Let's Play! Librarymons: A Journey Through Abandoned Save Files!

[Theorymon]

Librarymons: A Journey Through Abandoned Save Files!​

Ah the library, one of my favorite public institutions! It's always nice to see a place where money doesn't rule the roost (or at least directly, this is not a socioeconomic analysis thread!). Due to recent events, I've been paying attention to my library again, which gave me a funny idea...

"Hey how many Pokemon games are in my library system?"

Turns out, a LOT!

For anyone whose ever gotten a used Pokemon game, you may know the magic of seeing people's save files. People often care a LOT about their Pokemon, so looking through these abandoned save files is often like an archeological dig. For example, when I got a used copy of a Japanese Emerald, I laughed at seeing this level 40 Blaziken sounded by level 10-15 Pokemon. The classic buff starter strat!

So I decided to check out these Pokemon games to get that experience. I got most of them on March 31st, but didn't get to dig in too much until today due to real life situations. After checking the save files of these games, a light bulb dinged over my head...

I can probably beat all of these games with just the Pokemon previous library patrons caught!

Most of these games have sat for YEARS not being checked out or used, so its about time to wake up those slumbering Pokemon, because I'm gonna ensure that they actually finish their adventures this time! It's time for Librarymons! I figure this will not only be a unique run for me, but can also sharpen my atrophied writing skills that I need to use to catch up on Pokemon analyses lol.

The Librarymons Rules

1. Unless strictly necessary, I will ONLY use Pokemon that previous library patrons caught. Some stuff like Waterfall or catching certain legendaries will require me to catch or trade a Pokemon over, but they will NOT battle. This is a journey for these lost Pokemon, not the stuff I catch!

2. However, the library games are free to trade with each other, since some of the games have little to no Pokemon in them.

3. I will be RNGng a lot of legendary and static Pokemon. The point isn't to use them (since I caught them, so not allowed!), but to instead, clone them and leave them in these games as a gift for the next library patron! Think of it as a library secret santa, maybe I'll make someone's day with say, an RNGed shiny Palkia! Plus with Regulation I being next month, there's some strange Speed IVs I want to try on some Pokemon, so this is good timing!

4. Undecided, but I MIGHT trade over acorn balls for Soul Silver and Moon, as well as synchronize mons. I'm leaning towards NOT using my catcher Smeargle for getting the legendaries though!

5. I'm keeping these games on Set Mode, and won't be using battle items that aren't Pokeballs (aka no potions, X attacks, etc) to keep things more challenging. I will sell them though! I will allow held items though!`

Our Cast Of Characters

Let's take a look at the games I checked out, and what Pokemon the previous patrons have caught!

Pokemon Pearl
Caught Pokemon: 2
OT: Adam
ID: 04429
Badges: 1

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Zapz the Luxio: Damn it, it has Rivalry instead of Intimidate. The nickname is uhhh... well I guess it sounds electricity related! Also, while I realize Sinnoh is Pokemon's take on Hokaido, that July 4th caught date makes me think this Luxio is 'MERICAN at heart! That's pretty funny though, makes me imagine the patron playing the game during a barbecue, then thinking "eh I'm good" after the 1st gym lol.

Monke the Chimchar: This was one level before evolution, I got the feeling this was part of why the patron lost to Roarke the first time! While I did pick Chimchar myself all the way back in 2007, I don't mind reusing it here, considering Sinnoh's serious lack of Fire-types lol. Though we'll see if there's a lack of Fire-types among the local Librarymons...


Yep that's right, the Pearl player only caught 2 Pokemon! One of them being Luxio makes me wonder if the previous player was the type to only catch "cool" Pokemon. I noticed too that in the Orebourgh Mines, the X Defend that's RIGHT at the entrance was still there, so maybe this player was in a rush!

You can tell the lack of Pokemon ended up being an issue too, the journal flips that annoyed so many folks paints an illuminating picture: notice that they lost to Darius the first time! I wonder how many items they needed to pull that off, the Luxio and Chimchar seem rather over leveled. Oh yeah this is Darius btw, wonder how they lost...

Considering the serious lack of Pokemon unlike the next game, Pearl will be the first game I run through in my Librarymons quest! Feels fitting since I chose Pearl version all the way back in 2007 myself, this is actually the first time I played through Pearl (rather than Diamond) since 2007 too!

Pokemon Soul Silver
Caught Pokemon: 11
OT: Ana
ID: 21526
Badges: 0

Gassy the Chikorita: OK this is hilarious, either this is some kid's fart joke, or they meant to name him "Grassy" and made a typo! Considering the rest of the nicknames, I'm leaning towards the latter. Cool thing is, this is a neutral nature with a 0-1 Attack IV, so this will certainly be a mainstay in this run in case Meganium ever becomes useful in like, gen 10! About that though... since Chikorita is a starter in Pokemon Legends ZA, I won't be evolving it unless Bayleaf is shown in ZA. Listen for all I know, Chikorita could evolve into Fugleaf instead of Bayleaf in ZA, I don't want to take that risk!

Zubat #1 and #2: For some reason, this patron caught 2 Zubats. The Serious one like Chikorita, also has a 0-1 Attack IV, which is epic even if I doubt I'll be interested in Nasty Plot Crobat anytime soon, so I'll be taking that Zubat for a spin in Pearl!

