Wednesday, 11 August 2010

Chapter 7 - Like father, like son

I did everything there is to do in the Desert (which isn't much), and chose the Claw Fossil, which I could later resurrect into an Anorith (which would evolve at level 40 into an Armaldo). In my view, Generation III’s fossils are by some distance the worst fossils yet, at least until Gen IV when both Armaldo and Cradily figure out how to use a few half decent moves. As it is though, that fossil will probably never be hatched. The first Pokemon I bumped into was a male Sandshrew, lv.20. Another Serious nature, which is ok, but I was hoping for a Trapinch. Digger the Sandshrew was promptly boxed away.

The next thing to do is to beat my dad. This means a big, long grinding session, because if there is one Gym in the entire series of Pokemon games that I loathe, it’s the Petalburg Gym. I just HATE those Slaking. Essentially I’d like to have about a 10 level headstart on Norman, so I’d like all my Pokemon to be level 40 before I start this Gym, as I have no Ghost- or Fighting-type Pokemon (if only Thumper hadn’t died…). I might settle for getting Crash fully evolved and then giving it a go, though.

On with the grind, then.

After getting a few levels, my egg hatched, and to my surprise, it wasn’t a Togepi, but a Wynaut… Interesting. Nicknamed him Rebound. Quirky nature. Rebound may be an inspired addition to my team, if I ever have the patience to raise him. For now, though, the grind was more important.

…or was it?

Dig. I hadn’t taught the Dig TM to any of my Pokemon. Dig, the move that protects a Pokemon from all harm for a turn. I think I may have just stumbled upon the secret of how to beat those damn Slaking… Still, I wanted Crash to evolve just to be sure. I hate training in a sandstorm. The animation does my head in.

After Crash evolved I realised his most powerful Special move was still Water Gun, so I spent every penny I possessed on coins at the Game Corner and taught him Ice Beam. Then I decided to take the plunge against Norman.

And my oh my, what a plunge it was.

Just to teach those who don't know, every Pokemon has an "Ability" (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ability). Slaking's ability is called "Truant", and causes Slaking to slack off every other turn. This means that they'll attack one turn, slack off the next, attack the next, slack off the next, and so on.

To counteract this appallingly counter-productive ability, Slaking have absurdly high Base Stats (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Base_stat) so that they can soak up damage on their "slacking off" turns, and deal out enough damage on their active turns to compensate.

Dig, the move, is a 2-stage attack. The first turn involves the user digging underground, and becoming invulnerable to the foe's attack for the rest of that turn, as they're underground and can't be hit. The second turn involves powering out of the ground and attacking the foe, but then being left open to attack afterwards. I think you can see where I'm going here... Essentially, if Crash is faster than Slaking, then he can move first, dig underground, avoid Slaking's active turn move, then jump out and damage Slaking, and avoid damage that turn too because Slaking is living up to his name and slacking off. Theoretically this could mean I'd be able to get past both Slaking without Crash taking any damage at all. Theoretically.

Crash avoided every attack bar one by Digging when it attacked (I wasn’t sure if Norman using a Hyper Potion counted as one of Slaking’s active turns – as it happens, it did, and Crash took a Façade attack for about 40 damage). Crash then powered past Vigoroth with a Dig and an Ice Beam, before facing the final Slaking.

The second Slaking was faster than Crash, completely destroying the Dig tactic. Vigoroth had taken Crash’s health down to 44/120, and Slaking’s Façade took him down to just 2HP. Another Façade would spell the end for my first Nuzlocke Pokemon… but no! Slaking used Focus Punch! This attack charges up for a turn, and if the user is hit during the charge up, the attack fails and leaves them helpless for a turn! And I’d used Ice Beam, which actually froze Slaking! The match had turned on its head in an instant. Finishing Slaking off was a simple matter of spamming Mud Shot and Ice Beam until he went down, and the Balance Badge was mine, along with Surf, which I taught to Crash as a reward. Charlie got Façade. The whole game can turn on such small margins.

My next stop, after I met Wattson in Mauville, was to head to New Mauville.


-Samwise

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