O-okay, that sounds bad.

Not as bad as it sounds. I think.

Okay…

So, you know how Psychic Pokémon aren’t supposed to have much effect on humans?

Apparently not.

It’s… I honestly couldn’t tell you the details off the top of my head, but it’s got something to do with brainwave lengths or something. But I read it’s possible for a powerful one to mess with memory formation - this stuff is vanishingly rare, most Psychic Pokémon can only barely affect humans, but it’s theoretically possible. Maybe this is some kind of delayed effect?

Is that a rhetorical question? Because I don’t know the answer.

_{Wha… What happened?}

Oh thank God…

Sonia, how are you feeling?

_{Like somebody hit me in the back of the head… head hurts…}

Do you remember what happened?

_{I think…} Wait – wait! _{My head…} Gloria, can you help me up?

Doing it.

I think… I think I just had a breakthrough. But… Hey Gloria, you carry ibuprofen around, right?

Yeah, it helps with the sensory stuff sometimes… You want some?

Yeah, pass it over.





Oh, relax, you two. It’s not like my brain drained out my nose or something. I’m a bit foggy now, but I’m a heck of a lot better than I was even when I woke up. Just have to wait for the painkiller to kick in…

…

…

Actually, I have a request.

Ask away!

Can you guys have a Pokémon fight?

… Is this really the time and the place.

Honestly. I know I’m not in tip-top shape and I must’ve scared the pants off you when I fainted like that, but I’m awake, my head is mostly clear, and I think I know what caused it and how to get around it. I’m fine. But I need some time to get my wits back about me and for those painkillers to kick in, so we have some time to waste. And honestly? I just want to see how you two fight. It’s been ages since I watched you have your scrap by Gran’s house and they don’t air Challenger-Challenger fights.

Actually, I’m okay with that. Plus, I bet we both need something to keep us from fixating on this.



Gloria, do you have the team you used to take down Melony still on you?

It never went anywhere.

Well, then...





Hop Battle Theme for Solo Piano - Pokemon Sword & Shield - Piano Sheet Music
^{This one is worth listening to, it’s just lovely.}







Well, looks like Hop is getting his poo poo together; a nearly full team, plus opening with his former Wooloo. Bruce hits it with a critical Low Kick and it goes down.





Yeah, look, he’s actually connecting with his Pokémon again.



This thing… I can never remember what type it is – it looks like a Water-type, being a sea urchin, but I swear it’s like electric or something. I hit it with a Ground move, which is super effective – and then Hop breaks out a Hyper Potion, keeping it alive one round longer.



Bonham comes out next. I feel kind of bad cheesing his party with my best Pokémon, but it’s not like I’m giving up type advantages, so I throw out Alexander – only to realize I’d forgotten to rename him . Bonham still goes down in one hit. Same with Snorlax via Low Kick



Sorry, mate.

Since this battle is practically over, I take the opportunity to show off something of Dietrich’s that I haven’t had the opportunity yet…





She rocks her enemies to death .



I feel bad about this fight. I completely outmatched him; It’s hard to show off the game when without actively trying you prevent your opponents from doing anything interesting. I mean, there are harder fights down the line, but I’m considering dodging trainers just so I don’t stay so overleveled. It’s kind of depressing. But then, I guess you could say this sort of matches his character arc? He also gets far more formidable down the line.

I also feel it’s here that NPC Trainers’ lack of access to the Affection mechanic starts to really cost the game. Part of Hop’s character arc is accepting that he can love his Pokémon without connecting that love to his desire to live up to his brother. This is the point where he starts really embracing that and trying to focus on his team instead of looking for gimmicks to exploit in battle; it only makes sense that their Affection would start to climb in response. It would’ve also turned this flight from a curbstomp to a serious challenge, about on par with Bede’s second fight. I took most of his Pokémon out by using powerful moves strategically; Affection-driven dodges and the ability for high-Affection Pokémon to hold on with one hit point when they would’ve otherwise fainted would have bought them precious time to wear down my team, and the extra critical hits might have taken out a monster or two with some luck. But I don’t even know if that’s mechanically possible in this game. It sure didn’t show up here.

Oh well.

Yeah, that’s about what I expected. But… It feels… Good, I think. I enjoyed this fight a lot more than I have in a while.

I – look, I’d love to talk about how your team is developing but I’m still kind of fixated on how Sonia’s doing…

No, I’m fine, that really did help. Okay, gather ‘round children, I’ve put together what happened. You know how I got lost in the woods a ways back?

