Trainers, what effect does Metronome have?
a) Uses a random move.
b) Uses a move that your foe is weak to.
c) Raises some stats.
Lucas and Dawn were about to set out, before they heard a panicked shout.
"Team Galactic have stolen Pokémon from us!" some arbitrary voice called out. Lucas and Dawn ran in its direction, up to a building embedded with spikes.
"Well… let's hope for the best."
"I've seen more intimidating," Lucas callously remarked.
"Yeah… now that you mention it, the building tries too hard."
Lucas and Dawn entered the building, to be stopped by a Galactic Grunt standing on the ceiling. Dawn hid behind Lucas.
"Greetings, or how you say, salutations, dear sir and mademoiselle."
"Oh. It's Looker. Sorry about that."
"Worries not. This, see, is a déguisement. I dare not speak tongue of yours."
"What, disguise?"
"Ssshhhh! Not loud! Galactic can tell!"
"Oh. I thought you couldn't pronounce it."
"Team Galactic has many branched paths. But they lack, how you say, subtlety. The fake path will be more obvious than a Snover dissolving in the heat of a Flamethrower," Looker loudly said over Dawn's train of thought.
"Noted."
"I've told you a million times: we need Pokémon in great numbers to advance Team Galactic's goals. Your meddling will not be tolerated," a new Galactic Admin scolded. She turned to Lucas and Dawn as they entered.
"Oh, intruders, huh? No matter. I will destroy you!"
Dawn is challenged by Commander Jupiter!
Commander Jupiter sent out ZUBAT!
Go! MONFERNO!
Monferno surrounded himself with a Flame Wheel, and charged. Zubat side winged, and used its other wing as an attack. Monferno shot off only a fragment of the flame it had intended, which succeeded only in burning the Zubat. Zubat was perfectly able to use a second Wing Attack to KO Monferno.
Go! STARAVIA!
Staravia pierced through Zubat as soon as it appeared. Zubat didn't stand a chance.
Commander Jupiter sent out SKUNTANK!
Staravia took another loop, and dive-bombed the Skuntank. Skuntank didn't appear to take damage. With a critical Night Slash, Staravia fell.
Go! GROTLE!
Grotle used a quick Withdraw, to quietly buff his defence, before charging in with a Tackle. Skuntank barely registered the hit. Grotle opted to Mega Drain, but this dealt no damage. With a sinister grin, Skuntank Slashed. Critical hit. Defeat.
Oh?
The Egg in Dawn's arms, the Egg she received from Cynthia, was quivering. Dawn couldn't hold onto it: she dropped it. The Egg shook again, and cracks began to appear on its surface. Then a small triangle was popped out. Then that triangle expanded into a much larger hole, before the Egg split apart.
TOGEPI hatched from the Egg!
Go! TOGEPI!
Togepi sat there, looking at the Skuntank. Skuntank prepared an attack, before Togepi waggled her finger.
TOGEPI used Metronome!
TOGEPI used Earth Power!
Three small eruptions appeared from under Skuntank. The Ground type: the one true weakness of Skuntank. It fainted to a Togepi.
Dawn defeated Commander Jupiter!
"…Lucky little girl! That darn Togepi cost me the fight!" Jupiter prepared a kick at the Togepi, before she waggled her finger again. Jupiter slipped.
"Many of the gratitude must be given, mademoiselle. Without your efforts, the Pokémon of Eterna City would have been lost to the Galactic Gang."
"Many welcomes are given, Looker. But can you stop speaking so weirdly?" Dawn responded.
"Ah, your tongue. Looker has yet to perfect it. I is not ready to speak normal to you."
"Ah. Well, hope you get more adept at it."
"And hope your voyage is bon. Journey next leg is Hearthome. But be careful of Cycling Road. I, uh… the bridge is not fully prepared after an accident."
Sure enough, after a quick stop to actually get a Bicycle, Lucas and Dawn found themselves falling through Cycling Road.
"One day, I am going to get an explanation about this!" Dawn exclaimed. Quite vehemently.
"Dawn… calm down."
"No! He risked our lives!"
"Seriously, Dawn! Quiet! Follow me, and try not to be too loud!" Lucas urged. But he was too late. Or his urgings were too much. The cave they landed near begun to collapse.
"Oh, man," Dawn panicked, before the rubble encased her. Lucas jumped, and started digging for her. He pulled out a Fossil, a panicking Pokémon (who jumped at the chance to travel with him), before finally retrieving Dawn.
"Wow… that was a little scary," Dawn sighed, nursing a poor leg.
"Best I can come up with is… new team member?" Lucas asked, holding up the Poké Ball containing his new find.
