Welcome to another chapter of Diary! As always, I do not own Pokémon, and enjoy!


28. Hidden Cove

Day 27 (March 23, 2018): Hoenn

Off to Hoenn again… To the last quarter of the game… Unfortunately, it's a bit of a slog, so I may take a while to get through it…

However, I will persevere.

So I continue, first to the Trick House…

There are no battles here, but instead a bunch of quiz questions. The field is in the shape of a question mark, and the player must get five questions right in order to pass. If they get even one question wrong, they are sent back to the beginning.

Unfortunately, the questions can be rather difficult, so I start getting some of them wrong. Eventually, I am able to pass. The Trick Master gives a rather useful TM, Taunt. I don't think Gracie can learn it, and I won't be using it here.

Now to head off again to the routes to the east. As before, it is always raining. Also, unlike before, there are Trainers that can take advantage of the rain. The route is also rather long, so I have to be careful.

So I don't have any trouble against the Trainers, but I start running out of Power Points. My bag is also full of items. I quickly duck into the Safari Zone to use the PC, since it will be a while before I have access to a Mart.

Also, may as well mention the Safari Zone here. In the original, the Safari Zone is no different than the one in Kanto. However, in the remakes, it's based off of the one in Kalos. In this Safari Zone, Trainers can take as many steps as they want, and use their own Balls and Pokémon in order to fight. I think it's a neat little addition, because it makes the Safari Zone much less frustrating… However, I'm not heading there this run. I make a quick stop at the next city, but only to heal.

Instead, I'm heading south to Mt. Pyre. This is Hoenn's Pokémon burial ground, and while it is creepy, it has some very good music… It also is surrounded by water and acts like a cave once inside. Therefore, I make sure to bring Repels. Also worth noting that there is a woman that will heal the player's party at this point in the remakes, but she is not present in the originals.

Unfortunately, this means the player has to move forward to the next city or backtrack to the previous one. Really, the remakes did a fantastic job making sure the player did not have to backtrack as much by having extra healing spots and or have characters offer to take them to the places they would normally need to backtrack to… It really makes the game less tedious…

Did some experimenting with Hidden Power… Gracie's Type is Rock, which isn't all that useful this run… Note that in the story, she will still be seen wielding Hidden Power. This is even if she ends up not using it in gameplay, because she was taught it in order to figure out the Type… As for what the Type the move should be, I am not sure. However, it may be based on her final stat totals, especially since Hidden Power has a fixed attack power of 60 in the newer games…

Anyway, on to Mt Pyre.

The inside only contains some extra Trainers and items, but I go in there anyway for experience.

The outside contains wild Pokémon, and eventually some battles with Grunts. Also worth noting that this area has some of the coolest music in the game. On top of that, it has a very misty background near a bunch of graves. This place gives a very eerie, but powerful feeling, one that's difficult to describe… Interestingly, in the original draft of Traveler, someone's Secret Base was supposed to be here... That got moved for various reasons, but sometimes I wonder what would've happened if it had stayed… I'm thinking in terms of the various reactions the characters would have…

Anyway, I arrive just in time to see the sacred Orbs stolen... I can't chase after the thief, but I do get something called Magma Emblem… I have a feeling this will be important for later…

For now, I head to the south.

The south is an optional route that can be traversed differently depending on ledges. Each path has varying Pokémon, items, and Trainers. In this run, I'm only doing the route once. Also worth noting that the Berry Master's house is here. As the name implies, he grows many berries, with fields to place more in. He also gives the player a berry every day. His wife will ask the player tell her a saying. Depending on the saying, she will hand out any berry. It is possible to get rare ones from her, but I don't.

Instead, I do have Power Point problems.

So time to head back and enter the next city.

Lilycove.

Lilycove has a lot to do in it. And it's home to one of the coolest sidequests in the game.

Pokémon Contests.

