The red really makes the place look evil in a way that Lusamine's cold, white mansion did not. The song tries a little harder than the Mansion needed to, though.
Our first stop is the only room that could be found in SM- Lusamine's bedroom. The mirror remains frustratingly inert.
So do I, but far less pleasant ones.
...The only thing behind there is Lusamine's trophy room, and I'm sure you haven't been in there since this adventure started.
And I'm... actually, I'm not sure whether or not I want there to be a second way in. Either way, looks like there'll be more of the mansion to explore...
And more Rocket Grunts to get in our way.
I love the contrast between Ailey and Lillie this blink frame gives. I don't think Ailey is that shocked here.
Absolutely no one is calling you Team RR.
Also you need a better pose. Flare and Skull managed just fine. As far as "could it be a reference" goes, it's probably their HGSS art.
Lillie seemed just fine against Faba, but against the Rocket Grunts themselves, what little confidence she has seems to have evaporated.
I mean, there are a lot of circumstances where it's a good idea to wait- typically if the intruder has something important to say.
I don't think Lillie fits any of those situations, but you know, keep your options open.
Obliteration does beat some of the alternatives, but, uh... not on my watch.
...Or his. I guess this gathering of the evil team leaders wouldn't be complete without the incumbent.
Although it looks like his argument is with the Rainbow Rockets.
"That pathetic group that got disbanded" is equally applicable to Rocket, Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Plasma, and Flare, you know?
Team Skull was not invited to join in the Rainbow Rocket initiative, owing to the fact that Team Skull wouldn't really get anything out of it.
Guzma does not object to the characterization.
...You mean we were meant to take away that Team Skull isn't around anymore? That's mildly upsetting...
The worst part is, I'm fairly sure that thing he can't let go is meant to be Lusamine. Really emphasising the toxic relationships Lusamine's cultivated and trying to ignore that first word.
The grunts pose to get him ejected from the building. Guzma declares "bring it".
Before roping us in. Well, can't have everything.
While I'm commenting on Team Rainbow Rocket poses, the artwork the Grunts have when challenging you to a battle has them in similar poses that HGSS's pre-battle sprites do for Rocket. This one, I think works much better, because the poses themselves are that much nicer to look at.
There are four Rainbow Rocket Grunts using Raticate, and three using Fearow, in the list of Rainbow Rocket Grunts I have to work from. This list does not match up in any way to the order the Grunts are fought in- which is annoying, because all but one of both lists includes IVs, EVs, and defined moves.
I choose to believe these two are the exceptions. Feels about right for the challenge this fight posed.
Guzma's team is unique to this encounter, but it's not super notable. He's pulling the same sorts of tricks we saw from him in the main story, and we can fight his exact team in a postgame battle later at a higher level (even if getting it to appear is a little RNG). He uses five Pokemon, the fifth one that he didn't use in his main-story battles being Scizor.
It is unlikely that he'll be required to switch out Golisopod.
That Drill Peck is kinda terrifying (and evidence that this is the boring Fearow, none of the other ones we'll find know it), but Golisopod has plenty of high Def to work with.
Although it's clear that Guzma had designs on attacking the Raticate. My bad.
Not like Fearow really liked taking a Brick Break and a Return from Usagi either way.
I dunno about you, but something's telling me Team Skull is more of a rainbow than Team Rocket could ever dream of being.
...OK, yeah, a lot of the Grunts are clearly in it to get in Plumeria's pants, but that might include the girls!
Don't feel too bad about it. Guzma beat me, too.
The two Rainbow Rocket Grunts run off in separate directions:
Opening passages for us to give chase either direction.
Looks like we know what we're doing in here.
Fortunately- or unfortunately- we don't have to worry about Guzma tagging along with us. We're charging right into the belly of the beast.
Lillie decides that, while she does have some independence to assert, dealing with Rainbow Rocket is entirely out of her ballpark.
She'll just be an indefinite free heal.
Since I'm team-cycling, I'm never actually going to wind up using her. Maybe if I had the PC on me like in later games.
Guzma's job will be making sure Rainbow Rocket stays where they are. They do seem interested in doing that, but best to be sure.
We'll be starting on the left-hand side. This is the most involved room of the four we'll see, and it does kinda set a bad impression, but it's also a nice font of EXP.
The blue circles are teleporting tiles, the likes of which make common sights in the villainous team bases of every former evil team except Plasma. This is also, as far as I can recall, the last showing of these things to date.
Admittedly, this has less to do with modern evil teams not having the technology and more to do with the modern evil teams not having the hideouts to install them in.
...This was perhaps a bad room to teleport into.
...That's the Team Rocket I know and love. They've got ten guys to ambush one kid and fail dramatically at actually seizing them.
Three Tentacruels running around in here, and no lucky break this time- we will have to start playing with the hard ones. Rainbow Rocket Grunts use investments of flat 15s with 30s in their dominant stats, 252 EVs in said stats, and what can be described as a single trick.
This one is invested in HP/Sp. Def and has the moves Toxic and Protect.
And... only those two moves.
Still, the Sp. Def lets it do this. And this is plenty annoying enough to be getting on with.
Particularly when this is what's waiting for us.
"I mean, I was clearly using stall tactics! How could you screw that up?"
