Ailey's turn in the Abandoned Megamart. This Trial is mostly identical to the SM one, but with two major differences.
The first is that basically every moment in the original, including the entry, now has dramatic camera angles.
You get a better look at the hauntings and so forth, but mostly it's just extra ambience.
The choices in encounter are the same between games, as are the movesets, but the stats got updates. Gastly is flat 15 IVs with a Timid (+Spd/-Atk) Nature.
I decided to pack Frillish, although I never got around to giving her a nickname. Her job is mainly to be a Ghost type Anna can use as a disguise- if you see me using Frillish in this Trial, it is Anna. Every time.
The Pikachu's still here, at least.
OK, this isn't really "a better look" just a different ambience.
Haunter's gone with Rash (+Sp. Atk/-Sp. Def) to go with its 15 IVs. It doesn't carry any Special moves that aren't Night Shade, though, so I'm not sure what its plan is.
The cool thing about Dark types is, they resist both Ghost and Dark moves. They make great Ghost counters, particularly since many Ghost types don't typically carry Fighting, Bug or Fairy moves.
Just our luck Mimikyu's one of the few that does.
Incineroar (Ultra Sun): Although it's rough mannered and egotistical, it finds beating down unworthy opponents boring. It gets motivated for stronger opponents.
Moss also got her evolution, this time into Incineroar. Incineroar is a Fire/Dark type familiar to those who play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or VGC competitive battling. Moss, sadly, is not as powerful as its omnipresence in the latter may suggest: Incineroar is good because of the mechanics of Double Battles and access to the Intimidate Ability, neither of which appear in the main story. That's not to say we won't be able to benefit from Moss, though- she still has some appreciable bulk.
Incineroar probably gets the best unique move of the Alola trinity. Darkest Lariat is an 85 BP Physical Dark move that ignores any buffs to Def or evasion that the opponent might possess. The bonus effect is awesome, but what really pushes this higher is that the Dark type doesn't have a 90-95 BP move, so Moss might otherwise have expected to live with the 80 BP Crunch.
For some reason, I think of Darkest Lariat as AoE damage. It's not. Also, it won't ignore penalties to your Atk stat, nor will it bypass defensive buffs that are not stat stages, like Reflect.
This one does look a lot more impressive when the hovering effect is seen at this angle.
Gengar went with Quiet (+Sp. Atk/-Spd). It'll hit hard if it decides to use Shadow Ball, but the Speed penalty will help you deal with it.
There's a moment between these two shots when the camera isn't pointing at this door, but they did wind up adding something new to the USUM trial.
That being a really weird Acerola event. My best guess is that this is supposed to be similar to the ghost girl event in XY- or perhaps more sensibly, it's just here so Ailey has something more believable to point at and Acerola to dismiss.
It tries to get us to leave, even though we clearly haven't fought a Totem Pokemon. Maybe Gengar, but Gengar sure didn't call for help like one.
She is... violently insistent. I mean, yes, I'd like to get out of this derelict building, but not without my Ghostium.
The time to take a photo was much sooner than this. And at the same time, taking a photo seems like a hilariously out-of-place suggestion. Like, who reacts to being yelled at by pulling out their camera?
It was the right suggestion, because doing so causes Acerola to disappear, but it's sure not an intuitive option.
I mean, I did take a picture. I think. Or maybe Rotom did, it sounds like something he'd do. Anyway, team check.
Anna's plan here is to inflict Scary Face. Foul Play will be nice, too, but really what this team needs is speed control.
That's because Callie's job here is to take all those buffs Mimikyu has, and play the Reverse card. Focus Band is going to be a bit necessary for it, but hopefully the Speed control works too. Especially with the +Spd.
Shade has Intimidate and Iron Head- getting Iron Head has turned Shade from "a bit of a liability" to "this is why Steel/Fairy is a scary defensive type". Sadly, no Ghost resist, but she's not gonna need it.
Being a Fire type makes Moss neutral to Mimikyu's coverage, which is a great place to be. Her offense isn't as great, but it'll do in a pinch.
I think I meant to give Usagi some Elemental Punches? Usagi is literally offensively useless in this fight. She can't even break Disguise. Baby-Doll Eyes will make up for it, though.
If Frillish comes out, she is ready to contribute. I don't plan on needing her, though. As tempting as the idea can be.
This odd phenomenon is still here.
As are all the same cameos SM had, and no new ones.
Mimikyu's happy to be noticed, at least.
If in no less of a hurry to be absolutely terrifying.