Pokémon contests are what one guide so amusingly referred to as a dog show with attack moves. Pokémon are shown off to the audience, and the audience votes for the one that they think is the best. After that, they each Pokémon has to demonstrate moves for five rounds. These moves have various effects, from causing opponents lose points, helping a Pokémon to gain points, protecting Pokémon from opponents' attacks, or even being something so strong the move leaves the user out of the rest of the round.

In order to win the first round, Pokémon must eat something called Pokéblocks. These blocks increase one of five stats (coolness, toughness, beauty, smartness, or cuteness). Each move is also assigned a stat. If the Pokémon uses a move that matches a contest stat, they gain points. If they use a move that is the opposite stat of the contest they're trying to participate in, they have a chance of losing points. The goal is to get the most points in both rounds combined. After winning a contest rank, a Pokémon is allowed participate in the next rank. This continues up until the Master rank.

Pokémon Contests happen to be one of my favorite sidequests because they actually rely on tactics. No matter how strong a certain Pokémon becomes, they cannot simply outlevel opponents or throw random attacks at them. Winning a Contest takes careful consideration of what each move does, and what an opponent might do. It also usually requires a completely different moveset that than what Pokémon might use in regular battles. For this reason, Gracie probably won't do the Contests in this run, but will be shown competing otherwise.

The Contests also have another feature attached to them; paintings. If one heads to the art museum, there will be a man that shows them an empty exhibit. He is not sure what to put in it, and asks the player for ideas. Should the player compete in a Master Rank contest, there will be an artist. This artist will sometimes vote for the player's Pokémon. If the player wins the contest and the artist has voted for their Pokémon, said artist will show them a picture of their Pokémon on a dynamic background. The Pokémon and the background will then be placed in the museum until all five categories are won.

The Contests are also where the remakes really excelled.

For starters, they had three paintings for every category, upping the challenge. However, the remakes also made it easier to compete in contests. In the originals, each Pokémon could only eat 10 Pokeblocks, and that could not be undone. However, in the remakes, Pokémon could eat as many as they wanted. The process of making Pokéblocks was also originally through a minigame. Said minigame could be tedious and took time to perfect. In the remakes, that minigame was gone, and the process was almost automatic. Since Contest moves are a lot different than their battle counterparts, it could be difficult raising a Pokémon for both. However, the remakes solve that problem by making almost every move able to be re-taught. This means that a player could easily switch between Contest and regular battle sets.

Finally, winning Contests gave ample rewards.

The first time a player competes in a Contest, regardless of the outcome, they can receive a Pokémon called Cosplay Pikachu. This Pokémon was unique in that it could not be evolved or traded to other versions. However, it had very high contest stats in all areas, and could change costumes by going to any Contest Hall. Each costume allowed Cosplay Pikachu to have a move it couldn't normally learn, similar to Rotom's forms. Furthermore, having a Pokémon win all five categories of Contests would reward the player with the Mega Stone for Altaria. I believe I used Cosplay Pikachu for this, although I remember Castform doing fairly well at some point…

Another main attraction in Lilycove is that it has the standard huge Pokémon Mart.

But there's something in the way.

And that is a Rival battle.

As usual, it's pretty easy, and all of this Pokémon go down in one hit. This is also the last battle against him. This changes in the remakes, when the Rival fights the player one last time after the main game is cleared. I won't be seeing that battle, though.

Now I can finally head in the store and start selling items. Maybe buy a few things too…

And buy things I do…

The store has significant upgrades for healing items, so I spend a lot of my money on them… On top of that, I also buy another move, Safeguard. I'm not going to use it until later on, but it will be useful in combination with some of my items on the endgame fights. There's a few Trainers who enjoy inflicting status conditions, and this is my way of ruining that strategy… There's upgrades involving repels as well, so I quickly buy those…

It seems I'm ready to head to the next area, and it's a dungeon.

Team Aqua's Hideout, to be exact. In the original games and their remakes, both teams had the same hideout. In this game, they each have different hideouts, and the player must visit each one.

Aqua's involves water and warp panels, so I intend to spend a lot of time frustrated…

Only to get frustrated for a different reason.

It seems I have to visit Magma's hideout first, and their hideout is in the dreaded Jagged Pass… It still takes a while to get there, but eventually I make it.

