Oh, nope. May is locked in. Tim's fights vary based on your starter pick, but he's also not randomized outside of the very first fight: he'll have a Blastoise if you picked "Charmander," even if that Charmander was a Trapinch. (I looked it up: Blastoise slots in for Huge Power Azumarill. Darmanitan is no picnic either, but I think I won that exchange.)
Chapter 11: Cleanup
Ariana and Archer heal our team when we talk to them, which gets me worried that we're going to have to fight Giovanni
two more times: here and in the gym.
We're not done finding goodies in Cerulean Cave.
Giovanni captures Mewtwo and casually mentions that he has a matching Mega Stone. So... the good news is we won't have to worry about Mega Kangaskhan in the next battle.
Before he can clobber us, Lance appears. "Sorry, Talking, I came here rather short of notice, so I don't have my best Pokémon on me. You'll have to help me out here."
We're prompted to choose three mons for the imminent double battle. I take Charizard, Otoboke, and Doubleface.
Dragapult sets up Light Screen and Reflect before falling. Charizard gets in a Dragon Dance followed by a Rock Slide, which at least flinches the Scrafty. Lance brings out Dialga as Scrafty dodges my Rock Slide, but Tapu Lele takes the flinch as Dialga finishes it with a Flash Cannon. Scrafty hits Dialga with a Drain Punch, dealing very little damage and revealing Dialga's Leftovers.
Giovanni brings in Celesteela. My Rock Slide accomplishes very little as Celesteela uses Autotomize, but Dialga nearly takes out Celesteela with a Thunderbolt. Another Rock Slide finishes off Celesteela, and Dialga uses Dragon Pulse to do a small amount of damage to Scrafty, who finally puts Charizard out of her misery.
I send out Otoboke as Giovanni brings in Mewtwo. It's at this point I realize that the champion battle music is playing -- my headphones were lying on my desk. I swap to Doubleface, who takes an Expanding Force from Mega Mewtwo Y like a champ. I go for an Earthquake as Aura Sphere takes out Dialga, and Scrafty chews through a chunk of Doubleface's life bar with Drain Punch.
Lance brings in Salamence, who mega evolves and uses Double-Edge to take out Mewtwo. Salamence barely survives recoil, and Scrafty finishes off Doubleface.
Otoboke comes back in to face off with Excadrill and Scrafty. Salamence uses Roost as I go for Overdrive, which won't affect Excadrill but also won't damage Salamence. I manage to take out Scrafty before going down, and now Salamence is left to face both Tyranitar and Excadrill. It ends much as you might expect.
Next round: I send in Ozma and Thunderbolt Tapu Lele, but the enemy doubles into me, and Ozma goes down. Slipshoed finishes Tapu Lele with Power Gem, but then it loses its shield. I use Explosion as Dragapult uses Phantom Force. This takes out Excadrill. Giovanni brings in Tyranitar, and Dragapult uses Dragon Darts to KO Scrafty and do a bit of damage to Tyranitar. Doubleface uses Earthquake, taking Tyranitar to a quarter health.
Mega Salamence goes for a Double-Edge on Celesteela, dealing decent damage, and Doubleface finishes Tyranitar with Heavy Slam after taking a Rock Slide. Salamence falls to a Meteor Beam from Celesteela as Doubleface lands a Return on Mewtwo. Dialga finishes Mewtwo with a Dragon Pulse as Doubleface hits Celesteela with Return. Celesteela charges another Meteor Beam. This one takes out Doubleface, but Dialga finishes Celesteela with Thunderbolt.
And that's a wrap.
The plot goes... directions at this point. "I admit, I fell victim to the sunk cost fallacy..."
Archer and Ariana step in to tell Giovanni that he's like the father they never had. The less said, the better, I think.
But then! Mewtwo escapes from the Master Ball and tells us to return when we are "worthy." The screen shakes, and we are ejected from Cerulean Cave. Giovanni promises to mend his ways, and he gives us MewtwoniteY. He also mentions he's abdicated his position as gym leader. He also suggests that his son is "Silver." I think the GSC rival is canonically Giovanni's son, so this part isn't complete fanfic.
Lance gives us Salamencite before departing, and we're finally done with that sequence.
What became of Brendan, whom we left at the entrance to Cerulean Cave? Well, he's not there anymore. Possibly the author forgot about him, but we won't know until later.
The new Viridian gym leader is Clair, the last Johto trainer. She leads Aerodactyl, who's no match for FlopSweat. Magearna is next, forcing us to switch to Doubleface, who takes three Fleur Cannons and KOs with a pair of Earthquakes.
Clair brings in Dracovish, and I switch back to FlopSweat, who absorbs Fishious Rend. Clair switches in Naganadel as FlopSweat uses Yawn. Naganadel KOs with Draco Meteor before falling asleep. Godspeed, FlopSweat.
