Pokécentric

Just a Pokémon blog

[appletunistic]

Alrighty, hi y’all! I’ve decided that I’d like to try live-blogging my playthrough of XD, after some gentle persuasion from some friends ^^

It’s been about 15 years since I last played it, and this game is largely the reason why I know the type chart, so I thought it’d be a good pick for this type of thing! That being said, this is my first go at this, so I’ll largely be figuring things out as I go.

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As this is my initial post, here’s what’s happened so far:

I’ve gone with the initials for HaveYouUsedThisPokemon, as I have since the gamecorner shiny pokemon giveaways! I’ve grown fond of it and I like that it’s a fairly unique identifier for myself.

Once that’s been confirmed, we’re immediately shot to a cutscene of a boat with the word ‘LIBRA’ being lifted out of the ocean by four helicopters and one Shadow Lugia, who seems to be controlled via a headset.

In this cutscene we see what appears to be captain and a sailor fall off into the ocean, and watch as the ship is carried away… [The cutscene]

It fades to black and it cuts to our protagonist in battle, with a level 50 Salamence against another trainers level 50 Metagross!

As far as tutorial battles go, this one is pretty cool, imo! I handily win with two Earthquakes, and it’s revealed that this is a Simulation battle, provided by our battle teacher.

With that, I should introduce the starter pokemon of the game!

I had the very good fortune of a shiny Eevee, which is another reason why I thought I’d give this live-blog a shot ^^

Do yall have any name suggestions?

That’s where I’ll stop for now, thank y’all for reading!

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[appletunistic]

And we're back yet again! We're here to raid the Cipher building! With Zook in the way, no less.

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We take him out again pretty easily, but this time, I am able to catch Zangoose! Zook says that he's had too much of all this and is going to a place far away from Orre so he doesn't have to deal with all this.

We approach the building, and when we reach the base of the stairs, two guards come running down saying that they can't let me pass and that this isn't a place for kids. Which, honestly? Fair. But one actually has a moment of recognition and asks if I've ever been on TV for going against Cipher. A bit on the nose, but yeah, you could say that.

I prepare for a battle with this guy, when we're interrupted by...

Team Snagem! They kindly give me a compliment, and actually make a battle irrelevant as Wakim employees the same technique used to steal the Snag Machine: using Gloom's Sleep powder on the guards directly.

They say I need to conserve my energy as much as possible for this great undertaking, and I go forth. Upon entering the building, I go to talk to the workers who aren't in the Cipher uniform and confirm

that this is the Shadow Pokémon factory, and that they're near finished with mass production. There's a bunch of workers who just seem totally fine with it, so yk. Not a great look for them.

As we go around, we fight our first peon, which introduces the first battle that features more than one Shadow Pokémon in the same battle! We catch Paras and Growlithe and make our way forth for a little bit.... when I get a very important PokéSpot notification.

I exit, and head over to the Oasis and find Bonsly!

And it appears that Bonsly has caught on, after seeing me enough times, that I'm here to help. We get Bonsly back to the girl and her grandfather, and Bitt remarks

Very funny timing with us starting Sinnoh over on HYUTP! It feels very appropos. As a reward, they give me a Bonsly Bingo card for Battle Bingo! This way I can have a taste of what it's like to use Bonsly before Diamond and Pearl..........

Anyways, while I'm out, I put all the current shadow 'mons into the purification chamber, just to be a little more efficient. Back over at the factory, there is one strength-type puzzle and several peons falling from the ceiling every so often with 1-2 shadow 'mons every now and then.

We eventually make our way to the ceiling, after picking up a random lever, and there's a guard blocking a generator or server of some kind. He states that he'll keep me from going forward even if I.... give him top surgery?

When I beat him, he says that 'at least I beat you in chest muscles.' Very easy to do against a kid, but hey. :(

Past him, I go around the generator and find the TM for Earthquake!! Rex finally has a better ground move than Sand Tomb and wrecks house on the scientist blocking the Server in the center.

This scientist, also, explaining everything about this server saying that if the voltage is raised and how it could ruin the entire factory. It was giving very "Oh nooooo don't do this exact sequence so that I don't have to take the blame" type of explanation. If this scientist was later revealed to actually not like this whole thing but felt like he had to along with it, I would believe it.

Well, after flipping the lever, the entire building shakes a couple of times as we descend the stairs. Then it the server flashes red, and a familiar peon runs out a door just below.

This is the guy we fought on the S.S. Libra! And he fights us as a way to try and avoid having to face Gorigan's wrath. This fight goes by really quickly and we enter Gorigan's office...

Honestly, the office is a little tacky, but it works for me. I'd work in there. Gorigan states how peeved he is, and we get to battling. He does put up a bit more of a fight and... unfortunately....

I fail my first actually catchable Shadow Pokémon :( But it's not entirely my fault!! I used false swipe, which brough Primeape down to half health, and then Gorigan knocked out his own 'mon with Ursaring's Earthquake! It was pretty unfortunate.

Pretty in character for Gorigan, though, as when we beat him, he decides to blow up the whole factory in a rage... but then the boss calls in on the screen behind the desk and tells Gorigan to stop throwing a tantrum and accept a loss.

He then formally addresses us and introduces himself,

The old man who's bodyguard saved us from Zook in Gateon port! He then proceeds to go on a little diatribe about how our efforts are totally in vain, that there are so many shadow pokémon out there now, that XD001 is 'fully tuned' and that we cannot stop him on Citadark Isle because it's a place covered in storms that cannot be reached by normal means. We're free to try, though, he says.

Once he hangs up, Gorigan pretty much confirms that we're soooo screwed since the Isle is near impossible to reach, and that even if we did go there, it's filled with trainers who have really strong Shadow Pokémon. How many, to be exact? Like he'd tell us! And he runs off, conveniently forgetting that he left an entire log of Shadow Pokémon created on his desk for us to pick up.

We start to make our ways out when we hear yelling that says "Stop! Robbers!" Upon a quick investigation, it appears that Trudly and Folly came in and scooped up the very last Shadow Pokémon that was made, a Dragonite! What that means can only be told in due time.

And that's where we're gonna call it for now, thank y'all for reading along and I look forward to playing some more! :D Here's a list of the Shadow 'mons collected in this factory: Zangoos, Paras, Growlithe, Shellder, Beedrill, Pidgeotto, Tangela, Butterfree, Magneton, Venomoth, Weepinbell, Arbok, and Hypno

[appletunistic]

Joy, oh joy, we’re back in it! Starting off meeting up with Secc, who tells us about an ex-cipher employee named Hordel! And we’re aiming to meet up with him at a very special place to trade info.

