POKEMON GOLD PROGRESS, DAY 21 (Entry 21)
The break I took over the holidays did me good; sometimes it helps to get away from the game for a while then come back and rethink steps. In so doing, I managed to get past one of my obstructions and continue! Since I've not been posting day to day, from this point on I may just start calling these "entries" instead of "days". Anyway, on to the diary...
NEW POKEMON
Mostly seen- no new ones (other than a few "oldies") caught.
Trying to catch (violently!!):
Houou (#250), the Legendary Rainbow Bird
Seen in battles:
Oodile (#160) [literally "Big 'Dile" as in crocodile], third evolved stage of the starter water Pokemon Waninoko (#158) and Aligates (#159).
Magukarugo (#219), evolution of Magmaggu (#218). This critter is UGLY.
PROGRESS- FINALLY!
My lock-up in progress all centered on the Power Plant, and the wailing Manager whose generator part was missing, thanks to the Rocket-dan.
I kept thinking back to "Day 18", when the lone Rocket-dan member stumbled into me as I first entered the Hanada City Gym, and then when I later battled him on the road towards Masaki's old house when he suspected I was trying to restore the power. Of course, after I defeated him and told him the Rocket-dan's finished, he confessed that he hid something in the empty Hanada Gym .
I'd scoured that gym from top to bottom, and never found anything... surfed the waters, fished, etc. I suspected that a small isolated square pool in the gym had the item, but had no luck. Then it hit me- every time I'd searched that pool or its edges, the game kept initiating the "Do you want to surf?" routine because I had the Mariluri on my team and it has Naminori installed. I put the Mariluri away, went back to Hanada City Gym, said hi to all the ladies (no battles this time), then poked around the small pool again. And at last, I found the missing item, the "Kikai no Buhin" (Machine Part).
Elated, I zipped back over to the Power Plant and gave the part to the manager, who can't contain his joy. The Power Plant gets up and running again, and all kinds of things now improve.
For one, the trains between Kogane City and Yamabuki City are running again, but I still don't have a ticket. The Cyan Town Radio Station also can broadcast now, especially one specific station you now will find added to your Pokegear radio...
WAKE UP KABIGON!
This station is the Pokemon Flute station, which plays all "Fue", all the time <g>. Noting this, I went to visit the Kabigon (Snorlax) that blocks the entrance to the Digda Cave, tuned the radio to the Pokemon no Fue station, and nudged the Kabigon. He finally awakens, and you now have a fight on your hands.
He's the only Kabigon in the game, and weighs in at level 50, so you'll want to catch him. This proves difficult, because he does "recover" if his HP drop down, and he always recovers a few HP automatically after any battle. This Kabigon also has a new "snore" attack that he can do while sleeping during the post-Recover stage, and it does some hefty damage. It took a couple of tries, but I got him.
TO NIBI CITY AND BEYOND
Stoking back up and shifting to water Pokemon, I went through the Digda Cave and wound up, as expected, right outside of Nibi City. As with other areas, the landscape's a bit different but some things are the same- notably the Nibi City Gym, with good old Takeshi (Brock) as Gym Leader.
Takeshi has a new T-shirt on, but still is a master of Rock Pokemon. You only find one trainer there besides Takeshi, however Takeshi's Pokemon push the 50's in level and are a challenge- especially since he tosses out one Pokemon that has an anti-grass attack. He wasn't that hard to defeat, however, and so I got the Gray Badge.
Moving east towards Otsukiyama (Mt. Moon), I thought I'd explore and see what awaited me, and caught a couple of Purins (Jigglypuffs). After fighting a few trainers, I entered the cave mouth- and got a surprise.
While you might have thought the Rival was gone after his defeat at Champion Road as you prepared to take on the Orange League Elite, he pops up in a surprise appearance at Otsukiyama (Mount Moon), and his character art is different here as well! He's full of anger and is uncompromising as you once again fight his Bakufun, Rarecoil, and others; however, while I was caught without a full complement of high-level Pokemon, I got through pretty easily. The Rival's tone changes as he compliments you begrudgingly... but his commentary implies that he's not gone yet.
There isn't much to the maze this time- the mountain caverns have filled in and really are simple paths without the previous maze. One way up takes you to a refreshment/souvenir stand at an outside observation area where you can load up on Delicious Water and Psycho-Soda... and buy a Pippi Doll if you'd like.
Having seen the way to Hanada City, I chose to backtrack and go towards Tokiwa City. The Gym is once again empty (Sakaki apparently gave it up when he reorganized the Rocket-dan), but an old fellow says you might find some answers in Masara Town. You also can find a path to the west which will lead you to a tunnel entrance, and this tunnel will intersect with Champion Road, giving you a shortcut.
PIKACHUS...
The Tokiwa no Mori (Forest) is smaller in size and shape with a few Bug Catchers here and there and less complexity to the maze, but there are really only two patches of grass here to find Pokemon. It's in the southernmost of the Tokiwa Forest patches where you can find (finally) Pikachus (it's essentially the same spot as in the Red and Blue [Green] games). One- and only one- popped up almost immediately, a level 5 Male, and I caught it. But finding a female turned out to be a real trial- Pikachus of all sexes seem to be EXTREMELY rare finds in this patch and after about 20 or so Poppos, Pidgeons, Trancells, Caterpies, etc. I was ready to just come back another time. Finally, however, a female Pikachu appeared, and now I'll be off to the Breeding Center to see if I can get myself a Pichu shortly...
In Tokiwa, there's a building that is new, the Trainer House. Here you can arrange to battle another trainer who is well-equipped- and he sure looks like you! However, he is armed with the top evolved states of the three Starters- a Meganium, a Bakufun, and an Oodile. A nice challenge.