Magma's hideout is a cave, complete with wild Pokémon. Good thing I brought extra repels…

The grunts in this place are pretty easy, considering Gracie is almost twice the level. They are starting to get into the low 30s, but Gracie is almost level 60… Tabitha appears here, but he is underwhelming.

Now, Maxie awaits, and he wants to awaken the ancient legendary Pokémon Groudon.

Looks like Gracie has to stop him.

Unfortunately, Groudon runs away, and Maxie forces a fight. He still taken down by Thunderbolt and Psychic. Also worth noting that Gracie gets to level 60, trying to learn Dream Eater, but she doesn't.

Of to the next hideout, Aqua's.

After I do some story in Slateport, of course…

For all the backtracking this game has, at least most of it is story relevant…

Also worth noting that as I'm decimating the grunts, I stop at an extra room to get the Master Ball and the Nugget. Both may be useful later.

Anyway, onto the fight one of the other Admins, Matt. Honestly don't have much to say about this guy, other than that he's one of the more relaxed of the Admins. He also seems to have a close relationship with Archie, but how close that relationship actually is up for debate. He appears more in Sapphire, but I believe this is his only fight in Emerald. He's not too tough, easily being taken down by Thunderbolt.

Anyway, the path to Mossdeep is open, so it's time to head across the water.

But not before talking about another person.

That person is one of the people Gracie will not see on this playthrough, Tucker.

Tucker is the leader of the Battle Dome. This place acts like a traditional tournament, with the goal to get to where Tucker is at the top. Tucker himself is known for being passionate about fashion and having a lot of fans. He's also bombastic, commonly waving to the audience. However, he is still aggressive with the player. Unlike most of the other Frontier Brains, he picks only two Pokémon to use against in fights, rather than the traditional three. Not too much to say about him personality wise, other than the fact that he's a bit weird… The protagonist of Usurping and Gracie might think the same, although the former would enjoy all the theatrics.

Anyway, time to continue with the main story at last.

Time to speed across the water to Mossdeep… Thankfully, the journey is pretty short. There's not much to do in the city now, so instead I head to the north.

The Northeast a few optional Trainers and items, but also an area I'm not doing this playthrough. This area is called Shoal Cave.

Shoal Cave is interesting because it goes from high to low tide. What tide it's at depends on the in-game clock. This also affects what Pokémon can be found, what items can be gotten and what places in the cave can be visited, as well as what items can be gotten.

There is also an elderly man in the center of the cave. If the player brings him five Shoal Shells and five Shoal Salts, he can make the player a Shell Bell. While this item is very useful, it requires running through the game multiple times at both high and low tide. Furthermore, if the game does not use its internal clock (either by the battery running out on a cartridge, or the time just not working on emulator), the tide will never change.

So it's not worth going in for this run.

However, I could see someone else entering, but I'm not sure who. Perhaps they get caught offguard by the changing tides…

Anyway, it seems like it's time to challenge the Gym.

Mossdeep is one of the ones that received a complete redesign from its originals. In the original version, it was just a bunch of conveyor belts that the player switched back and forth. In Emerald, there are statues that are in the player's way. The player hits a button to move the statues around. Trainers are also on the same platforms that the statues are on, so the player will be forced to fight them.

Nevertheless, I accept the challenge.

It takes some doing, but I finally reach Tate and Lisa.

May as well talk about the two together, because they function as one entity. The only time they are ever seen apart is an episode in the anime and in optional battles in Unova's Pokémon World Tournament. They are the games' first double bottle boss battle. In the originals, Tate and Lisa are not all that strong. However, in Emerald, they receive a significant increase to their team. Gracie will be facing them with partners, until no partners remain. After that, she will just fight solo.

Personality wise, I like Tate and Lisa, because I like the concept of double battles. Despite being immature and possibly even younger than the player, they are competent battlers. Tate and Lisa are easily able to use strategies and double battles to their advantage. Also interesting is that the originals made them look as though they were both female. In reality, Tate is male and Lisa is female. It got to the point where some unofficial translations confused their gender, and of course, the original version of Traveler did as well. In the anime, it was made clear that Tate was male. In the game remakes the differences in gender were much more obvious.

