Xaq (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xaq_the_aereon) wrote2017-12-15 12:18 am
xaq_the_aereon) wrote2017-12-15 12:18 am
Entry tags:
USPE 28: Can we get back on track now?
First off, huge thanks to the Tumblr anon who's apparently been reading this for warning me of the Ultra SuMo spoiler-loaded trailers. Much appreciated, friend! Anyway, shall we work on getting back to the plot?
Further on down Route 11 is Black Belt Clayton, who's busy doing sit-ups. I offer to spot for him and he battles me for interrupting his set. My bad, bro.
[ROUND 1: vs Hariyama]
I have to admit, this is a rather interesting Fighting-type Pokemon. However, I'm not in the mood to deal with it, so Inferno Overdrive dishes out the overkill...well, actually it doesn't even drop him into the yellow as far as health goes before it hits Erinys for 40 with Smelling Salts. Well crap. I opt to use Toxic to weaken it before switching out, but it uses Belly Drum in response, boosting its ATK massively...but in the process dropping its HP enough that Toxic finishes it.
A jaunt through some short bushes nets a Quick Ball, but my attempt to get back out is interrupted by a female Pancham. This is the one memory I have of my short B/W run, where a male Buneary I'd named after DavidN and a female Pancham had an egg together.
In honor of that, I put my freshly-acquired Quick Ball to use and catch her. Welcome to Poke Pelago, Whitney. :D
Afterwards, Rotom does a system reboot on my Pokedex. Nothing plot-relevant (I hope), just an excuse to fire up Roto Lotto. XP Further on, I reach a Trial Guide. She informs me that I can't pass this point without the Electrium-Z, essentially spoiling what the type for the next Trial's gonna be if I hadn't already known. XP With that, she sends me on my way. Route 11 is cleared for now. A quick detour back up to Malie and a left at the first intersection puts me on the way southwest to Route 10.
NOW we're back on the plot....for the moment. XP Right away, however, we're interrupted by another sidequest: a lady's Stufful got out of its Pokeball to play around here and hasn't come back, so now she wants me to go find it.
Excuse me, their Poke Balls There's 8 of them dotting the landscape of Route 10, it seems... ...wait, how does this lady have 8 Poke Balls on her? The limit is 6, ya cheater! Anyway, a short ways away a tree is rustling. Gee, if this isn't painfully obviAAAAAAAGH!!!!
[AMBUSHED BY FEAROW!!]
That genuinely scared the crap out of me! That tears it. Erinys, roast this turkey!
[ONE INFERNO OVERDRIVE LATER]
And it drops a slightly-charred Sharp Beak. Good, I'll take that as indication of the thing being incinerated. Anyway, back to finding the Stuffuls.
I'll skip on the occasional random Pokemon battles for this segment because I think I'm gonna have a LOT of them. The trainer battles, on the other hand, I'll cover. Case in point, Firefighter Alex wants to fight! ...Why, does he think I'm a fire or something? I mean, Erinys is a Fire-type and Obsidian has Fire Fang, but...
[AHEM! ROUND 1: vs Octillery]
Ah, bringing out the heavy firepower, I see. ... ...Okay, that was bad even by my ridiculously low standards. Anyway, I switched to Gauss on the way over here to get it leveled up a smidge, and that worked out on both counts: Electro Ball ended the battle in one shot and got Gauss and Obsidian both to 37. Obsidian passes on learning Scary Face because Odor Sleuth is more useful, and Alex's plans of victory go up in smoke.
[SKARMORY AMBUSH]
Dang, I was hoping it would be a female. Oh well, guess I'll just one-shot it with Electro Ball for quad damit has Sturdy. Crud...but this DOES cause it to call for help from one that IS female. Perfect. Even better, it too has Sturdy! After Electro Ball drops it to 1, Thunder Wave paralyzes it, (They're both using Fury Swipes or Spikes, so Gauss is taking sweet F.A. for damage), and then Mirror Shot gets rid of the male. Despite the 1 HP and Paralysis, however, it still takes 3 Dusk Balls to catch her.
