Let's Play! Let's Catch 'em All in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon! (Part 31 up: Wish Cave (2) & End))

Altissimo · Jan 2, 2017

(Archive links (spoilers don't work): page 1; page 2; page 3; page 4.)

Yes, you read that right: this is going to be a catch 'em all (or rather "recruit" 'em all as this game would have it) in Mystery Dungeon, which... is kind of a difficult feat to pull off. For an idea of what I mean by that, I'll point out that I've completed the Pokédex (or equivalent) in a total of 8 games: Platinum, Omega Ruby, all three Ranger Games, MD1 (Blue), MD2 (Sky), and Super Mystery Dungeon. Even with Omega Ruby and SMD having ~720 Pokémon to obtain and MD1 having a mere 386, I still found MD1 to be the hardest game I ever "caught 'em all" in.

And I'm going to reprise it for the enjoyment of... I dunno. Hopefully some people. We'll see what kind of interest this gets.

Mystery Dungeon is a little bit different from the normal game in that it doesn't have a Pokédex. In other words, it's not enough to register each Pokémon as "caught": the game wants a player trying to "recruit 'em all" to actually do that - to recruit one of each Pokémon, including all the Unown forms, and have them all at the same time. So you'll all get to see me descend into insanity as I have to do such things as recruiting Kecleon, the Eeveelutions, Chansey, Ponyta, Jirachi, Exeggcute, and even the ultra-rare Pidgey!

First things first, though. Before I get started, since this is a Mystery Dungeon game, it's worth asking the community: what starter and partner should I pick?

The options are as follows:
Starters: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Meowth, Psyduck, Machop, Cubone, Eevee, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Skitty.
Partners: Any of the main-series starters (the Grass-Fire-Water trio) plus Pikachu. Your partner cannot be the same type as your starter.
For the record, as this game was released between gens 3 and 4, all Pokémon have their gen 3 learnsets (specifically FRLG).
General considerations:

-Sleep is broken in this game. So Skitty and Bulbasaur are pretty good choices.

-Ranged moves are extremely valuable. So Bulbasaur (early Razor Leaf), Squirtle (early Bubble), Pikachu (early Quick Attack, a semi-ranged move), Chikorita (early Razor Leaf) and Treecko (early Quick Attack) are all decent options.

-Water-types can walk over water tiles (without requiring extra work, like every other Pokémon would) which is an important necessity in postgame dungeons.

-Fire-types can walk over lava tiles, but this is rarely necessary, and lava tiles are rare besides.

-Normal-types struggle, as a few dungeons and one boss fight are very unfriendly to Normal-types. That said, Skitty is absolutely broken due to the way Attract works in this game, the overpoweredness of sleep (Sing), and the overpoweredness of multi-hit moves (Doubleslap). However, I'd rather not start with Skitty since my idea for this run came from someone else doing the same thing (they never finished their run, though), and they used Skitty and Pikachu.

-Cubone doesn't start with any attack moves.

-Psyduck doesn't get a STAB attack until level 50 without using TMs.

-Meowth gets Bite, a non-Normal attack to cover its struggles with Rock and Ghost, at level 10. However, Eevee doesn't get a non-Normal attack until level 30.

-Bosses in this game in the main game are overwhelmingly Flying-type: in other words, without a strong partner, Grass-types suffer.

-Because of the way this game works, "catching 'em all" requires obtaining 1 of every species of Pokémon and all the Unown forms, and the starter and partner are counted toward this total. Thus, we can either choose to have the starter and partner evolved or unevolved for this total. Evolution stones are a bit trickier to obtain than level-ups (obviously), so Eevee, Skitty, and Pikachu are harder to evolve in the post-game. However, stone evolutions tend to be better for taking on level 1 dungeons with, and Charizard and Venusaur are also excellent for level 1 dungeons.

So go ahead and pick my starter and partner for me... and while you're at it, feel free to suggest names for them, for the team (max 10 characters), and for any recruits, since after all, I'm going to need to come up with names for a solid ~400 Pokémon!

If you have any questions about this run or Mystery Dungeon in general, don't hesitate to ask!

413/413: 100%
Aged Chamber AN (14/14):
Unown A (Anger)
Unown B (Bear)
Unown C (Chase)
Unown D (Darkness)
Unown E (Engage)
Unown F (Find)
Unown G (Give)
Unown H (Help)
Unown I (Increase)
Unown J (Join)
Unown K (Keep)
Unown L (Laugh)
Unown M (Metal)
Unown N (Normal)
Aged Chamber O? (14/14):
Unown O (Observe)
Unown P (Perform)
Unown Q (Quicken)
Unown R (Reassure)
Unown S (Search)
Unown T (Tell)
Unown U (Undo)
Unown V (Vanish)
Unown W (Want)
Unown X (XXXXX)
Unown Y (Yield)
Unown Z (Zoom)
Unown ! (!)
Unown ? (?)
Ancient Relic (6/6):
Aerodactyl (Big Boy)
Baltoy (Dreidel)
Claydol (Oracle)
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Beau Plains (12/12):
Bulbasaur (Sup, Bub)
Ivysaur (Kayzie)
Venusaur (Bruteroot)
Chikorita (Chiquita)
Bayleef (Thyme)
Meganium (Parsley)
Hoppip (Apple)
Skiploom (Lou)
Jumpluff (Bloom)
Taillow (Tiny)
Swellow (Swellie)
Roselia (Dahlia)
Boulder Cave (4/4):
Diglett (Speckles)
Dugtrio (He-Man)
Onix (Snek)
Steelix (Dacian)
Bountiful Sea (9/9):
Tentacool (Stinger)
Tentacruel (Frank)
Slowpoke (Felix)
Slowbro (Trip)
Shellder (Pearl)
Cloyster (Mystery)
Staryu (Pat)
Starmie (Roxie)
Slowking (Hatty)
Crater (7/7):
Magmar (Rachael)
Slugma (Gabriel)
Magcargo (Bogey)
Magby (Cynical)
Numel (Kipling)
Camerupt (Java)
Torkoal (Coleman)
Cryptic Cave (1/1):
Mewtwo
Darkness Ridge (13/13):
Vulpix (Sparkle)
Ninetales (Spirit)
Gastly (Maya)
Haunter (Sabrina)
Gengar (Willa Wisp)
Misdreavus (Lucy)
Sneasel (Tachi)
Sableye (Garnet)
Shuppet (Teru)
Banette (Ira)
Duskull (Umbra)
Dusclops (Phatos)
Absol (Storm)
Decrepit Lab (7/7):
Abra (Spoonless)
Kadabra (Animus)
Alakazam (Cordis)
Mr. Mime (Ted)
Ditto (Proteus)
Porygon (Microsoft)
Porygon2 (Apple)
Deep-Sea Current (1/1):
Lugia
Deep-Sea Floor (12/12):
Omanyte (Lord Helix)
Omanyte -> Omastar (ShellSmash)
Kabuto (Kabooty)
Kabutops (Why2??????)
Chinchou (Dave)
Lanturn (Vinyl)
Lileep (Grandma)
Cradily (Hardy)
Clamperl (Juanita)
Huntail (Murderfish)
Gorebyss (Ariel)
Relicanth (Coal)
Dragon Cave (3/3):
Bagon (Defiance)
Shelgon (Perseveren)
Salamence (Blue)
Echo Cave (11/11):
Zubat (Wilson)
Golbat (Laylee)
Crobat (Ellie)
Dunsparce (Perry)
Whismur (Sonum)
Loudred (Cantus)
Exploud (Clamos)
Nosepass (Moana)
Mawile (0dd1)
Wynaut (Bicuzz)
Wobbuffet (Wobburrito)
Enclosed Island (1/1):
Deoxys
Energetic Forest (15/15):
Pikachu (Lightning)
Raichu (Rachel)
Meowth (Brian)
Persian (Laetu)
Mankey (JellyDonut)
Primeape (Altissimo)
Snorlax (Barbara)
Pichu (Chuh)
Aipom (Bonzi)
Stantler (Olive)
Slakoth (Sid)
Vigoroth (Solomon)
Slaking (Louie)
Skitty (Heather)
Delcatty (Stargleam)
Final Island (1/1):
Mew
Flyaway Forest (12/12):
Pidgey (Birb)
Pidgeotto (Otto)
Pidgeot (Kenny)
Hoothoot (Leroy)
Noctowl (Minuit)
Togepi (Shellby)
Togetic (Destructor)
Natu (Seer)
Xatu (Swensen)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Swablu (Byssis)
Altaria (Nefela)
Frigid Cavern (7/7):
Jynx (Aisha)
Swinub (Sara)
Piloswine (Pryce)
Delibird (St. Nick)
Smoochum (ProfKissum)
Snorunt (Nix)
Glalie (Oni)
Furnace Desert (7/7):
Sandshrew (Guy Fieri)
Sandslash (Flavortown)
Trapinch (Bobblehead)
Vibrava (Art Deco)
Flygon (Desertsong)
Cacnea (Dirty Dan)
Cacturne (Dorothy)
Healing Forest (1/1):
Celebi
Ice Floe Beach (5/5):
Seel (Aurora)
Dewgong (Tristan)
Spheal (Clubber)
Sealeo (Tubber)
Walrein (Blubber)
Jungle (13/13):
Oddish (Natura)
Gloom (Toadstool)
Vileplume (Toxia)
Bellsprout (Brussels)
Weepinbell (Banana)
Victreebel (LeoBurnett)
Exeggcute (Benedict)
Exeggutor (Smashmouth)
Tangela (Medusa)
Bellossom (Dancer)
Sunkern (Popcorn)
Sunflora (Molly)
Tropius (Ariera)
Legendary Island (3/3):
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Magnetic Quarry (3/3):
Beldum (I3)
Metang (I5)
Metagross (I7)
Mist-Rise Forest (14/14):
Caterpie (Blueberry)
Metapod (Bluntman)
Butterfree (Violetwing)
Weedle (Bean)
Kakuna (Timon)
Beedrill (Beeyonce)
Ledyba (Francis)
Ledian (Lyson)
Yanma (Shade)
Wurmple (Persia)
Silcoon (Miriam)
Beautifly (Charlotte)
Cascoon (Fortunato)
Dustox (Luna)
Mt. Cleft (9/9):
Charmander (Char)
Charmeleon (Karma)
Charizard (Red)
Larvitar (Nick)
Pupitar (Jones)
Tyranitar (Rex)
Aron (Aaron)
Lairon (Larry)
Aggron (Ferro)
Mt. Deepgreen (12/12):
Geodude (Hazy)
Graveler (Heavy G)
Golem (Al)
Cubone (Skelebro)
Marowak (Mallow)
Gligar (Chirops)
Shuckle (Shuckie)
Teddiursa (Toklo)
Ursaring (Oka)
Spoink (Spring)
Grumpig (Chex Mix)
Spinda (Babos)
Mt. Discipline (11/11):
Machop (Connor)
Machoke (Erika)
Machamp (M'Champion)
Hitmonlee (Bruce)
Hitmonchan (Jackie)
Tyrogue (Griff)
Hitmontop (Leo)
Makuhita (Ceroma)
Hariyama (Lucta)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Medicham (Marise)
Mt. Moonview (6/6):
Clefairy (Caroline)
Clefable (Pierre)
Cleffa (Stella)
Lunatone (Mane)
Solrock (Alea)
Jirachi
Mushroom Forest (7/7):
Paras (France)
Parasect (Mushpeckle)
Seedot (Acorn)
Nuzleaf (Nuzlocke)
Shiftry (Quercus)
Shroomish (Toad)
Breloom (Portobello)
Mystic Lake (4/4):
Lapras (Icerain)
Dratini (Ray)
Dragonair (Celia)
Dragonite (Tempest)
Overgrown Forest (9/9):
Pinsir (Carabus)
Scyther (Pearl)
Sudowoodo (Fauxliage)
Scizor (Nightmare)
Heracross (Honey)
Treecko (Geico)
Grovyle (Vectrex)
Sceptile (Green)
Kecleon (Lester)
Peanut Swamp (7/7):
Wooper (Yippy)
Quagsire (Yeppa)
Mudkip (Muddy)
Marshtomp (Mallow)
Swampert (Skipper)
Barboach (Cashier)
Whiscash (Grandpa)
Poison Swamp (6/6):
Grimer (Billy Mays)
Muk (Shamwow)
Koffing (James)
Weezing (Pascal)
Gulpin (Venum)
Swalot (Ceno)
Power Plant (6/6):
Magnemite (Duracell)
Magneton (CRT)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Electrode (Cathode)
Elekid (Windmill)
Electabuzz (Sulpur)
Rainbow Peak (1/1):
Ho-oh
Ravaged Field (5/5):
Spearow (Spearmint)
Fearow (Not Ho-oh)
Skarmory (Stympha)
Houndour (April)
Houndoom (Heckdoom)
Rub-a-Dub River (7/7):
Goldeen (Arches)
Seaking (Fortune)
Totodile (Gatorface)
Croconaw (Cruncher)
Feraligatr (Florida)
Volbeat (Lux)
Illumise (Lumen)
Sacred Field (3/3):
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Safari (15/15):
Nidoran F (Diane)
Nidorina (Arianne)
Nidoqueen (Victoria)
Nidoran M (Meliodas)
Nidorino (Michael)
Nidoking (Edward)
Doduo (Clarence)
Dodrio (Aegon)
Rhyhorn (Corona)
Rhydon (Corono)
Kangaskhan (Salio)
Tauros (Thirty)
Phanpy (Phan Phan)
Donphan (James May)
Miltank (Vacca)
Scorched Plains (10/10):
Growlithe (Fido)
Arcanine (Firebolt)
Ponyta (Applejack)
Rapidash (Cherokee)
Cyndaquil (Bernard)
Quilava (Mr. Danger)
Typhlosion (Flametail)
Torchic (Chanticler)
Combusken (Mark)
Blaziken (Scorch)
Seafloor Cave (1/1):
Kyogre
Serene Sea (4/4):
Qwilfish (Mrs. Puff)
Mantine (Mr. Ray)
Wailmer (Chum)
Wailord (Jonah)
Secretive Forest (9/9):
Venonat (Tracey)
Venomoth (Mothra)
Spinarak (Arachna)
Ariados (Aragog)
Pineco (Fibonacci)
Forretress (Grenade)
Nincada (Illinois)
Ninjask (Naruto)
Shedinja (Sunwise)
Shallow Beach (5/5):
Krabby (Eugene)
Kingler (Snake)
Corsola (Nemo)
Wingull (Type Gull)
Pelipper (Drizzle)
Sky Blue Plains (13/13):
Jigglypuff (Sugar)
Wigglytuff (Bob Ross)
Lickitung (Tailure)
Chansey (Scramble)
Igglybuff (Rosey)
Girafarig (Harvey)
Snubbull (Muchmoney)
Granbull (Type Bull)
Smeargle (Bitchworth)
Blissey (Cappy)
Ralts (Wallabee)
Kirlia (Nijinsky)
Gardevoir (Katrina)
Southern Island (2/2):
Latias
Latios
Stratos Lookout (1/1):
Rayquaza
Tadpole Pond (9/9):
Poliwag (Doodle)
Poliwhirl (Tajiri)
Poliwrath (FurioFrog)
Politoed (HypnoToad)
Lotad (Lily)
Lombre (Carefree)
Ludicolo (Ariba)
Surskit (Skitter)
Masquerain (DeMasque)
Thunder Meadow (11/11):
Sentret (Joanne)
Furret (Pavarotti)
Mareep (Android)
Flaaffy (Layla)
Ampharos (Jasmine)
Electrike (Ravi)
Manectric (Drew)
Plusle (Positive)
Minun (Negative)
Castform (Aer)
Chimecho (Giotto)
Transform Forest (6/6):
Eevee (Mudpaw)
Vaporeon (Vaporcloud)
Jolteon (Joltstorm)
Flareon (Flareheart)
Espeon (Sunstream)
Umbreon (Moonfall)
Treasure Sea (10/10):
Horsea (Callie)
Seadra (Dollar)
Kingdra (Elvis)
Remoraid (Gunnpy)
Octillery (Fry)
Carvanha (Jaws)
Sharpedo (Ari)
Anorith (Small Fry)
Armaldo (Pinch)
Luvdisc (Valentine)
Turtleshell Pond (10/10):
Squirtle (Cannon)
Wartortle (Survivor)
Blastoise (Shellshock)
Psyduck (WhaTheDuck)
Golduck (Quack Fu)
Marill (Pikablu)
Azumarill (Tree)
Azurill (Scout)
Corphish (Hey)
Crawdaunt (Radium)
Volcanic Pit (1/1):
Groudon
Waterfall Lake (4/4):
Magikarp (Emone)
Gyarados (Randy)
Feebas (Duckling)
Milotic (Sera)
Wild Plains (13/13):
Rattata (Sword)
Raticate (Rodentia)
Ekans (Anguis)
Arbok (Kodra)
Farfetch'd (Onion)
Drowzee (Sleeper)
Hypno (Piper)
Poochyena (Missile)
Mightyena (Dingo)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Linoone (Longcat)
Zangoose (Harmony)
Seviper (Repiv)

Alydos · Jan 2, 2017

My vote for starter is Cubone (Nick: Skelebro)

Partner: Bulbasaur (Nick: RedsLoaner)

I know nothing about Mystery Dungeon, nothing.

The Faz · Jan 3, 2017

Broken is moves that increases speed. If you have the choise, rock polish. I think pikachu would be usefull, because he learn Agility. Partner: Pikachu.

Vinc2612 · Jan 3, 2017

Good luck in your quest. I've been close to make it, but Chansey/Blissey/Exeggcute/Exeggutor were too much for my patience.

Charmander is a really good starter and a fan favorite, so I'll vote for this one (very good because getting smokescreen + scary face around Articuno is broken, also Heat Wave as Charizard helps a lot when Monster Houses will be more common).

I vote for Treecko as the partner, Quick Attack is the best move for this, also Bullet Seed is probably the best offensive move after Spike Cannon, and just like EuSouAFazenda said it, agility is also broken.

Also I'm mad you can't nickname Charmander Mr.Fahrenheit ;_;

LightningLord2 · Jan 3, 2017

Honestly, Chikorita. Being at a type disadvantage against bosses sounds harsh, but you can still take a hit or two from the birds. Having status powders, Synthesis for healing and a bunch of other support options more than makes up for it. It also has access to Bullet Seed, one of the multi-hit moves that is also ranged. Nothing's more satisfying than offing Groudon and Kyogre on turn 1.

Carrier · Jan 3, 2017

Guess it depends what we're going for.

If you want sheer brokenness, agility and attract are the way to go for obvious reasons; there's so much you can cheese when you can essentially paralyze anything for 3(?) turns with wild abandon or get extra turns to either attack and whittle down a Monster House or run like heck.

Unfortunately, Pikachu lacks Discharge in PMD1 and I'm unsure if Shockwave fulfills the same purpose, so both Skitty and Pikachu (and really every starter choice IIRC beyond maybe Charizard w/ heatwave) may have a terrible time with Monster Houses.

When it comes to L1 dungeons, Charizard is probably #1 here of all choices, so having an immediate 'Zard in the post game is fairly useful. Getting a house-clearing move is great, which I don't think Venusaur has. And let's not forget Whiffer or the ability to cheese bosses with Scary Face, as said earlier.

Squirtle works well with ranged moves and the almighty ability to walk on water (tiles). Had him as the partner to Charmander the last time I played and it was pretty good, bar Drill Peck legends.

I like the idea of Treecko; agility and multi-hit is great, but lord help you as a grass type.

If you're looking for names, Red / Blue work for about any Pokemon partner combo.

Doubt · Jan 3, 2017

Charizard, as has been mentioned before, is amazing. L1 Heat Wave works wonders, so having a Charizard ready to go as soon as you can evolve your starter would be amazing for recruiting in L1 dungeons. For that reason I'd suggest Charmander as one of your starters. For a partner...well, my gut says a water type. Swampert would be good; covers an electric type weakness and learns solid moves. As you mentioned, Squirtle gets Bubble early, which is nice, but it's really preference for partner. I'd say Squirtle or Mudkip, but anything works.

Altissimo · Jan 4, 2017

Hey, nice, a decent amount of interest. I'm glad for that :o

Alydos: Well fortunately for you you're about to be taking on an amazing journey into the land of Pokémon!!!
... no but seriously the Mystery Dungeon games are pretty good spin-offs. I'd recommend checking them out sometime... or watching me play here lol

EuSouAFazenda: Unfortunately Rock Polish isn't in 3rd gen. But Pikachu's Agility is, that much is true. Speed-boosting moves really are broken, but for all my years of playing as Pikachu I've for some reason never bothered to learn Agility. goes to show how good I actually am at this game :V

Vinc2612: I gave up and got Chansey through Kecleon wishing. Exeggcute however I did get the normal way, even if it was a giant pain in the ass. And now I'm gonna get to do it again, joy!
10 spaces is not enough for Quality Names :(

LightningLord2: Unfortunately, Chikorita's only powder in MD1 is Poisonpowder, which is vastly outclassed by both of the other powders. Reflect and Synthesis do exist though. (Usually when I play Chikorita I never actually use them properly though because again I'm not good at this game :VV)

Carrier: And that's another vote for Charizard, it seems - thanks for your input. I like Squirtle a lot but unfortunately most of my Mystery Dungeon adventures are with Pikachu and Squirtle, so I'm a bit averse to using it yet again. Treecko is good, though.
As for your question about Pikachu, Shock Wave is I think a ranged move a la Flamethrower. However, Pikachu does get Thunderbolt, which hits all adjacent Pokémon, and can be a somewhat useful Monster House clearer... but only if Pikachu is the player and not the partner, because as partner it's effectively useless unless your partner can get in the room somehow.

Doubt: A third vote for Charmander - I think I see a pattern here... Again, I do like Squirtle, but I've used it so many times I'm a bit averse to doing that again. Water types do make good partners for Fire starters, though.

All right - let's begin!

(Edit: This was originally in a hide tag... until I realized that the hide tag automatically downsizes the images, which is pretty unwieldy, so I removed it.)

There's nothing registered in the Adventure Log yet because this is an entirely new ROM. The Adventure Log keeps track of certain achievements throughout the game, and as far as I'm aware it carries from one save file to the next.

... resulting in an amusing time when you've replayed the game as often as I have and the game isn't quite sure what to do with the number of floors explored. (Also, only 15 friend rescues? Really??? I find that hard to believe but whatever)

WHO'S THERE

That doesn't really answer my question. Also, how is there just a portal that leads to a world of Pokémon? unless this is like some Ultra Wormhole shenanigans

just what I needed, a pop quiz when I'm about to go live the life of my dreams

pfffhahha yeah right

wh- this is an INTERVIEW now am I gonna be denied entry if I fail??? I don't want this I didn't prepare for this oh god I'm having flashbacks to grad school applications help

... oh, okay, it's just a personality test. Which I didn't screenshot because it took me like 5 or 6 tries to get a quiz that could actually lead to the result I wanted.
So basically the game asks you a handful of (kind of childish, but whatever, it's a Pokémon spin-off game) questions and your answers provide points toward a certain personality type. At the end the personality type with the most points determines your Pokémon in accordance with the gender you picked. Of course since the game doesn't offer many questions, it's all too likely that the questions it generates won't have any answers that provide points toward the personality you want. Thus I had to reset a fair few times.