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The Outskirt stand!! And the first time in the game we're seeing the Miror Radar go off. There's a quick scene of Trudly and Folly talking about how they are considering giving up the life of crime, and reminding themselves of the most important goal that got them following Miror B.: Ownership of every single Pokémon in the world.

This convo is interrupted with Miror B. himself walking out of the establishment, and challenging us to a battle! His team still mostly comprised of dancers, and then a shadow Nosepass. We're still missing the snag machine, so Miror B. runs off with them. That's two shadow 'mons I'm gonna need to get back!

Well, not wanting to prolong anything, we enter the building to find Hordel...

And encounter a news story blaring on the TV!

"The cargo ship S.S. LIBRA was found in the desert north of PHENAC! Its baffling disappearance is believed to have been caused by CIPHER. It is unclear as to how the ship was transported to the desert, however. CIPHER's motives for taking the ship are also unknown. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the numerous POKéMON aboard the ship. Concern is rising for their safety and welfare."

A quick story that shows that ONBS is living up to their mission statement, and spreading the news as fast as they can. Cipher's reappearance also becoming more known must be putting some pressure on their underground schemes.

We find Hordel pretty immediately, as he's right by the door.

He reveals that he found out what the process of making Shadow Pokémon was really like, and could not abide it. He made a run with one of the recently turned Shadow 'mons and reached out to Secc for help.

He also reveals that Team Snagem has been a thorn in Cipher's side- and because of this, he knows exactly where Team Snagem's base is, and points us in the right direction so we can try and get the Snag Machine back!

Before we can head out, he asks us for a favor- the Pokémon he grabbed is a Shadow Togepi, and he doesn't know the right method to purify it. Would I take the Togepi, purify, and bring it back to him? Of course I will, and do. I place them in the purify chamber with all the other normal types as soon as I can, and get the process started.

Once we grab that, we head out and speak to a legend!

This is Willie, the very first battle of Pokemon Colosseum! This man who specializes in double battles with his zigzagoons (now linoones, as of XD!). He recognized us from the ONBS broadcast and sizes my team up as pretty strong, and he'd like to battle.

I do promptly kick his ass, but it was great seeing him again.

Then I'm alerted to an important email,

distractions are available! I take this opportunity to go fight in the Colosseum battles, which I fortunately don't need the snag machine for, and get the tm for Snatch! Not super useful but we take what we get.

I also try to find Bonsly a couple of times, whenever it shows up to one of the PokéSpots, but it keeps slipping my grasp. One day.

Distractions out of the way, we head to the Team Snagem base,

and we beat the hell out of every grunt we find. I actually take the exact correct path and wind up in the head honcho's office- and meet intrude on a conversation of Gonzap complaining that the snag machine is too small for his arm. Once he realizes we're here, and how we got here, Gonzap explains the exact plan for Team Snagem- to take Cipher down and get back to the glory of five years prior. With this, he recognizes our strength and invites us to join Team Snagem.

I actually say yes, just to see what he says, and he says I'm a poor liar :( Well, he offers us a deal. We'll battle, and if he wins, I'll join his team. If I win, he'll give back the snag machine! And I win pretty quickly, though he was able to defeat Spot and Gus. That Skarmory revealed my team still has a bit of a weakness, even if Hasso's hidden power is electric.

But, this was enough to do something pretty important for Rex!

Now Flygon's apart of the team, with his attack stronger than ever! And Gonzap holds up his end of the deal with, restating that the machine was way too small for him anyways.

With that, we're geared up and ready to go back to the Cipher hideout, I believe! Though... I am a man of distractions, and do really would like to get Nosepass from Miror B. if I can!

In the time it takes for Miror B to show up again, I do purify Togepi and go back to Hordel. When I go back, with Togepi in tow, I'm offered a choice.

I can either keep Togepi, who has Tri Attack, a move that Togepi cannot otherwise have, or I can trade him back to Hordel. I'm really left with no option when it comes down to it.

I trade Togepi back and get Zaprong the Elekid. I'm not immune to how much Hordel seems to care for Togepi, and I wanted to do the same thing for Spot the Ledian. Spot's original trainer didn't know he was a shadow pokémon, and states that Ledyba was a really important gift. I still feel really bad I can't give Spot back, but maybe giving Togepi back helps make up for it?

Anyways, that's where we stop for now! Thank y'all again for reading along, until next time ^^

[appletunistic]

hi all, just a quick update! I haven't forgotten about this playthrough, life just kinda. happened. I'll be doing an update this weekend!

[appletunistic]

And we continue onto the desert! Upon arrival, we find...

The stolen S.S. Libra! Weird place for a boat, so we decide to investigate by going through the giant hole.

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Once we get in, it's mostly pushing crates to create walkways, a la strength puzzles in the mainline games. We get an Iron, but otherwise, the puzzles are fairly simple and the only reward is forward progress! When we get to the top, we run into three people having a conversation, mainly about a "rare Pokémon" that they failed to catch... Then they notice our presence.

This is the Gorigan that Snattle mentioned! He says he doesn't have time to deal with us, so he tells Snidle (red ribbon) to do so. Snidle accepts, and Gorigan strides on out. Snidle then, as soon as Gorigan is off screen, tells the peon to do it, because Snidle is better at converting Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon and if he let the Peon do the converting, it would slow things down by a large percent, thus making Gorigan significantly madder. So it would be more efficient for the peon to deal with us, don't you agree? ..... so we fight the Peon, who doesn't even have a shadow pokémon, and I just thrash him. Easy peasy. The 10 level gap is doing a lot for me at this point, even leading with Spot the Ledian and Hasso the Dewgong. Upon defeat, he skedaddles and a man walks out of the door behind where the peon was standing.

The man compliments us, and notes that he found this ship out here in the desert and made it his home! He invites us in for a quick nap (which heals us) and then makes a request- he's heard some unsettling noises coming from the very bottom of the ship. Downright spooky and it's making it hard to sleep, so, since we're so strong, could we go and investigate?

Of course we do! It leads to more push puzzles (and we also get the tm for flamethrower! Not useful for my current team, but could come in handy later on!) At the very bottom... we find a sleeping Bonsly! We try to sneak up and.....

Our PDA goes off. We got an email from Acri, Jovi's friend's sister, and the noise scares Bonsly off. :( The email is just Acri asking if she can write a novel based on our story with Cipher.... so nothing super important at this point! Disappointed, we head back up to report what we found

Well. With nothing else really happening here, it's probably best to go let several people know what's going on. The ship has been found, Bonsly's been found, so we gotta-

encounter Team Snagem... Known thieves, and former team of the Pokémon Colosseum protagonist! They've caught wind that we have a Snag Machine, something that they originally developed to be able to steal other peopple's Pokémon. But they know that we're tough, so before we can bring out our team and battle

they have Gloom use Sleep Powder on us.. As we're falling unconscious, we hear some conversation about how Gonzap will be so pleased....