Even so, this was one I was hoping to get for personal reasons. While I never intended to make her the Ula'ula Island Representative for my team, nonetheless..
Welcome to Poke Pelago, Celine. ^_^
A quick jaunt around the tree Celine ambushed me from finds Stuffuls 1 and 2 (further behind a Berry Tree). Speaking of berries...oops, Crabrawler.
[ONE FLASH CANNON LATER]
Never mind.
Quick backtrack reveals a Stufful across from Alex. Whoops. An attempt to sneak past a Beauty gets me ambushed by another Fearow. Gauss, Electro Ball please.
[SHAZAM!!!]
Right, on to the Stufful I was trying to get from behind that tree, then we'll pick a fight with Beauty Andrea. No, Andrea, I wasn't bothered by you OR your Pokemon.
[ROUND 1: vs Flaafy]
...Though maybe I should be. Gauss, tag out please and let Obsidian have a turn so she can dodge a Confuse Ray and Rock Slide the bundle of fluff away while Spectra hits 38 and Serenity hits 39. Thank you.
A Max Revive among the nearby shrubs, as well as another Stufful. Further up is one Stufful who just plain isn't trying to hide, and another in the shrubs who is, though trying to get to it runs me into Officer Larvell Jones, err, Mitchell.
[ROUND 1: vs Growlithe]
...Okay, Gauss definitely needs to get out of there. Fire vs Steel? No thanks. Time for another Rock Slide, Obsidian, after Growlithe wastes its one turn using Agility. In fairness, your idea of siren-mounted Ride Tauruses is a great idea! :D
Further nor--uh-oh. Team Skull Grunts are dancing at the bus stop. Not as in they're near it and dancing, I mean they're directing their dance moves right at it. And apparently they're planning on stealing it, too!
Time to put these bustard's plans to a stop!
[ROUND 1: vs Holy shit this guy has a Houndor!?]
I was more expecting another sorry Hypno to be honest...wait, Houndors are Dark/Fire, right? Right, time for the ol' switcheroo with Obsidian, Gauss! Sorry! orz
And the Houndor promptly uses Odor Sleuth, which I can only assume means he sniffed Obsidian's butt like dogs tend to do. If only you weren't a Team Skull 'mon, Houndor...alas, I feel honor-bound to go full-throttle on you.
[ONE CONTINENTAL CRUSH LATER]
So long, pup. Thanks for getting Gauss up to 38. Also, let your master know that yes, when he fights me, losing IS what's supposed to happen to him.
[ROUND 2: vs Golbat]
Oh great, the other grunt wants to fight as well? Why didn't you guys just go 2-on-1 and save me some time?
[ONE ELECTRO BALL LATER]
Idiot. The bus drivers wouldn't be able to "chill" if you took the bus stop away, they'd be out of a job. ...Wait, was this a recruitment drive or something?
Anyway, Prof. Kukui comes up after all that, musing how he wishes that Team Skull would take on the League rather than this buffoonery...oop, spoilers! He suddenly gets tight-lipped about it. I run back to the Stufful Lady, picking up one behind a Trainer Tip sign as I go to finish things up. She gives me a Muscle Band as thanks. And 15,000P. SCORE! :D
Heading back to the Professor and the Bus Stop, I find out the hard way I missed an Ambush Tree. Another Fearow, another Electro Ball. That out of the way, I swap Obsidian to the front and go to check the bus schedule. Doing so causes the Exeggutor Express to instantly appear right where I would've been standing if the cutscene didn't move me over.
"Our safe driving record will absolutely slay you!" Yeah, you just about did, jackass!
Anyway, in a length of time that suggests this guy does not understand the concept of speed limits, we're at the top of the mountain...the barricade back at the bottom being the only reason I didn't just hoof it up here on Tauros after that stunt. The prof directs me over to a viewing point where he explains why Hokulani is only the 2nd-tallest mountain in Alola.
Cue an absolutely gorgeous cutscene showing Mount Lanakila rising through the clouds, the site where Kakui wants to establish the Alolan Pokemon League, letting those who finish their Island Challenges vie against the strongest Trainers on the 4 Islands to become the Island Challenge Champion, then take on the Champions of the other Pokemon Leagues across the world and become the World Champion to show everyone just how great Alolan Pokemon and Alolan Trainers are.
