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So this gets into my question, which even given a later spoiler doesn't make sense to me.
Dusknoir says you have to be eliminated for trying to change history, which is easy enough to understand for Grovyle, ignoring the obvious morality flip that's happened on sides. That said, why did Dusknoir grab and drag you back to the future as well? He had your full cooperation with capturing Grovyle and keeping history on course, you're not guilty of anything even indirectly with any of the information presented. At this point, the only thing Dusknoir has done is invited massive cause for suspicion for you and everyone who saw you dragged into the portal, while also basically confirming his story was a load if you make it back and prove history as is leads to the planet's paralysis.
Probably because amnesia is not always permanent. Some people regain the memories after some time, leaving them alive was a big risk, it makes sense to me.
Dammit, Alti, I was all excited to launch into my rant on the contradictions about this part of the story, but you just had to do it yourself. :D
You know what, I'm going to do it anyway, since as amazing a game as Sky is... this is quite the plot hole.
Alright, so at some point *much* later in the story, Darkrai tells you that "he sabotaged Temporal Tower, knowing that eventually it would paralyze the planet". Now, since playing it, I took this to mean that the Time Gears are the "energy cores" of Temporal Tower and that eventually the tower would collapse without them, and that he stole and scattered them, knowing that things would appear normal for long enough that it would be impossible to trace it back to him.
Obviously this theory is full of holes - namely, in that case, what would the Lake Guardians be doing guarding them? I definitely think that Pika Pal's interpretation is a lot more likely, that Darkrai somehow structurally sabotaged the tower, and that the Time Gears are a failsafe (how, exactly?) - barring, of course, that putting the gears back into the tower somehow stops it from collapsing at all. I mean, I don't think that's quite how structural integrity works...
I guess my biggest problem is that wouldn't Uxie, the Being of Knowledge, know about what Darkrai did and quickly realize that he should take (return?) the gear to Temporal Tower and tell the other guardians to do the same? And while we're at the topic, why tie the flow of time in the regions that have Time Gears to their presence at all? I mean, it's pretty obvious that there's no Time Gear in or around Treasure Town, and it seems to do just fine.
Hydrachomp: Maybe they figured children would also have a hard time understanding the sudden change in affect with Dusknoir and Grovyle and used Ray as a sort of audience-surrogate so that it wasn't "taken for granted" that Grovyle was the protagonist when the player doesn't believe?? I have no idea. I was like 13 or something when I played this so I have no idea how younger children would have reacted. They probably could have handled it in a better way though, because Dusknoir's attempt to murder us was pretty obvious.
Thanks for the nice remarks, by the way!
pika pal: Yeah, if Dusknoir had acted a little less... obviously evil... maybe it would have made more sense for Ray to be unsure. But as it stands, Dusknoir tried to kill them and Grovyle helped them escape and helped them prepare for Spiritomb, so "actions speak louder than words" - who's really been a supportive force here in the future? You tell me, Ray.
I agree pretty much entirely with the first paragraph. I don't know how immortal the Lake Guardians are, but it's very possible they could have been late installments or something and not privy to the origins/functions of the Time Gears. That's probably the best argument, imo.
As for multiple Time Gears - you say it's implied there are more than 5, and you're probably right because of the volcano one that we see but never collect (and it's even Darkness' menu screen!), but I'd also like to point out the theory some have had that the game was supposed to have 6 Time Gears and the volcano one just ended up not... being incorporated. When we go to put the Time Gears in Temporal Tower, there's enough space to fit a 6th one - and I'll point this out when we get that far in case you don't remember exactly how that looks.
I agree with the second paragraph generally too. It fits Grovyle's personality to just go for it.
I admit I'd never considered the idea that Darkrai had put Dialga in a nightmare and that's why everything had gone so horribly wrong. It would explain a lot, I think, and makes a lot of sense. Cool stuff!
On Celebi and Dialga: Probably. As we're about to see in this update, Dialga may not have as much power over the Passage of Time as it seems like he should. Maybe Dialga can't really time-travel in the traditional sense, and that's Celebi's domain. It's a bit unclear how their powers interact in the Pokémon canon in general.
Heroic Troller: I was getting to that point, without saying it explicitly, in my last Reply box. It makes more sense than the alternatives at any rate lmao
lucariomaster2: lol if there's anything I missed feel free to point it out anyway haha. Most of the contradictions I'm seeing are fairly recent compared to the amount of time I've been playing these games, so I may not have even figured them all out yet.
I'm pretty sure the Time Gears were meant to be separated from Temporal Tower, and that wasn't Darkrai's doing - both for the guardians issue you suggest, but also because Grovyle never seems to imply that the Time Gears being scattered is anything but the natural order of things, and this is someone who lives in the Hidden Land, knows about Temporal Tower, and has done a boatload of research into the planet's paralysis. Of course I assume if Darkrai scattered the Time Gears he'd be careful to leave no trace of himself, but I mean, Grovyle was working with both a time-travel Pokémon and someone with the Dimensional Scream to gather intel, so if the Time Gears were not supposed to be scattered I feel like they might have known about it. This is just speculation based on what Grovyle and Celebi seem to imply with their discussions, but that's just the impression I got.
My best analogy for the Time Gears is that it's like having backups of important data in multiple places in case your computer falls into the ocean. Of course, that wouldn't explain how the Time Gears restore the tower nor how removing Time Gears causes time to stop in their area, but it's the closest metaphor I can get lol
Yeah, the Guardians should have been... better than they were. Of course it would completely kill the narrative and the conflict if Uxie had just brought the gears to the tower ahead of time, and we wouldn't have a game to play, but it's still hard to believe in context. I wish they had justified that somehow.
As for time in the region of the Time Gears, my best thought was that the Time Gears are strategically placed so their collective radii cover the whole world, and when a Time Gear is removed, time stopping radiates outward from the Time Gear's location, so if they're all removed the world eventually stops (maybe except for Hidden Land, idk). Maybe Treasure Town is far enough away from a Time Gear location to where it hasn't been affected yet by the time the game ends? I dunno. This is just a thought lmao
Showing this off for the top screen map. Guess it makes sense that Dusk Forest is in the... uh... forest?
Also ok this big floating island thing doesn’t exactly look familiar but who knows what might have happened in the future. Again we don’t know how far in the future it is, maybe this is like. Far enough in the future that the continents have shifted or something like that. Who knows?
Let’s go.
Let’s go, then. We’ll find Celebi and return to the past.
I mean. What else did you expect Grovyle to do? Just give up and watch the paralysis unfold without intervening? When he knows what’s going to happen?
Really, Ray?
I’m only cooperating with you because I want to return to our world.
If we do return, Grovyle...
I’ll investigate if you really were stealing those Time Gears to prevent the planet’s paralysis.
How do you plan to do that? If Chatot, the head of intelligence of the guild, and the Lake Trio, the guardians of the Time Gears, had no idea, how do you expect to find out through investigating alone? What sources are you going to consult that are lost to the others? Who will you ask?
Grovyle, if I decide that you’re wrong for stealing the Time Gears...
I’m going to stop you, Grovyle!
… Ray, do you have any idea how stupid what you just said is? Grovyle may not be a villain, but he clearly has no qualms about doing what he needs to in order to achieve his goals: stopping time in at least five regions, fighting the Lake Trio and defeating them, putting Ray and Alti on death’s doorstep (Ray was only saved by Dusknoir’s interference that one time, remember?) – who’s to say he wouldn’t be above outright murdering Pokémon if needed in order to save the future? I mean, I don’t think he would be, but – especially if Ray doesn’t trust him yet – who knows?
And yet Ray is here saying that he might try to prevent Grovyle from doing literally the only thing he cares about doing. Ray, do you have a death wish?
Anyway...
Grovyle: Humph! Do as you will. But keep this mind...
What’s important now is getting ourselves safely back to your world.
Yeah, I mean, Grovyle has absolutely no reason to care about our welfare. We’re randos who nearly got him killed (Ray almost went to go ask Dusknoir about Grovyle’s story) and so Grovyle is already going out of his way to allow his to accompany him, and he’s still offering to do that despite Ray’s words, he could just as well not.
You are treading on very thin ice here, Ray-boy.
So for the time being... focus on getting back home.
Let’s go.
Wait... so... if this is the feeling that Alti is getting out of Dusk Forest...
So... either Dusk Forest is actually Foggy Forest or Alti has been to Dusk Forest but either way why???
Can we not do this... I just want to get out of here alive.
Music: Dusk Forest
A lovely track, it seems to have a feeling that something is watching you as you go... fitting lol
Pokémon: Jumpluff, Mothim, Mismagius, Gabite
… and of course more Ghost-types (well one ghost) make this ridic.
Later on the forest turns blue-ish. Cool?
Normally, you can’t see the moveset of a teammate that’s not yours (as Grovyle is), but you can get around this by picking up a TM and attempting to teach it to anyone, which lets you see a non-team member’s moveset (even though you can’t teach it). So here we see that Grovyle has Absorb, Quick Attack, Leaf Blade, and Dig – the fact that they kept Dig from that cutscene is great, and the rest of the moveset is pretty decent too. Cool stuff! They took effort here with Grovyle.
Also >level 46 hot damn
After eight floors we reach... the Heights. Whatever that means.
whatever would give you THAT impression, just the sudden open area??
Grovyle: That’s right. It was around here that I met her the last time.
Grovyle: Urk... Yes, it’s true.
Celebi: I hope you manage this time. I’ve quite had enough of this.
Living in this dark and dreary world is so depressing.
You’re awfully chipper when murderous clawbeasts are tracking us. And for this whole depressing future in general.
Let those Sableye come. They’re of no concern to me.
Besides, if you would be so kind as to prevent the planet’s paralysis...
We’ll finally be spared the agony of this world of darkness.
So we get some time to prepare. First things first, more top screen map, but second, this is the point where you can get one of the best dialogues in the game...
… yes?
Did you know that Grovyle is really impatient and hasty?
I know that he wants to hurry, but I do wish he would slow down a little...
It would sure make me happier if he did...
I want to spend as much time as I can with him...
Now we’re in Deep Dusk Forest. Music: Deep Dusk Forest
Pokémon: Vulpix, Rhydon, Steelix, Leafeon, Hippowdon, Aggron
… for a forest this seems to have a bizarrely high concentration of Ground/Steel types and also a Sandstorm setter???
Also I intentionally brought the Wide Slash TM so we could check out Celebi’s moveset. Not too bad! Heal Bell is still nice as you might expect in Mystery Dungeon so
ok but is this water frozen like that waterfall or is it still liquid...