Once we wake up in the kind man's bed, the very fist thing HYUTP notices... the Snag Machine is gone.

But, only the arm piece! We still have the Aura Reader, and, from Krane's Memo's, we know that the Snag Machine only works on Shadow Pokémon. So, yk.... Team Snagem might find some issues with their plan.

The gentleman asks what Team Snagem wanted with us, and notes he thought they were done for after the events 5 years ago, after the events of Colosseum. He did see them rush north, if we wanted to give chase!

and I DO want to give chase, but I also have a strong desire to do. Everything else as much as possible always. So, I go to Phenac City to try and do the Pre-Gym's challenge! But!! when I talk to Justy, he just goes 'oh you look different. oh your machine is gone. That's bad :(' and will not let me take the challenge. I also go see Krane and Lily, who also are like "???? Why are you talking to us, go get it back." So. With the game pushing the story forward, we go North of the S.S. Libra.

To this weird looking building! Seems like a factory. When we pull up, we actually find a familiar face talking to two Team Snagem members- Zook, the guy with the shadow Zangoose who was about to beat up a little girl for accidentally walking into him.

He talks about how he's pissed he was assigned bodyguard here after making a scene in Phenac, and decides to take it out on the Snagem Goons who are trying to raid the place. We then see Zook one-shot Team Snagem Biden....

And then the grunts give up and remind us that the Snag Machine is headed towards Gonzap! They run by us, and we catch Zook's attention. He tells us that we should run before recognizing us, and blaming us for his sucky situation. We battle, but without the snag machine, I don't get to catch the Shadow Zangoose... :(

Zook is convinced his loss is a fluke, despite only Spot having fainted during our battle. (Crits from a shadow pokémon are no joke!) He tells us to scram before we get lucky a second time and tank his cred.

So I head out and... receive an email!

Secc isn't one to email us, usually! So we head back to Pyrite and get up to speed.

That's where we'll stop for now, and next time I'll pick up from what Secc has to say! Thanks for reading along ^^

[appletunistic]

And we’re back once again! Picking up from Pyrite, where we were requested to meet up with someone who lost a Pokemon on the S.S. Libra. Having already handled the distractions Realgam Tower, we hop right on in ^^

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We go straight up to Nett's office and find them talking to a young girl and her grandfather- and we're reminded that the Pokémon was lost on the S.S. Libra. Along with that, some intriguing news

A newly discovered Pokémon! Never before seen! I do sometimes forget that this and PMD have teasers for gen 4, and it's fun every time. If you ask the girl for a photo, she shows you this:

A lovely photo of Bonsly! After reviewing this, we do wind up telling Bitt & Nett about our issues with the desert; our scooter is simply not up to task. Fortunately, they know just the person! And we actually know them as well; Perr of the Parts Shop in Gateon Port! So, they send us on our way and we meet up with Perr, who is still manning the counter.

We bring up the problem, and Perr does know the solution! Unfortunately, though, only his grandfather and owner of the shop, Makan, has the know how to actually pull it off..

And then mid-conversation, an urgent segment comes from ONBS!

"The courageous actions of a young boy thwarted a group of CIPHER operatives who had infiltrated PHENAC City. This footage shows the boy and his POKéMON driving off a top CIPHER ADMIN from the city's STADIUM. CIPHER had been trying to take over the entire city by replacing its citizens with the syndicate's members. ONBS was also targeted for takeover by CIPHER. Despite this setback, CIPHER appears to be growing more active. The authorities have issued a caution to all citizens and organizations to be alert to the possibility of further attacks. As you have seen, CIPHER has returned with a vengeance. The entire ORRE REGION is endangered again. ONBS promises to doggedly pursue this story and provide you with the most accurate information on CIPHER's actions. We must not allow CIPHER to carry out its conspiracy of fear. Let us all protect the peace of ORRE with courage!"

That played loudly enough that Perr comments on how he knew we were a big deal, but he had no clue we'd be that big a deal! And that he has an idea. He knows that his grandfather likes to visit Kaminko Manor, and suggests we go retrieve him! Well, might as well, I like visiting Chobin if I'm honest. We head out and-

just a brief encounter with Verich and his two bodyguards! Not much really happens with this interaction, he tells us that we were impressive as a hero for Phenac... and then continues on his merry way. With nothing else really happening, I go straight to Kaminko Manor!

And... history repeats. We try to enter the building,

and then Chobin accuses us of being a burglar. His glasses, one of Kaminko's inventions, continuing to degrade Chobin's eyesight as intended! We beat his Sunkern and Gyarados with ease (and even find out that Hasso's Hidden Power is electric! Hell yeah!), and before Chobin can recognize us as... well, a child and not a burgular, Kaminko himself comes out and asks what's going on. Chobin explains he was trounced by this burgular. Kaminko, protective of his property, tells Chobin to get.... the weapon....

ROBO GROUDONNNNN!! Very cool design, but unfortunately, it's still Chobin. His Sunkern is evolved now and he actually gets two more additions to the team- Hoppip and Tropius. The makings of a Sunny Day team if I've ever seen one!

Hasso nearly solo's this fight, but Spot does provide some decent support! And I also find out that Spot's hidden power is Fighting thanks to mimic. Not ideal for a Ledian, so we'll keep Spot as he is ^^

Having beat his robot, Dr. Kaminko reveals there's actually a second robot as well-

-and he's going to give Robo Kyogre to Makan, who has shown interest in it! Makan is actually inside the Manor basement, previously unavailable to us, inspecting the aforementioned robo Kyogre. We catch Makan up to speed, and then we cut straight back to the Parts Shop! There's a short cutscene of Makan opening up a safe-

et voila! We can now go check out the point of interest in the desert!

... and I do, but I've run out of images I can fit on a post (thanks tumblr mobile)! So I'll save the desert adventure for next time. Thanks for reading along!

[appletunistic]

Hello again, y’all ^^ We’re back at it to free the hostages!

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We hop right on and go to the lower floor, where's there's a bunch of people crowded in a room that simulates a bunch of environments. A rather important person walks up and

With that, we've freed everyone! We also get a brief recap as our character explains what happened to the town and how we trounced Cipher, though we're currently only clued into a little bit of their goals! This is followed up by a lead from Justy....