Never trust these guys with anything important.
They will find a way to screw it up. Even if that shouldn't be possible.
Each of the four rooms we will be exploring has a unique type of puzzle. This route will be a traditional sort of puzzle among evil teams: The teleporting tile maze. Fortunately, the visualisation isn't as complicated as Silph Co., Team Aqua Hideout or the Galactic Building, but these puzzles are always hard to write directions and/or Trainer lists to.
Taking the top of these teleporters will give you a fairly tidy circle of Grunts before spitting you back out at the entrance.
No, but I have a map. Does that count?
Arbok is very much in line with Team Rocket expectations. There are non-zero odds they put Arbok in the Alola Dex for the sole purpose of having them in Rainbow Rocket. Three possible Arboks this could be, of course.
Ah, excellent, we'll get the chance to find out:
RUDE! This one has 30 IVs in Def, Sp. Def and HP, with EVs in just Def and Sp. Def, and its only move is Spite. Every hit you land that doesn't KO it wears your PP down greatly, and there's a few teleporters until we get out of here.
Fortunately, I shouldn't need Shiva for the other opponents.
Well, it will let me know I have been in this room.
Next room up, we've got another Rocket Grunt, this one a male, and in a room with an item. Also no inert teleport tiles.
Primeape. Only two of those.
OK NEVER MIND SHIVA WAS A BAD CHOICE
...Ahem. This one's invested in Atk/Spd, with Brick Break and all three Elemental Punches (Fire, Thunder, and Ice). I'm actually kinda surprised it outsped Shiva, but I guess it is fast and vastly outlevels her.
...You have Thunder Punch, why not use that?
Fortunately, I can Aqua Jet this.
This guy. This idiot. At least he's being positive.
Electrode (Blue): It stores electric energy under very high pressure. It often explodes with little or no provocation.
Here's a return of a bit of a running gag in series history! In certain dungeons in past games, carelessly checking every item on the ground would result in you getting an encounter with a wild Voltorb or Electrode instead of the freebie you were hoping for. This is clearly a reference to the traditional enemy type of the Mimic, although it was ultimately phased out as not being entirely fitting for Pokemon's tone. For what it's worth, Unova, Galar and Paldea do experiment with replacements in the form of Foongus, Stunfisk, and Greavard, respectively.
Somewhat amusingly, while Team Rocket never had fake items in their dungeons (although GSC does involve Voltorb traps and Electrodes used as power supply in the Mahogany HQ), there are two villain teams who did have Electrode traps in their hideout, and all the Electrode traps in this game are in the same wings those teams' bosses live.
As a Pokemon, Electrode has high Speed and little else- its next best stats are 80 in Sp. Atk/Sp. Def. Its high Speed is high, though- SM freshly buffed it from 140 to 150, bringing it from "tied for fifth highest, slower than nine Pokemon" to "tied for fourth-highest, slower than three Pokemon" (it would have been third-highest, but Pheromosa was also added). As for what it does to be worthy of being a Mimic-alike...
Oh yeah. Explosion is a 250 BP move that used to halve the target's defence when calculating damage. Even with a paltry 50 Atk, an Electrode exploring probably KOed whatever you had out. Since it doesn't do that anymore, it's much more likely this'll just brush off whatever you have out.
The absence of a move like this is also probably part of the reason Pokemon doesn't really do mimics anymore. Foongus can Spore you and Greavard has some decent attack power on its own merits, but they just don't make traps like they used to.
Completely empty room. I assume for the sole purpose of disorienting the player, I sure can't think of anything better.
Uh, no, lady, that's an Ampharos- oh, were you talking to me?
Three possible Hypnos this could've been. I oneshot this one with Ailey, so she couldn't tell you for certain.
Ray can, though! Def/Spd, with Hypnosis and Dream Eater. Volty, fortunately, dodged.
What, couldn't use Mightyena for the joke?
...Or, hell, Lycanroc, that's a wolf.
One of these teleporters takes you to the inert one back at the start of this loop. The other one is the escape.
Also, there was an item here. This is the only freebie Iron Ball in any Alola game. Took its time getting here.
It's this one that's the escape. It'll put you in the entrance proper.
Anyway, next room, and whoa that's a lot of Grunts.
Amazingly, every single one has their own line of dialogue. I appreciate the hustle.
Two of them are absolutely hilarious about their futility.
Top one this time leads to a simple dead end.
First repeat of many. Well, we've ruled out one...
And clearly we'll be fighting this one a while...
Ah, Wring Out. This one invested in HP/Sp. Def, I can see why it took some time. Not that Wring Out is something to write home about.
Something's telling me you upset your bosses and they posted you here.
One has to wonder why these teleporters are rigged to go elsewhere in the room. Are these Grunts supposed to stand here all the time?
(As another cute series nod, there is a warp puzzle with the same idea- just without the Grunts being the barricade- in the hideout of the boss of this wing.)
The annoying thing about getting screenshots of all of these guys is that there's not enough space to squeeze past the teleport tiles on this row. I assume it's easier if you talk to them from the back, but still. Talking to the two end guys is a pain.
The two funniest ones of this batch. I wouldn't be worried about your pay, mate.
