Elite 4

     The strongest group of trainers of their respective regions, The Elite 4!! The final challenge before the final battle in every main series game. As the title suggest, they are four powerful trainers to face, and you have to face them one after another, without getting to use a full healing from nurse joy.

     All five regions of the main series games have their own Elite 4, including Johto, but it's more of a transaction of three years from the events in Kanto, with both sharing the name of the Indigo League. Each Elite 4 member specializes in a specific type, though in some cases the trainer may not have every pokemon with a mutual type(like the generation one Kanto Elite 4, due to pokemon amounts).

Here's the Elite from each region(In order):

Kanto:
Lorelei-Ice type user
Bruno-Fighting type user
Agatha-Ghost type user
Lance-Dragon type user

Johto:
Will-Psychic type user
Koga-Poison type user
Bruno-Fighting type user
Karen-Dark type user

Hoenn:
Sidney-Dark type user
Phoebe-Ghost type user
Glacia-Ice type user
Drake-Dragon type user

Sinnoh:
Aaron-Bug type user
Brenda-Ground type user
Flint-Fire type user
Lucian-Psychic type user

Unova(from left to right):
Shauntal-Ghost type user
Grimsley-Dark type user
Caitlin-Psychic type user
Marshal-Fighting type user


(generation 1-4 Elite 4)

Now, for the trivia!

Unova's Elite 4 is the first one to allow any order of the Elite 4 to be battled, thus having each member having their pokemon at the same levels.

It use to be that the Elite 4's pokemon levels were set no matter how many times you battled them. In Firered and Leafgreen, after you accomplish enough in the post game, you can re-battle the Elite 4 with higher leveled pokemon. This came back in Platinum, and has stayed continuous with every main series game since.

The standard for an Elite 4 member is to have five pokemon each. Unova broke this once again having four for the first battle. More so, when re-challenging the Elite 4 in Heartgold and Soulsilver after accomplishing enough in post game, each Elite 4 member have six pokemon for all battles. This has continued on in Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 in post game battles.

Will from the Johto Elite 4 has the lowest level pokemon with his Xatu at level 40 in all battles in generation two, and before the level increase in Heartgold and Soulsilver. All Unova members have their respective highest level pokemon as the highest of all Elite 4 members with level 79.

As you can tell from the types of the Elite 4, the Ghost, Dark, Psychic, and Fighting types all have been in the Elite 4 the most times: Three times each.

All of the members from the Kanto Elite 4 and the Sinnoh Elite 4 have made appearances in the anime.

It is unlikely to meet a member of the Elite 4 outside of the respective League you battle them in.

In Black 2 and White 2, there are an assortment of medals to obtain by beating the Elite 4 with pokemon sharing a common type, as well as beating the Elite 4 with just one pokemon!

And a question to leave: Which is your favorite Elite 4 member?



Unova Elite 4.

The Rockets

     Team Rocket:





     Team Rocket's goals are to steal and sell rare, strong, and valuable pokemon for profit, and ultimately take over the world using pokemon. They mainly reside in Kanto, with sub locations in the Sevii Islands, as well as residing in Jhoto, Kanto's neighboring region. When you first encounter them in Red, Blue, Yellow, Firered, and Leafgreen, in Mt. Moon, they are searching for fossils found there to sell. They get ready to steal some fossils from someone who found a few until you defeat them.

     Next you encounter them in Cerulean City, where a member breaks into a resident's house to steal his TM. Also, on the Nugget Bridge north of Cerulean City, a grunt of Team Rocket is trying to sway trainers to join Team Rocket, including you, until you reject the offer and beat them.

     As you continue your journey, you hear about Team Rocket infiltrating Saffron City, a large town in the middle of Kanto. Eventually you reach Lavender Town, where Team Rocket is doing quite a bit of harm. They are taking the skulls of cubones that reside in the Pokemon Tower, which lead to the killing of a cubone's mother, Marowak. It also lead to a hostage situation of Mr. Fuji, the town's caretaker of pokemon.

     When you reach Celadon City, you find that Team Rocket runs the the local Game Corner, ironically named the Rocket Corner. This is where rare pokemon, as well as rare items, get sold. After searching about, you find an entrance to Team Rocket's underground base, where you fight Team Rocket, and encounter their boss, Giovanni. Later on, you reach Saffron City, where Team Rocket controls the city now, holding the Silph Co. building, and workers inside, hostage. You, get in and take Team Rocket down, reaching Giovanni again, Giovanni reveals that he is trying to get his hands on the master ball, the pokeball that always catches a pokemon. After a battle with him, with you succeeding, Team Rocket evacuates Saffron City, stopping their plans once again.