So, with a clear goal in mind, and Justy having shown us a weird spot on the map in the Desert, (once again reminding me that the region is based off Arizona, specifically. Would Orre technically be in Unova territory or has Orrezona become a separated land mass?) I aim to lollygag some more! Try to complete what I can before continuing, I go back to the Mayor's house to see if maybe he has a reward for us- and am rewarded thusly

The exp share will be very useful the next time I feel the need to train! Which is will probably be sooner rather than later, I want to reach the top of Mt. Battle during this play through, something I've never done in either Colosseum or XD!

During my dilly-dalliance, I obtain several battle CD's as well, so I visit Realgam Tower to see if all the minigames have updated. Bingo has a harder difficulty unlocked, and I am able to complete all the battle sims I find, but the Colosseum is still under maintenance, so I'll need to come back for that!

I follow up by going to Pyrite, as well, with the aim to find Marcia and Cameran, who stated they'd come right back. I was curious if they had anything I might not have known about, but...

She just says she's working on it and to keep an eye out on the tv. Ah well, it was good to come back and look for more cd's anyways. With everything out of the way, let's go to the spot Justy told us about!

Well... we tried. Understandable that mopeds wouldn't make for great sand vehicles. We'll just head back and

I was just therrrrreeee. I'll make my way back next time, as I spent a couple hours in Realgam tower doing all the battle sims and battle bingo boards- those take up some time!

As always, thank y'all for reading ^^

[appletunistic]

Here’s the team I have so far!

Lucky the shiny Umbreon with a Rash nature (+Special Attack, -Special Defense)

Spot the Ledian with a Lonely nature (+Attack, -Defense)

Gus the Breloom with a Brave nature (+Attack, -Speed)

Rex the Trapinch with a Bold nature (+Special Defense, -Attack)

Laika the Duskull with a Calm nature (+Special Defense, -Attack)

[appletunistic]

And an update for where we are!

Lucky the shiny Umbreon with a Rash nature (+Special Attack, -Special Defense)

Spot the Ledian with a Lonely nature (+Attack, -Defense)

Gus the Breloom with a Brave nature (+Attack, -Speed)

Rex the Vibrava with a Bold nature (+Special Defense, -Attack)

Laika the Dusclops with a Calm nature (+Special Defense, -Attack)

Hasso the Dewgong with a Careful nature (+Special Defense, -Special Attack)

[appletunistic]

And we’re back! This one is a little shorter, but we do pick up at an important point ^^

We're getting ready to battle whoever is holding the key to the hostages in Phenac City!

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I enter the door and am immediately greeted by two Cipher peons- who graciously let me grab both Spearow and Grimer! Admittedly, despite my team being a couple of levels higher, I am finding the battles to still be a bit challenging. I'm starting off with Laika and Rex to try and catch them up a little, but Rex in particular is having a rough time! No physical moves to match his impressive attack stat, and a bit slow so taking a bunch of damage before he can deal much. We'll get him there, though ^^

With those two out of the way, I see a Cipher admin and someone with... quite the get up talking with a female reporter and her cameraman. We kind of barge in on their conversation, without them noticing us at first,

The conversation is basically the man trying to coerce any and all recordings of what's been happening in Phenac City during this takeover, so that he may save his political career and be deemed a better man when he becomes Mayor of Orre through Cipher. Marcia, understandably, does not want to do this. They eventually do notice us, though, and he sicks the Cipher Admin on us-

and we learn his name is Snattle. I would like to remark that I love whatever method they used to come up with names in this game, I appreciate both how unique and how silly they all turn out.

Anyways, thanks to this particular admin, we get a shadow Seel! Who I do decide to make the final addition to the team, as I think a special attacker would be nice to have ^^

From there, Snattle notes that 'Master Greevil' won't be happy about this, and takes us on himself. Unfortunately, luck is on his side, as his Quagsire manages to freeze half my team with Ice Punch (Laika, Gus and Spot.... none went down first hit but all did get frozen first hit, so really what's the difference?). That, along with his Shadow Lunatone's 'Shadow Sky' move made for a pretty enduring battle!

I do eventually win out, thanks to Lucky being the tank and cornerstone of my team, much to Snattle's surprise-

He leaves us with a hint that something is afoot- a diversion for Gorigan to retrieve something? He leaves before we can make him say much more, but Marcia comes to finally introduce herself and thank us.

They caught the entire battle between us and Snattle on camera, and are now off to Pyrite to publish the latest news. With them gone, all that leaves is a shining object where Snattle was before bolting-

With this, I now have a way to save all the citizens in Phenac!.......

....Except..... Like I mentioned, I was having way more struggle then I think I should have. So I decide to grind! I make my way over to Mt. Battle and start a new run, to give all the new Shadow Pokémon a chance to purify. However, since I've managed to get the tempo up so high, they all get purified before even reaching floor 20, so I pick up Seel (now named Hasso), and start another run!

... I then proceed to clear all the way up to floor 50 over the next 3 hours, and evolve Rex, Laika, and Hasso along the way. The level jump from 30 to 40 proved to be very big, but also very useful! I'm going to be updating my team post shortly, so y'all can meet Hasso proper! He is not quite the special attacker I was hoping for, but I am positive he will be a great help :D

Thank y'all for reading!

[appletunistic]

And we’re back, hello y’all! Our goal this time, go to Phenac city and warn the mayor! I like where the team is right now, so I make a beeline for it and

… we’re given a Disc Case and disallowed from entering until we go to Distraction Realgam tower! And boy do I love Distractions Realgam tower!

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So, we leave the first city of Colosseum to go to the final location of the same game, where we run into Trudly and Folly of the Miror B. team, who've spent all their money on Battle CD's in hopes of getting rare pokemon, only to find them to disappear when the simulation ended. So they left wither a majority of the CD's, disappointed.

Now we have free reign! First thing we learn:

We're not the only one millionth visitor, unsurprisingly. What can ya do. We also learn exactly what the Realgam has to offer

Now, like I've noted several times, I like to do as much as I can before I continue. So forget about Phenac city, I am locked in until I finish as much of these three things as I can-

I am locked in until I finish as much of these two things as I can! I won't go into these too much, as they are largely just optional battles meant to help players get used to certain tactics, like helping hand or timing two-turn moves to dodge damage, etc., and type advantages.

The good news about doing these is that I got plenty of status healing items, and from battle bingo, more Pokécoupons to eventually use at Mt. Battle! Not that much, but yk, every bit counts towards that glorious shell bell.

Well, with distractions done for about 2 hours because I take my time, I head back to Phenac City!

