ppe 26: Oh, Right.

[xaq_the_aereon]

[BANDITS STATUS]
Atlas, Lv 51
Nebula, Lv 51
Belfries, Lv 54
Iceberg, Lv 49
Dogmeat, Lv 51
Tessa, Lv 54

Also, I feel like a bit of a dunce. I was trying to find a place to power-level the team prior to taking on the Elite Four, and I kinda forgot that I first have to go through Victory Road to get to them...which is a perfect spot to power-level.

[DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY YOU'VE BEEN GONE FOR OVER A WEEK]
In my defense, Konami dropped a new Yu-Gi-Oh! game, Master Duel, on the Switch, and I kinda-sorta got distracted by it.

[WELL THEN, BACK AT IT?]
Why not? We kick off at Route 223, a water path to Victory Road filled with hazards galore...and inept swimmers.

[VS. Swimmer Miranda]
[vs. Lumineon]
See? Only brought one fish to a planned Victory Road run....wait, if I'm going on a water path, why did I leave Atlas in the lead!? Anyway, Lumineon uses Aqua Ring to help recharge HP, but gets one-shot by Drill Run. Miranda pouts after the battle, complaining about how hard this is while shaking her fist in a totally innocent manner.

[NICE TO SEE THE FETISH FUEL IS STILL STRONG]

I move Iceberg to the front and continue on. Another swimmer comes up to say hi. Hopefully he's better prepped for battle.
[VS. Swimmer Oscar]
[Round 1: vs. Mantyke]
Snow Warning in effect! Giga Drain takes over half its HP while Supersonic hits dead air. Another Giga Drain dunks this one quickly.
[Round 2: vs. Mantine]
Bubble Beam glances off and allows Avalanche to hit full force, dropping it to where the hailstorm takes it out.
[Round 3: vs. Remoraid]
And one more Giga Drain for good measure. GULP!

I get back on track and completely miss a pair of swimmers up ahead...as in I don't see them and blunder right into a doubles battle. Whoops!

[VS. Swimmers Colton and Paige]
[Round 1.0: vs. Marill and Wingull]
Nebula joins Iceberg as Snow Warning whips up a hailstorm. Thunderbolt takes Wingull out, while Giga Drain dunks Marill and a hailstone bounces off Nebula's head. Sorry!
[Round 2.0: vs. Quagsire and Golduck]
Thunderbolt and Giga Drain do their thing again, and Nebula takes another bonking.
[Round 3.0: vs. Wingull and Pelipper]
Pelipper switches the weather up to a rainstorm and gets blasted out of the air by a Thunderbolt, while Wingull takes a Wood Hammer to the beak for a one-shot that deals a bit of backlash to Iceberg. Fair's fair, I guess.

[GOOD THING PAIGE WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF COLTON FROM HER LOSING ANIMATION HAND]
True enough. Hopefully the shoreline's close...well, technically it is, but this area's more of a maze than anything. To conserve power points I bypass a few of the trainers up ahead and..

[THAT'S NOT SHORELINE]
[THAT IS A WATERFALL]
Well. That's one way to keep people who haven't gotten all the Gym Badges out. Fortunatley, we have them all, so we can use the Hidden Move to ascend and...WHEW, POKECEN!

With this confirmed as a Fly landing point, I fly back to the mainland to do some Berry harvesting. It'd be great if there was a farm area where you could just plant craploads of Berries in this game; having my pockets full of Leppas and Lums would be super-helpful right now.

Anyway, since I'm gonna be at this for a while, I'll pick up at Victory Road on the next entry.

[BANDITS STATUS]
Iceberg, Lv 50
Nebula, Lv 52
Belfries, Lv 54
Atlas, Lv 52
Dogmeat, Lv 52
Tessa, Lv 55

[MAYBE DON'T WAIT A WEEK THIS TIME?]
:p