Part Twelve
La dernière étape de cet interminable périple français commence! Vers la route de la victoire, le gant ultime! Une dernière bataille avec Serena, aussi molle que jamais. Et à la Ligue Pokémon, et une bataille avec le premier des quatre élites!
La dernière étape de cet interminable périple français commence! Vers la route de la victoire, le gant ultime! Une dernière bataille avec Serena, aussi molle que jamais. Et à la Ligue Pokémon, et une bataille avec le premier des quatre élites!
I make my way up through the badge check area off Route 22 but the Ace Trainer on the gate stops me and demands a battle. It's cool there's a guard, but to be a bit more threatening he really needs a bigger team. Three Pokemon just isn't that difficult. Carbink, Raichu, Kingdra... add, say, Scrafty and Rhyperior and this guy becomes an actual challenge.
...this has got to be a sinecure of some kind. How many battles a year must this guy actually have to fight? 10, if he's lucky?
Oh, well. Anyway, the time has come to enter Victory Road proper! I proceed to the corridor and, in a very impressive sequence, the back of the room rumbles before sliding away and reforming itself into a stairwell.
But I need to double back. If I'm going to make it through Victory Road I will need a dedicated HM slave, so Squirtle will have to accompany me on this segment of the journey. I make a mental note to knock it out immediately. I can't remember if victory road has any double battles but better safe than sorry.
Before I go I decide to check out the southern part of Route 21 which requires Surf and Waterfall, taking a little peek inside the Chamber of Emptiness.
Remember when everyone thought this room would have something to do with Hoopa? Simpler, more naive times.
I am rewarded for my exploration with... TM26, Earthquake. Yeah, Floette'll find all sorts of uses for that.
Into Victory Road we go. The first cavern isn't too difficult, and I manage to skirt around most of the trainers and make it out relatively quickly. There's a boulder at the top of the room which no doubt I'll be able to move when I approach from the other side, creating a nifty shortcut. Why didn't any of the other trainers fix that shortcut? Selfish bastards.
Ah yeah, there is a double battle in here.
But that's what you're doing, you mug! You only have a Medicham and a Gallade, hence ONE POKEMON EACH.
Pleasantly, this place isn't just one big cave - every so often you emerge to find a grassy cliff area. What with all the ancient-looking towers and crumbling stone walls, this place appears to be some sort of ruin. Possibly the whole mountain is one vast ancient castle, or possibly even a city. That's really interesting and isn't ever talked about in the game to my knowledge. Wonder what its significance is. Parfum Palace was the apparent seat of the monarchy, but of course royalty often doesn't restrict itself to only one castle. Perhaps -
...there's a healer here? Oh mate C'MONNNNN-
I was so annoyed by this I actually turned my game off.
Right. Where was I? Oh yes, Victory Road. I continue onwards but who should show up once again but Serena, burbling some nonsense about how she wants to test herself against me one more time and see if she has what it takes-
Yeah, yeah. Get on with it. She leads with Meowstic and I use Calm Mind a couple of times before taking it down with Hidden Power (Dark). Vaporeon and Altaria fall pretty quickly, but Chesnaught manages to avoid Light of Ruin and smacks me with Seed Bomb, doing some heavy damage. With 110 HP remaining, I figure I can survive the recoil and use Light of Ruin again, obliterating it and leaving me on 5 HP. Not to worry, I'll heal up and see off her Absol. Oh, but wait. Didn't Tierno and Trevor say that she'd been training at the Tower of Mastery? Aha, so she's going to Mega Evolve her Absol. Best proceed with caution...
...but she doesn't. Well, that's a letdown. I heal up, tank a Slash from Absol, and OHKO it.
Remember when the pre-Elite Four rival fight was actually difficult? Pepperidge Farm remembers. Idk, maybe it would be if I was using a different team. I was genuinely surprised when I looked at Serena's list of teams and saw that you only fight her five times before the postgame. It feels like a lot more. But damn is it a dull-ass lineup.
It is really cool and nostalgic that you can see previous areas from Victory Road. Wish that there were more, and that Alola had done the same.
I pick up a Carbos and a Zinc on my way. Apparently Floette has acquired so many EVs at this point that the Carbos is ineffective - oh well, can sell that later on. The Zinc works, though.
