Let's Play Pokémon FireRed Chapter 6: Drink Deep, or Taste Not the Plasma Spring

Previously on Pokémon FireRed:

Chapter 6: Drink Deep, or Taste Not the Plasma Spring

Okay, my team is rested and ready. Let's check out what the locals have to say.

Which Bill are we talking about, and is someone out to Kill him?

Well that's disconcerting.

 

'Cause he's zany to the max?

That's fair enough. I love my lil' goofballs.

Well, he seems like a person to see one way or another.

Well, I'm not quite ready to inspect that gym just yet. Let's see what else is in town.

Ooh, a bike shop! That sounds useful!

A MILLION FREAKING DOLLARS?! That's highway robbery! Is thing made out of freaking adamantium?!

[[Nilbog Notes: Poké-dollars were originally based on Yen, and it is generally accepted that 1Poké is roughly equal to $0.01 US. Which would still make that standard non-motorized bicycle about $10,000 which is ridiculous. Also, not entirely sure if this is true in FireRed/LeafGreen, but in the original Red/Blue your money in the game is capped at 999,999 so there's no way to buy this outright. We'll be back.]]

Fair enough I guess. 

Hmm...let me go back and check that house next to the Pokémon Center.

Well I don't know what I'd have that he might want, but I guess I'll ask?

Nope, I'm sorry. I don't even know what that is.

Dude, I didn't say I don't want to, I said I don't have it! Jeez, don't be so passive aggressive!

[[Nilbog Notes: There are several NPCs in this game that will offer you in-game trades. I won't show every one, but there are a small handful where the Pokémon they trade you is the only one of that specie in the game.]]

What are in these houses?

Yes I did, thank you!

[[Nilbog Notes: This guy describes all the gym badges and what they grant. I'm not showing them here because spoilers]]

Let's see what's in the backyard...

Score!

Oooh, I just got a small shiver from this direction...some flash of immense pain and loneliness...totally relatable. And scary....

Hell no. Bad experience in Girl Scouts when I was 6.

[[Nilbog Notes: Berries were introduced in Gen 2 and became a whole big deal in Gen 3. So even though they exist in this game due to Gen 3 mechanics, as the locations are still true to Gen 1 there's no real room for them as they are in the other games. We may pick some up off the ground occasionally, but otherwise we won't really use or utilize them and may as well pretend they don't exist in this game. I'll cover them in more detail in a possible future LP where we'll only MOSTLY ignore them. 

If you tell this guy "Yes" he gives you a Jar that you can keep Berry Powder in, which can only be done through link cable so it's not even worth going into here.]]

Wait...who's that on that bridge?

Oh no!

You ever try "Hi, how are you?"

No, I wasn't actually aski...nevermind...

Why do I get the feeling that by "let me see", you mean - 

Yeah, that tracks. Let's see, you have a bird, so I'll start with...

Ugh, he's faster, and lowered my accuracy. And Rock Throw isn't the best move on accuracy. Fingers crossed...

Hit and CRIT, baby! One-shot!

You're bringing out your turtle next? Raiden should put a shock to you!

Not as one-sided as I hoped, but still a great job!

Sending in an Abra next? That sounds Psychic-y...Jerry has a Dark type move, so he's kind of the best bet, but his Poison typing might leave him open for counterattack...

Abra used Teleport?

Teleport only lets you run, so it can't be used in a Trainer battle. Cesario, you're a jerk, but you're smarter than that...is that the only move he knows?

Jerry'd!

Last up is Rattata? I know what to do with Normal types...

HA!

With nobody fainting or needing potions! In your FACE!

You idiot, you don't get the full page unless you catch the thing - oh god, did you ROB him?!

"Eh, just borrowed for a bit. He was in no state to take care of any Pokémon anyway."

What do you mean, you crook?!

"Well, why don't you go see him and find out?"

I'll thank him by figuring out how to stop you!

This is low even for you. Your days as a trainer are numbered!

(oh crap, did he hear me?)

Gee, how thoughtful. You're a real philanthropist.

The hell is this?

I'M a "chatty gossip"?! You literally watch nothing but daytime talk shows and drama YouTubers!!

[[Nilbog Notes: The Fame Checker stores certain NPC dialogues on certain important characters in the story. It's a nice way to recall certain bits of lore in the game but is otherwise unimportant]]

At...at least you admit it?

All right, I can't make any kind of claim until I know what, if anything, Bill is missing. And the only way to do that is to go see him. And that means detouring up this bridge to Cerulean Cape. 

Okay, I think I know a gauntlet when I see one...

Ooh, sounds neat!

One way to find out!

Oh I know how to handle bugs.

I mean, it's easy when you've got fire on your side, right Axel?

Axel?

Hey, buddy, you okay? You look a little piked...

😱

Ooh, getting leaner and meaner?