The top teleporter has a series of rooms with Grunts before spitting you back at start. The puzzle this is referencing didn't do that, but at least we're not trapped this time.
Ailey, Champion of Alola.
And you are using a Raticate. Forgive me if I am not alarmed.
Oh hello, this one's the surprise one! Invested in Sp. Atk/Spd, this one's making use of Raticate's oddly deep Special movepool by carrying Thunder, Blizzard, Shadow Ball, and Grass Knot. I'm more amazed it got off any attack at all.
Way to make me wish I got one with Limber...
Particularly when I'm paralysed so many dang times...
Thank goodness I finally got an attack off.
...You don't genuinely think that Raticate was an impressive KO, right?
Next up, a Rainbow Rocket Grunt that makes me highly concerned what's going on here. Like, I'm sure we're not supposed to think this guy has a point, but still... you're in a mansion where two children were abused by fear of their mother. Perspective.
Three possible Haunters, none of them with genuine attacking moves. It's just a question of what jerk move you're going to get.
And this one's the Destiny Bond one. 31 IVs and 252 EVs in Speed... and flat zeroes in everything else.
Its sole purpose is to be an easy win that promptly KOes whatever it is you used to KO it. Much more threatening if there was a Trainer between him and Lillie.
You did, you blithering idiot.
...And don't think this gets you off the hook for the creepiness.
Well, this is a boring room. Might as well have been another empty.
Back before the lined up dorks.
Going down both times gets us to the end.
Going down a third time gets us into a literal loop- we can go around these four rooms in circles.
I knew full well this was going to be a dead end.
Only two of these, surprisingly.
HP/Atk, only knows Fake Out and Feint. This is the annoying one.
...Rainbow isn't a colour. Who told you that and what was their agenda?
Counter-clockwise lap, mostly because it's the left hand portal in this particular room.
Just items in the left and right anyway.
...And the bottom, too. Hold on, I'll get the Grunt first...
Two Golbats- surprising, given Zubat is one of Rocket's standbys.
Sp. Atk/Spd, with Sludge Bomb and Heat Wave. Ailey handled hers just fine, not sure what Dawn's issue was.
Maybe if the teleporters weren't in the middle of the room. Do you know how you shut those off, anyway?
That's a really nice one to grab.
Certainly better than the Electrode in this one.
I caught one of these. I actually had half an idea to set up an Electrode to use the move Eerie Impulse on some of the bosses in here, but I just never really felt like putting down the Rainbow Rocket gameplay to go and kit it out. There are some bosses in here that I sure would've liked it on, but I'm not really sure if it was worth going out of my way for.
And we're back in here. The Rainbow Rocket Grunt on patrol has gone into the corner, so we know we've been here for sure.
Next room, then...
They actually saw the Grunt wall failing? Why even bother with it, then? Seems like a waste of manpower a fence could've replaced for much cheaper.
...
Do they just not see the teleport tiles?
The one competent Grunt ambushes us, before noticing the cunning idea seems to have gone up in smoke.
He decides this cunning plan could still work, since clearly he's the only competent one anyway...
Another Raticate. This one might be the Super Fang one (Def/Spd), because I think I'd notice the Sucker Punch/Quick Attack one (Atk/Def). Could also have skipped my mind because I'd expect to see that move.
Sorry, guy. They're blind as Zubats.
You can enter the teleport tiles the Grunts happened into, and find them in dead ends. To really emphasise the awkwardness of how stupidly they foiled their own plans, they won't actually battle you if you get in their line of sight- they'll only battle you if you click on them.
There are a small handful of Grunts with two Pokemon. These ones are easier for me to track down which grunt is which, but I should emphasise: There are only four of them. 12%.
Both of these two are Speed sweepers- Hypno Sp. Atk, Primeape Atk. The Hypno has Dazzling Gleam, Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Signal Beam, while the Primeape only has Close Combat. One of these two got favouritism, and it wasn't the one that can use it.
This whole "showing up in another world" thing is also not exactly going swimmingly, either.
...Does it let you escape this maze? You might want that more.
At least there's a real reason to check things out here.
(No there isn't, but we'll get to that later.)
Particularly since she's got just the one Arbok.
Invested in Def/Sp. Def, with the moves Glare, Stockpile, and Mud Bomb. I think the plan is for accuracy drops with Mud Bomb, but it's not the greatest plan. Not that any of these plans really count as great.
If your life choices thus far have taken you to be a faceless goon in an organisation currently doing an interdimensional hostile takeover over an already pretty corrupt "wildlife preservation" society, I feel like a rethink is in order.
This is "the end" of the wing. We've gotta fight two more Grunts before we can say we're ready for the boss, though.
There's always a freebie item in the corner, not that we're really still paying attention to what these are.
It doesn't get cleared up in a hurry, but the joke with these guys is that the other Grunt is the supervisor, and not the man who is very obviously his superior within Rainbow Rocket right behind this door.
Two of these hanging around.
...Well, that's terrifying. Invested in Atk/Spd with Sky Attack and Drill Run, and if that crit, that would've KOed Sue. I know that from experience.
Fortunately, this time, Sue will survive to get the Amulet Coin on the other guy.
...I could come up with ideas with what to do with more Dragon type attacks.