There's a waterfall just before the final cavern so I quickly scale it to nab whatever TM it is at the top I've forgotten about. There's a Hiker stood in front of it who proves incredibly difficult to evade - I save my game before approaching and have to soft reset six times before I sneak past successfully. Aaaaaand TM02, Dragon Claw, is my shit reward. Another move I can't make use of.
And there's a bunch of unavoidable trainers in the final section. But at last I make it, and emerge blinking and dazed onto the mountain's summit.
Wow. The Kalos League - a large and spectacularly ornate castle - is seriously impressive (even moreso at night when the sky becomes an implausibly gorgeous tapestry of stars and galaxies overhead). And the music is one of my favourite themes in the entire series. Though GlitchxCity's sublime remix takes it to a whole new level IMO.
Though I have to say that I think the type specialties of the Kalos Elite Four are a little uninspired. Fire, Water, Steel, Dragon. It's like a nine year-old's idea of what the coolest types are.
So, we're here. The final challenge is finally upon us. Time to regroup, take stock, and plan my strategy.
...aw, fuck. I forgot to get TM29, Psychic, from the Pokemon Village earlier. Looks like I have to go through the Winding Woods AGAIN. Grumble. I fly back to Snowbelle and collect it, also getting a Pixie Plate. Eh... could have used that earlier. Better choices for items at this point. Returning to the Pokemon League, I drop a metric shit-ton (an official unit of measurement since 1988) of cash on Hyper Potions, Full Restores, and Full Heals. There's no point buying Revives since I'll be going it alone so I sell all the ones I have.
I think I'm ready to begin.
Who to fight first, then? One of the foursome is likely to prove very tricky, while another seems likely to be fairly easy. The other two, it is to be hoped, will be more even fights. So I decide to start in the middle.
Siebold
Once I enter the Elite Four chamber I'm met by a pink-haired woman in slinky leggings and sunglasses who introduces herself as the Fire-type user, Malva. Yeah, we'll get to you. First, though, I'm taking on Siebold. I scrutinise all of the four open doorways and choose the bottom-right.
In the Flood Chamber, I watch as two immense gears spring to life and douse the room in torrents of flowing water. I wade to the dais upon which a man stands, apparently lost in contemplation.
He thinks, and then appears to reach a conclusion.
"No, I simply can't say."
Um... hello?
He turns to me as if noticing me for the first time.
"You there! Young man! I have a question I must pose to you. Do you think Pokémon battling can ever be worthy of being called an art?"
Uh... idk. Honestly, I'm not that concerned with big philosophical matters right this moment. Let's say... no.
Woah! Okay, easy. Jesus, talk about a hair-trigger temper.
He continues in full flow, undeterred.
"If all you seek in life is to fill your stomach with some tasteless matter, then why are there Chefs in this world?!"
Because some people legitimately don't care about what they eat. And that's fine. For some people, food really is just fuel.
"We labor tirelessly to make something wonderful that will disappear from sight as soon as it is enjoyed. That is the life of a Chef! That is the life of a Trainer!"
Yes, ephemeral art. Like theatre or flowers that only bloom once or that rotting cow's head Damien Hirst put in a glass case once. What's your point?
Clearly too enraged to speak, he finally begins our battle, sending out Clawitzer first. I've taught Floette Energy Ball, so boost once with Calm Mind and promptly take care of it.
Gyarados is next. Energy Ball isn't going to do the trick here. Hmmm, do I go for Light of Ruin straight off? Yeah, why not. I let loose my signature move, and manage to OHKO. Next up is Barbaracle, for whom a boosted Energy Ball probably does way over 100% - and finally Starmie, who... also dies to one hit. Wow. That was nice and simple.
Not seeming at all fazed, Siebold proclaims that "there are no weak Pokemon, only weak trainers". Sure. This guy's just full of lofty statements, ain't he.
I agree with his overall point about art, btw. Just find it really weird the combative way it's put across. Surely there are better ways to muse on the theme of ephemeral art than by putting talking points into the mouth of a man who seems to explode with anger if told "no".
Anyway. Returning to the centre of the room transports me back into the central chamber, where now only three of the doors are open to me. Who shall I tackle next? Find out next time in the penultimate installment...
Current team
Floette @ Leftovers - level 77
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