... But eventually we got it.

blah blah stuff about how brave I am thanks for boosting my self-esteem game

Be...?
... and then I forgot to actually screenshot the part that shows I'm Charmander. Quality LPing!
Brave is Machop if you're a guy and Charmander if you're a girl. hey look at that a girl on the internet, on smogon!!!
So yeah we're going with Charmander, it seemed to have the most support. It's been a while since I've played as Charmander so this will be fun!

And as for the partner...

... I went with Treecko. Mainly because I wasn't too keen on using Squirtle or Pikachu again (both were suggested options with a fair few votes) and Treecko had some support. It's also been a while since I've used Treecko so this will be fun too! I remember struggling a fair bit in a past playthrough that used Treecko when it came to bosses - Bulbasaur and Chikorita at least have support options that can help against the onslaught of Flying-types, but sadly Treecko is less effective. Well, we'll have fun when I get that far!

... I got unimaginative and decided to go with an altered version of Carrier's suggested naming scheme. If it were left up to me he would have been named like "Blade" or something so it's better this way really

HELL YEAH

ok did you miss what just happened, we're clearly in the world of Pokémon. Don't you see them?

there's NOTHING TO BE DREAMING YET you HAVENT EVEN WOKEN UP.

2spoopy4me

you know if this were not a video game it'd probably just be some rando we don't care about bitching about the weather or something like that

BUT since it's a video game it's someone important. It has to be.

you sound distressed, please don't. random drunk people on the side of the road is a common occurrence. i'll live

and I've got a terrible hangover no thanks to you

it's the BEST FOREST

... Yup, definitely drunk. Shouldn't have stayed up on New Years partying, I'm really feeling the effects nowwwww

Green: I'm Green. Glad to meet you!
... And, you are? I've never seen you around before.

Can't you tell by looking at me? Would this face lie?
Green: But you look like a normal Charmander in every way.

(I have turned into a Charmander!)
(... But why? I don't remember anything...)

you know idk about you but I feel like if I got turned into a Pokémon (or an animal) my first thought would be "how is this physically possible" rather than "why" but thats just me

:(
Your name? What's your name?

if not this I prolly would have just gone with "Alti"

It's a funny name!

I hate to break it to you but you have no room to talk, Green

AH

You're very perceptive, I'm glad.

Green: What?!

Alas, whatever shall we do?!

That seems a bit implausible but I won't say anything
Butterfree: He's too young to crawl out by himself!
When I went to get my baby, Pokémon suddenly attacked me!

Buddy I get this isn't quite the same as the world of the games/anime but like... is it really that surprising?

I'm not strong enough to fend off those wild Pokémon... What will become of my baby?
Oh! What am I to do?! Oh dear, oh dear...

RANDOS TO THE RESCUE
LEGGO

lol whoops I took this too late. Anyway! We are now in our first dungeon, Tiny Woods, which is the tutorial dungeon. It's so tutorial, you can't even recruit anything from here. Despite the fact that Pidgey and Exeggcute, two of the dungeon's inhabitants, are ridiculously hard to find in the dungeon where you can recruit them and being able to recruit here would make life a million times easier.
... bastards.

K so before it even loads properly here's our first look at a dungeon. It's... it's a dungeon, there's not a lot to say. It's a series of spacious rooms (like the one our heroes!! are currently in) connected by single-tile-wide corridors. The goal in each floor is to find the stairs that lead you to the next floor. Pretty simplistic.

Well, except for the part where wild Pokémon roam the corridors!! ... fortunately Tiny Woods is not really a threat. That Sunkern did an attack in on me before I could attack back, but it did 2 damage. Amazing, right?
... okay, I shouldn't be so flippant. I died once in Tiny Woods. I started as Cubone, which doesn't start with any attack moves. Every Pokémon has a typeless, PP-less general attack move they can use by hitting A (which is how the Sunkern attacked in the above pic), so when I saw that I had spawned adjacent to a Sunkern, I used that. It used super-effective Absorb and killed me in a hit.
I turned off the game and never played as Cubone again.

Anyway we beat up the not-at-all-threatening Sunkern and continue on our merry way. Green didn't attack the Sunkern, but everyone in your dungeon party gets experience when you defeat an opponent, so as to avoid your starter getting horrendously overleveled of course.

Aaaand we found the stairs! That was easy, let's continue.

A bout a little later on brings this, the first level-up of the run...

... which is complemented by Green leveling up and learning a handy early STAB move. Woohoo!

Before long we have traversed all 3 dungeon floors and arrived at the endpoint. There wasn't anything else interesting that happened, apart from coming across a few dungeon items (Poké, or money, and two Oran Berries, which in this game are exceedingly useful as they restore 100 HP) and having a few fights. We did not level up further, though.

Anyhow, it looks like we've found Caterpie. How convenient for us, he's right in the middle of this big open room at the bottom of the dungeon!

:(

[heroic fanfare]

Caterpie: Huh?
Green: Your mom's waiting. Let's get you out!
Caterpie: OK.

And so we head back... which would would assume would involve us going back through Tiny Woods, but of course for gameplay purposes we just kind of teleport here.

but, Green, why does this make us responsible for everyone's well-being
Green: It was great to find your little boy unharmed.

Green: I'm Green.
And this is Red.

... I know, I know, they're unoriginal names, please don't make fun -

oh

(Those sparkly eyes... It's a little embarrassing...)
(But, this doesn't feel bad, either. It's like I'm a hero.)
(Helping Pokémon in trouble might be a good experience.)

The team also received the item Pecha Berry.
The team also received the item Rawst Berry.

Loot!!!

And then they leave. Bye, I'm sure I'll never see you again!

You're very tough. I was sure impressed.
So... What are you going to do? Do you have any plans?

... Really, you think I have plans considering I just kind of got dropped here with amnesia and as a Pokémon? I don't even know how this universe works and you expect me to have plans? ~~I'm a grad school student and I still don't have plans~~

Thought so

ALARM ALARM STRANGER DANGER

Red however clearly does not remember those tales from her youth and goes with Green.

honestly this is part of the reason I chose Charmander as the starter and not the partner, the fire-starter-house is kind of amazing. Although of course it begs the question of why Green lives in a house that seems like it might set him on fire at any moment. The answer is "separation of story and gameplay" or something

(I can't explain, but I'm happy!)
(I'm a human being, but I like this place. I feel weirdly happy!)
(It might be an instinct thing for Pokémon...)
(Maybe this is what it feels like to want to wag your tail...)
(It doesn't matter! I'm happy!)
(Maybe I feel that way because I'm Charmander!)

it's been over 10 years and I still don't understand what any of this is supposed to mean

Yeah but I'm not sure why
Green: I thought so. I thought this would make a good place for you to live, Red.
I was sure you would like it.

How convenient!

you dont say
Green: You know, just like the fissure Caterpie fell into...
For some reason, there have been many natural disasters lately.
Because of those disasters, many Pokémon are suffering.
I want to help Pokémon in these tough times.
I want to help change things so all the Pokémon can live in peace.
So, uh... Well, I liked how you handled yourself when we rescued Caterpie.
Would you like to join me on a rescue team?

well if I say no you're going to force me into it, despite how horrible that would be if this were a real conversation, so whatever, let's just get it over with

We're partners in our rescue team from now on, Red! Glad to have you on board!
The team name... Well, I don't have one yet.
So, Red. What do you think would be a good name for us?

why do i have to do all the work

lol no

There, that's a little better. This one is one of my go-to team names. The first time I played this game my first team was Pikachu/Squirtle, and as an 11 year old at a loss for names I hit upon Hydrospark (get it because water + electric) and I was so proud of myself that I've repeated that formula (incorporate the types of starter + partner somehow) pretty much every time since. My grass + fire go-to is Wildfire which is probably the least offensive of my Frankenstein names. (Water + fire is Riverflame lmao)

I mean... that's the point
Green: Rescue Team Wildfire! Let's do good starting tomorrow!

And then they strike a pose which I was too slow to screenshot. (Totally not related at all: anyone know if Desmume for Mac can have a screenshot hotkey?)

off to a great start!

... and so begins the game proper. Well, next time anyway, this is probably a pretty good stopping point for now. See you next time for more thrilling adventures!

Also leave feedback. I have a tendency to put a lot of commentary in my LPs and if you'd rather just see gameplay in action without me making snarky comments on everything let me know.

Anyway, we aren't able to recruit any Pokémon yet, but it's never too early to start thinking about potential nicknames for recruits. Here are some upcoming recruit opportunities. Feel free to suggest nicknames if you have one you like or would like to see used!

Magnemite
Poochyena (and Mightyena)
Plusle/Minun
Voltorb (and Electrode)
Both Nidoran and evolutions
Rattata (and Raticate)
Elekid (and Electabuzz)
Zigzagoon (and Linoone)
Aron (and evolutions)
Geodude (and evolutions)
Tyrogue (and evolutions)
Meditite (and Medicham)
Pinsir

Hope you all enjoyed this!

cityscapes · Jan 5, 2017

Pretty good so far! Here's some feedback:

The commentary is good and I think you should keep it up.
I don't think you need to take quite so many screenshots. They're pretty big and hard to scroll through on a phone. I'd advise using more quotes, such as

We're partners in our rescue team from now on, Red! Glad to have you on board! The team name... Well, I don't have one yet. So, Red. What do you think would be a good name for us?

Click to expand...
Name your Zigzagoon/Linoone "Longcat".

Altissimo · Jan 5, 2017

Silver_Lucario42: Alright, feedback noted! I was trying to avoid taking an unreasonable amount of screenshots by (mostly) taking screenshots of only the first textbox in any given character's dialogue and filling the rest in with the italicized dialogue, but I guess it does end up with a lot of screenshots (which is also unfortunate because I can't use the hide tag to slim down the page size). I'll try to cut down from now on and use quote boxes like you recommended.

Part 2! (it's easy to kind of speed through the early game since I don't have to worry about recruiting just yet)

so after a very stressful first day of being a rescue team, our hero Red takes a nice sleep in his new rescue base. Upon awakening...

The way I look… I’m still Charmander.
But why would I be transformed into a Pokémon?
…………… Hmm… I don’t understand this at all…
……………………
……………… I feel groggy and sleepy…
Not feeling well… I need more sleep…

this exists for the sole purpose of forcing the player to move off the bed and back onto it again, thus showcasing that you can use your bed as a save point! Congratulations.
Unlike main-series Pokémon games, you can only hard save at your bed, after certain plot events, and in between certain dungeons. You can make a quick-save while in a dungeon, but you can't use it to save scum because after reloading a quick save it will disappear, and if you turn the game off again after loading a quick save it will act like you failed the dungeon - which, in this game, removes some of your items and either all or half (I don't remember) of your money. Not the most fun thing in the world.

Regardless, after going back to bed, we get a save prompt followed by Red waking up for reals this time.

.....................
Oof... I'm feeling refreshed!
I still look like a Pokémon, but...
..................
Oh, that's right. That Pokémon... I think it was Green?
We made a promise to form a rescue team together...
I wonder what Green is doing? I should go out.

can you tell this game loves its ellipses

Anyway, we go outside, and...

yes, Green has fallen asleep outside our house. Impressive. He wakes up immediately though.

... Hunh?! Oh, no!
Hahaha, sorry! I was so excited, I came out here at dawn to wait for you.

that's not creepy at all

I must have snoozed off.
Anyway... Today marks the start of our rescue team! Let's always do our best!
......
...............
... But, anyway... We don't have any job offers yet... Hahahaha...

ok well here's the thing Green, if we're a "rescue team" doesn't that kind of imply we need to be going into dungeons to search for Pokémon that might be suffering?
... No? That's not how it works in this world?
whatever man just going off logic but fine we'll do it your way

Oh, yeah! Maybe there's something in the Mailbox...

what you DIDN'T THINK TO CHECK

thanks

The Mailbox contained a Rescue Team Starter Set!

Wait, that's a thing? That you can get? A starter set... for a rescue team?
... Seems a little odd but I'm not one to judge

Green: I knew it'd be there! It's the Rescue Team Starter Set!

Then why didn't you take a look earlier bro

They always give you one if you start a rescue team.

Who? Who is they? Is there some benevolent deity going around handing these things out to unsuspecting fledgling rescue teams as they sleep? I have so many questions

Green opened the Rescue Team Starter Set.
There was a Rescue Team Badge inside!
There was a Toolbox inside!
There was also an issue of Pokémon News inside!

The badge has the magical ability to... teleport Pokémon out of dungeons. No, it's never explained why this works, unless you like delving into the worldbuilding of certain Mystery Dungeon fanfiction. It makes rescuers' lives a whole lot easier though so whatever, I'm not complaining.
The Toolbox is our inventory and it holds only 20 items which is obnoxiously low. The Explorers games did a lot better with this, even if they screwed up held item mechanics. It's obnoxiously low because items don't stack like they do in the main games, so have fun!
Pokémon News is just worldbuilding/lore fun, though sometimes it actually does provide information on game mechanics or helpful move combos, so it's worth checking out if you're new to the game. I however don't care too much and will only comment on it if I think it's funny/relevant.

Green: Yes! There are some good things here!
First off, the Rescue Team Badge. It shows that we're a rescue team.

... no shit

This is a Toolbox. You use it for carrying items you find in dungeons.

off topic by why a toolbox, that seems like an odd choice for the inventory carrier, especially in a game where most of your pick-ups are going to be, like, berries, seeds, scarves, orbs etc

Let's put the stuff Butterfree gave us in here for now.

if you hadn't said that I wouldn't have realized that's what you're doing!!!!
ok i need to tone down the snark, this is a kids' game and I had my fair share of confusing moments when I was 11 and playing it, but it kind of writes itself

Items are very useful, so let's use them on our adventures.

... yeah ok I shouldn't have said I was going to stop snarking right before this
I do wonder though if anyone's ever attempted an itemless run of MD. Without anything to stave off hunger it would be pretty tricky, I'd be impressed if anyone did it.

And finally, a copy of Pokémon News. It's useful for rescue teams.
I'll put the Pokémon News in the Mailbox. You should read it later on.

could we call it something like "Rescue Team Bulletin" or something then, Pokémon News is a bit of a generic title for a publication that has a pretty limited audience...?

Anything else? Is there any other mail...? Maybe not?

THANKS

Green: OK, so there isn't any mail for us after all...
If there were any rescue jobs, we'd be getting mail, but...
Nobody knows about us since we're so new a team, I guess. Hahaha...

not to mention there are far more advanced rescue teams in the same general area as us, so there really is no reason to specifically seek us out. We did one rescue, in the easiest dungeon in the game. Not super impressive.

However, just then, Pelipper flies over, lands on our mailbox, and puts something in. You know for all my years of playing I never did understand why Pelipper, it seems like their beaks wouldn't be very convenient for trying to put letters into that mailbox. Just a thought.

Green: Oh? I wonder what it could be.

After this Pelipper flies off, and now I get to check the Mailbox. Of course...

I can't do anything but check the mailbox, unfortunately. Oh well, may as well

Reading the letter out...

"BZZ BZZ BZZ!
I HEARD ABOUT YOU FROM CATERPIE.
PLEASE. WE NEED YOUR HELP. MAGNEMITE IS IN TROUBLE.
A STRANGE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE FLOWED THROUGH A DUNGEON...
AND IT STUCK TOGETHER MAGNEMITE AND MAGNEMITE...
THAT ISN'T ENOUGH TO FORM A MAGNETON. IT'S NOT COMPLETE THE WAY IT IS NOW.
PLEASE. WE NEED HELP. BZZ BZZ BZZ. FROM MAGNEMITE'S FRIEND"

I see this game follows the Pokémon Snap school of "3 Magnemite = Magneton". Which is funny because to evolve a Magnemite in this game you use the standard method of leveling it up to 30, so this game contradicts itself when it comes to its lore. Quality!
(For the record, all the evolution methods (roughly) match the main series, with some alterations for mechanics that don't exist in this game, such as getting a Beauty Scarf for Feebas rather than increasing its Beauty stat.)

Also I like how the letter is in all caps with the BZZ quirk. Gotta use characterization.

I could be a jerk here but... no. It all ends up the same anyway.

That's the spirit! Let's do our best!

They strike a pose and head across the map (which I was too slow to screenshot; next time!) to the location the letter was sent from...

Thunderwave Cave, which has a great name, and is where we meet our Magnemite friends. Who speak the same way as the letter. Is anyone surprised?

(ok for all the grief I'm giving this game in the comments I do genuinely love it. It might not be as good of a plot as MD2 and have a fair few holes, but it has a sweet sort of simple charm to it which is heartwarming. For as much as I love MD2, MD1 still has a special place in my heart. That's why I'm doing this!! I think)

MY FRIENDS ARE IN THIS CAVERN. BZBZBZZ.
MY FRIENDS SHOULD BE ON B6F. PLEASE HELP THEM! BZBZBZZZT!

And we're in the dungeon, which gives us a handy little bit of advice. As you can see the tileset is different, each dungeon has a different tileset to add to the mood.
And different music, too. I should have remembered to put that in last time. Here is a playlist for the whole game. Tiny Woods, Thunderwave Cave.
Also, see that tile with the green arrow above Green? That's a Wonder Tile, which resets any stat changes (positive or negative) if stepped on.

And almost immediately this happens. Wild Pokémon can pick up items, which can suck if they get certain offensive items. Luckily an Apple isn't too bad.
This game has a hunger mechanic, where you start with 100 belly, and this slowly decreases as you walk around. If it reaches 0, you lose 1 HP per step until you either die or restore belly somehow. All edible items (berries, seeds, etc) add to belly, but an Apple gives a flat 50 boost and is therefore a better option than any other consumable (except the better types of Apple).
Also, it's worth noting that in this game you restore HP as you walk around, unless you're poisoned, hungry, or (IIRC) it's hailing/sandstorming. The higher level you are, the quicker HP is restored.

Sometimes Pokémon can be sleeping in a dungeon. You can choose to fight them or ignore them. I always fight, for the experience.
Also, for the record: We can't yet recruit Pokémon, even though we're out of the tutorial dungeon. Still got a little ways to go before we can, unfortunately.

This happens! Now both my team members have a STAB attack, solid.

Green put your arms down.

Anyway, I've come across a Sleep Seed. Seeds are an MD-exclusive item that can be good or bad, depending on their effect. As explained here, this one is good for putting enemies to sleep (sleep being a pretty good status in MD, as it lasts longer than in regular Pokémon). During the main game, there are only four seeds that are very common: Sleep, Blast Seed (does a flat amount of damage to an opponent in front if you ingest it or throw it - if you ingest it you breathe fire on them), Heal Seed (acts as a Full Heal), or Reviver Seed (auto-revives a team member if they faint and you have a Reviver Seed in your pack).
(I should be done tutorializing fairly soon, promise. This is for the benefit of those who haven't played the game but I know it's probably not fun for those of you who have.)

Those rocks to the right of Red are Gravelerocks. You can throw them at any opponent within a 10-tile radius and they deal a flat 20 damage. They're pretty broken for the early game, which is probably why MD2 replaces them with Geo Pebbles (10 damage) for its early game.
Throwing items are the only items in this game that stack in your inventory, so I pick up 3 Gravelerocks here and it only fills up one space. Fortunately.

Hey, look, a (sleeping) Minun.
Minun is the first version exclusive; Plusle is in Red Rescue Team. Yes, there are version exclusives, even in this game. I'll show off how to obtain the Red exclusives later on.

Before long we arrive at the bottom. Those Magnemite... uh, they look stuck indeed. That's... unfortunate.

Then we teleport to the outside of the cave, where all four Magnemite are rejoicing!

OUR BODIES SEPARATED. BZBZBZZ. REJOICE! BZBZBZZT!

Yep they're rejoicing all right.

Other Magnemite: YAY! BZBZBZZT!
First Magnemite: YAY! BZBZBZZT!
Third Magnemite: BE THANKFUL, YOU TWO.
Other Magnemite: YOU ARE OUR HERO. THANK YOU. BZBZBZZ!

They then reward us with money, a Reviver Seed (!!), and a Rawst Berry before just kind of leaving.

And we end up back here.

Actually, since this was our first job as a proper rescue team...
I was really tense and nervous.
I'm exhausted now. I've got to go get some sleep.

... did that really take all day?

Let's keep up our good work tomorrow. See you.

Green leaves for bed. (where does he live anyway...? I mean I know the answer but why)

anyway i was originally going to have more here but i forgot the next "bit" goes on for a little while so in the interest of avoiding an overly-long update I'll cut here and post the rest tomorrow.

Comment and don't forget to suggest names!!

Carrier · Jan 5, 2017

First, I'd imagine that the badge's magic teleportation powers work similarly to the

Teleport Gem from later on. Both have the same principle; teleport people from point A to point B. Both are reusable, and both seem to be capable of having a specific location programmed in. Considering the omnipotence of the Rescue Federation, I suppose it isn't much a stretch to have them produce a less potent version of one for general usage.

I mean, everyone's a Pokemon, so Pokemon News is pretty fair lol. It's basically the same premise as People Magazine.

Total no item, or reviver seeds included? Without a Stamina Band or reviver seeds, I think it would become massive RNG as to if you get to the stairs fast enough; it does sound fun, though.

So, uh.. if it takes 3 Magnemite to make a Magneton, and there were two trapped and one left to make the rescue call.. why didn't it just run in there and save everyone by turning into a Magneton?

The question is not why your partner sleeps where he/she sleeps, but rather why there was a perfectly good house just absolutely right for you in tip top shape left abandoned. Are you a squatter?

Didn't get to the previous questions before now, but the commentary is fantastic keep it up.
Quotes vs Screenshots, do whatever is easier. I admit I like the screenshots, but I can see where Lucario's coming from on the scrolling.

I always name my Magnemites after battery brands.

Also, if I remember right, if you approach the mailbox from the wrong end it actually tells you to go around ._.

Altissimo · Jan 6, 2017

Carrier: You're probably right about the rescue team badge to be fair. That would actually make a lot of sense.
lol i'll admit i forgot People Magazine was a thing, mostly because I was thinking about Pokémon News as being more of an analogue to like "Human News" or something
I would assume "total no item" but... yeah it'd be easier if you could at least restore Belly since that's not really a factor that can be carefully played around if you happen to get a bad dungeon layout. I should try that challenge (either one) sometime, I've played it "vanilla" enough times I could stand to do something different lol.
YOU HAVE AN EXCELLENT POINT ABOUT THE MAGNEMITE AND I'M REALLY MAD NOW BECAUSE IT MAKES EVEN LESS SENSE GRRRR
I feel like the assumption on the house is that it was the partner's, but that of course begs the question of a) why it's more suited to the player's type (because theming reasons obviously but you get the point) and b) why they just abandon it when the player comes around. There's enough space for you too, Green...!
about the mailbox:

... pffffffffhhaha I never tried that before. Thanks!

