The Media Man Plays: Pokémon Legends ZA (Day 9)

Read Day 8 here.

We're back and it's time to get pay back on Jacinthe for being such a pest last time! Also a lot of other things happened to, so maybe grab a snack or a drink or something. This could take a while...

Teaching Jacinthe A Lesson and Claiming Rank B

So now everything's done with, I attend Jacinthe's tournament with Urbain accompanying me. I even put my nice suit back on for the occasion. The tournament's basically me and other characters in the game battling it out until there's one left and Jacinthe battles the winner. First up is me vs. Canari, which was easy enough thanks to my Feraligator's powerful Earthquake and my Mega Eelektross's Bulldoze attack. Next up was Ivor. I ploughed through three of his Pokémon using only Dragonite and took down his Mega Falinks with Mega Hawlucha (again). Then finally it was Corbeau and like last time, Mega Chandelure cooked his Mega Scolipede alive. So now it's just me vs. Jacinthe...or so we thought.

All of a sudden, Lysandre and Zygarde show up out of nowhere and in a neat bit of story-telling, we have the characters actually recognize him and refer to him by his real name. I will say though, you'd think they'd be more horrified and chomping at the bite to kick his ass since five years prior to this game, he tried to destroy the world and all. Still, Zygarde wishes to fight me and Jacinthe, surprisingly, goes with it and waits for me to fight it. OK, so she'll keep pestering me until I attend this stupid tournament of her's to the point it's borderline harassment because she can't wait until I deal with something more important, but she's fine waiting a little longer so I can face Zygarde? I don't get this girl...

Zygarde was a cakewalk thanks to my Mega Froslass since Zygarde has a double Ice weakness. With that over and done with, Lysandre takes his leave and we continue as normal.

It's me vs. Jacinthe at last. Her team consists of Carbink, Mawile, Aurorus, Gardevoir

and Clefable. Now the picture probably has you asking "Media Man you brain dead moron, why are you using Dragonite against a Fairy-type specialist? That's suicidal!" Not so...my Dragonite knows Iron Head. ;) It took Carbink out in one hit since it's doubly weak to Steel attacks and it also took out Mawile with a single Heat Wave. Aurorus could've posed a threat since Dragonite is double weak to Ice attacks, but Dragonite was able to fell it with a single Iron Head too (Aurorus is also double weak to Steel attacks). Sadly, its endurance couldn't hold out any longer and Gardevoir was able to defeat it. I'm curious how Gardevoir tanked a hit from Dragonite using Iron Head though. Gardevoir has the defences of wet tissue paper so a Dragonite using Iron Head should've knocked it clean out! Ah well, Froslass avenged Dragonite's loss for me. Jacinthe was down to her last Pokémon.

Her ace is a Mega Evolving Celfable. I hate this thing. It's utter garbage. Of all the new Mega Evolutions introduced in this game, Clefable objectively has the worst of the bunch. All they did was give her wings and a silly hat. Clefable already sucks, so why did they think giving it a Mega would make it look any better? I was all too happy to beat that thing into a pulp so I don't have to look at it any longer. I Mega Evolved my Froslass and took it down with some powerful Ice Beams. Despite her pushy attitude and stalker-like behaviour, Jacinthe surprisingly takes her loss well and congratulates me. Thanks, I still hate you. =P Your compliments don't hide the fact you're a piece of crap who's enslaved a street junkie and has her priorities all screwed up.

But enough about her, I'm at Rank B now! Yay! Only one more rank to go! :D

But as Team MZ celebrates my recent victory, AZ seems...troubled. He laments about Ange and how it's a three-thousand year mistake that needs to be rectified. For context, Ange is the ultimate weapon that he created three-thousand years ago. It seems it still exists even after the events of X and Y. That can't be good...

More Rogue Mega Troubles

Speaking of not good, more Rouge Mega Pokémon show up! This time around, we're dealing with some real powerhouses: Mega Dragonite, Mega Tyranitar and Mega Starmie. Two pseudo-legendries and one who's powerful in its own right. We really have to be ready for this one!

The first one I battle is Mega Dragonite. Of all the new Mega Evolutions this game gave us, Mega Dragonite was THE FIRST one to be revealed, and unlike most people on the internet, I love it. I'm glad they didn't make Mega Dragonite look edgy and put spikes on it everywhere. They stayed true to Dragonite's cuddly appearances and gave it some call backs to its previous form as Dragonair with the wings on its head and the sphere on its tail. This is just right for Mega Dragonite and anyone who hates this design just has poor taste in Pokémon designs if you ask me. Naturally, I went after it using Mega Froslass since it has a double Ice weakness. Mega Dragonite did have some fearsome attacks, but ultimately wasn't too challenging.

