Retro Pokemon Weekends: Pokemon Green Flailthrough Day 14

Remember how I said to hell with the slots, and I'd just buy the coins later? Well... I'm weak. I started playing the slots again. I can't help it! Who can resist their sweet siren song?! It's like CANDY with its flashing lights and moving pictures... frustrating, frustrating, addictive candy. See? This is why I can never go to Vegas. There's no save file and reset in real life if you lose too much, and I don't know that I won't forget that.

Also, just as a side note, I've been shuffled from the tv onto the GB SP, because of Fallout New Vegas. So the pictures will likely be smaller... and probably less fuzzy. So... yeah... I guess you guys are getting the better end of the stick here. I'm not though, because I have the sound of gunshots in my ear. Not that I'm bitter, or anything, I just enjoy being able to hear out of my left ear. Moving right along.

Anyway, I pry myself away from the slots and wander off to do some power leveling... Yes I KNOW I'm horribly putting off the dungeon ahead, but I just want to be prepared, ok? And... you... I REALLY don't want to do it... shut up. Once everyone hits level 30, I'll head in, alright? Now stop bothering me.

Out of sheer boredom, I decide to grab a Thunder Stone and evolve my Pikachu... How do I do this, you ask? I asked Flailthroughs and Co. what each floor in the Department store sold, and then bought one of each of the stones and tried them until it said Pikachu could use one, that's how. So now with a Raiderp, I figure I should go ahead and evolve my Vulpix too, for humor value.


It sings fire. Seriously, look at it. It sings fire. That's... actually kinda awesome. I'm not a fan of the random maple leaf on its chest though... Maybe it's Canadian?

Well anyway, now that all my Pokemon are level 30, I guess I'm out of excuses not to go do that dungeon, huh? Damn. Oh well to work with me then... I guess... poop...

Needless to say the Rocket grunts are NOT happy to see me and the yelling ensues. I'm beginning to wonder what the Rocket preoccupation with Ratattas and Raticates are though. One of them threw a level 20 Rattata at me... no, seriously. I laughed too. So I FINALLY make it around the big merry go screw yourself tile puzzle... and find out that I had put the item I needed to use the elevator... IN THE COMPUTER!!! I'm going to start screaming now, and I'm not entirely sure when I'll stop.

Great... Great... I go back to the computer to get the Lift Key, and what do I grab instead? The Coin Case. Little known fact, you can't operate a LIFT with a COIN CASE. So, you remember the part where I mentioned I hated this dungeon? Ok, good, do you also remember the part where I said I was going to start screaming? Yeah, I think I'm going to do that again.

Thank GOD, I got the right damn item this time. If I hadn't, then I'm not sue what I would have done, but it would have been awful, and likely ended in an argument after I finished breaking both the game, and the SP. So I finally get the floor I need to be on, and one of the grunts has this:


Oh sweet bloated echidna of Madrid, what the HELL is that? Sandslash? Is that you? My god, what have they DONE to you? Are you... are you pregnant? Those team Rocket BASTARDS! Don't worry little Derpslash, your death will not be in vain! I'll avenge you... I WILL AVENGE YOU!!!!

The other grunt sends out this:


And strangely enough, he looks more like a real snake, and not as derp as Ekans. I actually kind of like the exaggerated face on his hood, while his own head is almost unnoticeable, that's about how it would work in nature, since the point is to scare the panties off of whatever you think is trying to attack you.


As you can see, I make it to Boss Rocket, and he's as creepy, and hunch-shouldered as ever... much like Kadabra, he does not, in fact, appear to have a neck of any kind. All I really have to say about this is, and spoiler alert here, Silver's mother MUST have been a total babe, and he is LUCKY to look like her.

Anyway, Giovanni sends out Onix, who goes down with laughable ease against my Ivysaur's grassy might, and then I get this:


Now, I don't remember what the sprite for the American release looked like, and I don't feel like looking it up, either, so I'm just going to make fun of this, and call it a day. It kind of looks like Ivysaur in ceremonial battle armor... but made of cake. I'm not a fan of the one tooth hanging out there... Bucky pulls it off, This thing doesn't... and the way its mouth is hanging open it looks like that ONE fang is the ONLY one in his head... Go home and brush your tooth, homey.

Last but not least, we have this:


Is that an alligator in its pouch? Holy shit, it's carrying around a Totodile! Kangaskhan looks like she's made of cake, as per usual apparently, and also only has one tooth apparently... and a pointy beak... No, seriously, look at the weird overhang, it looks like a pointy little beak. Is it a bird Pokemon in this version?