Yeah…

I think Zacian found me.

!

He looked a lot like Zamazenta as you described him, but blue instead of red. I’d already been stumbling around terrified for like a day when I bumped into him. Then he pinned me down and… Hmm… I’m not sure how to describe it. It felt like he was rifling through my head like a flipbook – I was reliving memories at random and I didn’t have any control over it. Very invasive, but at that point I was too tired to feel much of anything. After a while of that he spat fog in my face and I passed out, and I must have woken up and wandered out because I don’t remember much until after I got back home.

That’s… Do you think it had any permanent effects?

I have a wicked headache right now, but it feels like… Well, it feels exactly like a bad hangover, honestly, and if it is it’ll go away after I drink some fluids and have a lie down. I’ll be keeping an eye on it, though.

So, theories?

My leading theory is that we should talk about this later, I’m not really fit for debate now. But… It was good to see you two fighting again. You’ve both grown. A lot.

That lines up with what I’ve read; no matter how strong the Pokémon, they can’t do permanent damage to a person’s head. If it’s all right with you lot, I’m a bit antsy and I want to go heal up my Pokémon and try the Gym again.

Go, shoo, have fun.

I’m off, then. Nice seeing you and nice fighting you, but I have to a job to do!

Yeah.

Right, I’m off. You have anything you need before I leave, Gloria?

Not really.

I’ll send you a text when I get back home. Laters!

…

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Dec 13, 2020

Black Robe fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Nov 30, 2020

Before we split, there’s a place I want to explore, as it has secrets I wasn’t aware of until long after I started this LP.



Both of these buildings are part of the Hotel Ionia, an establishment that makes the inn back in Motostoke look like a bed-and-breakfast. In the finest RPG tradition, you can go into most of these rooms and bother the inhabitants…



… Not that you’d always want to. Building on the left has digital versions of the dev team hanging out in a couple of rooms, and in fact you can fight the local equivalent of the guy who designed Mew there after you beat the game. On the right, though…

We can even ask the great detective for advice.





Upon initial investigation, the Dancer does appear the most likely suspect; her confrontational attitude implies a desire to cover up her crime, and she provided no compelling evidence beyond a claimed lack of appetite. However, a bad attitude does not determine guilt; she may be intimidated by the detective, indignant over her treatment, or experiencing any number of other scenarios, and likewise, we have no evidence connecting her to the crime. As such, we cannot reasonably assume her guilt. Similarly, the boy offers no compelling proof either way beyond his presence in the lobby. However! The old man is the only one who offers any evidence to contradict the prosecution’s claims, but the evidence he offers is itself highly suspicious. Dietary restrictions on Berry consumption are not in and of themselves indicative of anything beyond a need to avoid Berries for health reasons. They are not proof of guilt. What IS suspicious is carrying around written proof of your doctor’s orders when those orders are neither unusual nor likely to be challenged. Those restrictions may well be genuine, but the presence of unnecessarily expensive proof indicates premeditation. Additionally, doctor’s orders to avoid Berries imply their presence in a patient’s diet; after all, why advise them not to eat something they already don’t need? Just because eating a certain kind of food is a bad idea doesn’t mean people won’t do it. But neither of those factors are enough to convict. The clincher? During questioning, the old man attempted to intimidate his interrogator and implied consequences from outside factors is they did not drop their line of questioning. Attempting to intimidate an officer of the law during an investigation is in and of itself obstruction of justice, and the desperation necessary to commit a crime while under investigation for another heavily implies guilt. Therefore, though we currently lack the evidence to convict, of the three suspects, the old man is the most likely culprit!

Just kidding, it was the squirrel.

They give us an option to decline here. In fact, they almost always give us the option to decline a plot battle, as opposed to earlier generations, where people would ambush you without warning. I kind of like it, even though it cuts down on the challenge in an already easy game, because it helps you do some planning before facing down a potentially difficult fight.



Not that that’s particularly likely.

From now on, whenever you ride your bike onto water, its wheels inflate and let you cruise around or just sit on your butt in the middle of the water for the local Pokémon to come gawk at you. While Pokémon move around it like tall grass, it doesn’t have any hidden encounters: what you see is what you get. But you don’t just get Water-types; a few water-themed but not Water-type Pokémon..