Oh, you know I am all in on that idea, Professor. But first, completing the Island Challenge....just kidding, first we look around for stuff. I see a spot I can go east behind the Pokemon Cenanother freaking Oak encounter. This time he wants to talk about Minior, and then hands me a Moon Ball, a Poke Ball specially designed for catching ones who evolve with a Moon Stone, before disappearing again.
Speaking of the Pokemon Center, time to recoup, then head back down the mountain to fight everyone and find everything I missed on that crazy bus ride up here. First up is a Veteran who issues the standard "beat everyone else first" challenge, followed by Office Worker Jessica.
[ROUND 1: vs Clefairy]
Hi Clefairy. [THRASH'D!!] Bye Clefairy. Hello Lv 38 for Obsidian. ^_^ Just past her is a guy on a Ride Mudsdale commenting about how easy it is to get around the mountains on horseback here....what is this, Skyrim? Anyway, a quick scour of the grasslands across from him runs me into a Beldum. Awesome. I figure it's Steel-type but has high Def, so I figure Fire Fang will soften it up without KOing it oops she KO'd it. Oh well, I found the TM for Volt Switch at least! Given how rarely I use Mirror Shot, I may as well replace it so Gauss has a good GTFO option. Stoutland's schnozzola turns up nothing here, so I head back and run into an Elgyem....dafuq is an LGM?
Dead from a Rock Slide, that's what...guess Obsidian isn't the "catch new mons" option for my team. Oops.
Down around the next curve I run into Hiker Thomas. Like, literally. Sorry, bud.
[ROUND 1: vs Geodude]
I'm sorry, but Alolan Geodudes just look stupid. It's like they're trying for the Mr. T look and failing. Anyway, I tag Obsidian out for Serenity and get a quick reminder that Alolan Geodudes are also part Electric-type when it uses Thunder Punch. Ow! With that in mind, I Hydro Vortex the thing off the cliffside...or try to. Freakin' Sturdy again. It wastes its last turn throwing rocks all over the field to hurt anyone who tags in before getting Disarming Voice'd out. I get a bit further and is that guy playing golf down the cliffside?! Whatever, there's an item down a ways further, so I'll let him have his fun while I go get the Heavy Ball.
...And doing so puts me right in Golfer Sky's line of fire. FOOOOOOORE!!
[ROUND 1: vs Minior]
Ooo, pretty! ...Aww, its Shields Down ability activated and it balled itself back up. Guess having its shields up didn't help against a Rock Slide, though.
[ROUND 2: vs wait this guy actually has more than 1 Pokemon? And it's another Minior]
Rinse, smash, repeat.
[ROUND 3: Guess who?]
Guess what?
Well that was fun. Heading south through the grasslands to find more Trainers/stuff runs me into yet another Minior. Given I'd like to CATCH this one, I swap Obsidian out for Serenity....at which point the Minior self-destructs to hurt her a bit. Jerk! D: Obsidian and Serenity both level up from it, though, bringing my starter up to Lv 40. Then, as I'm typing this, Collector Todd lays on me and decides to add my collection to his.
Time to teach this fool a lesson.
[ROUND 1: vs. Passimian]
Down, set...FIRE FANG! ...That didn't do much, but neither did Scary Face. Throwing a Rock Slide did even less. Must be part Fight-type...so why does it keep using Scary Face? ...Ah. This time it uses Thrash. And misses. And gets KO'd by a 2nd Rock Slide, bringing Gauss to 39. Screech would do no good since it lowers Defense rather than Special Defense and all of Gauss' moves are Special Attack-based, so...pass.
Spectra also hits 39, and since she has Hypnosis, Dream Eater goes RIGHT ON THE LIST. We'll replace Infestation with it. It was a fun move, but this is just better as it's a Psychic-type. Speaking of...
[ROUND 2: vs. Oranguru]
Come on out, Spectra!
