the very best, pt. xviii
Welcome back once again to The Very Best, our ongoing attempt to chronicle the coolness and talent of every trainer in Pokemon X. Last time we unlocked a shortcut back to Lumiose City; this week we brave snow and spacetime distortions to earn our next gym badge! Let's begin.
An Olympian Effort
Route 17 is covered in snow and can only be traversed by riding a single solitary Mamoswine who hangs out there and likes giving rides to travelers. This seems pretty impractical but I've always found the "these areas are actually absurdly remote" vibe Pokemon games gives off sometimes, so we'll let it slide. Unfortunately Route 17 only has one Trainer on it (Sky Trainer Anila, who I think I've never actually encountered before), so the route ends up being kind of forgettable.
From there we will head to the Anistar Gym, which is a fascinating example of a design which is meant to feel like a maze but is actually pretty linear and easy to navigate.
Route 17: Sky Trainer Anila
Anila's level 42 Rotom and Level 44 Butterfree are a little bit on the underwhelming side. Rotom does at least enjoy the advantage of being an Electric type, but its stats are pretty underwhelming, and by the time we're in level 40 you need more than just a surprising type advantage to win a Sky Battle. And the Butterfree sort of undermines it; not only is it weak to the Flying types you're likely to encounter here, it also has a very poor base stat total for this point in the game. Skill Rating: 2/5
Anila seems to be attempting to adopt some sort of fighter pilot patois, which is a slight variation on the generically aerial jargon Sky Trainers tend to use. I can't fault her for this but I'm here to get to know the real you. All . . . there's allegedly over 300 trainers, if an internet rando can be believed? You gotta stand out more. Be yourself. Coolness Rating: 3/5
Anistar City: Pokemon Trainer Calem
Calem has picked up a fourth party member! It's an Eeveelution that varies based on our starter--I got Fennekin so he got a Flareon. Notably, however, he has switched his Meowstic from a support set that I quite like to a fairly generic offensive set--Shadow Ball, Psychic, and Disarming Voice to round out the Fake Out he usually opens with. I think this is something of a downgrade, but he didn't ask me.
Anistar Gym: Psychic Pascal
With a level 46 Exeggcutor (fun fact: everyone in this Gym who isn't the leader only has one Pokemon!), Pascal is fairly capable of dishing out some hefty damage. The Grass type isn't doing it any favors here, but Bug is also fairly rare at this point, so no points deducted here. You will probably have to heal after Pascal. Skill Rating: 3/5
Pascal is offering us advice at clearing our mind to unleash our true power. I didn't actually clear my mind, but he praised me for doing it anyway. Still, a bit of mindfulness training never hurt anyone. Coolness Rating: 3/5
Anistar Gym: Psychic Harry
Harry has a level 46 Medicham. I like Medicham here as an answer to Dark types, which are probably the normal best pick against a Psychic gym. It didn't work against my Aerodactyl, but it's a strong option. The odd thing here is I don't think it has any Psychic moves or any coverage options--it's just Fighting. (But that's not Harry's fault, it's the way the game assigns NPCs movesets.) A bold pick but I respect it. Skill Rating: 4/5
Harry is encouraging me to never give up, and suggests it's easy to get lost in this "enigma of a Gym." It's not, Harry. It's really not. But he is correct that there is no one who can stand in the way of me and my Pokemon. Coolness Rating: 2/5
Anistar Gym: Psychic Arthur
Arthur has a level 46 Reuniclus. What I am noticing in this Gym is that all of these Trainers so far have one Pokemon that has a very high primary attack stat; Reuniclus is also beefy enough to tank some hits. Same story as the Exeggutor. Skill Rating: 3/5
Arthur asserts that he had a vision that our battle would be "different from all previous battles", which I don't think is true; but I do like his line after we defeat him: "Whether it was due to the guidance of the stars or the merit of my work that I’m here, I’m joyful that I was able to meet my Pokémon and come to battle against you!" Doesn't matter if it's fate or whatever, the point is you got here. And I crushed you. Coolness Rating: 4/5
Anistar Gym: Hex Maniac Melanie
Melanie has a level 46 Gardevoir. Gardevoir has a very good stat spread--a little underwhelming on physical defenses but otherwise it's decently fast, hits hard, and can tank special attacks extremely well. It's a good answer to Dark types and still does respectably against Ghosts and Bugs. It's basically "what if Medicham were good outside of this one niche situation". Skill Rating: 5/5
Melanie is doing your standard Hex Maniac "obsession with cosmic power" routine at first but ends off with a nice twist: "I only need my Pokémon. They give me all the power I need!" This is a good bit. Coolness Rating: 5/5
Anistar Gym: Hex Maniac Arachna
Arachna has a level 36 Jynx. You know what? I expected, when I looked up Jynx, to find that it was actually just kind of mediocre stat-wise, but nope! Another hard-hitting Pokemon with a surprisingly decent stat spread. Who knew? Skill Rating: 3/5
I think Arachna might have just discovered the concept of "some things are abstract concepts that can't be explained by science, because that's not how science works" and she is very excited about it. Cheering is an unseen power! Love for Pokemon can't be explained by science! All right, I guess. Coolness Rating: 2/5
Anistar Gym: Leader Olympia
Olympia has a Sigilyph at level 44, a Slowking at level 45, and a Meowstic at level 48. Meowstic is pretty underwhelming as an ace--it's fine but it's not amazing--but Slowking and Sigilyph make for a very strong core. Her team has surprisingly little coverage for Psychic counters--just Shadow Ball for the Ghosts on the Meowstic, and Air Cutter on Sigilyph for those pesky Bug types--but they do have some options, so they won't be walled by a Dark type. Meowstic will still have a bad time, though. It's a solid team, if rather unsubtle. It's funny; you'd think Psychic would specialize in weird effects and controlling the battlefield but at the end of the day what it's best at is just hitting really hard fairly reliably. Her teams in the Battle Chateau always feature the Meowstic, but rotate the other two, which is a bit unfortunate. I like Meowstic but it just doesn't have the chops to carry a team as an offensive Pokemon. Skill Rating: 4/5
I think Olympia is going for the "laconic and mysterious" vibe but she mostly just comes off as laconic. Nothing wrong with not having much to say, but it does mean I also don't have much to say about her. Coolness Rating: 3/5
And thus concludes another edition of The Very Best! What I learned this week is that while clever strategies are all well and good, the one thing you can do to make your Gym more difficult is just "include Pokemon who won't die in one hit and who can hit very hard". Power is power, as the kids say.
Next week we get to go back to Lumiose City to beat up Team Flare a bit; I think we get two Team Flare dungeons in a row, maybe? We'll see how long that takes us. I also just realized I have to decide if I add Xerneas to my party. I usually don't add the Legendaries to my party, but (a) Xerneas is very cool and (b) I'm already doing weird things with party composition here. We'll find out together! I'll see you next time, friends.