Giovanni is NOT happy about his defeat, and expresses it by giving me almost three grand, and then yelling at me. Once he's done, he ninjas off into the night apparently, leaving behind a Pokeball. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it's a key item. We'll see what it does soon enough, I guess.

Well, by the time I escape this hell hole, my Pidgeotto, Alakazam, Ivysaur, and Balls are level 31. (I love that sentence.) Now, since I have to pass through the casino to get out of here, I could just.. you know... play a little slots... No... wait... oh come on! Please? Just one more time? Please? No, really... I promise, just one... Oh ALRIGHT! I'll go on with the plot... slave drivers.

So I head left, and find my way blocked by... well, it's probably a Snorlax. Not to be deterred, I cut down a tree, and go through a way station. On the other side I go into a little house, just to see what's up... and get HM 2. You know, I'm pretty sure that's Fly, let's see who I can teach it to. Well, fatty fat fat bird can learn it, so by default it's Fly. This is backed up by the fact that I just used it and it let me fly back to Celadon. Sweet! I'm a third of the way to the Missingno trick!

Well I head back the same way, and find out it's actually a dead end, and there's no way down into the area full of people on bikes. I'd take you guys more seriously if those wee motorcycles... but they're not... they're bikes. You're not cool, stop trying to be.

Anyway, this tells me it's time to head back, probably to Lavender Town. Well... Guess what I can do! Well, after a brief detour in Saffron (What? I can't read the freaking names!) I land in Lavender Town. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to Scooby Doo my way up Lavender Tower, so I'll get to work on that.

The people on the first floor are, unsurprisingly, no help what so ever, since I don't read katakana. Still, I know I should head up the stairs, since I'm pretty sure the naughty bad is at the top of the tower. Up the first set of stairs, and I run into Green. He seems to be asking a lot of questions, and then yells at me, as per normal, and then pulls me into a battle, also par for the course.

I take out his titanically fat bird with little problem, but he seems to have sprouted an Exeggcute, and it puts me to sleep before chucking rocks at my head. Annoying bitches. And then we have the battle of the gods... Gyarados vs. Gyarados... Yes, I see your Schwartz is as big as mine, Green... but I'm still eight levels higher than you. Really dude, go level grind, it's good for you. It has riboflavin in it, or something. Charmeleon goes down pretty easily too, leaving Green to yell at me like always. I wonder what happened to that Rattata of his... hey wait a minute... tower of dead Pokemon... Green standing next to a grave... So... not only am I competing with him for the attention of the only adult family member he has left... I murdered one of his little pets... and then showed up at the graveside... oooh... aaaaaawkwaaaaard. Thanks for the money though.

So after the battle he does a lot of yelling and question asking... I'm sorry, homey, I DON'T know what this is all about, and I KEEP telling you, I'd rather be like, teaming up with you and taking out the Pokemafia or something rather than fighting with you all the time. I mean... I ain't lookin' to compete with you, beat or cheat, or mistreat you. Simplify you, classify you, deny, defy, or crucify you. All I really wanna do is, baby, be friends with you. (If you see what I did thar, you get like... ALL of my internets AND a ham!)

So he stomps off, poor little lamb, and it's time for me to tip-toe through the tombstones! It's like a more macabre version of tip-toeing through the tulips, but I get items for doing it here... and you know, more crazy bitches in white trying to kill you. This must be what it was like to bust in on a mystery cult. But with more ghosts apparently. Gastly looks about par for the course, but with less central mass, so I really don't see a need for a picture.

After about three minutes of trying to figure out why my Persian isn't doing any damage to it, I remember Normal type attacks don't work against Ghosts, and in this version of the game, there's no such thing as Dark attacks. Woops. I slap Gyarado into combat, Dragon Rage at him, and then chunk a ball at the little ghostly bastard, netting him for my Pokedex.Time to move on.

Well, as I wander about, I finally run into a Cubone that I can capture... and kill it. Damn it. I also run into a Haunter, but... well it's a Haunter and it looks like one... though the smile might be a hint creepier. Nothing major. I run into a catch-able Haunter, but apparently, he won't be caught, and continuously breaks out of the ball. Well screw you, I have a Gastly.

Oh my... my Ivysaur evolved into a Venusaur and not looks like this:


Rather than a frog with a tree growing out of its back, it looks more like someone dropped a large potted palm on top of a frog, and then made a sprite of the resulting squished frog with its death grimace. Well done there guys.

