POKEMON GOLD PROGRESS... ENTRY 22
Good day, bad day; but a mostly irritating and head-smacking day.
First things first:
NEW POKEMON
Caught, hatched, or evolved:
Pichu (#172)- hatched from an egg
Houou (#250)- Legendary Rainbow Bird Pokemon, a Fire/Flying type
Seen, and trying to catch...
Lugia (#249)- Legendary water/flying Pokemon
PROGRESS:
HOUOU... KUSO!!
The Houou battle takes up most of the story; I spent nearly 2 hours trying to catch Houou (saved where he was, then restarted when he was fainted or it became impossible to catch him); though he was "only" level 40, he happens to be a really frustrating Pokemon. Defeating him is nothing; one good Lightning Punch from the Denryuu could finish him off. Catching him? That's another story.
Dozens of times I had him down to near-fainting weakness; he was paralyzed and couldn't move! Hyper-ball after hyper-ball was thrown! Twitch- BOOM! He was out! Twitch-twitch-twitch- BOOM! He was out again! Oops! He's Recovered!! Now I have to whack him again to get him weak again... On more occasions than I can count, he used up my ENTIRE stock of over 20 Hyperballs with no capture. Sleep? Hah! He laughed off my sleep attacks and they wouldn't take- and then fried my sleep-inducer as a post-script! His deadly fire blast takes off almost 50 HP with each shot!
He's also a "one-shot!" Fly off the roof to go to a Pokemon Center, and he flies away too! Don't mess with him, and he may stay there. Sigh...
So, in final acceptance of defeat, and, frankly, sick of trying and not patient enough to see if I could actually come back later, I hurled my Master Ball and caught him immediately. I saved after doing so, and now wish perhaps I hadn't...
REVELATION- LUGIA... FRUSTRATION- ME
You see, the plot thickens. Realizing that one set of feathers I had drew in Houou, I figured the second set would net me the other legendary Pokemon, Lugia; and I suspected too that an isolated cavern I'd been in while visiting Uzumakijima would be where Lugia appears. The cavern had been empty previously, but it looked too "special" and ready for an event of some sort. Of course, you can't get to Lugia until far in the game anyway since the last set of feathers comes from the old man in Tokiwa.
I decided to put a party together, flew over to Tanba City, then surfed over to the Uzumakijima cavern. (access is via the northeastern island of the three- you go in, light your Flash, walk straight east, down a ladder, follow the platform, surf east and down a waterfall, and the cavern landing is to your left). I saved before entering the cavern so I could get in and out more easily if I had problems... and I'm glad I did.
Indeed, there's Lugia! I cracked my knuckles and surfed out to him... and then yelled in frustration as the battle started to see that Lugia is at level 70. Oh, foolish me who already tossed the Master Ball...
The story begins anew- Defeating him and fainting him? No problem. Two or three big hits and he's done. Catching him? Wish me luck... or a level 70 Sleeper [Hypno]. Same story, but this time I have about 35 Hyper-balls with me <g>. I've had him paralyzed and down to almost nothing and been lobbing balls right and left, but no luck- plus, he has a absolutely devastating HydroPump attack. Low level Pokemon are dead meat. Level 58/60 Pokemon survive maybe two hits... AAARRRGH!! Oh, did I mention he can Recover HP too? Sigh...
Now all I need is patience. Time to level up a Pokemon with high-powered sleep induction...
PICHU NO TANJOBI
But the day wasn't all frustrating. Between catching Houou (and despite my whining, he's still worth the Master Ball) and seeking Lugia, I dropped back into the Breeding Center and collected the two Pikachus- and the new egg they'd created!
After carrying the egg for a while, it's birthday time- and out pops, of course, the irrepressibly cute Pikachu precursor "Pichu!"
Pichu (#172) is fun! Definitely wins the cute contest (in both looks and his cute peeping "nakigoe") and is born with two attacks at level 5- "Denkishock" (of course), and, like Togepi, "Amaeru " ("act like a baby").
I leveled Pichu up a little, then put him (it's a boy) in storage. I then went to Hanada City to see if the "Unknown Dungeon" had appeared...
NO KNOWN DUNGEON
Well, there still isn't any dungeon entrance where the old "Unknown Dungeon" used to be, but the mountain path west of Champion Road has yet to be opened. I suspect that's where there'll be more to do.
Watch for the next entry!
--Richard