A Brilliant Diamond Story

Chapter 3: A Galactic Butt-Whooping

Team Galactic. Lord have mercy, these guys looked less like a terrorist organization and more like a Comicon skit gone too far, with these matching, uniform, teal-colored bowl cuts and space suits. They had taken over the Valley Windworks, siphoning the energy from it with the help of this captive scientist, and his daughter needed me to save him like it was a reverse Taken film. Just call me Niam Leeson.

So, I clobbered all the grunts in town, entered the building, clobbered everyone there, and came face-to-face with Galactic Commander Mars, easily the prettiest of the Commander Trio, don't @ me. She sent out her Zubat first, which I anticipated, sending out Zippy to deal with it. And deal with it he did, my God, I don't think Team Rocket got an electrocution that nasty before.

But then came her Purugly. I had heard nothing but bad things about this cat. This absolute unit apparently hit like the truck it was built like, and was about as fast, so I had to be careful with how I dealt with it. So, out came Yujiro, a Machop I had caught on Route 207, knuckles crackin', lips smackin' and we caught her lackin'. For a moment, I was terrified when Purugly's scratch nearly one-shot Yujiro, but a quick switch to Leaf let him tank the scratch like it hadn't been there, and crush the Purugly underfoot. So, I sent her running, swearing to get me back and all that good stuff, and I headed out, eventually making my way to Eterna Forest.

There, my team and I met Cheryl, a lady in all green who asked us to guide her through the woods. Being the hero I am, I of course said yes, and we set out through the woods. When we eventually reached the end, fighting way more trainers than I remember there being in the process, I caught sight of the Old Chateau, probably my favorite zone in all of Pokémon. It was just so...dark, and haunted.

But it was stuck behind a Cut-tree for now, so I bid farewell to Cheryl--only just now becoming suspicious of the fact that she was wearing all green in a forest, and beginning to suspect she was a ghost of some kind--and continued into Eterna City.

Once there, we fought wild Pokemon around the city for a while, but after realizing how weak all the Pokémon there were, I decided it was now time to face Eterna's Gym.

Gym #2: Gardenia

Type: Grass

Gardenia served to be no problem at all. While battling her Trainers, Click evolved into Golbat, so I had no fear going into this.

And I had every right to not be afraid, too.

It was a slaughterhouse. Flock built up enough Work-Up's, and eviscerated Gardenia's Cherubi with a single Wing Attack, and did the same to her Turtwig. But the fight had taken its toll on him, and now he was badly injured, so I withdrew him to send out Click, who had more than just a word with Gardenia's Roserade, and with a quick throwdown, we were free to take the second Gym Badge.

With Badge #2 under our belt, we had access to the Cut move that Mommy—I man, Cynthia, gave us after we beat Mars, and I could barge into the Team Galactic base. Apparently these fools were now nabbing anybody's Pokémon like bullies taking lunch money, and when I entered that building and heard all the tough guy snapping music, I decided I was gonna have to put a stop to that. I quickly learned that these fools all decided to use Bug Pokémon, so I had Yujiro take the lead on this one, with the move Rock Tomb I taught him, and we pretty much trampled the entire building.

Then, we reached the top.

Commander Jupiter was waiting for us, and after bragging about how they had everything they needed to establish a new world order (y'know, despite this being the beginning of a several-hour-long game), she decided to fight me...for the street cred, I guess. She didn't really give a reason.

She started with Zubat, just like Mars, but of course I predicted that, so Zippy had a word with her about that. But then came her Skuntank. It immediately poisoned Zippy, and then hit him with a move that almost killed him immediately, so I had to swap him out for Beav, who managed to tank its frankly terrifying power enough to Rollout all over it (though, she almost died to its ability, Aftermath. That was a nightmare). Jupiter gave me a passive-aggressive taunt, then peaced out, leaving me to pick up the pieces of the mess.

After all of that, I was taught how to use the Underground, and let me tell you, that is addicting. I was down there for hours, just picking away at little treasures, feeling like a kid all over again. Not only that, but the Pokémon down there were insanely strong, meaning it also served as a grand training ground.

But, after a couple of hours down there, I decided it was time to move on, and took Cycling Road all the way down, got lost in Wayward Cave for several minutes, where Click evolved yet again into Crobat, and then arrived at Hearthome City.

Now, Hearthome City had its own set of surprises. For starters, it was the fifth gym, not the third, so I would have to move on, but on top of that, it was where the Contest Hall was located, and that had its own story. I stopped a Buneary from running from its owner, the owner turning out to be a judge, which would undoubtedly create an unbelievable conflict of interests if I ever decided to perform in one, and followed her to the Contest Hall, where I discovered that not only was my mother there--hi Mom, didn't know you left the house--and not only was her actual name Johanna, but she was apparently also a Contest superstar in her youth.

Well, what the hell, ma?! Why do we have to live in Twinleaf Town with Barry then?! If she was some kind of superstar, we'd be friggin' loaded!

...Was it the divorce? Did Dad take the house?

Questions for later! I hurried out of the City, drop-kicking Barry on my way out, received an egg from a random guy, and hurried on my way to the next town over, Solaceon.

My team was looking good. I had to place Yujiro in the box to make room for the egg, though...not like I'd ever forget him. He'd gotten us through a few tough fights in his own right, and I wouldn't forget that.

But, we continued on out of Hearthome regardless. The levels of our enemies' Pokémon were catching up to ours, but it was nothing that some training couldn't fix.

Though, after a near-death at the hands of Barry, of all people...I had my fears.

I just had to cross my fingers and pray.