The two twins seem overly cheerful, but can get serious if the need arises. Despite this, they often show their softer side. For example, that softer side arises when Lisa and May bond over the instinctive need to protect their younger brothers. Tate enjoys playing with Max and some of the other younger members of the cast. The twins show off even more competency in battle during the Pokémon Special manga. They are one of the few that know of Mirage Island, using their psychic powers to transport people back and forth. Furthermore, the twins, along with Juan, teach Ruby and Sapphire how to use the power of the Red and Blue Orbs.

As for how the protagonist of Usurping would react, I feel like it would be interesting, because she starts out with an aversion to younger children. However, I think she would warm up to them. Because they're this is because the twins are cheerful but not overly hyper. They can also sense her latent supernatural power. The twins can probably help the protagonist come to terms with who she is, including all the power she has within her. Furthermore, the twins seem to enjoy any Pokémon, so they would probably adore Tulip. This helps help desensitize the protagonist to revealing her to the public. And the twins probably really enjoy Tulip's later form, because she looks a lot like a spaceship. Canonically, the twins are close to those in the Space Center.

Also, in this version of Traveler, they are too young to lead the gym. So someone else, perhaps a family member or teacher and probably an OC, does the job. However, the person still worries that someone will take advantage of the twins' power. In the remakes after the main game is complete, this actually does happen, but it's very lighthearted. Someone wants to use the twins' psychic power to complete a project, and buys them toys as a motivator. However, the twins are more interested in playing with the toys then completing the project, and the scientist is left wondering what to do.

Whether or not something similar happens within Traveler is up for debate. If something like that does happen, it would probably be much darker, and explore the realistic consequences. This is mainly to fit in with Traveler's theme of deconstructing the entire Pokémon world, and the rules that would have to be in place for it to work. Also, I could see Winona helping to take care of the twins. This is mainly because of her protective tendencies and because I once read a story where she was their mother. It was interesting, because she had tried to hide them from danger, but was unsuccessful. Other than that, not much of their relationship was known.

Anyway, time to fight the twins.

They're pretty easy, mainly because Gracie's Thief does a lot of damage at this point, and is super effective against all their Pokémon. Thunderbolt is also good, because they have Xatu in their party.

It's also worth noting that the twins don't damage Gracie much at all.

Instead, they target her partners.

Linoone gets taken down by Psychic and Solarbeam despite being able to do some damage. A young Tailow flutters to the ground after an opponent's Psychic. I send in Marril, but Gracie is able to take out the opponents before they do any damage. Marril is also about to evolve, so I may have it as Gracie's partner for a while. Linoone can mostly fend for itself, so there's not much more reason to keep in the second slot.

I wonder how I will write this. Gracie clearly uses a decoy of some sort… Or perhaps uses Double Team to confuse them into attacking a fake opponent… Although she's long since forgotten the move… Another thing I could ever do is feint attacks, with the twins aiming their moves at her but doing no damage. Perhaps they think that the relationship Gracie has is interesting and cool, and therefore want to challenge her to a battle to test that relationship. Unlike in the gameplay, she would be alone, so it would take some creative thinking for this to work…

Anyway, I can finally get the move Dive. It can be used to find hidden items, but I won't be using it for that this run. Instead, there is a story area that can only be accessed by using the HM. Furthermore, there are a couple of side quests are available now. I won't be doing them, but I will be pointing them out.

So I will be heading to the south.

What the game wants me to do is go into the middle of the next route, then dive under to chase the teams to the Seafloor Cavern.

But instead I'm going to continue heading south the next city. I can't complete it now, but registering it as a Fly location will make things easier later. It is hard to find, and it becomes difficult to battle when one is supposed to go there otherwise… It's worth noting that I can use Dive to skip battles, but I'm not going to. Every bit of experience counts.

