The Marshbadge!

--Tesubai 13 Kataji--

Yes, you got it, Pokemon fans, I beat Sabrina! Yes, the psychic gym leader has lost the battle... She's my absolute favorite Pokemon trainer, and in fact she even appears in my fanfic as the main character's friend... Yet anyways, here's how the battle went.

-I didn't know which Pokemon Sabrina would start out with, so I put my Hypno first in the party. Also in my party were Alakazam, Starmie (it knew Thunderbolt in case she had a Slowbro), Snorlax (my secret weapon against Hypno if she had one), Chansey, and Tauros. Hey, I had to be prepared for anything!

-To start, Sabrina sent out a level 38 Kadabra. Kadabra used Calm Mind first. My Hypno tried to use Hypnosis, but she failed the first turn. Kadabra Calm Minded again, and on the second try Hypno put Kadabra to sleep. Then she used Headbutt, which almost KO'd him. Sabrina used a Hyper Potion on Kadabra, but still Kadabra never woke up while Hypno kept on Headbutting till she KO'd him.

-Sabrina's second Pokemon was a level 38 Venomoth. That Venomoth was so easy to beat--I came prepared with my Alakazam, who KO'd Venomoth with one Psychic attack.

-Third was a level 38 Mr. Mime. My Tauros KO'd him easily with Thrash.

-Last but not least, I knew Sabrina had an Alakazam. I would have continued on with my Tauros, but my instincts told me otherwise. Instead, I used my Alakazam against hers. Both Pokemon had their advantages. Hers was level 43 and mine was level 41--an advantage to Sabrina. But my Alakazam knew Thief, which was super-effective against the other Alakazam. The battle was kind of difficult-there were a few points where my Alakazam almost fainted. Mine used Thief the first turn (mine was faster--wow!), and hers used Calm Mind. Then mine used Thief, and hers used Calm Mind again. Then before mine could use Thief to KO hers, Sabrina used a Hyper Potion on her Alakazam. Anyways, my Alakazam used Thief again that turn, getting hers to about 3/4 HP. On the next turn, mine used Thief, and hers used Psychic. This got mine down to almost half HP! Then, mine used Recover, and hers used Psychic. A tiny HP gain for mine that turn. Mine used Recover again, and hers used Future Sight. (Uh-oh, now my Alakazam is done for! Good thing I have other Pokemon to back him up!) Next turn, mine used Thief, and hers used Recover. Mine used Thief, and hers used Psychic. Then I thought Future Sight was going to KO my Alakazam, but it didn't--the attack failed! (Whew! LOL!) Then, mine used Recover, and hers used Future Sight. Now, by that time hers was at a little less than half HP. Next turn, mine used Thief--and it was a critical hit!! This KO'd Sabrina's Alakazam! I won the battle! Thank you again, Psycon! (Psycon is my Alakazam's nickname, and "again" means that he was also the one who beat Koga.)

-So I got a Marsh Badge. Now, Pokemon up to level 70 will obey me, and I got the TM for Calm Mind. But what really made my day was Sabrina's final words, which always touched my heart:

"Everyone has psychic power. People just don't realize it."

Well I realize it, and I certainly hope you all do as well. Ending on a wonderful inspirational note.

Misc. News

--Watibai 12 Kataji again--

Here is the non-Pokemon news I have for you.

--LIFE HAPPENINGS--
-I have a job! I have a food-service job at a water park called Raging Waters. I love the job! It's a really neat atmosphere, and the work is neither dirty nor boring. In fact, I worked there today and it was so hectic that I lost track of time! I was serving food to customers that day. So neat...
-Two days ago, I graduated from high school! Finally, my days of high school are over, so only college awaits me now... Speaking of college, I'm starting college in the summer, where I'm taking a Japanese class. I'm taking that class because I'm interested in it, plus I'm good at learning foreign languages, plus though I like art more, I would prefer to take art classes over the span of a year so I can think about it much more fully.
-Also recently I turned 18! I'm a legal adult now, but other than that it doesn't feel nearly as special as when I turned 16...

--SONG STATUS--
One important milestone happened on my birthday--Acid! I got that music program and it's so neat... plus the music I make with it sounds kind of professional. I already made three really neat songs with it, but only one of which I actually have lyrics to... That song is "Oh Wilting Lily", one I write in February 2005.
-Speaking of new songs, I wrote a couple of them since my last post. On February 7, I wrote a song called "Higher Power". This talks about feeling selfless, and finding ways to cure that feeling, or rather absence of feeling... It has a really neat tune though. The other song is called "Avalon", and, well... I'd rather not talk about it too much now, primarily because it has quite a few regilious references, some of which could be described by many as heretic... Oh, and I wrote than one on April 26, the day after my birthday.