I also met the old man who, in the first game, teaches you how to catch 'em. He gave me a couple of Golden Feathers (they're an item) and hinted they might help me catch a legendary Pokemon... I have my suspicions as to which one (s)...
South to Masara Town, and a visit with Professor Okido; he keeps raising
the ante for found Pokemon and while he praises my efforts, I still haven't
gotten a present from his aide. Oh, well <g>.
MASARA TOWN NI, SAYONARA BYE BYE...
A side note for readers... It should be noted for most US players that the characters in the game, player and rival alike, are usually assigned colors as their first choice names . The names Satoshi and Shigeru [Ash and Gary] in the anime were taken from the several alternate offerings available in the menus as well as being the names of real people on the development team. "Red" is the default trainer name for the player in the Red game, "Green" for Green, "Gold","Silver", etc. And, logically, the rival's default name is often the opposite color (in Gold, your rival comes up initially named "Silver" unless you change his name as I did). These names are in English, by the way.
Thus, the main character of the "original game" (at least here) is called "Red". Red's mom says he's not there at the moment. While you can walk through the house (which has nicer detail inside but the same layout), she won't heal your Pokemon and you can't access Red's computer. Red's house does become a site you can fly to, however.
From this point, I surfed south easily to Gurenjima [aka Cinnabar Island]; the swim seemed shorter, though there are still swimmer trainers to battle. But the island itself has been nearly abandoned except for a solitary Pokemon Center. But here it gets interesting!
DARE-DA?
Once I landed, a familiar red-head sprite accosted me and said "Hi, who are you? Are you a Pokemon Trainer? My name is Green. I'm the Champion of them all! Well, except maybe for Red and Yellow..." Yes, it's the rival from the earlier games, who you may know as "Gary" but who takes the identity of "Green" here. After a few moments of conversation, he looks you over, expresses doubt in your abilities- then tells you he's the Gym Leader of Tokiwa City's Gym! He then "flies off", saying he'll be glad to take you on when you go back to Tokiwa City.
There's nothing else on Gurenjima, so I surfed eastward and shortly ran into a small rock called "Guren Town"- all that's left of the former Futagojima [aka Seafoam Islands]. The only thing that's here is a cave... and this small, one-room cave houses the Guren Gym, a pale imitation of its former glory.
CRIMSON BADGE...
This is probably the most sparse of all the Gym battles I fought; the Gym Leader remains Katsura (who, by the way, does NOT resemble "Blaine" from the anime except in the Yellow game). He has no trainers, no puzzles, and indeed, he only faces you with three Pokemon (all tough, though, including a Kabutops). However, his Pokemon have a few unexpected attacks installed, which are designed to disrupt water Pokemon. Still, he was easy, as I switched off between my Mariluri and my Granbull and either drowned or heaved rocks (using "Strength") at his Pokemon, usually taking them out on the first hit.
With the victory over Katsura, the Crimson Badge was mine as well. One more to go...
I surfed eastward again, and now the shoreline of Sekichiku City is accessible and all the blocking rock formations have gone. I healed my Pokemon then flew back to Tokiwa City to battle Green, the Gym Leader.
GREEN GARY, TOKIWA GYM
Green [Gary] is pretty nonchalant and disdainful of you- and there are no other trainers in his Gym. After his introduction, he says "Let's go!" and the battle's joined.
Green is tough, and is potentially the most difficult trainer I've yet encountered next to Wataru. However, my Pokemon held their ground against his, which were all at level 54 to 60; I had my "original" team with me except that I had swapped out the Gengar and put a Miniryuu in its place. Green's team was all "old" Pokemon- a Windie [Arcanine], Nassy [Exeggcutor], Gyarados, Saihorn [Rhyhorn], Pidgeot, and Foodin (Alakazam). All weren't hard to beat using the team I had, and the battle was over quickly.
Green's initial losing comment is rather impolite, but funny; "You won the Green Badge... butthole."
However, his postlude is interesting, and this is my direct translation:
"I was mistaken. You DID know what you were doing! You are a great trainer! I won't forget THIS battle!" He gladly awarded me the Green Badge, and now I have all 16 badges! I suspect the equivalent of the Unknown Dungeon awaits, but I want to clean up some loose ends.
YAKETA TOWER, REVISITED
Following this battle, I traveled back west to the "New World" to Kogane City, dropped the two Pikachu off at the Breeding Center, and decided to give the Yaketa Tower at Enjyuu another once-over. That tower seemed to have a complex puzzle pathway as you ascend but I'd just fought Ghost Pokemon and found a few items, then left to come back another time, with my thoughts on other matters. I did remember that the head priest of the tower said that there was a Legendary Pokemon rumored to be at the top; I figured there was something I was missing, so I checked harder.
Indeed, I'm glad I did. The puzzle gets a bit more complex as you ascend, as you're trying to find the stairs that lead to the top of the tower, but it's not very difficult except that the staircase you want is cleverly placed to be off screen unless you're right on top of it.
However, once you find that way up, you then find "teleport" platforms similar to those in Natsume's gym in Yamabuki City. Again, you must find the key that plops you on the right platform...
Doing so leads you right to the outside rooftop of the tower itself! And lo and behold, a stationary Pokemon stands there flapping... a one-shot opportunity.
OH NO, IT'S HOUOU!
I saved my game, and prepared to do battle with Houou (#250), the Rainbow Bird Pokemon, famous to anime viewers as the legendary Pokemon that "Ash" sees at the end of the first episode.
Houou is not going to get caught without a fight, though, but I'm determined to catch him and NOT use my Master Ball. This is easier said than done and the rooftop is currently littered with the shards of shattered Hyperballs. Watch the next report (tomorrow) for the story of how this long, drawn-out battle develops and how it eventually turned out.
--Richard