Entry #16 Being timely never works

Trainer: Triton
Money: 119068
Badges: 6
Pokémon Team:
     King Pepé (Kingdra) Level 44 Ability: Clear Body
     Sandy (Charizard) Level 44 Ability: Shell Armor
     Gigabuzz (Electabuzz) Level 45 Ability: Overgrow
     Tsuntsun (Claydol) Level 43 Ability: Torrent
     Polyphemus (Machamp) Level 45 Ability: Magma Armor
     Flafa (Venomoth) Level 42 Ability: Hustle
Note: I'm back from Europe! Our trip took us through Venice in Italy and Taormina and Syracuse in Sicily. Then we took a long and absolutely incredible train ride from Italy, trough the Alps, and into a mountain town in Germany. We hiked for a few days and then set off to see some castles before spending our final days in Munich. On our last day, we took a great bike ride around a huge whatchamacallit lake with a long name that I don't remember.
The significance of that last bit is that my legs have been dead through the travel back and I didn't want to do anything but sit around. I had to work, so that didn't work out, and then some demon inside convinced me to run eight miles, so needless to say I really need some time to sit down and have a little fun.
But first, some things from my trip that were sweet.

In the Deutsches museum, I found a trombone with a Charizard head. It has to be Charizard because it's the only dragon-like Pokémon I've ever seen stuck in a pipe.

During one of our hikes in Germany, I took a look back on the mountain town, Mittenwald, from above. This is a view I never want to forget.

During a boat ride in Sicily, I took photos of the coastline under Mt. Etna (right) and a really cool close up of the town that we left from (above).

Yeah, Mt. Etna is huge, and it erupts every decade. Kind of like Mt. Chimney when Groudon has Insomnia and has to use crappy sleep medicine that allows him to wake up in a bad mood every now and then.

(Journal start) In this case though, it was the blue orb. When I approached Maxim, he used the thing and Groudon went off from his lava pool to who knows where. Maxim, not suspecting Groudon's absence to be a quick coffee break, turned his anger upon me and sent out a Taillow. Venomoth had a type disadvantage, but Psybeam took care of it before Endeavor and Wing Attack could do much. His other two Pokémon were both Chanseys, and Sandy (Charizard) was more than happy to clean them up with Strength.

Afterwards, Maxim ran after Groudon (hopefully catching some better Pokémon on the way), leaving me alone with my victory in the scorching heat of a gigantic volcano... that I hadn't explored for the 17 days of my absence in Europe.
I went for the door of the cave right behind the lava pit and found myself back in the maze of caverns. A pokéball item nearby revealed itself to be an escape rope, and I considered just escaping that way. A leave of three weeks builds up rust though, so I took my time searching my way out and learning how many Thunderpunches and Psybeams it took to kill everything in the cave.

PSYbeam PP: 5..... 4..... 1 due to Pressure..... No PP left, Struggle

After I finally got out of the cave, I needed another refresher on where the plot goes next. My friend Google put me in Slateport City, where Captain Stern was meeting with reporters asking about an underwater cave he discovered. The people there were too caught up to notice Aqua goons stealing into the harbor and taking Stern's submarine for their base. I chased them back to Lilycove and made the day's second base raid, taking out trainers and such with my veteran battlers. In one room, I encountered four pokéballs, two that I knew were fakes and held Pokémon. The first fake I found was a level 30 Raticate. Okay, Raticate are cool, strong too, but when compared to the level 30 hulking SLAKING in the second pokéball, it looks like fate is screwing with you. I named the Raticate Etna, after the active volcano that dominates my memories from visiting Sicily.

Ability: Rock Head

I took the last two Pokéballs then, a Master Ball and a Nugget (), and continued cleaning out Team Aqua's rotting sea cave. Eventually, I reached the officer who was guarding the submarine and almost missed the battle with him when I blinked to find Kingdra's Twister sending his Bellosom and Zubat across the room.

The raiding of this base overall took about six minutes, five minutes of which were random aqua guys throwing their Pokémon at Claydol and watching helplessly as Teeter Dance and a well-picked move sent them right back. I compared this to my first run of Emerald, in which it took my young self around forty minutes to clear it due to paranoia trips to the Pokémon center and the warp panels screwing up my navigation. Back then, I could understand why Team Aqua's submarine got away; that length of time is generous enough to get wind of intrusion, pack up, and shoot out of the harbor, but SIX MINUTES? My new conclusion is that the warp panels are rigged. I must be plunging through space time for hours during each transit. The trainers are a distraction, THE BATTLES ARE A LIE

I'm enraged, that submarine is lucky to escape, or we're looking at the next underwater Hindenburg.

Sandy's autograph not included

To Mossdeep City....

