Today is exciting for me, as we’ll finally be passing the point of the game where my test-run ended! In case you’re interested, I was powering through the game with a Venusaur/Togetic fusion who seemed invulnerable to enemies.
Before we take on Rock Tunnel, we’re getting rid of Cut from Alexandra as we will never need the move again. She has nothing worthwhile to remember so she’s going to be rocking around with three moves for a while.
We also give Yuri Water Pulse for some sorely needed Water-type coverage. We could always bring Citizen Snips back into the rotation but I’m rather enjoying Carol Kane for now.
Now that we have three badges Fusion Incenses are available in shops. They seem quite useful for anyone wanting wacky Pokémon but they’re a bit expensive for my tastes. Super Repels however, are great. I get a few of them.
Also, wild fusions have only been a thing for like, a few days? Why are they already stocking Fusion Incense in the stores?
Here we are at Route 9! A new route means a new Pokémon, and lots of trainers and items to encounter. Let’s get on with it!
Please, the shouting, stop.
The standardisation of Pokémon vs POKEMON definitely happened at some point in the middle of development, I feel.
I see we’re hitting the ‘eldritch horror’ segment of the update early.
I love the enthusiasm but why in the name of God did you fuse a Mankey with an Onix.
Useless.
Not useless.
Hey, same. This guy has some cool Pokémon too!
I am such a huge fan of Slowlithe, it’s so goofy and cute.
This trainer would have been a great one to rematch to level Peach up a lot, but he’s a trader. It was tempting to break the rules to trade Alexandra for one of his Pokémon – not only would it have provided me with a Fire/Water Pokémon to satisfy the quest we have to get one, but it would have probably been a vastly superior addition to the team.
This is the first Pokémon we encounter. RIP Evan. We don’t catch him since we already have had a Meowth.
They’re good Pokémon Brent
One of these Pokémon looks a lot more badass than the other. In reality though, they’re both quite powerful, managing to Poison two of my team with Twinneedle.
Nice find.
Pictured: Someone who needs to be on a list.
It’s Carol Kane’s battle debut! She’s very frail though! Whoops!
I… do not like this.
But this is nice.
This is also quite nice! Weather moves can now be used outside of battle to set up some strategies.
The rain makes Water Gun incredibly strong! Well, twice as strong, I think.
That’s how it works, yes.
Pictured: me during A-Levels.
This is nice. We do have a Pokémon that uses a Thunderstone to evolve.
We don’t have a Pokémon that uses an Oval Stone though. And hey, maybe now we’ll finally find a Pokémon to catch!
I love an Ekans, not gonna lie.
Welcome to the team, Robin.
This game lets you head south to the grass near the Power Plant without having Surf! We can’t actually enter the Power Plant yet but it counts as a new route so that’s another new Pokémon and Robin’s fusion partner!
I missed the battle but here’s the result. Magnemite is cool. Now that we have two unfused Pokémon, it’s time to defy nature.
Before that, it’s time to acquire our third fully-evolved Pokémon!
Isn’t she just perfect?
Now let’s see the new fusion that we will not be using!
Not exactly the most elegant of fusions. We’ve seen much better.
This, for example.
Steel/Poison is quite a nice typing with only two weaknesses and a ton of resistances, including an immunity to Poison. It also has Shed Skin, making it a defensive powerhouse. We have to avoid Ground-type moves like the devil but with Pokémon like Valefor and Captain Ike that shouldn’t be an issue! I love this addition to the team.
Sweet.
Route 10 is a lot more visually interesting than usual. Some notable additions too!
This lady teaches Iron Defence which is an alright move. The guy next to her teaches a far better move though!
Iron Tail is going to be some powerful STAB for Ketchup, once they eventually get up to a decent level. Soon it’ll be time to switch the Exp. Share from Carol Kane over to Ketchup.
This beauty has an annoying Pikachu and this fashion disaster. It’s bulky as hell but even Ketchup can survive against its hardest hits thanks to fantastic typing.
New area, new Pokémon.
Boring, but entirely serviceable.
Not a bad addition, really.
This is just SO much better than teaching someone Flash.
Rollout rules.
There is a 0% chance that this Pokémon is not in constant pain.
This would have been quite cool to capture, but oh well. C’est la vie.
Progress through the cave goes quickly at first, but it does soon become such a chore.
