ppe 8: the lost woods

[xaq_the_aereon]

I'll get into that in a minute, but first:

[TEAM STATUS]
Duster, Lv 15
Nala, Lv 19
Belfries, Lv 17
Tessa, Lv 19
Astra, Lv 19
Buster, Lv 19

Okay, so at the end of our last entry we ran into a Cheryl, a green-haired lady whom I remembered from the original Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games as...not really having much significance in the storyline. Like, we help her through the Eterna Forest here and then, to my recollection, that's about it?

[...SERIOUSLY? THAT'S IT?]
...Okay, so I may find her to be somewhat attractive. What can I say, the green hair is nice and the side-braid gives her a very maternal aura.

[PERV]
Yeah, sorry. ^_^;; Anyway, she wants some help getting through these misty woods, so I offer to help. She's not merely a tagalong, though; she and her Chansey are here to help us in any battles we come across.

The northwest path in the forest is a dead-end, home only to a moss-covered rock. Useful if you're trying to evolve an Eevee into Leafeon, but as Eevees are strictly postgame content in this game, there'll be no Team KAISER hijinks this time around.

[BUMMER]

The northeast past cuts through some grass, and has a route blocked by a Cuttable tree, forcing us to take the long way around and get challenged by a pair of kids.

[VS. Lass Briana and Bug Catcher Jack]
[Round 1.0: vs. Pachirisu and Wurmple]
Briana only has a Pachirisu with her, so if we knock it out first this'll be a 2-on-1 the rest of the way. Pachi Sparks Chansey and gets nailed by Confusion and Charming Voice for it, while Wurmple Poison Stings her for mild damage and poison. Duster gets Sparked and retaliates with a failed Poison Powder. Wurmple gets a Sweet Kiss to confuse it, but Tackles Duster anyway.

Okay, this isn't working. I have Duster Gust the Wurmple for a KO after getting Sparked by Pachi, who then takes a Disarming Voice.

[Round 1.33: vs. Pachirisu and Beautifly]
Spark hits Chansey, Confusion drops Pachi to the yellow, Disarming Voice hits both, and Gust puts Duster in the red. I take turn to heal via Super Potion before getting SParked again, Beautifly gets Sweet Kiss'd, and uses a Gust on Duster to put it back in the yellow.

ENOUGH. I tag in Nala just as Chansey gets Spark'd to 1 HP and Charming Voices them. Nala gets Gusted, and the poison takes Chansey out, making it a 2-on-1 the opposite way I'd hoped.

Quick Attack dinks Nala, and Spark takes Beautifly out of the equation.

[Round 1.67: vs. Pachirisu and Silcoon]
Nala Quick Nails into Biting the Silcoon for half, gets Sparked for nearly nothing, and the Silcoon flinches. Quick Attack does nearly nothing, and Bite takes Jack's team down.

[Round 1.99: vs. Pachrisu]
A last Quick Attack does little, and Bite finally takes that damned Pachirisu out of the equation liked I'd intended to do at the start.

[MAN, THAT WAS ROUGH]
Yeah, and you'd think going forward with Cheryl's Chansey KO'd and my team beat up would be an issue...fortunately, Cheryl serves not only as a partner in battle, but an automatic Pokecen. Her Chansey and my whole team are back at full in no time.

[OH SWEET! PITY SHE DOESN'T HANG AROUND LONGER]
Right? :D

[GOOD THING TOO, BECAUSE YOU JUST GOT AMBUSHED BY ANOTHER PAIR OF TRAINERS]
wut.

[VS. Psychic Duo Elijah and Lindsay]
[vs. Double Abras]
What a time for Duster not to have a Bug-type move...A pair of Energy Balls hits Chansey, while Poison Power poisons the left Abra. Another pair of Energy Balls hit Chansey, while Poison Powder poisons the other Abra. Their focused assault on Chansey continues while I switch to Gust, and Sweet Kiss leaves the left Abra poisoned and confused. Another Energy Ball barrage hits Chansey, while Disarming Voice hits their whole team and Gust leaves the right Abra in range for the poison to finish it.

