Chapter 4: Ruins and Deltas.
"So uh…Nora." Moon asked as he followed the green haired girl out of Midna town. "The teacher mentioned that Suntouched's leader Orion runs a…Sun team? I thought Gym Leaders specialized in only one typing?"
Nora giggled at his confused response. "You must be incredibly knew to Torren. But yes, you are right, technically, gym leaders specialize in one type. However, have you ever noticed how the other regions have such easy and large tournaments for the region? It's no wonder things are so bad and crime syndicates were less powerful to be taken down by kids, the gym leaders aren't exactly particularly difficult."
"Yeah I suppose, I can't think of many gym leaders who are hard per say." Moon recalled. "So…are all gym leaders like that?"
"I believe so." Nora replied. "Orion runs a Sun Team, so he'll use fire and grass types. I believe the second gym leader has a forest team of bug and poison types. The third Gym leader runs a dragon and Flying team. Fourth is a normal and fairy team. Fifth is a machine themed team, so electric and steel. The sixth is a psychological theme so psychic and ghost. And our seventh is a rain themed team."
"And…the eight?" Moon asked curiously.
Nora flushed. "Well…actually, our first augur was also the 8th gym leader. Up until the region of Galar was discovered, he was also the only dark type gym leader. I'd assume Jaern has taken his place as the 8th gym leader. But no one has really gone on to collect the badges. Nobody knows what our Elite four teams are like, and nobody even knows who the champion is! Not even the four elite four members! Nobody's ever beaten them to get there."
"Wow…" Moon thought glumly.
"But…that's enough about Torren." He glanced at the girl's blue eyes as they crossed a bridge, past a fisherman. "How did you and Mew meet?"
"Beg your pardon?"
"Well, we don't quite know how the Pixies select their trainers." Nora replied. "Some people think Arcues directs them to us. But they usually don't meet us at birth. They'll come to us at later times. For example, Celebi first met me when I caught my first pokemon, Trapinch. I was about to drown in quicksand near Rezzai Desert, but she saved me, alongside Trapinch."
"Ah well…you see." Moon rubbed the back of his head. "Mew actually woke me up from having my dreams eaten by a Gengar in the Darkrai cult."
The girl's eyebrows raised a little. "So…you just woke up in the cult of Darkrai? Do you remember anything?"
"No. Not really." Moon shrugged. "I guess they got a long way done before Mew woke me up."
"That's quite serious." Nora now looked mildly uncomfortable. "If Mew hadn't found you yet, then I wonder what Persephone wanted out of you if she was having Gengar erase your memories."
The two of them reached a split and Moon followed Nora northwards. A bit of trekking through a small opening and the two found themselves near an old temple. Moon quickly noted the bronze statues of Lucario standing on top of pedestals in the center of two lakes bordering a walkway up to the temple entrance.
"So…what is this place?" Moon asked.
"Nobody really knows the history behind this temple." Nora replied. "Unlike other areas of historical importance around Torren, this one has puzzled archeologists and historians for years. I just thought it'd be a fun place for us to check out together."
Moon followed the girl close behind, but did take a moment as she entered the temple to read an inscription on the door.
Long ago a holy stone sat before the ruins like so. A boulder behemoth like no other smushed the travelers with its psychic power. Traces remain to this day, but no one knows just how much to say. If only I could breach the time, perhaps the stone could be mine.
"Everything okay?" Nora turned her head back to him.
"Yeah…I think." Moon replied. His thoughts were quickly put aside as an explosive earthquake rumbled the scenes. Making him stumble and quickly catch Nora as the keeper of Celebi nearly tripped over herself.
"Thank you…" Nora replied sheepishly, a bit of red developed on her face. "What was tha-"
Moon didn't have to ask twice as, the two spotted three Abyssal Cultists rush out of a section of the ruins, chasing after a dark blue bipedal dog looking creature with black legs and two metal bumps on the back of its paws. It had floppy ears and red eyes.
"Alright Riolu!" One of the cultists hissed. "Enough playing around." Both teenagers could see that the Pokemon looked quite frightened as it was back against the wall.
Moon looked over to Nora and the two just silently nodded as they ran up after them.
"What on earth is wrong with you?!" Nora shouted, all three cultists jumped as they turned to face the two teenagers. "Can't you see you're scaring it? It's Riolu! You don't capture it! It chooses you!"
"Deal with them." The cultist facing Riolu snapped at the other two. Both cultists nodded and approached them. Releasing two Corphish from their pokeballs.
"Sewaddle go forth!"
"Sunny, Battle Stance!"
Nora released her little clothed caterpillar and Sunny developed next to it and braced himself.
