ppe 14: The long walk

[xaq_the_aereon]

[TEAM STATUS SINCE YOU FORGOT LAST TIME]
I know, I know, sorry!

Atlas, Lv 28
Dogmeat, Lv 29
Astra, Lv 28
Nala, Lv 29
Tessa, Lv 29
Belfries, Lv 28

Straight away we have a choice of paths. We can walk through some grass and deal with a rancher, or bike up a hill and deal with a jogger. I opt for the jogger, miss, and almost run right into a doubles battle against some ranchers. I decide to take on the jogger for a warmup...oh, he's just jogging. Perhaps this mystery redhead wants to battle?

[NOPE, THEY'RE JUST RESTING]
Ah. Well, they hand us some TM51s for Roost, so that's nice. With that, I go back to that rancher I skipped earlier.

[VS. Rancher Marco]
Polo!
[WRONG GAME]
Sorry.

[Round 1: vs. Aipom]
Atlas flinches from Astonish...just kidding, it barely affects her. Her Stomp takes most of Aipom's HP. It goes for a Tickle next to drop her Attack and Defense, and she uses Horn Attack to drop it.

[Round 2: vs. Psyduck]
Confusion stings a little, while Horn Attack stings a LOT. This repeats next round and drops Psyduck.

[Round 3: vs. Girafarig]
If I recall, this is Normal/Psychic. Atlas thanks Girafarig for the Assurance with Ice Fang, and thanks it for the repeat with Horn Attack to put it deep in the red. It Growls to lower her Attack, but Stomp finishes it anyway.

[YOU HAD HER OUT THE WHOLE TIME BECAUSE YOU GAVE HER THE AMULET COIN, DIDN'T YOU?]
Maaaaybe? :3 Anyway, let's see what those other two ranchers want.

[VS. Ranchers Ava and Matt]
[vs. Stunky and Glameow]
Dogmeat joins Atlas. Glameow Fakes Dogmeat Out, while Stunky Bites Atlas to flinch them both. Dogmeat Thunder Fangs Stunky, who Poison Gasses us while Glameow Aerial Aces Atlas before getting Ice Fanged deep into the red. Glameow gets Thunder Fanged out of the fight, then gets Bit before Atlas Ice Fangs for the win.

After a couple of Pecha Berries to deal with the poison, I zip by a few more trainers and find myself at a restaurant, Cafe Cabin. North of that is a gaggle of Psyducks that WILL. NOT. MOVE.

[BECAUSE HAVING DOGMEAT AND NALA FRY THEM IS BEYOND YOUR CAPABILITIES]
Right? :/

To the east is Route 215, with a massive downpour going on...think I'll check the cafe for now. They sell MooMoo Milk here, so I buy a few bottles. I ask the waitress what the special is...apparently it's fighting her Clefairy.

[VS. Waitress Kati]
[vs. Clefairy]

Atlas Ice Fangs it, while its Metronome fires off Ancient Power to do damn near nothing. Another Ice Fang wraps the battle up.
[CHECK PLEASE!]
[DOGMEAT: Bite -> Fire Fang]

Dogmeat and Nala both reached Level 30, with that being the threshold for Nala to reach her final evolution into a Luxray. Congrats! :D

[THUNDERCAT, HOOOOOO!!]

With that mishap out of the way, I chat with some of the other patrons.

[WELL THAT WAS A MISTAKE]
[VS. Collector Edwin]
[Round 1: vs. Sudowoodo]
Ice Fang glances off, and his Block means I can't tag out. Scary Face drops its Speed, and Stone Edge does...almost nothing. Another Ice Fang crits and freezes it solid, leaving it wide open to a Horn Attack to finish it.

[Round 2: vs. Another Sudowoodo]
I tag in Tessa since I'm pretty sure these are Rocks. Bubble Beam proves my point by blowing it away.

[Round 3: AND THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM, RIGHT?]
Wrong. Bubble Beam strikes again. Deuces, nerd!

Let's see if his buddy's any more willing to talk peacefully.

[NOPE]
[VS. Collector Fernando]
[Round 1: vs. Mr. Mime]
Power Swap swaps all the changes in our stats...meaning it does nothing...and Ice Fang takes most of its HP. It uses Copycat to hit us with Ice Fang and freezes Atlas solid. Jerk! I give Atlas an Aspear Berry to thaw her out, while Mr. Mime uses Baton Pass.

[Round 1.1: vs. Mr. Mime]
[DEJA VU?]
I tag out for Belfries, who gets nailed by Confusion and reminds me that Psychic works well on Poison rather than the other way around. X-Scissor, thankfully, is Bug and hits like a ton of bricks...making the Encore needless since I was gonna use it again anyway. This Mr. Mime is out.

[Round 2: vs. the 3rd Mr. Mime]
Let's keep the X-Scissor slamming up, shall we? Confusion hurts a bit, but a 2nd X-Scissor seals the deal once again.

[Round 3? More like Round 1]
And just for good measure, we wrap this one up by adding another notch on Cross Poison's kill count.