USUM's Totem Mimikyu fight has no visual differences. However, everything you cannot see has seen some shakeups. Its IV spread is 31/8/31/15/31/15, it has... the hilarious spread of 198 HP Evs, 124 Def EVs, 104 Sp. Def EVs, and 84 Spd EVs, as well as an Impish (+Def/-Sp. Atk) Nature. With stats that micromanaged, I'm probably better off telling you its stats without the aura are 111/70/90/40/98/84. Speed is now 126 with the aura. It has the same Item and Ability, as well as still having the powerful Shadow Claw/Play Rough dual STAB combo, but it has replaced its two other moves with useful ones- Leech Life (80 BP Physical Bug with draining) and Slash (70 BP Physical Normal with heightened crit rate).
With that said, Leech Life is only really here to disrupt Grass types, Oranguru and to a lesser extent, Malamar (Malamar was already weak to Play Rough). I think it says more about Mimikyu that these moves haven't really helped it materially.
Out goes Anna. And as I've been doing this Trial, I've noticed something kind of amusing I don't think I've spotted before: The Illusion that Anna is this Frillish extends to the Poke Ball that Ailey throws out. Frillish lives in a blue Dive Ball, while Anna lives in an ordinary Poke Ball.
Anyway, Frillish's job here is to buy Anna a turn to land Scary Face.
It saw "ooh, I can do SE damage with Shadow Claw on Frillish!", and erroneously chose it. Most other options Ailey had would have encouraged it to click Play Rough or Leech Life with equal or greater likelihood, and Anna could not have taken those.
Since, reduced or not, it was still damage, Anna loses the Illusion. It only works once.
But once is all Anna needed.
Banette (Ultra Moon): Resentment at being cast off made it spring into being. Some say that treating it well will satisfy it, and it will once more become a stuffed toy.
You know, of all the Ghost types they could have chosen to add to this fight instead of the Gastly line, Banette might be the most hilarious company for a Pokemon that wants to be a beloved toy. Banette has high Atk and mediocre stats in everything else, and this Banette has gone with 31/15/31/15/31/15 IVs, no EVs, a Jolly Nature (+Spd/-Sp. Atk), and the moves Screech, Feint Attack, Will-O-Wisp and Curse. Really, I see a Pokemon that wants to be fast and disruptive, but it only has 56 Spd. Still, though, if you choose to attack Mimikyu, it will get to annoy you, and all three of those status moves are nasty in this fight. Insomnia for the Ability, ironically.
Anna is a goner if I keep her in, so I have two choices- oneshot Banette, or break Disguise.
I think I made the right call.
Your sacrifice will be remembered.
Now then, it's Callie's turn, and as it turns out, Mimikyu post Scary Face is 56 Speed.
More than slow enough to be hit in the face with Topsy-Turvy.
As a bonus, Callie even took a Leech Life from the now -1 Atk Mimikyu.
Unfortunately, Topsy-Turvy did give it the +1 Spd back, but I can live with that. Callie, not so much.
Next up is Usagi, who you might recall I mentioned is incapable of so much as breaking Disguise.
I've learned my less from Beth's fight. You Baby-Doll Eyes Mimikyu. There's just no alternative strategy.
Wow, it's already really weak. I didn't even think Usagi was that strong a physical tank.
...I may have gone a bit overkill.
At some point, however, I am going to need to switch to someone capable of inflicting damage. Moss, that's you.
Good on ya, mate.
Moss chose to break Disguise with Flame Charge- if the attack wasn't dealing damage anyway, may as well click on a move that has a bonus effect useful to me. If Mimikyu's keeping its Speed buff, a Speed buff of my own could come in handy.
Although I did need a second to get the outspeed. Mimikyu is faster than Incineroar.
Jellicent (Ultra Sun): Jellicent is always hanging around fancy cruise ships and tankers, hoping to drag away its prey.
Jellicent is another Pokemon whose IVs I don't have handy (presumably because speedrunners aren't really going to worry about seeing him). I can tell you he's carrying the moves Water Pulse, Snore, Spite and Night Shade, along with the Ability Cursed Body. As plans go, I think this is a pretty terrible one, unless it happens to be put up against something weak to Water. I mean seriously, Snore without Rest?
Fortunately for it, I have something weak to Water out, so getting rid of it is a good idea.
Moss gets to show off its unique move early- it'll be a ways in before I find something to hit with Spirit Shackle and Mio's special move.
Moss's interpretation of "Lariat" is to barrel forward in a spinning T-Pose. I love it.
Love that, too.
Moss also gets to be neutral to Leech Life, because of its Fire typing. Fire is a pretty good typing to have around for Mimikyu, so the Water summon wasn't a bad pick. Just a little weird. And much weirder that it was the only thing it had prepared.