     The last you encounter of Team Rocket is in Viridian City, the location of your last gym badge. In an ironic twist, your final gym challenge is against Giovanni, a ground type user. After beating him one last time, earning your last gym badge, he disbands Team Rocket.

     In Firered and Leafgreen alone, you get to venture the Sevii Islands, encountering Team Rocket there too. Their goal is still capturing pokemon, which you find a warehouse of captured and caged pokemon on, as well as seeking a ruby and a sapphire for their own deeds, spanning a few islands. After getting both gems, as well as defeating the admins in the warehouse, only realizing then that Giovanni disbanded Team Rocket.

    Three years past, and the events of Gold, Silver, Crystal, Heartgold, and Soulsilver take place. Team Rocket is reviving yourself through the admins faced in the Sevii Islands. As the new player starting in Jhoto, you face Team Rocket in new locations. In the Slowpoke Well outside of Azalea Town, you'll encounter Team Rocket cutting off slowpoke tails, and selling them on the black market. With help from a pokeball maker named Kurt, you get them out of there, saving the slowpoke.

     Later on, in Ecruteak City, a grunt harasses a kimono girl, to where you stop him. Continuing on, you find Team Rocket's new hideout in Mahogany Town, which is used to admit high frequency sounds to cause the magikarp from the Lake of Rage, north of the town, to forcefully evolve. You travel through, and with the help of Lance, the chapion of the Kanto/Jhoto league at the time, you stop the machine, and stop the sounds.

     With a final attempt to find their leader, Giovanni, since he left and wasn't heard from, Team Rocket seizes the Goldenrod Radio Tower, just to broadcast a message to Giovanni for him to return. However, Giovanni never shows up, and you climb up the Radio Tower to defeat the second-in-command, Archer, and stop Team Rocket once again.

     When you venture through Kanto again after beating the Pokemon League, you find out someone stole parts from the Kanto Power Plant, which doesn't allow the plant to work. After a search, you find a Rocket grunt with the stolen parts, eventually hiding them before you get to face him. One you beat him, he discovers that Team Rocket has been disbanded once again, and that's the final act of Team Rocket.

     But wait, there is one last special event that happen in Heartgold and Soulsilver. If you have the special celebi, it will trigger an event where you travel back in time, and discovering your rival in Jhoto is really Giovanni's son, and find out that Giovanni did hear the broadcast from the Goldenrod Radio Tower. He was going to return, but soon stopped by you, and confirms to keep Team Rocket disbanded, and leaves.

    Isn't Team Rocket horrible?

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

     One moment, you suddenly realize you woke up in a forest, or a beach, and you see a pokemon running up to you, asking if you are ok. You struggle a little bit, feeling a little bit woozy, and you just realized the pokemon can talk in your language out of all of them(You'd think Japanese..)!

     After flinching in reaction to the talking pokemon, you ask them why they can talk, and it leads up to you realizing you are a pokemon yourself, whether by looking at your body, or checking a nearby pool of water to see your reflection. Guess what's next? You don't remember your name. If lucky, you still have your name in those unblocked memory banks, next to your vocabulary.

     Next thing you know, after you become sane again and accept your new pokemon body, that one pokemon that found you when you were hallucinating, is wanting to form a team to beat up pokemon that are more wild than you apparently, rescue random pokemon who got lost, find random bad pokemon above the wild ones you face(since fighting in the wild is not considered illegal, to the point you're knocking each other out, but taking a berry where millions of the same thing are right next to every pokemon's house without permission is punishable to life in jail), and making memories. I think the last one is the reason you form a team, since you lost all the others.

     With that, you have Pokemon Mystery Dungeon! Cue music:

     Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is a unique and special spin-off series in the pokemon franchise, because for one: You get to play as the pokemon themselves! Two: I think the first reason is enough. Many of the game mechanics differ from the main series, but in the end it gives it's own taste of an rpg that relates well to the pokemon name, but still gives it's unique attributes.