I’ve always loved this version of the Poké Maniac, in comparison to the cool trench coat wearers.
Horrible.
I’ve started checking every rock possible. This is… some money, I guess.
A Repel.
I adore this sprite so much.
And this one. Who would have thought a Painter would have such aesthetically-pleasing Pokémon?
No, shan’t.
This Pokémon proves surprisingly hard to take down. It’s quite bulky thanks to the Slowpoke half, and the Magmar half has some impressive offensive capabilities.
My best shot is exterminating this gosh-awful thing.
Another very cool way to implement a trade!
This is… more prophetic than you think.
Yuri has Water Pulse which should make short work of this flying boulder!
Yuri falls to a single Rock Blast. This one hurt. Togekiss and Alakazam make a frankly fantastic fusion that would have served me until the end of the game.
Struggling on, we make our way further through Rock Tunnel. It’s such a long dungeon with far too many trainers.
Don’t I know it.
Cool Pokémon though.
This is just a teenage Geodude.
Hi, 999, I’d like to call the police.
If you figure it out, please let me know. I’m dragging around the corpse of a psychic egg and it’s starting to get depressing.
I’ll show you respect by punting your horny ball into the stratosphere.
This place is too damn big though seeing shit like this almost makes up for it.
This is a secret exit.
I don’t think this area is in any other version of the game.
This is a potentially useful item. Spell Tag makes it so that enemy Pokémon cannot escape. This could be useful if I happen to go up against roaming Pokémon in the future, or trainers with AI good enough to utilise switch-ins.
This guy says the obvious line (well, obvious if you know the reference), and a Honedge is unceremoniously thrust into our party. I think I’ll let this happen – Honedge is quite cool.
Legendary.
TOO. MANY. TRAINERS.
This is just a Slowpoke with the mumps.
And this is just a Graveler with gloves on.
You should be, your Pokémon suck.
UGHHH
Stop, stop, I have too many tears left to cry.
This is how I feel when I haven’t slept for 40 hours.
Touch the fashion change your life.
This is a pretty cool sprite though, not gonna lie.
Moving right along, we’re finally almost out of here.
This is just such a dick move.
This thing’s Stomp is an absolute pain to deal with.
Peck however, decimates this thing. I love the shoulders.
FREEDOM, OH MY GOSH. I avoid all the NPCs on this route and head straight for Lavender Town to heal up before talking to them.
Before healing though…
RIP Yuri, you were an important part of the team.
We also have two unfused Pokémon now! Honedge and Geodude should make for quite the bulky mix.
There is only one word for this fusion: terrible. Also look at that Pokédex entry. Arms, plural? Hah.
O-oh… This looks… triggering.
NO GEODUDE YOU HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR
Hondude: when you need a term of affection and you don’t know your friend’s gender identity.
Considering that the Grass-type Gym is next, we’re bringing Peregrine out for a backup Flying-type. We can’t rely on April May to tank everything for us this time thanks to him being half Ground-type. We’re going to have to do a lot more fighting before we’re confident enough to take on Erika though, the levels of enemy trainers shoot up quite a bit at this point.
Before we wrap things up, we’re going to take on this horrible trap of a man.
Sandler is pretty cool, but looks oh so janky.
Take a guess what move this guy is a Move Tutor for? This would have been great for April May, but he can’t learn it.
And now it’s time to officially welcome you to Lavender Town! We’ll explore this place next time. For now, goodbye and farewell.
Post-Update Summary
Rock Tunnel was always going to be an annoying slog, but losing such a key member of the team made the journey even more harrowing. The loss of Yuri is going to hit hard in the long run as he was probably our best Psychic-type and best Fairy-type despite us drowning in them, but additions like Ketchup and whatever we end up naming our Honedge/Geodude fusion will be useful.
Assuming they survive of course.
New Pokémon
Route 9: Robin the Ekans
Route 10: Tomato the Magnemite
Rock Tunnel: Peloton the Geodude
Rock Tunnel Secret Area: Zelda the Honedge
New Fusions
Wigglychu (Wigglytuff + Pikachu) evolved into Wigglychu (Wigglytuff + Raichu)
Magnemite + Ekans = Magneans
Honedge + Geodude = Hondude
Death Counter
Asterius the Meowlett
Yuri the Togebra
Curated Critiques 