Both little lobsters opened their pincers and fired a barrage of bubbles at the two Pokemon. Sunny quickly pounced off his back feet to dodge as Sewaddle shot string around itself to form a cocoon that the bubbles evaporated.
"Razor Leaf!" Nora commanded. Sewaddle flapped its head and shot multiple blade leaves from its forehead.
Both corphsish's bodies flashed and glowed as they braced themselves as the leaves slashed through them. Sunny followed suit as he tackled one lobster backwards.
Both lobster's pincers flashed blue as they smashed them against the ground, unleashing jet streams of water to blast Sunny back towards Moon.
Sewaddle shot more string from its mouth and quickly wrapped the two lobsters up with string. Sunny quickly recovered and tackled both Corphish back into the two cultists, who collided with them and fell back.
The last remaining cultist just glanced down. "You both are the reason we can't have nice things. Audrey doesn't trust us to not lose the better ones now. No matter, I can finish what I star-"
"RIO!"
An evolved Lucario jumped down from seemingly nowhere and stood in front of the Cultist and the little Riolu. And boy, Moon had never seen a Pokemon look so enraged with what it saw.
"Awe…that's super sweet." The cultist hissed. "But…you gave me exactly what I wanted." Both teenager's eyes widened as the cultist pulled out a purple and red pokeball with two slits on the top. "I've heard the rumors. Now come join Abyssal." The cultist chucked the Masterball at Lucario, however, the purple ball just simply bounced off Lucario and fell to the ground.
The Aura dog looked down at the ball on the ground, before stepping on it and crushing it. Then, a bunch of blue lights surrounded the Pokemon. Dreadlocks grew out of its head and the spikes on its paws and chest grew bigger.
"So…the rumors were true…" The cultist said. Though his voice sounded a lot more worried. "A Lucario who could mega evolve without the bond of a trainer."
Mega Lucario's eyes flashed red as it let out a battle cry.
"Uh…easy there…" The cultist said calmly. "N-Nice Lucari-"
The Mega Lucario charged up an Aura Sphere and fired it at the Cultist, Blasting him, and his two companions out of the temple. Moon and Nora both watched as the three cultists smashed through the solid cement making up the temple.
"Well…if there was ever a doubt that Mega Pokemon couldn't kill you in rage. I guess that answers the question." Moon thought.
He and Nora looked back to the Mega Lucario, who was turned to the Riolu it protected. The two pokemon looked at one another in silence, before the Mega Lucario turned back to them. It simply pointed its paw at Moon, before jumping up and seemingly vanishing.
"So…that was Mega Evolution?" Nora asked. Moon looked over at her as Riolu approached them. "I have heard about it in stories. But…what we just saw should've been impossible. Not only did that Lucario deflect a MasterBall…but it also mega evolved with no trainer in sight!" Moon looked at her puzzled face as he turned back to Riolu, who was now looking up at him.
"Rio Ri!"
"Do you uh…want to come with me?" he asked. When the Pokemon nodded, he smiled and handed it a pokeball. The small dog tapped and entered in with a ding.
"Well…I wanted to come here and investigate these ruins in the hopes it could answer questions about Celebi. But I guess it only asked me more questions." Nora said, snapping Moon back to reality. "Thanks for accompanying me here, Moon. I'll catch up with you and Damian in Suntouched City."
"You sure?" Moon asked.
"Yeah, it's not that far, just continue east from where we just were and go through that Cyan Cave. You'll be there in no time." Nora waved goodbye to him before taking off.
"Well, that was fun while it lasted." Moon smiled before the realization of what Nora said kicked into him. "Wait…did she say…a cave?"
(Suntouched City)
Moon collapsed onto a bench as he finally exited the cavern. "No more fucking caves…please…I'm begging you." he moaned. The journey was so painful, not helped by him getting challenged by an artist with moody Smeargles who just would not ever fucking die no matter how much he threw moves at them.
He opened a pamphlet he had received upon entering the city.
Suntouched City is the media hub of the Torren Region. The city is split into two layers that you can use a fan to blow yourself up to the separate section. This was done so the Gym Leader, Orion, a descendant of the Unova Champion Alder, could hark closer to the Sun. Just don't ask the guy about his weird rock. Trust us, you'll be better.
Well, it made enough sense, Moon supposed. Glancing at his team of five pokemon, who each looked just as exhausted as he did, he decided it'd be better to look around and see if there was anything else going on.
Satanel walked up to him and pointed his claw at a portion of the map, where he saw an advertisement posted.
WANTED: STRONG TRAINERS!
The Suntouched Media Tower is looking to start a documentary program about rare and exclusive wild Pokemon, ranging from Delta Pokemon, to Legendaries, to potentially even Shinies! Any trainers interested in providing their aid to help make this work. *
*Payment subject to worth, you may keep the Pokemon captured if you are willing to accept a lower payment.