     One interesting function of PMD is your belly. For once, you can worry about if you are starving yourself, because when you are exploring/rescuing/hunting/guiding in any dungeon/forest/sea/ocean/desert/canyon/tower/waterfall/jungle/plain/cliffside/crater/sky/ect., you want to have enough food to thoroughly complete your mission.

     Another part of the mechanics is how you have a base attack now. It is like a weak form of struggle, but without recoil and you can use it whether or not you have PP left or no PP left for your moves.

     What are the dungeons so conveniently placed in the title of the series? Well, they are like mazes, labyrinths even. All dungeons are between 3-99 floors(ascending or descending), and they take place in each forest, ocean, ect. After getting further and further into the plot line in each respective PMD game, more and more dungeons are available to explore. Dungeons continue to come up after the main plot line is completed, when certain criterias are completed.

    PMD is fun in the fact you get to choose a pokemon to be, only lacking that you get a limited amount to choose from in each game, and even more by gender...but the quiz is fun though! Whether you take it seriously, or joke around, the nature determines the pokemon, literally! What makes it a bit easier is having all starters as a choice in each game, as well as pikachu. So if you had a favorite starter from the main series, you could easily choose it(If you decided to tweak the answers) as the pokemon you get to be, as well as other choices of course. Traveling partners are essential so you get a partner pokemon too! You also get a limited choice, but also limited by not being of the same type as the pokemon you start as.

     Guess I went a bit out of order of things to know first to later on. Oh well, PMD is a bit out of order compared to the main series, but in all it's a fun game. Whether you play first gen. PMD, which is the Rescue Team era with Red and Blue Rescue Team, or the second gen. PMD, being the Explorers era with Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky! In Japan, it has some excluded PMD games, as well with a new one coming out later this month, called, "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate and the Infinite Labyrinth".

 (Look, they are connected!)
 

                            
 

Lost Silver

     Firered, Leafgreen; Heartgold, Soulsilver. Remakes sure are interesting, aren't they? With generation one and two unable to connect to the other three(two at the time of Heartgold and Soulsilver). At first people thought early in generation three, "How can we get pokemon native to the Jhoto and Kanto region that aren't already in Hoenn?" The answer there at first was Firered and Leafgreen. Those two games gave accesss to the Kanto region pokemon, as well as some Jhoto pokemon. Then when fourth generation came out, another question arised, "Will there be a remake of Gold and Silver?" Well, the answer is obvious now.

     The story tonight is about a guy in college who was wanting the new pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver games. So, when the games came out, he wasn't able to afford the games(that poor it seems). When his school year ended, he preordered Soulsilver, but it would take a week to get it. To grasp some nostalgia, he decided to play his old Crystal, to remember it was thrown out, as well as his Silver. He has his Game Boy Color, so why not buy a quick one? He ventured to gamestop, bought the last Silver there(remarkably, with the fact that games two generations behind the current would no longer be accepted, and all would be sold by that time), and took it home to rejoice in the memories of Jhoto.

     However...the college student didn't realize he came across the game later being named infamously Lost Silver:

http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Pokemon_Lost_Silver Probably the most known pokemon creepy pasta out there. Give it a read, because I rather not do another summery.
(Note: The fanart shows way more blood than the actual story)

     What does this all mean? As you can tell, both Gold, and Red, of their own respective generations, are dead by the end of the story. Red is dead before Gold. At the end of the story, it tells how Gold's efforts and accomplishments were forgotten by the next generation. How he has died with his generation since people focus on the next one, and cut off from his generation. This is just a thought to go along with the author's comment, so it's open to interpretation.

     Either way, this story gives that realistic feel of fright from the thoughts itself. If the story was real(I think the author said later on it was just a story he created), and happened to you, wouldn't you feel a bit of fright from the context of the hack happening one event after another? When discovering the meaning behind it, wouldn't you feel sad too?

     Anyways, people enjoyed this story to the point they made a fangame of it. The author of the story even continued the story line to another event happening within the story(called hidden by fans). I read about how the author plans to add even more parts to the story, just to explain some things within it(Like how you got Hurry the cyndaquil, and so forth).

     I really do like this story. It gives you a thought about how things change, and the past gets forgotten. Also just gives that true realistic feel that is nice in a story, even in a creepy one. Hopefully this story gets all the expansion it needs, because it would be more to read of it, and more understanding of the story itself; those lose ends getting tired up.