Clair withdraws Naganadel for Dracovish as Charizard uses Dragon Dance. A +1 Dragon Claw takes out Dracovish, a +1 Earthquake takes out Mega Duraludon, and a +1 Dragon Claw also takes out the sleeping Naganadel.
But this Dragonite is certainly going to be Multiscale, isn't it? Dragon Claw takes Dragonite to half and activates its Weakness Policy as it uses Dragon Dance. A +3 Extreme Speed from Dragonite is enough to take out Charizard from full. So... that's not great. I send in Slipshoed, who survives a Dual Wingbeat to KO with Explosion, and that's the battle.
Clair gives us Dragon Pulse and Duraludite, and she promises to teach Draco Meteor if we show her a Dragon-type. It's probably better than Dragon Claw for Charizard, but then we might not have won this battle with Draco Meteor...
As I head west, I'm interrupted by an aide. Roaming legendaries, you say?
You're not lying.
It looks like Suicune is humping Latias, and Entei seems to be covering up Celebi, while Thundurus is obscuring something orange and yellow.
The first thing I encounter that I'm fairly sure is "legendary" is this Indeedee. It flees on the first round of combat.
The next one is a female Pyroar, also level 60, which hops into a Quick Ball, followed by a Bastiodon, who flees after escaping one. It takes a bit longer to find our next legendary, a Taillow who joins us with no trouble. We also find a legendary Tympole, who will go nicely in our box next to the non-legendary one we already have.
The next legendary we spot is this Aggron, who has been damaged already. That must mean I encountered it earlier without realizing -- it must have used a recoil move as I tried to escape. This time, it flees after a Quick Ball.
Next up is a Steelix, which has me stop to consider: do I possibly want a Steelix or Mega Steelix for the Elite Four? I ultimately decide I don't care
that much, and I leave it to the whims of a Quick Ball. It doesn't take. C'est la Pokévie. Ultimately, I'm not too concerned about catching any of these.
Anyway, I'm excited about Mega Duraludon. I think we may have found our endgame Mega. Bad Company + Draco Meteor = very yes. RealDan has a new lease on life.
Before we get there, we have business to finish up. First, it's time to rematch Surge.
Leading Charizard prompts Surge to U-Turn into a Rotom: either Wash or Mow. Wash wants to Nasty Plot. Instead, I lead FlopSweat and Yawn, which lets me switch into Charizard and set up three(!) Dragon Dances to OHKO with Dragon Claw. From there, it's completely free even when Manectric into Mega Manectric gives two Intimidates. Surge gives us Light Clay and Manectrite. I see the value in Light Clay, but I won't personally use it. A forgettable reward for a forgettable battle.
Erika doesn't want to battle, though: her Gloom isn't feeling well. I buy a Leaf Stone and a Sun Stone, but she doesn't want either of those. I look it up, and it turns out I need to talk to someone in Fuchsia.
Very glad I looked it up.
I've brought Flampy off the bench for this battle. Erika leads Tsareena and misses a Triple Axel as I Quiver Dance. The Bug Buzz that follows brings Tsareena to her Focus Sash, but her Triple Axel OHKOs Flampy. She then outspeeds Sabin to OHKO with Hi Jump Kick. Tsareena takes Braincules below half, and Hawlucha finishes him off.
Charizard comes in and Dragon Dances as Hawlucha Swords Dances. Dragon Claw fails to OHKO, and Hawlucha uses Close Combat to take out Charizard and sweep the rest of my team.
I wasn't expecting Erika to give me trouble, but I'm here for it. Next pass, I lead with Gola Gola, who takes a Hi Jump Kick and Lunges for a 2HKO and Attack drop. Tsareena misses the second Hi Jump Kick, though. I'm happy to let Gola Gola go down to Hawlucha, but I get in an Extreme Speed first. Sharkfreak comes in and evolves to Mega Beedrill, taking the KO on Hawlucha. Erika sends out Bellossom, who's tanky but not tanky enough to take a Poison Jab from Sharkfreak.
Next, Erika sends out Rillaboom, and looking at its moveset, I don't see anything to threaten Sharkfreak, so I go for another Poison Jab. Rillaboom lives and proves me a fool by using Acrobatics, and that's it for poor Sharkfreak, who still deserves MVP for this match. Flampy takes a Grassy Glide and KOs with Bug Buzz, but she heads back out for Sabin when Venusaur comes in. Venusaur Mega Evolves and outspeeds, landing a Sludge Wave followed by a Giga Drain to KO Sabin.
That's a shame, but Doubleface, still holding the Assault Vest, is equal to the task. Venusaur takes quite a few Returns to go down (note to self: check Doubleface's happiness after this battle), but Doubleface can tank Giga Drains all day long. Serperior is next, and it misses a Leech Seed and lands a Leaf Storm, but two Returns is good enough to take it out.