Following our adventure to Thunderwave Cave, Red of course goes to bed, as always.

But tonight is different because Red has a dream.

............
.....................
Where...
Where am I?
Maybe... Is this a dream...?

I dunno about you but I'm never nearly that lucid in dreams, ever. Usually I'm like. Rafting down a river with a fictional character or something ridiculous like that.

... Oh? There's someone here.
Who is it...? Someone I know...?

Probably not. Again, fictional characters

There's no one else on screen for the record. Just Red.

...... Hmm... I can't remember.
..................

The dream fades and Red awakes.

I think I dreamt something...
But I can't quite remember what that dream was about...
Oh, well. Today's another day of rescues!
I wonder if I have any mail? Better check the Mailbox.

Thanks for the railroading!

... All right, let's do it.

alas

Green comes up to say hi.

Green: Good morning, Red! Aren't you up early?
Oh! So, you checked the Mailbox.

Not sure why you're so happy about that. Is it because I developed the power of independent thinking? Is this a milestone in my life as a Pokémon?

... So, was there anything? Were there any rescue requests?
Huh? Empty?!
Hmm... I suppose so.
We've only started, after all.
Well, too bad. Want to go to Pokémon Square?
I think if we go to the Pelipper Post Office, there'll be jobs posted.
Pokémon Square's over this way. Let's go.

ah yes the next part of tutorializing by showing the player the rest of the hub world. Let's go now I guess

That... looks like a bridge.

Oh okay there's stuff.

Kecleon Shop is... well, what it says. The green Kecleon sells seeds, berries, scarves (held items), and food; his purple (not shiny, contrary to popular belief) brother sells Orbs (one-time-use items with offensive or defensive effects) and TMs. The TMs in this game match the list from FRLG, but of course some (cough Bullet Seed cough) are more effective than their main-game counterparts. Also you can get more than 1 of any given TM but they don't have set locations so... have fun

Not sure why this is the only facility with a name other than [species] [service] because it's never implied this Persian's name is Felicity otherwise but whatever. It's a bank, not much to say about it.

Linking moves is a Mystery Dungeon feature. If you link moves, you can use them on the same turn, which can be effective for setting up combos, especially against bosses. If you use all the PP of one of the two linked moves (they keep their old PP values), the link disappears. I never made much use of them myself.

Gulpin is also the Move Relearner (and does it for free!) but the game doesn't tell you that outright.

Fortunately this storage does not have limited space, unlike MD2!

Anyway so that's Pokémon Square, aka The Place to Prepare for Dungeon Crawling. Thank you Green!

Green: What do you think? The businesses here help us.
Oh, and there's also the Pelipper Post Office. That's up past here.
I think we can get some information on rescue jobs.
Let's first go to the Pelipper Post Office.

don't tell me what to do!!!!! ... but we do get over there, after a brief bit of setting up for an exploration.

This is the Pelipper Post Office... as you can see. The thing in the lower left corner is a bulletin board, where the player can collect missions to take in dungeon. ... You didn't think this entire game was going to be exploring brand-new dungeons all the time, right?

Green: This [the bulletin board] is where information is gathered from Pokémon needing rescue in various locations.
See? Have a look at this Bulletin Board.
It lists rescue jobs. Check it out?

... so we do.

There are three general types of rescue jobs: the rescue request, where you enter a dungeon, proceed to the correct floor, and seek out the Pokémon in question to rescue it from a dungeon; the item request, where you either find a Pokémon inside a dungeon to deliver an item to or find an item in the dungeon to bring back to the Pokémon outside of the dungeon (this one's a real pain, though, since the item isn't guaranteed to show up in the dungeon - though it is an item the dungeon can generate - so your best bet is to bring it in with you), and the infernal escort missions. Fuck the escort missions in this game they suck and we're only doing them if we absolutely have to.

You can take multiple missions at a time but I usually choose not to until postgame. This is because during the main game it advances the plot quicker than doing them one at a time, and I like to get extra experience by drawing out the time between plot things.

Green: See? There were jobs listed, right?
To do a rescue job, you first select it with Accept...
Then, on the Job List, choose the job, then confirm it with Take Job to go on that rescue mission.
If you don't select Take Job, you can't do that rescue job even if you go to the dungeon.

Game mechanics!

Since we're just starting up, we should handle the jobs that are posted here.

Uh... as opposed to... what, exactly...? Is there a secret stash of harder jobs somewhere else??? I don't get this

For the record the jobs listed were only for Tiny Woods and Thunderwave Cave. How convenient!

Our team name will get better known by doing that.
I think that will bring job offers to our Mailbox.
And if you want to go on a rescue mission...
Choose the job on the Job List... Then, select Take Job. Try to always do that before you leave!

thanks mr. tutorial

We head back to Pokémon Square...
... and I forgot that the plot doesn't happen yet. Go me! I swear I've played this game before ~~and probably over two dozen times at that~~

whatever, after that bit of fake-out we go on our first mission. Nothing special and I won't bother detailing what happens in the mission interludes because it doesn't really matter unless we recruit things or something interesting happens. And we still can't recruit yet so that's out of the picture. So I took two missions over two days and then the next plot happened.

Specifically, another dream sequence.

...............
..............................
... Again? Am I dreaming again...?
... It's that Pokémon again.

The one we still can't see?

Huh? They're... talking to me...?

too bad we as the player can't tell!!

... I can't hear them clearly. What are they saying?

Then the screen starts shaking.

Huh? It's shaking. An earthquake...?

This is a dream man, shaking can be caused by all sorts of random bullshit!

Whoa! It's getting worse.
For a dream, this feels strangely real, but...
...............
.......................

I wonder why!

The next morning we are greeted by a... questionable presence. Red looks around and sees nothing.

Hello? Uh... You are Red... Aren't you?

WHO
is it

... Oh! You can't see us, of course! How very rude of us!

I like how they just burst through the floor of my house to tell us this. Thanks for that. I hope you can fix it.

Dugtrio: Last night, during the earthquake...
Our child Diglett was attacked...

Our child? Uh... kay

He was whisked away to the peak of a tall mountain.
We couldn't possibly climb somewhere so high up...

Can't he just burrow his way back? Diglett, man. Diglett.

That is why we must call upon you for your help, Red.

Well I'm not turning down a rescue request for sure!

Diglett was abducted by a Pokémon named Skarmory.
It's a vilely vicious ruffian! Please do be careful.
Please, we need your help! We must go!

And for no adequately explained reason they just kinda leave.

Red: ............
... That was so sudden, there was no time to even say no...
It's too bad. I'd better go.

But, why would you want to say no, it's a rescue mission to a mountain! (Mountains are great)

Good morning to you too. (But please stop being so chipper in the morning ~~I get enough of that from my roommates~~)

............... Huh?!
You were just asked to go on a rescue mission?

Yep, it -

OH HELLO THERE THANKS FOR THAT

He was taken to Mt. Steel's summit!
Please, we need your help! bye-bye!

WHY does he keep disappearing like this I can't say I understand it. Whatever let's go

Green: ... Uh, OK... Let's go...

After preparing for the mission we head out to a brand-new dungeon!

Mt. Steel music

Here we are indeed. Though it looks more like a regular ol' cave than a mountain to me.

Green: So, Diglett was whisked to its peak...

Oh, oh, hello ag-bye...?
(He/they literally do just leave after saying this. I will never understand Dugtrio)

Green: ...... Uh... Let's go.

And so the dungeon begins!
Mt. Steel contains a bit of a difficulty spike, especially if you started with a Normal-type or Pikachu. The dungeon is mostly populated by, well, Steel-types, but Rock, Ground, and Fighting are all common types as well... which you can see would be troublesome for Normal-types or Pikachu. I'm lucky that as a Fire-type, Red has Ember, but that still isn't sufficient against the extremely common Geodudes, and Green's offensive options are the not-so-effective Pound and the only-sometimes-effective Absorb. The best type to have here is Water which we obviously don't have. So... have fun!!

This jellybean-looking thing is a Gummi. These raise Pokémon's IQ (don't ask me how that works), and the higher a Pokémon's IQ is, the better their AI is, basically. Gummis also replace the happiness mechanic in this game for the purposes of Pokémon that evolve via happiness. There are 17 Gummis, one for each type, and each Pokémon gets a great IQ boost if the Gummi it eats matches (one of) its type(s), a decent boost if the type is super effective on the Pokémon eating it, a normal boost for neutral matchups, a small boost if the type is weak against the Pokémon eating it (I think - or it might be based on resistances, I don't remember), and a very little boost if the Pokémon eating is immune. Regardless I'll probably be having my team members ingest any Gummis they find because high IQ is incredibly useful to the point that it's annoying that you have to unlock certain AI options. Red, upon ingesting this Gummi, gets the "PP Checker" IQ skill, which, if turned on on a partner, allows them to not use moves that are out of PP. I mean, you'd think that'd be a given, but no.

Also, though I forgot to screenshot it, I picked up a Petrify Orb. Orbs are one-time-use items that have some sort of helpful effect. A Petrify Orb freezes all the enemies in the room, and they can't move again until they've taken damage when is incredibly broken since you can just leave them there and get out. It's always good to have one on hand, just in case. The other super-important Orb is an Escape Orb, which allows you to instantly escape from a dungeon with no negative effects.

All right, I think that's the end of the dungeon tutorializing, until we get to recruits anyway. Onward!

Upper floors have snow! Oooooh.
... at least I think it's snow, maybe it's just some sort of odd white rock, idk

We have arrived!

Green: Hey! Are you all right? We've come to rescue you!
Diglett: ... I... I'm scared.

Suddenly, Skarmory.

Green: We're here to rescue Diglett!
Skarmory! Don't do this! Release Diglett!
Skarmory: How dare you! It's their fault!
I haven't slept in days because the earthquakes frighten me so! Every night we had them!
Those earthquakes are caused by this brat's ilk running wild underground!

Three points here buddy: 1) You're a Flying-type. 2) There weren't earthquakes until last night, so that is a lie. 3) that claim about Diglett sounds entirely like something you came up with with no proof whatsoever bro

Green: That's not true.
Well, it's true there have been many earthquakes lately, but...
It would take more than Diglett's family going wild under the ground to cause earthquakes.
Skarmory: You be quiet!
We'll fight if you keep that up!

Well duh. This is clearly a boss space, did we really expect anything different?

Green: It's no good. Skarmory is too agitated to listen to reason.
We'll have to fight it out!

Yeahhh Skarmory kind of implied that much. All right, let's do this!

And suddenly boss fight. You'll notice Skarmory starts a full space away from Red. This is to give us the tactical advantage you see. I make use of this time to equip Green with a Blast Seed since that's going to do more damage than either of Green's attack moves (Normal and Grass) are going to. Ember-spam time go!
For the record boss fights don't heal your PP from the dungeon, unlike in MD2, so you actually have to preserve some unless you want to be restricted to non-attack moves and the basic A attack. Which can be annoying, especially in postgame dungeons where running out of PP is extremely easy to do.
However fortunately I still have Ember PP remaining. The first attack misses but Skarmory goes down very quickly afterward and only manages to get two Sand-Attacks off on Green. (They didn't work.)

And, <spoiler>like all of the bosses in this game,</spoiler> Skarmory is somehow perfectly fine after I roast him to a crisp and flies off in perfect condition. Ah, isn't it great when bosses don't seem to actually react to losing? MD2 was a bit better about this fortunately. A bit.
(The reason I keep referencing MD2 btw is because I am planning to do a Sky run after I finish this one. Assuming I do finish it in a timely manner, that is. It may not have been the best idea to start a screenshot, catch 'em all run in one of the hardest Pokémon games to catch 'em all in, when I'm about to start my second semester as a grad student and I'm still trying to finish Gold, Sun, and Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice as well. Good decisions, I make them.)

So Skarmory flies off. Now we can save Diglett!

Green: Hey there! We chased Skarmory off!
It's OK now. Come down over here.
Diglett: I can't... I'm too scared to move...

There's kind of a giant chasm in the way, I'm not really sure Diglett could even if he wasn't scared out of his wits... of... something. I don't know what.

Green: OK, no problem. We'll come to you. Just wait.

You didn't really think this one through, did you, Green?

Yeah... no, you didn't.

Red, what'll we do? We can't get across this.

Hey, look at that! Just what we needed to see. ... I guess.

Green: Oh, hi! You're the Magnemite we saved!
Magnemite: WE GOT WORD OF THIS. WE CAN RESCUE DIGLETT FROM THE SKY. BZBZBZZ!

They then head over to Diglett.

HOLD ON TO US TIGHT. BZBZBZZZ!
Magnemite 2: DON'T BE SCARED. WE WON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ZAPPING YOU. BZBZBZZT!

Uh... you do know Diglett is immune to electricity... right...?

After a screen fade-out, we're back here.

Diglett: Maybe because I was somewhere up so high...
My feet feel like they're still walking on air...
Green: (Feet...?)
Magnemite: (HE HAS THEM? FEET?)

You were the ones who pulled him out of the ground! How did you not see this?

Green: Well, you're safe now. That's what counts.
Diglett: Yes. Thank you very much.

Green: Huh? What was that? Am I hearing voices?

Green, you should know perfectly well what that is...

Voice: ... Whoops! You can't see us? That's terribly rude of us!

Oh hi ~~Mark~~

Diglett: Oh! Papa!
Dugtrio: Diglett! You had us worried! You're not hurt?
Diglett: Nope! It was scary, but I'm all right. It's all thanks to Red's team.

Red's team?... There's only two of us. Poor Green getting shafted over here :(

Dugtrio: Thank you for everything. You're heroes.
Green: You should be thanking our Magnemite friends.
This rescue was impossible for us to do on our own.
Dugtrio: Oh, how rude of us! Thank you so much!
Magnemite: NO, NO. IT WAS THE ONLY THING TO DO. AND...
HOW BOTH OUR EVOLVED FORMS ARE JOINED TRIOS... I FELT A CERTAIN KINSHIP.

I ummm
Okay
If you say so game

AFTER ALL, POKéMON MUST HELP EACH OTHER.

(my dedication to correct dialogue extends to the lowercase é in the otherwise uppercase POKEMON)

Dugtrio: I'm impressed. Sincerely, thank you.
We must be going. Red.
Green.
Thank you.
Farewell!

And they're off and we get some sweet rewards.

Magnemite: WE'LL BE ON OUR WAY TOO...

... But we're not quite done here yet.

Magnemite: WHAT IS IT?
Green: Uh... Would you like to join our team?

That's a little forward, don't you think, Green?

Magnemite: JOIN YOUR TEAM?
Green: Yes. We couldn't have done the last job if you weren't around, Magnemite.
I thought we would need more help for doing rescues in the future.

[I accidentally erased this screenshot but it was of Green asking Red if we needed a team member and I had the option to say yes or no]
I could be a jerk again but it wouldn't make any difference. So, yes, we could use a Magnemite I guess

Green: So how about it?
Will you join us as members of our rescue team?
Magnemite: RESCUE TEAM... THAT SOUNDS FUN! BZZ BZZ BZZ!
... BUT... IF YOU NEED US TO RUSH OVER TO RESCUES...
WE NEED SOMEWHERE TO LIVE CLOSE BY.
IS THERE ANYWHERE WE CAN LIVE IN THIS AREA?

Yeah you can just live at the place Green stays a-

oh, okay

Magnemite: OH... THERE ISN'T...
TOO BAD. SORRY, BUT WE CAN'T JOIN YOU. SEE YOU! BZZ BZZ BZZ!

And then they leave immediately. Smooth

Green: That is too bad.
It looks like we need to find places for Pokémon to live if we want some to join our rescue team...
I know! Let's go out to Pokémon Square tomorrow.
There's an interesting place called the Wigglytuff Club.
It wasn't open the other day when we went to the square. It should be open tomorrow, though.
It's next door to Felicity Bank. Wigglytuff is usually there every day.

but wasn't yesterday, or the day before. solid

We may be able to get some information.

How will information help?

OK, that's what we'll do tomorrow. We'll go to Pokémon Square.

don't we do that every day anyway?? ah whatever

Following this we go off to bed.

And because plot happened, we have more dream sequences. Fun!

...............
...... Again... It's that dream again.

Except this time we can actually see who it is. (Who's That Pokémon?!)

Huh? I'm hearing better this time...
... What? Human? My role?
W-wait. Please, tell me more.

This last line is said as the Pokémon kind of fades out of existence. Bye bye

...... I can't... Drifting off...
...............
...........................

Red then wakes up. Well that was spectacularly useless!

Leaving the house we get approached by Green.

Morning, Red!
Ahaha! What's the matter? You haven't woken up yet?

stop laughing at me, I told you I'm not fan of people who are overly chipper in the morning !!!!!

... Oh? You've been having strange dreams?
What was strange about them?

That's a bit hard to explain I think

oh okay thanks

Green: Hmmm, OK...
Red, you said you're actually a human, right?

Yes but to be honest I'm surprised you believe it.

So maybe...
Those dreams have some connection to how you became a Pokémon, Red.

Yeah like the words "Human" and "My role" earlier weren't enough of a dead giveaway.

By the way, Red. What do you want to do?
Do you want to turn back into a human?

What kind of question even is that?

Red: (... It's true...)
(I haven't thought about it much, but...)

I like how there's no "hell no" option because that's what I would have chosen as a kid. C'mon man who wants to be a human when you're a fire breathing lizard.
~~Though I guess I do miss being able to play the piano~~

Anyway I picked "I'm not sure..."

Green: Huh? What's wrong? Is this a dilemma for you?

Green seriously??

Well, I hope so! It sure must be more fun to be here with me!

that shouldn't be the primary consideration Green I presumably have a family and friends and a life where I'm from!!!!

Anyway, we were supposed to go to Pokémon Square today.

Nice subtle topic change there.

Do you remember? We need to get information on how we can add members to the rescue team.
Let's get going.

Aight cool.

After taking a mission at the post office I stop off at Wigglytuff's shop.

... Wigglytuff is a bit creepy-looking in this game, gotta admit.

Wigglytuff: ... Oh? Is this your first visit here?
... Oh, I get it! You started a rescue team too, didn't you?

It's what all the cool kids are doing!

You've come to the right place! I sell Friend Areas to add members to your rescue team.
Since you're here for the first time, I'll give you two Friend Areas for free!

Thanks...? but it sounds a bit like bad business practice just sayin

Let's do it! Wigglytuff~ Wigglytuff~ Let's be friends... Taaaaaaah!

And then the screen explodes. Well not really but it does blink a bit. I can only imagine what kind of dark magic Wigglytuff used there.
(... I don't trust them Fairy-types.)

Congratulations! You can go to the Wild Plains now.
You can also go to the Mist-Rise Forest.
Now you can recruit Pokémon that live in these two Friend Areas.
How do you recruit new members? Well, if you're fighting Pokémon that live in a Friend Area...
Sometimes, they will come to admire you as a friend.
In that case, they may ask to join your team. Just keep trying!

Oh, hi.
And he isn't really giving them away, it's a promotional gift, but whatever

CAN YOU ALSO GIVE MY FRIENDS ACCESS TO THE POWER PLANT FRIEND AREA?
I ALSO WANT TO JOIN THEIR RESCUE TEAM.

Well hey that's a far cry from yesterday!

Wigglytuff: OK! Gotcha!

He's surprisingly agreeable for just having been asked (albeit politely) to just give one of his products away. Props to Wigglytuff.

I'm giving it away today! Wigglytuff~ Wigglytuff~ Let's be friends... Taaaaaaah!

And after another explosion we get access to the Power Plant.

Magnemite: YES! NOW I CAN JOIN THEIR TEAM!
YAY! BZBZBZZT!
Other Magnemite: SORRY. I KNOW MY FRIEND TURNED DOWN YOUR OFFER TO JOIN YOUR TEAM YESTERDAY...
BUT AFTER MULLING IT OVER ALL LAST NIGHT...
MY FRIEND DEVELOPED AN OVERWHELMING DESIRE TO BECOME YOUR TEAM MEMBER.

How convenient!

I APOLOGIZE, BUT COULD YOU ALLOW MY FRIEND TO JOIN YOUR TEAM?
Green: Oh, wow! Don't forget, we were the ones that asked your friend to join us.
So, yes, that'd be awesome! Glad to have your friend on board!
Other Magnemite: ALL RIGHT! GOOD ON YOU! BZBZBZZ!
DO YOUR BEST, AND TRY NOT TO HINDER YOUR RESCUE TEAMMATES! BZBZBZZT!
Magnemite: YEAH! I'LL DO MY BEST!
YAY, BZBZBZZ!

Following Carrier's suggestion, we now have our first team member: Duracell the Magnemite.

Duracell: I'LL BE RESTING UP IN THE POWER PLANT FRIEND AREA.
IF YOU WANT ME ALONG FOR A RESCUE, COME GET ME AT THE POWER PLANT.
OK! BZBZBZZ!

And both Magnemite leave.

Wigglytuff: You can go to your Friend Areas by taking the left path from your rescue team base.
There's a sign on the path to the left of your rescue team base, so you shouldn't have any trouble.

... How do you know where we live????

That's all the giveaways today! If you want more Friend Areas, you'll have to buy them now.

That's fine I've got money.
And indeed I immediately go back and buy some Friend Areas: Mt. Deepgreen, Thunder Meadow, and Safari.
Heading left from the Wigglytuff club, there is plot to be had!

What are these characters doing here?!

Shiftry: Forget it. We're not about to work for that.
Jumpluff: But my friend needs a gust of wind! Please!
Green: (to Lombre) Hi, what's going on?
Lombre: Huh? That scene there?
Jumpluff's begging for a rescue mission, but not finding any luck.
See that guy?
There, the one in the middle with the pointy nose.
He's a Pokémon named Shiftry. He's got his own rescue team.
But his team's greedy. They don't work unless they get paid royally.
Jumpluff's been begging for help, but... I feel sorry for that poor Pokémon.

Hello characters that certainly won't show up again later!

NPC: Oh! It's Alakazam!
NPC: That's Alakazam?!
Alakazam: Hey. Rather coldhearted, aren't you?
To save Jumpluff's friend, a strong wind is needed.
Your leafy fans can whip up powerful winds.
It's an easy matter for you. Help that Pokémon out.

Shiftry looks around, and upon realizing everyone else is staring at him, judging him deeply, he responds.

Shiftry: Grr... Tch! OK, we'll do it.

And he and his Nuzleaf friends run off. Thanks, Alakazam, for effectively bullying him into a rescue!