…Such as, say, this punching octopus that proved nearly impossible to catch, also only appear in the water. So if you want that Pokémon – and why wouldn’t you – that’s where you go to find it. It also lets you access parts of the map, not only the water itself…



…But new areas, like this set of standing stones in a distant corner of the Wild Area. This is one of the only areas in the game where you can find evolution stones just lying around, one of each type. The only reason I was able to evolve a Glaceon earlier was because there’s a person you can talk to elsewhere in the Wild Area that will dig you up random items in exchange for Watts; otherwise I’d have had to wait until now.



You can also use it to access a few hidden areas in places you’ve already visited, such as this lake just past Magnolia’s Laboratory. But if you play RPGs you probably could have guessed that. Not nearly as exciting as Detective Howses. Or a puchtopus. Speaking of which, I’m going to need a name for that Grapploct.

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Dec 14, 2020

Tired of that theme yet? Don’t worry, it’ll be back soon enough.



The middle part of Route 9 is a maze of icebergs, rocks, and tiny islands with the occasional incongruously-dressed Swimmer. In older days, Swimmers used to hang around in the water more often than on land, but here they sit around on those islands in their bathing suits challenging passersby. It all looks terribly uncomfortable. When I described the Route as a maze, I wasn’t kidding; the way forward is never clear and I got lost more than once my first time through. Now that I know what I’m doing, though, it just took me a couple minutes to skirt around the Trainers.

Time for another old dumb meme! When Breeding Pokémon, you have two options. The first is to use whatever Pokémon you want to replicate and a Ditto; it will always get you that Pokémon back. This is the only way you can breed genderless Pokémon. The other is by pairing Pokémon that meet certain conditions; they have to be of opposite genders, they can’t be types glossed as babies (Toxel, for instance), and they have to share at least one of the game’s “egg groups”, collections of thematically and (theoretically) biologically similar Pokémon.

You see that big round whale thing up there? That’s a Wailmer, a Pokémon introduced in Gen 3 to help fill out Water routes after they cut a lot of the Pokémon from Gen 2. Now, when the games were still sprite-based and you didn’t have models to fit on the battlefield, Pokémon used to vary in size pretty dramatically. Yeah, you had the tiny ones, but the really big ones could be on the same scale as Dynamax Pokémon here – not that you know it without checking the Pokédex, since that was the only place you could find a size comparison. Wailmer’s evolved form, Wailord, was probably the single largest Pokémon in Gen 3:


^{(Source). Also, yes, it did weigh about as much as a cow, old Pokémon games were notorious for how bizarre units of measurement got in the Pokédex.}

See that tiny figure on the left? That’s a Skitty, a Pokéhousecat and one of the smallest Pokémon in those games. Sometime soon after release, Breeders noticed Skitty and Wailord both belonged to the Field egg group, which represented a mixture of mammals and the sort of Pokémon you’d run into in one of the more boring routes – meaning that a house cat and a blue whale could produce viable offspring.

People made so many jokes about Hot Skitty on Wailord Action .



This last part of Route 9 is just a little bit of terrain leading up to the next town. In theory. In practice, the area design gets a lot more cramped and starts working in metal boxes and wooden fences and railings.

Marnie!

Come ‘round back.

We head around the side to a back alley.



You mentioned in your last text you had something to talk about.

Okay, yeah… Okay. This’s gonna sound a lot worse than it is, so stick with me through the end, ‘kay?

… Okay.

I need us to be not in a relationship for the next couple weeks.



I-I’m not breakin’ up with you! I like you, an’ I like bein’ with you ‘n all. But… I really, really wanna win this championship. I need to focus on it, and there’s a part of me that worries about beatin’ my girlfriend in a fight an’ what it might do to th’ relationship. Even though I know it ain’t actually an issue… I need to keep my head clear, y’know? Just until I win.

Okay. Are we talking no contact or just friendship-level contact?

…Eh?

… Were you expecting drama?

Yeah…

Look. I like you a lot. But… Our relationship so far has been, what, one kiss, one date, and a bunch of text messages? We’re still getting established. It’s not gonna gently caress me up if you take a step back to focus on something important.

… You’re bein’ really understandin’ about this.

It’s something I learned back in the bad times. When it comes to a relationship, it’s usually best to trust the other party: I was told the foundation for successful relationships was respect, not just communication. If they betray that trust, it’s on them. Not that I think you’ll do that! But, I think I know you well enough to believe you when you say that and not worry about hidden agendas or anything. I trust you.

… Thank you. And let’s talk like friends for now, just no romantic stuff .



But!

But?

On cue, a couple of Team Yell Grunts pop out from around the corner.

Whatever kinda relationship we have, we’re rivals too.