Sentret: Sentret may be a random rodent mon, but it learns a LOT of HMs! Thanks to Furret, I think I'll have most of the HMs covered except for Waterfall! So Sentret will be an important support for my adventures!

Hooty the Hoothoot: Looks like the patron didn't typo here! Hoothoot may not seem special, but as we'll see in my first update later, it's actually a key Pokemon...

Stingy the Kakuna: THE GREAT KAKUNA MAN LIVES! Yeah its Kakuna, and specifically the sort that was caught as a Kakuna so it only knows Harden (man what is up with those Kakuna in the wild anyways...). Still, it has that personal touch of a nickname, so I'll give this priority over the Weedle they caught.

Ekans: I honestly sorta forgot you could get Ekans that early lol. I mean Arbok sucks, BUT Intimidate is great so this could be rather useful down the line!

Rattata: Oh joy another rodent mon! I'll probably try to avoid using this unless I decide to get Endeavor on it...

Pidgey: Ah another classic early route garbagemon! I'd say "well it could become Mega Pidgeot" later, but none of the games I got even let me get Pidgeotite except for Pokemon Moon, which I think might be post game if it wasn't some dumb event? Unfortunate...

Weedle: Like I said earlier, this is technically better than the Kakuna since it has Poison Sting, but Kakuna has the nickname so I'd rather suffer through that instead I think!

Ledyba: Oh god Ledyba, Ledian has to be one of the worst early route bugmons ever! Seriously those offensive stats are beyond pathetic! And yet, as we'll see later, I might be forced to use it...

So as you can see, the Soul Silver looks like a classic early Pokemon file: a lot of early route Pokemon with a focus on the starter that's your real child! Soul Silver is what's gonna save this Librarymons quest, as it lets me have a full team on Pokemon Pearl! And as it turns out, it'll save me in Pokemon X as we'll soon see...

Pokemon X
Caught Pokemon: 0!
OT: Library
ID: 22456
Badges: 0

Uhh... this person didn't even start, all they did was save in their house! Not to mention, they came up with the least creative name possible! So that means a lot of those garbage early route Soul Silver Pokemon are probably going to have to fill in here! So let's see what that starter team would look like..



Oh great, a run where Arbok and Crobat are my best Pokemon and I have to use Ledian... this is gonna be hard mode, I think I'll save this for after Pokemon Y!

Pokemon Y
Caught Pokemon: 4
OT: Blaiz
ID: 01115
Badges: 1

Fire the Braixen: Gee real creative name there, right up there with Pokemon X's trainer being Library... but hey at least this patron actually started their game! Also like I guessed, people love their Fire-types, so I bet Pokemon Moon is gonna be filled with those as my last run!

Panpour: FINALLY my 1st Water-type, guess I won't have to worry about HMs for gen 6! Too bad Simipour sucks, but hey that makes these sort of runs more interesting doesn't it?

You bug me. the Weedle: OK that is an INCREDIBLE nickname, I take back my creativity complaints! Sure for some reason my Librarymons quest is gonna be using Beedrill 3 times now, but that nickname is so good I'll justify it!

l the Fletchling: I can't tell if this is upper case "i" or lowercase "L", but I'm going to go with the L because that's funnier to me. I guess this patron's creative juices were all spent on that Weedle! This is also going to contribute to Fire-type overload, but since I got exp share hopefully I can just brute force past that problem! Though now that I think about it, I might rely on Panpour for Rock-types until my gen 4 mons start obeying me...

Overall, another early game file as expected, but this one feels like a mid-way between the crazy 2 mon file of Pearl and the "I caught everything I saw" file of Soul Silver.

Pokemon Moon
Pokemon Caught: 9
OT: Josh
ID: 917317
Whatever the totem things were called that I forgot about: 0

George the Litten: Ah that's a cute name for a Litten, almost makes me wonder if they named him after their cat back in 2020! Also, this Litten actually has a 31 Attack IV AND a Quick Claw, so that's... pretty lit! And also yet another Fire-type starter, so I guess I was right about a potential overload of these lol. Also, notice Fire Fang... Since in Gen 7 the move reminder lets you remember any move regardless of level, I think this means the Litten was traded to another game to get it early!

Sapnap the Pichu: I can't tell if that's some sort of electric name? Still, seems cute! I'm not sure if I'm gonna have this go all the way to Alolan Raichu or not, but I'm leaning towards yes because I already got a lot of usable Raichu, so maybe if I decide to lose my mind and use Alolan Raichu + Miraidon in VGC, this is the one that'll be used!

Yungoos: Besides reminding us of uh... the current US administration, I think Yungoos is really boring. I might be forced to use rodent Pokemon in a lot of these runs, but as you'll see, that WON'T be the case for Pokemon Moon!

Inkay (OT: David, ID: 462178 ): So this is the crazy part about Pokemon Moon: this patron traded a LOT! From here on out, the rest of the Pokemon all have different IDs and OTs! This combined with the Fire Fang Litten makes me think the player did a LOT of trades with either their own games or friends games. Especially this one, because this Inkay says it was caught on Route 1... which means it must be from Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon! Wild stuff, I'll certainly be using it!