They didn't have forever distractions, sorry. The city is largely.. empty? There's a few people here and there, but they all say things like "When is it happening" and "Man this disguise is too tight- um I mean hello fellow citizen" and generally unhelpful things.

In the center of town there is a 'Pre-Gym' with its own leader,

Justy calls me crazy to think anything weird could be happening and tells me not to worry about it. Well.

I do eventually find the Mayor's house, but I still continue to explore first. There's a house with a kind older gentleman who gives me his wife's music CD while she's out. Maybe not so kind.

There's a house-sitter at the Mayor's house who is incredibly bored and craves entertainment, and we just so happen to have "Ramba of Love." Granting her this CD, we manage to sneak upstairs and find

This note is addressed to JUSTY and says: "JUSTY, there is bad trouble brewing! Of all places, our beloved PHENAC is the target of CIPHER! Already, CIPHER's members are secretly taking the places of prominent members of our community! If something's not done, the city will be taken over by CIPHER without anyone noticing what's happened. JUSTY, I must turn to you for help. We need your abilities to overcome the crisis facing the city. You, as the LEADER of the RPESTIGE PRECEPT CENTER, should be able to do something. It may be too late, however. Already, I feel threatened by..."

With the ominous, abrupt end of the note, the house sitter comes up and reveals herself to be a Cipher member. We trounce her and take Shadow Snorunt to boot. From here, we find another battle and score a Shadow Pineco before we make it outside. Once outside, there's a quick scene with

the Justy Gang. Who, as we beat them one by one, reveal themselves to be the Hexagon brothers with a slightly stronger team! They do not have more Shadow Pokémon, however. But as we're cleaning them out, I clear out the 'fake' denizens as well and get Shadow Natu, Roselia, Meowth and Swinub.

This also involves going to the Pre-Gym and finding one extra fake-Justy, who reveals all the real denizens are locked below the Pre-Gym. This grunt doesn't have the key, though.... so I aim for the Colosseum, which is the one place I haven't been allowed into yet.

I decided to take a break here, as I've been at this game for several hours, but it should make for an exciting spot to pick up from ^^

Thank y'all for reading!

[appletunistic]

Here’s the team I have so far!

Lucky the shiny Umbreon with a Rash nature (+Special Attack, -Special Defense)

Spot the Ledian with a Lonely nature (+Attack, -Defense)

Gus the Breloom with a Brave nature (+Attack, -Speed)

Rex the Trapinch with a Bold nature (+Special Defense, -Attack)

Laika the Duskull with a Calm nature (+Special Defense, -Attack)

[appletunistic]

Hi y’all, back in it again at Fool’s Gold Town! We got called back to ONBS with a fairly urgent email from Nett regarding what’s on the data rom, so we head back and find

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Well, things seem pretty dire! We rush in and find several Cipher grunts holding various rooms on lockdown.

…unfortunately, XD has set itself up for a bit of immersion breaking at this point, as we progress through the building to try and rescue everyone… my Spot monitor goes off repeatedly. This means that there are wild pokemon at one of the three Poké Spots where I set up snacks, and if I don’t leave to find them, they’ll eat all the snacks and run. I also am unable to buy more snacks at this point in the game, so I make several back and forth trips.

And the second ‘wild’ Pokémon I run into is…

XD, being one of the side games to feature gen 4 Pokémon games as teasers for Diamond and Pearl, has this little old lady's Munchlax eat all the snacks I placed! 😃 Fuck! Fortunately, the lady step's in and introduces Munchlax to us, apologizes for the 'little glutton's' behaviour and gives us 10 new snacks to place. Which means more trips back and forth, if we want more wild 'mons!

This does work out a bit in my favor, though, as I’m able to quickly purify four Shadow Pokémon I catch during this heist! Makuhita, Vulpix, Ralts and Duskull, all purified before I reach the top of the building.

In the middle of the building, we do run into Secc's office, who is also being held up by a Cipher grunt. Once beating the grunt,

Secc informs us of what exactly is happening. Nett, we can only assume is in his office at the top of the building, so we charge forward at a.. well... leisurely pace. Trapinch, who is now named 'Rex', takes the lead on most of these battles, with Gus's help! I'm trying not to use Lucky or Spot too much since they got a lil overleveled with Mt. Battle ^^' But, Spot and Gus make for a great team to catch Shadow Pokémon! Gus's Stun Spore and False Swipe are the main show, and Spot has mimic to help false swipe some bulkier 'mons and reflect to help mitigate damage ^^

I eventually reach the top and find Nett's doorman, Detro

Once we take care of the Cipher agent, Detro confirms that the leader of the raid has taken Megg, Nett's sister, into the office. I then learn that two Poké Spots can have wild Pokémon at the same time, and also have two 'mons ready to purify near simultaneously! So I take a quick detour, then make my way into the office to find a negotiation happening. Megg for the Data Rom. Nett agrees, and hands over the Data Rom.... but..

Cipher has taken an extra precaution, just in case. Ctrl + C just isn't enough by itself anymore.

The admin hands Megg over as promised, and starts to leave before bumping into us. He says he's in a hurry and starts a battle near-immediately. Thanks to this, we snag his Mawile! And he continues his quick escape, leaving us to speak with those he left behind.

Nett tells us that not all hope is lost, because he did still manage to decipher some of the information!

Number one important point is that Cipher, as we the players already know, is behind the disappearance of the SS Libra. Number two is that Cipher is planning an attack on Phenac City, the first city and second location in Pokémon Colosseum!

Marcia was the reporter who rushed past us when we first entered Pyrite town, with cameraman in tow. Anyways, I think if the communication systems have been down for that long, probably a good sign the attack has already commenced, no?

And with that, we have our next objective!

That's where I'm calling it for now, but we do have another new addition to the team! I've added Laika the Duskull to our mix, as I figured a second tank could be very useful. Laika also has the move Helping Hand, thanks to the Purification, so she'll be a great assist to my team that's otherwise more defense focused. This leaves one empty spot on the team, so we'll see who catches my interest! ^^

Thanks for reading, and joining me on the journey! :D

[appletunistic]

Hello again, we’re right back into it with Pyrite Town! Krane suggested we go here to visit ONBS to find someone who can crack Cipher's Data Rom.

The camera goes a little wild, showing the entire town starting from the Colosseum at the back of town all the way to the entrance.

Another staple from the first Orre game, this town proves to be as busy as ever!

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Immediately upon entering, there's a cutscene of a reporter running past us and a cameraman following her yelling "Marciaaaaa!" And practically two steps in, we see a cop chase two characters, Trudly and Folly, out of the main square. These two were fairly important in the last game, being Cipher grunts directly under a certain groovy admin, but seem to have been relegated to just some troublemakers over the last five years.

