OH NOES NOT ANOTHER ONE! Let's Play Pokemon EMERALD

[Ecks]

Before we go any further north, let's see what we couldn't get at before.




That kind of goes without saying. I'm not even sure you CAN throw a Poke Ball at someone else's Pokemon. Though there was that one guy on the news... from Orre. He was some kind of modern Robin Hood, stealing Pokemon from bad trainers or something like that.



And what do we have here?



See, THIS is what I expect when I pick up one of those item balls. Now, back to Petalburg Woods.



This isn't going where I think it is, is it?



Of course it is.




Lyle? Your parents must hate you.



A Wurmple? Worf, dispose of it.



As ordered, sir.





Worf, Tackle.

Aye, sir.




And another one down.






Again, Worf.

With pleasure, sir.





And another one down.





You know the drill, Worf.



And another one bites the dust!





Damn, Worf, you're a bruiser.

I take great pride in my fighting prowess.



Okay, let's keep moving.



Who's this guy?



Well, yeah, they're all over the place. Look harder.



Eww, maybe I shouldn't have told you that...



Whoa, who's this guy.

That is a bad man. A bad, bad, BAD, BAD BAD BAD BAD MAN.

Calm down, Aryll.




He said something about ambushing.

I will second the Councilor's assessment. Ambush tactics are for weaklings who lack significant strength to take an opponent head on.





Something tells me I'm gonna have to save this loser.



Must civilians always be cowards?



Well, I'm not really gonna get a choice. I'm gonna make peace with the fact that this is happening, and just deal with it.



Well, I don't really want to, but seeing as he's cowering behind me...



Excuse me? Did... did you just use a stock villain phrase? OH, IT'S FUCKING ON NOW, DUDE.





STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!




Worf, Tail Whip.

Aye-aye, sir!






Sand-Attack? Oh boy, lemme guess, he's gonna spam that until Worf is blind, and then whale on him with impunity?




Didn't even take one turn to start affecting him.

This is merely a temporary setback, sir. I will defeat him.




As ordered. Sir.



Not bad for a kid, huh? Punk-ass motherfucker.




Let me take your money, then get the hell out of here.




That would sound so much more menacing if you had actually posed a threat to me.



That's right.



Wow, no wonder you're a grunt. Blabbing your gang's plans to a suit and a kid with superpowered animals.



You'll let me go? As opposed to what?



Yeah, maybe for you. Coward.



Important... papers?




Well... gee, thanks.






Bye.



Jeez, how far do these woods go?



Oops.



A Slakoth, eh? Doesn't sound particularly useful... but I DO want someone a little more laid back around here. Between Punk Pyrotechnic, Clingy Telepath, and Proud Warrior Race Guy, it's far too serious AND far too silly. I need a middle ground.



Worf, this is a potential comrade. I need you to weaken him for capture.

As you wish, sir.



That's enough. Keep your guard up while I toss a Poke Ball.

Aye, sir.







Just as I thought... Exactly What It Says On The Tin. Still, I got what I wanted out of this.




Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

He seems rather... lazy.

That's fine with me. I can empathize, as a lazy guy myself.



Okay, time to move on.



Yeah, they're in pretty good shape.




Yeah, that's kind of obvious. To most people familiar with the concept of "tall grass = random battles."



Judging by his hat, this kid is a Bug Catcher. Who will have nothing but the same Pokemon repeated several times in his team.



Yeah, because there's nothing, in a world FULL of fuck-awesome Pokemon, cooler than BUG POKEMON.




Well, I guess we could give Mac a try.

Huh? Wuzzat? I'm a little out of it could you YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN-




-repeat that?



Ow... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Hey, Mac. Snap out of it. I need you to use Scratch.



Hey, I don't get it. Is he disobeying me?

...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz- Huh? Oh... uh, no... I'm just really lazy... and sorta-maybe-a-little narcoleptic.

Oh.



Ow...




The... good thing is... it's apparently contagious...



I'm gonna... go ahead... and use Scratch now...



Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...



Huh. Well, so long as Nincada stays asleep-



Dammit.




Double dammit.

Sorry man... s'hard to keep up... when I'm so sleepy...

Don't feel bad, Mac. I like how you handle adversity. But this dude's used Harden and it'll take forever if I just have you Scratch every turn you're able...






Leiutenant Worf, reporting for duty.



Worf, use Water Gun.

Aye, sir.





Awaiting orders, Captain.

Stand by.




Do it again, Worf.

Yes, Captain.




Now follow it up with Tackle.

As you wish, sir.





I don't think you can ever be popular.




Okay, yeah, sure, if you've got something like a Scizor or a Forretress... but your Nincada don't count. Evolve one of them, or something... Ninjask and Shedinja both qualify.



What do we have here?



Ethers are rare, rare items. You cannot buy them in stores, and there is no other way to find them. Except maybe a Pokemon that knows Pickup at a high level.

How do you KNOW these things?

Internet.



And these are those skinny trees I was talking about back in OnracLittleroot Town.

And it shames me to say it... but I can't cut them down. Seriously, what is wrong with me?

Nothing. Whoever made this world is an asshole.



Let's get out of here.



Ugh, I'm a little tired. Think we'll take a break here.

---

And that wraps up this update. I'll be doing Worf's character profile in the next update, Mac's following the Rustboro update.

SURPRISE! Worf snuck up on me. It was a very spur of the moment thing. I weighed my options and decided I absofuckinglutely NEEDED Rollout. I was watching a Star Trek: TNG marathon last Tuesday and that got TNG stuck in my head... And thus I named Marill Worf and copy-pasted improvised dialogue for him. Yeah, I'm not sure where I'm going with him referring to everyone by imaginary ranks, but it just feels weird to write dialogue for a character named Worf and NOT have him refer to everyone by rank, and talk about honor and interspecies etiquette.

Mac was planned though. I dunno why, but I kept missing screens right around the time I caught him and started using him. For starters, I've been trying to do that thing Cartoonist does where he shows one screen at the Pokemon Center, which tells you all you really need to know about what he did, without any explanation. I forgot to do that shortly after catching Mac. I also forgot to screencap the part where I put him in front of the party. I forgot several screens during the battle with James, mostly the "Bug Catcher James would like to battle!" part. The part where I sent out Mac, etc. Dunno what my problem is, but I'm too lazy to go back and fix it. The dialogue somewhat glosses over this, but I'm not gonna rely on that to put it out of your minds. I'll do better next time, I swear.

I have room for two more permanent party members. At this point, I've got a Fire-type (which will eventually dual-type in Fighting), a Water-type, a Psychic-type, and a Normal-type. What should I grab to round this out? I'm figuring on a Trapinch at some point, but that's damn near halfway through the game. It'll be months before I even reach Mauville City. I may cave in and carry an Aron, because I've never had an Aggron before, and I want to see how it plays to decide whether or not I want to put one together for HG. Any advice on what to pick would be appreciated.