Charmeleon (OT: Tim, ID: 092476): WHAT?! Not only is this Charmelon over level 20, but its in a Dream Ball, which means it must have been bred from a gen 5 Charmander! It appears I somehow underestimated just how many Fire starters I was going to have access to! I can't use him right away, but this is so weird I feel like I gotta use it!

Bonsly (OT: Jeff, ID: 986123): I honestly forgot Bonsly was catchable in SM lol. Maybe I'll use it for type diversity, but I think I might be more interested in the next guy...

Magnemite (OT: Joe, ID: 788095): I've always thought it was cool how early you can get Magnemite in gen 7! Even with Pichu, I might use this because gotta love the Steel-type, though maybe not for the whole run.

KING DITTO the Ditto (OT: crypt♀145, ID: 944643): Haha what?! Who knows why this is named King DItto, doesn't really seem like the king of the Dittos to me with Limber! I might use this just for the absurd nickname, but Ditto ingame without Imposter sounds like a nightmare so I'm not sure...

Skarmory (OT: Stephen, ID: 952643): OK THIS is the Steel-type I wanna use, in-game Skarmory sounds so weird! But, it is above level 20, so it'll take a while for it to obey me.

I always figured Pokemon Moon had the potential to be the craziest run, since it'll have access to ALL of the Library Pokemon... but the Pokemon this patron caught and traded for just makes it so much weirder and more exciting, this will be a fun finale!

And with that, I'm off! I got until April 21st to do this, which is tricky because a serious irl situation delayed this run by 5 days (unless I can renew, I got 0 renewels but these games haven't been checked out in YEARS so maybe there's a way...), so I'll be updating a lot with my progress as I rush through! I'll probably divide posts up by gym badges or other similar milestones for fun. See y'all soon!

 

[Theorymon]

Chapter 1: Cutting Down The Forest Badge!
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So on March 31st and April 1st (yes really), my initial quest starts! Since I haven't played Pokemon Pearl in about... 18 years or so (jesus christ), I decide to just get out of Oreburgh and see if that jolts my memory. Thankfully, it seems like Gamefreak had the same idea, because that rival who probably drinks 20 cups of coffee in the morning greets me!

So first off: yes Isaak is a real name! I typed it in google today and found this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaak_(singer)

Wow so the German rep for Eurovision last year was named Isaak? See I'm already learning things I would have never even considered thanks to this playthrough!

Anyways, our German singing friend tells us that Eterna City has a gym, which reminds me "oh yeah I gotta backtrack". Before I do that though, having just two Pokemon won't do, its time to trade with Soul Silver!

Sadly I didn't get pictures of this because I didn't think to until I got to Eterna Forest, so bear with me for a few paragraphs! I go back into the Oreburgh mines to catch myself some mons to trade. I end up catching the following Pokemon to trade with Soul Silver:



For Soul Silver's:



So I chose these for specific reasons! Sentret is a poor man's Bibarel for HM slaving, Gassy is "yo lets celebrate Pokemon ZA this year", Zubat is "Crobat might be cool", and Hooty is "I have no idea if I'll have Crobat before I get Fly" initially.

Sorry once again no real pictures here, but as I go through the caves to get to Eterna City, I figure "hey Gassy can rip up Geodudes with Razor Leaf". Little did I remember...

I need to beat Eterna City before anything above level 10 will obey from Soul Silver!

This ends up being a hilarious problem, as Geodude almost smacks Chikorita down! This will come up again later as an issue...

On the way to Floaroma, I catch 2 Abra for Neutral Nature Synchronize. Now why Neutral Nature you may ask? Because competitively, it's technically better! See in SwSh and SV, those super sitrus berries are based off your actual nature, and NOT what you changed with a Nature Mint. So neutral natures ensure you never get confused by those berries! In practice it really only matters for using Trick in Battle Stadium Singles... but look I can RNG here, I might as well go all the way! Another major event happens here too: Monke the Chimchar evolves into Monferno!. As DHR pointed out tonight, since Chimchar evolves at level 14, this means I didn't get Mach Punch on Monke. Not a huge deal, but still a tad sad!

Oh Yeah Team Galactic Is Here!

Somehow I forgot my Brilliant Diamond playthrough from a little over 3 years ago, because I totally forgot that Team Galactic was going to be causing a mess here! Now I could have had Monke and Zapz (better get used to those nicknames lol) rip them to shreds ez pz, but instead I elect to train up Hooty, Sentret, and Zubat here a bit via the old school method of "lead with them then switch out". To be clear, this still meant Monke and Zapz fried everything, but hey at least these Soul Silver mons gain some levels!

I totally forgot Mars was here too, and she uhh... stands no chance. I was concerned about that Purugly, but Monke was just too high leveled to really care about Scratch! So the Team Galatic encounter was pretty uneventful. My biggest take away was the first Team Galatic Grunt saying that he got owned, which made me remember "oh yeah a Something Awful goon translated this game right" lol.

The way to Eterna Forest after that little incident was also mostly uneventful training of Soul Silver Pokemon, with one amusing exception: Hiker Daniel ends up KOing Gassy with a Geodude! Brock would be proud, what an embaressment to Chikoritas everywhere... because of course, Gassy decides it's much better to use Tackle instead of Razor Leaf! I really gotta get that Forest Badge so I don't have to rely on this dumb Pokemon's ideas lol.