NPC: Wow...
NPC: That Shiftry agreed without any argument...
Green: (to Lombre) Say, who are they?
Lombre: What? You don't know?! It's Alakazam's team!

... yes. I did gather that much at least.

They're the most famous rescue team around these parts.
That's Charizard. His Flamethrower can melt mountains!

Somehow I'm having a bit of trouble believing that.

That's Tyranitar. He takes great pride in his armored body and amazing strength.
And that's the leader, Alakazam.
Alakazam doesn't like physical attacks. He fights with his psychic powers.
He's endowed with an amazing brain and an IQ of 5,000.
Apparently, he's memorized everything that's happened in the world.

You know maybe it's just me but I feel like "memorized" isn't quite the word to use when discussing knowledge of history.

Alakazam does all the commanding in the team. He's clearly in charge.

Following this Jumpluff goes to speak with them.

Jumpluff: Th-thank you.
Alakazam: No need for thanks. It is only natural that you get help.
If anyone turns you down again, come see me. Take care.

... so you can bully them into accepting the mission, right?
Alakazam and his team cross the square toward us while the NPCs comment on how great they are for being a Gold Rank rescue team, and then...

Charizard: What's up?
Alakazam: ...... It's fine. Nothing.
Let's go.

And then they leave for real this time. But that was weird!

Lombre: Whew! That was scary! Sheesh!
Green: ... C-cool...
Whew, Red! We need to become like them!

I'm sure it will happen over the course of the game if only by virtue of the fact that we are the protagonists.

Let's recruit more members and make our rescue team first-class!

That's the plan!

Oh, no, a spanner in the works! Whatever shall we do?!
... nothing now because he just kind of leaves and the day ends unceremoniously.

That was a long update so I think I'm going to end here. Next time I'll go over recruitment in this game and hopefully get to recruit our first non-Magnemite team members! Then this run will really get off the ground.

jordanthejq12 · Jan 6, 2017

So, do you have any idea how you're going to nab a Kecleon and survive? I seriously applaud you for this undertaking; the mere thought of it terrifies me.

Carrier · Jan 6, 2017

It's kind of funny that the game gives Shiftry grief for trying to refuse a job that in all likelihood was probably going to give him terrible rewards. Nobody likes going through a dungeon for 100 Poké and a Gravelrock.

Altissimo · Jan 8, 2017

jordanthejq12: Actually, I've done it once before in this game. My general method was to use a Pokémon at level 100 and the IQ skill that allows all standard-A attacks to auto-hit, use a Trawl Orb to draw all the items to the room with the stairs, and just mow down Kecleon until one joined the team, and then immediately go to the stairs. It actually wasn't quite as hard as you'd expect it to be, honestly.

Carrier: But he's the only one who can do it!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, now that we've gotten Friend Areas and the ability to recruit, we're kind of in the game proper. A quick overview of recruiting:
Recruiting is, as you might assume, this game's equivalent to catching Pokémon. However it's not nearly as user-friendly as catching is in the main game and that's why this is one of the hardest games to "catch 'em all" in. Mystery Dungeon 2 addressed most of the issues in this game's recruitment system and by Super Mystery Dungeon (can't speak for Gates to Infinity, never played it) the "random" element of recruitment was more or less entirely gone.
So basically here's how it works: Anytime you defeat a Pokémon in a dungeon, they have a chance to join your team. You can of course turn them down if you want, but we won't be doing that very often (if at all) unless the Pokémon is a extraneous duplicate. However there are a few requirements that must be met to recruit the Pokémon:
1) Your leader must land the attack (or use the item) that finishes it. This means if a teammate kills it or some sort of passive damage (weather, burn/poison, explosion damage) kills it, it won't have a chance to join the team.
2) Your leader must be directly adjacent to the Pokémon.
3) You must possess the Pokémon's Friend Area, with the exception of a couple of a legendaries.
4) You must have 3 or fewer Pokémon in your party at the time.
5) Your total team size must be 5 or less. (Most Pokémon have a size of 1, but some legendaries and larger Pokémon have a size of 4 or, more rarely, 2.)

... and then even after all of that the enemy only has a chance to join you. This chance increases with every 10 levels the party leader gets, up to a 24% flat addition at level 90+. There is also a post-game item, the Friend Bow, that adds a flat 10%. Some Pokémon, namely certain Legendaries and any second-stage Pokémon in a 3-stage line, have negative recruit rates, so in order to recruit them you'll need a high-level bonus and potentially also the Friend Bow. With just a few exceptions, fully-evolved Pokémon cannot be recruited, so getting them requires evolving lower-stage Pokémon. Add all this up and you can certainly see why it becomes difficult to catch 'em all!

And one other thing, as if that wasn't hell enough: If a recruit faints in a dungeon before you complete the dungeon, and you don't have Reviver Seeds, that's it - it's gone for good. So enjoy taking low-level recruits through high level dungeons without getting them killed!!!

On Friend Areas:
They're a specific map where Pokémon live. Pokémon only join your team if you have their Friend Area, as indicated before, with only a couple exceptions. Friend Areas are pretty cool because you can actually go visit them and look at your team members in their natural habitat, which you can't do in later games because they sadly got rid of them. :( I get why because it's easier that way and I guess they realized the first set of games were impossible to complete. (Nearly impossible at any rate.)
The Friend Area maps can all be found here, but I'll also make a point to show off each Friend Area after I get it filled.

So far, we have:
Mt. Cleft (Charmander, Larvitar, Aron lines)
Mt. Deepgreen (Geodude, Cubone, Gligar, Shuckle, Teddiursa, Spoink, Spinda lines)
Overgrown Forest (Scyther, Pinsir, Sudowoodo, Treecko, Heracross, Kecleon lines)
Power Plant (Magnemite, Voltorb, Elekid lines)
Safari (Nidoran, Doduo, Rhyhorn, Kangaskhan, Tauros, Miltank, Phanpy lines)
Thunder Meadow (Sentret, Electrike, Plusle, Minun, Mareep, Castform, Chimecho lines)
Wild Plains (Rattata, Ekans, Farfetch'd, Drowzee, Poochyena, Zigzagoon, Seviper, Zangoose lines)
Mist-Rise Forest (Caterpie, Weedle, Ledyba, Yanma, Wurmple lines).

Let's take some missions and see if we can't recruit some Pokémon!
Thunderwave Cave has the following recruitables: Rattata, Nidoran F, Poochyena, Voltorb, Elekid, Minun, all of which I have the Friend Areas to recruit.
Mt. Steel has Spearow, Baltoy, Zigzagoon, Aron, Geodude, Tyrogue, Beldum, Pinsir, Meditite. So far I can only recruit Zigzagoon, Aron, Geodude, and Pinsir.

We start out by going back to Thunderwave Cave...

... and this happens. And you'll see I have a NidoranF on the team, named Diane. (I forgot to take a screenshot of the recruit screen unfortunately.) I'm not good with names which is why I ask for suggestions! :p
Unfortunately nothing else joins the team before I finish the dungeon. Maybe we'll have some more luck at Mt. Steel?

(Before I go, I pick up the Friend Area Jungle, which can house Oddish, Bellsprout, Exeggcute, Tangela, Sunkern, and Tropius lines.)

We have a bit of luck! I name it Aaron because I'm eternally unoriginal.

And after several more fights we get this. I named it Hazy because that's my traditional nickname for Geodude, it's a long story don't ask.
Now that we have 4 team members, we can't recruit anything else in this dungeon (as in, no one will even offer to join the team), so let's just head for the end and hope we don't lose anyone along the way!
... And we don't so we successfully add these guys to our team.

I buy Beau Plains (Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Hoppip, Taillow, and Roselia lines) and head out to my next mission. I promise I won't go into detail about every mission in the future - only recap general highlights between plot points, but since this is the first recruitment session!! I figured I'd drag it out a bit.

Named Sword (traditional nickname which I picked up from someone else).
... and then I accidentally reset to my last save state. Let's try that again.
RIP Sword who lived about two seconds

and say hi to Sword 2.0 who is just named "Sword". Also PokéCube (from an LPer I like) the Voltorb.
Rattata and its Run Away friends kind of suck to have as team members because in this game Run Away makes the Pokémon run away from everything. But AI pathing sucks in this game so they often end up running into situations where they get themselves killed. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on Sword here.

In this game, seeing this screen means that plot is definitely about to happen.

Green having different text (even more cheery than normal) is also an indicator of that.

That Gengar sure looks familiar to me, dunno about the rest of you!

Medicham: Depressing, isn't it.
Gengar: Keh! Who'd run a rescue team from a dump like this? Unbelievable.

Excuse You we are doing the best we can. Plus do you not see all the torches it is rad as shit.
They then come up to bother us personally.

Green: Who are you people?
Medicham: Oh! Over there. A Mailbox~

Uh yeah this is kind of a residential place, that's to be expect-

Okay what the hell is this?

Green: Now wait a second! What do you think you're doing?!
Ekans: Yessss! Rescue job offers!

Uhhhh there's nothing in there but if you want to believe that, go ahead and help yourself...?
(I usually don't leave job offers in my Mailbox from day to day)

Medicham: Oo-la-la! Isn't that rather tasty~

Don't eat my mail please

Gengar: We'll have them all.
Green: Stop! Those were meant for us!
Don't butt in!
Gengar: Keh! It doesn't matter who does it!

I mean he has a point.

Medicham: We're a rescue team too, I'll have you know~
Ekans: ... But all we ever get up to is no good.
Wanna know how it works? If we have the cover of a rescue team, we can get away with so much more!

I'm glad you're willing to tell me that directly.

Medicham: We have our eyes on world domination~

seriously
SERIOUSLY
you're going to just TELL me that? Anyone? But especially US the PROTAGONISTS of this VIDEO GAME??? God

Green: Wha... World domination?!

Oh chill out you know as well as I do they're never going to accomplish it.

Gengar: Kekeh! You heard right!
That's why we're raking in the cash and adding to our gang!

you only have 3 members tho, good luck

The world will be ours!

also what the hell are you going to DO with it once you acquire it
oh and good luck beating some of those Pokémon in other parts of the world. Super Mystery Dungeon more or less confirmed that all four of the games take place in the same world and so you'd have to fight the likes of MD2's Wigglytuff. No one beats Wigglytuff. Ever.

The rescue team of evil! Team Meanies is who we are!

team meanies. TEAm mEANIES. Yeah
~~the blue meanies from the animated yellow submarine movie were better~~

See you around! Kekeh!

bye

they run off even after Green goes calling after them. alas

Green: ... They took off. What an unbelievable bunch.

They took everything!

Okay yeah they actually do steal part of your Mailbox if there's anything there. They take either the entirety of your accepted job offers or the ones just sitting in the Mailbox, can't remember which, doesn't really matter for me anyway. Green, don't be suckered in by their lies!

Luckily Pelipper arrives just then to alleviate our team from the injustice of having to walk all the way to the Pelipper Post Office to get rescue missions. There was much rejoicing.

But those guys... They'd better not try anything if we see them again.

Green you are directly weak to two of them I'd really not recommend picking a fight.

Following this we take two days' worth of missions...

... and we get a few team members out of it. (The Zigzagoon are Midnight and Longcat; the Meditite is Rebecca.) Along the way we also pick up the Friend Area Mt. Discipline (Machop, Tyrogue, Makuhita, and Meditite lines), as you might have guessed by the fact that we got a Meditite when we couldn't previously.
I can recruit Lairon by itself, so there's no real reason for me to go for two Aron here when I could just hold out for a Lairon here. However, my unofficial rule for this run is that I won't be turning down any recruit requests unless a recruitable evolution is significantly easier than evolving - such as the case of Shiftry, one of the few recruitable fully-evolved Pokémon, who is much easier to recruit outright than going through the hassle of attempting to get a Leaf Stone in this game.

After these two missions, we get some plot.

Green: Huh? Who was that?

Oh, hey. I guess Caterpie wasn't a one-off character after all. What do you know!

Caterpie: Please! Please help my friend!

... hello to you too, I guess.

Green: What's the matter?
Caterpie: I was playing with my friend Metapod...

of course it's someone else from your same evolutionary line

But Metapod got lost in the woods... He's still lost out there...

How did he get lost if you were right the fuck there

That laugh sounds familiar!

I knew it, you scoundrels!

Gengar: Have no fear! We're here to save your chum Metapod.

Who uses "chum" unironically except for villains though

Green: Hold on! Caterpie came to us for help!
Gengar: Keh! You think you can do this rescue with your amateur-level skills?

... Um, Metapod's just lost in the woods. That's all. It's really not that much more than that. And besides, if Caterpie and Metapod can be playing there without getting murdered, it really can't be that much worse than, say, Tiny Woods. Gengar I think your logic is falling a bit flat no offense

Green: What did you say?!
Gengar: It doesn't matter who does the rescuing, see?

Well no, except Caterpie wants our help specifically...?

The guy that does the rescuing gets to be the hero.

I thought you wanted to be the villains ~~number one~~ though

Listen, Caterpie. How about we do this?
How about you give the reward to the team that brings back your chum first?
Caterpie: But I... I don't have any money...
Gengar: Oh, don't you worry about that, my little friend!

"My little friend" is another one of those phrases said exclusively by villains. And the guy from Ratatouille I guess.

I'm sure we can persuade your parents to reward us with interest afterward, kekeh!

Gengar no, that is a dick move.

Oh, yeah. You can even join our team. There's an offer you can't refuse.

how about we don't quote far better "villains" from media please
Caterpie is shocked at this but doesn't say anything

When you join us, Caterpie, we'll let you be a big wheel in Team Meanies, kekekeke!

I have never before or since heard the word "wheel" used in any context like it's used in this one. Also I think that's an absolute lie. Don't listen Caterpie!

WE WILL NOT LOSE!!!

Gengar: [to Ekans and Medicham] Come on, move! Let's get this done, already!

They run off.

Caterpie: ...
Green: Don't worry. We'll save your friend first.
Red! Let's let going!

... and so we do. Time to enter a new dungeon!
though not before I pick up Mushroom Forest (Paras, Seedot, Shroomish lines) and Flyaway Forest (Pidgey, Hoothoot, Togepi, Natu, Murkrow, Swablu lines). Both of those open up my recruitment options in the dungeon to come a bit.

Let's go!

Gengar's gang should be in there already.
We need to hurry.

And so we go.

Let's do this.

Sinister Woods music

Recruitment options: Swinub, Oddish, Sudowoodo, Sentret, Silcoon, Cascoon, Shroomish, Ledyba, Wooper, Scyther, Hoothoot, Slakoth. Of these, I can recruit Oddish, Sudowoodo, Hoothoot, Ledyba, Shroomish, Scyther, and Sentret, which is a fairly wide variety; let's see if I have any luck as I traverse this dungeon.

So far nothing yet, but this did happen.

Eyyy! Named Joanne.

Also this, named Francis.

In some dungeons there are water tiles, which can be walked across by Water- and Flying-type Pokémon (and certain Water-affinity Pokémon, like Dratini). In most cases, like here, it doesn't really serve any navigational purpose, but sometimes you can cross water paths to move from one regular path to another for a shortcut, or to get away from enemies following you, or to acquire certain items in postgame dungeons which are protected by "moats" of sorts.

On the 13th floor, we're done with the dungeon and back into plot.

I wonder if Metapod is ahead...

... however, it looks like we aren't alone.

Nope, not by any means.

So, for you to go ahead... Well, we can't let that happen.
Green: Wh-what!

Are you really surprised, Green? There had to be a boss battle with them at some point!

Hey, Gengar! Why do you always mess with us?

They don't need a reason! Just like Team Skull. (The S/M one not the MD2 one.)

Medicham: Oh? Didn't we tell you? Our aim is world domination~

Yeah but that doesn't really answer Green's question sorry

Ekans: Caterpie's mama will give us a generous reward...

You don't know that for sure buddy.

And Caterpie will join us too... That brings us closer to our goal.

Not... really sure how rewards from a Butterfree who probably doesn't have all that much to offer and a baby Caterpie are going to help but whatever floats your boat guys

Gengar: Keke! And for that, your lot is in the way!
So sorry to say, but your party's over right here and now!
Say good-bye, Green!

Oh no, whatever shall we do!

oh right it's a Pokémon RPG

This battle ended up successful, but it was a little stressful. I started out the battle by swapping Red with Francis because the AI pathing doesn't know how to move Francis toward the opponent with this formation, but I accidentally took an extra step away from the battle and this made it harder to get back. In my effort to get back, Joanne died (though fortunately I had a Reviver Seed so it wasn't permanent) and almost died a second time (at which point Run Away kicked in, helpfully). After some careful maneuvering and attacking, though, the battle was won and wasn't too tricky. And both Francis and Joanne survived!! Excellent.

[Accidentally deleted this screenshot: it was of Gengar basically saying we won't get away with it and we'll pay for it or something.]
Oh boo hoo I'm so scared.... They run off.

Green: No one should hold us back now. Let's find Metapod.

Finding Metapod is not hard. Glad to see you un-lost yourself!!

Green: You must be Metapod.
Let's get you home. Caterpie was worried about you.
Metapod: Yay!
I was scared, so I kept my shell hardened... and waited and waited.

Isn't that all you do anyway?

Thank you!

... and conveniently we're back here.

Metapod: Thank you, Caterpie!
Caterpie: And thank you, Green and Red!
But I don't have any money...

You know that wasn't even part of the expectation until Gengar made it so, right?

Green: Oh, no, no. We don't need a reward.
We're happy to see that Metapod is back safe and sound.

Maybe you Green but personally I just did it for experience and friends.

Caterpie: ............ Cool...
You're even more cool than I thought!

Don't take our example tho. Money is cooler.

I want to go on rescues when I grow up!
Green: Hahaha! That would be great! Chase that dream!

we'll accept you with open arms!!!

I have an idea!
Red, we should do something with this place.

That was random. I thought you liked this house for me?? What is this shit

Green: We should make a proper rescue team base here. Something impressive.

EXCUSE YOU my TORCHES and FIRES EVERYWHERE ARE PLENTY INTIMIDATING

Caterpie: That's cool! A rescue team base is cool!

Everything is cool we get it.

I want to work here when I grow up!

Yeah we heard you before man.

Metapod: Me too! Me too!

Well that would make my life easier if you both did because then I'd only need to recruit one Caterpie/Metapod for Butterfree.

Green: Haha! That's what we'll do!
Let's work hard and build our own rescue team base!

... can't we get some Machoke to do it for us?? Come on I don't know shit about architecture or design or ... anything!

Metapod: Red and Green, thank you again!
Green: OK, bye! Be careful going home.

They head off.

Green: Sigh... Well, we ended up working for free, but that was the right thing to do.

Green I'mma give you a word of advice here. Shut up.

And we got to show Gengar's team a thing or two, so it's all good!

Yeah I'll admit that was pretty fun.

That was a tiring day. Let's do some more good tomorrow! See you!

Eh it took like 20 minutes. Whatever yeah I am in support of more sleep. Good night!!!

This is where I'll end for the day. Comment and don't forget to suggest nicknames for various things!
Some upcoming possibilities:
Farfetch'd
Teddiursa
Weedle
Yanma
Paras
Nidoran M
Electrike
Gligar

14/413 = 3.4%
Charmander (Red)
Rattata (Sword)
Nidoran F (Diane)
Geodude (Hazy)
Magnemite (Duracell)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Sentret (Joanne)
Ledyba (Francis)
Treecko (Green)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Zigzagoon -> Linoone (Longcat)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Meditite (Rebecca)

Carrier · Jan 9, 2017

Don't cutscenes count towards saving recruits? I'm a little shaky on this, since I haven't played on a while but I thought that once you went into a cutscene (or at least went into a Kangaskhan Rock zone) that the recruit ended its temporary status and became fully fledged, meaning even if it's killed it shows up in the friend area.

Edit: if I remember right, looking at the screen layout that includes your team should indicate if a member is currently permanent on not, depending on the border (I think?). Something to check next boss fight.

I'm super terrible with nicknames, but you could have Ursa Minor for Teddiursa.

Altissimo · Jan 10, 2017

Carrier: I'm pretty sure only Kangaskhan Rock counts toward saving recruits; when I was fighting Team Meanies I distinctly remember the hearts representing Francis and Joanne's health as being red, which indicates a recruit that's not a permanent team member yet. Regardless, I'll take a look next time I can, which might be a while since most upcoming boss fights have Kangaskhan Rocks beforehand!
Thanks for the name suggestion, too!

The next morning, we immediately start out with more plot.

Green: Huh? Who could that be?

It's an awful familiar face, that's who!

Green: That's right... Huh? Wait, aren't you...

We get a flashback to the incident in Pokémon Square with Jumpluff and Shiftry. You know, in case you forgot that we have, in fact, encountered a Jumpluff before.

I remember now! Jumpluff, we saw you in Pokémon Square.
We watched Shiftry agreeing to take on your rescue job.
Jumpluff: Yes. But Shiftry...
He hasn't come back yet from the rescue mission.

Say what? Wait, what am I talking about, we knew this would happen. It was a piece of plot taken by an NPC, of course they're going to fail.

Green: Are you serious?!

Oh don't act so surprised.

Jumpluff: Our friend Jumpluff got wedged between some rocks.

"Our" friend, please tell me this isn't another Dugtrio situation

We Jumpluff can go anywhere if we can catch a wind, but...
Even though the skies are filled with thunderclouds, for some odd reason, the winds haven't blown.
Green: Not even a breeze? That is strange...

Strange indeed!

Jumpluff: Shiftry's leafy fans can whip up powerful winds.
We thought Shiftry's wind would be able to dislodge our friend, but...
Green: But Shiftry hasn't returned...?
It doesn't sound like all that challenging of a rescue mission... It is strange...

Bruh this is the same face I always make.

Green: OK, then! We'll go look for them!
Jumpluff: R-really? Thank you!
Green: No problem! You can count on us!
Let's go, Red!

... and so we head off to our next plot dungeon! But not before picking up Tadpole Pond (Poliwag, Lotad, and Surskit lines), though.

You don't say. (I love the art for the outside of Silent Chasm just sayin)

Though it doesn't look like a canyon so much as a cave, really

Jumpluff: Yes... I'm sorry to ask, but please help.
Green: It'll be fine.
Let's go, Red!

What now?

Green: Yes? What is it?
Jumpluff: There's something I forgot to mention...
This canyon is known as the Silent Chasm, but...
It's rumored that an amazing monster sleeps here.

It's also rumored that you can catch Mew in Red and Blue by going to Bill's Secret Garden. We can't believe everything we hear on the Internet, Jumpluff!

Green: M... monster?!

Oh don't tell me you don't realize the issue here. Come on Green.

Jumpluff: Yes, but! It's only folklore!

Then why bring it up at all?

It's also true that Shiftry hasn't returned...

NOT HELPING

I just thought I should let you know...

Cool. Thanks. Thanks, I'm so glad. Great.

Green are you okay over there

Jumpluff: Oh! What's wrong?!
Green: It's my stomach! It suddenly cramped up! Owowow...