Sadly I wasn't paying attention, so I skipped past the opportunity to get the creepy ghost picture, but here's Marowak!


Seriously... it's made of cake. I know I keep saying that, but after watching Ace of Cakes and the various Food Network cake challenges, I'd know that round dumpy style anywhere. Half of these Pokemon HAVE to be made of cake... which makes this game A LOT more delicious than I previously thought it was. Mm, I bet Marowak is like... carrot with cream cheese frosting. Yum. I also note that the skull helmet looks less like a skull and more just like its head here. Maybe its head got too big for mommy's skull?

Either way, my Gyarados makes short work of her, and then a bunch of text shows up on the screen talking about,,. I don't know... ponies. I ignore it, because it's all runic to me, and then head up the stairs. There are a lot of Team Rocket members up here, so let's see what they're up to... Likely Rattatas and Zubats. Let's see.

Well I was right about the Zubats, and then I get this:


You know what? Screw you guys I LIKE this one. No huge creepy tongue, and no waving, plastic-ie stance, it's just fine... except that it could use a few more teeth, and better feet. I'd also like to point out that they basically go back to this design in later generations, just... a little better executed.

Well, I spent most of that battle confused and punching myself in the face. Well done. One of these idiots had a level 23 Rattata... yeah... that's sad. All of these grunts seem to have gone to Green's School for Stage Hogging, because after I beat them, I then have to just sit here and wait for them to walk off the screen... and they don't even have the amusing hair that switches sides... so it's just annoying and boring.

I beat all of them, and they slink off, and then I go talk to an old man about... who knows? Let's say hamsters. After that, he apparently knocks me out and drags me off to... a house full of brats and Pokemon... Is this some kind of Pokesweatshop? I hope not, I have to go fill out this Pokedex for that senile old scientist. I talk to the old man again and he yammers at me some more, likely about how hard it is to find good sneaker sewers or something, and then he gives me something! I don't know what it is, but it's a thing! Yay! I'm sure he told me what it was and how to use it, but shit if I know.

I'm off to the PokeCenter to heal up, and then unto parts unknown... like Saffron City, and stuff. I'll work on that tomorrow though, so until then, remember: Gastly's licks you until you're paralyzed.Good night!

Pokemon Black - Day 25 (Pretty Pretty, Shiny Shiny.)

I begin my walk back up the northern route and take a right when the 2x4s let me. A little while down the route I get a... I don't know, a Pokephone call?


I think that's my mom, or at least my character's mother... It's a bit disturbing that she doesn't look the least bit older than the hero of this game, but age has always been a very vague thing in the world of anime. She talks to me for a while about god knows what, then hangs up. I guess whatever it was is important. but if it's that important then they'll send someone to talk to me about it... If they hadn't just done that with that particular phone call.

I follow the route to the end, the Pokemon are kind of low level, and nothing that I haven't encountered yet. I see some sort of large mountain, or possibly a cliff, and as I approach the steps going up it's side who do I encounter?



Cheren, of course. I'm starting to wonder if he isn't turning to the dark side, since he hasn't really been showing his face around as much as he used to, and isn't nearly as talkative. He wants to battle, and his party is between level 33 and 35, which is still pretty easy to take out with a party at level 45. Actually, I only used my Enbuo even though he was weak against his starter, because he was a bit lower level than the rest of my party.

Once the battle is over he talks to me for a few moments more, then we look up as Fire Gym Leader talks to us from the top of the cliff, then jumps off of it... Let me repeat that, he jumps off of the cliff.


This guy is trying way too hard to be cool... but it's working. Now having regained a bit of my respect after his last appearance where he made two four year-olds fight us, and then to top it off he gives me an HM! Awesome! You're a bro now, and I forgive you for making me battle kindergartners. It's Surf, so I guess this means that it's time for me to start looking for water on the route ahead. At the top of the hill and past a Hiker trainer battle, I find a pretty evil-looking cave mouth. I guess this is where I'm headed, so here we go!


Yep, this is definitely a cave.



And that is definitely Cheren and... is it John Wayne, or the leader of Team Plasma? It doesn't look like he's wearing an angora bath robe, so I'll do with gym leader John Wayne. He talks to us for a little while, passes on what I assume is useful or highly important information, then wanders off... My bet is he just informed us that Team Plasma is in the cave waiting for us.