WHY IS IT ORANGE
yeah because that makes sense
I guess “dead future” explains it? Maybe?
Grovyle: That’s right. That’s the Passage of Time.
I went through that to go to the past.
Celebi, only you can open the Passage of Time.
Do your thing.
Grovyle: Humph. That’s crafty, Dusknoir.
You allowed us to roam free, but you kept your eye on us the whole time...
So you could capture Celebi as well as us.
What there’s another time traveler somewhere in the past??? ok
This is the first I’ve heard of this anyway!
Ray: What?! Grovyle, you didn’t come to our world alone?!
Grovyle: That’s right. I had a partner.
We headed to the past together.
But when we were going through the Passage of Time, we had trouble...
We became separated.
Grovyle: What’s... What’s so funny?
Dusknoir: Ha! So you claim someone went to the past with you...
Incidentally, what’s the name of your partner?
Go on. Say the name.
Well, ok. I say that, but as some commentors have pointed out, that doesn’t really make much sense. If Dusknoir had just left us in the past, we would have lived thinking the world was saved and Grovyle was a villain and that would be the end of that. Now, however, people in the past are probably suspicious, and also we’ve escaped, and teamed up with Grovyle, ensuring that despite Alti’s memory loss she – and Ray! – might well help Grovyle recover the Time Gears if and when we make it back. So he kinda screwed himself over.
The best explanation is that if Alti regained her memories, she would have continued on the quest, so Dusknoir had to prevent any possibility his plans would be interrupted – not considering that we would escape the Sableye’s claws and try to head back to the past. He thought we were, for all intents and purposes, dead.
So I guess it makes sense...?
I mean we’re just naive guild kids so why would you
… Oh. Right. This scene.
Dusknoir: Excuse me? A dream, you say?
By dream, what do you mean?
Future-Dusknoir: When they mentioned the Dimensional Scream, I was skeptical at first...
A human that possessed the Dimensional Scream...
I became convinced then!
Past-Dusknoir: You...are...?
You said you know your name, at least?
And... that name would be...?
and was transformed into a Pokémon...
which must be because of the accident during your time travel...
Well, Alti’s memory loss was a lucky stroke for me!
Grovyle: …..................
Alti: (I was a human from the future...?)
(And I was Grovyle’s partner on a mission to prevent the planet’s paralysis?)
(And that’s how I ended up in Ray’s world?)
Dusknoir: Grovyle and Alti! With the both of you here...
Everything will end when we finally dispose of you.
That will finally put an end to Grovyle’s glimmer of hope!
…
Ray, I don’t know if you recognized how monumentally stupid what you just said is, so I’ll leave you to think about it.
(Hint: Time travel != space travel.)
Ray: Wh-what about you, Celebi?!
Celebi: Don’t fret over me! I told you I can’t be caught!
Stop the planet’s paralysis... Change history!
Grovyle: Thanks!
Ray: Thank you, Celebi!
Dusknoir: You’re not getting away!
The partner is very very stupid, we can't deny that. However it develops during the story, i always thought our partner was a kid and the main charpter an adult or teenager at least, this is a partial explaination to his stupidity. Dusknoir was his very first hero, he could not accept the heavy truth and denied until now (as we do sometimes when people dies, we cry but we don't accept it in the very first place, we do later after some time).
It is boring watching your partner being unreasonable but at least it makes sense this way, so it's alright.
Last thing i don't feel like Dusknoir screwed up anything, he did what probably was the best thing to assure the win (eliminate the problems), we escaped yeah but it was A very lucky and B following that logic he should do nothing the entire game because as main charapters we are always winning when it matters most.
One plot hole I can't imderstand is how when the two main characters we're traveling with Grovyle/Celebi through Dusk Forest none of them said the main character's name (Alti).
Heroic Troller: Chatot calls both of them "kids" and implies they're young kids when they apply to the guild. I'm not sure if the player looks like a kid because of being in a new Pokémon body or is actually a kid (although I'd doubt that considering the player's partnership with Grovyle, who seems to be an adult, in the future). He seems a little more high-strung than the partner in MD1, though, which is kinda annoying, but at least he does get better. Slowly.
I generally agree with the assessment of Dusknoir's decision to kidnap the main characters lol. Too bad for him our dudes are smart and determined!
powergo1: You'd think they would have at some point, wouldn't you? I dunno, maybe Ray just didn't talk at all during the Dusk Forest adventure. Who knows?
Probably!!
I mean, who knows how far in the past we are. We could be before your grandparents were ever conceived. What would we do then?
Side note: Grovyle and Celebi presumably had the ability to send Grovyle and Alti wherever they wanted. So why, then, did they go to a time where Temporal Tower was already collapsing? Seems to be cutting it a bit close, no?
Ray. Will you please explain it to Ray. Not me. I get it.
But this isn’t really the place to talk, so...
Let’s go to Wigglytuff’s Guild and talk there.
Before we went to the future, we trained and roomed there. It will be the perfect place!
Oh, okay.
Usually I do the Special Episodes right after they are unlocked. Here, I’m going to wait til the postgame for... reasons. Mostly to preserve the narrative.
Huh. I remember seeing that, back at the beginning of the game.
… you don’t say
Grovyle: Sharpedo Bluff?
Ray: Yes. I think the name comes from the fact that the cliff itself is shaped like a Pokémon named Sharpedo.
The power of being the only (seemingly) human in the Pokémon world?
We relied on that special ability to investigate the planet’s paralysis.
It played a vital part.
Ray: By special ability... you mean the Dimensional Scream, don’t you?
There were no records?
Wait, what even happened to the Time Gears when the planet was paralyzed? Did they just... vanish?
Ray: W-wait a second!
You said that there has to be a trusted partner nearby for the Dimensional Scream to work.
But the Dimensional Scream was being triggered not long after we met!
Grovyle: Your point?
Grovyle: In addition, Alti developed amnesia...
Upon meeting you, Ray, your partner had someone to turn to.
Perhaps Alti grew to trust you very quickly because of that.
Is the Dimensional Scream triggered in response to only Time Gears?
Grovyle: Right. The opposite is also true. The Dimensional Scream is not triggered in places that aren’t connected to Time Gears.
We went to places that seem to have nothing to do with Time Gears.
But even in places like that, the Dimensional Scream was triggered sometimes, wasn’t it?
The Dimensional Scream was never triggered by places that had no tie to Time Gears whatsoever.
… Well, if that’s true, I don’t know why it would work differently here.
Perhaps the nature of the Dimensional Scream is altered in the past.
Alti: (So in the future, the Dimensional Scream doesn’t work in places that have no connection to Time Gears?)
(Oh! That explains it!)
(Maybe that’s why... that time...)
(when we were in the future...)
(Or different enough to make my Dimensional Scream ability work differently.)
Grovyle: Anyway...
Like I was saying, we were investigating the planet’s paralysis.
We used the Dimensional Scream ability to...
identify the locations of the Time Gears in your world while we were in the future.
Alti: (….............)
(I... I came from the future...)
(And not just that! I came with the mission of preventing the planet’s paralysis.)
(I don’t know... It seems so outlandish... It doesn’t feel real, somehow...
I worried about you when we were separated. I’m glad to see you’re safe.
Your appearance may have changed... And though you have lost your memory... You’re still you.
And none of this alters the fact that you remain my friend.
Oh, Alti, I’m glad to see you again.
Alti: (….........)
Grovyle: Now. We have to decide on our course of action.
Like I’ve told you before... I’m going to collect the Time Gears again.
What are you going to do?
What kinda question is that? We’re video game heroes, aren’t we?
Ray: Umm...
I’m a little worried about how time stops in the region where its Time Gear is removed.
But you’re sure that it will only be temporary?
Grovyle: That’s right. As soon as the Time Gears are set in place at Temporal Tower...
time will be restored to its normal state everywhere.
But we have to prevent the planet’s paralysis!
Grovyle: OK, then. We’ll go together.
But the hour is late.
We’re also exhausted from all the running we’ve done.
To be fair, that is a beautiful sunrise, even by sunrise standards.
The sun rises... Then it sets...
We take that for granted, and that’s only natural.
But things we take for granted...
They’re really the most essential things. And they’re precious.
Getting a little philosophical here, are we?
It’s fine. It’s such a poignant point to make.
I love this game so much.
Grovyle: All I’d ever known is the future’s world of darkness.
Upon coming to this world... And seeing the sun for the first time...
It was staggering.
I’m sure. The sun is really a beautiful thing when you stop to think about it.
(Side note: I’m lucky enough to live a few hours away from where the August eclipse’s path of totality was, so I skipped a day of school and went with my mom, my boyfriend – who was visiting from New York, not at all close to the path of totality – and two friends to a park to watch it. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen and really hammers home just how crazy the universe is.)
Seeing it... It strengthened by resolve to turn history away from a future of darkness.
I’m sure it did. I’m glad you want the sun and light and color back to the world, Grovyle.
There is one thing that I wanted to ask of you, Ray.
It’s about that time in the future...
… when we were confronted by Dialga...
Frankly, we were in a no-win situation. There was no hope.
I mean, it turned out okay, somehow, so it couldn’t have literally been no hope, eh?
This is the end... for you!
Sableye: Wheh-heh-heh!
Ray: Urk...
Hey, Alti! Grovyle! You can’t give up!
Grovyle: Gah... You say not to give up...?
But what can we possibly do in this bleak situation?
Ray: We have to think!
Oh, hey. We haven’t seen the Relic Fragment in a while.
There’s an odd pattern inscribed on it.
I’ve never seen anything like it. This pattern is new to me...
Ray: This is my Relic Fragment. It’s my personal treasure.
I have this dream of one day solving the mystery behind this fragment.
But I was such a coward... I couldn’t work up the courage to go to the guild and apply as an apprentice.
I’m glad that so many people feel so strongly about me?
Questionable ellipses. What do you think they mean? Feel free to tell me your thoughts, I’ve got my own thoughts and I want to know other points of view :o
Grovyle: Well, it’s morning.
We should be leaving soon.
We can’t recruit anything now, but we will be able to later. This dungeon has Kadabra, Ralts, Cherrim, Houndoom, Ninetales, Alakazam, Kirlia, and Vespiquen. An interesting assortment of forest-y Pokémon (Cherrim, Vespiquen) and then... Psychic and Fire types? All right.