Enter Eterna Forest

I reach Eterna Forest, and after Cheryl has her whole "I'll heal up your mons!" speech, I realize something very important...

"Wait if I'm going to only use Library Pokemon... my only choices for sleep in gen 4 is Hypnosis Noctowl, and my only choice for False Swipe in gen 4 is Beedrill!"

This is when I realize I made a terrible mistake, I need to train up Stingy the Kakuna! So I haul ass back to Floaroma town, and go to the route below to catch myself another junk Pokemon to trade. Now in retrospect, I probably should have checked to see if those Abra where any good, but I wasn't thinking and did this:

I caught a Starly and traded it for Soul Silver's Stingy the Kakuna.

By the way, I check those Abra after that, and... one is Timid with Synchronize, the other has Inner Focus. So I guess I got 2 more junk trade Pokemon lol.

After that, I get a funny idea... since Cheryl heals you after every battle, I'm going to see how much I can get away with just using Harden as Chansey attempts to "sweep" with Egg Bomb lol. First wild match, this goes hilariously wrong when Chansey starts to spam Softboiled as a Budew slowly sets up with Growth... the Buneary does get KOed by Egg Bomb, but the Budew got too many boosts and manages to actually take down Kakuna with Absorb! Remember that Kakuna is low leveled, so its possible despite the 4x resist! So I take it out with Hooty as revenge.

For the rest of the wild battles, Chansey DOES actually sweep them! And the hilarious part is, for these two double battles here... Kakuna might as well been as strong as its DPP Analysis (yes that exists LOL), because it stays out for most of the time! Bug Catcher Jack does force me to switch out Kakuna when he sends out Beautifly, but hilariously the two Abra twins work out because they spam a very weak Hidden Power Fighting against Chansey as Egg Bomb owns them lol.

Now against these two Bug Catchers, that's where things get interesting...

So off the bat, Wurmple and Burmy might as well be nothing against the MIGHTY KAKUNA named Stingy! As I spam Harden, Cheryl seems content to randomly pick bugs to Egg Bomb (annoyingly hitting into Burmy's Protect several times). Eventually, Dustox replaces that Wurmple. I remember something... "doesn't Dustox learn Confusion?" Not wanting to risk it, I switch my current whipping boy Gassy in. Turns out, yes it does use Confusion! Which does barely anything. However issue is, Cheryl is now on her "spam Softboiled" shtick, and Gassy once again is a dumbass that refuses to listen. He does listen soon enough to Poison Powder the Burmy, but Dustox's Gusts take him down, like a fart in the wind....

I initially sound out Hooty, who is able to use Tackle and poison chip to take down Burmy, but that Kricketune is gonna be a problem. See with Fury Cutter, it COULD take down Chansey, but before I decide "maybe I should switch", I realize that Hooty is now level 11. So Hooty not only refuses to listen, but ends up KOing itself from a Confused hit lol. I swear my Soul Silver buddies are dumb as rocks right now!

So first I do the old "switch the weak mon then switch it out" with Stingy, then decide I'm not gonna monkey around anymore, and roast the rest of these doofuses with Monke! Kricketune and Dustox are easily OHKOed despite Kricketune using Growl, and I can't help but switch in Stingy one last time then switch back to Monke to parasite some exp from Cascoon.

That was enough exp for Stingy to evolve, and this is also when I realized "wait I should take pictures for the thread" lol.

So let's drive in reverse for a bit. Kakuna was VERY close to evolving already at level 9 when I did this battle, and the high levels in comparison meant Kakuna gained several levels. This is gen 4, and remember Beedrill learns Fury Attack at level 10...

STINGY EVOLVED AT 12!

Yep that's right, Stingy despite living up to its name in appearance, is stuck as a Kakuna 2.0 with just Harden! This is a massive blunder... but also an extremely funny one, so I figure, screw it I'm gonna save anyways!

After this, unfortunately I had a pretty serous family emergency take up my time, so I had to put this run on hiatus for 5 days.

5 Days Later...

I return to this run through with a slightly more calm situation in my life. I still remember that I have a Beedrill that can only Harden, because it's hard to forget an amazing screw up like that! However, THIS TIME I also remember that I do have the Rock Smash HM, so...

There we go, epic moveset 10/10!

So as I fight some wild Budews and Bunearys, it occurs to me that NONE of my Soul Silver Pokemon are going to obey, so of course Stingy decides "nah I'd rather Harden", making these battles take a lot longer than they should! What a dumbass bee lol. I decide to not go looking for the last trainer battle in the forest, and instead get the hell outta here so I can get that life-saving Forest Badge!

I come out to find this little scenario

Whenever I'm playing an old school Pokemon game, I know ONE of these fishermen has to be one of those idiots with 6 Magikarps! First guy I fight however has Goldeen, and since I don't want to get Supersonic'd, I zap it with uhh.. Zapz to an early grave. However, the next guy IS the idiot I was anticipating!

So I decide to sweep them with the mighty Rock Smash Stingy! It works because I mean, its Magikarp lol. Yeah you should have been a bit more serious about this!