Or not. This doesn't seem to be a town, it just looks like a giant construction site. It was only a few feet down the hall from where I spoke with Cheren a moment or two ago. I don't know if this part is indoors or outdoors, but it looks like it's a straight line so far. There may be a few twists and turns later on, since this place is looking huge, but nothing too bad to someone with massive amounts of free time on hand.


Caught this guy while going through... I'm not entirely sure what to call him, so I guess...Lemar. Dotekkotsu here is the evolved form of Dokkora, the little guy that carries around a block of wood with him.

So far I'm doing pretty well. I don't know how far I am through, and my Enbuoo is running low on PP for almost all of his attacks. I don't want to use an elixir in the hopes of saving all of the ones I run into for the Elite 4, but I really want to try to get him to level 50 before the next gym. Thankfully on the third or possibly forth floor down, I run into a random trainer doctor who fixes that problem after a battle with a couple of Psychic type Pokemon.

Bottom floor of the cave, I think, and there's almost nothing here worth mentioning.


The house here is empty, so I guess it's time to start exploring more and hoping I can find a way out.


This is not a way out, but it is really pretty. I'm sure at some point in time this place will end up being important, but at the moment I don't seem to be able to do anything at all.


Yep, this is looking more like it. I guess I was right in assuming that there would be Plasma goons in here, because I've played Pokemon before and that's all that they do. Hang out in caves, try to take over major corporations, stand around in towers, and also at old archeological sites where they try to control some epic Pokemon, or end the world. This is standard operational procedure for them, and I doubt any of us will ever know why.

The goons talk for a bit and then wander off, leaving Cheren standing there. Me being the main character, I decide that rather than stand around like a doofus, I'll actually follow them through the cave door. I do so, and am instantly met by a man with the most magnificent coif that I have ever seen in a Pokemon game.


He talks for a bit and asks me something to which I say yes, then wanders off and leaves me in what has to be the strangest town I have ever seen.

But I'm going to have to call it now. Enjoy the weekend, and there'll be more information on this on Monday!

Pokemon Black - Day 24 (Inset Hervé Villechaize Quote Here.)

It's off to the gym now, I'm going to put my fire piggy in front of the party, mostly because I'm hoping this will be a few easy levels for him.


Yep, this is a gym. I can tell by some of the pixels, and having seen quite a few gyms in my day... Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke. Anyway, the gimmick of this gym is that it seems to launch you from cannons... Yes, you heard me, it launches you from cannons.


These things, to be exact. Anyway, as I was expecting, my Enbuoo is allowing me to make pretty quick work of this gym, at least so far. The cannon puzzle looks pretty straight forward, so I'm hoping it's not too deceiving.

And I appear to have been wrong about that. It looks like you not only approach the cannons from the sides that have little arrows telling you to climb in, but any side you can simply walk up to. Oh goody.

Well, I wish I could have gotten a picture of my character as he was shot out of a cannon and into a steel wall, but alas it didn't last long, and I was laughing far too hard. The puzzle is pretty simple, if you just remember that when you can approach the single cannon from the side that doesn't have a fence blocking it off, you do that.


And we're to the gym leader. I note the large cannon behind them, and wonder if I lose to them if they'll fire off a twenty-one me salute... Or maybe if I win. Some people are sore losers.


... Yep... that's a girl... or at least I hope to God it is, or I may have to look into a few lifestyle changes... Big ones...

The battle seems to be going as expected, then, suddenly!


Swan as if from nowhere! I'm pointing this out to you because right now, the most dramatic music I have ever heard in conjunction with a swan is playing, and it just makes this battle a bit surreal.

Cue Pigno using a pile of his strongest fire techniques, cue gym leader using a big damn pile of super potions, and I come out of it the victor... Let's take another look at that gym leader, shall we?


... Sorry, Moving on!



Woohoo! That's badge!... I don't even know anymore, but it's starting to feel like badge 3.14159, and it's just irrational of me to think that. Another TM out of the way, her saying the number 70, which I guess means I can control Pokemon from other games up to level 70, and now I want out of this wacky circus, thank you very much.


FUCK! This guy knows my every move! Did he hide a tracking device on me or something? Is he just hiding behind trees and cars, waiting for me to be least suspecting, so he can ask me questions that I can't read and simply agree to? Probably. That's what most other final bosses do in Pokemon games. It's a hobby.

That's all for today, fellow trainers. More to come tomorrow!

Pokemon Black - Day 23 (It's Kind of Dead in Here.)

Yep, this place is definitely a graveyard of some sort...