Well hello. I’m still holding on to all the money from the future dungeons so I like the look of those Gummis lmao
Houndoom has Flash Fire so it’s actually immune to Fire-type attacks, which can be problematic if you have a Fire starter/partner lol
iirc in this game, just like Rescue Team, Kadabra are always sleeping when they spawn.
AUGH SHIT. Grovyle get your fat ass in here and help lmao
I made it! Barely. Without Grovyle’s help though >:( his level 46 stats could have been useful but No
~oooOOooo water~
After 20 floors (the longest dungeon thus far), we end up in Deep Treeshroud Forest. Something seems to be weird here though...
I entrust you with the rest.
Azelf: Yep.
Mesprit: We know.
Uxie: We got the Time Gears back.
And we will make sure they’re returned to their rightful places.
Dusknoir: The task is yours.
There’s also... something that’s more worrying.
Ray: M-more worrying?
Grovyle: Forget it. Let’s leave.
Also, Ray... There’s something I’d like you to do.
Ray: What is it?
Grovyle: Before you go back to Sharpedo Bluff...
I’d like you to gather some information in Treasure Town.
Ray: In Treasure Town?
Grovyle: Yes, here’s what I want you to find out.
Learn everything you can about what’s happening in this world right now.
Ray: OK. I’ll go find out.
Grovyle: Everyone thinks that you’ve gone to the future. Therefore...
After we went to the future...
Uxie and his friends returned the Time Gears to their rightful places.
Everyone was happy because they thought time would return to normal.
Not even Uxie and co? Some guardians they turned out to be.
Grovyle, do you know what this means?
Grovyle: …...............
If time is stopping in a spreading area... it can only mean one thing.
Temporal Tower is starting to collapse.
Ray: Temporal Tower is... collapsing?
Grovyle: Correct. Temporal Tower gives structure to time. So if it is starting to collapse...
time itself will collapse in ever-widening areas.
… does this imply there was another way before????
We need to gather Time Gears...
Then the Time Gears must be put in place in Temporal Tower where Dialga lives.
But there is a problem.
Temporal Tower is located in a place called the Hidden Land.
As the name suggests... no one knows where the Hidden Land is.
Grovyle: That’s right. That’s why I think we need to split up for now.
I’ll go collect the Time Gears.
In the meantime, I want you two to search for the Hidden Land.
Ray: Cross the sea...
Grovyle: I’m sorry I don’t have knowledge about how to do that. I’m counting on you.
Well, I’ll be off to gather the Time Gears. Good luck.
Alti: (It’s true. We’ve got too little information to go on.)
(And we have no time to waste.)
(We have to locate the Hidden Land as soon as possible.)
(We have to find Temporal Tower, then put the Time Gears inside it...)
(If we fail to do that, our planet will become paralyzed.)
Well, yes, I think everyone would be really worried about us...
And I miss everyone too...
But everything we saw in the future...
everything about Grovyle... and about Dusknoir...
and even about your past, Alti... If we tell it all to the guild...
How can they believe us?!
I saw the future... But I still didn’t want to believe the truth about Dusknoir.
Even if we were to tell everyone the truth, I wonder if they would be able to accept it.
Alti: (…............)
(It’s true.)
(What Ray is saying is true.)
(Maybe no one will believe us if we tell them the truth.)
(But...!)
Ray: … What?! We should tell them anyway?
We do need everyone’s help.
If we don’t get their help... We’ll run out of time to prevent the planet’s paralysis.
…..............
Alti...
OK, you’re right! Let’s go home to Wigglytuff’s Guild!
Alti: (Ray!)
Ray: Let’s go back to the guild and tell everyone the truth!
I’m sure that everyone will be shocked.
But... I’m certain they’ll understand!
Let’s go home, Alti!
Back to Wigglytuff’s Guild!
The game explains very little about the ability, but my thought was always that the Dimensional Scream is tied to the flow/passing of time. In the past it can work for most anything because time is moving normally in most places, whereas in the future, remnants of the time gears are the only real vestige of "real" time left in the world (maybe that has some connection to Celebi or why not literally everything is frozen), so they're the only thing the D.S. (haha) responds to.
pika pal: Honestly that is the exact same reasoning I came up with, I just didn't say it because I thought it might be a stretch, but your post (and its three likes) seem to indicate I'm not alone in thinking that makes sense haha
I like that we have to get the guild’s help to fix things. I’m glad we bring them back into relevance even after the focus of the plot shifts.
How long we were in the future anyway? Like how many days. That’s one of the problem with the way the away-from-base arcs are set up, they really don’t have a sense of time associated with it.
But...
Now that we’re here, it’s kind of awkward to go in.
It seems like a big effort to put the gate down and up for literally anyone that wants to enter the guild tbh especially seeing how our own members come and go all the time
Looks familiar
Loudred: Whose footprint? Whose footprint?
Diglett: The footprint belongs to...
The f-f-footprint belongs to...
Ray for god’s sake we could just as well be appearing before we ever went to the future. Like they could be coming to see us because THERE’S APPARENTLY TWO RAYS. Don’t make things even weirder by acting like we haven’t even been here in a while.
Just... just hold on for a moment.
Let me get this story straight!
Ray: OK...
Chatot: Ahem! Let me summarize your story so far...
First... Grovyle is actually a good Pokémon...?
Ray: Well, yes, I couldn’t believe the truth about Dusknoir either...
It came as a huge shock. And it was really hard to accept.
But...!
Chatot: I’ll hear no more of this!
Sunflora: But...
Chatot: Hm? What is it, Sunflora?
There is something I don’t understand.
That time...
when the great Dusknoir was about to return to the future...
Corphish: Hey, hey! That’s right! It looked that way to me too!
Hey, hey! What happened was really weird!
Bidoof: Gosh, I really had to wonder why Dusknoir did something like that!
Chatot: What?! What did you say?!
So, Bidoof, you’re now claiming that the great Dusknoir is a villain?
Bidoof: Oof! Golly, I surely did think highly of the great Dusknoir.
The whole idea sounds troubling when you put it that way.
That’s why... I believe what Alti and Ray have to say!
Chatot: Wh-wh-what!
Ray: B-Bidoof!
Corphish: Hey, hey! I believe too!
Sunflora: Me too! Oh my gosh! They’re our guild colleagues, after all!
Then let’s begin searching for the Hidden Land!
Loudred: Whoa! Just hold ON there, Guildmaster!
Wigglytuff: Hm? What’s wrong?
Loudred: We’re not ALL in agreement yet, are we!
Wigglytuff: Huh?
Loudred: We’re all good with the story...
But I suspect that Chatot isn’t convinced.
We also have to let everyone know what is happening in our world.
It’s going to get busy. We’ll all have to work hard!
Loudred: I sure will!
Bidoof: I’ll putter down to Treasure Town!
I’ll get the word out, by golly!
Diglett: I’ll go too!
Sunflora: We have to let Azelf and his friends know too!
Corphish: Hey, hey! Then I’ll go tell them!
Chatot: OK. Everyone else, search for the Hidden Land, please.
Loudred: YEAH!
Chatot: Bidoof, Sunflora, and others, once your errands are done, gather information on the Hidden Land.
Bidoof: Yes, sir!
Sunflora: We’ll hurry!
… but do we really have to get there through Waterfall Cave again? isn’t there another way to get there? I mean, how do all those other Pokémon get there?
Everyone’s aware of their duties today?
Bidoof: By golly, yes!
Sunflora: I’m all ready to go!
Chatot: Good!
Those of you investigating the Hidden Land...
And those of you spreading the word about the true state of affairs...
I expect you to organize your teams accordingly and get going!
Loudred: Whose footprint? Whose footprint?
Diglett: The footprint belongs to... Torkoal, the town elder!
The footprint belongs to Torkoal, the town elder!
Ray: What brings you hear, Torkoal?
Did you... maybe remember something?
Torkoal: Indeed, I did. But I’ve recalled only one more tiny thing, sorry to say...
Yesterday, I contemplated the waters of the Hot Spring for a long time. Finally, one recollection surfaced.
But... it really is something small.
I worry if it would be even worthwhile sharing with you.
Please, say it! Say it! ♪
Torkoal: When we spoke of travel to the Hidden Land yesterday... I said that you needed proof of your qualification to go there.
If it’s so important to you why wouldn’t you remember...????
I just happened to pick it up.
Sunflora: Yippee! This is fabulous!
Since Ray has this... Does it mean...
That Ray is qualified to go to the Hidden Land?
To go to the Hidden Land, one must surely possess that proof.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the bearer of the proof really possesses the qualifications to be... chosen.
Getting old has made my thinking so inflexible. That’s very sad.
This all makes me remember the days when I dreamt of romance and adventure!
Help me see my dreams again! Do your best! Ho-ho-ho!
Then I want you to go with Team Hurricane tomorrow.
Guide Alti’s team to the place where we saw that strange pattern.
But I want you to be careful.
Chatot: Thank you! I won’t let you down!
“To Alti and Ray: How are you doing?”
“How goes your search for the Hidden Land?”
“Things are going well on my end. I’ve already collected three Time Gears.”
“Azelf told me that members of your guild let them know I was coming. Thank you.”
“It’s heartening to know that more and more Pokémon are coming to trust us.”
I hope Grovyle is hailed as a hero when all is said and done. He deserves it.
“However, I will continue to stay away from Treasure Town and the guild.”
“First, I’m not certain if the Pokémon in this world trust me entirely or not.”
“But there’s something more troubling that that.”
Ray: Bottles washing up on the beach...
Bottles with something in them...
I’m interested...
Sounds like they’re only washing up now and then...
Whenever we head to the beach, we can look for a Bottle!
But I would have never guessed that the Relic Fragment was connected to the Hidden Land.
That reminds me...
It was here, wasn’t it? Where Koffing and his sidekick stole my Relic Fragment?
Koffing: Whoa-ho-ho! But, Chief!
That old-timer Torkoal wasn’t lying to us, after all.
Heh-heh! That junk we stole back then...
I didn’t know it was going to be something that valuable.
Wigglytuff: Yes! Very well! ♪
Lapras: I’m glad to hear that!
I’ve always meant to thank you.
I deeply appreciate the promise you made... and upheld for all this time.
Wigglytuff: No problem! ♪ No big deal! ♪
But today... I am here to see you about that promise.
We find ourselves in a situation where we can’t afford to uphold that promise. I suspect that you know why.