"You think we should go?" He asked. Satanel nodded his skeletal head.
(?)
"I'M NEVER LETTING YOU PICK AGAIN!" Moon shouted as he collapsed in the sand. Satanel sighed and simply poked his trainer.
The TV Station was more than willing to let him join, and just perfect timing, as a Delta Pokemon had been reported in a desert in the west of Torren. And he had just spent the last half an hour trying to find it.
"Char Char!" Satanel growled.
"What are we even looking for?" Moon grumbled. "This Delta Pokemon better be the coolest fucking thing in existence. Show me a fucking Fairy and Dark type Ninetales or something.
"Meleon!" Satanel let out a breath.
"Sass all you want, I know that's a stupid thing to expect out of the desert."
His foot suddenly stood up as something brushed past it. He quickly glanced around and spotted a small hump, just slightly different coloring to the sand.
"Satanel! There! Use Twister!"
Satanel flung the twister from his tail and the sandy pile suddenly sprung up, separating itself from the ground. Moon quickly took his pokeball while it was still in the twister. Not wanting it to disappear back into the ground. He tossed it at the Pokemon, and it entered into the ball, dinging shut with a simple click.
The News crew smiled as he returned to them.
"You got it?" They asked.
"Yep, Don't know…what exactly, since I had to blindly toss considering it was camouflaged, but I got it!" Moon replied.
"Alright, well, no sand here, just let us see it!"
Moon let it out, and was instantly taken by surprise.
The Pokemon in question was indeed just a pile of sand. It resembled a Grimer as it formed up in the ground. It was literally just Grimer, if Grimer wasn't toxic sludge and instead just processed Sand.
"A Delta Grimer! That's Incredible! I'm sure the chief can sell this footage for millions!" The director said. "We'll meet you back at the chopper, make sure you've got everything."
Moon sighed in disappointment as he looked at the pile of Sand. From the Skeletal Remains of a Charmander, to a Dwebble in fake Cake…to…a pile of fucking sand?
"Well uh…I know we kind of…invaded your home to film this documentary." He said, looking at the pile of sand, who just looked at him deeply. "I'm more than willing to let you go back if you want after we finish filming."
"Mer Grime!" The Pile of sand just jiggled up and down. For a brief moment, Moon swore he spotted the snout of a Horsea in its mouth?
He scanned the creature and looked at it in more detail. Trying to get a better idea.
Grimer (Delta Spieces)
Type: Ground
Ability: Sap Sipper
Information: A Delta Species discovered by EchoTheThird that resembles the Pokemon Grimer. With sand absorbed into its circulation, it can vanish into surrounding sand to escape from predators. Be very cautious if approaching one.
"Well, you'll be useful against Orion I suppose. Welcome aboard Grimer!"
"Mer Mer!" Grimer did a little peace sign with his sandy fingers.
Bit of a shorter chapter than normal, but If I were to do Orion's battle as well, this chapter might drag on and feel rushed. Like I said, there isn't much to do in terms of filler since Insurgence does get to a point where its just plot point after plot point after plot point. So if there isn't anything going on, expect it to get cut. Because trust me, the amount of time I spend in these caves during this game is next level sad.
One thing I like is how the gym leaders and elite four members use variety themes rather than a single type. Made the game feel more different and difficult. As well as the gym leaders being more difficult, after all, with the exception of Orion, the Gym Leaders always use a team of six Pokemon. So there is a lot of variety and difficulty involved, even on normal mode. You can't just bring one Pokemon and go to town on everyone (Well...I guess you technically could at some point, but I've never been able to sweep through with one Pokemon, I usually have to switch).
And then there's Delta Grimer. Quite the creative one I think, not particularly stand out compared to some other amazing Pokemon you'll see later, but its quite cool. They didnt' just give Deltas to fan favorites and make them even better, they gave them to less popular Pokemon. Having used Delta Muk for a lot of Playthroughs and Nuzlockes, it does unfortunately get outclassed in the future. But they did give it an interesting ability called Regurgitation, which allows it to use an elemental move based on a captured prey in its mouth. It functions a bit like Parental Bond, but with a captured prey that doesn't give Muk Stab. I think the possible preys are Natu, Horsea, Magby, Bellsprout, Deino, and Whismur. Though, sadly, it does get outclassed heavily by later Deltas but its not a bad Pokemon, I definitely think you can make it work on a full team.
Anyway, that's all for this chapter, if you have any thoughts, be sure to let me know!
Team:
Sunny - Eevee
Satanel - Delta Charmeleon
Irwin - Croconaw
Shortcake - Delta Dwebble
Cobalt - Riolu
Sahara - Delta Grimer
Mew (Unofficially)