Doesn't it ever bother anyone that there are graveyards all over for Pokemon, yet I have never seen a single one for people? Do you just throw Granddad into the street when he croaks, or is there someone that comes by in a garbage truck?

Anyway, I... umm... I... umm


That thing is just adorable. Hitomoshi is its name, but I'm going to call it Jack... If you know why, you may be in trouble even n...

Moving on.

There's one trainer on this floor that strikes me as mildly amusing. He is obviously a father that has taken his daughter to visit the grave of a dead Pokemon, and this is nothing strange or creepy. What I find amusing is this.


Look at the man's shirt. I'm told this game is supposed to be based in the U.S. somewhere, and that's why there are none of the traditional Japanese Pokemon... That shirt proves that even in the world of Pokemon, there are Japanophiles... And I'm ok with that, because lets be honest, I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't at least a little bit of one myself.

Well, looks like it's up another set of stairs...


And into another fairly simple maze-like room. I've got to mention that the random encounters in this place are many, but for the most part too low level to really be of that much help to me. The trainers on the other hand are doing wonders for raising my grass monkey. If you have one, I recommend keeping an Amulet Coin on your lead Pokemon at all times. ALL TIMES!

There's a Nurse trainer by the foot of the next set of stairs, so I'm guessing that I'm either half way through the tower, or the next level is the last.


Looks like it's the half way mark to me.


Is this thing wearing an adult diaper on it's head? I think it is, and that makes me wonder about so many things, but I'll try not to get into them at the moment. I'm calling him DyPer, but for future reference his name is Riguree.

Anyway, it's up another set of stairs, and I think that I'm at the top.


There are subtle clues, but I'm good at picking up on them. The girl in blue, or what I've come to think is a girl, talks to me for a moment and then steps aside. I guess I'm supposed to do this,



Which, call me nuts, I think has something to do with ringing a bell... Don't ask me why I know this, some of us are just more in tune with the flow of the cosmos, that's all.

Yep, there was bell ringing involved. The girl yells at me, obviously jealous of my bad bell ringing skills, then heads off. Now I could escape rope out with the one I have from... god knows where, or I could walk back down through to see if there are any important plot points...

*cue repel*

I think I'll walk.

Nope, don't seem to have missed anything. So it's back to town, a quick stay in the Pokemon center, and then off to the gym!

Tomorrow. Sorry guys, you know the drill by now. I have to cut off right before the interesting part, or else you won't hate me.

Pokemon Black - Day 22 (A Grave Journey.)

Hooray! I've caught a liver fluke!


And yes, I'm calling him Fluke. Shibishirasu is his real name, just so we're keeping things clear.

I head out the door of the cave to the next town and begin my search. Is there a gym? Who knows. What I do know is that a few steps into the town, Mister Silly Hair is back and talking to me, and he seems to be with some sort of woman. I'm not sure what sort, but I suspect gym leader from her insane clothing.


You really can't clearly make out the blue outfit she's wearing, but it sort of looks like a two piece swimsuit or something, which makes me think this is the water gym leader. Silly Hair also gave me something, and I don't know what it is.

Oh yes, and there seems to be an airport here as well.

Silly-haired man walks off and leaves me with the blue girl... don't Google that, please... Anyway, I begin to explore the town again. I don't have any clue what item I was given, but that's ok, I never do. Oh cool! They allow little kids on airport runways! Just like real life.


Ok, I'm changing my guess now, this is definitely a rock type gym... What? Oh! The airplanes, right! So as I said, this is definitely a flying type gym, as one can plainly tell. The problem is there's some asshole standing in front of it, so I must now journey to find the McGuffin.


Damn, I'm going to have to bike up that ramp, aren't I? Well before that I think I'm going to do a little bit of leveling before I go on, and look for some new Pokemon, if there are any.


I caught a thunder zebra, or Tebra. His real name is Zeburaika, evolved form of Shimama, son of Odin... No, that would be Thor. I always confuse those two things, Zebra and Norse gods. To be honest, it's a mistake anyone could make.

Damn!

I think I managed to misplace that Egg the professor gave me, after I found out what it did. It gives you an XP boost, and I'll bet I tossed it instead of equipping it... damn it. Well, I guess I might as well move along here.

It turns out the raised walkways that look like the biking walkways from... I can't remember... Sapphire? Anyway, you walk on them, you don't bike. I travel over it and... holy crap!