Now this is one thing I never quite got. I understand Grovyle not going back into Treasure Town since the last thing they saw was his arrest. But why does he have to stick to Sharpedo Bluff as a rendezvous? He knows based on the note that the Guild at least is on their side, and it would probably be the safest place he could hide from Dusknoir given the man-power and their connections to the Police, who I imagine by now have to have been informed Grovyle's not an outlaw and Dusknoir is. It also accounts for them meeting up later since Alti and Ray are staying at the Guild and evidently not checking the hideout regularly, and they will need to meet up again once they find the Hidden land.
pika pal: I guess he figures they might not have gotten the memo? Except for the part where he straight-up says in his letter that the fact that our Guild people helped with the Lake Guardians situation made it smoother??? I... got nothing. It doesn't make much sense.
Loudred: Is it going to be OK without the Guildmaster?
Chatot: No problem! There’s no need for your concern at all!
Guildmaster must have decided that we can manage on our own without him for the time being.
Sunflora: But the Guildmaster isn’t with us right now, so...
We have to take charge and do as he wanted!
Ray: That’s right.
I’m sure that we can get the job done on our own!
That is where one will find the same odd pattern inscribed on the Relic Fragment that Ray has.
However, it is there where an extremely vicious Pokémon lurks.
You beat Jirachi and also Team Rogue I’m sure you’ll be fine.
Corphish: Hey, hey! Chatot!
Chatot: What is it?
Corphish: Yesterday, Guildmaster said something about that vicious Pokémon.
But, Chatot, you seem to know just as much about this dungeon, hey, hey?
… That’s kind of what was implied when Wigglytuff first brought it up before, no?
Chatot: That’s right. I have come here before.
I explored here a long time ago. With the Guildmaster.
It was deep in this cave that we saw the peculiar pattern.
Loudred: Huh?! You don’t REMEMBER?!
Chatot: Yes, but I’m loath to admit it.
They attacked with no warning out of nowhere.
I was knocked out before I could do a thing.
Chatot: That’s right.
We should make several groups to explore the cave.
Bidoof: We’ll do that, sir! Yup yup!
Corphish: Hey, hey! We should form teams that don’t bunch up types.
All right have fun going to the Hidden Land and fixing Temporal Tower without Time Gears.
Assholes.
Zubat: Heh-heh! Brilliant, Chief! Your plan’s perfect!
Skuntank: Chaw-haw-haw! Naturally!
Anyway...
It will be us! Team Skull! We’ll be the ones going to the Hidden Land!
Zubat: Heh-heh-heh!
Koffing: Whoa-ho-ho!
Skuntank: Chaw-haw!
Ray: Hey! Wait! Chatot!
H-he’s gone!
Chatot was sure furious. I hope he’ll be OK!
After all, there are those vicious Pokémon he’d warned us about lurking ahead.
Yeah we really should we care more about Chatot than you.
We’re going in deeper after them.
Skuntank, be sure to get your team out. Don’t give up.
Skuntank: Humph! I’ll ask you to not patronize Team Skull. Chaw-haw-haw...
Koffing: Whoa-ho... You can’t be serious!
Zubat: Heh-heh-heh... The way they trounced us, I’m just too wiped out...
Skuntank: So that’s it...
Well, we must really look like a mess... Chaw-haw-haw...
Skuntank: Shut it... Chaw-haw-haw...
Zubat: But I gotta say, Chief, there’s something to be said about you doing that! Heh-heh-heh...
Skuntank: Shut up... Chaw-haw-haw...
Chatot: (That one glance I caught of them... I’m on the verge of remembering...)
(That’s it!)
(When they attacked me last time...)
(They seemed to appear out of nowhere.)
(But where they really appeared from was...)
Ray: Ch-Chatot!
Kabutops: Wh-what?!
Chatot: Urrgghh...! I won’t let you get away with this...
Kabutops: How do you like that? That hero shielded his buddies with his body.
And Chatot’s gone and it’s battle time. Music: Boss Battle
They don’t really start in a good position for us to do anything to them. I set Ray to use Screech when they approach and start Alti off by throwing a Geo Pebble.
Alti uses Water Gun on Omastar as Ray Screeches the other one. I switch him to using Force Palm.
Another Water Gun takes out the Omastar. Ray uses Force Palm on Kabutops, which fails to kill.
Water Gun on Kabutops also fails to kill, but Force Palm takes out the other Omastar, leaving it at a 2-on-1.
Jesus this thing has a lot of HP. This is after a Force Palm and two more Water Guns.
He still has time! Get him back to the guild now!
Ray: Well then! Quick, let’s all go back to the guild!
Wigglytuff: No. We will take Chatot back to the guild.
But, as for you, Alti and Ray...
Ray: What? Wigglytuff did?
Grovyle: That’s right. Wigglytuff had been looking for me.
As soon as he found me, he asked me to go with him. He said you were close to finding the Hidden Land.
Diglett: I’m glad to hear that!
Bidoof: Yup yup, that’s a load off my mind, by golly.
Corphish: Hey, hey! That’s great! Chatot will be OK! Hey, hey!
Sunflora: Guildmaster...?
Wigglytuff: What is it, Sunflora?
Sunflora: Guildmaster, you said Chatot saved you at that cave long ago. Can you tell us about it?
I was too slow to get a screenshot but it showed that “Chatot looking up at Kabutops and the Omastar” art from before, implying Chatot figured it out last time too.
Chatot reacted first and shielded me from them, and he got knocked out.
I sent Kabutops’s gang packing after that, but...
Chatot was knocked out. I didn’t know what to do.
Wigglytuff: I think Lapras recognized that we were an exploration team right away.
So he said to us...
that he couldn’t tell if we were bandits with big ambitions...
or if we were an exploration team with good intentions...
so he asked, for the sake of the world’s peace...
that we please not investigate the peculiar pattern there. That’s what he asked of us.
So like what did he say that to everyone that came to the depths of Brine Cave?? because I can’t believe that in all this time the only Pokémon ever to get there were Wigglytuff and Chatot
I guess it didn’t matter that much what you found as we got to it without Wigglytuff’s guidance anyhow, just by testing the Relic Fragment by the pattern.
Sunflora: So... what happened?
Wigglytuff: Lapras revealed it to me.
He said that the Relic Fragment chooses who will go to the Hidden Land.
That’s all well and good but, uh, what was it doing in the time before Ray came along? Like. Did it just poof itself out of existence until Ray would find it?? How
Corphish: Hey! Why did the Relic Fragment choose Ray?
Maybe the Kabutops and Omastar Brothers are the muscle security for Brine cave, while Lapras is the one that actually takes you to the Hidden Land. In story they're a reasonable threat since they could have KO'd Wigglytuff (who comic relief or not is a very powerful fighter) quickly by Surprise attack. Lapras probably had to negotiate with Wigglytuff since very few Mons get past them. Wigglytuff could in turn stop investigation by spreading the fake story that nothing's there and the real story that Pokemon he'd have trouble fighting were there which would discourage people outside the guild.
As for Wigglytuff finding Grovyle, I'd assume he probably went to check known Time Gear locations (Grovyle probably just went for the same ones he got before, hence the ones they knew about when he was a fugitive), or came back to the Guild once he had them all (which addresses my point of why he goes to Sharpedo Bluff before, not leaving leads until he's done with his job and NEEDS to be in direct contact with the others) and met up with Wigglytuff there.
And for Team Skull. It wouldn't surprise me if Wigglytuff legitimately didn't know they were bad guys, which would be funny considering a later move he gets is "Play Rough." That said, also possible he just didn't think to mention it since other more important stuff started after with Dusknoir's visit and the Time Gear thefts.
I'M SORRY THIS IS SO LATE school is insane. I have my comprehensive exams one week from today and that's been really sucking up a lot of my free time. Once those are over I should have some more time to devote to this though!! Maybe. Hopefully.
pika pal: You know I kind of like that argument. I figured Kabutops and the Omastar were just kinda there but maybe they are significant to Brine Cave's protection. Hmmm.
Wigglytuff is psychic let's leave it at that.
Except about Team Skull lmao
What a lovely day. (DS aaaaaart ; ;)
I guess we’ve been going all night, huh.
(I love that. The subtle use of day and night to express the passage of time as they cross the sea. I can’t imagine the tension they must be feeling. The silence really helps add to that.
And I’m totally gonna write about all that in my thesis)
Lapras: Yes?
Ray: You’ve been swimming a long time. Are you doing OK?
Wow. This is spectacular ngl
(Fuck, y’all, ever since I started writing my thesis on these games I’ve happened across so many amazing musical conclusions that just bring so much life to the game. Now it’s affecting the way I’m playing the game. I’m getting chills here and tearing up from the combination of music and visuals. It’s so beautiful ; ;)
Grovyle: No! That’s not it!
This... This isn’t flying!
Lapras: Yes. It’s Temporal Tower.
Grovyle: … That’s where Dialga is...
That’s where we have to go. The Time Gears have to be taken there.
Ray: But... if you take a close look...
That place... seems to be floating in the sky!
Grovyle: The Rainbow Stoneship?
Lapras: Yes. Far ahead, you will find the Old Ruins.
There, you will find an ancient, mystical vessel, the Rainbow Stoneship.
It will take you to Temporal Tower.
Ray: Thank you, Lapras!
Lapras: This is the extent of what I can do for you.
From here, you’re on your own. Good luck on reaching Temporal Tower!
Pokémon: Dragonite, Manectric, Tropius, Rampardos, Bastiodon, Purugly, Garchomp, Abomasnow, Magmortar
In addition to the high evolutionary stages, I am massively underleveled. We are level 33 and the Pokémon go up to 43. I haven’t been this low-leveled since the very first time I played Darkness ten years ago, where I ended up restarting because I was too low-leveled to defeat the final boss.
We’ll... see what happens this time.
Lol well that’s certainly fun.
Stepped on a trap that spawned four Pokémon around me and had to fight them all. The result is a near-death experience for poor Alti here.
ahahhaa fantastic
I could double up on Screech if I wanted. But I like the ones I have now, so I’ll pass.
Later floors start having air pits which is rad as hell
After fifteen floors we arrive at the midpoint.
Let’s continue.
I told you, it makes sense from a time perspective.
Well... sort of. If you accept that time has the ability to cross itself in its linearity, then yes that makes sense. If linear time is strictly past > future with no interactions with itself, then only a stable time loop makes sense, but we’re not getting into that.
I don’t know that Alti has much to lose with no memory anyway. Except...
(I came to this world... with such a resolve...)
(Knowing that if we succeeded... we would disappear...)
(But...)
(If we don’t act, the destruction of time can’t be stopped.)
