Recap: Saga defeated the next two Gym Leaders and traded a Phanpy for an Eevee. Togepi evolved and Saga joined the Pokemon Rangers.

Saga’s mission from the Pokemon Rangers is to shut down Team Asgard by defeating their hypnotizer-machine. In order to reach it, she has to battle through some lackeys first.

The first grunt was easy. The second grunt fight was Foxxy’s chance to show off his abilities since leveling up, but he wasn’t able to take out Cacturne on his own. As you can see by the shot of my team at this time, Wyatt and Zephyr have taken a beating. Shawn’s still good though, so he gets chosen to defeat the cactus. Two Fire Punches and he’s down.

Masquerain was a little smarter than his buddy. He threw in a Water Sport once he realized Shawn was going to do the same thing to him, ultimately saving his life.

For that turn, anyway.

Level 32 stats.

Thanks to Jumpluff’s Leech Seed, it looks like Vileplume’s got a pretty good shot at defeating Shawn.

I will not go down to a grunt.

This means Shawn won’t go down either!

He didn’t.

Level 33 stats.

This grunt is a jerk. Let’s take him out, Xion.

Xion is a BOSS. Spinda used Uproar and practically killed him right on the spot, but he didn’t let that affect his battling skills and took Spinda out while his own HP was in the red.

Then he goes down to the Zangoose I wanted.

I had used 3 Super Potions just to keep Xion alive long enough to attack, but my attempts were futile. Zangoose was too strong.

Yukio tries his hand at battling Zangoose. He flies in the air, giving the enemy plenty of time to use Detect in order to protect himself.

Zangoose is smart. If only I had chosen differently…

I still love you though, Xion!

Yukio got crushed 😦

Zephyr tried to take his stand, but he was already weakened from a previous battle and was unable to summon enough strength to fight.

That damn Crush Claw… what type of move is that, anyway? It keeps fainting everybody really quickly.

At least it also harmed Zangoose a little! Shawn may be paralyzed and in the yellow, but he still has a chance to avenge his friends!

And he succeeds!

Level 34 stats.

With the help of some Super Potion spamming, Shawn takes out the next to Pokemon by himself.

Then this asshole shows up and Shawn is paralyzed in fear. He is unable to defeat this guy…

…and Saga has to head back to the PokeCenter.

I can’t believe I went down to a grunt.

Bound determined not to ever experience that again, we fight some regular trainers and grind everybody…

…except Wyatt.

Sorry little guy, but I think it’s time you retired from the team.

I also really want a Shinx.

Looks like we have two places to catch one, and they’re pretty far back, meaning we’ll have to do some major grinding to get our new Pokemon up to par with the rest of the team.

Yukio’s got some pretty tiny wings. I’m surprised he’s able to FLY Saga anywhere.

I’m not really sure how to picture it, even. She’s obviously not riding on his back, so what, he’s just carrying her with his pitiful excuse for arms?

We search route 302 first.

We search and run for a good 30 minutes to no avail. Next we try route 303.

Oh yeah! Vick! The Geodude I caught just to use STRENGTH that one time! How much has he grown, anyway?

Let’s see, that makes him… what, like, level 30 now or something?

That’s nice.

Okay, bye!

We search for 45 minutes this time before FLY-ing back to our other option. Damn, Shinx is hard to find.

We do eventually nab one, though. A level 7 male.

He gets a “B” name. I choose Barret because I’m crazy obsessed with FFVII and that was the first name that came to mind.

You did this team a wonderful service, Wyatt! Thanks for all the fun, now enjoy your permanent vacation from fighting!

Rather than make Barret fight against wilds of his own level, we play the switching game so he can get experience fast from much higher-leveled ones.

He levels up at 15.

Saga starts fishing so Barret can actually fight some of his own battles for once.

Once he hits 30, he matures into a kick-ass lion!

Seems like it was only a few minutes ago he was just a tiny Shinx-kitty…

Okay, let’s try this Ranger thing again.

Barret is a great addition to the team. He levels up quick, he takes out enemies without blinking, and his follower sprite is awesome. I’m loving him. We take down every grunt in our path with nary a scratch.

On Barret, anyway. The rest of the team, not so much.

The only problem Barret had was facing a ground-type crocodile Pokemon. Luckily, Zephyr was still alive to win the battle.

NOPE, NEVERMIND, ZEPHYR LOST.

Ugh… let’s just try the Gym Leader first. We’ll fix the Asgard-hypnotises-Pokemon-thing later.

I do not want to lose to a grunt a third time.

I guess the Leader, Graham, is only eleven years old.

AND HE KEEPS THE SOULS OF DEAD TRAINERS IN HIS GYM TO BATTLE CHALLENGERS FOR ETERNITY

Welp, this is the scariest Pokemon I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

BITE IT FOXXY, BITE IT!

What?! What does that mean?!

I had assumed this meant Foxxy wouldn’t be able to attack or something, but that wasn’t the case.

Level 33 stats.

Once you’re mummified you can mummify other Pokemon?

WHAT DOES IT DO?

NOTHING IS DIFFERENT

Foxxy nooooooo!

That thing is a ghost? It looks like some chewed-up bubblegum sprouted some arms and legs.

You saw that? It would have been nice had you turned on the lights, then…

Graham: “Excuse me? I’m just a kid?” I happen to be the fourth strongest Gym Leader around!

I wouldn’t brag about that. There’s no medal for fourth place. You’re lower than bronze, buddy.

Graham: Not only that, but I was trained by my twin brother in the Elite Four!

Your twin brother’s in the Elite Four? And you’re bragging about being the fourth Gym Leader becaaaaause…?

Now he’s pissed.

Barret’s got no issue sending Haunter back to his PokeBall.

Then he chews on a balloon-duck.

Ghost Pokemon post-gen3 are weird…

Damnit, she won’t go down! Graham throws a Full Restore into the mix, causing Barret to fall to a hex of sorts. Xion braves the ghost and gets hexed himself.

CUUUURSE YOU BALLOON-DUCK!!

Shawn manages to burn AND trap her in a Fire Spin vortex, so I get excited, thinking that will be extra damage that happens each turn.

Then Graham’s all “Haha, fuck you, I’ve got a Full Heal!”

A few turns later, Shawn gets really irritated with this battle and punches balloon-duck so hard she deflates.

Stats at level 36.

He learns Lava Plume over Flame Burst.

Zephyr knows a Ghost-type move, so he finishes Graham’s last three Pokemon.

Stats at 36.

Graham hands over the Necro Badge and then asks us to do him a favor by kicking his brother’s ass.

Will do!

sigh

We’ll, we’ve got the next badge, I guess we’ll try to fix your problem.

Again.

Hopefully, for the last time.

Saga’s new team is looking pretty spiffy, wouldn’t you say?