(Probably the least bloody of them I could find)

Creepy Pastas Plus Creepy Pokemon Black

     Creepy pasta roughly translates to scary story. They usually get related to video games, due to the content they have, or the characters of the games, can be used to tell a creepy story. When told creatively and with realism, they become poop in your pants, pee soaking your underwear, too scared to sleep in the dark scary! Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but when they give that realistic effect, it feels as if it really happened. In pokemon, there are a lot of them, due to so many optional characters(as there is no one pokemon of each species--as you can be the main character).

     Since it's close to Halloween, I feel like sharing a few of them, but not go word for word: I'll simply summarize and give my imput on it. There are good and popular ones out there, and maybe you heard about them. However, others are popular, but have clear reasons to not be real. Most I'm talking about there is ones involving Lavander Town in the original Red, Blue, and Yellow versions. It's a creepy town, but the stories people make up(i.e. Conspiracies, syndromes, white hand and buried alive, ect). Overall, most of the creepy pastas written are not true. I only say most, because with the realistic effect given, and the open-ended ending, I feel like some are possibly true, but the author hasn't revealed the true answer.

     The story I'll share today is Pokemon Creepy Black. This story was written before the actual pokemon black was even revealed, so the title received creepy in it to tell the difference. The link to the story itself if you want to take a look:

http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Pokemon_Black

     The story starts out with a fan of pokemon bootleg games(hacked pokemon games with different content, or even different fake pokemon!). The author picks up this cartridge of a first generation pokemon game at a flea market five years prior to the story, and tests it out like he does with other bootleg games.



     What happens is the author gets a ghost like the ones from the pokemon tower, and it knows curse, which wasn't around in first generation. Ghost would use this move, the screen would cut to black, a distorted cry of the defending pokemon would be heard, and the pokemon would be gone. If it was a trainer's pokemon, one less pokeball would be in the roster, implying death. After winning the battle and getting the money from the trainer(because who doesn't like money after killing someone's pokemon?), you have the option to use curse on the trainer, or run. Run, and the battle ends as normal, use curse, and a similar effect happens to the trainer, and a tombstone takes their place in the overworld.

     After using this move constantly, and discovering what can be and cannot be effected by curse, the author uses ghost to beat the game much quicker. After getting through the hall of game, the game transitions many years into the future at lavender town. Red, the character the author controls, looks like the old man who helps you catch pokemon early on in the game. It takes awhile to figure out what's going on, as Red only moves as half speed, the lavender town music plays nonstop, there are no wild pokemon, and no humans except the tombstones of humans the author used curse on.

     The author discovered that once you make your way to the starting point in the game, the screen cuts to black. The author saw pokemon after pokemon cursed by ghost, then trainer after trainer cursed. After seeing the author's rival's sprite, the screen cuts to black again, and then a battle starts with the old man sprite, but indicating its Red by the name. Ghost is the opponent. After a battle of Red using struggle, with no avail against ghost, and recoil damage, ghost uses curse when Red's HP was near zero. The screen cuts to black once more, but for the last, as nothing would continue on, forcing the author to turn off the game.

    When the author turned on the game again, it showed new game: The file deleted itself. The author played through the game multiple times, even without playing as ghost, but still couldn't remove ghost from the party. Even if no pokemon or trainer were cursed, the screen would just go straight into the battle with ghost at the end.

     The author then thinks about the meaning behind the hacked game, ending with how it made the author cried. Also, the game was lost sometime when the author was moving two years prior to the story.





     A lot of people don't believe this story due to saying, "Pics or it didn't happen", which, can disprove a lot of stories because you can easily provide evidence for things these days, if you're telling the truth. I don't believe it's real, but the realistic thought of how it happened(with nothing coming out of the game and attacking the author, or some paranormal activity happening later), it feels believable, which is what I like about it.

     However, there is still some what ifs that can be out there: What if you came upon a game like this? What if the hack is true? What if ghost was meant to be obtainable in generation one?! Oh wait, that's what ghastly was for.

TMs

    Technical Machines today. They are those disks you collect throughout the game that teaches your pokemon moves that they can't learn by leveling up, nor by breeding. They have been out since first generation, and which TM contained what has been changed each time.