Here’s our second and last fight with Marnie before the finals; let’s see if she’s been keeping up. Her Liepard hasn’t, it goes down in one hit.



That Toxicroak, though? Different story. It shoves around Baklava and L337 (out of retirement for one last fight) and humiliates Sporkle, which seems to be a pattern. It takes me breaking out the inestimable Mr. Blobby to finally put it down.



You know how I mentioned way back at our last fight with Marnie that we’d be seeing a stereotype in Pokémon form later on? Yeah, it’s here. I mean, it’s not Jynx, but holding up those pants . It doesn’t last long either.



And finally we come back to Jekyll. I figured it’s only natural to take on her signature Pokémon with mine, even though it’s kind of mean. To his credit, Jekyll actually manages to endure a critical hit from Bruce long enough to take off a third of his health bar. And then he goes down.



Right Grunt: How dare you?!

Left Grunt: Oh, there’s no way yer gettin’ away with –



Right Grunt: What?



Left Grunt:



Right Grunt:



Left Grunt:



Right Grunt:



Left Grunt:

Right Grunt: We’ll settle this later!

Left Grunt: Goodfightbye!

_{Gettin’ real tired of that…} Oh, Gloria? When you’re fightin’ your way through the gym, ask those trainers about Spikemuth, would you? This town’s real important to me. I’d like it if you knew it a little better, you know?

Absolutely.

Well, I guess that’s all tied up. I’m off. Fight you later, Gloria!

…

You people… Gotta see if I can fix that...

To me, Spikemuth is the single most disappointing part of the game. From the beginning, the Spikemuth aesthetic, as embodied by Marnie and Team Yell, stands out dramatically from the rest of the setting, whether it’s the outfits for the Pokémon. Look, I remember when Zigzagoon and Linoone were introduced back in Gen 3. They looked like forest animals. They did not have the black and white color scheme and red eyes that they do in Galar as some of Team Yell’s signature Pokémon, nor did that have a third evolved form that looked like this:



From the moment you approach it and see the metal crates, Spikemuth gives off a different vibe from every other town in Galar, and indeed any town I’ve encountered in a mainline Pokémon game (don’t ask me about Colosseum). Instead of being whimsical or pastoral like every town we’ve encountered so far, it looks decidedly urban – hell, instead of the scenic views we get from other towns, the Spikemuth exterior panorama just shows us some buildings, containers, and a slightly-rusted gate. When you walk around and actually enter, the sense of strangeness just magnifies: all of a sudden, it feels like we’re in cyberpunk, walking down shadowed back streets to electronic music. Yet somehow, it doesn’t feel jarring. Startling, definitely, but the game’s been subtly prepping us for this since the third Gym. Honestly, I was more excited than I’d ever been about a Pokémon city the first time I entered Spikemuth; I wanted to see what the devs would do with this setting and eagerly set out to explore, so I set down that alleyway to the right.

That alleyway to the right is the Gym, which is itself some more alleyway and a backlot. This is it. This is the entirety of Spikemuth.

I actually looked it up to make sure. Yep, that’s it. The most interesting environment in Sword and Shield is also the smallest. You can’t even go into most of those buildings, in a series where home invasion is a time-honored tradition! It was loving infuriating, almost as infuriating as discovering its shortness doesn’t seem to have anything to do with time crunch; as far as I could tell in my research, the devs decided beforehand it would be one of the most disappointing locations in the game. There’s very little about this game that makes me angry; at worst, it’s irritating or stupid, not offensive or destructive. But the way they got my hopes up and let them fall through the floor like that still has me bitter.



Before we head out, I'm probably going to dump Sporkle; maybe it's just Ponyta, but he loving sucks. I'm going to ask for a name for the Abomasnow I'm going to cycle in.

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Dec 4, 2020

inflatablefish fucked around with this message at 11:50 on Dec 4, 2020

While every Gym so far has had both a gimmick and some Trainers, the Spikemuth Gym just has the second. Instead of figuring out some puzzles, you go through the Team Yell Grunts checkpoint by checkpoint, whether in single or double battles.



The closest thing there is to an obstacle here is the occasional Kantonian Mr. Mime walling off the path. Now, there IS a Galarian Mr. Mime, an Ice-type, but we’re dealing with the original version here. Mr. Mimes sit firmly on the slopes of the Uncanny Valley. Those ear things and fixed smile have been terrifying young players for generations. Mr. Mime’s worst qualities even made it into Detective Pikachu, and the fact that that movie exists still completely blows my mind. But the most interesting piece of trivia about it? In the anime, the main character, Ash, doesn’t have a father. Nobody ever makes a big deal of it, their family is perfectly happy and stable without him, but it’s all pretty mysterious. In the first part of the anime, Ash’s mom also keeps a Mr. Mime around the house to do chores. No wonder he left home so quickly.