First attacks do nothing; Hypnosis misses and Psych Up copies all zero of Spectra's stat alterations. 2nd attempt at Hypnosis put it to sleep, though, and then Dream Eater...does very little since it's not effective? I thought Oranguru was a Fight-type? Especially since Shadow Ball missed...well, at least Payback is super effective. Hm, must be Psychic-type. 2 more rounds of that, combined with some hard-hitting Feint Attacks, end things with Todd and bring Serana up to 39.
After that, a detour south down a hop-down cliff nets a Max Potion, and brings us to the end of the road. That should be everyone and everything, so back to the Veteran at the top....after a quick Pokemon Center stop.
Veteran Akira says he's gonna go all-out with his Z-Power against me. Bring it!
[ROUND 1: vs. Persian]
As we throw our Poke Balls into battle, for a moment it's literally raining cats and dogs. Persian's Fake Out doesn't do much damage, but Obsidian does flinch. She gets to go first next time, however, hitting him rather hard with a Rock Slide. One more seals the deal. Guess this isn't his Z-Crystalled Pokemon.
[Round 2: vs. Absol]
Now this looks promising. Absol's a Dark-type, which I think makes Spectra the right choice. However, I want to match him Z-Move for Z-Move and all-out for all-out, so Serenity takes center stage.
He never uses his Z-Move. :[ Absol Slashes for some meager damage, and then Hydro Vortex ends things in one blow, bringing Erinys to 39 and closing the whole team to within 1 level of Serenity. And my reward for defeating him is another TM, this time for Snarl! Nice.
With that, I make one last Pokemon Center stop for the evening, but this time back in Heahea City...you see, for the past few days I've been mulling over a decision, and as of now I've decided to go with it.
The decision being that from here on out, Gauss' nickname will be changed to Langstrom. ...Yeah, that's all I've been mulling over. I just think it suits Magneton better for some reason, despite having absolutely no feasible connection with the character I'm taking the name from, Dr. Kirk Langstrom/the Man-Bat from Batman: the Animated Series and various other DCAU continuities.
Anyway.
With that done, I fly back and save for the night. I'll pick up the plot again (FOR REAL, I PROMISE) tomorrow when I go into the Hokulani Observatory to take on the Electric Trial. Until then!
Further on down Route 11 is Black Belt Clayton, who's busy doing sit-ups. I offer to spot for him and he battles me for interrupting his set. My bad, bro.
[ROUND 1: vs Hariyama]
I have to admit, this is a rather interesting Fighting-type Pokemon. However, I'm not in the mood to deal with it, so Inferno Overdrive dishes out the overkill...well, actually it doesn't even drop him into the yellow as far as health goes before it hits Erinys for 40 with Smelling Salts. Well crap. I opt to use Toxic to weaken it before switching out, but it uses Belly Drum in response, boosting its ATK massively...but in the process dropping its HP enough that Toxic finishes it.
A jaunt through some short bushes nets a Quick Ball, but my attempt to get back out is interrupted by a female Pancham. This is the one memory I have of my short B/W run, where a male Buneary I'd named after DavidN and a female Pancham had an egg together.
In honor of that, I put my freshly-acquired Quick Ball to use and catch her. Welcome to Poke Pelago, Whitney. :D
Afterwards, Rotom does a system reboot on my Pokedex. Nothing plot-relevant (I hope), just an excuse to fire up Roto Lotto. XP Further on, I reach a Trial Guide. She informs me that I can't pass this point without the Electrium-Z, essentially spoiling what the type for the next Trial's gonna be if I hadn't already known. XP With that, she sends me on my way. Route 11 is cleared for now. A quick detour back up to Malie and a left at the first intersection puts me on the way southwest to Route 10.
NOW we're back on the plot....for the moment. XP Right away, however, we're interrupted by another sidequest: a lady's Stufful got out of its Pokeball to play around here and hasn't come back, so now she wants me to go find it.
Excuse me, their Poke Balls There's 8 of them dotting the landscape of Route 10, it seems... ...wait, how does this lady have 8 Poke Balls on her? The limit is 6, ya cheater! Anyway, a short ways away a tree is rustling. Gee, if this isn't painfully obviAAAAAAAGH!!!!