At any rate, Moss could've handled it, but I have another idea. I do love the fact that Intimidate was blocked by the fact Mimikyu's Atk was already rock bottom.
Cute you tried Slash, but Mawile resists it.
The heightened crit will help it, though.
Sadly for it, no dice.
Z-Move time? Might as well. Iron Head was probably going to oneshot anyway, but I feel like being petty.
Also, I love that pose for Ailey. Didn't realise she had that much hair to bounce.
Corkscrew Crash is kinda hilarious to me, but I think it would've been tricky to figure out something for Steel and they went with what they picked.
The target is ran through with a corkscrew drill dragging along the ground.
And as soon as it gets loose, the corkscrew loops back around and drills into the ground.
It's certainly a charming animation.
Fortunately, I had the good sense to use it after breaking Disguise, so it worked on Mimikyu.
Mawile kinda gets a pose? It's mostly just a little moment flexing its jaws, though.
In neither game is the picture actually added to our album.
Probably so we don't lose progress to having a full SD Card or something.
The ending conversation is more or less the same here.
Leaving this team free to get its Ghost Z-Crystal. Although I'm less sure who's going to use it here. At least it's on the table.
The Acerola jump scare definitely makes this conversation makes more sense. Although the comment that we went into the back room feels unnecessary, given the information we're told we shared.
You're the one who's going to have to come up with something more believable than that, Acerola. I mean, were we watching you?
Acerola's right- it's hard getting a shot of that Mimikyu.
It's impossible to deny you that, but don't push your luck. Anyway, Noah's turn.
I decided to see what happens if you fail a catch. That is such a great failure quote.
...The Poke Finder doesn't have a lock-on feature. It would be really nice if it did, but it would probably be too powerful.
Magmar is a surprisingly powerful Mimikyu counter- resists Play Rough, Flame Body for a chance of Burn, and Clear Smog to both break Disguise and remove the stat buffs? I did not think of that as a plan here.
Alexandria's job was clearing out the Pokemon before this. Super Luck + Scope Lens means Night Slash will always land a critical hit, the question is whether she has the Speed to land one in the first place.
Earthwerk has ambitions. Lofty ones, but it would be nice.
Mismagius (Moon): Mismagius have been known to cast spells to make people fall in love, so some people search for this Pokémon as if their life depended on it.
With the addition of Pain Split into its kit, I figured now was a good time for Eunie to evolve into Mismagius. The stat bonuses aren't super great, but they're in the right stats, and without its Speed buff, Eunie will outspeed Mimikyu.
Sandslash (Moon): This Pokémon's steel spikes are sheathed in ice. Stabs from these spikes cause deep wounds and severe frostbite as well.
Another evolved Pokemon we're seeing here for the first time, Noah's Sandshrew was just fine to evolve into Sandslash from the word go, while Bethany's Vulpix needed to wait a few levels. With the Steel typing at hand and a neat array of moves to go along with it, Lanz hits the ground running, as embarrassing as it is to rely on a "hits 2-5 times" move as your Ice STAB.
Mio's hoping to evolve for the perfect cohesion with Oatchi and Moss, but the numbers don't look great. Scald and Baby-Doll are good moves to have regardless, at least.
Now then, the fight itself...
Gotta say, it is a bit unfortunate this didn't stick, because Arsena got brought down to red with this hit. Just because it resists Play Rough...
At least this bit worked.
This bit, little more worrying.
...Apparently Arsena had it covered too. Go Arsena! You're doing great!
And sadly, no second Flame Body proc. The one was super lucky, though.
Since I can always bring in Mio for the EXP.
And the Baby-Doll Eyes, of course. Gotta bring that Atk score into the red.
Because that is a healthy chunk of damage considering -1 Atk, a pretty bulky target and neutral damage.
...Well, that's a little worrying.
That, on the other hand, is far more encouraging. Thankfully, Arsena took off the Lum Berry. That Burn is gonna stick.
Now I've just gotta deal with that.
Lanz strikes me as a good idea.
It can really brush off the Play Roughs.
Ghost is, sadly, only resisted by Dark, so I am going to have to worry about that unless I have a solid Normal.
Fortunately, Lanz doesn't need to do much about the Mimikyu, it's just the Gengar that's the issue.
Less fortunately, that's a successful Hypnosis cast.
And those are some nasty outcomes.
Well, Lanz went down, but that's just the perfect chance to bring in Eunie.
...Not sure what you thought that was gonna do on a Mismagius, buddy.
Gengar has no priority, and it's slower than Mismagius. A perfect combination.
And one to finish you off, too.
Eunie is, without question, the boss.