I clearly wasn't serious though, because this took a while because Stingy had other ideas that involved getting harder and more focused. But the funny part is just how many Rock Smashes it took to beat team Magikarp!

Yep I almost ran out of PP! So because of that, I'm not playing around with the next fishermen, and finally let Gassy the Chikorita get some glory with a sweep (after it finally obeys me for a bit lol).

And thus I finally reach Eterna City about 5 days late. It's time to end this forest fire and get that badge!

Eterna City Gym

So as Gardenia tells me its time to play polygonal hide and seek, I think "Monke can just rampage through this gym, that's sorta boring". So to make things more interesting, I try to put my Soul Silver Stupids to the test here!

First off I find Lass Caroline. Since Hooty recently learned Peck, I figure NOW is the time to use it. She sounds out Cherubi, big whoop right? Turns out it immediately uses Leech Seed as Hooty decides its time to spam Foresight. I get annoyed pretty fast here and go straight to Monke after 2 turns to sweep with Flame Wheel. I don't even bother trying with Roselia, that thing probably hurts just kill it!

Next up is Aroma Lady Jenna. Surely this is Hooty's time to shine right? She leads with Budew, this shouldn't be a big deal! It's not like this is the TCG where Budew is so mighty that it makes Charizard scared!

Not only is Peck only a 2HKO, but Hooty gets hit with a Stun Spore. If you thought disobedience was bad, just imagine what its like with paralysis! After Hooty does nothing for 3 turns in a row due to either disability or stupidity, I decide enough with this, Monke GET ME OUTTA HERE!

Next up is Aroma Lady Angela. Since Hooty has a paralysis problem, I lead with Stingy instead, and come across this

I figure, Stingy can actually handle this, but the level difference is concerning. I'm right to be concerned, because Tackle is probably a 6-7HKO. That might not seem like much, but remember I never know when he is gonna think "not tuff enough, time to HARDEN". Thankfully, Angela isn't the brightest bulb herself, and mixes up the Tackles with Razor Leaf. This is wimpy enough that Stingy actually manages to get enough Rock Smashes off to KO (with help from Focus Energy getting me a crit!). Finally, a Soul Silver mon wins on their own! Though Stingy ends up being pretty worn out from that battle. Really glad I had Stingy hold an Oran Berry here, or it most certainly would have been KOed by Tackle!

The final regular trainer is up, Beauty Lindsay! She leads with her only Pokemon, Roselia. I lead with Zubat, the only thing I haven't used yet. This turn proceeds to happen...

Once again, let's not do that. Time to hit the big red MONKE button!

Finally after Gamefreak's cute babysteps towards "omg the game is 3D!" gym, its time to face Gardenia! By the way, when I see her, I can't help but remember that her great-great-great-great grandpappy was my mint dealer in Pokemon Legends: Arceus! I wonder what she'd think about that...

Oh hell nah, I'm not falling for that Leech Seed nonsense again! So I do what I should have done the last time I saw Cherubi: switch to Gassy so that Leech Seed means nothing!

It works, and I happen to fire off a Poison Powder BEFORE Cherubi can Safeguard. So I figure perfect, I'll let Grardenia burn her Super Potions, and sit back as Cherubi does nothing in time to survive. However...

OH SHIT!

I was NOT expecting her to switch out to Roserade. Unlike any other Pokemon I've seen so far... this thing has actual STATS. Leaving Gassy in would be suicide, but I'm worried Roserade is actually strong enough to do a lot of damage to Monke. So I switch Zapz in to a pathetic Poison Sting.

I figure "oh I guess its moveset sucks, it'll be fine". That is quickly torn to shreds when Roserade proceeds to KO with Grass Knot!

Alright Monke GET ME OUTTA THIS MESS!

Roserade ACTUALLY survives Flame Wheel... but thankfully Grass Knot was probably about a 3-4HKO on Monke, so Roserade does go down! Next up, Gardenia decides its time to turtle with Turtwig! Like I said before, I don't need Monke to demolish this, so I switch out to Zubat! Issue is... Turtiwg proceeds to use Reflect then Withdraw. Zubat's attacks bounce off it like a packing peanut!

So I decide to curse Turtwig with the same upcoming fate as Cherubi: lets poison it with Gassy! While this works.. Razor Leaf does a worrying amount of damage. That's when I get an idea inspired by the gen this Pokemon originated from: let's weaken Turtwig with Growl so it uses Grass Knot instead, and heal off with Synthesis!

At first this works great, its looking like Gassy is going to redeem itself despite it constantly disobeying! But then...

Oh no! Gassy barely survives. But look I got a chance here! If I can Synthesis again, I should be able to stand stall!

Of course, Gassy's head is currently full of hot air like his name suggests, and he decides to instead use Razor Leaf, which does bubcus since Turtwig has set up Withdraw several times already.

What an idiot lol...

Thankfully, this DOES put Turtwig into Poison KO range, so at least Zubat gets plenty of exp!

Now remember, Crobat is a friendship evolution, so I don't want to risk Zubat's life here. I instead bring out the barely ticking Hooty. Funnily enough, Gardenia immediately comments on the current situation of the battle.