[AMBUSHED BY FEAROW!!]
That genuinely scared the crap out of me! That tears it. Erinys, roast this turkey!
[ONE INFERNO OVERDRIVE LATER]
And it drops a slightly-charred Sharp Beak. Good, I'll take that as indication of the thing being incinerated. Anyway, back to finding the Stuffuls.
I'll skip on the occasional random Pokemon battles for this segment because I think I'm gonna have a LOT of them. The trainer battles, on the other hand, I'll cover. Case in point, Firefighter Alex wants to fight! ...Why, does he think I'm a fire or something? I mean, Erinys is a Fire-type and Obsidian has Fire Fang, but...
[AHEM! ROUND 1: vs Octillery]
Ah, bringing out the heavy firepower, I see. ... ...Okay, that was bad even by my ridiculously low standards. Anyway, I switched to Gauss on the way over here to get it leveled up a smidge, and that worked out on both counts: Electro Ball ended the battle in one shot and got Gauss and Obsidian both to 37. Obsidian passes on learning Scary Face because Odor Sleuth is more useful, and Alex's plans of victory go up in smoke.
[SKARMORY AMBUSH]
Dang, I was hoping it would be a female. Oh well, guess I'll just one-shot it with Electro Ball for quad damit has Sturdy. Crud...but this DOES cause it to call for help from one that IS female. Perfect. Even better, it too has Sturdy! After Electro Ball drops it to 1, Thunder Wave paralyzes it, (They're both using Fury Swipes or Spikes, so Gauss is taking sweet F.A. for damage), and then Mirror Shot gets rid of the male. Despite the 1 HP and Paralysis, however, it still takes 3 Dusk Balls to catch her.
Even so, this was one I was hoping to get for personal reasons. While I never intended to make her the Ula'ula Island Representative for my team, nonetheless..
Welcome to Poke Pelago, Celine. ^_^
A quick jaunt around the tree Celine ambushed me from finds Stuffuls 1 and 2 (further behind a Berry Tree). Speaking of berries...oops, Crabrawler.
[ONE FLASH CANNON LATER]
Never mind.
Quick backtrack reveals a Stufful across from Alex. Whoops. An attempt to sneak past a Beauty gets me ambushed by another Fearow. Gauss, Electro Ball please.
[SHAZAM!!!]
Right, on to the Stufful I was trying to get from behind that tree, then we'll pick a fight with Beauty Andrea. No, Andrea, I wasn't bothered by you OR your Pokemon.
[ROUND 1: vs Flaafy]
...Though maybe I should be. Gauss, tag out please and let Obsidian have a turn so she can dodge a Confuse Ray and Rock Slide the bundle of fluff away while Spectra hits 38 and Serenity hits 39. Thank you.
A Max Revive among the nearby shrubs, as well as another Stufful. Further up is one Stufful who just plain isn't trying to hide, and another in the shrubs who is, though trying to get to it runs me into Officer Larvell Jones, err, Mitchell.
[ROUND 1: vs Growlithe]
...Okay, Gauss definitely needs to get out of there. Fire vs Steel? No thanks. Time for another Rock Slide, Obsidian, after Growlithe wastes its one turn using Agility. In fairness, your idea of siren-mounted Ride Tauruses is a great idea! :D
Further nor--uh-oh. Team Skull Grunts are dancing at the bus stop. Not as in they're near it and dancing, I mean they're directing their dance moves right at it. And apparently they're planning on stealing it, too!
Time to put these bustard's plans to a stop!
[ROUND 1: vs Holy shit this guy has a Houndor!?]
I was more expecting another sorry Hypno to be honest...wait, Houndors are Dark/Fire, right? Right, time for the ol' switcheroo with Obsidian, Gauss! Sorry! orz
And the Houndor promptly uses Odor Sleuth, which I can only assume means he sniffed Obsidian's butt like dogs tend to do. If only you weren't a Team Skull 'mon, Houndor...alas, I feel honor-bound to go full-throttle on you.