I defeat it and claim its Mega Stone for myself. Amusingly, the fandom collectively agreed that the stone would be called "Dragoniteite" but instead, it's called "Dragoninite". Joke's on us everybody. XD

Next up is Mega Tyranitar. This one was a real bone shaker since it uses Sand Tomb and raises the earth with powerful Stone Edge attacks! But surprisingly, I beat this one without blacking out. My Mega Feraligator's Liquidation and Earthquake attacks carried me to victory.

Another Mega Stone claimed as a result.

And finally, it's Mega Starmie. Of all the new Mega Evolutions in the game, Starmie's has to be the laziest. I mean come on, really GameFreak? That's the best you could come up with? Just Starmie with longer legs? Give me a pencil and paper and I could draw a more creative design! But unlike Mega Celfable...I don't hate it. As lazy as the design is, it has some ironic appeal because of how goofy it looks when it runs about on those legs and stands there super-hero posing. The goofiness alone saves the Mega for me. XD I do find it weird how Mega Starmie becomes a Physical Attacker though...

Also, I found it annoying that Philippe of the Rust Syndicate just makes us battle him because...the game needed to pad itself out a bit more I guess? It was forced and unnecessary, which is one thing that annoys me about the game. Some of the battles we get here feel like they happen just because.

Anyway, I used Mega Eelektross to take on this Mega. I only blacked out once due to Mega Starmie barging into me, but otherwise had no real trouble against it.

The Starminite is mine. I have to say, of all the new Mega Stones, this one is easily one of the prettiest looking. The colours of the Starminite look so good together. ^^

And with that, another trio of Rogue Mega Pokémon are down. But that's still more work to do before the endgame...

The Truth About AZ

The next day, I'm informed that my next challenger in the Z-A Royale is a man named Grisham. Trouble is, nobody knows what he looks like and so we're not sure how to find him. I suggest we go to Emma and so me and Urbain go to her. She IS a detective after all, finding things is her job. Before Emma tells us where to find Grisham, she makes me battle her again. Amusingly, Urbain hypes her up as being a strong trainer and yet I completely swept her whole team using only Feraligator. Yes really. XD

Of course, I need to mention how Emma's ace in this game is a Mega Evolving Malamar. The fact she uses a Malamar is a cool callback to her role in the X and Y games' post-game story where Xerosic gave her a Malamar to use. As for Mega Malamar, I think it looks great. I never cared for Malamar in the past, but somehow this Mega completely won me over and made me like Malamar. I like how "alien" this Mega looks and how it gives Malamar a somewhat evil alien emperor vibe with the big brain and long tentacles with glowing tips. Annoyingly, us players don't get to use one until the post-game. Who knows why they bothered advertising it so much and dedicating some of their marketing campaign to this Mega's reveal if we can't use it until the post-game...

After I beat Emma, she suggests I talk to Professor Mable. She is an ex-Team Flare member

after all. I go to her and she reveals that yes, she was part of Team Flare and when taken into custody, she took a plea deal and was given this new position as a result, hence why she's here and not in prison. I was hoping the game would explain why she's not locked up. Mable reveals that Grisham was a member of Team Flare too and shockingly, he's none other than the guy who serves me coffee at the Noveau Café Truck. Yeah, the guy and his assistant at the café truck are ex-Team Flare members! Who'd have guessed?

I go to the Noveau Café Truck and confront Grisham on his true identity. To his credit, he doesn't deny it and is straight up honest about it. His female assistant Griselle is confrontational while Grisham is more level-headed. The two take me to Lysandre Café, a once bustling café that has since closed down in the five years that have passed since X and Y and I'll find the truth about everything inside. This is another neat bit of foreshadowing because we do see this run down place that's clearly shut off but we can't go in it for now. It stands out because nowhere else in Lumiose City looks like this, so we're left wondering does it have any significance. And well, it does!

Griselle challenges me to a battle and she uses Talonflame, Aerodactyl, Camerupt, Metagross and Pyroar. Her Pyroar is able to Mega Evolve. As for Mega Pyroar, it looks pretty OK. I get how the mane's meant to be a reference to the Kanji letter for "fire", but in execution it looks a little too silly for my tastes. I wish they played with the design a little more instead of just making the mane bigger. Anyhow, I was able to beat Griselle with no trouble at all. Even her Metagross went down rather easily.

With the battle over, Grisham and Griselle tell me about their pasts with Team Flare and Lysandre's ambitions for the world. They then let me go inside the ruins of Lysandre Labs and find out the truth about AZ, Prism Tower and everything. After exploring the ruins and finding the elevator key, I get into the lab and get four files to read which fill me in on Team Flare's ambitions and the ultimate weapon.