What Gardenia does not mention is that Hooty doesn't want to do a damn thing. As the poison ticks down and Gardenia decides its time for some Growth, she comments once again:

Hooty is unmoved, and dies to a boosted Grass Knot lol.

Alright Stingy, finish this fight off! There's an issue though... I only get one Rock Smash in before Stingy decides he's out of his mind like the rest of the Soul Silver crew. Stingy decides "not stiff enough, time to HARDEN UP!" repeatedly, while Cherubi gets enough boosts in where Grass Knot is now a 2HKO!

It's looking like all is loss and Monke will have to come to the rescue... but at the last minute, a miracle happens.

Like a greedy CEO or an overconfident Salamence, Gardenia feels like the line MUST go up, there MUST be Growth! And that's her downfall. Stingy's empty brain... wait what do they call an arthropod's bran case?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39716000/

In particular, the insect brain is an important system with a secluded, compact, and protective exoskeleton. It is immunologically privileged and capable of producing a robust immune response against pathogens. It is also a source of materials that initiate key activity throughout the body. Proteomic interrogation of Periplaneta americana enables understanding the role of this insect in the fields of food and pharmacology.

Thanks National Library of Medicine! I barely understand that abstract because physics is much easier to me than biology, but I can at least tell you that Periplaneta americana is the American cockroach! I'd love to link to a picture of it, but I realize not everyone reading this wants to see one of those things!

Anyways, Stingy's empty secluded exoskeleton part is not enough to prevent the all-encompassing greed of our society from bringing down Gardenia!

Maybe, but these trade overs sure weren't! Thankfully you're going to fix that problem. But first, Gassy has an idea...

NOT ON MY WATCH! Listen Gassy I realize your head is screwed on correctly now that I have the Forest Badge, but I still don't know if you are gonna evolve into Bayleaf or Fugleaf on my Switch 2 (well hopefully, that's gonna be a nightmare to get one way or another lol), so you're gonna stay in your larval form! I should probably get an Everstone first thing...

Finally, after a battle that was far more complicated than it needed to be, I give Monke his just reward for taking care of that Roserade!

This isn't me going "screw you Gassy you don't get good things", but more "I'd rather he learn Energy Ball, this is the only Grass move Monke is gonna get". Thankfully Gassy and the other Soul Silver crew should obey me for quite a while.

Since Sentret is going to be useless vs Maylene but I need it to evolve for Strength, I figure now's the time to bench Zapz for a bit to quickly get Sentret to evolve. But that'll have to wait for the next episode...

Maylene And The Legend Of The Creator!​

Current Pokemon Standings In Pearl

Pokemon Details

Current Team

Monke @ Oran Berry
Impish Nature
Ability: Blaze
Level 21
- Flame Wheel
- Grass Knot
- Rock Tomb
- Rock Smash


Stingy @ Nothing
Careful Nature
Ability: Swarm
Level 15
- Rock Smash
- Harden
- Focus Energy


Hooty @ Pecha Berry
Hardy Nature
Ability: Keen Eye
Level 14
- Tackle
- Peck
- Foresight
- Hypnosis


Gassy @ Cheri Berry
Quirky nature
Ability: Overgrow
Level 16
- Razor Leaf
- Synthesis
- Growl
- Poison Powder


Zubat @ Oran Berry
Serious Nature
Ability: Inner Focus
Level 14
- Bite
- Astonish
- Supersonic
- Leech Life


Sentret @ Nothing
Naughty Nature
Ability: Keen Eye
Level 11
- Scratch
- Quick Attack
- Defense Curl
- Foresight

Boxed Pokemon That Matter


Zapz @ Oran Berry
Lonely Nature
Ability: Rivalry
Level 18
- Spark
- Leer
- Charge
- Bite

Trade Junk

 

[Theorymon]

Chapter 2: Maylene And The Legend Of The Creator! Part 1
​

After I finally knock the heads of the Soul Silver crew in place, like I said, I need to get that Everstone! So I immediately grab the underground kit from that old guy and talk to Roarke

While it most certainly is NOT my first time hanging around the Sinnoh underground on the DS, it has been almost 20 years since I've bothered to do it. So I struggle for a bit going "wait do I have to do that old dude's missions, why do I see stuff on the radar but not near me?" Of course, I forgot that you have to mash A and totally rely on the radar lol.

Thankfully I find an Everstone on my first try, so cross that task off the list!

Wow my memory retention for Pokemon campaigns really sucks, I totally forgot about having to blast some Galactic Grunts to get the bike! Since I remember Maylene is my next gym, I figure this is the chance for get Sentret to evolve so she can learn Strength! Oh also, I need to get into the building past those shrubs, so I teach Sentret Cut.

Before I get to putting Cyrus's flunkies in their place, I had some unfinished business. Now that all my Pokemon know I'm the boss, I head back to Eterna Forest to beat that last pair of trainers. Ended up having to switch out Sentret too because that Meditite was bad news!

I'm not going to go over EVERY battle I had at this hideout, because frankly most of these doofuses had no idea what they were doing lol. I always wonder how mad men like Cyrus think they expect to win when they hire a bunch of useless goobers to do their dirty work! However, the battle that caused Sentret to evolve was funny!

