Welcome back to Unova! When we last checked in, Team Plasma had stolen the Dragon Skull from the Nacrene City Museum. Together with Burgh, Cheren, and Bianca we all set out to find them and return the Skull to its rightful place in the museum. Unfortunately for everyone else involved, I was being lazy and called it quits for the day. So now that Team Plasma has had some time to escape, let’s see how far they managed to get.

Obviously, Team Plasma has escaped through the Pinwheel Forest and is heading towards the next town, so Burgh and I head after them. However I was a bit disappointed when we made it to the forest. I was fully expecting Burgh to stay with me and we’d fight double battles for the whole duration of the forest, similar to what happened several times back in Pokémon Diamond. Instead, Burgh offered to take the direct route to the exit and block it while I took the long way on my own to try to weed out Team Plasma.

So I’m now forced to trek through the twisting path of the Pinwheel Forest on my own. Along with all the normal trainers in the forest, there are also a few Team Plasma grunts waiting to slow me down. Apparently they too took the long way through the forest, and one of them is carrying they Dragon Skull. But why? When given the option of a straight paved path out of the forest and to the next city, or an overgrown twisting maze full of monsters, why would they have picked the twisting maze? What level of stupidity do they possess that would make them feel that was the better escape route?

It takes some time, but we eventually make it through the whole forest, and there is one last Team Plasma grunt to fight. After defeating this final grunt, Gorm of the seven sages shows up. He at first seems displeased with the grunt’s defeat, but quickly reveals it’s not important. It turns out the Dragon Skull isn’t what they were looking for after all. So it really doesn’t matter that they had to return it to me. He is however annoyed with my interference in their plans. Before he can act, Burgh and Lenora show up and Gorm decides to retreat for now, admitting he would rather not start a fight with a pair of gym leaders. So everyone is happy now, Lenora get her Dragon Skull Back, Burgh is ready to head back to his own gym, and I get to follow after him and try to take him on.

As we head out of the forest, I can’t help but be impressed with the journey over the Skyarrow Bridge to Castelia City. It really shows off the new dynamic camera angles the game uses. All the previous games have been purely tile based with a fixed camera. Starting with this generation the world is actually built as 3d models. Not only does this look a lot better, but it allows for some great shots with new dramatic camera angles. Whether it be spirally behind you as the climb the ramp to the bridge, or the way the camera tilts and dives as you’re crossing the bridge, it is a great addition to the Pokémon series and I want to see more of it.

I’m quite impressed when I finally get to Castelia City as well. This is probably the most heavily populated city I’ve seen in a Pokémon game to date. The town is quite massive, with several important buildings. A few restaurants, an ice cream stand, the Battle Company, the Game Freak Building, and even the Passerby Analytic HQ where you can poll people with street pass. The streets are also overflowing with people. Sure they’re just generic pedestrians, but it still gives a lot of life to the city. Eventually I find the Castelia City Gym, and it would seem Cheren beat me here and has already claimed the gym badge.

I would love to battle the gym as well, but Burgh follows Cheren out and makes an unpleasant announcement. Apparently he just got word that Team Plasma is causing trouble here in town and he heads out to find them. We make our way to one of the ports to find Bianca with another girl, Iris. It appears Team Plasma has actually stolen one of Bianca’s Pokémon, so of course we have to find them and get it back.

One of the Team Plasma Grunts was stupid, and returned to the scene of the crime. They were however smart enough to run away as soon as they saw us all gathered there. Unfortunately this led us straight to their hideout, which just happened to be directly across the street from the Gym. After forcing our way inside, we find ourselves face to face once again with Gorm, as well as another of the sages, Bronius, and none other than Ghetsis himself. Bronius admits to intentionally setting up the base across from the gym, thinking it would be a funny joke in the end. He was however surprised to be found out so quickly. I was fully prepared for a tough battle here, but Ghetsis proved to be a very reasonable person. He told us all virtually his entire plan, something about reuniting the hero with the legendary dragon. After that he very calmly told the grunts to return Bianca’s stolen Pokémon and then they all left town, never to return.

Now that that is taken care of, everyone is happy again and I can finally take on the Castelia City Gym. The layout is actually quite interesting, though I’m not sure it would actually work in real life. The whole gym is set up to resemble a honeycomb, complete with sheets of honey stretched out between several gaps. These honey walls might look solid, but you can actually force your way through them with some effort. There are also several switches around the gym that need to be pressed in order to lower gates around the gym which impede your progress. After all the previous battles, none of the Jr Trainers were able to put up much resistance, and I quickly made my way to Burgh.