Wuss, get over it. You wanted to be a rescue team. Stop trying to find excuses to get out of rescuing!

I think my breakfast was spoiled or something...

That's an unfortunate side effect of living in a wilderness like this. Get over yourself.

Say, Red, you're feeling sick too, aren't you?

Say what now?

Both options lead to pretty funny events, I'm going the "my stomach hurts too" route.

Green: See... Red is hurting too.
I'm sorry, but we won't be able to handle this rescue...
Jumpluff: Is that so?
But Red...
Hasn't had anything to eat yet this morning.

... welp

Green: Owowow... I guess the cramping settled down...
Hahahahaha...

well that was fun

Green: So, anyway, you said there may be a monster. What is it like?

Bro all of the rumors on this planet are different from one another, Jumpluff won't be any help

Jumpluff: I don't know very much at all...

Just that it might exist.

It is an old folktale. I wouldn't know if it existed or not.
Green: OK... Well, it can't be helped.
Let's just hope that monster doesn't exist.

That's a bit optimistic but ok

Jumpluff: My friend Jumpluff should be around B10F. Please take care!
Green: OK! Gotcha!
Let's get going, Red.

... and into the dungeon we go.

Silent Chasm music

Recruitable here: Farfetch'd, Teddiursa, Weedle, Yanma, Gloom, Houndour, Poliwag, Spinarak, Trapinch, Paras. Of these, I can recruit Farfetch'd, Teddiursa, Weedle, Yanma, Poliwag, and Paras now.

Finally! That took way longer than it should have. Named it Shade.
Also I get killed by a Poliwag before this (thankfully I had a Reviver Seed). Don't underestimate them, with Bubble (a ranged attack, and of course STAB super-effective against Red) and Hypnosis they can be deadly.

Huh, I don't often get Paras this early on in the game. Named it France.
And then it almost immediately got killed by the Spinarak and Yanma adjacent to it. Quality!

However, France survives until the end of the dungeon.
... I can't say this really looks like a chasm or a canyon. Or a place where "the sky is filled with thunderclouds but the winds haven't blown". It looks more like a bad cave than any of those.

Oh, hi. ... You look upset.

Look, our recruits are here! (I quite like that detail in these games.) Also does Jumpluff look all right to you, Green?!

Jumpluff: Yes... I'm fine, but...
Green: Great! Your friend is waiting for you.

Green did you not hear that "but". How about we take a listen.

Jumpluff: Shiftry is in the back...

Oh yeah, him.

Green: Huh? Shiftry?
Let's go!

"snap out of it", Shiftry just looks dead.

Shiftry: ... Urrrgh. Forget about me...
Get away from here!

Wait shit what?

Green: Get... Get away?!

Then this happened. It's just a power outage Green chill

Something: Gyaoooooooh!
Shiftry: It's coming!
Something: Move aside, you!
He dared to disturb my sleep!
I have no mercy for meddlers! And that includes you!
Gyaooooooh!

Shiftry disappears, and... well. That certainly is a Zapdos. But why the hell was it sleeping underground?

Zapdos: I am Zapdos! The embodiment of lightning!
If you wish to save Shiftry, then scale Mt. Thunder!

Oh, that makes more sense. I guess Mt. Thunder is its real home. Silent Chasm is its vacation destination.

Zapdos screams and flies off, leaving us here in abject confusion and probably terror.

Green: Zapdos...
So that's the legendary monster...

You don't seem terribly fazed, Green. It's a bird.

Next thing that happens, though, we have returned to our base. And our recruits are gone. I guess they went to their Friend Areas but is there any reason they can't stay to witness the plot with the rest of us? :c

Jumpluff: But even though I'm safe, Shiftry is in trouble...
Green: Please tell us. Exactly what happened?
Jumpluff: ... Yes...
Shiftry whipped up winds with his fans...
And released me from between the rocks.

You know just a thought but couldn't a strong Pokémon just have moved the rocks? Like, I dunno, Team ACT's Tyranitar or something?

But those winds tore a thundercloud in two...

1) A thundercloud, underground?
2) What

And that was when that monster appeared in the sky.

Wait so if Zapdos was there before we got there. Did it like, just toy with Shiftry like a cat toys with prey prior to actually stealing him???

Green: That monster... It said it was Zapdos...

We have to respect its name Green. it's Zapdos.

Who's there!!!!

Oh ok it's just Mr. 3,000 IQ And Friends.

Alakazam: Zapdos... It's one of the legendary bird Pokémon.

~~they're only a bird trio after Arcanine got demoted from legendary status and Moltres replaced it and that's a theory I'll keep believing until I hear a convincing argument to the contrary~~

I heard it had been sleeping for a long time...

In an underground thundercloud apparently. (It was a long vacation.)

Green: So Shiftry woke it up?

I mean I'd be pissed too if someone woke me up while I was on vacation.

Alakazam: No. Shiftry's winds were only the trigger.

... so in other words Shiftry woke it up.

To begin with, the absence of winds there was unnatural.

IT WAS AN UNDERGROUND CAVE, WHAT PART OF THAT DO WE NOT GET

It must have been caused by the rash of natural disasters recently.

Ok a lot of this game's natural disasters I can get. Earthquakes, fissures. Fires. Things like that. Those are indeed natural disasters that can happen in real life. But I've never heard of "no wind" as being a real thing that happens and screws people over, I dunno about you

Zapdos is enraged from having been awoken from its sleep.

I mean, yeah. I get that.

Shiftry must be saved.

Ehhhhhh

Tyranitar: But Zapdos won't be easy. Its electric attacks are wicked nasty.

"wicked nasty", now there's some words I haven't heard like that in a while. Anyway yeah I guess you guys don't really have type synergy to defend against Electric, huh. Except for the part where Tyranitar is Rock and Zapdos is Flying. Secondary types matter!

Alakazam: I know that. We will need to be cautious.
Green: We'll go too! We'll help Shiftry!

I mean hey why not what's the worst that could happen
(It's not like Zapdos' secondary type is a real threat to Green or anything, no)

Alakazam: What?! That is dangerous!
Zapdos is powerful. It will be too much for your skill level.

You'd say that even if I had somehow ground to level 100. That's bull.

Green: Hey! We're not that weak!

Well maybe Red isn't but Green has less than stellar defenses even by MD standards.

Who wants to bet that if I go the "my stomach hurts" route, Green is just going to yell at me or accuse me of lying or something
(That's what happens if you pick it. I opted for the "I'm not scared" route.)

Charizard: Have you ever been hit by an electric blast?

Went with "No problem".

Tyranitar: Zapdos is wickedly tough!

And again, "I'm not scared".

Green: We're a rescue team too!
We want to help Shiftry!
Alakazam: ......
Fine. I see that you have courage.

Courage doesn't always help as much as it should, especially against an electric chicken thing, but whatever ~~and an electric chicken that's Flying and not Fairy like Tapu Koko to boot~~

Green: Yes!
Alakazam: Our two teams should make our ways separately through Mt. Thunder.

That's a shame, it'd be pretty cool to have a five-person party going through the dungeon. Later games were a lot better about integrating NPCs into dungeon gameplay, and it was pretty cool, even if some of them were escort-esque at times.

We will go when we have geared up for battle.
Knowing how strong our opponent is, we have no choice but to be cautious.

Yeah uh I would certainly hope so.

You should make way for Mt. Thunder only when you are fully prepared.
Our objective is to rescue Shiftry! Let us find success!

I see Alakazam is one of those "too good for contractions" types. Whatever - let's do it!

Green: Yes! I'm getting excited over this!

Green stop Zapdos is going to wreck you.

Red! Let's do our best!

Following this we fade out and have a night's sleep. The next morning...

Eh. Passable.

OK... We should be heading to Mt. Thunder to the Shiftry rescue, right?
But Alakazam said that should be properly prepared before we try...
What should we do? We can go to Mt. Thunder right now or later. It's up to you.
But anyway, let's do our best like always!

The next plot thing is, of course, to go up Mt. Thunder. However I'm going to take a short break before going and do a couple of missions. My objective is to get Red and Green to level 15. They're at 14, so it shouldn't take a very long time. I can also use this time to attempt to pick up a few more recruits.

We head to Sinister Woods for our first day. Before that, I pick up the Ravaged Field (Spearow, Houndour, Skarmory lines) and Rub-a-Dub River (Goldeen, Totodile, Illumise, Volbeat lines) Friend Areas.

This happens during our Sinister Woods mission. Well, that was quicker than I expected. After I finish here, the next thing we do will be go to Mt. Thunder!

Well... this isn't the best of situations. Regardless, I name it Toad. And after some careful manipulating of my team members' attack options, I do make it out of this alive and with Toad still alive as well. Hooray!

Oh, wow, that was quick.
Named Portobello.

We finish the rest of the dungeon easily and head back.
Next time: Mt. Thunder!
Possible recruits in Mt. Thunder (for nickname purposes): Weedle, Nidoran M, Electrike, Gligar.

Comment and don't forget to suggest names!

18/413 = 4.4%
Charmander (Red)
Rattata (Sword)
Nidoran F (Diane)
Paras (France)
Geodude (Hazy)
Magnemite (Duracell)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Sentret (Joanne)
Ledyba (Francis)
Yanma (Shade)
Treecko (Green)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Zigzagoon -> Linoone (Longcat)
Shroomish (Toad)
Shroomish -> Breloom (Portobello)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Meditite (Rebecca)

Hydrachomp · Jan 10, 2017

Gotta say, really enjoy reading this every time it comes out. Everything is well written with great commentary, so hopefully you'll be able to complete your quest. Haven't played these games in ages, so it's great to catch up with the mechanics and the story itself. As for nicknames... I'm pretty awful at coming up with them, but I'll try my best to come up with a few.
Some suggestions:

Farfetch'd - I always call mine after vegetables, so something along the lines of Leek or Scallion.
Gligar - In my case Pokemon that remind me of animals, in this case of scorpions/bats, often have names related to the Latin names of those animals. In this case Chirops (bat) or Scorpio/Scorpia(e).
Weedle - Bean, no explanation for this, cuz I really don't have one.
Nidoran M - As I always nickname Nidoran M/F after duos and you already nicknamed Nidoran F 'Diane', my suggestion would be Ban or Meliodas. This is a reference to the anime the Seven Deadly sins.
Elektrike - Ravi, after a friend's dog.

Hope you'll like at least one of them and good luck with your Let's Play.

Altissimo · Jan 12, 2017

Hydrachomp: Glad to see you're enjoying it! I'm hoping to be able to complete this... though with school starting up again next week that might get in the way of me being able to do that in a timely manner. I definitely plan to follow through with this though.
I like your nickname suggestions, and I'll be sure to use them when I manage to recruit those Pokémon!

Our next goal is Mt. Thunder. The smart thing for me to do would be to bring a friend so that I can be guaranteed to have assistance on the Zapdos fight, but I'm not smart, so I'm going in with just Red and weak-to-flying Green. Suicide time let's go!

... though I do pick up the Magnetic Quarry (Beldum line) Friend Area first, not that it really matters for this dungeon, and Transform Forest (Eeveelutions) as well. At this point, there are only 2 Friend Areas that I can buy in the main game. The rest are all post-game buys or require another method to obtain.

But no one cares about that, we want to see the dungeon!

Mt. Thunder has some of my favorite graphics by the way.

I wonder... Is Alakazam's team already on their way?

Well they probably didn't stop to take a mission like we did so probably.

Zapdos... It sounds very tough...
Brr... I'm shaking...

You should be, you're gonna die. Sorry.

I can't be scared now.
Our objective is simple. We're rescuing Shiftry.

but who wants to bet there will also be a boss fight too, I mean this is a legendary we're talking about, they don't just show up only for you to not battle them

Red, let's try our best!

HERE WE GO, LEEROOOOOOY JEEEENKIIINS

Ok this isn't as suicidal as I thought.

Mt. Thunder music
(Side note, this is one of my favorite tracks in the whole game. It's just so perfectly mood-setting. I get this image of our team climbing up through rocks at the base of the mountain where grass is sparse and lightning constantly flashes overhead. It's great.)

So what I'd like to do is recruit an Electrike, because their Lightningrod means that Zapdos can't threaten me with any Electric attacks (Lightningrod draws all Electric attacks - including Thunder Wave - used anywhere on the entire floor to the Lightningrod Pokémon, and they inflict no damage). Hopefully I'll be able to do that. If not... well I don't know let's just hope I get lucky and also not die!

Recruitables: Weedle, Nidoran M, Electrike, Cacnea, Pidgeotto, Stantler, Gligar, Growlithe. Of these, I can recruit Weedle, Nidoran M, Electrike, and Gligar at the moment.

... unfortunately, I made it to floor 5 without any successful recruits. Weedle, Electrike and Nidoran stop showing up after 4. So my only chance left is to get a Gligar later in the dungeon.

... Which we do. Named Chirops as per Hydrachomp's suggestion!
Sadly we don't have another shot at a recruit in this dungeon, so we'll be going into the Zapdos fight with just these three. But I believe in Chirops!!!!!

and actually we get so lucky with Gligar that this happens. But this is a game before Gliscor, and so we don't need the extra Gligar, unfortunately. Sorry!

So Mt. Thunder introduces a new mechanic. In some dungeons (though in reality only 6 in this game, but more in the sequel), after passing through a certain number of floors, you can reach a midpoint. At the midpoint, your health, Belly, and PP will all be restored. Any recruits that you picked up during the first half of a dungeon will be considered full-fledged team members (and therefore not disappear if they die after this point) if you get them this far, as Carrier indicated earlier. (I'm not sure why Chirops isn't showing up on this screen though. I thought that was a thing that happens, but maybe it's only MD2. He definitely didn't die, I know that much.) The Kangaskhan Rock there also serves as a save point, which is convenient if you die a million times on boss fights or are trying to recruit the dungeon boss and having little luck, so that you don't need to trek back through the whole dungeon to get that far.
Let's continue.

Mt. Thunder Peak music (another good track!)

There are only two floors of the Peak (to contrast the main dungeon's 10) before reaching the top. However, some of these enemies are tough and thus these floors can easily drain your health and Belly.
Red and Green level up on the way to the peak, which is nice. Green picks up Pursuit over Leer; Pursuit basically acts as a multi-turn Counter, which can be helpful for Boss fights. Hopefully.

... and we have arrived. (Not shown in this still image: constantly flashing lightning in the background.)

Hey! Zapdos! Where are you?!
We came to rescue Shiftry! Come out!

Green maybe you shouldn't be taunting the giant electric chicken like that, just a thought.

Especially not if you get scared as soon as it shows.

Green I know you're weak to Flying but seriously?

Green: Not scared... You don't frighten me!

GREEN NO THAT'S EVEN WORSE COME BACK

We're a Pokémon rescue team!
Zapdos: You must be determined, to utter such words.
Then you shall answer...
To my great and righteous fury!

... and fight time. Boss music

So, since Green made the idiotic mistake of moving right next to Zapdos and thus beginning the battle that way, we have to use some clever AI tactics to get him to back off. I go to Green's AI options and set on "Get away", which will make him run away from friends and foes alike.
Meanwhile, I use Growl to start the battle. It has a room-wide effect, so it's guaranteed to hit Zapdos.

At the end of the turn, here's what our setup looks like. By changing Green's tactic back to "Let's go together", the default option (the Pokémon follows the leader at all times and never deviates), I can get him to move back to Red's side and attack from there. Meanwhile, I set Chirops to only be able to use Sand-Attack. Accuracy debuffs are pretty helpful in this game on boss fights, and Chirops' only attacks are Sand-Attack and Poison Sting, so it's a safe choice. Meanwhile, Red uses Ember.
Zapdos uses Agility, which doesn't mean a whole lot when it's not moving (Agility boosts movement speed, not attack speed). However, it does allow Zapdos to use a second attack immediately after Agility. Zapdos uses Thundershock on Red... and paralyzes her. Great. Paralysis in this game means you basically lose a turn.

In that lost turn, Green uses Pursuit (which I wanted him to do), Chirops uses another Sand-Attack, and Zapdos... kills Red with Peck. Fortunately, I had a Reviver Seed, but this means that if Red or Green die again, I'll have to restart the battle. The death and subsequent revival does cure Red's paralysis, though, so I guess that's a good thing...?

On the next turn, I set Green to use Quick Attack and Pound exclusively, and Chirops to use Poison Sting, while I have use Ember. Zapdos uses another Agility... and uses that time to use Thunder Wave on Red. This is getting annoying.
In Red's lost turn, Green and Chirops inflict some more damage, and Zapdos attacks Red with Peck. Can we please stop attacking Red now?? At the end of the turn, Red is still paralyzed, which means she can use items, but not attacks. I take advantage of this to throw a Blast Seed (30 flat damage, still high when my teammates' attacks are dealing 15-30 damage) at Zapdos, while my teammates attack again. Chirops' Poison Sting poisons, which is kind of nice, except poison is effectively useless for boss battles in this game since it doesn't inflict passive damage every turn. The only immediate benefit of poison is that it inflicts 4 damage on Zapdos immediately after it gets poisoned, which doesn't mean a lot when it has such high HP. (Poison and burn inflict flat damage, not percentage damage like in the main games, so they are much more deadly to low-HP Pokémon than high-HP ones. And bosses can have HP that runs into the thousands in these games.)

Zapdos uses the fearsome Peck on Green... and this happens. Fuck yeah Pursuit! 41 damage is more than any of my individual attacks have done up until now. I'm pretty pleased with this.
Red is still paralyzed, so another turn passes, Green misses unfortunately, and then Zapdos hits Green with Thunder Wave. Okay, Zapdos hasn't missed a single attack so far, what happened to those Sand-Attacks Chirops??? Especially considering Green missed with no accuracy debuffs????? Oh well, at least Zapdos didn't use an attack move. Green is kind of useless for a couple of turns, but Red recovers from paralysis, so she can attack again.
... And as it turns out, between Red's next Ember and Chirops' Poison Sting, Zapdos goes down. Hooray!

Huh, I guess we did beat Alakazam And Friends to the summit of Mt. Thunder! That seems... wrong somehow.

Zapdos: Urrggh! Uwoah!

Then, <spoiler>like all the bosses in this game</spoiler> Zapdos is completely fine after being wrecked by us and is even about to destroy us all with real electric attacks. Charizard however stands up to it. Which is a bit questionable considering Charizard is weak to Electric but w/e

Oh shut the hell up you were the one that just threatened us with electric attacks after we beat your ass

I've calmed down. Take Shiftry back.
You kids... You've impressed me.

Not sure if I should be scared or not by that!!

But... Things won't be this easy next time.

Zapdos is actually right here, it gets a level boost for the postgame. Probably because if it didn't it would be trivial to just climb Mt. Thunder again and attempt to recruit it before you've even beaten the game and this isn't Super Mystery Dungeon so that would be broken as hell.

I will go all out next time, so you'd best be prepared!

Hell yeah I absolutely will be!!

Until then, you'd better hone your skills!

Challenge accepted!

and then Zapdos flies off

and Shiftry reappears in a beam of light.

rip Chirops doomed to never approach the plot like the rest of us. 20 feet from stardom indeed

Shiftry: Ungh... Uh, yeah... Somehow, I am...
Green: I'm glad you're safe!
Tyranitar: But that was an eye-opener.
Driving off that Zapdos.
Charizard: I agree.

what can I say
we are number one

Charizard: You're awfully strong for a plain Charmander.

Buddy I am level 16 and have my FRLG moveset it's really not true.
Also Chirops was the one to land the finishing blow. How about we recognize those who really helped?

Alakazam: ......
I sensed it when we first met...
Perhaps... You aren't a Pokémon, are you?

What do you mean I'm not a Pokémon, I'm clearly a Charmander we have ESTABLISHED THIS - oh you mean not a Pokémon originally, don't you

Green: Wow! How can you tell that?!
But you're right. Red isn't a Pokémon.

He's just a mute human who inexplicably sits at the top of Mt. Silver all the time.
(Fun fact: I beat him in Gold about an hour and a half before this writing! With a team of level 55 Flying-types, that was fun.)

Red is a human.

Was. You can't use present tense if I'm currently in a Charmander body.

Shiftry: What?!
Charizard: A human?!

It's called cosplay. This is my most impressive one yet, I even got the fire-breathing apparatus working and everything.

Tyranitar: Is that possible? Can something like that happen?

Oh please don't tell me you have never heard of nerd conventions before.

Green: Red doesn't understand very much, either.

Hey I can speak for myself thank you!!

Red woke up one morning here as a Pokémon...
... And doesn't remember anything about being a human.

Other than that I was one which is a bit of a bizarre thing to remember at the expense of everything else but w/e

Green: Oh, wait! Lombre said something in the square!
He said Alakazam knows everything!

No Green he said that Alakazam has memorized everything that has happened in the world. Being a history nerd is far, far different from knowing everything.

Alakazam, could you figure out why Red became a Pokémon?

Like I said before, I think the real question is "how" not "why" but that's just me.

Alakazam: ......
No... I can't determine that.

But can you at least tell me how it's physically possible, inquiring minds want to know!

Green: Oh... I thought you would know...
Alakazam: However... There is a way for unveiling the truth.
Green: Oh, really? How?

Green I must say you sound more excited to figure out what my deal is than I am, and that's weird. Stop it.

Alakazam: Make way to the Hill of the Ancients.

That's such a rad name man. Hill of the Ancients

There, you will find a Pokémon that stares into the sun all day...

Ok that's less rad. I hope it has eye protection. A lot of it.

Alakazam: A Pokémon who is said to see into the future.

I mean if I stared at a sun long enough I'd eventually think I was staring into the future too but that's just my opinion

Xatu is his name. He should shed light on your puzzling friend.

Can we not talk about me like I'm not here please.

Green: OK! So we should go see Xatu.
Red, let's go! Off to the Hill of the Ancients!

Wh- now? Buddy I just beat up Zapdos I need my beauty sleep!

We can't waste any time! Let's go back quick!
Shiftry, you too. Let's hurry back.
Shiftry: Uh... Yeah... I guess we should...

Fine but I'm staying here

No! No!

Don't just stand there. Let's go home.

I'm not agreeing to thissssssssss...........!
[Red was forcibly dragged off by Green and Chirops (who for some reason also wanted to torture Red).]

Team ACT however gets to do what Red doesn't and hangs out at the top of the mountain having a conversation that exists for the player's benefit.

Charizard: I don't think you're completely ignorant about this.
...... You know something, don't you?
Alakazam: There is something that concerns me. But it should go unspoken for now.

Ah right so that the player can learn there's a mystery but have 0 idea what it is even though it would probably make more sense for Alakazam to tell his teammates what's up. Logic!

Alakazam: ... For their sake...

Bruh we aren't even here we left the dungeon (involuntarily in Red's case) so what harm would speaking it do. Is it like one of those things where you hope that by not saying it it won't happen? Bc this is a video game so whatever it is it's gonna happen!!! Conservation of detail and all that.