One thing changed for us by coming to this world.
It’s true that we had the resolve to complete our mission.
That was true when we first came back to this world...
But we had absolutely nothing to lose. And nothing to go back to.
… sacrificing your life for the good of the world... You mean that literally...
ugh this is hitting me right in the feels
Ray: B-but...!
Take your place, Grovyle...? I can’t!
Grovyle: You must and you will. Because you can, Ray.
You two are... the greatest of combinations.
Grovyle was partners with you for a long time, Alti.
I think it must have hurt Grovyle terribly to leave you.
Alti: (…............)
(That may be what he meant...)
(But no. That isn’t it.)
(Grovyle’s last words...)
(They weren’t about me and Grovyle.)
(Grovyle said what he did... because he knew that I would have to leave Ray eventually.)
(When history is changed... I will disappear.)
(My time together with Ray is ending...)
(This is our last adventure.)
There's a second layer to this particular scene that really makes it even harsher for me after the post-game story. I want to save it for then, but I want to leave this as a reminder in case you didn't think this scene was sad enough already.
pika pal: There's a lot of post-game stuff that colors the way that scene is viewed; I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to. I guess I'll find out when I get that far, haha.
I am back! I had to take some time to study and complete comps exams (which I think went well???) and then I had a draft of my thesis chapter on MD1 due two days later and then I had spring break where my boyfriend came to visit and also I moved house (again) and went backpacking lol. But we’re finally back, and updates should hopefully be more frequent from here on out.
Be warned – this update contains a lot of images. I mean, it’s the endgame, so of course it does.
I really like this architecture even though it’s clearly just... a building. I don’t know, don’t judge me
Pokémon: Porygon, Lunatone, Solrock, Bronzor
These guys go up as high as 42 so that’s … great
discharge spam begins
For those of you not in the know: Porygon (and later its evolutions) get Discharge. Discharge is a nightmare because it can hit from anywhere in a room – or, in a hallway, as in my case, it can hit both team members – and paralyze. And I’m a Water type! So. Tremendous. I sure do love this
Porygon sucks
So does Lunatone (that was Psywave rip)
well this sure is a fantastic situation
oh goodness gracious this is a pickle.
Petrify Orb time...
As I clean out the Monster House, Alti tries to pick up Thrash. I don’t think it’s worth it.
Alti: (…............)
(There’s a big circular pattern...)
(Inside are indentations that look like they’ve been gouged out...)
(What is this...?)
(…! Wait a second!)
(Side note: Take a look at the arrangement of the five holes there. They aren’t spaced so as to make a perfect pentagon between them. In fact, by the looks of it, there are 12 of the little red circles. Every other one is where one of the holes is, except for the very top one, which is intact. If there were a sixth hole there, it would be perfectly symmetrical and logical.
Fans have wondered for a while if this has something to do with the fact that the volcano environment, while given art early on as a theoretical Time Gear location – even to the point where Explorers of Darkness has it as its title screen art – never shows up in the game proper as a Time Gear adventure location. We’ve seen four of the five locations for ourselves – Treeshroud Forest and the three lakes – and the fifth, an underground cavern, is both Sky’s title screen and is shown when Grovyle collects the Time Gears early in the game.
So whatever happened to the unused volcano location and its Time Gear?)
Well... Dialga’s an ass to fight, mostly because he has Roar of Time which hits everyone in the room. It has a decently high miss chance but is a terrifying threat and I’m more scared of this than any preceding boss fight.
Let’s go
Alti leads with a Gravelerock (her only option) as Ray moves toward her...
… and we’re already in hell.
Surprisingly, though, it doesn’t kill either of us, but Ray is left with pretty low HP. However, Roar of Time has the side effect of forcing Dialga to take a turn off (a la Hyper Beam), which we use to get a tile closer.
Then Dialga unpauses and comes up to meet us as Ray hits it with Quick Attack.
Next turn I have Ray use Screech as Alti uses Water Gun.
Time to go nuts!!
OH GOD NO ANCIENTPOWER BOOST WE ARE DEAD
Well, I got revived. But Dialga got an Attack boost. Hooray.
It doesn’t help that Dialga has the Intimidator IQ skill, which means sometimes we can just... not attack. It sucks.
All right Ray, hit with Force Palm. You can do it buddy...
lol shit I forgot to switch him to actually use Force Palm. All right... Well... Let’s hope we survive another turn. I only brought one Reviver Seed.
WELL I SURVIVED AND IT MISSED RAY SO THAT’S GOOD???
PANICKING THOUGH LOOK AT THOSE TINY HP COUNTS.
All right Ray, fucking hit it please
Or not.
Let’s go again.
(Restarting from the tower midpoint even though I savestated at the top for legitimacy reasons.)
Well this game doesn’t want me to finish clearly
… (I died and reset)
Here we are again.
This time Dialga makes my life easier by not leading with Roar of Time. Glad for that.
Well, until now... but it misses both Ray and Alti, thankfully, but pauses nonetheless. Let’s go.
Well. I thought it paused. I guess not. Whatever, we’re here now and Dialga’s paused now. All right...
rip I hate this :c
ffffffff all right one more time
After several deaths in the Tower, we finally make it back to Dialga...
Partway in, Ray dies and is revived. However, we’ve already dealt a decent amount of damage at this point, Alti is still at full health, and Dialga hasn’t used Roar of Time or gotten any stat boosts. I feel good about this... knock on wood.
Augh shit! Gonna play it safe and use an Oran Berry while Ray continues to fight.
Ray has 6 HP... and I’m out of Oran Berries. All right, time to hope we can succeed with a few more attacks.
Well, this means we can’t deal damage to Dialga because of how Freeze works in Mystery Dungeon. But this does give us a free turn to try to figure out what to do about Ray.
… the answer is nothing lmao.
So I send him away to attack from a distance with Quick Attack while Alti bears the brunt of Dialga’s wrath. We have to do it soon or I’m done for.
OH SWEET LUCK
All right, Dialga’s down. Success!
Dialga: GRR... GRRRRRRRR...
Ray: OK, Alti! It’s time!
While Dialga is still down, I’ll go put in the Time Gears.
… “maybe”? I mean, that’s what’s going to happen when you change the future. It really should have happened the second the Time Gears were put in place, but I’m not complaining if it means we get more of an ending. (I love bittersweet endings)
Alti: Thank you for everything, Ray.
I’m glad we got to train together at the guild...
I’m glad we got to go on adventures together...
I’m glad... I got to know you, Ray.
Here, the dialogue moves at a fixed pace, meaning this scene always proceeds at the same speed. Music: Farther Away...
(If you’re interested in watching the ending scene in its entirety – which I would recommend – check it out here. Leaving Temporal Tower begins at 7:49.)
finally succeeded in their mission...
and saved the world from disaster.
Ray departed from Temporal Tower...
traveled across the ravaged Hidden Land...
Ray told everyone about the adventure...
about what happened in the Hidden Land...
about what took place in Temporal Tower...
about Grovyle... and about Alti.
I haven’t seen this for a long time. It’s as beautiful as I remember.
I’ve just been too busy to come and see it.
But I’ve missed this... fantastic sight.
Ha ha ha! Your stomach growled too, Alti!
We must have worked up a big appetite!
We were so focused on rescuing Azurill that I didn’t notice at all!
But now I’m even hungrier!
Come on, let’s go get dinner, Alti!
One day I’m sure I’ll solve the secret of my Relic Fragment.
That’s the dream I have.
If it ever came true, I’d surely faint from sheer happiness!
Ha ha ha ha!
Music: Ending Theme Intro
(This accompanies another scene that proceeds at a fixed rate. It’s only 35 seconds, so make sure you listen to all of it before proceeding to the next track.)
Of course, the game may be over, but we haven’t even gotten 5% of the Pokémon available to recruit – not to mention there’s still two Special Episodes left and a whole post-game plot waiting for us. Join us later as we return to the catch-em-all quest. Updates should (hopefully) be more frequent from here on out, as I mentioned before, partially because life has calmed down and partially because the end of the game means a little less dialogue and a little more gameplay freedom. I love this game to bits, but believe it or not I already had to take down its script once (for something that became obsolete basically as soon as I finished it, no less) so doing it again was... uh... not the most enjoyable experience, no matter how much I love the game. Should be better now though.
Remember, there’s still Pokémon to recruit that you can suggest names for! The following list includes the Pokémon from Treeshroud Forest and Brine Cave, where I can now recruit Pokémon (Hidden Land and Temporal Tower are for some reason off-limits though), as well as the first dungeon of the post-game.
So do you plan to tackle the post game episodes at any particular milestones? I could see episode 4 happening at the Midway of post-game, but curious where you'll fit the final one if they don't happen immediately (which I doubt to cool off on script and screenshots for a bit).
Also, because I'm too impatient for my own good, I'm gonna just bring up the thing I mentioned that makes the Dusknoir confrontation and ending harsher to me. Even more massive spoilers than my last one in here. Warning for blind runners/followers.
The way Grovyle and Alti get separated for the last time basically mirrors the way they were separated the first time. One takes an attack for the other, and then they're separated across time travel. First time happens while traveling presumably (no visual given so it's hard to say exactly), the second precedes the last time travel in the story.
There are also some oddly coincidental resemblances between Darkrai and Dusknoir, albeit some dissuaded by the Special episode Sky added to extend the latter's screentime. Both are spectral beings bent on preserving themselves and the world of darkness, are among the first to figure out where Alti and their partner fit into the story, initially manipulate them by posing as an ally, whether by reputation or deception, and are depicted as proper villains despite other media usually making them out to be misaccused antagonists like in the 10th movie. Even their boss fights are similar, consisting of You, your partner, and a mid-40's guest against them and a swarm, using the same boss theme, which end when the wounded opponent disappears into a time rift.
It's a number of overlaps that make me think it had to be intentional on some level. I think it's fitting thematically since they're both the Heavy for their respective stories as antagonists (Dialga's the final boss, but present and future Primal are just kinda giant monsters in terms of character).
On a sidenote, there's a set of NPC's I'm surprised Sky didn't add content for, whether in post game or a Special episode.
Congratulations on bringing the main story to a close! Glad to see that you had just as much trouble with Dialga as we all did.
I always found a few things interesting about Temporal Tower, which I'll talk about now.
Alright, so Ray mentions that the slots for the Time Gears look "gouged out". To support this, when you put the gears back into the slots, the panel repairs itself and changes from red (usually indicating danger) to blue (usually indicating that everything is fine). This is really why I think Darkrai sabotaged the tower by ripping the time gears out and scattering them - they were never supposed to leave the tower in the first place.