Every time, when you beat the first one of these two door guards, they'll start throwing a temper tantrum.
Now it's time to see if the supervisor is any better than the supervised.
Kantonian Muk (Ultra Moon): Because they scatter germs everywhere, they've long been targeted for extermination, leading to a steep decline in their population.
Three Kantonian Muks hanging around, which does point out this is our first time seeing the Kantonian Muk in person. Its Moon and Ultra Sun entries also go into detail about how the species is facing extinction, which does raise the question of "if you do so much pollution it grows sentience, is it ethical to then clean up the mess you've made?"
...I'm not sure if I'm fully on board with the implications of that question.
All right, so which Muk did we get?
Dangit, the Minimise one. Invested in HP/Sp. Def (thankfully I'm using the right attacking stat!), with Toxic, Minimise, and Mud-Slap. I don't think I've ever seen the AI get so degenerate in a random battle.
If I didn't hit that attack, I'd probably need to use the entire party to finally get a good hit.
Kindly do not show the newbie that Toxic accuracy stall is a valid tactic.
This is a bit of a weird thing, but of all of the evil team bosses we have seen thus far, the one behind this door is definitely the one that treats his minions best. I'm not entirely sure it was a major element of his character, though, and it's proven a little tricky to prove he did.
This guy just feels a bit more confident on seeing we beat someone he's clearly worse than. No point beating himself up over losing to us if we're that much higher up on the pecking order.
Oh come on, Kukui, if I can't use the Escape Rope here, where am I supposed to use it? Fine, I'll walk out and change my team...
Crysantha with Choice Scarf turns up surprisingly often. It's mainly because of all the Dark types running around in these boss fights.
Sue is an incredible counter to one Pokemon in specific. Not great in general, but sometimes, that's all you need.
For one, Justy has found an opponent that might actually make him eat that Yache Berry.
Ridley is a surprisingly competent choice for this boss fight, and surprisingly, it turns out that Signal Beam is going to be a move she wants to click.
These bosses are going to invite the use of Mega Genevieve, Mega Shade, and Mega Usagi. Genevieve strikes me as the best choice here.
Zossie's here for the EXP, and also because she can probably pull weight if she happens to need to be deployed.
It is time to fight the first of the non-Team Rocket members of Team Rainbow Rocket: And surprisingly, depending on how you count it, you could interpret that literally, too.
Another mention of Archie's standard for treating his men well. The issue with this comes as a matter of canon.
Archie, as he appears in USUM, is actually from the "non-Mega Evolution timeline"- ie, Pokemon RSE. Most of the "Archie is a good man to his men" stuff is from ORAS in particular, although given that Team Aqua is one of the two evil teams that genuinely means well, ascribing those qualities to RSE Archie doesn't come out of left field- particularly since he was always kind of using the pirate captain aesthetic.
Although the man does call his minions "simps" in both RSE and ORAS. (In the "simpleton" definition- the colloquial definition didn't become mainstream until ~2019, which is after even this game).
For reasons that will become apparently when we get into the boss fight, the bosses of the evil teams come from variations of the timeline in which they were victorious in whatever their evil scheme happened to be- specifically, they either just accomplished or were about to accomplish whatever they were doing when, in the versions of the games we played, the protagonist they were meant to face fought them for the final time.
This is actually kinda hilarious for Archie in specific.
I'm not 100% sure that's what the boss of Rainbow Rocket gave you this room for, but I won't argue.
In a bit of "a house divided against itself can't stand", most of the evil team leaders want different things, and are more interested in accomplishing their old objectives than unifying for the one the boss of Rainbow Rocket wants. Perhaps we didn't need to interfere here.
We still probably should, but...
Oh, actually, that's a good point to bring up the "these guys are victorious" element- Archie has caught his world's Kyogre for himself, and will use it on us in the battle to come.
So yeah, I've been talking about how Archie just finished doing what he was doing when May fights him in the Seafloor Cavern in Sapphire and Emerald? After that fight, May actually fails to stop Archie from awakening Kyogre and summoning a torrential downpour that threatens to flood Hoenn. What happens then, however, is that Archie promptly sees with his own eyes that flooding all of Hoenn was a terrible idea to begin with. It's rather lucky for Team Rainbow Rocket that Archie was summoned at the exact moment before Matt and Shelly called him to tell him they need to rethink their life choices.
You can tell this is RSE Archie because he thinks humans will benefit from this arrangement. Alpha Sapphire recharacterises Team Aqua into a group that thinks humanity sucks and wants to return the world to the state it was in before we got here, which helps a lot in explaining why he doesn't really care about where all the people will live in this flooded world.
Every time we prepare to fight an evil team leader, there's this short animation of us literally stepping up. Annoyingly, I think this is the only time it's shot from Ailey's left- I complain mostly because when they show it from the right, you don't get a good look at that hair accessory.
Both Team Magma and Team Aqua exist in all versions of the Hoenn story, the only thing that changes based on which game you're playing is which one(s) are working on their objectives. The one you're not currently fighting does like to "help", but it's not like you ever do a Multi Battle with them or anything.