Seems like some Team Magma goons are headed to the space station… Sounds like it's a good choice to follow... Might as well do this before heading to the south…

Looks like they've taken over the place, and Gracie needs to stop them. It's worth noting that while this is an Emerald exclusive story dungeon, it was available during the remakes. However, it only happened once the main game was cleared, and there weren't as many battles fought…

Anyway, I continue making my way to the end of the dungeon.

Steven is there and I need to team up with him. Unlike with Lance, I have to choose three Pokémon before I fight. Gracie is chosen, of course, with Linoone and Marill serving as her partners…

Hilariously, Gracie is about 20 levels above Steven's Pokémon, despite him the stronger trainer… Perhaps he just did not bring his best… Also worth noting that the two Camelrupt here try to use Amnesia to ward off Gracie's attacks, but she's so high leveled that she tears them apart anyway…

Proves how much stronger she has gotten…

After that, finally time to head to the south…

I try to get some experience for Gracie's partners, but two of them fall… It's also worth noting because of the high speed, it can be difficult to know where I'm going, and I wind up aimlessly wandering around the routes. However, I eventually make it the area above Sootopolis, and head down and the city.

Sootopolis can easily be considered one of the toughest Pokémon cities to find. It's only accessible by using Dive, and only in a very specific location around a series of white rocks… In fact, it's not uncommon for players get lost, and it's hard to find even with a guide… One of the swimmers here actually comments on not knowing where the city is, despite swimming right above it. Thankfully, I remember the exact location, and make a stop there…

But there's also another area I want to find, and it's near the east.

It's the routes to the Pokémon League, but I cannot go to the latter now. While I defeat the Trainers there, I have yet another destination in mind.

It's the area to the south of Sootopolis.

In the originals and their remakes, this area is completely optional. In Emerald, this area is necessary for a plot point that will come up later. I'm exploring now to make things easier, since I can simply fly from the town when that plot point comes up.

The Trainers defeat some of Gracie's partners, but are no match for her. I do run into some Power Point problems but make it to Pacifidlog. Apparently, this town is built on floating coral, but no one seems to be concerned what happens if the coral dies or simply floats away… Therefore, I never quite understood the town… Also, several fan fictions show what happens when the coral disappears, and it's not pretty… I wonder what Gracie would think of the town… She might find it odd, but quaint... Anyway, there's not much to do here, and the town doesn't even have a Mart. There's a man who will give out either Return or Frustration, but I don't need either one.

So I just continue.

The next routes are full of strong currents. The currents will force player into one direction until they stop. They will have no choice but to battle and grab any items along the way without changing their course. Since there are three starting points, I would normally traverse the route three times. However, for the sake of speed, I am not going to do that.

I imagine Gracie getting very motion sick around the currents… Maybe someone in the nearby town gives her a lift… I imagine the inhabitants would be used to it… Of course, this won't be my only encounter with currents, but I might save that for my next update.

The currents take me to a few useful Trainers and items, but ultimately lead Gracie back to Slateport City. While I'm there, Gracie picks up the Effort Ribbon. The Effort Ribbon can only be gotten if a Pokémon has maxed out its Effort Points.

Effort Points are invisible numbers earned every time a Pokémon defeats another. They often are based on the defeated Pokémon's highest stats (for example, defeating a fast Pokémon will earn the winner a few points in speed). After four of these points are earned, a Pokémon's corresponding stat will rise by one point. This continues until the Pokémon has 510 effort values, with a maximum of 255 in any stat.

In the original games, Effort Points are calculated whenever a Pokémon goes up a level, but by the time of the remakes, they are calculated every time a Pokémon wins a battle. This ribbon was important because it was one of the few ways to track Effort Points other than outside software at the time of originals games' release.

I'm not sure how Gracie would feel about the ribbon. Perhaps she just thinks it looks pretty… Maybe someone like Professor Pine or Phoebe explains what it really is, and congratulates her getting it. Regardless, I decide the end the update here as I fly back to Mossdeep. I'm almost out of repels, and I need to stock up before I begin the last leg of the game.