And she just got a new toy.
OK seriously, am I just taking the shot at the wrong time?
For Ray's turn, he did get me a chance to show off Gengar's "walking into frame" animation. It's comical.
And for curiosity's sake, I wondered what would happen if I actually obeyed Ghost Acerola.
The answer is not only "nothing", it is worse than nothing.
(She doesn't tell me about Mimikyu, since I didn't get as far as seeing it.)
If you leave before making it to Mimikyu, you have to fight the Gastly/Haunter/Gengar trio again! On the plus side, Ray's picked up some more EXP, I guess? He didn't need it as badly as Ailey might.
No Clear Smog? Go old-school. Guardia is going to delete the stat buffs the conventional way, and then we'll work from there.
Deep Blue, of course, making a strong argument for the "use Steel types" method of problem solving. Just mind that Psychic sub-type, it's going to cause problems.
Penny did all the Gastly fighting, which is why her level is so high now. And why she's out so many Snarls. She probably won't be much help the rest of the way, but the effort was made.
You can never go wrong with some good residual chip damage. Also all three of those attacking moves have good use cases.
There are good odds that Theodore would never need to replace a single one of these moves. That's not quite true- he'll get Flare Blitz when he's high enough level, but otherwise, this is still the same problem-solving Theodore he's always been.
The irony: The only reason I picked Tauros over Stoutland was because of Smart Strike, and it gets Iron Head anyway. In hindsight, really wishing I decided to go with Kangaskhan. Oh well, Wiingo has pulled his weight well enough before now, and this fight will continue that legacy.
Bethany lost, Ailey and Noah were fine, I think this should go well? Then again, I've got nothing but my gut feeling for that.
At the very least, I have a plan to work with.
Haze is very satisfying to click. It's often hard to justify, but if you can...
This could be a bit of an issue. That Play Rough meant business.
And here's where we can see a bit of a mistake- it's too late for Acid Armour to help Guardia. Should've clicked Icy Wind.
Look at that damage. Acid Armour did nothing.
Fortunately, a lucky Play Rough miss allows Guardia to correct that mistake. Try not to think about the fact that a physical Fairy is going to worry about this too.
No Icy Wind miss, luckily. Whoever comes in next will appreciate that.
...I'd say I think that's overkill, but I'm genuinely not sure Candy can get an outspeed with -2 Spd. She's slow.
Had to happen sooner or later.
Penny goes in on the offensive, flinging out Snarls like she's got a point to prove. It's about time she actually got to do what she's meant to.
Play Rough miss and Banette not being a particularly effective attacker because of type advantages? This has all the makings of Penny's lucky day.
The second Snarl is enough to knock out the Banette, although Mimikyu's HP is low enough that the Jellicent is going to be incoming.
Fortunately, the only point of Penny's HP that matters is the last. Play Rough lowers Attack, which is not something Penny is worried about.
On the other hand, Jellicent is scared of Snarl.
Oh, screw you.
On the plus side, Penny got KOed immediately afterwards, so it's not like I needed to choose whether Screech or Power Gem was the move I wanted to be using.
It's a shade risky, but this is probably a situation that calls for Deep Blue.
Fortunately, with all those Speed drops, Deep Blue had the speed advantage- and had more than enough power to finish off the HP.
Tempting, but around this point, there aren't enough Totems running around for the stat stage moves we've been using so much of to continue to be relevant. They'd no doubt be nice, but so's coverage.
Jellicent's not resisted, but when it's using Night Shade, I'm only so worried.
Deep Blue didn't have any SE coverage, but it sure didn't need it.
You, my friend, are doing just fine.
While Lurantis serves as a wakeup call, Mimikyu is more of a genuine curveball. While Vikavolt does "break the rules" of being an Electric Trial by making Ground moves useless, it doesn't stop Ground types from still being useful. Mimikyu, however, is a gigantic brick wall against which Dark types have only some recourse, forcing you to actually think about how Mimikyu fights and prepare your counter-strategy accordingly. You want to bring Pokemon with high Def, you want to bring Steel types- probably the best answer to Mimikyu- and you want to focus on getting rid of Mimikyu's defences so you can get your hits in. And in SM, Mimikyu's backup is hitting you with Sleep, and showing you why Sleep is scary. Just because Hypnosis has terrible accuracy and Sleep is temporary doesn't mean you can shrug off Mimikyu's unresisted, unrelenting power in the meantime. And when you can't just throw out a turn 1 Z-Move or a status ailment, you have to keep them in mind. The USUM buffs are almost nerfs, in some regards.
Of course none of them got a good shot of the Mimikyu walking by.
Next time: Combing the desert.
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