The last gent at least doesn't want to fight, but mentions we'll have to wait the Psyducks out. Ugh. Into the rain it is, I guess. Anticipating a load of Water-types I move Nala to the front. Gives her a chance to show off her new form and powers to this thief.

[THAT'S TREASURE HUNTER]
Ha! Semantics!

[VS. Ruin Maniac Calvin]
[Round 1: vs. Bronzor]
Oddly enough, Bite is the option to go with here and scores the one-shot.
[YOU'D THINK A GIANT METAL PLATE WOULD BE WEAKER TO ELECTRIC]
Right?

[Round 2: vs. Shieldon]
Okay, this one's Steel, I believe, so I leave Nala in...eh? Electric's not strong against Steel? Whatever. Spark crits and paralyzes it, while its Iron Defense boosts its Defense...too little for Shock Wave to be stopped, though. Bye-bye! So long, thief!

[THERE'S A HUGE DIFFERENCE!]
Up ahead a jogger is running laps around an Ether. As suspected, he's just jogging.
[DO *ANY* OF THESE GUYS BATTLE?]
Guess not. Maybe this karate man will? ...No, he just talks about the art of Payback, then hands us some TM66s for it.

Another karate man waits behind a Cut tree, so I move Dogmeat to the front. Guess I woke him from his nap.

[VS. Black Bet Gregory]
[Round 1: vs. Meditite]
Feint knicks Dogmeat, who then unleashes a 4-mon Beat Up.

[Round 2: vs. Machop]
I let Astra take the lead for this one, and Aerial Ace wins it in one hit.

[Round 3: vs. Meditite]
Astra Aerial Aces it again, but its Detect blocks the attack. The 2nd one goes through for the knockout.

Another Black Belt blocks our path ahead. So be it, have a black eye to match that black belt.

[VS. Black Belt Nathaniel]
[Round 1: vs. Croagunk]
Ooo, Fight/Poison. Dogmeat hits it with Fire Fang and takes most of its HP. It Flatters her in response, boosting her Sp. Atk while confusing her. This doesn't stop Thunder Fang from scoring a win, though.

[Round 2: vs. Machop]
You're up again, Astra! Aerial Ace does its duty once more.

[Round 3: vs. Meditite]
One more time with Aerial Ace and we are done.

Past another jogging Jogger, I spy a sight that gives me pause: a pair of Ace Trainers set up for doubles battle. I take a second to restore the team and move Atlas and Belfries to the front.

[HERE WE GOOO!!]
[VS. Ace Trainers Maya and Dennis]

[Round 1.0: vs. Glameow and Monferno]
Belfries gets Faked Out but Cross Poisons Monferno out of the battle anyway. Atlas Ice Fangs Glameow for most of its HP.

[Round 1.5: vs. Gyarados and Glameow]
Cross Poison finishes the Glameow. Waterfall hits Atlas hard enough for a KO, forcing me to tag in Nala.

[Round 2.0: vs. Gyarados and Kadabra]
Cross Poison hits Gyarados rather hard, while Psybeam hurts Belfries. Nala Bites the Kadabra into submission before Gyarados' Waterfall fails to do much to her. I burn Belfries' attack to Revive Atlas while Nala uses Shock Wave to score the win. This gives her Atlas the Exp needed to bring the whole party up to Lv 30. I almost give her Rock Blast, but then I see it's a "2-to-5 hits" move.

[PASS]

And with that, we're out of the weather and in Veilstone City!

[WHERE WE ARE PROMPTLY GREETED BY TWO GALACTIGRUNTS]
Ah frack. :[ Seems the north end of town is their warehouse. To the south is something a bit more interesting, though: a Style Shop....where we can FINALLY get a new set of duds!

[TOO BAD THE EEVEE STYLE JACKET IS OUT OF YOUR PRICE RANGE]
NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Ah well, the Spring Style outfit is cuter anyway.

[AND WITH THAT, YOUR WALLET IS 80% LIGHTER]
Worth it. Southwest, a pair is looking for their missing Zoom Lens, not realizing their Stunky already had it. His girlfriend gives me a Wide Lens as thanks for finding it, and he lets me keep it. Yay?

A guy north of them gives us some TM63s for Nasty Plot. Again, yay?

The house next to him is home to a masseuse who gives Atlas a lovely massage. North of there is the gym...and Lucas! He mentions he was checking out the Department Store, to which I immediately think

[THERE'S A DEPARTMENT STORE IN THIS TOWN!?]
Exactly that. Somehow I missed it when it was right by the Galactigrunts. I go to peruse it, but aside from selling some stuff and buying a TM54 for False Swipe, it's pretty uneventful. A guy at the top floor gives me a Sticky Barb..whoop-de-doo.

With that, it's back to the Gym and time to clock out for the night.

[TEAM STATUS]
Nala, Lv 31
Astra, Lv 30
Atlas, Lv 30
Dogmeat, Lv 30
Tessa, Lv 30
Belfries, Lv 30

[G'NIGHT!]