ppe 25: Feels Like I Found All 900 Pine Cones

[xaq_the_aereon]

[BANDITS STATUS OMITTED]

So yeah, the battle with Volkner made it clear that my team might need some powering up before tackling Victory Road, so I flew back to Canalave City and hopped the ferry to a place I hadn't checked out yet: Iron Island. Hopefully things here will be tough enough to level up on without being overwhelming.

We arrive to find an empty shack and a cave entrance. Oh right, this is a mine, isn't it? Probably means Rock-types and Zubats, so I move Tessa to the front.

[AND THE FIRST GRAVELER WE FIND IS LV 32]
Ah crap, I got here WAY too late in the game.

Well this just became a big fat waste of time. Sure, there's a few trainers down here, but with this power gap between us they're not worth writing up.

I do run into a dapper-looking man in a blue hat, who introduces himself as Riley. He offers to team up, meaning this is going to be another Doubles Battle area where he heals my team up after each round. Okay.

[STILL NOT WORTH WRITING ABOUT]
Case in point, Belfries just made a Zubat go ZuSPLAT with X-Scissor, despite lack of effectiveness.
[SEE? NOT WORTH THE TIME]
Not even for Riley's Lucario. Poor thing. I should have come here about 6 or 7 PPEs ago. O_o;

[PROBABLY WOULD HAVE MADE THOSE GALACTIGRUNTS AT THE BACK MORE FUN TO DEAL WITH]
Yeah, did they not get the memo that we ruined Cyrus' plan already?

[SUMMARY OF THAT FIGHT: ICEBERG STEAMROLLED THEM]
C'mon, Lucario put in some solid hits too.
...Oh, apparently they didn't know what the big plan for TG was anyway. Well, it's "squashed" now, so no big loss for them.

Riley gives me an egg as thanks for helping out down here, and with that, we're out.

[WELL THAT WAS ABOUT AS RIVETING AS WATCHING PAINT DRY]
Seriously, this is what happens when you find optional content far past the point you were meant to. May as well have challenged some of the fishermen I passed right outside of Eterna City. XP

Well, I'm just gonna take some time leveling up the Bandits for a while...preferably somewhere that'll actually let me do so.

[BANDITS STATUS STILL OMITTED BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T CHANGED A BIT SINCE LAST ENTRY]
[LATER!]