Burgh		Insect Badge
Whirlipede	Dwebble	Leavanny
Level: 21	Level: 21	Level: 23

Since Burgh is a bug type trainer, my Swoobat ended up being my go-to Pokémon for most of this battle. yes it is half psychic, which are weak to bugs, but that wasn’t much of an issue because the flying type attacks were super effective and took out Burgh’s Whirlipede in just one hit. Burge switched to his Dwebble which was also one hit killed by my Palpitoad thanks to Dwebble half rock typing causing it to be weak to water. Burgh’s final Pokémon, Leavanny, was the easiest yet. Since Leavanny is a dual bug / grass type Pokémon, it has a 4x weakness to flying type attacks. So you better believe my Swoobat was able to one hit kill that as well. Amazingly I was able to defeat Burgh without taking any damage at all, and with that I earned my 3rd gym badge, the Insect Badge.

Bianca		Dewott
		Level: 20
Herdier	Pansear	Munna
Level: 18	Level: 18	Level: 18

As soon as we leave the gym, we get a call from Bianca looking for a friendly battle. Apparently Iris has been trying to teach her to become a better trainer and she wants to show off what she has learned. We meet up inside the gateway between Castelia City and Route 4. After receiving permission to battle here, Bianca shows off the efforts of her training. She’s still fairly weak, especially after we just fought Burgh, but she’s getting better. It’s only a friendly battle after all, so she’s not too upset when we beat her.

After all this excitement, we can finally move forward with our adventures, but that’s going to have to wait for another time. So join me again next time as we head out to Route 4 and see what more trouble Team Plasma can possibly cause.

Current Team:

Swoobat	Servine	Liepard
Level: 27	Level: 25	Level: 25
Palpitoad	Munna	Herdier
Level: 25	Level: 25	Level: 25

Play Time: 14h 30m

Badges: 3

Pokédex Entries: 35

It’s been a while, but i finally got a few drawings done this time for another Pokémon art gallery.

First up is the Legendary Pokémon Lugia! The Guardian of the sea, this Pokémon is the only thing that can calm the 3 Legendary Birds, as seen in the first Pokémon movie. Personally I’ve always thought his wings looked weird. They’re just so finger-like.

Next we have the Pokémon Series mascot Pikachu! This drawing was the final challenge for the apprentice level lessons. As such it puts together all the lessons learned so far for what is easily the best drawing I’ve done yet.

Welcome back everyone! When we last went exploring in Unova, we managed to stop Team Plasma from roughing up an innocent little Munna. Then almost immediately after that we had to stop them again from stealing a random little girl’s Pokémon. We then traveled west to Nacrene city in hopes of gaining our second gym badge. Unfortunately, we were still very under leveled to even consider facing the gym. So off we went for some intense level grinding.

Most of the level grinding took place in the outer area of the Pinwheel Forest. I would have loved to train in the inner area of the forest, but Team Plasma is busy making a human barricade just inside the entrance. I’m not sure what they’re planning, but they’re mumbling stuff to themselves and it doesn’t sound pleasant.

There were quite a few good Pokémon in this area, but I only chose one to add to my party, Tympole. These little tadpoles always put up quite a good fight, and the dual water / ground typing in their later evolutions makes them a great addition to the team. Of course the Fighting type Timburr would be a better addition to the team for the upcoming gym, but I simply don’t like to use fighting type.

Throh	Sawk

Speaking of fighting types, I also managed to catch a Sawk while I was level grinding. These guys were really rare, and I got lucky to catch one. I’d love to catch a Throh as well to complete the set, but they are extremely rare in the Black version. They can only be found in rustling grass, and even then with only a 5% encounter rate. I found quite a few Audino for some good experience, but never managed to found a Throh.

N	Pidove
	Level: 13
Timburr	Tympole
Level: 13	Level: 13

Now that I’ve gotten everyone up to a decent level, I think I’m comfortable heading back into town to face the gym. Before I can actually go inside however, I’m greeted by a familiar face, N. He challenges me to another Pokémon battle, and after all that training he was barely a threat at all. He does however make the first mention of the game’s legendary Pokémon Zekrom, so I’m expecting big things from him.

Inside the Nacrene Gym, it turns out it’s actually the town’s museum and library as well. After the damage we did back in my bedroom at the start of the game, I can’t imagine this would be a good idea, but to each their own I guess. The gym does have an interesting gimmick, you have to read the books to find clues to finding the gym leader. Turns out she was hiding in a secret room under one of the book cases.