     Woah blurry picture. Anyways, since 3rd generation, TMs have been notified to be disks that you put on your bag that you randomly get out later, smack them to the head of your pokemon, and tell them to forget a move, and Tada! They know a new move. Except for 5th gen, the disks were fragile enough that after the smacking, the disk breaks, meaning no more TM(I guess 5th gen is using Blue-Ray like disks that won't break as easily). Since this was the case from generations one through four, once you used it, it was gone. However, several TMs could be rebought at a department in the games, or won at a game corner(meaning trading in coins won for prizes, woo!). Later on you could get TMs for Battle Points(BP) at the Battle Frontier for certain games. As for 5th gen, once you got the TM, you got it for life, meaning no more breaking, no more rebuying, and no more worrying about which TM to use on which pokemon if you only had once chance to use it. Also means that it was harder to find them, and ones that cost a lot of BP, it would be harder to get.

     TMs are also known to be receive from gym leaders along with the badge(so basically you beat their butt, and they give you their favorite move). Usually a move would be represented by the type of the gym leader, except for a few cases like with Brock in first generation, and Falkner in second generation.

     For the first three generations, the TM amount was 50, while in 4th generation added 42 more to make it 92, and 5th gen added three more to 95. Since 4th generation made the big jump, the first 50 from 3rd gen were kept all the same, adding 42 new ones. 5th gen mixed it up again with the first 50, plus some with the other 42. Between the first three generations, some TMs shuffled around a bit, while others stayed the same.

     There are a lot of interesting little trivia facts with TMs I find fascinating, so here are some now:

     TMs that stayed the same all 5 generations: TMs: 6, 14, 15, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 32, 38, and 44.

     18 pokemon cannot learn any TM what-so-ever, with various reasons behind them, while several  TMs(as of 5th generation) can be learned by all the other pokemon except those 18: TMs: 6, 10, 17, 21, 27, 32, 42, 44, 45, 48, 87, and 90.

     These TMs have changed every generation(excluding the first 50 TMs in 4th gen): 1, 3, 9, 34, 43, 48, and 49.

     Since Curse was a ???-type in generation two(TM 3 then), it is the only TM to be a ???-type in the series.

It's Pikachu!

     Woot, Black 2 and White 2 are out!!!!! So why not do a blog about the mascot of pokemon to celebrate(despite pikachu not being in the regional pokedex of the new games)?









     Yes, pikachu, the mascot of pokemon. This little electric mouse has been involved in a heck of a lot. Ever watched a specific Thanksgiving parade, and saw pikachu float? Or noticed some video games surrounded around pikachu as the main character? How about a little pikachu pet device to interact with? Yes, pikachu is well famous inside and outside pokemon!

     Within the anime, Clefairy was originally going to be Ash's starter, but the producers for the show opted pikachu instead due to increasing popularity. With that change, began pikachu's ascend to pokemon's icon and mascot. To the Pokemon Adventures manga, similarity occurs where pikachu becomes iconic again, and even in other mangas. Pikachu even gets featured in other games outside of pokemon, like the nintendo character clashing game series Super Smash Brothers! Heck, there has been a dollar coin featuring pikachu:

 

      Even ingame, it gets the special treatment. It has it's own specific item: The Light Ball, which raises it's attack and special attack by 50%. Another thing is for it's whole family, it has it's own move called Volt Tackle. It's pretty much an electric type version of Double-edge.

     Pikachu's moveset is pretty unique too. By 5th generation, it gets some cool moves. It learns Double Team, which you get to avoid others. It learns Feint, which breaks through protect, detect, ect., and get pass those who spam protect. Pikachu also learns Electro Ball, which it's power is based on it's speed compared to the opponent. Light Screen is a move not normally learned by level up by pokemon, but by TM, and it lowers damage by special attack moves. Since generation one, it has known Quick Attack, a first-strike move, and Agility, which raises speed, to give the feel of pikachu being a speedy pokemon.

     With all I can say about pikachu, what I would say was it's greatest moment when it got it's first true game centered around the electric pokemon: Pokemon Yellow. In Japan, it was the fourth game in 1st generation, while it was the first third version compliment for the rest of the world. The game was loosely based on the first season of the anime, but still centered around the fact you had a pikachu following behind you, and was the first pokemon game to focus on happiness as a factor. Of course it was only for pikachu, but in second generation, it would be involving all pokemon, and even a way to evolve.

     So ya, in the end result, when you think pokemon, you generally think pikachu. But in the end, you got to admit, the electric mouse is cute and adoriable, BUT NEVER GRAB IT'S TAIL! You'll just get electrocuted.