Recap: We did a shit-ton. Zippy the Celebi was added to the team in place of Le Fou, stopped Team Aqua at the Weather Institute as well as Mt. Pyre, got on TV twice, and defeated Winona.

Today, it’s off to Lilycove! Gonna stop by Team Magma’s Hideout to raise some hell and grind our team to level 50!

Raikou is such an epic Pokemon that seeing the name Brett made me laugh like an idiot. I love it. Raikou is henceforth dubbed Brett! I really like the idea of Castform having a last name since he’s got a ‘.’ in it, so Basil N is perfect.

Lilycove isn’t very hard to find once you’re actually looking for it.

Hey, look! Our friends from Team Aqua are here!

I agree, sir, Team Aqua WOULD make the world a happier place! As long as I get to rule beside Archie! After all, you’re going to need a Queen Aqua.

We find that asswipe sleeping in Lilycove’s motel.

Guess Brendan wants another beat-down.

This fight is pretty much a OHKO-fest.

It was so uneventful. Meadow just dug tunnels and knocked everybody out. Brendan’s final team was two Voltorbs, a Spoink, and a Slakoth.

Brendan explains to us how much of a big fat failure he is and that he is giving up his dream to go back to Littleroot and work alongside Prof. Birch. I am thrilled to hear this news, this means we won’t be running into him anymore!

Buh-bye!

Look at all the money we have!!

We stock up on some Ultra Balls in case we run into Pokemon we want in the future.

Since we’re in Lilycove, why don’t we go ahead and pick up the PokeBlock Case?

Aaaand now that we have that, we can play the Safari Zone Game!

Okay, so, here’s what I did. I literally just caught every Pokemon I ran into that I had not seen in the wild previously. Wound up with a nice little batch of Pokemon, ready to see who they are?

Meet WGCDP the Snubbull. She’s got a Timid nature and an… interesting… moveset. Looks like she’s more defense than offense. Caught her at level 23.

Found an Articuno flying around. Caught her and named her ZFEWDC. She’s at level 29 with two Grass moves and two Normal ones.

This sassy little Miltank is called BOVOJ. She’s at level 25 and I hate her moveset. If she were to join the team, I would have to replace just about all of those attacks. Well, I’d try out Curse beforehand just to see if my theory from last time was right.

PIDVWW is the Gengar that was following us around. She was caught at 27. I’m not liking the look of her defense, but at least her HP is already in the hundreds.

Saphire caught a lot of female Pokemon, so poor BAG DJW is going to be surrounded by women for awhile in the PC. He’s at 27 and I loathe his stats.

Aaaand another girl joins Saphire’s gang. Her name is OICV. Loving her ability and her special defense, but her moveset makes me laugh. A Golem that can transform? Hoo boy. She is level 27.

This pretty little kitty is XQEX. LOVE her ability and the fact that she knows Psywave. Stats aren’t the best in the world, but if trained, maybe we could change that. She’s level 25.

Last in our Safari Zone bundle is LQXW, the insomniac Ariodos. She is level 25. I am actually pretty okay with her moveset right now. Maybe Constrict could be replaced, though.

While we’re talking about PC Pokemon, I guess I should show you Basil N’s moveset (since I completely spaced out yesterday about it). I have never seen the benefit of raising a Castform. I am sure there is at least one, but I’ve never found it.

Here’s our buddy Brett’s stats and whatnot. I am very happy with his stats and moveset as of right now. That damn ability, though… Joseph had that, if you remember. One of the last things I want is for my enemy’s PP to be raised.

Anyway, those are our new recruits. I won’t put them in the official team of 6 unless you want me to, though! I’ll probably test them out a little later, but right now, we have business to take care of!

I decide before we start grinding to replace Tiger’s Arm Thrust with Hidden Power. Arm Thrust wasn’t getting us anywhere.

While leveling up, Edge wants to learn Psychic. I hesitate before realizing Zippy already knows Dizzy Punch, so it’s okay to get rid of it on Edge’s moveset. Psychic replaces it.

With her new attack, our beast of a Scizor levels up to 50 first!

Tiger is close behind, and I realize I don’t know what level Pupitar evolves at. I was really thinking it was going to be 50.

Saphire had a TM for Shadow Ball, so Meadow got to learn it in place of Brick Break.

Ironically, he wants to learn Shadow Punch not long after. I set it over Blaze Kick because we rarely use that move.

Meadow’s stats at 50! Man, he’s come a long way since Saphire first found him in Prof. Birch’s knapsack.

Ninja’s Sleep Talk actually came in handy on numerous occasions, but it was time to replace it. We had a TM for Thunderbolt that I forgot about, so Ninja got to learn it.

LOOK AT HER STATS

SHE IS INCREDIBLE

Zip’s got some great stats also!

Commando eventually learns Overheat on top of Mega Drain. I regretted that decision just a little bit because Mega Drain was pretty helpful.

Now all six of Saphire’s team members are halfway to level 100!

These were all of the wilds we wound up facing during our grind session.

Yes, that is a Groudon in there. They are wild, evidently. There was really no need for either of the orbs to find him.

Saphire borrows Articuno to teach her FLY over Nature Power. She flies her to Lavaridge Town and we put her back in the PC.

I realize we are going to need STRENGTH for Magma’s Hideout, so Commando learns it in place of Doubleslap.

Ah… see, I thought the Magma Emblem was something you put on your clothes to mark yourself as part of the team. I was hoping Saphire would disguise herself as a member to get into the hideout. But I guess magic-boulder-smashing works too.