--MARAPETS--
Not Neopets, Marapets! I just found out about that site (marapets.com) around February--it's really neat! It's not as huge a virtual pet site as Neopets, plus the games there are a lot less time-consuming. Also, on one account you can have up to twenty pets, and if you go away for a long while, you don't have to worry about your pets getting hungry as you do in Neopets. The only downside is that your Marapets can die if you neglect them while online. Anyways, I have an account there myself (I'm Suneora), and I have only one pet: an owl-like creature called a Walee.

That's basically it for now...

Pokemon News

--Watibai 12 Kataji--

Well, it's been so long! However, only a few types of recent news are hot now:

--NEW POKEMON GAME--
Just recently, I got a Nintendo DS, and I got the game Pokemon Trozei with it! That game is fun and easy to learn--and you don't even have to know that much about Pokemon to be able to play it! To "capture" Pokemon in this game, you have a whole screen full of Pokemon, and you have to move them around until you line up four of the same Pokemon in a row. Different Pokemon are found in different areas of the game. While you still gotta catch 'em all, you also have an Adventure Mode in which your job is to stop an evil organization called Phobos from stealing Pokemon. But it really is fun--you won't know till you try it yourself!

--WEBSITE NEWS--
I'm putting this in the Pokemon Section because the only part of my website I really worked on lately is the Pokemon section. I'm still working on the new version of the site in GoLive, and though I'm making progress I still have a ways to go. Anyway, here is some of the stuff I have done:
-I've been continuing Pokemon pictures, and nowadays I mostly do pictures of existing Pokemon because there are a lot of those left to do. However, I do have pictures for many new Pokemon, such as Orbicle and Kinter.
-Speaking of pictures, I am aware that the existing Pokemon pictures will take a long time to complete, so in the meantime before I get the rest of them up I will take pictures from other sources, such as trading cards or game screenshots. Of course I'll give credit to their owner!
-As for the Pokemon pages, I'm making significant progress. Each Pokemon has three kinds of pages so far. The first just shows general info such as a little description of its characteristics, its picture, basic stats like height and element, and even a history of how it was created. The second page contains in-depth info, such as its stats, abilities, location in the game, and how it fares against different types of attacks. The third page illustrates how it evolves, and it gives links to the other Pokemon in its evolution family. There is also a fourth page that lists all the attacks it can learn, but I haven't started working on those pages yet...
-The new site will be up when all three of all the new Pokemon's pages are done.
-There are about 200 new Pokemon on the site. Out of those, I've completed about 20 general and in-depth pages, and about 100 evolution pages. I have also done some evolution pages for the existing Pokemon as well, but only the ones that evolve to or from new Pokemon.

--FANFIC NEWS--
I finally know how my Pokemon fanfic (Pokemon Aqua) will end! It really is a beautiful ending, in my opinion... Kelsey really seems like the most wonderful character in the story, and just recently I made her (not David) the absolute main character just because there's a lot more I can say about her, and she's certainly more interesting to me than David. I still like David though... he's a really good supporting character. And just to let you know, something interesting will happen to Celia in the end, and it will probably make you cry happily. I know I did when I thought of it! But I'll shut up before I spoil the story any further.

--MY STATUS IN SAPPHIRE--
I haven't played Sapphire that much lately, but I did make a few important accomplishments:
-On April 8, I went to the Pokemon Journey Across America--that was a really interesting Pokemon event. How does this relate to Sapphire? Well, I got a few free Pokemon there. I got Blastoise and Bulbasaur (though they made a mistake and I was supposed to get Latios instead). Also, I got Entei, and also... *drum roll* Celebi!!! Yes, they were giving away Celebi at the event--I'm so happy! Anyways, all the Pokemon I got are level 70, so I promised myself not to use them in important battles until I get all 8 badges.
-Speaking of badges, while I was waiting in line to get some of those above Pokemon, I beat Winona! The battle was pretty easy--well, Altaria was the hard part. My Roselia (odd, isn't it?) and Marshtomp had to work together to beat it. But then, my Raichu beat everyone else pretty easily. But this is an important milestone: now I can use Fly outside of battle.
-Speaking of Fly, the only Pokemon I have that can use fly is a Xatu named Natsume. One day, I went to the Safari Zone, and so far I only went there once. But in that time, I caught almost every Pokemon that could possibly be caught in the Safari Zone (except for Heracross and Pinsir), and that included about 11 Pokemon in all! Some were duplicates--for example I caught two Oddish and two Girafarig. The only one I really trained so far was Natu, who I wanted to learn Fly.
-Right now, I'm stuck in Mossdeep City. I have just beaten Team Aqua at their secret hideout, and I want to get to the underwater cave south of Mossdeep... but I can't because I have to Dive to get there, and I can only use Dive outside of battle after beating Tate and Liza. So I have yet to train for that battle... Luckily, I've already developed strategies for that battle. My Shuppet knows Curse, so I'll have him use that on probably Lunatone, who I'll then have everyone gang up on. After Lunatone's out of the way it's an easy two-on-one battle.
-Recently in Sapphire, my Marshtomp evolved, so he's now a Swampert! Two of my other Pokemon are within two levels of evolving. That would be Meditite and Shuppet. I'm so excited--and Banette is something like my fifth favourite Pokemon!

