Off to the gym! This won't end badly at all!
First things first: a little birdy told me I should pay a visit to our friend Password Pete in the mart.
Howdy, Password... Paul, apparently! I wonder if all the marts have a different Password Person, then?
I dunno if I have a password, per se, but I'm down for some underage drinking if you can hook me up!
I said beer, not bee! You are the worst, Password Paul. Oh, well, at least fatbees are cute, and... wait.
...is that shiny? That's shiny, isn't it? Oh my god. You are the best, Password Paul.
*~sparkly Ilario~*
(I'm pretty sure this is because oripoke was beta-testing the game and found a shiny? The team posted something to that effect on their Twitter account... Must have been a polbee, then. The best shiny to find, of course. Whatever the case, awesome! Thanks, Twitch!)
Also: conclusive proof that polbee does not learn poison sting, at least not by level 7. You are the worst, lying schoolgirl.
Sparkly Ilario may actually get to stick around for a while. If nothing else, I only have five pokémon with me and there's nothing new around to fill the gap. A bit disappointing that it's still duplicating types I already have, but I might as well. Still not sure if I want to evolve him, though... ;-;
There doesn't seem to be anything else to do but check out the gym and see what sort of beatdown I'm in for, so let's go!
Oh.
The text goes on to say that Regina left a note on the door, explaining that she's gone out for a drink. I wonder where?
If you're hankerin' to tie one on, a building with saloon doors is probably a good place to start. (I... actually saw this earlier but left without screencapping/mentioning it because I wanted to explore the rest of the town first, and then completely forgot it existed until I reread the note. Hence my "there's nothing else to do" comment when this has been here the whole time. Oops.)
Hm. It looks sort of dark in there... but hey, a little girl by the gym was just telling me how nice Regina is. She bakes cookies for children and everything! If a sweetheart like Regina is comfortable relaxing in here, it must be a clean, family-friendly and upstanding establishment.
Oh.
Uh... I guess? I do need more money, and I'm pretty sure my team is still underleveled for the gym... bring it on, pal. (I really like the "trainer noticed you" jingle this guy has.)
"Roughnecker"? Isn't it "roughneck"? Then again, I probably shouldn't dispute it with him. He's kinda big and scary, and his pokémon probably are, too...
Oh.
Adowwable bambouse aside, I have to say I was really hoping for some stronger trainers in here. It doesn't look like everyone in this saloon fights you, and I'm really not looking forward to having to go back to Avocet Forest to grind. Those wilds are level 6 tops, and they're going to end up being level 3–4 more often than not. :/
*sigh* Whatever, I'll make do. Show ‘em what you've got, Sparkly Ilario.
Hey, I was wondering when one of these moston things was going to show up. They're rock/grass, I believe. Perfect for testing my new rock smash attack, in fact...
(This thing's animation is really cool, by the way. It falls apart, then slowly puts itself back together and finally puts its head back on. Very neat.)
Tierog's rock smash eventually does the trick, although not terribly effectively given that his physical attack is still crap and the moston kept offsetting the defense drops with harden. Dear god, Tierog, please learn mega drain or something at level 10. You're killin' me here.
Uh... yeah! Yeah, I definitely am! Of course I am, why do you think I came in here, hahaha... haha... Just make sure it's a beer and not a bee this time, would you?
Double kick? Well then what did I go and teach her rock smash for? Dammit.
What? No, I... I'm just holding this for a friend! It's not even alcohol, really, it's just... soda pop! Yeah, it's just a soda from the counter over there, I swear!
See, lady? Soda! See?
Good thing I found this. I'm probably gonna need the healing for the gym, and while the mart does sell super potions the fresh waters are going to be much, much less expensive.
Speaking of the gym, it's just the two roughneck(er)s who battle you in here, and each only has two pokémon at levels 6 and 7. So much for extra training. *sigh* I guess I'd better talk to Regina and get this over with. Pretty sure that's her next to me at the bar.
Not gonna lie, not so hot now that I'm 99% sure I have a ton of grinding ahead of me, but thanks for asking. (Also not gonna lie, that response was a lot... let's say... more coherent than I was anticipating.)
Regina introduces herself and then heads off to the gym, and after a quick stop at the pokémon center I follow suit. Next post!
(NOTE: I swear I didn't plan all the terrible beer/bee jokes and stuff. I had no idea the mystery gift would be a polbee, I really had forgotten about the saloon, etc.. It literally all fell into place like that as I was playing/typing, and I couldn't not do it, haha.)