Which, of course, brings me back around to the original question: why were the Lake Guardians, especially Uxie, so intent on keeping the gears where they were instead of returning them to the tower?
On an unrelated note, pika pal , are you talking about Team Raider?
pika pal: You've got some interesting points there in the spoiler box. I'll address them more thoroughly when I get that far. Thanks!
lucariomaster2: Same with you lol, a great point but spoileriffic for the present time so I'll save that discussion for later.
the destruction of time was stopped...
and peace returned to the world of Pokémon.
…
But why?????? We fixed that problem. We put the time gears in place and that was that, right?? Why is this the case
(And yes, I know it’s because we need an impetus to continue our missions, which exist because of the outbreak of mystery dungeons, which in turn results from the time problems, but still)
But overall, things were becoming better everywhere.
As for Alti and Ray...
They returned to Wigglytuff’s Guild...
have u gotten all the necessary credit hours i dont think so
Although I will say I would have liked it a lot if, like, a new rookie had joined the guild after us, just because that would have been an interesting twist. Or if one of the other apprentices graduated while we were here. More to show the life of the guild, I mean.
Hey, hey! Why do Alti and Ray get to take the graduation exam before we do?
If by that you mean we have all the necessary credit hours to graduate then yes
(I’ll shut up about that now)
i think that’s a pretty important thing to consider yeah
It’s only natural that they’ve earned the right to be tested.
… And that’s how it goes. We will soon conduct the graduation exam. I expect you to be prepared for it! ♪
Can you tell us what the grand master of all things bad was like?
Loudred: Ugh, I’m sorry, but I’m NOT allowed to talk about it. It’s the guild rule. I CAN’T talk about it.
lol even if we do I don’t think it’s the end of the world. Not like last time anyway
Mystifying Forest is the first of the post-game dungeons to have a new gimmick introduced in Explorers. Basically, the dungeon has a very large pool of Pokémon that can be found. However, unlike previous dungeons and in Rescue Team, the Pokémon are not assigned any strict floors that they can appear on. Rather, each time you move to a new floor, the game generates a random assortment of Pokémon from the dungeon list, and those are the options that might appear on the floor.
It’s an interesting way to get around the problem MD1 had of needing way too many dungeons to house all the game’s Pokémon: just put a lot more into the dungeon and let random selection do its thing.
The options in Mystifying Forest are: Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Metapod, Rattata, Raticate, Spearow, Nidoran-F, Nidoran-M, Venonat, Bellsprout, Weepinbell, Exeggcute, Koffing, Scyther, Eevee, Chikorita, Bayleef, Aipom, Teddiursa, Wurmple, Seedot, Nuzleaf, Roselia, Gulpin, Flygon, Turtwig, Grotle, Torterra, Bidoof, Stunky, Skuntank, Munchlax, and Kricketot.
These are all at varying levels, too, from 5-7 for the first-stage starters to 40-42 for Skuntank, Torterra, and Flygon. Kinda nuts lmao
I’m pretty sure we can’t recruit anything until after the Guild’s graduation mission, though.
oh my god... exeggcute that aren’t impossibly rare... what a concept
… good
evolution items that aren’t ridiculously rare... amazing
After 13 floors, we’ve apparently come “quite deep” despite it looking like we’re in an open space.
Music: The Gatekeepers (For a boss battle...? All right...)
And... fight against the whole guild (sans Bidoof) ensues.
This is actually a pretty tough fight and I know a lot of people have reported having difficulty with it. Let’s see how it goes.
… one down I guess...?
(Dugtrio and Diglett have Earth Power which hits all enemies in the room, much like Discharge. Glad they didn’t use it here.)
WELL... SHIT
this is SO not going well
I DONT KNOW HOW I GOT HERE BUT THIS IS STILL TERRIFYING
Alti has the Bodyguard IQ skill, which means she basically takes damage for Ray when he’s at low health. I decide to heal Alti to give her more ability to do that while letting Ray use super-effective Force Palm on Wigglytuff.
only one more to beat :BBB
RAY
WIN IT FOR US
Somehow, two Force Palms do not finish off Wigglytuff. Ray prevents sleep with Nonsleeper, though, and Alti wakes up in a decent time, thankfully.
don’t be mean to him (even tho I totally would too)
Teddiursa: Some kinds of Pokémon can evolve if specific conditions are first met.
When a Pokémon evolves, its appearance changes, sometimes dramatically.
Ray: Really?! Your appearance changes?!
… how... how do you think diglett and dugtrio are related otherwise...
Ursaring: That’s right.
And it may not just be how you look that changes, either.
When you evolve, sometimes your form and abilities can even change. How about that?
Teddi-Ursaring: Yay!
Hey, Ursaring! I’ve evolved!
Ursaring: Congratulations! All the leveling up you went through finally paid off!
Now it’s hard to tell us apart...
I guess that’s not out of the question if your partner is like Phanpy or something idk
Voice: No. That is not it...
It is not merely a problem of not meeting requirements...
Ray: Then, why?
Teddiursa was able to evolve...
Why can’t I evolve?
Voice: Why can you not evolve...?
Ray: What?! Alti too?!
Alti: (What... me too?)
Voice: That is all that I can tell...
This is Luminous Spring. If you seek new evolution, then you shall return...
Ray oh my god we beat Wigglytuff... are you serious
Wigglytuff: That’s not true at all! Don’t you understand that what you two did was incredible?
You went and brought back a fantastic treasure in a Perfect Apple.
Ray: What?! Wh-why...?
Chatot: Graduation from the guild means you’re still affiliated with us.
Your team, Team Hurricane, can operate only because of this guild.
well what are you going to do to us if we don’t. Like. How are you going to enforce that
Ray: Urk! But, I mean, it’s not like anything has changed from before...
Sunflora: Eek! You don’t understand! Graduating from the guild is extraordinary!
Speaking of which. So, Loudred took the graduation exam before, right? Which means he (probably) had to face the Grand Master. Okay, so far so good, except. He was involved in our fight against the Grand Master, which means now he knows that’s the gimmick, and also so does everyone else.
So like... what? Are they just gonna change the concept next time or what? How does that work?
And now begins the post-game. I wonder if the Graduation exam is the same every time or just what your team in particular had to deal with. Considering the Guildmaster's reputation, the idea of beating him and everyone else at once seems pretty intense for any single apprentice looking to graduate.
And as for the graduation not waiving your fees, it begs a question for me: does your team NEED the guild to operate anymore? The only service that it provides that you can't get elsewhere is Chimecho Assembly, but by indication several other teams operate without said service, whether they have more members or not. You have other sources of jobs in this entry especially, and several of your post-game story beats don't directly involve the guild either. Most of the other stuff the Guild does is either glossed over post game (like residence) or basically open to the public anyway (Crogaunk's Swap Shop)
OMG this game!! One of my all-time favourites. This thread is flooding my mind with memories of my childhood. btw, for when you'll eventually explore Mt.Mistral, go alone and with a room clearing move, or your exploration might take an.... ominous turn... (just a reminder, 99% sure you already know this).
pika pal: Yeah I can't imagine anyone else would have had much like trying to beat up Wigglytuff & Co. We had 2 mons which is the only reason we could do much of anything lol
I've got no idea how we're affiliated with the guild. I think it might be just lies that they use to scam us out of money :p
NabboCheTesta: Glad you like it! I'll keep your note about Mt. Mistral in mind - I don't recall ever having issues there, but who knows what could happen?
Heading over to the crossroads results in an exchange with Chimecho.
Ray: Hey! Chimecho!
What's going on?
Chimecho: Oh, Alti! Ray!
Congratulations on graduating from the guild!
So yeah, we can change our team leader... except, unlike in Rescue Team, this doesn't change your overworld/Treasure Town Pokémon to the one you picked. It will always be Alti and Ray, forever. This helps to nicely fix the problem that Rescue Team had where lots of people got sad after the game finished and they lost the ability to Play The Game with their starter and partner (because the partner basically stops acting like the partner once they go to their Friend Area)! Hooray for that. One of the many ways this improved on MD1.
Ray: The team leader? We can change the leader before going into a dungeon?
Now, because the guild has given your team affiliate status...
You can make any member of Team Hurricane the leader before going into a dungeon! In other words...
You can assemble a dungeon team from only Team Hurricane recruits!
… does it even matter if they are. They could still go on explorations/rescues. What needs to be “official” about it
Ray: Oh, I get it! So that means...
If we plan to explore a dungeon where our current team will suffer type-based disadvantages...
We can build a totally different team, even changing the team leader, so that we can gain type advantages instead!
lol if this LP is anything like last time's we probably won't use it.
Let's take a mission!
Escort mission in Brine Cave with Drifloon!! Fantabulous
Took long enough for something to offer. Named Slugger per an old suggestion.
Named Crab Meat thanks to the bf.
And the escort mission is thankfully easy enough to complete.
For my next mission I take a long-overdue mission from Ullar.
I don't remember if I've been here before. Well, this is what Serenity River looks like. It has random dungeon music, and you can find Poliwag, Wooper, Lotad, Barboach, and Masquerain.
Aaaand I'm escorting a Ground/Rock type. Great
It worked though.
Some dungeons just have treasure boxes at the end. I like that, it really makes it seem more like an exploration.
Mt. Everest reaches into the jet stream and its peak has 1/3 the air pressure of the oxygen at sea level, does that count? If so I really don’t think anyone ever should bother to climb it without supplemental oxygen. We’re at sea level right now.
(I may or may not fascinated by mountain climbing and Everest specifically lol)
But it’s surrounded by an impassable mountain range, so the route there has been lost.
Lost? Does that mean we once had that route? How did it get lost? Is there history on this? I want to know more about itttttt
That’s why it hasn’t been fully explored yet.
Spinda: Yes, that’s absolutely right. You sure do know your stuff.
Just as Mr. Mime said, Sky Peak has not been fully explored...
So it still holds many mysteries.
Oh, hey, Shaymin exists in this.
(Shaymin wasn’t officially revealed when Time/Darkness were released, so it never showed up in game. This whole Sky Peak plot was added for Sky, which incorporated the then-revealed Shaymin and a reference to the still-unrevealed Arceus.)
Politoed: Shaymin?
Spinda: Yes. I’m afraid I don’t know much about them either...