When I was still keeping up with the fandom, there were four competing theories as to who Ash’s father was:

• He was some rando who left them long ago and will never show up again (probably the canon explanation).
• He was Giovanni, the closest thing Gen 1 had to a major villain.
• He was Professor Oak, the local equivalent of Prof. Magnolia, Sonia, and more rolled together, who did everything from giving you your Pokédex and first Pokémon to calling you up every time you used your bike indoors telling you to knock it off (probably the most popular theory).
• She hosed the Mr. Mime.

E: it turns out the Mr. Mime was actually introduced well after the anime started

The first fight starts out… A little rough. By that I mean the first time someone lands an attack on my Pokémon, the Linoone OHKOs L337 on the spot. So, that’s pretty promising. It still goes down to Baklava, though, and that’s all she wrote.

Wait! I, uh, I have something to ask you.

: Eh, go ahead.

Do… Do you know about me and Marnie?

: Yer askin’ if we approve?

Well, yes.

: Then why you askin’ ME that? It’s not like we’re all one person. I swear…

No – look. Marnie is very important to me, and you guys are VERY important to her. But I don’t know anything about Spikemuth, I really don’t. Just rumors and stereotypes. I was hoping to… I dunno, break them? I mean, I’m not going to make you tell me anything, but I really want to get to know you better.

: You know what? Sure. Outsiders never ask that. So, what d’you know about Spikemuth?

Not much. I know a little bit about Muneth. Did you know the true heirs to the throne of Galar are somewhere around here? The last members of the Alfredic Dynasty vanished into the Munethic countryside and with the Brother Kings’ line having given up their right to succession after the Revolution, they stand first in line to the throne.

: Points for knowin’ Muneth’s name, but that’s ancient history. Nobody in Spikemuth cares about that.

This is what I need – I don’t KNOW any of this. What’s it like living here?

: Well… hm. I bet yer thinkin’ about Wooloo-shaggin’ jokes.

I’m Cameran. Galarians make the same jokes about us.

: Maybe. But I ain’t never even SEEN a Wooloo, you know? Me da was a binman and me mum runs a corner shop, so me an’ my sisters were a bit better off than most. Gwen here, though, she grew up without a father. Her mum’s a wonder though.

I don’t know who my father is and I don’t care to find out. He and my family abandoned my mum when I was small and she raised me better than he ever could.

: Yeah! See, she gets it…

…



… I mean, she talks about synthesizers all the time, but she never seems to want to talk about actually playing them much.

: Yeah, both her and Piers. I don’t get it.

I dunno, a lot of artists like to keep their work personal. But then, Piers heads up a band, so…

: You know he runs his own label?

What, really?

: It’s true. He publishes ‘alf the bands out of Spikemuth, then funnels all the money back to them. Financial genius, that one. He talks about music bein’ pretty maths all the time…

…



They jump out the windows and the camera cuts away. It returns once they land.



Wait! Weren’t you the bloke that tried to steal that bike?

: I did NOT try to steal a bike! I just wanted t’ borrow the drat thing!

And use it to ride down Challengers.

: I… Okay, I KNOW it was a bloody stupid idea. I KNOW. I just… I just wanted to be a bit more active, you know?

As in… Stay fit, or…

: Leigh, mate, that’s a terrible idea no matter how ya look at it.

Well, he didn’t cause anybody any harm. Plus, it was a Rotombike, so he couldn’t use it anyway.

:

:

…



Uh –



Wait wait wait, Hitmonchan Adventures!

: _{Oh poo poo.}

That entrance! Right down to whipping out the scrolls at the end! What was it, the Dark-type Hand? That was their thing!

: Come the hell on, Megan, you said you thought it was cool!

But it IS cool! That was a GREAT show. Well, it was all right. But I did like those little educational segments at the end!

: Only because you wouldn’t watch it with me!

You know you can stream it for free off the network’s website now? You have to put up with adverts, but…

: …

:

…





You know, I kinda had a sneaking suspicion. Does Marnie know that you lot’ve been intercepting Challengers?

: No, ‘course not!

You know, maybe I don’t know Marnie as well as you do, but I got the impression she isn’t a fan of people lying to her.

