about Dark Rising, skipping an entire chapter's worth of stuff is still bad form on my part. So I went to the appropriate cutoff point and formed an entire new chapter from there.
This place is just the Rocket Warehouse from the original game, so there's not much to go over here. Unless you like to see me dance around spin tiles set to vaguely irish dancing music.
I loot your things without remorse so I can give it to someone who deserves it more - ME!
How sadistic do you have to be to get a Croagunk to level 71 and not let them evolve? Like god damn, there's being attached to your Pokemon's pre-evolution and then there's a lack of common sense.
Basic human decency? I thought that died from the world the instant Monica started on her journey! I am pleasantly surprised.
This man has to be the biggest creeper of all. He goes "hehehe" and wants to do experiments on Monica... which is all kinds of gross. In her own words:
His set reminds me of that one possessed scientist we met back in the Waterfall Cavern, which gives me the impression he was really a creepy douchebag the entire time.
Oh well, who cares - he's fodder anyway.
"You're too strong for words!"
Obviously, given how easily Monica and the team trounces through most of your army without even so much as blinking.
"How can someone as young as you be this strong?"
[He vanishes in the following fade to black transition]
"You're always making me look like a fool!"
Tell him like it is.
Vladimir: "Quiet, kid. Heh, heh... I'd watch your mouth if I were you. All I have to do is make a call to the police station and you'll be behind bars now."
Yeah, he taunts Monica by saying that Team Dark Rising will get arrested because they "stole Pokemon and experimented on them". Effective strategy considering all of the police are brainwashed, but then Monica ruins it by throwing out a non-existent Landorus at him.
Third verse, same as the first. You're not sneaky, Vlad, don't even try it.
(You have to talk to him to get this dialogue by the way)
He mentions something about Pax Town, so guess where the "Dark Hideout" barfs us out at?
Well, there's this first, I suppose. Let's talk to that jolly fellow.
Aaaaaand he's an unedited NPC. Typical. I will forgive your blatant copy-pasting on the grounds that you gave me a Nugget, but after the Big Pearl incident back in Kyurem's Lair... Yeah, not even worth it.
By the way, sir, are you aware that there is a megalomanical group of people poised to take over the world in the entrance right in front of you? Maybe you shouldn't get this close to them.
Say hello to Pax Town and its eye-gouging border tiles. Imagine if you yourself lived in this town and you had to look at that the entire day. Not exactly pretty, is it?
"With a bunch of bad people inside? I've been seeing a lot of strange men and women come out."
Aren't these people supposed to be possessed? Why aren't they attacking Monica? Whatever, I'm glad DRG couldn't even keep that consistent. But yeah, don't go inside you poor summer child.
"He's been selling some really good items since his arrival."
Noted, random gentleman.
Oh wow, this man actually DOES sell something interesting!
My buyable Ether comment from the previous chapter was prophetic, because I didn't know about this when I talked about it then. But oh man, this is great. I can't wait to unload my vast fortune on these alone, seeing as this is a source of infinite PP that doesn't involve backtracking to the Pokemon Center from time to time.
He also sells Heart Scales and Macho Braces (in case you needed to boost your EV intake, but who really cares) so that's neat.
Oh, nobody... but the audience.
An item that nobody ever uses! Lucky Punch boosts Chansey's critical hit ratio, which is completely useless because you don't attack normally with Chansey to begin with. Seismic Toss is a fixed damage move, so the Lucky Punch goes straight into the dumpster.
I should mention that I don't have walk-through-walls on. The outside of the Chansey girl's house mystifies me in many ways, because it's like the place doesn't even exist. Maybe it doesn't.
I'll uh... just leave you two alone. You definitely seem to be having a good time.
Well, there's the Game Corner. I see Dark Rising Girl taking a day off of making her game.
If you try to participate, you can get some unedited Pokemon... which is laughable seeing as they're around level 20 or so.
Oh dear god, can someone please get grandpa off of the shelves before he breaks something?