But they are incredibly cute! ♪
How convenient that we don’t have to create our own!! Because making a path like they did on Mt. Everest would be too much to ask from us explorers amirite
Is it gonna take like a day to get there like it did to Mt. Horn? If not this is not an authentic journeying experience.
(Recently in the OI Discord we were talking about what if MD1 or 2 got remade. This might just be a personal preference but I would want to see an actual feeling of journey in some parts of the game, although more likely than not that wouldn’t happen. I can dream, can’t I?)
Spinda: For more questions, please direct your requests to the Project P survey team already on location.
Also wait Sky Peak is like right next to Mt. Horn. We got over that one perfectly fine, how did it take this long to “reclaim” the path to Sky Peak huh
So, everyone, let’s get moving, with hopes and dreams on our minds and smiles on our faces!
So, after getting ourselves ready for a mission, we head out...
to the most beautiful village that you ever did see. This is so lovely, I want to live here. Its music is lovely too, has a sort of folksy feel that seems to fit this rustic little village.
There’s... a lot of Shaymin here. I guess this confirms that multiple legendsries of certain species exist? All right
… have you guys known me to be a dick ever in this playthrough? Lol
Shaymin: Hee hee hee. Yay!
OK, I’ll be waiting at the mountain-path entrance for you.
The mountain path is straight ahead from here.
Please come once you’ve finished your preparations.
See you later!
So here we are – Sky Peak, specifically the 1st Station Pass. Rather than being a dungeon in its own right, the trek up Sky Peak consists of several short dungeon passes that are separated by clearing areas. An interesting design choice, and I’ll talk more about it later. Music: Sky Peak Forest
You’re probably wondering what is up with that item message. Shaymin has an IQ skill that enables it to tell how many items are on the floor. That’s... about it lol.
Shaymin has Natural Gift, Leech Seed, Magical Leaf, and Synthesis. I don’t know if Shaymin always has this moveset or if it’s randomly generated out of the possible moves it can learn.
I thought it wasn’t possible to recruit things in this dungeon, at least on the first go. I... may be wrong...? We’ll see if anything joins me lol
(Spoiler: Nothing does)
Sky Gifts can only be found in this dungeon. They are... gifts... that you can send to people as thanks when they rescue you. I guess they become items or something? Otherwise I’m pretty sure they’re useless lol
this dungeon is quite pretty aaaa
After three floors, we approach the 1st Station Clearing.
This sure is a clearing lol
Sky Peak has resting areas, labeled 1st Station through 9th Station.
this is the ONLY way mountain exploration should be done yall
Also there’s a part where I can give a dude an Oran Berry because he forgot to bring it apparently. Something about gratitude and being nice and Shaymin lol
He gives me an Escape Orb in exchange which is nice I guess lol
Moving on...
The second station pass gets rid of the foggy, grassy plains type look for... whatever this is. Same music as before.
After three floors, we approach the 2nd station clearing.
This place looks well-stocked. Cool.
Also I like how Shaymin is as surprised as we are to see this. Don’t you live here?
So we head on to the 3rd station pass. Looks like we’re in a cave now, and our music changes accordingly.
(Sound familiar? This is Buried Relic from PMD1.)
Also hidden stairs
I don’t find the Secret Bazaars super useful though. I go for a Grab Bag and get a Sky Gummi out of it, so that’s pretty cool I suppose? Lol
After three floors (sensing a pattern?)...
Oh, wow, this is lovely...
By the way, Alti. Did you happen to find any treasures called Sky Gifts while we were climbing?
if u want to believe that go ahead but it isnt true
The 4th station pass brings back the grassy, flowery look of the dungeon, which I like a lot. It also brings in new music that sounds very adventurous and energetic.
Well maybe I can find someone to give it to (probably not)
OH SHIT
gonna see what I can do without a petrify orb just for shits and giggles...
Then immediately Skuntank uses Memento, which lowers our Attack and Special Attack 2 stages, making even a double-super-effective fairly useless. So... Petrify Orb.
Ray dies and gets revived, which fortunately means his stat drops are fixed. I killed Ursaring specifically so we can step on the Wonder Tile and fix our stat drops.
FIGHTAN TIME
Three more floors and...
Huh, this place looks nice.
We’ve also established a base at the 4th Station Clearing. Feel free to use it.
This battle is really nothing particularly stressful or anything except these Carnivine have ridiculously high HP lol. I guess it’s to make up for the fact that this is a 6-on-5 battle, idfk.
One more down...
“only cowards gang up on one Pokémon”
Victory!
For the record, it doesn’t matter in the slightest if Team Frontier dies in this battle. It makes your life harder, sure, but doesn’t count as losing the battle like Ray or Shaymin dying would.
Whaaaat
Mawile: Wh-what?!
Carnivine: Huh? You...
Oh! A Shaymin from the village! It’s been a while!
They’re really nice, but they can be a little rough when they speak...
Mawile: We’re also to blame here. Rather than listening to them, we just jumped straight into a fight...
Breloom: That’s why you shouldn’t just judge by appearances...
The 6th Station Pass starts to look more like rugged mountain terrain. Music: Sky Peak Coast I don’t know how this is a coast but ok game I’ll take your word for it.
Sound familiar? It’s Stormy Sea from Rescue Team.
Oh hello.
…
Wait how are you here if we’re like the first people to be climbing this mountain in Forever??????????
Four floors...
Hey cool.
We reached the 6th Station Clearing before you, so we made another base!
Shaymin: Yes! Thank you so much, as always!
Breloom: But you know... from here on, the mountain is covered with snow. We can’t really set up any more bases.
Who are you apologizing to? The Shaymin that has probably summitted this thing like 12 million times?
Shaymin: No problem at all. We’re glad you were able to make bases up to this point. They’ll be a great help.
Breloom: Heh-heh. You’re welcome.
Oh, that’s right. From here on, we’re going to make a serious effort to reach the summit.
Ok I feel now is probably an apt time to talk about my initial thoughts when I was playing Sky Peak for the first time as a 15 year old or whatever. The Shaymin lived in a village that seemed undisturbed by the existence of other Pokémon. Clearly they lamented not having explorers to climb the mountain with, so they were on good terms with the Pokémon who came to their likely-ancestral home for the purpose of climbing what is by all accounts implied to be the highest mountain on this continent.
Upon first playing it, I was a little disappointed to see that all the bases were set up so that each dungeon was effectively only 3 floors. This was supposed to be a grand peak, I wanted a real mountain climbing adventure. (Worth noting is this was also right after the peak – no pun intended – of my obsession with Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air, which is both a chronicle of the journey that people take to climb Everest and a specific, first-hand account of the events of the 1996 disaster.) Having already played through Darkness to completion, I knew that MD2 was specifically meant to be easier than MD1 in all things: 99-floor dungeons are optional in MD2, as are level 1 dungeons, and the last dungeon of the story – Temporal Tower – is split into 15 / 10 floors as opposed to Sky Tower’s 25 / 9. Even the last dungeon of the post-game is 15 / 15, still less than Sky Tower overall, and broken up completely evenly instead of requiring a marathon of 25 straight floors as Sky Tower did. I was hoping the addition of Sky Peak might bring back a little of the difficulty level and marathoning required by MD1 type dungeons. After all, Mt. Horn has 14 floors, making it one of the longest singular dungeons in the main story and it’s clear that was supposed to be because it’s a mountain. So I expected Sky Peak to get the same treatment.
I was disappointed when it didn’t. But that’s actually not what I was most concerned with when I was playing this. It was the in-universe establishment of bases that was bothering me. Reclaiming the path to Sky Peak and the reconnection with the Shaymin village happened extremely recently in-universe, and then one of the first things that happens is Team Frontier goes forward and establishes bases all up the mountain in order to make things easier for explorers... and to make it more possible for anyone to climb the mountain.
This is one of the things that Jon Krakauer was initially sent to Everest to write about: the growing commercialization of the mountain and the claims by adventure companies with seasoned guides that they could get any reasonably fit person to the top of the world’s highest mountain. As Krakauer recounts, some of his teammates had never been ice climbing before, some hadn’t broken in their boots, some had no idea how crampons worked – etc – and still made it to the top of the mountain, or at least close enough to still be impressive. Of course, this commercialization and the inexperience of several Everest climbers likely contributed to the 1996 disaster’s death toll, but that’s a whole other story and you should just read the book if you’re interested lmao.
Point being, I initially thought the natural Shaymin would also be objecting to the commercialization of their mountain, much as there are real-world Sherpas who believe their people are selling out by contributing to Everest expeditions and who disapprove of what has happened to the sacred mountain. Early on in this trip, our Shaymin even said “Ah. The mountain is so beautiful...” which made me believe that the Big Conflict over the course of this trip was going to be, Shaymin grows increasingly frustrated/disillusioned with Team Frontier’s disrespect for the mountain and things come to a head... or something.
But the more stations I went through, up until Team Frontier admitted there weren’t going to be any more bases, the more Shaymin seemed fine with it, even grateful, and I realized that this game wasn’t going to go that deep. Maybe I was expecting a bit much, I don’t know, but that was my initial take on the Sky Peak expedition.
I still wish it were a bit more marathon-y. There really isn’t much of a point in having Kangaskhan Rocks after every 6 floors imo. There should be more at stake and more of a risk involved with this. If there still bases but they were after every 10 floors or something instead, now that would be a mountaineering adventure befitting the continent’s highest mountain!
I still enjoy the Sky Peak adventure, don’t get me wrong. The changing visuals and music really give a sense of adventure and ascent, and I think it works well aesthetically. I just am weird about my mountain adventures since IRL I love hiking and the mountains and always want my game adventures to Feel Like That which obviously isn’t always possible lol.
Anyway, digression over. Back to the game.
It can be dangerous if you don’t prepare yourself properly.
Breloom: I don’t know, he had fainted before we got here...
I don’t know if it’s because of the cold or because he ran out of items, but I do know this is dangerous.
Dude he sounds perfectly fine what are you on about
hi
Shaymin: Oh! He’s awake!
Sneasel! Are you all right?!
Sneasel: Uh... Where am I?
Mawile: You fainted at the 7th Station Clearing.
Breloom: If Ampharos hadn’t carried you here, things would not have gone well for you, seriously.
I set Ray to lead with Quick Attack as Alti hurls an Iron Thorn at the Muk directly in front of her.
Of course we get surrounded immediately. Ray is set to use only Bite because Force Palm is not very effective and Quick Attack doesn’t have a nice side effect lol. Alti camps on Water Gun.
