The gym! For real this time, I swear!
Here we are in the Longspur Gym! The statue's statement is grammatically incorrect, but nonetheless I agree wholeheartedly. Normal is the best type. (I still wish they'd eased up on the number of normal-types available at this point in the game, though.)
Huh, a reporter? That's an interesting take on the gym guy. Basically he says I have potential and then just tells me to go for the badge. Um, excuse me? I'm pretty sure you've got more to say than that, pal. What about the gym's strengths and weaknesses? What should I do to prepare?
That's what I thought.
Of course, his advice is nothing new, but still! It's the principle of the thing.
Ooh, and free fresh water! Now that's more like it.
"Good luck in there, kid," says Charlie. "Prove you have potential!" I do have potential! I am going to win! I'm going to have the most expensive TV in all of Apalis Town, and also be a pokémon master or something, probably! I can do this!
I... am in a barn! I don't know why I'm in a barn, but it doesn't matter! I can win in a barn! I'll just step on that switch that's in a barn for some reason, that wall/possibly a picket fence will move out of the way, and then I'll beat that kid over there! I can do this!
(Dear lord. Those barn doors are supposed to be red. They look like they're the same color as the walls in this picture. What are you doing, screenshot program? Why are you selectively washing out random individual colors and leaving the rest alone?)
I'm comfortable anywhere! I can win anywhere!
I... hm. That bite did an awful lot of damage. But that's okay! I still got this! (Also, seriously? Opaby is also a normal-type? It really couldn't have just been pure dark? C'mon, guys.)
Let's try out that new double kick!
Yeah! Feelin' good! That wasn't as hard as I was expecting, so let's keep going!
So you move around the gym, looking for more of those square switches. They move the barn doors in addition to the picket fences, and I guess you battle the trainers as they come up. Trainers like this guy!
Golly, that sure sounds familiar.
This really is a lot easier than I was expecting. That's... probably a bad sign.
You think?
Anyway, no more negativity! I got this! Gonna find the rest of the trainers, and then Regina's ass is mine!
Y-yes I do! Stop trying to shake me up! I can do this!
GAH. I said stop trying to shake me up!
Oh, crap, it knows echoed voice. a) That's gonna hurt, and b) please don't make that sooooound
Phew! It took out both Durvas and Kilasdann, unfortunately, but Ragno was able to pull through after sand-attacking its accuracy to all hell. Everything's under control! I can still do this!
I think I'm gonna go heal up and do a liiitle bit more training first, though. Not the hardcore grind I thought I was gonna need, at least not for now, but maybe at least bump everyone up another level. Ragno's about to hit 11, at least. I'll probably feel better if Kilasdann has evolved, too, which hopefully happens at level 12 like vivillon and not, like, 17 or something.
Hey, that'll probably come in handy.
Oh, polbee does learn poison sting. Still not at level 7, though!
(...a bunch of other battles and Kilasdann still not evolving at level 12 later...)
My hojacoon has defied her deceptively squishy exterior and slain many devil bears in her quest to attain her true and final form. And you, little one, you shall be the last, and her crowning achievement. Hopefully. Please, please evolve at level 13. I'm dying here. I hate grinding so much, and these wilds are so weak. Put an end to my misery, Kilasdann, show me the glorious light of evolution at the end of the tunnel, and also get this goddamn hunber out of my face.
Please.
...My god. It's happening.
It's happening.
It's... it's... you know, I don't really know what it is. Doesn't help that the sprite is cut off. It's... a giant caterpillar with flowing, luxurious wizard locks and a magnificent mustache? I guess naming you after a dwarf wasn't so far off the mark after all.
Absorb, huh? Mega drain would've been more impressive and more on par with something like butterfree's confusion, but any new move is nice. (Meanwhile, bloody Tierog is still sitting there, refusing to learn anything. Get with the program, flammable mouse, you're not helping.)
Hm! So it becomes a grass-type to match the new attack, and is apparently much less prone to being stepped upon than hojacoon are. Then again, I dunno how a four-foot-tall, 180-pound caterpillar with hair that fabulous could possibly be mistaken for any surface you would ever walk on top of, so it's probably a moot point. Sounds like... is it supposed to have fur coat? :D? Oh, man, that would really be a huge help right now.
Poop. Still just shed skin. (Maybe fur coat is its hidden ability.) Oh, well, no use moping about something I can't have. Let's give you a quick test run in battle, shall we?
(Update: Apparently it does have fur coat in the latest demo releases :D)
Oh. That's unfortunate.
Well, much though I'd appreciate all of my peludillar being present and accounted for, and glorious though it would be to see this thing fully animated and those divine tresses flowing in the breeze, Kilasdann can still squish setik sufficiently even while completely unable to move and sans head. You'd think those would be important, but Kilasdann's a trooper, she is, she won't let a trivial thing like being as headless as an 18th-century French royal stop her. (Not gonna lie, though, watching a huge, motionless sprite with no head just sit there while everything moves around it is a liiiitle unsettling. Hopefully this bug will be patched soon, pun not intended.)
Occasionally headless or no, she's just gonna have to do for now. I really, really hate grinding, and while I still harbor a niggling suspicion that I'm not strong enough I'd at least like to try and face the gym leader. I dunno, now that Sparkly Ilario knows poison sting, between that and Aenjara's ember, maybe some liberal application of sand attack, I miiiiight be able to get away with some favorable hax. (Also, hey, Sparkly Ilario's holding an item. Totally forgot he had honey gather.)
This is it. We're gonna do this. We're finally gonna go fight Regina.