One last Energy Ball KO's Chansey, Gust hits, and its poison puts it deep in the red. It fires one final Energy Ball at Duster before being Gusted out of the battle.

[SHEESH, POOR CHANSEY]
No joke. For Chansey's sake and to give myself something to come back to later, I take an alternate route around the last two sets of trainers...then decide "screw it" and double back with Astra in the lead.

[VS. Bug Catchers Donald and Phillip]
[Round 1.0: vs. Wurmple and Burmy]
Wing Attack immediately removes Burmy from the equation, while Disarming Voice does a number on Wurmple and its Poison Sting does nearly nothing.

[Round 1.5: vs. Wurmple and Kricketune]
Kricketune eats a Wing Attack and is gone, making this a 2-on-1. As you may have noticed, I am done screwing around. Chansey Sweet Kisses Wurmple into confusion, while its Poison Sting does little to Astra. Chansey takes a breather as Wing Attack sweeps away Wurmple.

[DUSTER: HARDEN -> MOONLIGHT...WAIT, WE HAVE A CHANSEY WITH US AND *WE'RE* THE ONE WITH THE HEALING MOVE?]
Yep.

[Round 2: vs. Dustox]
And Wing Attack demonstrates why I don't use Duster against Flying types, while Sweet Kiss hits open air.

[Round 3: vs. a Cascoon that's about to get Wing Attacked out of existence]
Leaving Chansey once again with nothing to do...but at least she survived this battle.

With another pair of Psychics coming up, I move Belfries to the front.

[VS. Psychic Duo Rachael and Kody]
[WAIT, AREN'T THOSE TWO OF YOUR OLD SONIC THE HEDGEHOG OCs?]
Rachel and Cody in that case, actually. Moving on.

[vs. Psyduck and Meditite]
Astonish works nicely on Medidte, who Low Kicks Chansey pretty hard. Chansey Sweet Kisses the Psyduck, who uses Confusion on Belfries and proves this may have been a mistake.

I tag Belfries out for Nala so her Electric moves can deal with Psyduck, while Meditite Low Kicks Chansey out of the battle. Confusion hits Nala for a pittance, and next turn Spark deals with the Psyduck, all according to plan.

[TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: "PLAN" MEANS "KEIKAKU" IN ENGLISH]
Confusion wraps the turn up doing little to Nala. It uses Feint to hurt her a little, and she uses Bite to hurt it a LOT. Another Bite wraps the battle up.

...And with that, we've reached the exit! Cheryl thanks us for our help in getting out and departs.

[SO LONG, POOR CHANSEY]
And with that, we're...BACK ON ROUTE 205??? Yep, apparently the only thing forcing us to take that whole detour was a Cuttable tree that, had we sucked our gut in a little bit, we probably could have squeezed past.

[GUGH...]
There's a bridge teeming with fisherman ahead of us, but I genuinely don't feel like fighting them right now. Beside, our next stop is just past them: Eterna City!

[AND RIGHT AWAY A GALACTIGRUNT THREATENS TO TAKE YOUR POKEMON]
Until he realizes how tough I look and chickens out.

[WISE CHOICE]

A look around finds:
-An empty house?
-TM67s for Recycle
-A bike shop whose owner has apparently gotten into a snarl with Team Galactic
-A Poketch app for seeing how much my team likes me...wait, what was that last one?

[OH GEEZ, GALACTIC IS KIDNAPPING PEOPLE AND POKEMON]
*sighs* Guess we're gonna have to deal with it, huh?

[NEXT EPISODE?]
Next episode.

[TEAM STATUS]
Belfries, Lv 18
Nala, Lv 21
Astra, Lv 20
Tessa, Lv 20
Duster, Lv 17
Buster, Lv 20

[UNTIL NEXT TIME!]
Later!