And who should show up again but Lysandre? He reveals that Zygarde saved him from the destruction of the ultimate weapon five years ago, which explains why he's still alive now. He says that even though he doesn't remember Team Flare, the lab looks familiar to him and how he still wants to achieve a beautiful world...but thankfully not the way he used to. His intentions are more benevolent this time around. This adventure reveals that AZ's Floette is apparently the key to activating Ange, AZ's invention that is the cause of all the Mega Energy that's causing the Rogue Mega Evolutions. While Ange is kind of a retcon, the game does well in explaining why we didn't get even a whisper of it since Lysandre says he didn't bother activating Ange alongside the Ultimate Weapon since only AZ's Floette can activate it. Ange is meant to bring life, unlike the Ultimate Weapon which takes life, but it seems Ange is causing the Rogue Mega Evolutions to happen, so it's another case of an invention going wrong here. After I come out of the lab, Grisham and Griselle tell me to bring Floette to them.

After that excursion, I go back to Hotel Z and we go onto the roof so AZ can explain his backstory to us. It really is a tragic tale of suffering from the horrors of war and how the pain of loss lead to him making the terrible decision to invent the ultimate weapon in the first place. He's been trying to atone for his sins for the past 3'000 years and now there's one problem of his left to solve, Ange. He hopes to find the strongest Mega Evolution trainer so we can use the power of his Floette's Mega Evolution to stop Ange. Yeah, his Floette's so special that she can actually Mega Evolve unlike other Floettes. Team MZ remain dedicated to the cause and insist that they'll save Lumiose City. AZ is grateful. However, he's bad a few scenes where he seems to be coughing for whatever reason. Is his health beginning to deteriorate...?

Battling Grisham

After that talk, I go back to challenge Grisham. Despite he and Griselle being ex-Team Flare grunts, they have no intention of going back to their wicked ways. They want to reinvent Team Flare into a positive force, hence the new name of "Team Flare Nouveau". Thanks to Lysandre's ambitions, anyone associated with Team Flare has become a pariah and are looked down upon as a result. Grisham and Griselle merely wish to change all that. They like helping people and being a productive member of society and that's why Grisham is in the Z-A Royale, to make that wish a reality. I love how nuanced these characters are in this game. People give Pokémon flack for their lack of story-telling, but they can give some surprisingly deep and complex characters with a surprising number of layers to them.

Anyway, Grisham is the first trainer I've battled in this game who uses a full team of six Pokémon. His team is pretty stacked too with Pangoro, Pyroar, Malamar, Tyranitar, Salamence and Mega Charizard X at his disposal. Whoa, TWO pseudo-legendries, a couple of other heavy hitters and the best Mega Charizard? No wonder he's Rank B! He's by far the most challenging boss battle I've fought in the game so far. No joke, I had to battle him THREE times before I finally won! The first time I battled him, his Tyranitar pretty much wiped out my team by itself and by the time I eventually defeated it, I had a Froslass and Dragonite barely clinging on to life and so his Pyroar finished them off. The second time around went a little better, but then I had trouble with his Salamence and some of my Pokémon not attacking despite me telling them to. The end was Mega Feraligator vs. Mega Charizard X and we pretty much slugged it out until my Feraligator was defeated because it was just a fraction too slow to land the final attack.

Round 3, I was able to finally clinch the win since I knew what I was up against at last. I started with Hawlucha and one-shot his Pangoro. Next I had Dragonite brute force through Malamar to win. Then I sent Hawlucha out to deal with Tyranitar, but Tyranitar was too tough and Hawlucha went down. Feraligator took down Tyranitar. Then I swapped out for Chandelure, who was defeated by Pyroar. I sent Eelektross out to take down Pyroar. Then I had Eelektross fight Salamence, which softened it up enough for Froslass to take it down with a single Ice Beam. The final was Mega Feraligator vs. Mega Charizard X and because Mega Feraligator is such a beefy boi, he took Charizard down with a single Dragon Claw.

It was my toughest challenge yet and the only time I've ever need to battle an opponent more than once in order to win, but I did it. I've conquered the Z-A Royale and stand triumphant at Rank A! Hooray for me!

Preparing for the Climax

My big win is of course a cause for celebration, especially as Urbain has also claimed Rank A as well. But that night, we're woken up by an ominous rumble as Prism Tower suddenly begins glowing with Mega Energy. Even the scaffolding that surrounded it has crumbled. AZ warns us that Ange is preparing and we need Mega Floette to bring its chaotic powers to an end.

And unbeknownst to us, a Zygarde Cell watches on...

Whew...what a day, am I right? And it feels as if we're finally reaching the climax of this story. But before we wrap up, more Mega Photos to conclude this entry:

Mega Kangaskhan (I like to think this pose is because they're telling us how big the sandwich they ate was. XD)

Mega Drampa (how this thing looks as cool as it does, I'll never know!)

Mega Dragalge.

Mega Salamence.

Mega Scrafty.

Mega Dragonite.

Mega Tyranitar.

Mega Starmie.

And finally, Mega Metagross (was hard to take a photo of because it's so big!)

Join me next time as we gear up for the endgame. See you then media fans!

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