[[Nilbog Notes:

Charmeleon

#005

Fire

Evolves from Charmander at Level 16

"When it swings its burning tail, it elevates the temperature to unbearably high levels"

The middle-stage evolution of Charmander. Slightly stronger, much less cute. The middle-stage evolution of starters are fairly awkward-looking for the most part. It gets across the awkward teenage years well, but I can only think of maybe two that I feel look as good or better than either of its other stages (if you're curious, those two are Grovyle and Wartortle)]]

That's a good attitude.

Seriously, those Oddishes are adorable. In fact, their heads look like some of the grass in that little ledge over there...hmm...

Do you want me to go over what just happened point by point?

Also...um...a good attitude?

My first Ground move! It's,,,a move that varies in power...but still.

Eric is kind of being The Finisher in this, since in normal order I keep getting not great matchups.

Okay, three in a row is weird. Is this like part of a script or something?

Ooh, a minor variation. Good job being original.

Let me guess: you did your best and have no regrets?

Uh-huh. Okay. Well, do I get my prize now?

Wow, this is like...solid gold! Thanks!

You what?

This...this is a joke, right? A criminal organization would never like recruit randos off the street in a contest, right?

No...no, you're not joking. You have pamphlets and everything. Just...wow. Give me one of those, I gotta see what this is like.

Oh you have a mission statement, how cute. "To protect the world from devastation," sounds nice, "To unite all peoples within our nation," hey I'm for that too, "To denounce the evils of truth and love," EVILS of truth and love, huh? Yeah, here's where you're going to lose people..."To extend our reach to the stars above," yeah, now that's cartoon supervillain talk.

Well, that was fun, but I'm afraid I'll have to respectfully decline.

Yeah, pretty sure. I'm just not a fan of people who harm others in order to gain money. It's why I'm anti-capitalist too.

No means no, sir.

Well that just makes me tell you "no" even stronger.

What, are you gonna "make me an - "

See, I was making the reference as a joke but then you just did it unironically, which makes it cease to be funny and instead just be pathetic.

Do you always wear that under regular clothes?

Do you have some kind of quota to fill? Seriously, this is nearly cult-level. Begone!

Now to test my hunch...

Hunch correct! I know just what to do with you...

Man, I hope his scream won't kill me.

[[Nilbog Notes:

Oddish

#043

Grass/Poison

"During the day, it keeps its face buried in the ground. At night, it wanders around sowing its seeds"

Oddish is exclusive to Red/FireRed with Bellsprout as its counterpart. I raised an Oddish in my very first playthrough of Red back when I was 12-13; It was just meant to help vs the second gym but proved pretty dependable. And even though I benched it towards the end of midgame I've always had a fondness for the line ever since. Finally taking one to the finale was one of the things I was most looking forward to in doing this run with this particular set of rules.]]

Now to go back to the Center and put him on the team...wait, what?

Ooh, I'm not gonna use you because Cesario seems to want to, but I could use the entry. Now, Cesario's only knew Teleport, so I gotta paralyze you fast and hope...

Damn, even at Level 8 you're faster than Raiden?!

Well, let me get Drake then. Unfortunatley with the Poison subtyping it seems Jerry is the one it makes the most sense to bench. Jerry, you Jerry'd well. So let's see what Drake has...

BWUH?! How interesting...

[[Nilbog Notes: Certain moves will allow you to use them in some capacity outside of battle. For example, if you had an Abra you could use its Teleport to warp you immediately to the last Pokémon center you visited. I actually really love moves like this and hate how they've been phased out in the very most recent games. With that being said...I actually never knew Sweet Scent was usable outside of battle until five seconds before I took this screenshot, those five seconds being my mouth agape at learning such new info. As you'll see, its ability isn't so astounding that I would keep the move longterm, but it's nice to know it does this!]]

I wonder...

It'll probably just end up being a Caterpie or something.

NOPE, THERE IT IS THROW BALL!

Dang, broke free. Let's try one more time...

There we go!

Judge him by his size, I do not.

[[Nilbog Notes: Full disclosure, it took a hell of a lot longer than "one more time"

Abra

#063

Psychic

"Using its ability to read minds, it will identify impending danger and Teleport away."

Abra is my favorite non-legendary Psychic type, definitely in the running as possibly my favorite non-legendary non-starter Pokémon line period. And I rarely ever use him because he's got a trade evolution. He was very close to being my Psychic type for this run, until I decided not to use any non-starter Pokémon Cesario would potentially use. He would still have been used in at least one of the other potential challenge runs, possibly more.

I've been teasing it for a while, so here I'll go into Psychic types. In Generation 1, Psychic types were absolutely broken. Psychic attacks could only be resisted by other Psychic types and while they were supposed to have two weaknesses, they didn't work. Not only were most Bug types and all Ghost types part Poison making them weak to Psychic themselves, and not only did both Ghost and Bug had no damaging moves above 30 base power per hit, but Ghost was miscoded so that rather than Psychic being weak to Ghost it was actually immune to it.