Well gee no wonder the trainer was weak! Clearly you're weak minded too if you think you're getting ANYWHERE with a Silcoon lmao

I guess Sentret thought it was so funny that it was time to evolve too. Otherwise known as hitting level 15! There's really only two more battles of note at this hideout.

The scientist's Kadabra gets DANGEROUSLY close to sweeping me! At the very least, Hooty was no match for that powerful Confusion! Thankfully the scientist clearly didn't have battle smarts, because it wasted time using Kinesis while Gassy takes him out. Is it any wonder why Kinesis got dexited? Oh gee its WORSE Sand Attack! After that I rush to the Pokemon center because being without Zapz the Luxio sounds like a bad plan against Jupiter.

By the way, what is up with Jupiter's hair? I mean all of the commanders got funky hair, but I have no idea how that hair represents the planet Jupiter. Maybe it's suppose to be the red spot? Though it's pink...

Once again I don't remember anything about this game, and lead Monke against Zubat. That doesn't seem bad at first, but at that high of a level I was like "oh that might have a Flying-type attack". It sure does attempt to Wing Attack me! For reasons I can't even remember, I switch to Furret thinking "hey maybe I can sacrifice the HM slave to give something else more exp". However Furret ends up actually Cutting the poor bat down and pissing Jupiter off quite a bit!

God Damn, Furret got shredded by that crit Night Slash like it got hit by an actual Jovian cyclone herself! Let's be real though, that crit was probably overkill considering that it's Furret lol.

Monke is a total 180 here, that Night Slash is dull as a butter knife, while I instead crit Flame Wheel that fart-slinging skunk! Seriously though I admire Gamefreak for making Skuntank's cry sound like someone ripping a series of farts! It's fitting for an evil skunk imo!

After I grab the bike as a reward... I totally forget about this scientist guy who gives me exp share! Thank goodness he only cares about stuff I've seen rather than caught. This is when I start playing hot potato with Exp Share to level stuff up. Listen, I know far off in the horizon, I'm gonna have Red's crazy high leveled stuff gunning for my throat, so my ragtag team of misfits is gonna need all the exp it can get!

I wander around the cycling road and under it. The battles aren't really that eventful, mostly "well they either lead Shinx or some bird" sort of stuff, so Gassy and Zapz handled most of that nonsense. However the double battle here was a lot more interesting!

Almost like its a VGC from the future, that Pachirisu almost ruins Hooty! Not in this picture, but frankly the only reason why Hooty survived to get some exp was because of some brutal sleep turns! Gotta love the 70% accuracy Hypnosis before Platinum ruinde that party The exp share finished off the job against this guy below:

Oh yeah there was another reason why I snapped this photo. That Bronzor was a real pain in the ass, kept putting my mons to sleep! Stingy ended up Rock Smashing it to death funnily enough!

And thus, Hooty finally becomes a champion of the night! Well sorta, its much bulkier than it was before, but Peck and Tackle are really pathetic damage options lol. We'll circle back to Hooty later, time to train up Zubat!

Since I don't seem to remember anything from even the remake, I actually head back to Eterna to see if there's anything on the upper side of Mt Coronet. It's just a few easy trainers and a dead-end, though I do come face to face with this infamous statue of Palkia / Dialga... this WAS on my mind the moment I got to Eterna City. It reminded me of something I wanted to do... more on that later!

LOL MALE COMBEE! Aroma Lady Hannah clearly isn't a seasoned battler. This is when I should also mention that Zubat learned Wing Attack a few levels ago, which made it far easier to train! Roselia also gets OHKOed, which leads to...

Since Zubat has been hanging around since I started this quest, I'm hoping that Golbat is a short, awkward teenage phase, because I'm pretty sure Crobat is gonna be among the best things I can use in gen 4 under the Librarymons rules!

If you've been paying attention to the clock on my DSi, note that it is pretty close to accurate time.. so yeah its about 4 AM, April 7th by the time Zubat evolves. My sleep schedule got really messed up by real life events, but by this time I was finally getting sleepy. So time to leave the nightlife to Golbat and Hooty!

The Next Day

Well OK it is still April 7th by this point! But it's also pretty close to the afternoon as you can tell below! I happened to save right next to Hearthome City too, so I drink my cofee rather peacefully while wandering around, remembering what the hell I'm supposed to do next.

RBY has trained me to talk to those old yammering Pokemon fans for good stuff... but I'm sure as hell not messing with poffins in this run, I'm short on time enough as is! That does make me remember that I rescued one of the Contest judges though, so I head over to the Contest Hall to advance the storyline and remove the thinly veiled blockades around the city exits.

Oh so our Eurovision friend is a magician now? Let's see what tricks he has up his sleeve! And once again, I forgot I even fight the dude here lol.

Ooooh I get it, its a disappearing act, with Zapz as the assistant! Again I forgot the rival was even here, the only reason why I had Zapz in the lead was because she was the lowest leveled Pokemon in my party at this point!

Oh I guess that wasn't an intentional trick, Isaak seems sorta pissed! As he switches in Ponyta, I end up switching in Monke because I don't want an unlucky Ember burn. Instead he spams Growl which leads to a 4 turn slugfest of me trying to KO with Rock Tomb. It was a 3HKO + a miss!