All of the evil team leaders get five Pokemon- one of which is their Legendary, and the rest are selected from their team in their canon game- as well as a remix of their boss battle tune. And yes, they actually use it this time! They have Serious Natures, flat 25 IVs (30 for their Legendary), 252 EVs in two stats, and set moves. Archie is famous for using Water types, but he's only carrying two today.
Mightyena (Emerald): In the wild, Mightyena live in a pack. They never defy their leader's orders. They defeat foes with perfectly coordinated teamwork.
Mightyena is a pure Dark type that serves a role as an incredibly basic early Pokemon in RSE. It's not the local rodent- that would be Zigzagoon- but it might as well be. Archie's Mightyena is invested in Atk/Def, has the moves Crunch, Fire Fang, Ice Fang, and Thunder Fang, and has the Intimidate Ability. Team Magma and Aqua both love using Mightyena, and I can't help but wonder if that fact was supposed to be demonstrating the power of the Intimidate Ability for the first time on a playerbase that had never seen Abilities before.
There is no way to acquire Mightyena in any Alola game at present. Mightyena was distributed in a JP-only event (they had a series where you could get six Pokemon, one belonging to each evil team boss represented in Rainbow Rocket), but otherwise, it's one of the handful of legacy Pokemon they brought back for the sole purpose of filling Rainbow Rocket's teams with the Pokemon you remember them having, rather than forcing them to conform to the Alola Dex's limitations. Saying that aloud, odds aren't great this sort of thing is ever going to happen again.
Intimidate makes things awkward if you plan is to punch in the face with a Fighting move.
So I just Moonblasted instead. I probably could've got away without the Scarf, but I don't think anyone else wanted it.
Muk is actually another one of those weird choices- in RSE, Archie only had three Pokemon. ORAS gave him a fourth, and chose Muk for the job. Seems RSE Archie was holding back on us. 252 EVs in Atk/Sp. Def, and the moves Gunk Shot, Thunder Punch, Fire Punch, and Ice Punch.
Really trying the same trick and expecting different results, aren't we?
Nope. Turns out we will not be eating our Yache Berry today. To be fair, Fire Punch is neutral and also has a chance of applying Burn, which would stop Justy far more effectively than a good hit would do.
High Horsepower hitting Muk where it hurts.
Kinda surprising to see Sharpedo so soon. This is Archie's ace, and since Archie is from RSE, it is not holding Sharpedonite. What it is carrying, however, are the moves Liquidation, Night Slash, Ice Fang, and Poison Fang, with Atk/Spd investment. This thing hits hard, but its coverage leaves a lot to be desired without Mega Sharpedo's Strong Jaw.
It's got 186 Speed, so it's hard to outpace, but Ridley's just fine with taking a hit.
And it's so frail that even a move I should've replaced a long time ago is oneshotting.
Rough Skin is its Ability, so if you attack it Physically, it's going to give you some scratch damage. It'll probably only do so once, though.
Evil team leaders and Crobats, name a more iconic duo. Archie's gone with a Sp. Atk/Spd build, using Sludge Bomb, Air Slash, Dark Pulse, and Toxic. New and unique, certainly, and it looks like the plan is to flinch while he's at it.
Pretty vulnerable to Rocks, though.
...Annoyingly, I don't oneshot. Stupid Crobat bulk...
Oi!
Fortunately, I got the second hit, but all that damage and Toxic meant I lost Sue, too. Fortunately, Sue wouldn't be much help anyway.
Kyogre (Sapphire): Kyogre is named in mythology as the Pokémon that expanded the sea by covering the land with torrential rains and towering tidal waves. It took to sleep after a cataclysmic battle with Groudon.
Time for our first Legendary. Kyogre is a pure Water type, and investments in Sp. Atk/Sp. Def show Kyogre means business in establishing itself as king of the bulky Waters. It's carrying Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Thunder, and Ancient Power, and will take some serious doing to down.
And, of course, Drizzle, to power up Hydro Pump and give Thunder perfect accuracy. Drizzle really does look different now that Politoed and Pelipper are using it to set up Swift Swim sweeps.
You get a Legendary? I get a Mega. Sadly, Mold Breaker isn't doing anything herre.
The Dragon type means that Genevieve now does resist Hydro Pump, although the fact I'm still at half health says plenty.
I was considering upgrading to Thunder, to take advantage of the rain. I guess that's my bad for not committing, but I don't think it would've saved me.
And now that Genevieve is a Dragon, she's suddenly weak to Ice. Dang.
All right, who else is good on Water... Crysantha, hopefully your bulk helps!
Fortunately it does, because it turns out Crysantha can't finish with just Giga Drain. Thunder would probably have helped there, but Hydro Pump's miss chance was enough for us.
"Like I figured" is Archie's defeat quote in Alpha Sapphire. In Sapphire, it's instead "I... I lost again?", and in Emerald, it's "What?! I lost to a mere child like you?!" Alpha Sapphire Archie really is a more mellow sort of fellow, huh?
If you want to be said to "control the ocean", you need more than a shark and a lleviathan. At least pack an eel and a catfish!
I'm told I can be quite persuasive.
There's a token effort to explain what, exactly, we're doing by fighting Archie, but it's only token.
Also Archie more or less confirming that the evil team leader waiting for us in the east wing is Maxie.