Herdier	Lenora	Watchog
Level: 18		Level: 20

The Jr Trainers in the gym didn’t present much of a challenge, but I’ll admit I got lucky when I beat the Gym Leader Lenora. Or rather I should say she got lucky while fighting me. Her Herdier put up a good fight, but went down without defeating any of my team. Her Watchog on the other hand nearly defeated my entire party. The problem was that she had it use Hypnosis so often I couldn’t get any attacks in. Even after several sand attacks, it’s amazing how an attack with only 60% accuracy could hit me every time she used it. I finally managed to put it to sleep with Munna’s yawn, but it was still a struggle to defeat her. In the end, I only had 1 Pokémon left when I defeated her. But a win is a win, and that means I now have my second badge, the Basic Badge.

There’s no time to celebrate though, it would seem Team Plasma has stormed the museum upstairs and is causing trouble. We rush to stop them, but they manage to steal the skull from a dragon skeleton right before our eyes. We chase after them but they seem to simply disappear once they get outside.

By chance, we have a few guests at the gym entrance as soon as we head outside. First is Burgh, the gym leader of the next town over come to visit. He’s soon joined by my friends Cheren and Bianca. After a few quick introductions, we agree to split up into groups to search for Team Plasma. Bianca also gives me the Dowsing Machine as a gift from Fennel. I’m very happy to have this because now I can find hidden items on the ground.

Anyway, we need to get the Dragon Skull back from Team Plasma, so Cheren and Bianca head east back towards Route 3 while Burgh and I head west towards the Pinwheel Forest. I know it’s important to Lenora to get the skull back, but that’s going to have to wait till next time, because this feels like a good stopping point for me. So thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next time when we once again try to teach some manners to Team Plasma.

Current Team:

Servine	Munna	Herdier
Level: 22	Level: 20	Level: 20
Liepard	Tympole	Woobat
Level: 20	Level: 20	Level: 20

Play Time: 9h 30m

Badges: 2

Pokédex Entries: 25

I know you’re all going to be heartbroken to hear this, but no art work this time. However I’m taking a bit of a break from the other articles right now to focus on this one for a while, so look forward to the next installments.

Welcome back to Pokémon Black. When we left off, we had just beaten the first Gym and received the Trio Badge. Then when we left the Gym, we were greeted by Professor Juniper’s friend Fennel. Fennel is also a Pokémon Scientist and is currently in the middle of researching Pokémon dreams. To do that she needs us to head out into the Dreamyard and track down a Pokémon known as Munna. This little pink Pokémon gives off a “Dream Mist” which is vital for Fennel’s research. So off we go to the Dreamyard.

We had already visited the dream yard once before, this is where we got our Panpour, but at the time we couldn’t properly explore the area. Now that we have our first badge, we can teach HM 01 Cut to one of our Pokémon to cut down the tree blocking the entrance. However, I wouldn’t exactly call this a safe place for children to be hanging out. It’s clearly the remains of a now dilapidated old building. We don’t have to come here alone though, Bianca is quick to join our hunt for the Munna and help out Fennel as well.

However, things quickly turn bad when we hear the troubled cries of a nearby Pokémon. Turns out we’re not the only ones looking for the Dream Mist. A pair of Team Plasma Grunts are here too and they’re beating up on a Munna to force out some of its Dream Mist. We can’t just let this go on. Sure, battling Pokémon might not be the nicest thing to do with them, but straight out beating them up is just cruel. The grunts are weaklings, and go down without much trouble, but the weirdest thing happens after that. Out of nowhere their leader Ghetsis shows up and starts lecturing them. Not only that, but he starts teleporting around them. Now terrified of their own leader, the Grunts run off trying to gather up a good enough excuse to avoid punishment.

Now that the Munna is safe, it is joined by what I presume to be its mother, a Musharna. The Musharna comforts the injured Munna and the two float off together. Left behind however, no doubt as a thank you present, is some Dream Mist we’ve been looking for. Fennel is quick to arrive and retrieve the Dream Mist, having done no work herself, but she invites us back to her lab to see the good results. Of course, I need to catch a Munna for myself while I’m here, it just seems like it would be a good idea to have one. Before we leave, I would like to comment on the backwards tactics of Team Plasma so far. They were preaching that Pokémon are unhappy being slaves, but then we see them literally punching and kicking a baby Pokémon to get an item from it. Maybe some Pokémon are unhappy with their trainers, but I’m pretty sure all Pokémon are unhappy being punched and kicked. Furthermore, for driving away Team Plasma, that same Pokémon willingly gave to me that same item they were punching and kicking it for. Some people are just hypocrites I guess.