"What is it?"
"…I don't know, actually. Looked kind of like a shark."
"Shark? Surely it's a Carvanha or Sharpedo? But I thought they weren't Sinnoh finds?" Dawn started reciting Rowan's research. Lucas sent out the Pokémon, to check it. A blue body, with a red chest. Dawn's eyes widened.
"Lucas… that's a Gible. They have a reputation of being fearsome warriors."
"And it did not jump to mind why?" Lucas asked.
"…Honestly, the Gible evolutionary line scares me. I was clinging to the notion that you wouldn't have found it." Lucas moved to release it, before taking another look. Dawn nodded.
"On the other hand, you clearly saved its life. Its family is long gone under that cave in-"
"How would you know?"
"I barely survived that thing, and Lucas was going as fast as he could. I have my doubts that even the strongest Garchomp could survive that rock fall without warning. Especially since they were in the centre, and I was at the edge." Gible climbed up the rocks, and started listening. He jumped up and down, causing an Earthquake to dislodge a few rocks. Sure enough, there wasn't a Gible, Gabite or Garchomp to be found.
"…So, who caused this?"
"Gible, I directly caused this. I am sincerely sorry: I did not expect a cave in. However, the only reason we're down here was because of some incident involving a detective named Looker."
"Apology accepted, just don't let it happen again. Looker, on the other hand…"
Following the revival of Lucas' Fossil, he and Dawn travelled through Mt. Coronet to reach Hearthome City. Dawn went a different route to Lucas, choosing to explore the city. Dawn's destination was the house next door to the Pokémon Center.
"Hi. Wait, listen, can you help me out with something here?" its inhabitant asked.
"Oh… I'll see what I can do."
"Well, you see, Bill was messing about with his Time Capsule, when he briefly got it to work again. Before he could properly stabilise it, this Eevee fell out, collapsing it. We need to find someone to take care of it."
"Might as well, if it's taking care of a Pokémon," Dawn confirmed. The girl took the Eevee out of her PC, and gave it to Dawn.
"So when did you come from?" Dawn asked.
"My name is Yuki. That's all I know. I do come from the future. How far ahead? There were several years in there somewhere. I don't care to count them."
"Great, time has given you amnesia."
"Backwards compatibility has always been an issue. Say I was a type other than the seventeen known types. What would happen when I showed up here? As it was, there's no wonder why the old Time Capsule divided by zero. Probably knew about a different type."
"I will care for you, Yuki. And I hope time returns your memories of the future."
Lucas went to the Hearthome Gym directly.
"Bonjour, challengeur! Bienvenue à la Unionpolis Gym. Je suis le leader de sport, Kiméra. Je suis un expert quand il s'agit du type de fantôme. Je suis également un expert dans les concours. Il s'agit d'une performance, c'est exact? Et maintenant ... nous allons combattre. Mais je vais gagner. Parce que c'est ce que fait un chef Gym, oui?"
"Wow, fluent French. And I thought Looker was bad enough," Lucas muttered. "So… Did You Want A Battle?" he said to Fantina, trying his hardest to get understood.
"Oui!"
Lucas is challenged by Leader Fantina!
Leader Fantina sent out DUSKULL!
Go! STARAVIA!
Staravia charged, and got a face full of Will-O-Wisp for his trouble. Duskull, on the other hand, got a face full of feathers, which did a much better job of succeeding.
Leader Fantina sent out Haunter!
Go! GIBLE!
Gible used a Dragon Rage, lowering the Haunter's HP. Haunter tried a Shadow Claw, but was matched by Gible's Dragon. The Dragon Claw succeeded in passing by, just finishing off the Haunter.
Leader Fantina sent out MISMAGIUS!
Mismagius was a lot calmer than the Haunter. It used a Confuse Ray, inhibiting the Gible, so that Mismagius could safely get off a Magical Leaf.
Go! GROTLE!
Grotle used a Bite to deal most of Mismagius' health. Mismagius planned on winning with Psybeam, but Grotle survived the hit. With a tuft of energy, a large amount of health was leeched with a Mega Drain.
Leader Fantina was defeated!
"Alas, this is my fate, to have lost at least once…"
"So you do speak the native tongue. I wondered how you got a position as Gym Leader."
"Pardon? Mon erreur. Je suis censé vous donner l'insigne relique, pour permettre l'utilisation de désembuage dans le domaine."
Lucas got the Relic Badge from Fantina!
"Et je ne parle pas la langue maternelle. Pas un mot."
The correct answer is a) Uses a random move.
Next time, on High Road to Giratina, we head to the city of stone.