ppe15: Lifting the veil

[xaq_the_aereon]

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

With our new look sorted and our team squared up, it's time to take on the Veilstone City Gym, and...awww crap, it's centered on Fighting and Normal types. Flying, Psychic, and Fairy are my best bets, so looks like Astra's taking the lead. Atlas could be in trouble if it comes down to her.

This gym's gimmick is a bunch of sliding slats that open/close paths. To get to some of them, we're gonna need to get past a quartet of Gym Trainers called the Karate Quads.

[FOCUS, DANIEL-SAN]
[VS. Black Belt Rafael]
[vs. Meditite]
Aerial Ace crits and puts Rafael out of commission and lets me get the right side slats into position. Not to the left.

[WAX ON]
[VS. Black Belt Darren]
[Round 1: vs. Machoke]
My first time seeing Machop's 1st evolution in this game. Aerial Ace puts it deep in the red, and it wastes its last turn on Scary Face to slow Astra down a bit. Too bad for them, Aerial Ace still goes off first.

[Round 2: vs. another Machoke]
Another HP-to-1 from Aerial Ace, and it wastes its turn on Leer to lower her Defense before succumbing to another Aerial Ace.

[Round 3: vs. an Aerial Ace'd Machop]
Honestly, if the Machokes weren't working, the why would the Machop?
[WAX OFF]

With that, the path to the Gym Leader is open, and while I could take on the last two Karate Quads, that'd be a waste of time and Aerial Aces. So time to skip the appetizers and move on to the main course.

[GYM LEADER BATTLE: VS. Adorable Gym Leader Maylene]
She is such a sweetheart. <3

[Round 1: vs. Meditite]
And Aerial Ace blows it away with a critical hit!

[Round 2: vs. Machoke]
Aerial Ace puts this one deep in the yellow, and Astra dodges a Rock Tomb. Maylene uses a Hyper Potion to heal Machoke back up, and Aerial Ace puts it right back where it was, then fires off one more to wrap this one up.

[FINAL ROUND: vs. Lucario]
Fighting/Steel if memory serves, meaning Aerial Ace will no longer be effective against it. Fortunately, we have just the thing to deal with Steel that Fighting doesn't help against, so I tag Astra out for Dogmeat.

Fire Fang puts it deep in the red, while Drain Punch...scores a KO and heals it most of the way back up. Sorry Dogmeat. ;_;

I tag in Tessa, who takes a hard hit from Drain Punch and eats her Oran Berry. Bubble Beam doesn't do nearly as much as I'd hoped. Another Drain Punch scores another knockout and leaves Lucario at full.

Guess Astra's back up. She takes a Drain Punch, but Endeavors its HP down to equal hers...which doesn't do much. Good, that means its HP isn't much higher than hers. Screech drops her Defense, but she Double Teams to boost her evasion. Another Drain Punch, however, puts half my team down and leaves Lucario at full once again.

Alright, fuck this.

Belfries is up next and nails it with a Supersonic. Confusion causes it to hurt itself. An Air Cutter hits it down to about half, and it hurts itself once again. Another Air Cutter FINALLY puts the bastard down.

[NOT SEEING HER AS MUCH OF A SWEETHEART ANYMORE, EH?]
Maylene's fine. Her Lucario's the bitch here.

With that finally out of the way, we take home the Cobble Badge, which would let us use the Hidden Move Fly...if Team Galactic weren't holding onto the TMs for it. We do, at least, get the TM60s for that damned Drain Punch.

On the way out, I notice we have a couple of Myster Gifts to get: a Manaphy Egg, and the Platinum Style outfit. Not interested in either, but I take them anyway.

Back outside, Lucas says he needs our help. Seems Team Galactic yoinked his Pokedex. Be with you in a minute, but first things first...

[GET TO A POKECEN]

With our team back on their feet, I join Lucas at the warehouse entrance. Time to get these Grunts out of the way.

[VS. TWEEDLE DUM AND TWEEDLE DUMMER]
[Round 1.0: vs. Dustox and Beautifly]
Oh dear, and I still have Astra in the lead. XD Aerial Ace removes most of Dustox's HP, but it Poison Stings Clefairy. Beautifly Air Cutters both of us before nodding off to Clefairy's Sing. Another Aerial Ace removes Dustox from the equation this time, while Clefairy hits with Disarming Voice.

[Round 1.5: vs. Croagunk and Beautifly]
Aerial Ace hits Croagunk and makes this a 2-on-1. Beautifly remains asleep and gets hit with another Disarming Voice before Aerial Ace drops it. Clefairy finishes up with a Healing Dew to heal us up.

[Round 2.0: vs. Stunky]
Aerial Ace does a decent bit, Bite misses entirely, and Disarming Voice finishes it.
[GAME SET!!]

With that, the Pokedex is back in Lucas' possession. Apparently, however, the contents of the warehouse have already been moved to Pastoria City...which is where Lucas is off to next. So, I check out the warehouse to see what they forgot.

[THE FORGOT THE TM94 FOR FLY]
Dibs! I can see something beyond the security door, but with no means to open it, I just move on. Time to Fly!

[NEXT STOP...WHY ETERNA CITY?]
Because I haven't checked on my Secret Base in a while. And with that, I'm calling this entry.

[TEAM STATUS]
Astra, Belfries, and Nala: Lv 32
Dogmeat and Tessa: Lv 31
Atlas: Lv 30

[UNTIL THEN]
See ya!