--MY STATUS IN COLOSSEUM--
I've spent very little time in Colosseum, but I've made quite a bit of progress. A few months ago, I was stuck on this one trainer who had an Entei. I probably lost back then because I was trying to capture Entei. But I tried it again recently, and I won the battle (even though I didn't even try to snag Entei). Oh well... I already have an Entei in Sapphire, so that's no problem. Anyways, after the battle, I finally found Celebi's shrine in the Relic Forest, and I used it to purify all my shadow Pokemon! That was really exciting--after they were purified, those Pokemon learned new attacks, gained levels, and some even evolved! My Flaffy and Skiploom evolved for example, but the one that gained the most levels was Misdreavus, who I probably battled with the most.
-After that, the only thing I did was train my newly purified Pokemon for a while.

--MY STATUS IN LEAF GREEN--
The reason why I've made little progress in Sapphire is because I've spent most of my gameboy time on Leaf Green. Now, as you may or may not know, Leaf Green is the game where I'm catching every Pokemon possible in the game and raising them all to (sort of) equal levels. (I probably explained that further in my July 2005 post.) Anyways, some recent happenings there are:
-By about April I had gotten every one of my Pokemon to level 40. It was very difficult and time-consuming, but I did it nevertheless. The biggest place to Pokemon-train for me was the Pokemon Mansion, which can be a hard place to train because the Raticate in there can do a lot of damage. I trained most of my Psychic and Water-type Pokemon there, as well as my Snorlax for some odd reason. Since the Raticate were so deadly, I mostly had to stay on the first floor of the mansion. But some of my Pokemon did rather well in there, especially my Alakazam, who at level 37 could KO a level 36 Raticate with one Psychic attack. Others had a purely tough time, such as Poliwhirl, whose strongest attack was Water Gun. My Seadra was in the same situation, but she had worse defense than Poliwhirl, so I had to teach her Surf and then she did a lot better.
-Speaking of Surf, one day I spent many hours contemplating which moveset I would like for my Dragonair. I considered Outrage (which he won't know till level 56), Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, and Surf for positions, but I also saw Hyper Beam or Wing Attack as a must. (But if he learns Wing Attack, he can't learn Outrage till much later because he has to evolve in order to learn Wing Attack.) After much contemplation, I decided on a final moveset of Hyper Beam, Outrage, Flamethrower, and Surf. I don't care how lame people think Hyper Beam is--all I have to do is KO somebody then switch out when the opponent switches Pokemon.
-After getting everyone to level 40, there were some Pokemon that could learn certain attacks at level 41 or 42 (or for my Rhyhorn, he could evolve at level 42), so I called them the "Special Pokemon". Also, there were Pokemon that could learn important attacks at level 43, 44, or 45--these were my "Super-Special Pokemon". Surprisingly, it didn't take very long to level them all up to their appropriate levels, even though about half of my Pokemon were either Special or Super-Special. Anyways, during that process, three of my Pokemon evolved. At level 42, my Rhyhorn evolved. Also, I levelled up my Weepinbell and Jigglypuff till they learned Hyper Voice or Razor Leaf. Then I evolved them with stones. So now I have Rhyhorn, Victreebel, and Wigglytuff! (In fact, Rhyhorn and Weepinbell evolved last night, and Jigglypuf evolved about two hours ago!)
-Right now, all my Special Pokemon are at their appropriate levels. And, I'm almost done training my Super-Special Pokemon. There are only four left! My Nidoking has to get to level 43 to learn Megahorn. My Nidoqueen has to get to level 43 to learn Superpower. My Charizard has to get to level 44 to learn Slash. And my Arcanine--wait, my Arcanine?!? I only just realized, the next attack she'll learn is Extremespeed at level 49! Maybe I misread the level as 45... Sorry, Arcanine! You're not a Super-Special Pokemon! OK, scratch that. Only three more Super-Special Pokemon to go! I'm training these Pokemon in the Power Plant, making sure to bring plenty of Paralyze Heals of course. However, I think my Nidoking might be better off training somewhere else, so I'll quickly train him in the Pokemon Mansion. Nidoqueen and Charizard should be fine in the Power Plant though.
-After those three Pokemon are done, I will battle Sabrina to get my sixth badge! I can't believe I'm this close to doing that! Unfortunately, I won't get much out of the battle other than a badge (and perhaps a TM for Calm Mind would be neat as well), but it's still an important step. I've heard from others that Sabrina is hard to beat, but if I have a bunch of level 40-45 Pokemon, including a level 40 Alakazam that knows Thief, I think I'll do fine. The last five were easy, especially Koga if you read my July 2005 post, so Sabrina shouldn't be that hard either. I'm so excited!! Sabrina is my favourite gym leader ever! Psychic Pokemon rule!

More coming soon.