Back in Fennel’s lab, she rewards us with a C-Gear, which is a device used to interact with other real world players. She also grants us access to the Entralink and by extension the Dream World. Unfortunately, the Dream World services are no longer supported because the servers have been taken down. However it was an amazing feature at the time. You could put your Pokémon to sleep and enter their dreams. Then by logging onto the Pokémon Dream World website, you could play minigames online to win items and even catch Pokémon. The best part was that you could then send those items and Pokémon back to your game. This was an amazing feature that let you catch a wide variety of Pokémon that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to catch during normal play.

Another great thing about the Pokémon Dream World was that you could have your own berry garden there to grow and harvest as many berries as you wanted. This was a great feature at the time, and is especially devastating now that the services are no longer supported. Without the Dream World, there is now nowhere to grow berries in Pokémon Black and White. This isn’t a huge problem, but if you read my Pokémon Journals for Pokémon Diamond, you already know that I love having a healthy supply of Leppa Berries on hand. I’ll just have to make do without them this time I guess.

With nothing more to do here in Striaton City, we head north towards Route 3. Here we encounter the Pokémon Daycare which has been a staple of the series since the very first game. Here you can leave your Pokémon and have them gain experience and levels while you’re out exploring. More importantly, this is where you can breed Pokémon to get more of them. Some people would even go so far as to try to breed the statistically best Pokémon possible, mostly for competitive playing. I however am unconcerned with such things. I play for fun and that’s it. I don’t need to waste hours and hours breeding the “Best” Pokémon. I’m happy getting the best I can out of the Pokémon I already have.

Tepig	Cheren	Purrloin
Level: 14		Level:12

Anyway, after a few battles with the preschoolers (don’t judge me), we’re once again challenged by Cheren. He just won his Trio Badge as well and wants to show off how much stronger he has become. So it looks like we’re going to have yet another rematch with him already. What is this, our 3rd battle with him already? Whatever, if he wants another beating, who am I to tell him no. He has gotten a bit stronger, but not significantly. He also still only has two Pokémon. How he managed to beat the Gym leader is a complete mystery to me.

As soon as I beat Cheren for the 3rd time, a pair of Team Plasma Grunts rush past us. Following close behind them are Bianca and a young girl. Apparently the Plasma Grunts stole the girl’s Pokémon and ran off with it. Cheren is quick to chase after them, and it looks like I’ll have to follow him. Together we chase them into the Wellspring Cave and corner them. Now Cheren and I fight together for once in a doubles match to teach those grunts some manners.

Together, we’re virtually unstoppable against those grunts and we quickly rescue the stolen Pokémon. After returning it to the little girl, we can finally continue our journey towards Nacrene City. Along the way we’re introduced to another great addition to the Pokémon series, dark grass. In dark grass there is a possibility of random double battles. I love this idea, the doubles battles are such a great concept, and they make training go twice as fast.

And so we finally make it to Nacrene City, the “City of Art”. Here many of the buildings are actually repurposed warehouses, and it is this unique cityscape that draws the attention of many artist types to the city. While exploring the new town, I learn pretty much the only thing I’m interested in, and that’s information on this town’s Gym. Apparently the leader of the Nacrene Gym specializes in Normal Type Pokémon. That means I won’t have any special type advantages with any of my Pokémon and I’ll just have to overpower them. As it is, I don’t think I can do that, so I’m going to end this journal here so I can go level up my party.

So thank you for reading this far. Be sure to join me next time when we face off against the Nacrene City Gym.

Current Team:

Snivy	Lillipup	Pidove
Level: 15	Level: 15	Level: 14
Roggenrola	Purrloin	Munna
Level: 14	Level: 13	Level: 13

Play Time: 4h 20m

Badges: 1

Pokédex Entries: 16

Time again for the Pokémon art gallery! There’s only one again this time. working with the paint is a lot different than the pens, and it’s taking me longer to get it to look good.

This time we did Chandelure the Fire / Ghost type Pokémon which resembles a Chandelier. This Pokémon is actually kind of creepy. The Pokédex entries state that the flames it burns are actually fueled by souls, and that all the souls it burns lose their way and are forced to wander the world forever.