Whatever fine so I don't get to find out what it is. Later maybe.

We do actually go back to the team base and not the Hill of the Ancients, fortunately for Red.

how many ways can one Pokémon say "good morning"

Yesterday, I did some checking around.

Ok so where was Red during all of this. Like when did you find the time to do this without me being there for it OR KNOWING. I'm confus

It turns out that the Hill of the Ancients is apparently in the Great Canyon.

Dunno how a hill can be in a canyon but w/e.

We should go there right away! Off to the Great Canyon!

And ignoring Red entirely, Green leaves. Red however stays put.

However Green isn't entirely oblivious.
("It's OK, it's nothing.")

Huh?
Weren't you about to ask me something?

... the hell kind of questions are those? Alright, time to be an awkward weirdo and go for "Why are you so happy?"

I still don't understand the point of any of this conversation. "It's not for you..."

What

It lets me try harder to do my best because it's not about me.

I'm still extremely confused

We're friends, aren't we, Red?

Yeah but what's your point

I want to do my best because it's for you, Red.

How sweet!

That's what this is about. So, as always, let's try our best to do well!

Sure, why not.

Then we regain control. However, we're not going to Great Canyon quite yet. I have a sort of ritual I go through when I play this game involving preparing myself for certain plot points. I try to be level 15 for Mt. Thunder, and I try to have all the Friend Areas purchased for Great Canyon. I only have two left to buy, but that's what I'm going to try to do: get the money for them.

As it turns out I had enough money for one of the two, so I pick up Decrepit Lab (Abra, Mr. Mime, Ditto, Porygon lines). The only one remaining is the most expensive, so it may take a day or two of missions.

For now, I take some missions at Silent Chasm in the hopes I can recruit some more things. Since I'm not about to advance the plot any further, I am free to take multiple missions at Silent Chasm in one go, so I take two.

... unfortunately while I do complete both missions I don't succeed at adding any friends to the team. :( sad

This happens though.
Basically when you start the game you're Normal Rank. Every successful mission gives you Rescue Points based on its difficulty (difficulty is determined by dungeon difficulty + floor you need to go to) and if you get enough Rescue Points you go up in rank. Unlike in MD2, there's no benefit to going up in rank (some sites *cough Serebii cough* claim it affects recruitment rate but that is a lie), but if you get to the highest rank you do get a reward. I'll be trying to do that in this run as well.

We still need some more money before we can buy the last Friend Area, so I accept a mission at Mt. Thunder. Maybe we'll have more luck with recruits this time?

Yes - and on the last possible floor where I could have. Named Ravi as per Hydrachomp's suggestion.
However, Ravi is the only recruit we pick up this time around.

Following this, we now have enough money to pick up the last Friend Area, Peanut Swamp (Wooper, Mudkip, Barboach lines). So, with that, I've put off Great Canyon long enough - next time we'll be going there! I'm cutting here because there's a lot that happens after Great Canyon and I want to get it all done in one go.

Comment and don't forget to suggest names! Upcoming recruit options: Phanpy, Doduo, Murkrow, Heracross, Tauros.

20/413 = 4.8%
Charmander (Red)
Rattata (Sword)
Nidoran F (Diane)
Paras (France)
Geodude (Hazy)
Magnemite (Duracell)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Sentret (Joanne)
Ledyba (Francis)
Yanma (Shade)
Gligar (Chirops)
Treecko (Green)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Zigzagoon -> Linoone (Longcat)
Shroomish (Toad)
Shroomish -> Breloom (Portobello)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Electrike (Ravi)

Altissimo · Jan 14, 2017

This update's going to be a bit long, so buckle up.

Let's take on Great Canyon!

The peak is called the Hill of the Ancients.

The peak... of the canyon????

According to Alakazam, the Hill of the Ancients is on 13F.
Xatu should be there. Red, let's do our best!

Let's go!!!

Great Canyon music
(Another amazing track. Be sure to give it a listen.)

Recruitables: Skiploom, Dunsparce, Doduo, Phanpy, Murkrow, Heracross, Tauros. Of these, I can pick up Phanpy, Doduo, Murkrow, Heracross, and Tauros on this trip.
You know, assuming I get lucky.
It's not very helpful when Green kill-steals with Quick Attack (because I'm too dumb to turn it off apparently) though >:( And then I end up running out of floors to get Doduo and Phanpy. Great

Yasss!!! Named her Elphaba because Wicked.
I was especially hoping to pick up recruits here because having recruits at the end of Great Canyon specifically is always fun and you'll see why in a bit.

oh if only you were something else or Honchkrow existed in this game :(

While trying to recruit it, a Tauros murdered me with Horn Attack and I had to use a Reviver Seed. Sadly upon defeating it it did not join my team but Red did gain a level off it and learn Smokescreen (to replace Growl)!

However despite Tauros being very common on the last few floors and having a decently high recruit rate, none join our team, which is sad because Tauros is awesome.

Elphaba is unfortunately covered by Green's dialogue box. Well whatever, we have arrived at the peak of Great Canyon. Somehow.

This is the Hill of the Ancients...
Look! Over there!

Well that certainly is a Xatu staring into a gigantic sunset.

Red! Is that Xatu over there?

It's the only Pokémon here!

Oh this is going to be fun isn't it

Green: Hello?
Xatu: ..................
Green: Maybe he doesn't hear me? Hello?!
Xatu: ........................

I don't think hearing you is the issue Green just a thought

Green will you stop being so rude already
Also you're about to fall off that cliff be careful!

Xatu: .....................
Green: It's useless. He's not responding at all.
Maybe he's sleeping while on his feet?

I mean that's not really uncommon for animals

... oh, great, I guess this is happening. Tickle him.

Green: Huh? Tickle him? ... OK. It's worth a try.

Bruh no I was joking don't - don't do it Green -

Green: Tickle, tickle, tickle.
Xatu: ...............
Green: Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle.
Xatu: ....................................
Green: [extreme amount of tickling]
Xatu: [equally extreme amount of ellipses]
Green: Tickle, tickle, tickle......
Gasp, gasp...
It's no good, Red. He's not responding.

Well we tried anyway. Alright let's just shove him off the cliff the-

Not in front of the kids Xatu!

Green: Huh?

Don't look, Green!!!

Xatu: Snort... Giggle...

Oh he's just laughing, carry on then.

Xatu: Bufufufufufufufufufufu...
Green: He's finally laughing now...
Is he... just dense?

Green he can hear you! Stop being so rude this instant.

Suddenly Xatu flares his wings and screeches (which he did too quickly for me to screenshot).

Green: Yikes!
Xatu: Witness it...
The sinking of the sun...

I don't have to stare into it like you though, do I?

Indeed.
I am Xatu.

Uhhhhhhh we were kind of told you would be here. And it's not like you're making any attempt to disguise yourself as something that's not a Xatu so...?

Green: Guessed your identity? That's a bit much.

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Xatu: ... No. I can tell this.
You there.
You are no ordinary Pokémon.

Well I'll be damned.
Also I guess Elphaba gets to learn this for the first time as well. Wouldn't that be great if you got your ass kicked by some Pokémon, decided to join their team, and then realized their leader was a human? Sure she's going through some emotional whiplash right about now.

Green: Huh?! How can you tell that?
Xatu: All day... I stare at the sun unblinking.

That doesn't answer Green's question and in fact just raises more.

It gives me sight for all things.

That doesn't answer it either, if you tried that in the real world you'd just go blind!

The past and the future, too.

I'm calling bullshit.

Green: If you know please tell us, Xatu!

Come on Green isn't it obvious Xatu is a scam artist?

Next to me is my friend Red...

I can speak for myself!!!!

My friend woke up one morning as a Pokémon.
And, without any memory as a human.

Other than the fact that I was human which is still a bit nonsensical if you stop to think about it but whatever

Xatu, you can tell, can't you? Please tell us.
Xatu: .....................

Hey! You can't fool us!!! We already know you are listening and can talk.

The calamities of nature. There have been many in recent times.
They occur because the world's balance is upset.

The hell does that mean?

And your becoming a Pokémon...
They are tied together. Inseparably so.

Well isn't that just dandy.

Green: Wait. Red becoming a Pokémon and... the natural disasters... are related?!
What do you mean?!

Related doesn't mean much, Green! There are a lot of explanations for that. Don't sound so shocked.

What does Red have to do with the natural disasters we've been seeing?

To be fair I would like to know that.

But it doesn't look like Xatu wants to tell me. I came here to get answers dammit!

Green: What is it?!
Why did you clam up?! Please, tell us! Please!

Glad to see that Green isn't taking this injustice against my fair self either.

Xatu: There are bigger concerns... I am afraid...

Oh come on you have time to tell me both the truth and the bigger concerns. Excuses excuses.

The world's balance... It must be restored.

Yeah we kinda gathered that tbh

Or the unthinkable shall befall our world.

That kinda tends to happen when you mess with the natural order of things! Shit gets bad real fast!

Green and Elphaba display surprise at this but Red is unfazed. Red do you know something we don't

Green: Huh...? You're serious?!
The world... The unthinkable is coming?

It's a stay puft marshmallow man (get it because in ghostbusters you weren't supposed to think so it's the unthinkable and... I'll show myself out now)

Xatu: Every day I see it. The same future every day...
I dread it...

Well then take action instead of just staring into the sun hoping things will change, hey?

Green: Xa-Xatu...

Well... great. That's just what I wanted to hear. Amazing.

Green: The world's destruction...?

Unfortunately, it seems we are not alone.

That Red... was human...

Eh yeah it's a common thing where I'm from

I'm scared just based on that face alone.
He cackles to himself and leaves, and we head back to the team base.

Unrelated: When you beat certain bosses they'll have a little portrait of them added to the continue screen.

Let's keep on doing good... Actually, I want to ask you something.

Well this is different. What's up?

Eh, a bit I guess

Yes, I guess you would be concerned too, Red.
There's supposed to be a link between the world's balance being upset and how you became a Pokémon...
And because of the world's upset balance, natural disasters have been occurring...
And more than anything, he said that the world will be ruined if the balance isn't restored...
I want to do something... But there's something I don't understand.
So uh... The world's balance... What is it?

... what do you mean, what is it?!

This is one of my favorite dialogue trees. If you pick "Don't know", Green's just like "Yeah I guess you wouldn't" and we continue on our merry way.
But if you pick "Of course", something else happens.

Oh, really?! Red, you know?!

Yup, because that makes total sense.
Picking that, Red makes the most overdramatic pose ever pointing to the sky, it's great.

In space...? Like where the stars and the moon are? That space?

Like there's another one!

Hmm... I'm getting even more confused...

Makes sense to me!

Huh?! Go out to space?!

These are equally good but I'm gonna go with "On guts". If you pick "fly there" then Green's like "How?!" and Red suggests Pelipper. That works, right?

What are you saying?! Guts?!
If that's all it took, none of this would be necessary!

Awww, you got me!
Well that was fun.

So, you don't know either, Red...

I mean it's a very vague concept, bullshitting my way around it like a certain spiky-haired defense attorney seemed the appropriate method.

I can't imagine what the world's balance is about...
To be honest, I don't know what we should do...
I guess we'll just have to do what we can.

That's pretty vague too bruh, what do you mean by that

One thing at a time...

Then I get control again. Let's go pick up some rescue missions.

This happens on the way to the post office. Le gasp! What could possibly be the matter?

Snubbull: I always thought it was only a legend.
Bellsprout: But could it be true? I'm having a hard time believing it...

Your dialogue from afar was all very good and vague but we have real questions.

Lombre: Well, you know the Ninetales legend? That old story?

lmao no

Green: The Ninetales legend? What's that?

Good to see my partner is as confused as I am. Exposition time!

Lombre: What, you don't know?

how about we don't culture/folklore-shame me k

You know, it's that old fairy tale.

NOT HELPING

How you'll get cursed if you ever grab one of Ninetales's tails.

Oh okay I guess I have heard that before.

Snubbull: All this time, everyone thought it was just a legend.
But lately, it's been rumored that maybe it really happened.

So lemme get this straight, y'all are starting to think this legend might be real because there's a rumor going around about it?
...
Sounds legit!

Bellsprout: Well, it is still a mere rumor.
I wouldn't put too much stock in that story if I were you.
Personally, I don't believe in rumors of that sort.

At least someone has sense here.

If you want to know more about the Ninetales legend...

I don't but w/e

You should go see a Pokémon named Whiscash. He knows the story well.
Whiscash is uh... You know, in his pond.

... amazing

You should visit him if you want to know more.

I really don't but w/e

let's go see Whiscash since that's where the plot is!

yay we found him, that wasn't hard

What was that? You wish to hear the Ninetales legend?
Hohoho. Fine, then. Let me recount the tale.
There once lived a Pokémon by the name of Ninetales.

Once? Are Ninetales just extinct now? Or was there only ever one Ninetales with this specific power? I have questions

Now, Ninetales had many tails, all of them imbued with psychic power...
It was said that anyone so foolish as to touch a tail would be cursed for a thousand years.

People don't live that long tho...

But there was someone so foolish as to grab a tail. And it was a human.
Green: A human?
Whiscash: Yes, a human.

Did we really need to say "a human" three times?

As one might expect, the human that grabbed the tail was subjected to a thousand-year curse.

Well dang.

However, just when the curse was cast, a Pokémon named Gardevoir shielded the human...
And sacrificed herself to absorb the curse.

Well wasn't that sweet of her.

Green: Why?
Why would that Pokémon, Gardevoir, take the human's place?

what do you mean "why" green, haven't you ever heard of the bonds between pokémon and their trainers

Whiscash: To Gardevoir, that human was her partner.
There exist strong bonds between humans and Pokémon.
Green: ... OK. But humans... Aren't there good humans and bad ones too?

What kind of dumbass question is that?

Whiscash: Correct.
Taking pity on Gardevoir, Ninetales asked the human this...
"Do you wish to save Gardevoir?" it asked...
But the human had already abandoned Gardevoir and fled.

Well... shit. Sucks for Gardevoir.

Ninetales became disillusioned with the human...
And it made this prediction...
"That human will one day be reborn as a Pokémon..."

Well that's unfortwait WHAT

Green: What?! A human turn into a Pokémon?!
Whiscash: "And when the human becomes a Pokémon..."

Well... shit.

... And that is how the legend ends.

Hey uh Whiscash how old is this legend anyway

Well? Did you find interesting?

Interesting, uh yeah, that's the uh, that's the word. Interesting.

Green: .....................

Whiscash: Ah-hah! You found it so interesting, you're at a loss for words? Hohoho.

That's. Not quite it.

There's no need to wear such a serious expression.

Easy for you to say!

Certainly some rumors say that the legend may actually be true...

Again. Rumors about a legend. This makes no sense.

But it is only ancient folklore, nothing more.

"Ancient", yeah. Sure.

If you feel the urge to hear my tale again, come see me. Hohoho.

Hoho-no.

Leaving the square, we get this.

Want to call it a day now? I can't seem to get motivated today...

Bruh it's 10:23 AM and you're already done for the day?

"before we're done", we haven't done anything today

But I just can't seem to get motivated.

Yeah, you said that before.

I guess it's because I heard that story. Ahahaha...

Really, no shit!

I'll go home and try to get some sleep.

Are you going to sleep the whole damn day away?!

I'll see you tomorrow.

K bye

He leaves slowly but then this happens.

I started doubting you a little, Red...

Oh is this because of that story. Ffs even if I was a bad person in a previous life, do I seem like I am one now?!

But I'm not going to worry anymore.
I believe in you, Red.

I believe in the you that believes in me.

d'awwwwwww

OK, Red! Let's do our best tomorrow like always!

Wh- tomorrow? It's not even 11 yet we still have time to get out and -
He left. Damn.

Aaaand that night, dream sequence! Wooooo.

...............
.................................
...... Again.

And look who's here to visit!

I always see this silhouette... Who could it be?
Oh? It's saying something!
But... I can't quite make it out... It's clearer than it was before, but...
I'll try talking to it.

This'll end well.

Hello. Please, tell me.
You... Who are you?
Voice: ... I am...

oshit

Red: Ga-Gardevoir...?!

Uhhh well that's not creepy at all

Red: ...? Finally met me...?
You knew me from before? What about me?

Of course Gardevoir didn't know you, that's why she wanted to meet you!

I am your...

... Father? Sister?? Father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate???

I guess we'll never know.

I want to know more...
No... It's fading...
..................
..............................

Sucks for you Red.

And an unfortunate one for us.

It's the dream I always have, but it was clearer than it was before...
I think I finally learned who that Pokémon was...

"Think"???? It just happened five minutes ago!

That's it! Gardevoir!
It was Gardevoir!

claps for Red /golf claps

Yesterday, Whiscash said...
[flashback to Whiscash explaining Gardevoir's role in the Ninetales legend]
.....................
Maybe... Maybe, I...

Red no don't say it! You can't say these things out loud!!!!

Noooooo she said it

Maybe I was the one that abandoned Gardevoir when she was cursed...

Hey man you never know maybe the human was going to find a cure for the curse. Don't be so quick to assume the negative.

Maybe that's why I turned into a Pokémon...

Well if that's the case you wouldn't have been a Charmander. Not with the whole brave flavor and everything.

Nothing else comes of that and we regain control of Red.

Well aren't you chipper today.

...Oh? You look pale. Is something the matter?

Yeah you see I had this dream last night and

Well, anyway. As always, let's try to do our best!

... thanks for your concern.

Oh, yeah!
When I was on the way here, I think there was a commotion at Pokémon Square.

Uh... you live to the left of this house, how could you have noticed that?

I wonder if something happened...

Well if that's not a clue to go investigate I don't know what is!

When we get there, a camera-pan reveals nobody is in their shops or stalls. It's a little eerie.

The town's atmosphere feels different somehow...
Maybe something's happened.
Red, let's check it out!

It's a party!
(I don't think it's actually a party.)

Hi, what's going on?

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that "it" is the same thing we were talking about yesterday.

Green: What was true?

Seriously man?

Bellsprout: The Ninetales legend!
I never believed the rumors, so you can bet I was shocked to learn the truth!

Ok but is this actual truth or more "rumors" truth

Oh hey Caterpie's here too. ~~When are you joining our team you little shit~~

Green: Oh, hi, Caterpie!
Even you came out, Caterpie?
Caterpie: Yes.

He sounds oddly serious, this might be a problem

Snubbull: Ssh! Quiet.
That guy there's telling us. Keep it down.
Green: Huh? Who's talking?
Caterpie: I-it's...

... This does not bode well.

Gengar: ... So I went up to the Hill of the Ancients.

Oh god. This is already going in a very bad direction. Green I think we need to get out of here ASAP
(sadly he does not listen :()

Gengar: And that's where I saw it! It was shocking stuff, I tell you! Kekeh!
Lombre: Shocking stuff?
Gengar: This certain Pokémon was getting advice from Xatu.

I'll give Gengar this, he can weave a very compelling narrative. Not that I should be giving him props when he's about to sell me out in front of everyone, though...

That Pokémon... It looks like an ordinary Pokémon...
But get this! It was originally a human!

This happens all the time where I'm from! Stop spouting nonsense Gengar.

Bellsprout: What?!
Snubbull: It really existed... A human that turned into a Pokémon.

Sadly my protests fall on deaf ears

Gengar: There's more. Xatu told the human...
That how the human became a Pokémon has a lot to do with how the world's balance is upset.

But there's a difference between correlation and causation! God Gengar stop using logical fallacies to rile people up!

Lombre: Wait a second... That's exactly like the Ninetales legend!

good for you, would you like a cookie

Gengar: Kekeh! Don't be too shocked yet. There's more.

sigh go ahead

You all know how there've been many natural disasters, correct?

There've is not a word, please stop listening to Gengar

According to Xatu, these disasters are caused by the world's balance being upset.
And if the world's balance isn't restored soon...
The unthinkable will happen to the world! That's what Xatu said! Kekeh!

But "the unthinkable" could be a good thing! Maybe! Probably not! But still!

Lombre: Wh-what?
Bellsprout: The world... The unthinkable's going to happen?

I like how we just keep repeating that word "unthinkable".

Snubbull: What are we to do?!
Green: That Gengar...! He's deliberately working everyone up...

Yeah and it's working, unfortunately for us

Gengar: Now, now, people. There's no need to panic.
Why, I think there's a way we can do something about this. Kekeh!

Band together and start scientifically searching for a solution?

Snubbull: Wh-what can we do?
Gengar: Oh, it's quite simple, actually.
If the world's balance is upset by a human becoming a Pokémon...
Then, if that human is gone, then everything should return to normal, correct?

eh, I guess it was a bit optimistic of me anyway. But Gengar, your logic is not sound. Like at all.

Lombre: Th-that's true!
Snubbull: When you put it that way... maybe you're right.

oh for Arceus' sake don't tell me none of you know anything about logic

Gengar: Kekeh! And that human is the rotten coward that abandoned Gardevoir, correct?

Again there could have been an ulterior motive. We don't know.

I don't think the human can complain about anything if we get rid of it.

Uh... the loss of a potentially innocent life? That mean anything?

... and there it is.

Lombre: Wha... What?! It... It can't be!

Yeah, I agree with you!

Bellsprout: Y-you.. You were that human?!
Snubbull: Is that true? Hey!

No. Now stop this silly schoolyard nonsense immediately.

Unfortunately, Green, you don't sound too sure.

Snubbull: We're not asking you. We're asking Red!

Hey! Somebody finally acknowledges my existence!!!!! Feels good man

Hey! Red! So what is it?!

... really? Really. This is my choice? Fine okay

Green: Red...
Caterpie: Red...
Gengar: Kekekekekekeh! Looks like you have nothing to say in your defense, Red!

Bugger off man.

That's how it is, fellow Pokémon.

I only just noticed, is he saying this to emphasize Pokémon like pointing out that I'm not one? He said "people" earlier so clearly that's a term that exists in this universe, so

Let's get rid of Red and regain peace. Kekekekekeh!

You're gonna have quite the battle on your hands if you try that, bud. I'm no ordinary Charmander.

It's hard to see here but everyone is closing in to attack me.

Green: E-everyone, what's gotten into you? What are you going to do?

Green, stop being so naive... you know perfectly well what's about to hap

-pen HEY I did not appreciate that!!!!!

Green: Wah! What are you doing?!
Waaaaaah! Red, run!

... and so we gtfo of there.

Gengar: Serves them right! Kekekekeh!

You know we're not that far from the square, I'm surprised nobody followed us.
... But you know what this means, right, Green? It's time to barricade ourselves in the rescue base.

I never expected everyone to attack us like that.

It was me they were after, not you, Green. Sorry.

But listen, Red.
Why didn't you say anything?
Why didn't you argue that it's not you?!

Because I don't have any proof it isn't me and I've played enough Ace Attorney to know that proof is the only thing that means anything.