[ONE CONTINENTAL CRUSH LATER]
So long, pup. Thanks for getting Gauss up to 38. Also, let your master know that yes, when he fights me, losing IS what's supposed to happen to him.
[ROUND 2: vs Golbat]
Oh great, the other grunt wants to fight as well? Why didn't you guys just go 2-on-1 and save me some time?
[ONE ELECTRO BALL LATER]
Idiot. The bus drivers wouldn't be able to "chill" if you took the bus stop away, they'd be out of a job. ...Wait, was this a recruitment drive or something?
Anyway, Prof. Kukui comes up after all that, musing how he wishes that Team Skull would take on the League rather than this buffoonery...oop, spoilers! He suddenly gets tight-lipped about it. I run back to the Stufful Lady, picking up one behind a Trainer Tip sign as I go to finish things up. She gives me a Muscle Band as thanks. And 15,000P. SCORE! :D
Heading back to the Professor and the Bus Stop, I find out the hard way I missed an Ambush Tree. Another Fearow, another Electro Ball. That out of the way, I swap Obsidian to the front and go to check the bus schedule. Doing so causes the Exeggutor Express to instantly appear right where I would've been standing if the cutscene didn't move me over.
"Our safe driving record will absolutely slay you!" Yeah, you just about did, jackass!
Anyway, in a length of time that suggests this guy does not understand the concept of speed limits, we're at the top of the mountain...the barricade back at the bottom being the only reason I didn't just hoof it up here on Tauros after that stunt. The prof directs me over to a viewing point where he explains why Hokulani is only the 2nd-tallest mountain in Alola.
Cue an absolutely gorgeous cutscene showing Mount Lanakila rising through the clouds, the site where Kakui wants to establish the Alolan Pokemon League, letting those who finish their Island Challenges vie against the strongest Trainers on the 4 Islands to become the Island Challenge Champion, then take on the Champions of the other Pokemon Leagues across the world and become the World Champion to show everyone just how great Alolan Pokemon and Alolan Trainers are.
Oh, you know I am all in on that idea, Professor. But first, completing the Island Challenge....just kidding, first we look around for stuff. I see a spot I can go east behind the Pokemon Cenanother freaking Oak encounter. This time he wants to talk about Minior, and then hands me a Moon Ball, a Poke Ball specially designed for catching ones who evolve with a Moon Stone, before disappearing again.
Speaking of the Pokemon Center, time to recoup, then head back down the mountain to fight everyone and find everything I missed on that crazy bus ride up here. First up is a Veteran who issues the standard "beat everyone else first" challenge, followed by Office Worker Jessica.
[ROUND 1: vs Clefairy]
Hi Clefairy. [THRASH'D!!] Bye Clefairy. Hello Lv 38 for Obsidian. ^_^ Just past her is a guy on a Ride Mudsdale commenting about how easy it is to get around the mountains on horseback here....what is this, Skyrim? Anyway, a quick scour of the grasslands across from him runs me into a Beldum. Awesome. I figure it's Steel-type but has high Def, so I figure Fire Fang will soften it up without KOing it oops she KO'd it. Oh well, I found the TM for Volt Switch at least! Given how rarely I use Mirror Shot, I may as well replace it so Gauss has a good GTFO option. Stoutland's schnozzola turns up nothing here, so I head back and run into an Elgyem....dafuq is an LGM?
Dead from a Rock Slide, that's what...guess Obsidian isn't the "catch new mons" option for my team. Oops.
Down around the next curve I run into Hiker Thomas. Like, literally. Sorry, bud.
[ROUND 1: vs Geodude]
I'm sorry, but Alolan Geodudes just look stupid. It's like they're trying for the Mr. T look and failing. Anyway, I tag Obsidian out for Serenity and get a quick reminder that Alolan Geodudes are also part Electric-type when it uses Thunder Punch. Ow! With that in mind, I Hydro Vortex the thing off the cliffside...or try to. Freakin' Sturdy again. It wastes its last turn throwing rocks all over the field to hurt anyone who tags in before getting Disarming Voice'd out. I get a bit further and is that guy playing golf down the cliffside?! Whatever, there's an item down a ways further, so I'll let him have his fun while I go get the Heavy Ball.