I might have Grass Knot, but I don't like Monke's chances against Prinplup. So I swap in Gassy... to get hit by Peck! I should have realized, hey that's a bird, that might be a problem for a plant lol. Thankfully Isaak proves to be better at music than Pokemon once again, and uses Metal Claw and Bubble next, letting Gassy snag the KO!

I'm getting Eterna Gym flashbacks here with Roselia! Thankfully I know my Pokemon got their act together now unlike a Regigigas, so I swap in Golbat, and unleash her inner fruit bat with Wing Attack! Wait is there a bat that eats flowers...?

https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildflowers/pollinators/who-are-the-pollinators/bats

Woah I totally forgot about pollinating bats! That really needs to be a Pokemon... but also I can't imagine Golbat pollinating of all things lol. OK I once again got really off track, what were we talking about again?

Oh yeah it was how I kicked Isaak's ass!

What follows is a gauntlet of very easy Pokemon Trainers. For better or worse depending on how much you care about this post's length, I'm not going to take pictures of EVERY battle. However I did think it was funny that this "Pikachu" was actually a trainer lol.

Some weird karate dude earlier gave me the keystone, which... I sure as hell didn't remember that being the way to get it lol. I DO remember how to get Spiritomb however... it's possible for me since I do have multiple DSes and gen 4 games. I might actually RNG it as part of the whole Library Loot aspect of this quest, but Spiritomb is tedious enough that I think I'll save that for later, using another gen 4 game to get Spiritomb ready would be rather intrusive right now!

So I remember enough of the game that I do head to the Lost Tower to grab the Strength HM. Sorry to say, but most of the trainers here where unremarkable wimps too. This is when I start to realize that I might be a bit overleveled, probably because I fight every wild Pokemon I see. I have to give this Pichu credit though, getting KOed from Twineedle's 1st hit is pretty funny! Gotta remember that Pichu's bulk is like, Deoxys-A level lol.

I'm not the type to use Dowsing Rods, I was just mashing A as I was running, and BOOM free Great Ball! That's neat, pretty sure I never found this back in 2007! I step to Solaceon Town which... I got bad memories of breeding from there, I don't want to stick around. But I do head into this news agency to see what that was about...

Woah cool, dude just wanted to see a Golbat who I was already using anyways! I'm a fan of free stuff, especially Quick Balls!

OK these twins were a pretty funny battle. Beedrill crit KOs Pikachu with Twineedle, then next turn... THEN Clefairy starts spamming Follow Me! I think that's a turn too late!

After taking a little break irl, I head back to the Pokemon Center partly because I want to talk to this girl.. unaware that she gives me Roost, not a battle! Considering the restrictions I put in this run, Roost sounds perfect for Golbat. Remember, Noctowl learns Roost naturally!

Of all the arbitrary ways Pokemon games blockade you, this moment of "idk a bunch of Psyducks get bad headaches and park themselves here" is especially funny to me. This is a series where you inflict paralysis and poison on wild creatures to enslave them, but interrupting Pokemon with headaches is a step too far I guess!

Oh cool, the moment I enter Route 215, a Kadabra pops up! Can this be the neutral nature Sycnhronize one I desire? Since its level 21, I KNOW this thing could still have Teleport, so I use one of those freebie Quick Balls... which fails. So my back-up strat is to.. use Rock Smash lol

Confusion hurts like hell, but after 2 Rock Smashes thanks to that defense drop, the freebie Great Ball does its job! I'll check on this Kadabra once I reach Veilstone.

This is one of the most important moments in this run so far! It's hard to tell from here since it just looks like Golbat is sweeping another karate guy, so lets zoom out a bit...

What?

WOAH!

For those of you who aren't familiar with gen 4, you may be wondering "where the hell did this Dialga come from?!"

No, this isn't some hacked level 1 shiny Dialga, this is a real thing that's possible to get as long as you have an Arceus and Heart Gold or Soul Silver!

Now originally I was going to cover that and more in this post... but this post has been gestating for hours because of irl stuff and it's gotten pretty large. I don't want to lose this write up and more importantly, the image uploads. I'd lose my god damn mind, so pretend this episode is a 2 parter! Stay tuned for the next episode, where I cover not only how I got this Dialga, but how I defeated Marlene!

(due to the unplanned nature of splitting up the post, I have no idea what the exact state of my Pokemon was at this time lol. So just wait for next time!)

 

[doipy hooves]

George the Litten: Ah that's a cute name for a Litten, almost makes me wonder if they named him after their cat back in 2020! Also, this Litten actually has a 31 Attack IV AND a Quick Claw, so that's... pretty lit! And also yet another Fire-type starter, so I guess I was right about a potential overload of these lol. Also, notice Fire Fang... Since in Gen 7 the move reminder lets you remember any move regardless of level, I think this means the Litten was traded to another game to get it early!

Fire Fang was a naturally early levelup move back in Gen 7 before SWSH sorted learnset orders based on power as a whole, though I guess giving Fire Fang at 14 before Bite at 22 and Fury Swipes at 29 was a suspect decision to begin with.

Sapnap the Pichu: I can't tell if that's some sort of electric name? Still, seems cute!

Unfortunately Sapnap is just a Minecraft youtuber which probably also explains the Litten's name.