Well... yes, but actually no. Your great dream sucks.
Pushing this button does nothing for now- we'll need to have pushed Maxie's button before anything happens.
It does, however, open a teleporter back to the starting room, so we don't have to walk back again.
The east wing will be, thankfully, a lot shorter and have fewer trainers.
We've still got puzzles, but they don't test our navigational skills this time.
I notice you omitted Green. Just like the localisation!
This would be the other Golbat. HP/Spd, with only Super Fang as its move. And once again, Dawn is the one showing it off.
I noticed.
This room contains a memory puzzle, where we are given a sequence of lit-up buttons and told to repeat the pattern by standing on each one. The colours are in the same position each time, so assuming you can tell the difference between a lit button and an unlit one, this is pure memory, nothing actually colour-based.
In retrospect, I wonder if the puzzle for the Max Repels in Malie City was using the same mechanic internally.
Now then, I am unwilling to state this claim as fact, but a guide I looked up for a map of Archie's wing also made this claim: The game only has three patterns for each puzzle. The patterns it lists for the first puzzle are:
- Blue, Red, Blue, Red
- Red, Green, Blue, Yellow
- Yellow, Yellow, Green, Blue
As you can see, Ailey got one of these patterns. I can confirm Ray did, too.
Successfully repeating the pattern turns on the teleport tile at the other end.
In the next room, there's a litter item and a Grunt who isn't eager to challenge us to a fight. Interesting.
- Green, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, Blue
- Green, Blue, Blue, Red, Green, Red
- Yellow, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red
Once again, got a match. As an aside, you have to step off and then back on to repeat a button.
After inputting three buttons, the Rocket Grunt will leap into action, but rather than fight us, he elects to just distract us and hope for the best.
This feels like the tone of humour from Pokemon Ranger.
Even without having the patterns listed, it's pretty easy to remember the pattern even with the pose.
These Grunts are similarly reticent to do battle, but don't seem to be answering why.
- Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red, Green, Green, Red
- Red, Blue, Yellow, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Green
- Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red
This is when you might want to have a paper or textbox handy to right down the combination in. A human's short-term memory is commonly understood to be 7 plus or minus 2 things, so without a memory heuristic, you might be hard-pressed to remember the pattern even if nothing happened.
These Grunts have saved their desire to battle us for when it matters most.
The other Primeape.
This one's got Seismic Toss only, meaning it can only do exactly 62 damage. Invested in Sp. Def/Spd, incidentally.
The Grunts' defeat quotes are entirely to throw you off. If the listed sequences are the only ones, Yellow is next in only one of them, while there exists a Red, Green, Blue pattern. Otherwise, it's just garbage.
The other Rocket Grunt challenges us after three additional correct answers (six total), and has two Pokemon this time.
Which means I know for sure what's going on here. Toxic Spikes and Barrier, with Sp. Def/Spd. Irritating, but can't do anything to the thing you have in the lead.
And this also only works if you don't have a Poison type. I don't think I have Zossie on me right now, though.
Persian has Atk/Spd, with Fake Out, Protect, Slash, and Play Rough. She is here to stall, and make it that much harder to remember the last two buttons.
Oh come on...
I had to have Justy Dynamic Punch, since poor Robin couldn't take the heat.
Funnily enough, you never do have to press Blue after this Trainer.
Thanks to having these lists of sequences, these guys were of absolutely no object.
Hahaha... Some careless idiot wrote down the codes. Reckon it was the guy in the last room?
If you do mess up in a room with a distraction, the guards will taunt you over it. It's worth noting that, on restarting, you might get a new pattern, but even doing the eight combo four times with Ray, I only saw patterns on the list. Odds are looking good that thing checks out.
It's worth noting that these two still interrupt on repeated attempts, but don't actually fight you. It's easier the second or third go around, if they're really messing with you.
If you think the way forward is to the right, you would be mistaken.
Sure enough, we've got a Muk user. At least she's not the Minimise one. HP/Atk, with Gunk Shot and the three Elemental Punches, befitting a fan of the Pokemon.
I quite recommend using the Alolan Muk. Not quite as evil, though, but it is more effective than the original.
X Item and the third Electrode in here. When I said that the Electrodes were referencing the fact they've been traps in two evil team's bases, I, uh... meant that they were traps in only one base. Even in Emerald, where both Magma and Aqua are active, the Electrode traps are only in Aqua's base.
This is our stop.
I think this is the same prize...
..."Puzzle" might've been a bit of a stretch...
Second Haunter. This one went down like a chump, so we're waiting on Spite (Def/Sp. Def) or Night Shade (Sp. Def/Spd). The latter is the better one, but I think Normal types are immune to Night Shade...
And I was using Leona.
I've got this far, that's plenty far enough to be worth something.
Huh. No doubles in this fight. I guess they used it up earlier.
They made up for it with this being an awful Hypno. HP/Sp. Def, carrying the moves Thunder Wave, Swagger, Attract, and Foul Play.
It can and will inflict you with three status ailments that give you only a chance of attacking each turn. This is the most depraved of tactics, and it's pretty hard to avoid all three- particularly since two of them are non-volatiles and the usual tactics don't really block those.
It's kinda hilarious that Shiva wound up finishing the job, though.