[Monica leaves]
[Monica comes back with soda in hand. The opponent's Pokemon are left a bloodied mess on the carpet floor]
The grunt mentions something about...
V being back from the dead? Okay, this is getting interesting for all of the wrong reasons.
Oh, come on. Really?
Amateur writing mistake: You brought attention to something stupid and lampshaded it so it wouldn't look as bad. It never works, so why even bother? It's not some magic cure-all for bad writing because you're still guilty of putting it in and it doesn't make you look any more clever than you actually are.
Plus, given all of the other things you've blatantly stolen from the vanilla game, this is one serious "biting the hand that feeds you" situation we have going on here.
I'm surprised it took this long for the Dark Thugs to actually function like the Rocket members they're based off of.
The weird thing about the Dark Lab is that barring one random thug and three recognizable characters, it's completely empty. I'm tempted to throw this song in here to complete the mood: Opening to Hell
[Darugis's shadow follows Monica as she descends through the empty, dimly-lit labs]
Snatch is an interesting move in that it steals the effect of a stat-boosting move. Like let's say your opponent tries to use Swords Dance, only for you to steal the 2x attack boost for yourself. Neat idea, but extremely situational to actually use.
Please.
Excellent.
Remember the incidents with the Big Pearl and the Lucky Egg?
Same deal, but this time with a plot-important item. I'm still amazed that this game got an award despite Dark Rising Girl not even trying with the... anything, really.
Oh no, they've been possessed by Darugis! What a shocker!
... Yeah, right. Like anybody really cared about these two. I'm sorry to be so cold, but I really don't like anybody in this game. When everybody is a palette swap of an existing character or horrendously unlikable (V's children fit both of those), I can't really get into it.
Business as usual, with Zen Headbutt at its finest.
Too bad Siegfried kept missing and almost paid dearly for his mistakes.
Not even once.
What's happen to him? He's stoned.
That is my new favorite out of context line. That's great. If anything, Dark Rising is good for the unintentional hilarity.
Uh.
Juan? Buddy? Are you aware that there is a Missingno ready to eat your head? Because I don't think that looks safe at all. Oh, wait that's supposed to be V. Why does he look so different, though?
V-Rebirth: "Do you like the new look, Monica? I must say, I truly miss my youth."
V-Rebirth: "That's right - younger and reborn by the power of Darugis."
[Darugis's shadow fades away from the wall]
Gotta love that extra snark for Let's Play!Monica.
He ditched the pink vest and slicked his hair back. Ooh, how threatening. It'd certainly be more effective if he wasn't just a palette swap of Maxie.
Plot aside, V-Rebirth isn't a threat in the slightest. He has basically the same team as last time, barring one new addition that makes no sense no matter which way I look at it.
You'd think this would be a horrible idea given how strong Honchkrows are... but Arthur shows him a thing or two. I haven't forgotten about you, buddy.
The new Pokemon is Genesect and he sticks out like a sore thumb. We have to fill out the legendary quota or Dark Rising won't get game of the year - that's how things have to be around here.
But no seriously, you couldn't give him... I dunno, Giratina Origin forme? It would fit more with his team of "omg dark and ghost types" than some purple mecha-bug. One baffling thing about Genesect is that it has Color Change as an ability, so that can only end in misery for it.
Game, set and match. At this point, you'd have to cheat to make things more interesting. You'd have to boost the stats of legendaries (that don't need them, by the way) and make them more grueling to fight just to make some lame villains look competent.
But Dark Rising wouldn't do that to us, would -
Yes. It would.
How are you guys surprised by this? If anything, you should be playing a drinking game counting how many people have doubted Monica's skills despite clearly bulldozing through a fair amount of your numbers. Noah notwithstanding because he was just being a dick.
"You're somehow still better than me."
V-Rebirth: "I don't care for them."
V-Rebirth: "Farewell, Monica!"
[Fade to black transition]
As much as I'd love to continue, I have to cut the first part of chapter 14 off here. Catch you later.
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Team setup:
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Back up team: