Hey folks, and welcome to the final instalment of "Gotta Catch 'Em All!", a mini-series of blogs documenting my efforts to amass a complete living National Pokédex before the UK release of Pokémon Sun and Moon this Wednesday. If you've missed any of the previous entries in this little series, you can find the first part here, the second and third parts here, and the fourth and fifth parts here. Feel free to get caught up before diving deep on this concluding part of my journey...
Part Six - Raking In The BP
When I last touched base with you all, I had just five Pocket Monsters left to snare in order to complete my National Pokédex. These were:
| Electivire | Magmortar | Gliscor | Aromatisse | Slurpuff |
All of these require held items in order to evolve. All of them except Gliscor need to be traded while holding these items. And with the exception of a Sachet for Aromatisse, I don't own the items I need to trigger these evolutions. On the plus side, there is one place in Kalos where an unlimited supply of these evolutionary items can be bought - the Battle Maison in Kiloude City, far to the south of the region. Unfortunately, there's also a down side. See, these items can't be purchased with regular ol' Poké Dollars. They have to be bought with a special currency called 'Battle Points', or BP for short. How does one earn BP? By taking part in consecutive battles in the Battle Maison.
I flew to Kiloude City and dumped all of my current crop of critters into the PC. Then I set about choosing an elite fighting force to take on the best that the Battle Maison has to offer. After some deliberation, I ended up opting for a team I trained a couple of years back specifically for online play. The team has a Mega Charizard Y at its core, and is designed to support and set up the perfect conditions for the incredible flying fire-breather to wreck house. It comprises a Galvantula, an Excadrill, a Tyrantrum, a Politoed, a Scrafty, and of course Charizard itself. It's a team I put a lot of preparation into, several hours of breeding, training, and refining of strategies. I took it online a few times and I was really impressed with how it performed, but sadly the arrival of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire meant the competitive scene moved on without me, leaving these fellows gathering dust in the PC ever since. Now it's time to bring them out of retirement.
I opted to participate in the Super Single Battle challenge at the Battle Maison, since Single Battles have historically been my forte and it therefore seems like the safest bet for quickly accruing BP. My optimism dissipated somewhat, however, when I realised that I'm only permitted to take three of my six Pokémon into the arena with me. Struggling to decide which three might have the best synergy, I ended up plumping for Galvantula, Politoed and Tyrantrum. I'll explain my general strategy below, so if anyone reading this isn't hugely into competitive Pokémon battling, know that you're safe to skip the next paragraph.
Galvantula is almost always my lead, so I equip him with a Focus Sash to try and counteract his frailty. He's very fast and packs a mean punch with his special attacks, but he doesn't stand up so great against super-effective hits, so this item gives him an almost-guaranteed two turns in battle. His moveset is Sticky Web (to slow opponents down on switching in), Bug Buzz (for reliable Bug-type STAB damage), Thunder (accuracy boosted from 70% to 91% thanks to its Compound Eyes Ability) and Volt Switch (to safely get out of harm's way while doing damage in the process). Politoed is a decent special wall, but I give her some Leftovers to improve her survivability. Her Drizzle Ability triggers rain whenever she switches into battle, which also turns Galvantula's Thunder into a fearsome never-miss attack. Her moveset is Protect (for scouting the enemy out), Substitute (useful for absorbing damage and extending HP recovery), Scald (STAB damage with a chance of inflicting a Burn) and Ice Beam (because Dragon-types are a thing). Finally, my Tyrantrum is a physical wall who holds a Rocky Helmet to ensure anything hitting him physically takes some damage back. His moveset consists of Stealth Rock (an entry hazard to ensure some damage to opponents on switching in), Crunch (a Dark-type move with good coverage and boosted by his Strong Jaw Ability), Dragon Claw and Stone Edge (both strong STAB moves to round out his moveset).
It's been a while since I battled in Pokémon with any semblance of strategy beyond "pick the move that's super-effective and spam it" (a habit reinforced by my hours upon hours of grinding in Victory Road for my last blog). Consequently, my first couple of battles were a bit rusty. I made silly mistakes and sacrified Pokémon where, in hindsight, there wasn't any need to. But, much like riding a bike, the competitive scene is something that never truly leaves you, or at least comes back to you pretty darn quickly. It wasn't long before I'd ironed out those silly errors and starting spotting the clear openings in the AI's (admittedly pretty solid) strategies. Then the wins (and the BP) started coming in thick and fast.