And that's the Erika rematch. She gives us Grass Knot and a "Snivy" that is actually a Flaaffy.
For that matter, I believe that's all of the rematches. Sabrina still wants to see a "perfect Pokémon," so I try boosting Gola Gola's sole non-S IV to max, but that doesn't do it for her. The stat scanner shows that all of Gola Gola's other IVs are actually 30s, not 31s, so I wasted my money. I save the game and shell out for perfect IVs, which does turn out to be what she wanted. She gives me a Gardevoirite and a Shiny Charm. We do have a Gardevoir, but it's only worth 350K if we're actually taking her into the Elite Four as a potential Mega.
The final piece of unfinished business is the Seafoam Islands, where I snag a Shiinotic I won't use.
Articuno is here, of course, but it's a Trapinch.
Keldeo is here, but it's a Ribombee.
Otherwise, the goodies in here include Triple Axel, Abomasite, and Laprasite.
Pryce is the primary reason I came here: if we can defeat him, our Johto gym leader collection is complete.
Pryce leads Alolan Ninetales, who uses Moonblast but dies to Gaza's Iron Head. Alolan Sandslash is next: I use another Iron Head, surviving an Ice Shard but falling to hail. I send out Gola Gola, who takes about 40% damage from Earthquake to KO with Fire Lash.
Our next foe is Arctozolt. I switch to PuPu as it goes for a Bolt Beak, dealing massive damage. Arctozolt outspeeds and KOs with Bolt Beak in the next round, which strongly suggests a Choice Band. I bring out RealDan, who has the Defense and resistance to take a Bolt Beak. Even so, RealDan loses half his health before landing the OHKO Draco Meteor.
Pryce brings out Frosmoth. I have no idea what this wants to do, so I attempt a Flash Cannon but end up going down to the Ice Beam that was obvious in hindsight. Doubleface has Sp.Def for miles, so I bring him in. Frosmoth gets the SpD drop with Bug Buzz, but it deals very little damage, and Heavy Slam picks up an easy KO. I switch back to Gola Gola as Beartic comes in, and Gola Gola survives a Superpower at 3 HP then dies to another the following turn.
I've got Doubleface and Sabin left against two of Pryce's. I bring Doubleface back, hoping to save Sabin's Intimidate for someone who hasn't already lowered its Attack two stages. Return takes Beartic down to its Sash as it uses Superpower. That's unfortunate -- I can't really switch to Sabin now. The next Superpower takes out Doubleface, and Beartic outspeeds Sabin to take him down to red before falling.
You know how this is going to end. In hindsight, I hadn't fully healed Sabin going into this fight, but I don't think that's terribly significant. He wasn't surviving that Double-Edge anyway.
The next time I challenge Pryce, he has some surprises of his own for me. This isn't the team he had last time! The initial exchange is very favorable: Vanilluxe lands a Blizzard that does about as much damage as the hail. Pryce then brings in Weavile, against whom Doubleface is poorly matched. I switch to Gola Gola, who takes a Low Kick that deals about 1/3 of his health after resistance. Weavile delivers a second Low Kick before dying to Fire Lash, which has me suspecting a Choice Band once again.
Pryce's next threat is Dewgong. Gola Gola isn't long for this world, but it's still a useful pivot, and I have hail turns to burn, so I switch to Doubleface to take a Surf that does basically no damage. Dewgong is pretty tanky, too, though: Return deals about a third of its health as it lands a Toxic. Sure enough, three more Returns takes out Dewgong, and Doubleface has 24 HP left when Crabominable comes out. Crabominable uses Mach Punch to take out Doubleface.
I bring Gola Gola back for this. He gets Crabominable down to 1/3 with a Fire Lash before falling to Drain Punch. PuPu finishes the job with Flash Cannon, and Pryce brings out Glalie. Glalie's Earthquake is an easy OHKO but for PuPu's Sturdy; on the other hand, PuPu's Flash Cannon easily takes out Glalie.
Pryce's final threat is Arctovish. It outspeeds PuPu with Fishious Rend. It's three on one now. I bring out Sabin for the Intimidate, but Arctovish outspeeds, which probably means Choice Scarf. RealDan comes out next, and thanks to the Intimidate, he's able to survive two Fishious Rends to land two Thunderbolts for the win.
Pryce gives us Glalitite (shouldn't it be Glalite?) and a Choice Scarf, and then he heads home.
Next time, we'll head west from Viridian and see what there is to see out there. It seems increasingly unlikely we'll use these, but feel free to name our new teammates anyway:
Pyroar (F), Taillow (F), Flaaffy (M), Shiinotic (F)