Yes, you are an effective Grunt.
Please learn a better strategy. You're just agonising relying on that sort of technique.
Apparently these guys aren't nearly as impressed with Magma as they are with Aqua.
Characterisation-wise, Maxie shares a lot in common with Giovanni. Their distinctions are key, but personably, one can see how the two are similar enough to warrant this comparison.
Maxie and Archie shared their homework, and to be quite honest, Crysantha and Sue remain the best counterstrategies to the two Pokemon they share in common. Boring? Maybe. But that's their problem, not mine.
Shiva is a bit of a weird choice for Team Magma, but she hits a few key opponents hard where I need her to and wasn't exactly taking much in return.
This is a bit more in line with what a counter to Team Magma is expected to look like. Unfortunately, I don't expect Chip to win that fight, but...
Consilia's job is to be a hilarious, very specific counter to the Legendary, and even then probably just starting the fight rather than finishing it. Still, that could be important enough.
Hawkeye will be cleaning up whatever Consilia doesn't with Choice Band High Jump Kick.
Where Archie was a man of the sea, his rival is a man of volcanoes. Well, he describes himself as a man of the land, but this proved an interesting claim on the island region of Hoenn.
The worst part is, I could totally believe Faba sticking his nose where it wasn't wanted would be indistinguishable from my brand of "break into evil team bases and cause mayhem".
Similarly to Archie, Maxie got a redesign and recharacterisation for ORAS missing from his appearance here. While Archie got a massive redesign, complete with a newfound tan, Maxie mostly got a pair of glasses, and his new plan design focuses on the progress of mankind. This ties in rather neatly to the "Alpha and Omega" symbolism added to the remakes- Kyogre represents the genesis of all life, while Groudon represents the culmination. While Archie wants to regress the world to its birth, Maxie wants to progress the state of humanity.
The fact that Maxie is more curt and formal still shines through, but it kinda feels like it's missing something without the designs of the rest of the team- Team Aqua are raffish and comfortable, while Team Magma are uniform and organised. This is taken to the logical extreme by Team Magma, and Team Magma alone, having an evil team pose that even the Admins perform.
Surprisingly, I could only find one instance of ORAS Maxie using the word "fascinating". It almost feels like one of his iconic words, but I suppose I'm thinking of Caulder.
The downside of having both Maxie and Archie separately, and using their old designs, is that their status as evil team clones makes them repeat themselves.
Now granted, one could throw this criticism at the teams that aren't directly substituting for one another, but these two make it obvious.
While Team Aqua's evil plan was forestalled by the fact that that's not how rain works, Team Magma's evil plan is more obviously forestalled by that's not how volcanoes work. Like... the new land volcanoes make typically covers pre-existing land, while volcanoes at sea are more likely to destroy islands.
Maxie is concerned with the overpopulation crisis, and the need for humanity to expand beyond its current borders.
While Archie's issue was thinking humanity's expansion is a bad thing, Maxie's issue is thinking humanity's expansion is a good thing. Although it's much easier to see why one might think we should be considering it such.
The fact that both Archie and Maxie end their speeches with the same line really emphasises the whole "different rhetoric, same problems" that Magma and Aqua like to find themselves in.
The irony of the matter is, because they've both set up shop in Hoenn, they are coming into conflict over each other's perfect worlds. They try. So hard.
And that is why they need to be stopped.
(You can see what I mean about Ailey's right-hand profile not looking quite as photogenic as her left?)
No matter which side you start with, you're going to get the same impression.
While Archie is obviously a fan of Water types, Maxie's specialty is a little muddier. Magma has typically been portrayed as users of Fire types, but in practice, they also use Ground types too. Either way, the fact that Team Aqua clearly has an advantage here is a common joke.
Maxie and Archie share a theme as well as a region.
I like how Maxie's organised nature gets emphasised even with his old design. But yeah, uh... remember Archie's Mightyena? Maxie's Mightyena is identical in every respect. Same stat distribution. Same moves. Same Intimidate Ability.
Same Moonblast to the face.
Maxie's also got the same Crobat as Archie, complete with the weird decision of making it a Special Attacker. Which is why we're approaching it with the same Sue.
Maxie decided to start with trying to flinch me, and failed.
Sue didn't oneshot, although it turns out this is an excellent thing for us.
This Full Restore could've been used on a much worse target.
Particularly when Crobat's not flinching me at all. Toxic sucks, but I'm allowed to attack unhindered with it.
And Sue's even on hand for later opponents! I'm not sure she'll like them, but the option exists!
Camerupt (Sapphire): The humps on Camerupt's back are formed by a transformation of its bones. They sometimes blast out molten magma. This Pokémon apparently erupts often when it is enraged.
Maxie's sent out his ace, Camerupt, which is a surprising absence from USUM. Of all of the Pokemon capable of Mega Evolution, Camerupt is the only one that cannot be acquired within USUM directly. Which is weird, considering Maxie wants one for his team. And also because Alola is famously volcanic- you'd think this'd show up in Wela Volcano Park.