Trainer: Triton
Money: 128628
Badges: 6
Pokémon Team:
     King Pepé (Kingdra) Level 45 Ability: Clear Body
     Sandy (Charizard) Level 46 Ability: Shell Armor
     Gigabuzz (Electabuzz) Level 46 Ability: Overgrow
     Tsuntsun (Claydol) Level 43 Ability: Torrent
     Polyphemus (Machamp) Level 46 Ability: Magma Armor
     Flafa (Venomoth) Level 43 Ability: Hustle

Entry #15 Back and Forth

Trainer: Triton
Money: 78672
Badges: 6
Pokémon Team:
     King Pepé (Kingdra) Level 42 Ability: Clear Body
     Sandy (Charizard) Level 42 Ability: Shell Armor
     Gigabuzz (Electabuzz) Level 40 Ability: Overgrow
     Tsuntsun (Claydol) Level 40 Ability: Torrent
     Polyphemus (Machamp) Level 44 Ability: Magma Armor
     Flafa (Venomoth) Level 40 Ability: Hustle

Leaf's Ability: Rain Dish

The first thing to do was to cross the water on Route 122 and get to Mt. Pyre. On the way, I ran into a Slowpoke lounging on the rocks. I have a Slowking already, but I caught it anyway.

Mt. Pyre has an inside and outside. The inside has a bunch of trainers and items, while the outside is where you find Team Aqua. In the interest of crushing Team Aqua, I went for the indoor area first to catch the experience. Almost right away, I ran into a Girafarig.... which in the past has been my least favorite Pokémon. I used to administrate for a Pokémon RPG online in which the members knew me for my love of Giratina. They would trade me them, gift them for my birthday, and even bribe me with them to get certain "privileges"(never worked). Unfortunately, whenever they said "Hey Mars, want Giras?!" I never knew if they meant Giratinas or Girafarigs. It became a favorite prank because of how much it ticked me off, hehe. I laugh at it now, because that was years ago, and if anything I now look at Girafarig as a way to own a Gira when I'm not playing a later game. Therefore, the male Girafarig became GiraJr.

*sniffle* "Aw, I love you too" <3

Don't give me that,
Stop your irresistible pony looks and be a normal giraffe.



Ability: Poison Point



With my past relived, I continued through the inside of Mt. Pyre. The four floors of trainers gave great experience and I found the TMs for Thunderpunch (#30) and Secret Power (#48). Outside, it was a quick climb through the grass and to the top. There I faced four Aqua grunts and watched with pride as Claydol and Venomoth completely pummeled all in their path. Their leader Archie didn't bother to fight, but instead fled with the red orb.

Realistically, I should be able to take him out, but I guess four grunts as an audience isn't enough to make everyone disband. More fun for me later at the Aqua base >:]








Team Magma had taken the blue orb before Team Aqua crashed the party, but sometime in their conflict a Magma Symbol was dropped, and the old woman who watches over the orbs gave it to me to use. It is basically the key into Magma's hideout, which is at the base of Mt. Chimney above Lavaridge Town.
I  continued to battle and find pretty good items on route 123. This route is a series of cliffs that level down to the Berry Master's house. The catch is that once you hop over the cliffs, you can't go back, so it takes at least two runs to cover all of the ground, but usually more if you aren't careful. It's worth it because of the valuable items, like max potion and elixir, that are scattered everywhere. I did one run, caught a Nuzleaf and named her Hazel, and flew back to Lilycove so I could run through route 123 again. 

Ability: Rock Head

I also collected all of the berries. If a chemist and a food scientist really dug deep, could they make an ultimate berry juice?



You know, maybe something the gives you a little more than TWENTY HEALTH POINTS (Berry Juice) would be nice.






I headed to Lavaridge and prepared myself for taking on Magma's hideout, buying some extra super potions and status medicine, then tried reaching the hideout by going up Mt. Chimney. Their base is actually too high up to do that, unless you have an Acro Bike to scale the rocks, so I had to go around and use the cable car again.

Do dee dum, speeding up a mountain~

NONONO Awwwww CRAP

Traffic jam...





Several hours (seconds) later, I found the hideout and went on rampage with Electabuzz, bulldozing ten trainers (and the wild Seaking I could have caught.. whoops) before Thunderpunch ran out of power points. Everyone else took care of it from there. A PP Max, Full Restore, and several more items later, I found their leader Maxie in a magma chamber facing Groudon's sleeping form. Time to take care of business.

Trainer: Triton
Money: 119068
Badges: 6
Pokémon Team:
     King Pepé (Kingdra) Level 44 Ability: Clear Body
     Sandy (Charizard) Level 44 Ability: Shell Armor
     Gigabuzz (Electabuzz) Level 45 Ability: Overgrow
     Tsuntsun (Claydol) Level 43 Ability: Torrent
     Polyphemus (Machamp) Level 45 Ability: Magma Armor
     Flafa (Venomoth) Level 42 Ability: Hustle