Stop ganging up on me!!!!!
Anyway I pick "... Hey, Green." Not that it really matters.

Tired of you picking on me for my decisions!!!!!

Hah? You're tired? What are you saying?
...Huh?! You don't think you deserve to be on our rescue team?!

That's not what I said but believe what you want I guess

What's wrong?! What makes you say that?!

Well I'm getting attacked by a shitton of people and that's no way to run a business.

That doesn't sound like you at all, Red. Tell me, what's the matter?

Thanks for asking now!

...............Huh? You had a dream?
And Gardevoir appeared in it?

Yeah see that's kind of the thing here.

... And that made you think that maybe you were that human after all...

See I actually have a reason for my thoughts unlike Gengar & Co

... So that's what it is. That's what happened...
Listen, Red.
Did your dream make you remember what you were like as a human being?

Well no but what's that got to do with

Since it didn't, you don't know what really happened.

All right I guess you have a point there.

I... I have faith in you, Red. You know that?

Yeah but it might be misplaced???

So...

Whatever Green was about to say, it's been interrupted.

Alakazam: After that scene in Pokémon Square... We held a town meeting...

It's been like 10 minutes, really?

On what we must do to save the world...

Tbh that's a bit presumptuous huh? That a group of randos in one tiny town (let's not forget Super Mystery Dungeon confirmed the existence of like 7 or so others) can decide the fate of the world? Sure Alakazam's here but he's just a history nerd, little else.

oh ffs really

Green: You're kidding!
Alakazam: I was incredulous too...

Wait, you didn't support it? ... Then who the hell did?

Alakazam: I had hoped it would not come to this, but... It is unfortunate.

if it's so unfortunate why didn't y'all SAY SOMETHING

We will... Defeat you with all our might!

o shit and all three of them can mega evolve too o shit this is NOT gonna end well

not shown: them kind of striking out at us before this, and then after this Green looks helplessly between them and Red, and Alakazam backs off.

Alakazam: We will give you tonight.
Green: Huh?
Alakazam: Pack your supplies and get out of here.
Come tomorrow, rescue teams of all sorts will take up the chase...
And attack you without hesitation.

Yeah but... doesn't that mean you guys are technically aiding and abetting criminals by letting us go...? Or did the town decide that too, to spare us, for their own sick laughs?

And not just you.
Anyone that goes with Red will be considered an enemy.

Well... that sucks. I have no friends, rip

The trackers will attack without mercy.

Like uncivilized anim-Pokémon. I mean, really.

That goes for us too. We will join the hunt to be rid of you.

welp
we're doomed

Against all odds, you must run.
Run, run... And survive.

glad you have well wishes for us even as you're trying to murder us

You must run till you uncover the truth.

uh okay but how the hell am I supposed to do that?!

:(

Alakazam: There will be no mercy next time we meet. Farewell.

And so Team ACT leaves and Green and Red are left alone.

Green: Red...
In their own way, Alakazam's team has faith in you too.

I guess so, but it's still an odd way of showing it.

Didn't I say this before?
I'm not going to worry anymore.

Uh... we've just been made Pokémon Square's Most Wanted by town consensus. I think there's a lot to be worried about here, Green.

Whatever happens, I'll always have faith in you, Red.

Well that's nice I guess, but it doesn't mean much right now if no one else thinks so.

Even if we're attacked by other rescue teams, I won't be scared.
What good will it do if you don't believe in yourself, Red?

Well I can't believe in myself. I have to believe in the you who believes in me

... I hope Caterpie isn't here to attempt to murder us too.

Green: Caterpie...

Yeah ~~and you still haven't come through on it~~

That we would make a rescue team base here.
That I would join your rescue team when I grew up.
Red... Don't give up.

Easy for you to say when you're not about to go on the run...

You're a hero to me, Red.
I believe in you too, Red.

*sniff* i'm gonna cry

Lol well I guess I only have one effective choice here. Picked "OK! I won't give up!"

Green: Yeah! That's right! That's more like it!
That's what we expect from our Red!

excuse you??? OUR red??? I am an independent womyn who don't need no man

We'll have to leave for the time being...
But let's be sure to come back!

You know assuming we don't die on the way.

And we'll bring the truth back with us!

... Somehow.

All right, well, that's a decent stopping point for now since it's the end of the day. Next time: we run away from the law!

19/413 = 4.6%
Charmander (Red)
Rattata (Sword)
Nidoran F (Diane)
Paras (France)
Geodude (Hazy)
Magnemite (Duracell)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Sentret (Joanne)
Ledyba (Francis)
Yanma (Shade)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Chirops (Gligar)
Treecko (Green)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Zigzagoon -> Linoone (Longcat)
Shroomish (Toad)
Shroomish -> Breloom (Portobello)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Electrike (Ravi)

Altissimo · Jan 16, 2017

Let's begin our fugitive journey!

This might have been more effective if there was some sort of graphics change to showcase the fact that it was early morning instead of everything having the same brightness it always does. Then again it was part of the GBA era (despite being a DS game, it was a pretty early one and Red Rescue Team was even on the GBA) and we all know neither RSE or FRLG had a day/night cycle.

If you say "all set" it just skips to the next part of the plot. But beyond the fact that I'm not ready to leave, there are also some great dialogue options if you pick "not yet" and thus are free to roam the overworld.

Oh, OK. I'll wait while you get ready.
Tell me when you're ready. Let's leave then.
Are you going out to Pokémon Square?
There are other Pokémon in the square, so be really careful.
It's still early, so I think everyone will still be asleep...
But be sure not to wake anyone up.

Well... this is gonna be walking on eggshells for sure.

There's no music after this, which adds to the emotional intensity of the scene.

In Pokémon Square, all the inhabitants are indeed sleeping. If you talk to them, you don't get the normal dialogue...

... though even though they appear to be sleep-talking you can still use all their services. Convenient!

There is one easter egg of sorts: if you go to Gulpin's shop and ask for information about remembering moves, you get this dialogue:

Zzz... Snuffle... I'd go broke if it weren't for those forgetful Pokémon...
Zzz... Gwaaah... Especially that Red... It seems to be forgetful...
Sssnore... I hope it forgets more moves... So it needs to see me...
Zzz... Mumble... But we decided to get rid of that Red...

... Well that isn't upsetting at all!

Anyway, I get my inventory sorted and head back to the base. I tell Green I'm all ready to go, and the plot moves on.

Yup. Looks like we're ready.
From now on, we're fugitives.

Can we get those little sacks that are made out of a bandana tied around a stick to really cement it?

This is going to be a dangerous trip...
I don't want to get our team members involved...
Let's not tell them... We'll just leave by ourselves.

... so yeah, sadly, you can't bring any friends on this trip. I say "sadly" because it would have been kind of cool to actually have a friend running away with you, but alas.

We have to get away from the rescue teams hunting us.
We have to get away at all cost.

Run Away begins playing.

Red: (... Yes. We have to escape.)
(Like Alakazam said that time...)
[flashback to Alakazam telling us we have to run and survive]
(Yes... Who am I?)
Until I discover that truth, I have to run and survive.)
(Even if it means going to the edge of this world...)
Green: OK! Let's get going!

However, it seems we cannot leave just yet - we have some friends here.

Green: Oh, and even Jumpluff!
Caterpie: Wow, I'm glad! We made it!
Jumpluff: We wanted to see you off, Red.

And not just them, either, it seems. Diglett has come too.

Diglett: I wanted to send you off too.
Green: Everyone...

... and not just Diglett, either.

Green: It's a letter. Red, can you read it?
Narration: Red began reading the letter.
"Take care! It's farewell, but only for now.
Until the day I can deliver mail to you again...
I'll always be waiting.
-The wandering postal carrier, Pelipper-"
Green: Even Pelipper...

:')
(this is an honestly heartwarming scene which is why I haven't been commenting with my normal snark)

Diglett: The other Pokémon will be waking up soon.
You have to go! Hurry!
Green: Yup.
Red! Let's go! Hit the road!

As we walk off, the other Pokémon call out from behind us.

Caterpie: Take care!
Jumpluff: We'll be waiting for both of you to return!

We'll be back! That's for sure!
Take care until then!

And... we're off. Goodbye, all that we know, and hello, wilderness.

Over forbidding mountains...

Across fields of fire...

The forest fire is still raging...

Without a complaint, they marched on.

... and we have reached our first location as fugitives.
(Side note: Take a look at the top screen. The red dot on the left is Pokémon Square, and the yellow dot on the right is our current location. We've traversed the width of the continent.
The map in this game doesn't always seem to align with the narration. We crossed "forbidding mountains" and "fields of fire", but neither of those seem to be clearly represented on the map. I guess we could have gone through that patch of mountains south of Mt. Thunder, and the orange patch directly to our left could be the fields of fire, but there's no real way to tell for sure.)

Green: But while we were moving, I couldn't help thinking...
All sorts of places have been affected by the natural disasters.
I'm sure many Pokémon are suffering because of the calamities.
I wish we could get back to doing our rescue work...

That's a nice thought but we're kind of on the run from the law. I mean yeah it'd be a point in our favor if we were ever brought to trial but I have a sneaking suspicion the other Pokémon have never heard of a "fair trial", so.

Sorry, I shouldn't complain. We have to get away now, period.
Huh? I hear voices...

They can't get away. Not from all of us.
We have to get rid of Red quickly...

W O W okay how did they find us so quickly? I'm downright impressed but also horrified.

Green: Aww, no! Are they catching up to us?
Red, we'd better go.

Sounds good. Let's went.

... and so we're in the dungeon.

Lapis Cave music

As you may have gathered, we can't recruit anything here, at least not during the "fugitives" arc of the game. Every game has its own equivalent of this: a period where you can't take missions, can't recruit friends, can't access the hub world (Pokémon Square/Treasure Town/Lively Town/etc) facilities, and have to kind of marathon a few dungeons in a row without any real respite. So while this dungeon and the ones that follow it do have recruitment options, we won't be able to see them until after our fugitive days are over.
May as well point them out, though: here, I could pick up Zubat, Nincada, Illumise, Nidorina, Nidorino, Tangela, Bagon, and Golbat.

Lapis Cave is a deceptively easy dungeon, probably to break up the difficulty of our prior expeditions and the difficulty to come while simultaneously providing substance for our fugitive trip. It's 14 floors long, the longest dungeon we've faced yet, but the floors are really small, so it's easy to find the stairs, and the wild Pokémon are pretty easy to fight.

For whatever reason, the higher floors of the cave are darker than the lowest floors (which also have water). Not too sure what's up with that.

... and then even later they get dark and water-less again. ????

... I died. Solid.
(Resetting because a loss is honestly worse than losing items and I'm a cheap wuss when it comes to losing in Pokémon games!)

This time we succeed. (Side note: This background is literally just the entrance to Lapis Cave, reversed.)

Where's the Pokémon mob that's after us?

Why are you asking that? Let's just get the hell outta here!

See? Look what you did Green.

Catch Red!
Green: Whoa! Here they come! Run!

We run offscreen and the screen fades to black.

Green: They expect us to stop and wait for them?

Yeah they're kinda dumb if they do.

Look what a long way we've run!
(Every single MD player on the planet has commented on this. It's so stupid. We ran three feet. I guess it's supposed to be significantly more but why wouldn't you change the background then

Oh, no! Look!

Well... shit.

Green: It... It's a mountain of fire!

Oh god Green's going to have a fun time in there. Sorry man

Look at all that lava pouring from the crater...
Can we even make it through there?

Well I can, I'm a Fire-type, dunno bout you.

But they're catching up to us...

Well yeah we only ran three feet.

What'll we do, Red?

We don't have a choice, buddy.

We especially don't have a choice.

Get them!
Green: There's no choice now!

Glad he understands.

Let's go, Red!

Are they insane? Mt. Blaze is doomed desolation!

Who the hell says a phrase like "doomed desolation". Anyway, yes. Yes we are.

No one's ever come this far before!

... then why does Mt. Blaze have a name?

I don't wanna go anywhere like that.
It can't be helped. Only those brave enough will give chase!

Or you could just... not

A save prompt here cuts the monotony a bit and implies a bit of interim time.

Darn it! Where'd they go?
They had to go this way! Keep your eyes open!
Roooooooaaaar!

Well dang.

Tromp, tromp, tromp, tromp, tromp!
...........................

I guess they're just supposed to be running and following us or something.

Green: ............
...................................
... I think... They're gone.

Never for good, Green, you know that.

... and we're here. (See top screen for relative distance from Lapis Cave: we went north a bit, from those two brown mountains by the coast, to here.)

Green: But... There isn't any point hiding here.
We have to get over this mountain to get away.
Let's go as soon as we're ready, Red.

And we get a little bit of freedom...

... to check out this thing. This is a Kangaskhan Rock, similar to the one we saw at the midpoint of Mt. Thunder, except this one is different in that it doesn't just allow you to save - you can manage your inventory from here as well. (Don't question the logic.)

I prepare my inventory accordingly and save. Let's take on Mt. Blaze.

... Yes, now.

Mt. Blaze is interesting in that there's actually an alternative to it. If you'd like, instead of going through Mt. Blaze right away, you can choose to take a side path called Rock Path which is four floors long and ultimately loops back around to the entrance of Mt. Blaze, so you eventually have to go up Mt. Blaze anyway. It exists so that you can grind and get items if you find that you're too underleveled to take on Mt. Blaze, so that you aren't stuck hopelessly without any way forward.

We decide to go through Mt. Blaze; I shouldn't need Rock Path yet.

Mt. Blaze music
(This is my second-favorite dungeon track in this game and absolutely perfect for a volcano; give it a listen!)

Again, recruiting is impossible this time around. That said, when we come back, Mt. Blaze will have the following recruits: Magby, Numel, Slugma, Shuckle, Torkoal.
Mostly Fire-types as you can see (and the ones that aren't fire are Shuckle, a Bug-type, and Pidgeot, a Flying-type), meaning lol this is going to suck for Green.
I don't know if I've ever beaten this game with a Grass-type - because I usually can't get past Mt. Blaze with one. Let's make this the successful time.

On floor 4 we start to see lava. Fire-type Pokémon can walk over this with no problem, but since Green is weak to the dungeon type, it's probably not a good idea for me to leave Green alone while I go wandering the floor. Certain Flying and Ghost Pokémon can walk over lava too, but they get burnt if they do so.

After 12 floors of Fire hell we reach the midpoint. YES PLEASE LET ME SAVE MY GAME

We all know what a save point means, though, right? ... there's probably a boss at the end. This'll be fun!

Before we get there, though, we have a few floors of peak first.
Surprisingly, the peak doesn't have any lava. It does, however, have Arcanine and Fearow, which are terrifying (Arcanine because it takes a few hits to go down and has Roar, which blows the Pokémon away until they hit something, and Fearow because Fury Attack is deadly in this game).

Mt. Blaze Peak music (Also good!)

After two floors, we arrive at the summit. (Side note: I know that orange is supposed to be lava but to me it just looks like really weird sky.)

Wow. This is incredible. I know it's a volcano, but the lava flow is much higher than normal.

How would you know what's normal for a volcano?

This might also have a link to the natural calamities...

You don't say!

Also, erupting lava streams.

Oogh! It's like a furnace! I'm getting roasted!

Well you are a Grass type.

I don't want to spend any time in a place this dangerous.
Let's get through this quick.

Unfortunately, it seems that may be easier said than done.

It suddenly turned dark!

(I can't say this makes any sense.)

Voice: I can hear the mountain's screams...
It is shrieking in pain...
Someone is causing Mt. Blaze to writhe in agony! Is it you?!

wat
no

Green: Huh?! You've got it wrong! It's not us!
We just happened to be passing through here!
Who are you, anyway? Show yourself!

Green I swear to Christmas if you don't stop taunting all of these legendaries -

Voice: Gyaaaaaaaaah!
The mountain's rage is my rage!

... okay, hands up, was anyone really surprised? You can't have one of the bird trio without having all of them, and we had Zapdos at Mt. Thunder, so it stands to reason we'd have Moltres at Mt. Blaze.

There is no forgiving those who befoul the mountain! En garde!

... and here we go.
I start out by setting Green to only use Pursuit and taking Red's turn to give Green a Power Band (which boosts physical attack a little). In that turn, Moltres advances the tile toward me.
The next turn, I throw a Sleep Seed at Moltres as Green uses Pursuit. Hopefully this Sleep Seed will give us a little bit of an advantage.

lol Moltres looks funny sleeping
Following this, I set Green to only use Pound and Quick Attack (hence the Power Band) while I have Red spam Ember. Moltres may resist Ember, but Red has a Special Band equipped, and this STAB attack is honestly probably a better option than Scratch or the also-NVE Metal Claw.
Moltres wakes up after one turn, the bastard, but succeeds at nothing before Red uses Smokescreen. Smokescreen in this game gives the target a Whiffer status for several turns, which will prevent it from being able to hit us with any attack moves (they'll all miss). It's kind of broken.

When Moltres recovers, it goes for Wing Attack on Green. I was sure this would be a KO... until it just wasn't, leaving Green alive with 10 HP, and the Pursuit status meant the 65 damage got bounced back to Moltres. 65 damage is huge in this battle, I'm so glad that happened.
However, Green's about to die. I set Green to use only Absorb (so that Overgrow can kick in and do more damage, thus healing Green more simultaneously) while Red uses Smokescreen again. Absorb doesn't do a whole lot but it's enough to get Green back to about half health...

... and after one more Ember from Red and a Quick Attack from Green, Moltres goes down. That was... actually surprisingly painless. Moltres only landed two attacks the entire time, and one of them backfired on it, so I'm pretty pleased with this outcome!

But, <spoiler>like all the other bosses in this game,</spoiler> Moltres still has some fight left in it. Somehow.
Green attempts to reason with it.

We're not here to cause trouble.
We're here only because we were chased here.
You have to realize, this mountain isn't the only place that's suffering.
Natural calamities are occurring all over the place.
We're fugitives now, so we can't do anything...
But we want to help other Pokémon that are suffering from these natural disasters.

Huh, look at that. Green's attempt to reason with a video game boss (albeit after we fought it) seems to be successful. Maybe.

Green: It's true! Please believe me!
If you think I'm lying... Look at my eyes!

You have like cat eyes though man those really aren't super trustworthy

Moltres: ......
Green: ...............
Moltres: ..............................
Green: ..........................................

they're having a staredown I can't believe this

Then Moltres screeches and lava erupts from the crater again.

Moltres: .................. Fine.
I trust that you aren't lying.

um... why the aggressive pose then?????? Man you scared me out of my wits

yeah like jeez Moltres

It felt like my knees turned to jelly.
Moltres: You may pass.
Get through Mt. Blaze.
And... Promise me this.
Promise me that you will find the cause of the calamities that wrack our world...
And stop the disasters from sowing more destruction and suffering.

Bruh that's what we've been tryin to do!

Green: OK. I promise.
... Of course, that's not possible right now, but...

GREEN FOR THE LOVE OF ARCEUS

COME ON Green stop making the fire chicken angry. You're double weak to it.

We're behind hunted, so we can't get to it right away...

... oh my god green

But we're a rescue team.
We'll investigate what's behind the natural calamities. I promise.
Moltres: ............... I will hold you to that promise.

Okay, thankfully we calmed it down. No thanks to you Green

You've made me believe that you will honor that promise.
If you do not forget... the courage you showed in facing me.

Moltres did the screechy thing again, prompting this response from Green.

Moltes: No.
I was only preparing to take off.

RE AL LY ????????

Green: Oh... (Does it need to do that?)
Moltres: Farewell!

... and Moltres flies off.
All right, well that's two legendary birds down! Go us!

Green: Whew...
Ewwwwwwww, that was scary!

... 'ew'?

But I'm glad Moltres understood us. That was key.
Anyway... Let's get off Mt. Blaze ourselves.

And we leave. Fortunately we don't need to do the dungeon that is presumably on the other side of the mountain.

And we're here.

Mood music: Run Away

I'm bushed. Let's rest up.
Mmm... The view's fantastic.
Oh, look! Red, look over there!
See how small Mt. Blaze looks from here?
We've come a really long way, haven't we?

(It doesn't look so far, or so small, but I'm going to keep my mouth shut. In fact that screen of Mt. Blaze looks the same as the one from when we left Lapis Cave and it was definitely further to here than to Lapis Cave so...... k)

............... Red.
Do you remember how hard it was to get across Mt. Blaze?

I dunno it was kind of fun for me, as a fire-type. But of course we all know Grass didn't have the best of times. (Though we did beat Moltres at its own game with Pursuit!)

I don't think too many Pokémon can get through there.

Unfortunately, I'm sure they'll be fine if they're above level 21 (our level).

And then we gave it our all to get out here.
Do you know what I'm thinking?

Might as well not give him false hope. We know there are some Pokémon who will stop at nothing to have us dead.

Oh? There's someone else?
Well, who do you mean?

I don't know the scope of everyone chasing us. I mean, Wigglytuff from MD2 could be out there, and if that's the case, we're screwed.

... Oh, I get it. There's Alakazam.

Also him.

You're right. Alakazam's team should be able to get here.

You know just a thought. Alakazam is psychic. I'm surprised we haven't heard any use of that to track us down.

Yup! We don't have a choice. We have to keep going.

Well... you sure cheered up fast. All right, let's.

I think we need to go somewhere no one else can get to.

That's a pretty tall order, but all right.

Let's be positive and keep moving.

... I'm thinking.

... Huh? Am I tired?
They're chasing us down. We can't afford to rest.

They're chasing me down, Green, that's the thing.

And... I told you already.
I said I would go with you, Red.

... *sniff* (this scene is really touching okay)

... Oh, come on. No need for that long face. I'm fine.
Let's go, Red! I'll go wherever you go!

:')

And we head off.

Seeking refuge in even harsher places...
They fled north.
They crossed row upon row of mountains...
Forded fetid swamps...
Scaled frozen cliffs...
Till finally, Red's tiny team arrived in a world of snow...
A frigid wasteland of driving blizzards.

And... save point. This update went on a bit longer than I expected, so we're going to end here.
Next time: the frozen north!

Carrier · Jan 18, 2017

I just wanna say, Run Away is one of my favorite tracks. The partner being willing to throw away everything for you was just so endearing...

I never noticed that lapis cave thing. Wow, that's hilariously bad they just shifted it two feet. Granted, I didn't notice it so it worked all those other playthroughs....

In fairness, Mt. Blaze basically is 'doomed desolation' to grass types

And it's implied Shiftry was talking

. Living there would be like an eternal horrible nightmare on Darkrai levels.

Altissimo · Jan 20, 2017

... WHERE DID MY UPDATE GO
SRSLY IT WAS RIGHT HERE AND NOW ITS NOT
GUESS I GET TO REWRITE IT
I DONT HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT

Okay, so if you can't already tell by the lateness of this, I am now busy! On Tuesday I started my second semester of graduate school (I am going for my master's in music theory if you're curious) and thus it might take more time to get updates out. But I'm not abandoning this, and you can be sure of that!