I'm fighting three Pokemon at once! What the hell?! Interesting system, though. You pick which Pokemon you want to attack each turn, and that Pokemon is also the target of the enemy attacks, so they can't hit any others... Well, there are some group attacks, so they might hit all of them as well. The battle is over pretty quickly, and I continue my way north.

I continue to head north, not taking the path to the east since it looks like it would just lead me to the next town, and I spot this thing right here.


Yep, that looks like a plot point if I've ever seen one, but oddly enough no one has led me here along the way, or run up to me to tell me something vitally important... They probably talked to me in town or something, like the flying gym leader before she wandered off this way.

Well, no rest for the courageous, on I go!


I think I just found the Pokemon Graveyard of this game. The music is subtly changes to sort of restfully creepy, like any good Lavender Town... I mean Graveyard.

Anyway, up the stairs I go!.. Ohh, that's just so damn pretty.


I've said it before and I'll say it again, the graphics in this game continue to astound me. It's not a hyper realistic game by any means, but for Pokemon, I think that they've hit a new level of awesome.

Still, this is where I'm going to have to call it for the day. More tomorrow, as usual!

Pokemon Black - Day 21 (Suddenly, Ninjas! Ninjas Everywhere!)

This asshole, I swear to God he's stalking me now. I show up at some random cave, and he's already inside... And how is he even inside of the cave? Wasn't it blocked off by a giant spider web a few minutes ago? Did he block the cave with the web to keep me from getting inside? What a dick.


What the hell?! Ninjas?! Where did they even... Why are they... What?!


They lead me over to N for some reason, and I'm starting to think they might be working for him... What is this guy up to anyway? They ninja vanish as he turns around and starts talking to me, which I'm pretty sure is the sign that he's going to want to Pokemon battle, since that's what he's always done when I see him.

There's a chance that I'm wrong, since he wandered off after I was done talking with him. I examine the strange stone that seems to be crackling with electricity, and notice that it tends to crackle around me when I walk toward it. Since that does nothing it's time to explore!



I know I've been saying it a lot lately, but what the hell am I looking at? It's like some sort of half egg, half porcupine mummy... I guess I'll call it Egger, but its name is Tesshido, for those that would like to know.

Anyway, I attempt to walk up to a strange floating crystal, and that makes Horse Ass (Belle) come up to me and stand in front of it for some reason. I really hope I can push her down on of these pits.


Professor Bladdernut appears from nowhere after the elephant is done talking, and gives me something... An egg? Is it an Item I hatch, or what? I equip it to a Pokemon since that's what it seems to do, then walk up and push the blue crystal, which is apparently something that I can do.


This little guy attacks me, and he looks like... some sort of fuzzy parasite. I think I'll call him Fuzz, because he's fuzzy as I previously stated. Bachuru seems to be what he's actually called, which really doesn't matter to me since I still don't read Japanese.

I move up farther north and there's another one of the crystals I can push, which clears a path to go farther. I have to admit the graphics here are pretty, and the puzzle so far isn't that complicated. It's kind of a nice dungeon in that respect.

I fought and captured this thing, which is just an evolution of a Dangoro, called a Gantoro. I could have evolved the one I have in storage, Phinc, but that would have taken a while and I want to show you what pokemon I can as they come along.


That's... not too bad actually. It's a really neat concept, and I think that if I have to replace any of my party, it'll be with this guy. I'm going to call him Gears, but his real name is... Gear... well, moving on.

Anyway, the objective of this area seems to be to either get far enough in, or push as many of the small floating stones into the large crackling stones as possible, because once I push my forth or fifth the Professor and Ham-Hips catch up to me to babble at me for a few minutes.

Then, suddenly, ninjas everywhere!


I'm not sure what it is they want, but they walk me over the bridge and then disappear, possibly because they are confounded by a floating rock that blocks our path... I push it, move south, and take a set of stairs down.

More stones...

I head up and around the large mound in the center of the room and run into a trainer doctor, who heals my Pokemon once I've taken out his party... that's nice of him. And directly to his north?


I think I'm on the right track here, since Plasma goons are a sure sign of plot being in the area. Seven Plasma Knights later and I see two sets of stairs, one going up, and one going down. I decide to take the set of stairs going up to see what I find.


And it's creepy green-haired stalker man, so that's a sure sign that I'm near the exit. We fight, it's not too bad, but it lets me know that, unfortunately, there's going to be more power leveling in my future. Once he's beaten Belle comes up and starts talking to me, likely having only now found her way in an almost completely straight line through the cave.


That's it for now, we'll have what's outside the cave tomorrow!