Even though Psychic was nerfed as early as Gen 2 with the introduction of better Ghost moves (as mentioned before, Bug still had a moveset issue until Gen 4) and the entire Steel Type (resistant to Psychic) and especially Dark Type (immune to Psychic and super effective against it), it still inspires fear and awe in anyone who lived through the Gen 1 times as they happened. I would say that as a whole, Psychic types are my favorite Types, even though there are other Types with more individual Pokémon I like. While they are easier to deal with in these remakes with the fixed type matchups plus more easily available Dark and Ghost moves, said moves are still a bit more uncommon than most unless you know where to look and thus making them a stronger threat than in other Gen 3 and higher games.]]

All right, back to searching for Bill's house.

Oh?

[[Nilbog Notes: Starting in Gen 3, different Pokéballs have different effects when the monsters pop out of them. It's why I make an effort to diversify balls as much as possible. Sadly, not really possible in this game to the extent it is in others of Gen 3 and later.]]

Oh no, and in your first battle? Damn Hyper Fangs! Axel, avenge your new teammate!

I don't blame you. I wonder if the others knew the last guy is a Rocket?

Welp, anyway, looks like I need one more trip to the Pokémon center before moving on.

Ahem, back on track...

I figured as much. I wonder if Cesario had to get past all of you too. In fact...did Cesario join Team Rocket in the end? If he didn't, it would only be because he would never take orders...

[[Nilbog Notes: Grass moves are super-effective against Water, Ground, and Rock, and are resisted by Fire, Grass, Poison, Flying, Bug, Dragon, and Steel. So this Onix has a 4x weakness to this weak Absorb attack and, true to its name, Drake heals himself for half the damage he deals with the move.]]

I'll keep that in mind.

Better get that checked.

Decent?! I'll have you know that my Charmeleon is in the top percentage of Charmeleons!

I'm trying, kid. I'm trying.

I can assure you they will never get ME onto one of those dreadful cruise ships.

Which one of us are you trying to convince?

Well, you have to leave it in for a while. Usually put it in before you wash the rest of your body and by the time you rinse that'll be enough time for it to soak into your hair.

I'll remember this was said to me and not bother to mention the context.

Yes, me too, so why are we delaying each other?

This one din't QUITE finish him and he got a lucky hit off. Not lucky enough thankfully.

I hope he has any left after Cesario...

Oh boy...

She said she wishes you were as good as me. I'll let you decide the context.

[[Nilbog Notes: If you didn't trigger Camper Flint from far enough away you would not be able to get this TM until you came back with the ability to remove those little trees]]

At least you faced your destiny head on.

I will when I can.

Either you were lying to me before or you're lying to me now.

Absolutely not.

Finally! Now to meet this guy...

Oh my god, what a mess! And...why is there an ugly Clefairy-looking thing standing over there? And what are those designer phone booths in the back?! This is super creepy...

Teleporter? Where's Bill? I guess I have no choice but to confront that...thing...

what

"A...Clefairy got into the transporter pod with me that first time when I was alone! The computer got...confused - there weren't supposed to be two separate genetic patterns - and it decided to, ah, splice us together. It mated us, me and the Clefairy (we hadn't even been properly introduced)!"

...

This isn't going to involve you splicing me into you to increase your human DNA percentage or something horrifying like that, right?

"What? No no no no, I'm...I'm not - ah - that far gone yet."

I guess that seems reasonable. Assuming it's easy enough to find said program...

Wait, what happened to the Clefairy? If it was you and Clefairy and you're here...

"Because some of them were, ahh, taken by some spikey-haired reprobate while I was...Billfairy"

Yeah, I know the guy. He's a jerk. One of the reasons I came to see you was to see what you were missing so I could report him.

"Thanks, but I can do that part myself. I've got...connections. Comes with the PC gig. Hey, here's what would help though - did you, ah, happen to catch where he was going next?"

Oh shoot...should have thought of that...

Oh no, that's...

Trainers? That other kid did mention Trainers...

Neither can I, honestly.

Well, as long as I can get off before it leaves...I guess they WILL get me onto one of those dreadful cruise ships...

...eventually. There's still the little matter of Cerulean Gym...

***

[[Nilbog Notes: An extra long episode today, but let's look at our team:

Axel's stats went up at least double what they would have if he hadn't evolved.

Drake has an Impish nature, which we haven't seen since Squit all the way back in Chapter 2. To refresh, that means Drake will have his Defense boosted at the expense of his Special Attack, which isn't the best for his little Absorb, but at the moment it doesn't seem to be doing much harm. His Ability Chlorophyll boosts his speed in Sunlight, which is a weather condtion that can be applied temporarily in battle. It's main purpose is to boost Fire-type attacks and weaken Water-type attacks, but it also has a number of positive interactions with Grass-type moves and Abilities making it high-risk-high-reward for them. 

Grass resists Water, Electric, Grass, and Ground, and is weak to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug. Poison resists Grass, Fighting, Poison, and Bug, and is weak to Ground and Psychic. Drake's duel-typing actually cancels out his potential weaknesses to Ground, Poison, and Bug and quadruples his resistance to Grass.

Tune in next week!]]