Anyway, Maxie is using a mixed attacking Camerupt, investing in Atk/Sp. Atk. It's carrying the moves Flamethrower, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Flash Cannon, and like Archie, is not carrying its Cameruptite from ORAS. To add insult to injury, it's also using Magma Armour as its Ability (prevents freezing, found only on it and Magcargo) and not its superior Solid Rock Ability, which gives it a glaring x4 Water weakness.
Nature takes its course.
Weezing (Ruby): Weezing loves the gases given off by rotted kitchen garbage. This Pokémon will find a dirty, unkempt house and make it its home. At night, when the people in the house are asleep, it will go through the trash.
Maxie's fourth Pokemon in ORAS, to correspond with Archie's Muk, is the other pure Poison type found in Hoenn, Weezing. Weezing is the third and final pollution Pokemon to correspond with Muk and Garbodor, and is a particularly physically defensive Pokemon. Maxie has invested in Def/Sp. Def, and has given the kit Sludge Bomb, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, and Pain Split, for a halfway decent bulky attacker were Weezing particularly strong offensively.
Do note that Weezing has the Levitate Ability, so it is weak only to Psychic moves. It later gained a full suite of possible Abilities, but that would start with SwSh.
Groudon (Sapphire): Groudon has the power to scatter rain clouds and make water evaporate with light and heat. It came as a savior to people who had been suffering from terrible floods.
Much as Archie has his Kyogre, Maxie has a Groudon. Groudon is a pure Ground type, and would not gain a Fire typing until its Primal Reversion (which Maxie is also not using). What he does have, however, is an Atk/Def investment, with the moves Earthquake, Flamethrower, Ancient Power, and Solar Beam. Do you notice anything unusual here? Groudon is ignoring its 150 Atk plus investment in all its moves but Earthquake! This feels like a kit that was designed with RSE in mind, and even then it's not that great. In addition to Kyogre's fantastic stats and typing, Groudon also suffers from bad synergy with its Drought ability. Primal Reversion fixes pretty much all of these problems.
For us, however, a Flying type with an Assault Vest should leave Groudon pretty humiliated.
Budget Togekiss! Air Slash's 30% flinch chance is frustrating enough without Togekiss's signature T-Wave and Serene Grace, and Consilia will be milking it for what it's worth.
Groudon has base 100 Sp. Atk, which isn't nothing, but without the EVs, it's very much not dressing to impress with this kit.
Consilia humiliated him.
Unlike Archie, this is not a direct port of Maxie's ORAS defeat quote- there, he used "You've really done it, child. You've shown a power that exceeds that of the great Maxie!". Falling behind by an inch does, however, come up in his ORAS defeat quote on the Mt. Chimney battle. I wonder if the devs, when choosing defeat quotes, mistakenly thought that ORAS Maxie was fought on Mt. Chimney as his final battle, similar to Emerald, and forgot that ORAS follows Ruby's plot and has Maxie's final battle in Seafloor Cavern.
"Master" implies you had a plan worth doing.
It's because you're an idiot.
This isn't the first time you've tried to execute your plans on an island sort of region. Alola is probably more wet than Hoenn, and to be honest, setting off volcanoes to expand the landmass is probably a better idea here. Still pretty terrible overall, though.
Been there, done that.
Hopefully you go back to a timeline where May exists.
Red and blue pictures pushed.
These open the doors to two more side rooms for Rainbow Rocket's Castle. Part of me wonders if each button should've opened one door, but they do have good reasons for doing it this way.
Particularly for what they do with this.
Going back to the main room, and, uh...
Yeah, Guzma, what's happening over there?
Guzma, you are currently engaged in physical violence. Something is going on here, and I'm hoping it's good news for you.
Guzma has enough of an advantage to do some actual questioning while he's doing this.
Not enough of an advantage to get anything useful out of it.
Oh, don't be a baby, it's harder than you think to cover your mouth and nose at that angle. Especially if you're moving like that.
Classic terrible Grunt behaviour. I don't think Skull ever did this class of stupid, but that's more because Team Skull never had a plan complicated enough that telling us anything would ruin it.
They wrote down their passwords on paper and left it littering the mansion, but that's not quite the same class of stupid.
But yet you are still struggling as vigorously. I would have expected it to die down by now.
Guzma, you're not stupid. You just have petty ambitions. And your issues are with society, not with fundamental laws of nature that you are unable to change.
...I'd ask the same of you two.
Having to fight both Maxie and Archie first sets up a great opportunity to talk to each other. Having the evil teams talking to one another feels like part of the appeal of Rainbow Rocket, but they don't really do this often. Even Magma and Aqua is something that turns up in the Hoenn games.
They might be remembering different outcomes of the same fight.
With what Pokemon? Or have you healed up already?
I'm sure the rest of the Rainbow Rocket bosses are going to be just fine with that.
Also that.
As they walk off, they find themselves suddenly pulsing with energy, before vanishing. Hopefully that means they are no longer our problem!
Well, Guzma's hands are a little full to ask that question, and we should be dealing with the guys who are still on a plane of existence I can interact with.
You lot made your bed, now lie in it.
If you talk to Guzma, he expresses his interest in doing this for as long as required. He will be doing this until Team Rocket is ejected from the mansion entirely. I think I've discovered newfound levels of respect for the man.
Next time: The other bosses of Rainbow Rocket.
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