Pokemon Journal: Wandering the Deserts!

Welcome back everyone. When we last checked in, we had just cleared out team plasma from their base in Castelia City, Collected our 3rd badge, and defeated Bianca in another friendly rivalry match. Now we’re heading out to Route 4 and pressing forward on our adventure. Sadly, nothing very exciting has happened since last time, but I’ll update you on my progress anyway.

I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when I first walked out onto Route 4. I wasn’t expecting to be walking out into a desert. Especially since Castelia City is a thriving sea port. Of course, since it’s a desert, every battle has the annoying sandstorm weather condition. Thankfully there’s a small building set up where you can rest and heal your Pokémon whenever you want. So it wasn’t that bad.

Cheren		Pidove
		Level: 20
Pansage	Pignite	Liepard
Level: 20	Level: 22	Level: 20

Of course, we can’t enter a new area without SOMETHING happening. In this case, it’s another friendly rivalry battle with Cheren. Since we both got our insect badges, he wants to see how strong he is compared to me. Obviously, Cheren is no match for my amazing team and I end up wiping him out without much effort. Really Cheren, just give it up already.

Now that that’s over with, it’s time to get back to our adventure. But in truth I didn’t stay here on Route 4 very long. Not because I didn’t like it here, but because of the Pokémon I managed to catch. The first encounter I had here was with a Darumaka and I just had to have it. I’ve wanted one of these guys ever since they were first introduced. I just love the concept of a Pokémon based on the Daruma dolls. For those of you who might not be familiar with the custom, Daruma Dolls are a Japanese good luck / encouragement tradition. When you buy a Daruma doll, both of its eyes are white. You then make a wish / set a goal for yourself and color in one of its eyes. Then you set it somewhere visible so it is a constant reminder of your goal. As soon as you’ve actually fulfill your goal, you fill in the other eye to give your Daruma his sight. Finally, on New Year’s you will burn the Daruma doll as part of the New Year’s festival and as a symbol of letting go of the burdens of the past. This is most likely where Darumaka got its fire type from. I know somewhere I have a Daruma doll from when I last visited Japan. Sadly I’ve forgotten what the goal was I got him for, so my poor Daruma will forever be blind in one eye.

Pansage	Pansear	Panpour

Anyway, my new Darumaka is a bit under leveled compared to the rest of my party, so we need to get him up to speed before we really press forward. Because he’s a fire type, I figured it would probably be easier to train back in the pinwheel forest than it would be to train here on Route 4. Also we can give another go to catching all 3 of the Elemental Monkeys. Kind of two birds with one stone. It took a little while, but I managed to accomplish both goals at almost the same time. Darumaka is leveled up to match the rest of the party, and I finally have all 3 of the Elemental Monkeys. They’ll stay in the computer for now, but I at least have them.

Now that everyone is back up to the same level, it’s time to actually travel through Route 4. That’s not very hard to do, it’s essentially a straight line from one end to the other. However, there are a decent number of trainers here, so we might as well challenge them now and get some good experience. Some of the trainers have also mentioned a Desert Resort as well as an ancient ruin off to the west. I have a feeling I’ll be forced to go there later anyway, so I’m going to ignore it for now. In addition to Darumaka, there are also a few other Pokémon I’ve always thought had interesting designs. Like Sandile which is a ground type crocodile Pokémon. I just think it’s interesting since crocodiles are typically thought of as water animals. Then there’s Scraggy which looks like a little kid holding up his pants which are clearly too big for him. So after beating up all the trainers, and catching the various wild Pokémon, it’s time to finally leave Route 4 and go to the next town.

As soon as we enter Nimbasa City, we witness Team Plasma causing more trouble yet again. This time it looks like the daycare man from back on Route 3 has come to visit Nimbasa for some reason, and team plasma figured a day care would be an easy target to steal a lot of Pokémon from. Naturally the day care man rushes to me for aid and I’m forced to beat up team plasma for him. These grunts were so weak they were hardly worth the time. Curiously they escaped into the Amusement Park after I beat them. I’d love to chase them but I think I should check out the rest of the town first.

There’s actually quite a bit to explore in this City. After running into Bianca, we decide to check out the Pokémon musical together. This is a mini game where you get to dress up your Pokémon and have them perform in a musical. Basically this replaces the Contests from the previous games. This was such a weird experience that I honestly didn’t know what I was looking at. I’m not sure if I’ll do this again. Anyway, after we leave the musical, Bianca is confronted by her father who is insisting she return home. At first, it looked like this was going to be the end of her adventure, but then the gym leader, Elesa, shows up and talks him out of it. She manages to convince him that she’ll be fine and not to worry so much about her. I wish random strangers would have talked MY parents into letting me run away from home at 10 years old…

There are also two sports stadiums in this City. Depending on the day of the week, each stadium has different sports playing in them. However, no matter what sport is being played, you have the opportunity to walk down to the field and have battles with some of the athletes. When I played, the one stadium was playing baseball while the other was playing tennis. This would probably be a good place for some regular trainer matches if I come back each day.

Probably the most interesting feature in this town is the Battle Subway. Here you can have long strings of matches against trainers while riding on the subway. These matches are designed to be all about your skills as a trainer. You are only allowed to take 3 Pokémon with you, and they are all set to level 50 so you can’t have any level advantage. You also aren’t allowed to use any items, so it really is all about your skills as a trainer. If you can manage to beat all the trainers on the subway you’ll be rewarded points which can be exchanged for items later. I tried this, but I only managed to make it through 4 battles before I lost. I’ll have to really plan out my party better if I want to try this again.

All that’s left in this town is the Amusement Park. Not only have team plasma escaped into here, but by the process of elimination it must also be where the gym is. We have a lot ahead of us, but that’s going to have to wait for next time. Look forward to our trip to the Amusement Park next time.

Current Team:

Munna	Herdier	Palpitoad
Level: 25	Level: 26	Level: 27
Servine	Swoobat	Darumaka
Level: 27	Level: 29	Level: 30

Play Time: 17h 58m

Badges: 3

Pokédex Entries: 45

It’s time again for some Pokémon art. This time we’re switching to using pastels

For the first pastel picture we’re drawing a Vulpix. I love Vulpix, he’s just so cute. Then of course he’s gorgeous when he evolves into a nine tales. This picture however I’ll admit I wasn’t very happy with. I know it was the first time using pastels, but I’m just not happy with the lack of detail in this picture. Also it was the first time it instructed me to go without any pre-drawn guide lines, not even reference shapes, so I feel like my proportions might have been a little off.