...And doing so puts me right in Golfer Sky's line of fire. FOOOOOOORE!!
[ROUND 1: vs Minior]
Ooo, pretty! ...Aww, its Shields Down ability activated and it balled itself back up. Guess having its shields up didn't help against a Rock Slide, though.
[ROUND 2: vs wait this guy actually has more than 1 Pokemon? And it's another Minior]
Rinse, smash, repeat.
[ROUND 3: Guess who?]
Guess what?
Well that was fun. Heading south through the grasslands to find more Trainers/stuff runs me into yet another Minior. Given I'd like to CATCH this one, I swap Obsidian out for Serenity....at which point the Minior self-destructs to hurt her a bit. Jerk! D: Obsidian and Serenity both level up from it, though, bringing my starter up to Lv 40. Then, as I'm typing this, Collector Todd lays on me and decides to add my collection to his.
Time to teach this fool a lesson.
[ROUND 1: vs. Passimian]
Down, set...FIRE FANG! ...That didn't do much, but neither did Scary Face. Throwing a Rock Slide did even less. Must be part Fight-type...so why does it keep using Scary Face? ...Ah. This time it uses Thrash. And misses. And gets KO'd by a 2nd Rock Slide, bringing Gauss to 39. Screech would do no good since it lowers Defense rather than Special Defense and all of Gauss' moves are Special Attack-based, so...pass.
Spectra also hits 39, and since she has Hypnosis, Dream Eater goes RIGHT ON THE LIST. We'll replace Infestation with it. It was a fun move, but this is just better as it's a Psychic-type. Speaking of...
[ROUND 2: vs. Oranguru]
Come on out, Spectra!
First attacks do nothing; Hypnosis misses and Psych Up copies all zero of Spectra's stat alterations. 2nd attempt at Hypnosis put it to sleep, though, and then Dream Eater...does very little since it's not effective? I thought Oranguru was a Fight-type? Especially since Shadow Ball missed...well, at least Payback is super effective. Hm, must be Psychic-type. 2 more rounds of that, combined with some hard-hitting Feint Attacks, end things with Todd and bring Serana up to 39.
After that, a detour south down a hop-down cliff nets a Max Potion, and brings us to the end of the road. That should be everyone and everything, so back to the Veteran at the top....after a quick Pokemon Center stop.
Veteran Akira says he's gonna go all-out with his Z-Power against me. Bring it!
[ROUND 1: vs. Persian]
As we throw our Poke Balls into battle, for a moment it's literally raining cats and dogs. Persian's Fake Out doesn't do much damage, but Obsidian does flinch. She gets to go first next time, however, hitting him rather hard with a Rock Slide. One more seals the deal. Guess this isn't his Z-Crystalled Pokemon.
[Round 2: vs. Absol]
Now this looks promising. Absol's a Dark-type, which I think makes Spectra the right choice. However, I want to match him Z-Move for Z-Move and all-out for all-out, so Serenity takes center stage.
He never uses his Z-Move. :[ Absol Slashes for some meager damage, and then Hydro Vortex ends things in one blow, bringing Erinys to 39 and closing the whole team to within 1 level of Serenity. And my reward for defeating him is another TM, this time for Snarl! Nice.
With that, I make one last Pokemon Center stop for the evening, but this time back in Heahea City...you see, for the past few days I've been mulling over a decision, and as of now I've decided to go with it.
The decision being that from here on out, Gauss' nickname will be changed to Langstrom. ...Yeah, that's all I've been mulling over. I just think it suits Magneton better for some reason, despite having absolutely no feasible connection with the character I'm taking the name from, Dr. Kirk Langstrom/the Man-Bat from Batman: the Animated Series and various other DCAU continuities.
Anyway.
With that done, I fly back and save for the night. I'll pick up the plot again (FOR REAL, I PROMISE) tomorrow when I go into the Hokulani Observatory to take on the Electric Trial. Until then!