Wanting to make sure I check absolutely everything I can out, I find out that Silva is in charge of the Colosseum challenge that is still taking place, five years later! So I make sure to head that way as well. After the last battle, Gus the Shroomish also becomes Gus the Breloom! With an Attack stat higher than either of Spot or Lucky's offensive stats, he's a very welcome addition to the team.

We also receive TM 31, Shock Wave, as a prize for winning!

Not super useful at this current moment, but mayhaps when we get an electric type! And now that I've satisfied all my battling desires, I make haste to the ONBS building, a giant white building that sticks out like a sore thumb in the run-down town.

Upon entering ONBS, we're greeted by a character from the last game as well!

Glad to meet you too Meg, and your Shroomish ^^

She doesn't actually guide us, though. Probably for the better, as I stop and talk to everyone! They give us a general run down of how ONBS was set up in the past five years, and the important parts the founders held in overcoming the original Cipher disaster. As we meet several entertainers, we find the office of one particularly important founder..

Secc asks how whe can help, to which we explain that we're from the HQ Lab here to deliver the Data Rom Krane called about. Secc then proceeds to instruct me to find Nett, the other founder and head of engineering at ONBS. He doesn't provide instructions of where Nett is, so I just sort of meander around and talk to more people.

Until! I reach the roof and find a door with a guard, who stops me and says he won't let me in, even if I'm from the lab. Rude. Nett hears a conversation and let's the guard know we're allowed in, though, so all's well that ends well.

Nett takes the Data Rom, and with the advice of his partner, Bitt, lets us go find Duking to learn about Poké Spots! He points out the Rock Spot on our map, and having nothing else to distract me, I head straight out.

There is a small scene as I leave the building of Trudly and Folly talking about their boss and how scary he is. Folly apparently planted a tracker on him, so they'll know whenever he shows up!.. but that only works for physical appearances, as they learn when they receive an email for summons from their boss.

I interrupt a public broadcast as a volunteer instructee! Duking shows the ropes of how to attract wild pokémon by leaving wedge-shaped snacks, and mentions another Poké Spot he likes to frequent. I set a couple of wedges out of the free set gives us, decide to head out as staying won't attract any wild 'mons, and make my way straight over to the Oasis spot Duking pointed out.

As I walk up to the plate to place some snacks, Duking walks up and offers some information in exchange for a favor!

There are three Pokémon he's been having trouble catching, probably because they're the rare spawns! If we catch them, Duking would like to trade for them. I accept the offer, and I'll likely try to take this challenge! For accepting, he tells us about the third and final Poké Spot, the Cave spot. Duking notes its his favorite of the three, and he hopes I find as much wild Pokémon as I can!

Being as appletunistic opportunistic as I can be, I place a couple more of the free snacks down and then head my way over to the Cave Spot!

Where I'm greeted with Trudly and Folly talking about how they don't really wanna live this life of trouble anymore, but how they can't get out as their boss, Miror B., won't let them. Poor dudes. With impeccable timing, Miror B. moonwalks in and finds the three of us.

Miror B. says he can smell a powerful trainer, and offers me to join his team. I actually clicked yes, but Miror B. says my heart wasn't in my answer, and asks again if I'm up for a life of crime. I say no and

Miror B. I triiiiiieeeeeed. We enter battle as I have to fight his four Lombre, and one shadow Voltorb that I successfully snag. The Miror B. Team then makes a run for it, and Folly drops the Miror Radar, the device he used to keep track of Miror B. So now, if I ever miss a Shadow Pokémon, Miror B. will have a random chance to show up at one of these spots with that 'mon, so I'll always have a second chance at getting them.

I also receive an email from Nett about that Data Rom!

So he says right away, but now I have a Shadow Voltorb to purify, and the ability to catch wild Pokémon.... so I put Voltorb in the chamber, run around a bit and check out some of the older locations, such as Kaminko Manor and the Cipher lab! During this time I manage to encounter a Phanpy, a Sandshrew, a Surskit, a Gligar, and a Trapinch!

I'm tempted to add Gligar to my team, but with Spot already being a flying type, I decide to keep Trapinch, as it's been a hot minute since I've used Flygon ^^ Now I just need to decide a name!

And that's where we stop for today- thank y'all for reading :D If y'all have any ideas for a good name for Trapinch, I'd be happy to hear them!

[appletunistic]

Hello again, yall! It’s time for one of my favourite mechanics, the purify chamber!

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Truly one of the best QoL updates from Colosseum, the Purify Chamber helps us keep a consistent team by letting Shadow Pokémon hang out with some of our other 'mons and slowly work to open their heart.

So each group of 'mons, including the Shadow, is called a Set! The Shadow Pokémon is placed in the center and links to a regular 'mon, which can then link another and another, creating a chain of up to 5 Pokémon. Based on the group of Pokémon you have, there's also a Tempo and Flow! Tempo determines the speed of purification, and Flow applies an additional modifier.

To reach max Tempo, all we really need is for the group of four Pokémon's types to be placed in clockwise rotation based on effectiveness. An important thing to note is that this only tracks a single Super Effective typing, and does not track ineffective typings! So, after purifying the 8 Pokémon I had available, I had enough for two sets at max tempo, another set at a significantly lower tempo.

So the above reached Max Tempo because Baltoy's Ground type is super effective against Houndour's Fire, -> Spinarak's Bug -> Poochyena's Dark -> Baltoy's Psychic.

So as I mentioned before, this game is a huge reason I know the type chart as I do! Even if there's been a couple of changes since ^^ Finding out the best set configurations are a fun puzzle! Unfortunately, we don't have a way to get the best Flow, as that requires no repeating types (including secondary, I believe) and the Shadow Pokémon being linked to a type they also are effective against.

Once these are all set up, you can go to the Chamber to see a little hologram! Different music and effects will play based on the tempo and flow, so it acts like a little party ^^ It's really cute!

Still, these will go pretty quickly! And during all this set up, Krane drops a bit of lore that's been hinted by a few npc's.

Krane and our father are the founders of the lab, and some pretty heavy implications that our dad passed away.. Which makes Lucky feel even more special, who is noted to be a gift from him.

And once we finish up setting up the chamber with everyone but Lucky and Spot, we get a reminder about the Data Rom we picked up at the Cipher Lab.

We get tasked with finding Datan, who we scour the building for and eventually find outside. He expresses frustration with the task, saying it'll take a "seriously talented" person to crack. Krane overhears this as he's walking up, and has someone in mind.