We are so over-leveled it’s not even funny. Magma is a joke at this point. Every member gets defeated in just a couple turns and they never get the chance to lay a finger on my Pokemon.

This guy gets it. He understands how useless he is to the team.

Team Magma allows wild Lugia to reside in their hideout. What the hell do they even need Groudon for when this BEAST is hanging out with them on a daily basis?

I feel bad for this guy. He’s complaining because his ear gets hot standing next to all that lava.

We find Maxie giving a speech to a sleeping Groudon. He uses the Blue Orb to awaken him and Saphire tries to explain there are wild Groudon on one of the routes but Maxie doesn’t listen.

Bro, honest, I was just trying to tell you there are plenty of wild Groudon out there. Let this one do his thing and go get your own with some good ol’ fashion Pokemon catching.

He doesn’t listen and initiates a Pokemon battle. Edge starts off the fight by using CUT a few times against his Pidgeot.

Maxie’s also got a Delcatty who can sprout vines in an attempt to suffocate you.

His last Pokemon is a quick little Lapras. He isn’t too quick for Edge, however. Two Aerial Aces take him out.

He’s a little peeved about having lost both Groudon AND our battle, so he runs away throwing a temper tantrum.

The only other new wild Pokemon we find is a Venonat. All of the other wilds were ones we had seen previously.

We’ve got some free time now, let’s test out all of our new members.

OH MY GOSH CASTFORM IS SO WORTHLESS

Basil N has literally no attack moves, save Pain Split, which did absolutely nothing everytime it was used. He died often and couldn’t hardly withstand two attacks from any wild Pokemon. I really, really don’t see how he contributes to Saphire’s quest at ALL.

I taught Brett Toxic in place of Calm Mind (cause we don’t do no defense here) and I actually had fun testing him out. His moves didn’t KO anybody right off the bat, but he didn’t go down very fast either. Battling with Brett was pretty entertaining because you weren’t quite sure who was going to win. What with all my level 50s, it was a nice change of pace to be uncertain whether or not I would win.

WGCDP did not impress me at all. No good attack moves for my taste and didn’t last very long in fights with even the lowest of leveled-wilds.

ZFEWDC’s battles were one-sided, which isn’t a bad thing. Her attacks were spot-on every fight and she took everybody down fast, even when I put her up against level 35 wilds. Whenever she got experience, however, that little blue bar hardly moved. It was a little frustrating to see because that meant if I were to train her, it would take a long time to get her to a level on par with my other teammates, but if that’s what it takes, then so be it.

Boy, Miltank turned out to be a diamond in the rough! When she used Curse, a nail did not appear, so it affected her stats instead. I accidentally spoke to a trainer who wanted a rematch, so the poor thing was thrown into a trainer battle immediately. She held her ground, though, and used Pound to fight her way to victory! She gained experience that practically filled her bar before fainting. So far, she has really impressed me the most out of our newbies. I did replace Lock-On with Solarbeam so she had another offensive move to use.

PIDVWW, the Gengar, was next. Her only useful move was Signal Beam in most of her fights. She couldn’t get anyone in the red on her first attack, which is okay, but I didn’t see much need for her because of it. Her moveset isn’t my favorite. The only benefit I could think of to adding her to the roster is her Ghost-type, but other than that, I don’t feel she is worth replacing someone else.

BAG DJW bored me. Rage, Thunder Wave, Sonicboom, and Amnesia does not a worthy adversary make. I don’t know… he just didn’t take a lot of wilds down without fainting. Maybe he needs some training to become worthwhile, but I don’t know if I’m really willing to go that distance for him.

Another disappointment was found in OICV. Transform was kind of funny to watch, but it didn’t help win any battles. Megahorn is the only useful move she has right now. I would have to make her learn some HMs for her to be good.

Aw, man, freakin’ DELCATTY, dude! She impressed me just as much as Miltank did. I wasn’t even trying to level her up, it just happened. She gained experience like nobody’s business. Her attacks OHKO-d a majority of the battles I put her in. Assist turned out to be kind of like Metronome and she used Shadow Ball with it most of the time, killing her opponents swiftly. I was really surprised with her.

Lastly, LQXW takes the stage to try to prove herself worthy of joining the team. She only sorta accomplished that. She didn’t survive very long in battles, but she was decent at attacking. She has yet to miss her targets. Her experience bar didn’t fill very fast and I need to teach her some better moves, but she certainly wasn’t the worst of the Safari Zone bunch.

Oh my goodness, Saphire has a lot of Pokemon. I don’t think I’ve ever caught this many in any Pokemon game ever. I’m one of those players who gets the six Pokemon I want and just stick through with them to the end of the game, so this is unusual for me!

Okay, so you guys have TWO POLLS to take this time. One is only to choose the six Pokemon you want in Saphire’s team. Maybe you want to switch someone out? Maybe you don’t think she needs to change up the team? It is all up to you. If you pick someone who is underleveled, I will get them up to par with the other teammates.

For those of you who like naming the Pokemon, got a nice batch for you today!

Snubbull = WGCDP

Articuno = ZFEWDC

Miltank = BOVOJ

Gengar = PIDVWW

Swablu = BAG DJW

Golem = OICV

Delcatty = XQEX

Ariados = LQXW

Click link below to tell Saphire what to do NEXT —–vvvvv—–

Top 3 voted responses will be Saphire’s next mission!

Click link below to vote for the 6 Pokemon to be in Saphire’s TEAM —–vvvvv—–

Vote for the 6 Pokemon you want to see in Saphire’s team!