Carrier: Run Away is one of the best tracks and the partner's devotion to you is adorable.
The Lapis Cave thing is... I dunno man. It just is.
You have a point about the Grass-type thing (as Green helped prove) - my point was more about the fact that "doomed desolation" is hardly a phrase someone would say conversationally, in my opinion. But it is doomed desolation.

alright lets rewrite this shit ahhahahah kill me i lost all my quotes and everything too???? i dont remember any of these conversations by heart
guess this will be a lesson to me to write my updates offline from now on
at least i still have the screenshots i guess

so in order to make up the quotes that got lost, i'm going to copy the dialogue from a different LP but since different partners actually word their quotes slightly differently, this means Green's not-screenshotted quotes aren't exactly what he says but are the general gist of it

Green: Hachoo!
Yuck... my nose is running, and it's freezing.
... This is one barren place...
That snow's deep.
There haven't been any Pokémon around for a while, either.
Maybe there isn't anyone else out here but us.

I dunno man I feel like Ice types could live out here pretty easily.
Also we've been here for a while, how are you just now noticing the icy conditions?

Also, that.
(Following this, it turns and kind of flies off the side of the screen.)

Green: Wh-what's that?!
... I wonder what they were doing in this lonely place?

Maybe they live here. Ever think of that, Green? I mean it's a great place to go if you don't want to be bothered by people

Well, thinking about it isn't going to help. Let's keep moving.

... Help what? What is there to help?

Ah, whatever.

There's a sort of break here, to signal the passage of time I guess, but ultimately the background remains the same.

Wow! Red! Check that out!
See that? Those trees are frozen!

Yeah that's. Kinda how snow works, man!

It looks pretty, but... it must be harsh there...

We have scarves, we'll be fine. That's all we need right? Especially cold-blooded animals like we are?

Should be fun. Maybe.
(Side note: Check out the top screen. We are right next to Mt. Blaze. This is what I was referring to when I said earlier that the narration and game map don't always align: we apparently "crossed row upon row of mountains", "forded fetid swamps", and "scaled frozen cliffs" but none of that is represented on the map. Quality!)

It's going to be awfully cold. It's not anywhere I really want to go... but there's no point in us sticking around here forever.
We can only go forward!
We'll just have to go for it and get through this, Red!

I guess ice dungeons probably aren't a good idea for Grass-types either! (See why I was saying this game hates Grass-types? Now you understand.)
But let's get going!

Frosty Forest music

Recruitables: Azurill, Nosepass, Ditto, Lairon, Snorunt, Metang, Rhyhorn. Not really an ice dungeon per se...

First: Check out the icy edges of the water. That's a nice touch, I like that.
Second, you'll notice this Furret used Struggle. That's because it's not a Furret, it's a Ditto. In this game, Transform has 1 PP, and when a Pokémon Transforms it doesn't take its targets moves like in the main series... leaving Struggle as its only attack option, making Ditto profoundly useless!

This happens when I reach floor 6.

... Someone has intruded upon the forest...
The enfeebled flow of icy winds... is the intrusion to blame?
It must be stopped.
For it is to protect the forest...

... well that's certainly ominous!!!

Oh, hello there.
This is a Kecleon Shop. They show up randomly in dungeons starting with Mt. Blaze (though we unluckily did not find one during that trip). You can buy and sell items here. However, be wary of taking an item if you don't plan to pay for it. If you do, Kecleon will turn hostile. And he will call a never-ending spawning parade of his friends to join him. And they're all level 99. And they all have double speed.
So... don't do it.
Except for the part where it is the only way to recruit a Kecleon in this game. Even at their highest recruit rate, though, they only have a .01% chance of joining your team - 1 in 1000.
So... Have fun!
(I've done it before, but it's not super enjoyable.)

After nine floors, we hit the midpoint. Wait, but don't midpoints usually signal boss fights? This is Frosty Forest, not a mountain... surely we can't be up against Articuno quite yet!
We'll find out, I guess.

Frosty Grotto music (Pretty good track.)

The snow weather condition is in play for all of the upper floors. It gives a boost in movement speed to Ice-type Pokémon.

Green grows to level 21 and has the option to take Screech. I opt to take it over Pursuit.

On floor 5 we get this. This looks like a boss arena......

I think we'll be out if we can get through this part.
It shouldn't be long. Hang in there.

Me, hang in there? You're the one that's Grass-type!

Uh

Green: ... Huh? Red, did you just say something?

but - but NOBODY SAID ANYTHING
IT WAS A BUNCH OF ELLIPSES

... I didn't think so.
A voice...? I must have imagined it.

Whatever floats your boat dude

Voice: ... turn back. You may not pass...
Green: Who's there?!
Voice: You are forbidden to pass...
If you persist in trying to pass...
Then, so be it...
But only after you have defeated me!

Well... damn.

The ice around us is reflecting this light!

HOW DO THEY KEEP DOING THINGS LIKE THIS

Voice: Gyaaaaaaah!

So... hands up, who saw this coming?

Those that enter the forest I shall destroy with all my might!

What, even like, friendly Pokémon? No one's allowed to immigrate to this forest, ever. Cool.

Let us begin!

Welp that was fast!
Alright, since my update got deleted I lost my notes for the battle. That said though, on the first turn, Red threw a Blast Seed, which sadly did less damage than a Gravelerock. The next turn I set Green to use Screech as Red threw a Sleep Seed.

I accidentally forgot to turn Green's attacks to Pound and Quick Attack, so he used Screech again as Red used Metal Claw which did an insane amount of damage. This is why I took Screech.

After a few turns of attacks Articuno wakes up and uses Powder Snow, which is terrifying since it hits everyone in the room. Red was okay, but Green died - taking exactly as much damage as he had HP, infuriatingly enough. Fortunately, I had a Reviver Seed.

A few more insanely powerful hits, though, and Articuno fell.

We have to keep moving.
We have to get through this. Please, let us pass!

I don't think begging is going to work, Green, but whatever

oh ffs can we not have the boss fight back yET AGAIN

Green: Why? Why can't we pass?
Articuno: The frigid forest's air...
It has warmed considerably in recent times.

Uh... okay?

Green: W-warmed up? (I'm still freezing, but...)

Yeah well you're a Grass type. Makes sense

Articuno: The flow of frigid air has been disturbed in the forest.
Snow has started to melt.
Snow is melting. Snow that has never melted before.
This has never happened, even once.
Then you appeared in the forest.
Is this not your doing?!

Articuno you sound a screw loose there buddy, chill out a bit please

Green: W-we don't have anything to do with that!
Natural disasters are happening all over the place.
Even if we hadn't come here, the frigid air here would have been disturbed.

I don't really get how the appearance of a warm front constitutes "disturbances" but whatever

Articuno gets aggressive and attacks again...

... but we are saved by an old friend.

Absol: There is nothing false in what they said.
Calamities are indeed occurring in nature everywhere.
Articuno: Is... is that true?

Yeah because Absol's word means more than ours. Whatever I guess

Absol: Yes.
I have the ability to sense natural disasters.
The calamities taking place now are of a special nature. I've never experienced such before.

Glad to have an expert on our side.

Articuno: ...So, there are calamities besides this...

YES!!!!! YES

...Fine. I will choose to believe you. You may pass.
Green: Articuno!

Tch. Finally.

Articuno: However!
Green: Waah!
Articuno: You must try to prevent the calamities from spreading. I'm counting on you!

ok just a thought, these legends don't know we're video game protags, so like... why do they keep asking us, people who are for all intents and purposes pure randos, to save the world
you're a legend
can't you at least help

Anyway, Articuno leaves.

Green: Whew... that was too close...
Thank you. You saved us.
Absol: ...Rather than saying thanks, focus on stopping the calamities before they worsen.
If they are left unchecked, worse will befall us...
My instinct warns me so.

Rather abrupt, aren't you? But okay.

Green: Nnnn...
Absol: I sensed the terrible power of the natural calamities...
I was led here by my feelings of foreboding...

That's not ominous!

Oh. Well, okay then!

Green: Huh? You will? Really?
Absol: Really.
To put an end to the calamities, cooperation is vital.
Let me lend you my powers.

Sweet! I'm not complaining!

Green: Thank you, Absol.

Traditional Absol nickname.

After getting through the Frosty Forest...
Red's team headed further north.
The more they advanced...
The harsher the conditions became...

Well... good! See how happy I am with this!

There was a save point here indicating the passage of time again. Following this is the half of the update I didn't lose (because I wrote it after rewriting the other half) so the commentary should be better from this point on. Also the quotes are accurate again.

How much snow is there in this world? Goodness.

(We've walked a long way here...)
(Green looks exhausted, too...)

What, no mention of Storm? He's a team member now too, he's important!

(We've been running all this time out of desperation...)

How long have we been going anyway? Just saying. It's been like 3 days if you consider 1 dungeon = 1 day but I really don't think that's accurate.

(What's in store for us ahead?)
(Are we really doing the right thing?)

Who cares? We don't have a choice.

Green: Brr... This is too cold! There's nothing but snow now.

Uh... that was kind of the case before, too...

The scenery's been the same for a while...

Can't tell if this is clever joke about the looping GBA background or just an accurate statement.

I wonder if we're really making progress...

We missed the flagpole, Green, and we can't go left because of it. We just have to wait until time runs out now.

... Hey, Red? I was thinking...
I think we've come to a place that's empty except for us...

Green no you said that before and then we ran into Storm and also Articuno. And there are definitely going to be other Pokémon after this.

I have this feeling there's nothing ahead of here, even if we keep moving.

Nah bro there's gotta be something. Even if it's just the ocean and/or sea ice.

And I'm getting exhausted...

>getting

Picked "I don't know..." because I'm sick of Green's whining

Green: ............ I'm sorry. I said something stupid to frighten you...

There's literally nothing else we can do Green so stop complaining about it.

There isn't any point in wondering what might happen. Not after coming this far.
Even though we don't know what's ahead... We'll only know by pressing on!

Exactly! That's the spirit.

Don't worry! There's got to be something ahead.

I mean that's a given but k

I have faith in you, Red. That's what brought me here.

lol dude there's no point in having faith in me I don't know what's going to happen any more than you

And that's not changing. I still have faith in you, Red...
I'll keep going wherever you go.

Thanks for the support!

Red: (Yes...)
(Green trusts me without any doubt.)

idk bout you guys but this feels to me like Red is about to turn into a supervillain like MWAHAHA FINALLY I HAVE OBTAINED GREEN'S TRUST and then like, suck his lifeblood out or something

(I can't afford to be indecisive.)
(I have to believe in myself more.)

I don't get this (how would Red believing in herself help?????) but ok

Then the screen flashes and Red makes a weird face.

(... Wh-what? What was that?)
(... D-dizzy? Or what?)
Green: Huh? Is something wrong? Red?

WELP

... Finally, you have arrived...
Red: (Someone... Someone is talking to me...)
(Green...? No. This voice isn't Green...)
(This voice... I've heard it somewhere...)

Plot twist! It's someone we know!

You have arrived...

(I have no idea why we have this interlude with the dream background but w/e)

Red: Ga... Gardevoir!

(I see I screwed up actually screenshotting Gardevoir. Gardevoir flickers which is why she's not in this pic)

Red: ... You're... What...

Red for Arceus' sake it's not polite to stare!

Green: Red, is something the matter?
Why are you talking to yourself?

the plot thickens

Gardevoir: I cannot be seen by others.
I am visible only to you.

Well I'm sure that doesn't help the whole "delusional human" thing that I'm sure my teammates already think!

Gardevoir: A little farther ahead...
There is a jagged mountain range topped by Mt. Freeze.

This whole range has to be freezing. Why can't it have a cooler name than that (no pun intended)?

Inside its peak... Ninetales lives.

wait wat
1) Ninetales? and 2) inside???? the peak of the mountain???????

Red: ... Ninetales?!
Gardevoir: Ninetales awaits your arrival.
Beware...

BEWARE WHAT
CAN WE NOT BE UNNECESSARILY OMINOUS PLZ THX
Gardevoir starts to fade.

Red: Oh! W-wait...!
..................

Green and Storm are confused again.

Green: Hey, Red! Red!
What's the matter? What happened...?

Red fails to explain and instead we cut...

... to this.
Okay where the hell is Storm?

Gardevoir appeared to you...
That's why you were looking so stunned earlier.
I'm amazed, though... Ninetales isn't just a legend. It really exists...

Well, you don't know, it could be an entirely different Ninetales. Ninetales as a species definitely exists, so.

And that Ninetales is up at the peak...

To be fair that part's kinda ridiculous.

Sniffle... Red!
All the effort we put into getting here... It's finally going to bear fruit!

I hope so.

We'll meet Ninetales and get the truth!

Green you don't know, I might be the asshole human from the legend after all. You can't say for sure.

Listen, Red...
... Don't be so worried. It will be all right.

~~I'm sorry I can't take you seriously when you say "all right" because I've been ruined by The Room~~

It's only natural that you would be scared of meeting Ninetales, Red.
The heartless human who abandoned Gardevoir... It may be you...

... THANKS, THAT HELPS.

I can understand how you could think that.

oh

Went with "How can you say that?"

Hmm...? Well, there was a time when I had some doubts... But now...
... I wonder why? I really don't know why.

Gee, that's reassuring.

But it's all right. Red, you're a really good sort.

Eh, if you say so.

You know, before...
When I first got the idea to start a rescue team...
I met you in the Tiny Woods, Red.

Yeah, that... that kind of it how it happened, yep.

Now that I think about it, there was something different about you.

Maybe related to the fact I immediately told you I was a human?

It is strange, isn't it? But, Red, I believe in you.
Anyway, we'll know the truth when we get to the peak.

Hopefully.

Red, let's do our best!

Yeah!!!

Alright, in a second here we're gonna enter Mt. Freeze. I wanna point out though, if you look at the map again it shows us right above Frosty Forest. So uh... we can't have gone as far as the dialogue implies we have, but whatever

Let's go!

Mt. Freeze music

Recruitables: Pineco, Swablu, Shelgon, Pupitar, Seel, Vigoroth, Zangoose, Chimecho, Seviper. Still not really an Ice dungeon either. In fact you'd think Pupitar in particular would be incapable of living in a place like this, but whatever.

Also, we have Storm. Absol comes at level 20 with the attacks Scratch, Leer, Quick Attack, and Taunt. Also Pressure which is the most annoying thing in the universe if you're facing an enemy that has it (such as the legendary birds) and not super helpful when you have it but still a bit of a "take that game fuck you" thing.

At level 21, Storm picks up Bite; I take it over Taunt.

After 15 floors, we make it to the midpoint of the dungeon. Uh... does that imply a boss battle? ... Against Ninetales? Is that a thing that's going to happen?

Whatever, no point in wasting time thinking about it, huh?

Mt. Freeze Peak music

This is four floors of nothing but Glalie, which are unrecruitable.

After these four floors, we reach what appears to be the "inside" of the peak. Somehow.

This is the summit. ... Isn't it?
I wonder where Ninetales is?

Fucking really? We just got here and we've already been caught up to? ... Is this the boss fight?

All right! I see them!

[Forgot to screenshot it but Alakazam, Tyranitar, and Charizard show up.]
A fight against them? Oh shit no

Tyranitar: It's about time. We finally caught up to you.
Your fugitive act dragged us all the way out here...
Charizrd: Pipe down, Tyranitar.
We can finally settle things here.
I can barely contain myself. I'm itching for a fight.

Great. They're literally bloodthirsty. This is upsetting.

Charizard: Green. Don't think badly of me.
I don't know how to show mercy.

W O W okay

Alakazam: Red... I didn't wish for this conclusion...
But this, too, is fate.

Only because you decided it was! This is so ridiculous.

The role of a rescue team is to help bring peace.
We will... crush you with every shred of our power!

BRING IT MOFOS

Get them!

It isn't a boss battle, but we do kind of run at each other weirdly like jousting or something.

But before their team can brutally murder us, someone intervenes.

Alakazam: ...! Ninetales!

The fact that Alakazam immediately recognizes it's Ninetales raises questions.

Charizard: W-what?! Ninetales?!

Especially since Charizard doesn't.

Green: Th-that's Ninetales...
Tyranitar: The legend... It was real...
Alakazam: Cease fighting at once, Alakazam.
They are... my guests.

Whoaaaaaa shit!

Alakazam: Tell us, Ninetales!
Who was the human that appeared in your legend?
No, even before that, was the legend itself a true event?
Depending on your reply... I may have no choice but to eliminate them!

That's really not a good thing, Alakazam, for you to be threatening us in front of someone who just called us their guests.

Ninetales: Whether they consider my curse to be a legend or not...
I care not.
However... It did happen.

Well dang

Many years ago, I tried to lay a curse on a human.
It was then, however, that Gardevoir, the human's partner dashed in...
It selflessly bore the full brunt of the curse meant for the human.
Then, the human did a selfish and cowardly thing.

You're really not helping my case here bud.

They abandoned Gardevoir and fled.
The human eventually became a Pokémon.

What, no explanation for that? It just... happened. What?

Transformed into a Pokémon, the human... The human lives on.

... great.

Alakazam: ... And that human would be?
Who is the human that you speak of?
Ninetales: Red...

oh man oh no oh man this is the end

... oh
oh
okay alright
glad you PHRASED IT THAT WAY

It's not a big deal Green... You thought so, right? Right?

Ninetales: Red is not the human that appears in the legend. That is what I said.
Alakazam: ... Wh-what...

And then Green gets really intense and starts slowly dragging himself toward Red.

Oo-oof...
... Oof...
Deep breaths... In... Out... In... Out... In... Out...

for arceus' sake green chill out

........................ Whew...
Oh, wow, fantastic!

He then starts doing laps aroung Red, I'm not joking

Green: That's great! I knew that Red wasn't involved!
I knew it! There's no way that Red would do those terrible things!

again Green we cannot use my current life as a way to measure my past life, that's not how it works

Ninetales: I have another thing to say.
it is true that I foretold of the world's balance becoming unstable...
However, that human becoming a Pokémon and the world's balance are not linked in any way.

eyyyyyyyyyyyy

The cause of the natural calamities... It exists elsewhere.

CELEBRATE

u tell em Green!

You were wrong to hound and harass Red!
Alakazam: ... Uh... er... We... uh... apologize.

glad SOMEONE has realized the truth. fuckrs

Tyranitar: ... We're sorry. We got worked up by that Gengar.

blaming others for your ideas, how mature

Charizard: No. I suspected Gengar right from the start.

right
sure yeah I'm sure

Red just doesn't look like the treacherous type! Hahahahaha...

yeah that's why you literally followed us out to the ends of the earth to brutally murder us
gotcha

Green: If only that were true...

Green is appropriately incensed at this.

Alakazam: But I must say...
You are to be commended for prevailing through this cruel journey and discovering the truth.
Impressive, Red.

tch, the last thing we need is praise from you

Green: Hahaha! Excellent! I knew I was right!
... Huh? Oh, but wait...
Then why did Red turn into a Pokémon?
I understand that Red isn't the human from that legend...
Then, how do you explain Red becoming a Pokémon?

The mystery deepens!
Then the ground begins to shake, conveniently ending this conversation.

Green: Waah! The ground's heaving!
Charizard: ... Qu... quake?!
Ninetales: The world's crust is shifting.

Yeah that's kind of how earthquakes happen. In a sense anyway

The natural calamities are worsening.
And... The shifting of the ground...
It will awaken the beast that embodies the ground... The beast that slept deep underground...
Groudon will be awakened!

Well shit.

Alakazam: What?! Groudon is rising?!
Tyranitar: Groudon?!
Green: What is that? What's a Groudon?

Everything in this world is a Pokémon so...

Alakazam: A legendary Pokémon that has been spoken of only in myths.

Well, Ninetales has confirmed that all myths are true, so I guess that means Groudon exists.

Alakazam: It is the Pokémon that raised the land masses and created continents...
It is said to have taken to sleep after catastrophic battles with its archenemy Kyogre.
Ninetales: If Groudon were to get loose, there would be chaos.

Well... that's unfortunate.

It must be stopped!

ON IT!

Alakazam: We will go.

... oh.

Green: We'll go too!
Alakazam: No. You must remain behind.

Oh, okay... why

Groudon is far more powerful than any Pokémon you have faced.

Even the ice bird that murdered Green with one attack?

Leave it to us.
Charizard: That's how it goes. You go back to your rescue team base for a well-earned rest.

Tch. Thanks.

Tyranitar: Don't worry about us. We didn't get our Gold Rank the easy way.
We'll get the job done, and we'll be back before you know it.

... so who thinks they're gonna die?

Alakazam: Fine. We're off to quell Groudon!

And they leave. Good luck!

Alakazam's team made their way underground to quell the awakened Groudon.
Meanwhile, cleared of all suspicion, Red's team...
Put an end to their long and arduous journey...
And returned to their welcoming rescue team base.

And that's the end of the fugitive saga. Next time: plot and hopefully some new recruits!

20/413 = 4.8%
Charmander (Red)
Rattata (Sword)
Nidoran F (Diane)
Paras (France)
Geodude (Hazy)
Magnemite (Duracell)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Sentret (Joanne)
Ledyba (Francis)
Yanma (Shade)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Chirops (Gligar)
Treecko (Green)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Zigzagoon -> Linoone (Longcat)
Shroomish (Toad)
Shroomish -> Breloom (Portobello)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Electrike (Ravi)
Absol (Storm)

Hydrachomp · Jan 20, 2017

Haven't posted in a while due to stupid exams, but I know just how you feel. I too lost a great deal of work (in my case an essay) during a busy time and it's so stressful!
But back to the topic of the Let's Play. Even though you lost quite a bit of text, I personally thought it to still be quite a good narrative and I'm looking forward to the next part :).
Really love the links to the music as well, as the background music reinforce the text and livens it up. Sometimes I do wonder if the writers of the story even knew how the map looked, when putting together all of the text, as there are quite a few contradictions. Let's just say its a bit of artistic liberty and to be honest i feel it adds a bit of charm to the games. The last thing: Finally we can recruit again!
What pokémon are coming up in the next dungeons (for nicknaming reasons)?
Anyhow, keep it up and looking forward to the next part.

Altissimo · Jan 20, 2017

Hydrachomp said:
What pokémon are coming up in the next dungeons (for nicknaming reasons)?

From the fugitive dungeons: Illumise, Volbeat, Tangela, Shuckle, Ditto, Rhyhorn, Swablu, Zangoose, Chimecho, Seviper.
In upcoming dungeons: Seedot, Onix.

Let's Play! Let's Catch 'em All in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon! (Part 31 up: Wish Cave (2) & End))

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Alydos

The Faz

Vinc2612

The V stands for VGC

LightningLord2

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Doubt

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cityscapes

Take care of yourself.

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Carrier

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jordanthejq12

Carrier

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Carrier

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Hydrachomp

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Carrier

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Hydrachomp

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