So, with a new place to explore, there's only one thing to do ^^

Grind! I was so focused on purifying the Shadow Pokémon in the Cipher Lab that both Lucky and Spot wound up a little underleveled. So, I figured this would be a good chance to get up a couple of levels! And potentially earn some coupons for some neat items, like the TM for Shadow Ball or a Shell Bell.

I won't go over this part too much, as it's just battle after battle, but during my 30 floor trek, I manage to get Spot up to level 25 and Lucky to level 27! I stopped at 30 because both Shroomish and Delcatty became purifiable, and the highest level pokemon on floor 20 was level 15, while the lowest level on floor 21 was 27.

If they continued that trend, I don't think there'd be much I can do for the round of battles! Alas, I didn't get enough coupons for the items I wanted either, but with Shroomish (Gus) now on the team, I should be ready for Pyrite Town the next time I play! ^^

And that's it for this time, thanks for reading!

[appletunistic]

We’re right back to it!

I started today mostly doing the stuff that resets daily- certain trainer battles, and collecting berries and all that fun stuff before we get to the lead Eagun gave us-

Mt. Battle!

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First we're stopped by a man who decided to match his hair with his uniform, one of Mr. Verich's bodyguards! He's failed to give his name, but expresses a warning to us. He became powerful for the sake of power, and now he questions if the power was worth it and if it's potentially causing harm to his pokémon. Sounds like he's going through a lot of doubts about his current path.

Well, with his warning aside, we enter the building in search of Vander, the area leader who has a potential lead! Vander told Eagun he had seen people in the desert, which is strange for that area. We make our way in and have to fight three novices before Vander will tell us the exact location-

And now that we have that info, I start to head off!

-but as soon as I leave the building, I get an email from Aidan informing me that pokéballs are now available to purchase at Agate Village. So I make a quick detour, buy 60 and battle everyone who will let me, and then I head off!

Upon arrival to the abandoned Cipher Lab, I'm greeted by the sight of truck that carried the lab director away. And getting closer, we get introduced to the power rangers

The Hexagon brothers, in their individually colored Cipher uniforms! Each one seems to have a specialty related to the color of their uniform- Resix battled with fire types, Blusix fought with water types, Browsix fought with normal and ground types, Yellosix fought with electric types, Purpsix fought with poison, and Greesix fought with grass types!

Each also had their own shadow pokémon, so I made sure to snag them all. Thanks to that, we added Houndour, Spheal, Baltoy, Mareep, Gulpin and Seedot to our roster. Now, while I didn't box Lucky or Spot while catching these guys, I did prioritize battling with the shadow pokémon to get them closer to purification. I knew the Cipher Lab was going to be a whole thing, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get it started!

With that out of the way, I enter the lab in search of Krane. The first route I go down leads to a scientist named Tekot, who I battle and trounce fairly easily.

... Whoops. Guess they know I'm here now. The door to the left is locked, so I go the only other available route and encounter. So. Many. Cipher. Grunts.

It was great for opening the Shadow Pokémon's hearts, and I got several new ones as well! Namely Spinarak, Numel, Carvanha, and Shroomish! Along the way, we also overhear a couple of nouns being thrown around- XD001 and Master Greevil. Lovrina seems to be the one in charge of this lab, while Greevil is Cipher's leader. There seems to have been some sort of mistake that caused XD001 to drop a ship and cause some kind of fuss- but unclear exactly what kind yet!

We also get to overhear a girl so trying to persuade Krane to help, who is adamantly refusing for fairly obvious reasons.

We continue on with battles, and I make sure to throw Spot in a couple times to get a bit of exp. About 3/4ths of the way through, Spot evolves!

After that, we have a couple more battles and the last scientist I fight gives a warning- Lovrina may seem innocuous, but she's actually terrifyingly rough and scary. Then he runs away from us, leaving behind an ID Card that lets us reunite with Krane! Krane had been talking with Naps after Lovrina left the room, explaining what exactly shadow pokémon are and what the process involves, and invites Naps to join our side. Naps declines, recognizes me as the one who snagged his Teddiursa, and challenges me to a battle. Admittedly, a pretty tough battle! Since Shadow Pokémon don't get any exp until they're purified, my team is stuck a little underleveled for this particular fight.

But Lucky and Spot had my back and were able to clean up what the rest couldn't! Naps leaves us with a warning, saying it's kind and noble to think of the pokémon, but it's maybe time to be more concerned about our own wellbeing.

With Naps finally gone, Krane suggests we skedaddle asap. I heal up my team, and make a break for it. Right when we get to the final elevator back up, Lovrina shows up and so spills the beans.

I then brace for a difficult fight- Lovrina's team are all above level 20, and even with all my grinding, Lucky and Spot are only around level 19 each. The highest level shadow pokémon I have with me is Carvanha, who is level 15. I send out the shadow 'mons first, to hopefully weaken Lovrina's team as much as a I can. And it works, for the most part, I manage to get to the last two pokémon before I need to send out either Spot or Lucky. Her last pokémon is, of course, a shadow Delcatty, who then proceeds to nearly sweep me. Spot had gotten poisoned by Roselia, otherwise I think he would've made it to the end. He was tanking better than I thought he would!

I do eventually catch Delcatty, after 5 balls, with only Lucky left standing. Lovrina is so done with us, but is so doing us a favor by letting us leave. In her haste, the scientist Tekot is nearly left behind, who drops a data ROM that catches Krane's interest.

With that, we hop in the elevator and the game kindly takes us straight back to the HQ Lab, where Krane gives a breakdown of Cipher's goals to the whole team.

Make an un-purifiable shadow pokémon. 2. ???? 3. world domination

In the middle of saying we need to come up with a countermeasure, an unnamed aide rushes in and says

And with that, we're all caught up to where I stopped for the night!

Of the 11 shadow pokémon collected in the cipher lab, 8 are already purifiable! I'll be thinking up some names for them, but I'd be happy to hear any suggestions y'all may have! The pokémon we got were: Houndour, Spheal, Baltoy, Mareep, Gulpin, Seedot, Spinarak, Numel, Carvanha, Shroomish, and Delcatty.

Some names I'm considering: Snowball the Spheal, Bella the Mareep, Milo the Numel, and Chance the Delcatty.

Thanks for reading! :D

[appletunistic]

And we have a winner!

Despite being with the character for five years in-game, Lucky doesn’t have enough friendship to evolve into Umbreon yet, so we’ll keep the Moon Shard with us until it’s time ^^

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With that, we continue the game!

Once we collect our eeveelutionary help, the man informs us that the shop owner's grandson is outside working on the rotating bridges! I make haste to meet him, as these bridges will open up the second half of the town.

