Please note that this will contain spoilers to the story and events of Pokemon Black/White and Black 2/White 2. Leave now if this is a problem to you.The captain was more than willing to get me and Hugh across to Castelia City, and at no cost too. Not sure how they manage to stay funded like that, but then I don't remember much from the trip either. Before I knew it I was standing at the harbour at Castelia City. Hugh dashed off while I entered the city at a far more leisurely pace. As I approached the city I was in awe. My home city wasn't exactly some tiny town in the wilderness but it was small compared to this place. Some guy invited me to go track down some buddies as an optional quest I guess and gave me a free bicycle, but I had other things on my mind for now. I headed for the rightmost path that would take me north and started exploring.
One of the more notable buildings I barged in on was one for these Game Freak guys. They looked like they were involved in some project or other, but some of them were taking a break and indulged me in battles. That leftovers Clefairy was certainly an annoyance but experience is experience. As I continued on I chatted to more people and picked up some loot, passed by the fountain and headed along another northern road. I arrived at what seemed like the exit. While Castelia City no doubt held far more for me to do, I was intrigued by what pokemon may exist just outside the city. I decided to have a little peek without going too far, just to see if there would be any new creatures I would want to add to my team.
As I passed through the gate Bianca popped up behind me. I began to wonder if she was stalking me, as it was very strange that she would keep popping up wherever I was. She gave me a dowsing machine and gave me tips on assigning items for quick access before leaving. I continued out the gate and found myself in a desert region. The climate seemed so much different within the city limits that it was hard to believe the change. I spotted pokemon nearby and jumped right in with the violence. A lot of them didn't seem like good options for the team, but one of them caught my eye. This Sandile had quite an intimidating look that meant business and the type combo looked great. I called upon the help of my herdier to weaken it and then caught it with a pokeball, adding it to my ever growing team.
Satisfied I headed back into the city, past the fountain and down the next road leading back to the harbour. There were more buildings to explore here and I even got to buy an ice-cream from a street vendor and there was an art gallery too. A guy in there wanted to see a ground type as inspiration. What a coincidence that I just caught such a pokemon and had it with me, earning me a berry as a thank you. An odd way to offer thanks I guess but I'm not going to turn down a freebie. I headed back to the pokemon center and healed my team.
There was a lot of other places for me to visit too. There was the offices where the staff were apparently encouraged to battle random trainers. The fact that their CEO was a kid much younger than myself probably went some way to explain that though. It was crazy but I thrashed everyone soundly. Another building had a couple of interesting floors too. The Medal Office gave me some advice on the whole deal, but it was more or less what I'd already figured out. The next floor had someone called Fennel running some dream experiments and I was encouraged to use Game Sync. Maybe another time, as I still had stuff to do.
I arrived at the gym, only to find that the gym leader had wandered off. At a loss as to how I was supposed to earn my next gym badge, a girl called Iris came up and spoke about it. She seemed surprised at the mention of Team Plasma, but had an idea and sprinted away before saying another word. I guess it's up to me to follow her.
Well, I did, but also got a little sidetracked too. Sidetracked to the point of checking out the Passerby Analytics building and taking a boat to Liberty Garden. Nothing really of interest at either though, so I made my way over to the pokemon center. I healed my team and continued on, seeing Iris urge me to follow her. It seemed she had an idea of where those Team Plasma grunts may be heading.
Uh-huh, she had an idea all right, and I soon realised why she dragged me along. Sewers. Yeah, princess too-good-for-sewers wanted me to go in there. Hugh didn't seem to mind and rushed right in. *sigh* Guess I have no choice. I followed Hugh into the sewers.
Hugh tagged along with me and we took on the wild pokemon 2 on 2. Hugh even offered to heal our pokemon after every battle, so I just went wild and crushed any wild pokemon foolish enough to pop up in front of me. Well, someone had to bear the brunt of my pain of being forced into the freaking sewers.
Things went from bad to worse though, because somehow I managed to walk right past where I was supposed to go and ended up in an area further along with a couple of rooms. One was empty and the other had some crazy scientist lady experimenting with poisons to create medicine. She even offered me some after a "successful" experiment. So yeah, I accepted it because clearly there's nothing sketchy at all about a lone scientist working alone in a sewer with no equipment in sight.
Anyway, after being a little lost (and subsequently levelling my pokemon a few levels because of it) I wandered back and found the path I was supposed to take in the first place. Two Plasma grunts challenged us so I beat them silly. Oh, I also defeated their pokemon in battle too just to rub it in. Naturally they fled right past us afterwards. I guess they're good at losing fights and dashing away. The gym leader of the city appeared and told us that no more Plasma grunts were back there. Some weird guy appeared and muttered something about bringing out the best in our pokemon or something like that before leaving. Honestly, I just keep bumping into the strangest people.
Hugh departed after this, giving me a HM as he left (wait, where the hell did he pick this up from?) and was followed by Burgh. I briefly checked out the Relic Passage, but didn't find much other than a few trainers and items. Eager to leave, I swiftly headed out back to where Iris was, who suggested I should challenge the gym. Well, yes, that was my original goal before I was sidetracked here. I healed my team and headed for the gym.
So apparently, Burgh had decided to change the layout of his gym since Touko started her journey. The place was now covered in webbing and coccoons that served as a strange method of transport. Approaching an opening in one of them sucked me in and took me to another coccoon. I didn't really want to think to much on how that was actually working so I just went with it.
There were several trainers scattered about, including some weirdo who seemed to have been waiting inside a coccoon purely for the chance to jump out at challengers. None of them were able to put up much of a fight though, with my Flaffy and Pignite easily defeating their teams. The puzzle of finding my way to the gym leader wasn't too hard either and was simply of matter of trying openings until I got there.
I must say, compared to the mostly grey appearance of the lower area, Burgh's room at the top was simply awash with colour. I guess it was his way of expressing himself as an artist. I paid it no further mind though and challenged Burgh to a fight.
Sadly, the battle was a bit of a disappointment. Pignite and Flaffy dispatched the Swadloon and Dribble with little effort. I opted for a Charge and Thundershock combo against the Dribble to avoid the possibility of Burgh dipping into his supply of potions. Eventually he brought out his prized pokemon Levanny... who was dispatched by a single Flame Charge. Really Burgh?
Whatever, I defeated the gym leader and earned my third badge. Satisfied I headed out of the gym and healed up at the pokemon center.
Current Location: Castelia City.
Current Team: Pignite (Lv23), Flaffy (Lv22), Sandile (Lv22), Herdier (Lv20), Patrat (Lv10), Lillipup (Lv4).
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