I needed a total of 144 BP to buy all four of the evolutionary items required - an Electirizer for Electivire, a Magmarizer for Magmortar, a Razor Fang for Gliscor, and a Whipped Dream for Slurpuff. The way BP are accrued in the Super Single Battle challenge means that the prize goes up for every ten consecutive wins - initially you get 2 BP per battle, but after ten wins this increases to 3 BP, then 4 BP after twenty wins, and so on. A loss breaks the chain, forcing you to start at the beginning again. By spending a few hours at the Battle Maison, I was able to chalk up three streaks of twenty-plus wins, comfortably earning me all the BP I needed to buy the evolutionary items from the kiosk, with a handful to spare as well. With all the items secured in my bag, I set about making the preparations for the final leg of this journey.
Part Seven - Everything Is Better With Friends
With my new items weighing me down, I headed back to the Pokémon Center and opened up the PC. I gave the Electirizer to my Electabuzz, the Magmarizer to my Magmar, the Razor Fang to my Gligar, the Sachet to my Spritzee and the Whipped Dream to my Swirlix. I whipped out Gligar and put him in my party, ready to level up at night. But before I do that, I hopped onto Facebook and buzzed a message around my friends to see who would be able to do some essential eleventh-hour trading with me.
One of the best things about Pokémon, in my opinion, is its ethics of friendship and social interaction. Not just in the games themselves, which frequently extol the virtues of cooperation between people and Pokémon throughout their stories, but in the simple act of playing as well. The fact the games encourage interaction with other players through their trading and battling mechanics is one of the most amazing and (I think) genuinely underrated aspects of the franchise. Pokémon becomes so much more when it's shared with friends, something that I first experienced over fifteen years ago on the school playground, and had almost forgotten about until X and Y came out in 2013 and pulled me and a big group of my current friends back in. It's one of the things I think I'm going to miss most about playing Sun and Moon, since most of that group of friends won't be picking the games up at launch with me.
But for now, at least, there are still a few trainers out there who I can rely on to come to my aid. My friend Duncan agreed to help out, and we met up over the weekend to carry out those crucial trade-evolutions. It was important to me that we did it in person. Partly because I was able to glance over at his screen and see my bases evolving into Electivire, Magmortar, Aromatisse and Slurpuff. But also because it was about more than the game we were playing. As our Pokémon passed back and forth through the ether of infrared communications, we shot the shit and caught up on other things. I asked how his new job was going, and wished him luck for his upcoming date. It wasn't just trading Pokémon, it was a social event. It was awesome.
After all the trading was complete, there was one final job to be done. With the Razor Fang Gligar in my party, supported by my trusty Greninja, and with Duncan still hovering over my shoulder, I headed north to the highest point in Kiloude City, and engaged my in-game rival Serena in battle. My Greninja made light work of her whole team, with only her Clefable's Moonblast causing me any real problems. When the battle was over, Gligar evolved into Gliscor. Duncan and I both cheered. After weeks of work, I'd finally achieved my aim of a complete living National Pokedex.
...or at least, as much as I can at this point. There's still a gaping hole in the #648 slot, but with the Meloetta distribution beginning in just over a week, there's nothing that can stop me from completing the 'dex now. It's been one hell of a ride, and I'm thrilled to bits to be in this position after so long. It's a childhood dream, achieved at last. And boy, does it feel good!
Where do I go from here? To be honest I'm still trying to work that one out. Sun and Moon are now less than forty-eight hours away, and I'm keen to jump straight in and experience the Alola region for myself. I'm also pretty keen to document that experience in some way, and the thing that I'm leaning towards right now is a weekly blog series chronicling my time with the game. More specifically, I'm thinking about attempting a blind Nuzlocke of Pokémon Sun, and writing about my adventures in an episodic manner similar to my FireRed Nuzlocke Challenge from a couple of years ago. It would be really interesting going into a Nuzlocke completely blind and not knowing what the game is going to throw at me next. If you guys have any thoughts on the matter, be sure to let me know.
And on that note, I'm going to check out. Thanks so much for reading guys, and an extra special thank-you if you've stuck around for this whole series. I appreciate this hasn't been my finest hour of bloggery, but it's been good to flex the ol' writing muscles on a semi-regular basis and actually get something done. Hopefully this is just a taste of what's to come with the impending, inevitable Sun and Moon-based series. Until next time, take care, and I'll see you around.
Daniel
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Currently playing - Pokémon Y (3DS)
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