: We weren’t lyin'! We were just... Not tellin' her.

It’s only a matter of time before she finds out, you know…

:

…

What do you know…



… Looks like I called it.

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Dec 14, 2020

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Dec 7, 2020

No –

You think I can’t do anythin’ on my own? I’m still a helpless little girl?

No, ‘course not!

THEN WHY’RE YOU ACTIN’ LIKE IT?!

I thought I was a good Trainer! I thought I got here on my own merit! I thought you lot were tryin’ to cheer me on and just making a right pig’s ear of it. But no! Now I find out you all been actively sabotagin’ other trainers! How the hell do I know if I’m a worthy Trainer or if the only reason I got this far was because you lot paved my way?

But – but you beat all the Gym Leaders –

And who else might have if you didn’t drive them away?! Gloria here and her friend Hop are the only other Challengers still competin’. You know that’s less than half as many as usually make it to the end? When I win, how do I know it’s ‘cause I’m the best Trainer in Galar and not ‘cause one of you lot managed to scare ‘em off before I could even find out?

We already know you’re the strongest Trainer in the League, Marnie!

You know, eh? Well, I DON’T! That’s why I’m in the drat Challenge! I’m here to prove myself and my skills by doin’ somethin’ I love! It’s literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! And now I find out you’ve been makin’ things easier for me? You took that chance away from me!

… I love all of you. You all know that. You all helped to raise me, and I’ll never forget it. You changed the course in my life, and that’s the truth. But I’m not that little girl who has to crawl into a corner every time somebody talks too loudly and won’t wear heavy clothin’ anymore. You takin’ a look at all the progress I made and decidin’ I still need you to put on stabilisers for me… I’m disappointed in you. I’m disappointed in all of you.

Sorry you had to see all this, Gloria. I got a little carried away there.

Nah, honestly they deserved that bollocking.

Look, go on ahead and have your scrap with Piers. I’ll be along once I’ve finished up here.

I felt I had to include all of these screenshots because I love how they shot this – hell, I love this whole scene. The way Piers switches from fatalism to such a clearly fake but still imposing challenge mode right before the fight is deeply compelling. Also note he’s the only Gym Leader to get his own music.





His Scrafty is legit imposing; it beats L337 unconscious without losing a third of its health bar. I take the opportunity to demonstrate something and switch out to Bruce.



You can use TRs on the weirdest Pokémon sometimes. I mean, I sort of get it, but it’s definitely good old-fashioned Pokémon moon logic. Back when HMs were still a thing, Fly, the move that let you fast travel between Pokémon Centers, worked almost identically to this move in combat, just a little less powerful and a little more accurate. I mean, plenty of moves still use that turn-skip mechanic – hell, Mr. Blobby’s Phantom Force is in my party right now – but there’s something surreal about seeing my footballer rabbit use something so similar to what I used to travel to Ever Grande every time I felt like getting my rear end kicked by Wallace.





He’s not kidding; it takes out Dadliest before I switch in Briggs for the assist.





You can’t see it in screenshots, but the screen shakes as it roars . There’s a reason I like this fight. Every Pokémon has its own mini intro. And that Obstagoon? It managed not only to tank a Low Kick from Bruce, but use a move called Obstruct to intercept the follow-up Low Kick, taking out half of Bruce’s HP. Didn’t even know that was a thing. The next Low Kick finishes the job, granted, but nobody else ever managed to halve Bruce’s HP in one hit like that before.

















HOLY poo poo.

Bruce doesn’t go down like that. This is the first time he’s ever fainted in a Trainer fight. It nearly takes down Baklava, too, before I manage to beat it down.













… It’s kind of ironic that I hyped up Melony so much when the real challenge was one gym forward. I don’t remember Piers being this formidable when I last played Shield. I was definitely sloppy on my end, this time around. I didn’t have a single type advantage on that Skuntank, for instance, and I hadn’t gone over my party’s moves to make sure they were ready for prime time. All of that is true. It is also true that Piers cut his way through my party like a hot knife, knocking out almost as many Pokémon on my team as I did on his. You know that Piers canonically can go toe-to-toe with Raihan without using Dynamax? Skill-wise, he’s one of the best trainers in the Region. It shows; every one of his troops is tough in some fashion.

I also love how he’s a genuinely likable character. He’s a nice person! He looks out for his community, he raised his sister to be an upstanding member of society, he’s true to himself and does what he loves. But… Well… He isn’t perfect, by any means. As we’ll see.

Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Dec 8, 2020