We go outside and to where the rotating bridge should be- for it to suddenly work, and we're greeted by Perr! Jovi and I tell him we're from the HQ Lab and looking for the machine part that was ordered, to which he says he'll find it since his grandfather is elsewhere.

So, now, the logical thing to do is basically everything but go back to the shop first. I've got a whole town to explore! I'd also like to get Lucky's friendship up, and the best way to do that would be through battles. I'll not go over all the details of my search, but I find a decent amount of battles, some extra pokéballs, the TM for Attract, and two shadow pokémon!

Once I've caught these two and have talked to everyone I possibly can in Gateon, dragging Jovi with me, I head over to the shop to finally collect the part. While collecting the part, we fully explain to Perr that Professor Krane has been kidnapped, our mother Lilly has taken lead and asked us to come pick up the part while they do their best to complete the initiative without one of their key players.

With his kind regards, I take Jovi on a quick stop to Dr. Kaminko's manor and fight Chobin one more time! I also find Makan, Perr's grandfather and owner of the parts shop, who restates the importance of getting the machine part back to the lab so we can help find Krane quicker! Taking the hint, we go back to the lab and are greeted by Aidan, the lab assistant, who provides three more of Krane's memos.

I take a quick review of those, and then head straight upstairs to Lily! Where Jovi does a quick recap of the important bits:

Thanks Jovi! Lily is concerned about the dangers of sending out her children, but ultimately has no one else to rely on, as the lab is in full force trying to complete this project. Since the Purification Chamber still isn't complete, and we now have a few shadow pokémon that could use some purification, Lily suggests we head over to Agate Village and meet with Eagun, the mythical trainer who helped facilitate the Purification Ceremony 5 years ago, during the events of Colosseum.

I head on over and am greeted with a whole village of things to do other than the main story, so I quickly battle as many people as I can! And lo and behold, Lucky finally gets to evolve during the middle of this grinding!

Probably an uncommon opinion, but I really like Umbreon's rings when they're 'off' in this game, it matches the silver really well.

During my playing around, I also find the Name rater, who let's Lucky finally be properly named!

I continue on my march with battling everyone, and get Teddiursa to become purifiable! I find Eagun's house and meet his lovely partner, Beluh, who explains how excited Eagun was to be of help.

Eagun then rushes in, and tells me to come down to the center of town and get to the Relic Stone, which is the mechanism for the purification ceremony. He's enlisted a couple more trainers for us to battle, as well, to help with unlocking our shadow mons' hearts.

I take out all four, Gorps, Jols, Ladi and Cron fairly easily! I swap between Poochyena and Ledyba to make sure they both get a chance to unlock their heart a bit more. The battle with Cron gets them both simultaneously to a Purifiable state!

Once in, Eagun himself challenges me to a battle with his trusty partner, Pikachu! Though he allows me to continue to use two pokemon against his one, so it feels a bit unfair, and I do beat him turn 1. Still, his passion for battle is to be admired. With that out of the way, he finally lets me purify Teddiursa!

And before I can purify Poochyena and Ledyba, he takes me back to his house to celebrate my first successful purification.

Beluh follows this up with a reminder for Eagun, who tells us about Vander over at Mount Battle, who has reported to have seen "sinister characters out in the desert." Eagun also trades contact info with me, so we can keep in touch if anything else pops up!

With that lead, I head out of his place and my next stop is! Purifying Poochyena and Ledyba! I'll also check all the areas I currently have unlocked to see if we unlocked more battles, as being purified means that these 'mons can get experience and level up again. I think I'll keep Ledyba in particular on my final team, as I haven't had the chance to use Ledian proper in a long while!

As for names, I think with Umbreon being Lucky, and a theme for the game being connecting and getting closer with Pokémon, I'm going to nickname everyone I catch, regardless of if they join my team! And I'm going with common pet names, as Lucky feels like a great start. As of right now, we have Luna the Teddiursa, Pochi the Poochyena, and Spot the Ledyba ^^

That's all for this one, thanks for reading and I'll catch y'all up the next time I play :D

[appletunistic]

Oh I forgot about these! Krame’s memos are really useful for explaining what’s going on, so I’ll include them when I get them

KRANE MEMO 1

Re: The SNAG SYSTEM

SHADOW POKéMON are victims of criminals who use them for misdeeds. They must be taken from their bad masters and protected. The most effective means of taking such POKéMON from criminals is the SNAG SYSTEM developed by CIPHER five years ago. It is an unforgivable act along TRAINERS to steal another TRAINER’s POKéMON, but there is no other war to save SHADOW POKéMON. The SNAG SYSTEM was originally designed to steal any POKéMON from TRAINERS. We must immediately develop a system that snags only SHADOW POKéMON… and nothing else.

KRANE MEMO 2

Re: The AURA READER

It is impossible for ordinary people to distinguish SHADOW POKéMON from regular POKéMON based on appearance. In developing a new SNAG SYSTEM, our biggest challenge was devising some means of recognizing SHADOW POKéMON immediately. We solved this challenge with a headset device that senses SHADOW POKéMON. We named this headset the AURA READER.

[appletunistic]

We've got more memo's! Here's what they say, so we have more of Krane's perspective while he's still kidnapped

KRANE MEMO 3

Re: The SNAG MACHINE

The AURA READER's development made it possible to create a workable new SNAG MACHINE. We realized that we could integrate the AURA READER with the original SNAG MACHINE developed by CIPHER. The AURA READER can be made to sound a warning and prevent the SNAG MACHINE from working if a regular, non-SHADOW POKéMON is targeted. The likelihood of the SNAG MACHINE being abused should be diminished. However, one must always be vigilant. It must be treated with caution!

KRANE MEMO 4

Re: Purification

Once captured, SHADOW POKéMON must have their hearts reopened in a process called purification so that they may return to their normal state. The best-known method of purification was to have the SHADOW POKéMON spend time with a trainer and allow their hearts to gradually reopen. However, because it required SHADOW POKéMON to be with the TRAINER, this method place a limit on the number of POKéMON that could be treated. We needed a process for efficiently purifying many SHADOW POKéfMON. Our studies led us to the idea of the PURIFY CHAMBER.

KRANE MEMO 5

Re: The PURIFY CHAMBER

The PURIFY CHAMBER is a radical new concept that differs from the usual purification method of having SHADOW POKéMON be with a TRAINER constantly. It represents a new approach that places SHADOW POKéMON among regular POKéMON so that they become purified naturally. Much time is still needed to make this concept real. We need to acquire systems, collect data, and make adjustments. We eagerly look forward to seeing the PURIFY CHAMBER concept in operation.