One down. Of course, we’re not in the best shape. Shaymin is close to dying (though Alti is sponging all attacks targeted at her with Bodyguard) and Breloom has been affected by Stench, which makes it run off in fear for a few turns—obviously a big loss of damage there.
One Muk down...
And another, plus a Grimer last turn...
Another down (and a great screenshot time lol)...
Only one more left! My team is a little worse for wear, but we’re almost done!
And there we go.
suck it
Grimer: So stroooong!
Shaymin: Have you come to your senses yet, Grimer and Muk?
H-huhhh?
Other Grimer: Oh! Shaymin!
Shaymin: What happened while I was away for so long?
You know that this isn’t your home, right?
Grimer: H-huhhh? This is so our hoooome...
Seeee? It’s all dirty and griiiiimy...
…
um
that doesn’t make ANY SENSE
HOW WOULD A MOUNTAIN SUMMIT FALL INTO DISREPAIR
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KEEP UP WITH IT???
what
But we can’t leave the summit in this condition. Will you please return to your rightful home?
Please? I’m asking you.
Grimer: Wh-what? This is the summmmit? I didn’t notiiiiice.
Mawile: Restore it? It’s so dirty, how could we possibly...
Shaymin: We Shaymin have a special power to clean up the land by absorbing dirt and things.
VIEWS
Wow this really is the tallest peak. I love it
i love mountains yall
Machoke: …......
Breloom: I-I’m so glad that I climbed this mountain...
Mawile: Me too...
This is... I’m speechless...
I think this is the first time...
This must be the fabled treasure that is superior to all other treasure...
Thanked Shaymin graciously and returned to Treasure Town.
And on the evening of the day they returned, there was a huge party at Spinda’s Café...
Everyone stayed up until dawn, discussing the exploration...
Whaaat
It just tells us we unlocked the Sky Jukebox which is this game’s Sound Test and it’s gr8 ok.
That’s it for this update! Buuut I do have a question. Sometime in the future it will come time to recruit Kecleon. Like in MD1, recruiting Kecleon requires your Pokémon to have all of the recruitment bonuses possible. However, not any old Pokémon can get all the recruit bonuses possible in this game. You see, there’s an IQ skill that boosts recruitment rate, and it’s only available to a small handful of Pokémon, a list that does not include Riolu/Lucario or Totodile/evolutions. As a result, we will need to find another Pokémon to raise to level 100 to recruit Kecleon for us.
I usually go for Mew. This time, however, I figured I’d leave it up to you guys. Which Pokémon do you want me to use as my Kecleon recruit Pokémon? Choices are in the hide box below.
For Kecleon recruitment, Jirachi might be the most useful of the options, but something in me wants to suggest Exeggutor to put it to use now that it's not a pain to recruit like last game.
As for Sky Gifts, not sure how they work for Player-links, but in Single Player you can send them via an NPC in Shaymin Village to other characters like Wigglytuff, and they sometimes send you gifts in return.
My vote is for Slowking, for no reason other than I really like Slowking. I have other stuff to say about this part of the story, but I'm on mobile right now and typing is hard.
pika pal: Good options. I like the sound of Jirachi more but the Exeggutor thing is pretty funny too. I'll think about it more since I don't have either of those yet lol
I had no idea about Sky Gifts! I'll have to try that, that's pretty cool.
lucariomaster2: All right, vote considered! Slowking is cool too lol
… that’s what ACTUAL EXPLORING is so. Let’s see what dungeon comes out of this.
I thought it would be. This is... a somewhat difficult post-game dungeon. I’m going to hold off on this for a while I think.
Sure let’s go to Brine Cave instead.
Where I learn that Ray’s new IQ skill is a bit... uh... not proofread?
deffo
Named Bork at Hydrattler’s suggestion.
what the HELL IS THIS
(I have almost never seen a room that looks like this.)
oh... oh no... i only just realized the search mission was for a shedinja
._.
Well at least I can see it.
Named Philette because
Altissimo - Today at 7:51 PM
i need a nickname for an omanyte
notshado™ - Today at 7:51 PM
phil
Altissimo - Today at 7:51 PM
its a grill omanyte
BlackDragonSlayer - Today at 7:51 PM
philette
notshado™ - Today at 7:51 PM
philette
jinx
Altissimo - Today at 7:52 PM
jesus
BlackDragonSlayer - Today at 7:52 PM
no not jesus
you said it was a girl
Altissimo - Today at 7:52 PM
lol
aaaa we done it!!
it plot time
Have you heard? The tale of the famous explorer Scizor?
Truly, he had a reputation that all explorers aspired toward.
But this great explorer, he went missing while he was exploring Blizzard Island, far in the southwest.
Now that’s a name. If it’s a cold island – in the southern hemisphere – it’s probably like the Pokémon equivalent of Antarctica and I don’t think that’s a good place to explore alone.
Many an exploration team sent out to rescue the great explorer.
But one and all, they were turned back by the bitter cold and swirling blizzards till none dared try again.
Isn’t that what every explorer goes for? Or just the glory of getting there first.
(Are Team Hurricane technically the first modern explorers to reach the summit of Sky Peak?)
(Sorry I may or may not have a bizarre fascination with the history of exploration as a concept lol)
You’re an incredible team, Team Hurricane, what with saving the world and all.
Dude this isn’t something you can just ask us on a dime. You know how long it took Antarctic expeditions to actually get off the ground? You know how much manpower and planning was involved in that?!
…
Sure, let’s go.
I hear that Blizzard Island is in the southwest of the map.
Altissimo - Today at 6:51 PM
name for a nosepass
Silent Hastati - Today at 6:52 PM
A WAT
Altissimo - Today at 6:52 PM
nosepass
look it the fuck up
Silent Hastati - Today at 6:52 PM
a
no
Altissimo - Today at 6:52 PM
LOOK IT THE FUCK UP
Silent Hastati - Today at 6:52 PM
is it the jew mon
Altissimo - Today at 6:52 PM
yes
Silent Hastati - Today at 6:52 PM
how many letters do u have
Altissimo - Today at 6:52 PM
10
Silent Hastati - Today at 6:52 PM
IMPLICATIONS
Altissimo - Today at 6:53 PM
ok
Silent Hastati - Today at 6:53 PM
WAIT
THATS 12
Altissimo - Today at 6:53 PM
ok
fix urself
Silent Hastati - Today at 6:53 PM
uhh
NOT RACIST
Altissimo - Today at 6:53 PM
ok
… yeah.
I think this is one of the first times I’ve ever had to eat an Apple the entire playthrough, if not the first.
Named Skoast lol
After 20 floors (!), we get to... uh... an ice cave?
There is a huge, jagged chasm cutting through the wall of ice!
It appears to lead into a series of caves.
It’s the entrance to another dungeon!
How did we get here anyway. It sounded like Ray and Grovyle were convinced there was no way to cross the sea until they found Lapras so that suggests the Pokémon world doesn’t have boats, so how the hell did we get to this island
It must have been awfully exhausting for you to fight those blizzards.
I doubt forever. I assume climate change and continental drift are still things in this world.
Well... maybe?? If the paralyzed planet can stop climate/tectonic activity was it ever there to begin with?
(I might be overthinking this. Just a little.)
However, little did I expect to see that decades have passed since my icebound predicament.
Honorary?
…
If you’re honorary who the hell are the regular members?!
Ray: A what? An honorary member?
Scizor: Correct!
An honorary member, such as myself, has the right to give special status to exemplary exploration teams.
Ray don’t be too mean.
Anyway that’s the end of that.
So the thing about Secret Rank is that it... well... it does let you take on special missions. Specifically, there are seven dungeons that can only be accessed after you get this rank. They are home to Rayquaza, Mew, Articuno, Heatran, Groudon, Kyogre, and Giratina. No, I have no idea why Articuno and Giratina are odd-ones-out here. Anyway, these dungeons can only be be unlocked once you obtain Secret Rank.
In Time and Darkness, you would need to enter passwords or download the missions via Wifi in order to get them. In Sky, they are available randomly through Spinda’s Café. I’ll keep an eye out for these, but no telling when they’re going to show up.
So we go to take some more missions etc...
I’m down for another new dungeon :o
This one might be doable now, we’ll see.
First though some diary snooping.
Pretty sure the next one is 12. Shocking News!
It’s shocking, by golly!
I don’t rightly understand it... not totally...
But Pokémon can come from the future?! Is that even possible? I don’t rightly know.
This is all so confusing that it makes my head hurt. But I reckon I’d best focus, yup yup...
Because now’s the time we need to help get out the word about Azelf and his buddies. Yup yup!
… um
you didn’t
you didn’t think that’s what happened before???
The story Ray told was about as amazing too... But more than anything...
I was overjoyed seeing the two of them back safe where they belong, right here. Yup yup.
16. Graduation Exam?
Team Hurricane has been picked to take the guild’s graduation exam.
They arrived after me. But they get to take the exam before I can? That sorta rubs me the wrong way...
Who knows what they have in mind for me to do, though. I’m always the last to know...
This will be the first graduation exam I’ll help out on. I wonder what I’m supposed to do?
12. Total Shocker!
Oh my gosh! It’s been one shocking thing after another lately!
It turns out that Grovyle is a wanted outlaw on the run from (oh my gosh!) the future.
16. Graduation Exam
Team Hurricane has been chosen to take the graduation exam.
But graduation... Oh my gosh! I remember when they asked me if I wanted to take it...
Okay so this confirms that the grand master is a gimmick they’ve pulled out before for graduation exams, and Sunflora seems to imply here that that was what they used on Loudred, bringing me back to my question of “how do they deal when the one taking the exam knows the gimmick?”
Those kids made it through the graduation exam!
Oh my gosh! The members of Team Hurricane were so adorable when they joined the guild... Now they’re authorities!
How do we know? How far back do our records go anyway?
… And if they’re so complete why do we still not have boats?
I have question
She’s been on a tear about that all by herself, hey, hey...
Sunflora is down in the guild’s lower level right now, hey, hey.
If you’re interested, you should chat with Sunflora, hey, hey! She’s itching to gab about it!
It’s a sea. I can’t imagine it would be that interesting.
This is the stuff of sweeping epics! So dreamy and adventurous!
Oh, but that’s not all! No, no, no! Apparently, the world’s ocean currents all course through the Surrounded Sea.
Damn Frosslass, beating Scizor through Freeze hax.
Giratina's simple enough: Dialga being part of the plot means the other members of his trio really just kinda had to get plopped somewhere, and he's the only Ghost type legendary.