37: Taking Care of Business Part IV

37: Taking Care of Business Part IV

We are at a crossroads now -- this is almost precisely the point that we have been working towards, but the question is, are we actually ready for what comes next?  If your team is in the mid-to-late 50's then the answer is maybe...

The Elite Four will be fielding teams with Levels ranging from 48 to 50, and N's highest level is 52 I believe, so you will want to be at and above those as a threshold.  Honestly though, since it is only a question of time, there is absolutely no reason why you cannot take your team level to a minimum of 60 before you enter the battle arena.  I would be more comfortable with Level 62 or even 65, but that is probably pushing it, as I am sure you are eager to win your Legendary Dragon, right?

So, train your team up now, level them equal to each other, and skip ahead to take a look at what the Elite Four are using to decide what team members from your A-Team you plan to use, right?  You are probably curious about what I chose to use -- my A-Team for the Elite Four battles consisted of:

Coney -- Level 55 Vanilluxe -- Ice-type
Wings -- Level 55 Unfezant -- Normal/Flying-type
Flip -- Level 55 Seismitoad -- Water/Ground-type
Freebie -- Level 55 Simisage -- Grass-type
Rocky -- Level 55 Archeops -- Rock/Flying-type
Spyderpig -- Level 55 Emboar -- Fire/Fight-type

-- A Bit of This, A Bit of That --

If you look at the map now you will notice an entire chunk of the region we are denied access to!  Yes, but once you wear the crown of Pokemon Champion we get access to those areas -- and we will be happy for that because they contain, among other things, Black City and the Pokemon Transfer Lab -- and I do not know about you but I am eager to get my collection from the previous games into this one just to see how they stack up to the Unova Pokemon!

But here I am going on about that when what we need to talk about is training...

Finding spots to train is not hard -- finding spots that will give you fantastic results is -- and everything depends on the level and type of your Pokemon doesn't it?

Mistralton Cave is a great place to level Grass and Water-type Pokemon in the level range from 28 to 35 if you are leveling alternates, while Victory Road is actually a good place over all for leveling your team, since you get the best XP there...

There are a lot of places you can level, but most Trainers believe that battling the Audino of the Shaking Grass are the best way in the end, and the best place that I have found to do that is at the very start of Route 10.

-- Work Smarter, Not Harder --

To make this process easier what you want to do is run left and right along a path four tiles away from the grass -- the way it works is that the Shaking Grass will only spawn up to 6 tiles away from where you are running, and this way you spawn them in the first two rows of grass, making it less likely you will end up in a wild encounter instead of Shaking Grass as intended.

Once you have leveled them up to your satisfaction it is time to make use of the enhancement items that you have been collecting all along...  Distribute your enhancement items like PP Up, HP Up, and your Rare Candy and the like -- improve the team members that you think will best benefit by it, basically.  Once you have done that, it is time for you to face the first big test...

Rumination Field and Virizion

-- Capturing the Legendary Virizion --

As you will recall from the old man's story, there are three of these Legendary Pokemon in the set -- Cobalion, which we captured in the cave after talking to the old man and learning about them, Terrkion, which we captured in the Challenge Room in Victory Road on our way to battle the Elite Four -- which just leaves Virizion. 

We have actually visited just outside the zone that Virizion is found in early in our adventures, but the zone point was blocked by rocks and so we could not enter.  Even if we could have, at the time we were so low a level that it would have eaten us for lunch, but hey, that is no longer true!  So what do you say mates?  Let us go and capture the final member of this Legendary Trio!

Fly to Nacrene City and hit the Pokemon Center to heal and save, then leave the Center and head to Pinwheel Forest.  Zone into the inner forest and follow the main path north over the double bridges, and when you reach the other side, head east through the break in the guard rail.

Go down the stairs into the grass and walk east until you reach the next set of stairs -- take the north stairs and continue east to the hollow tree, heading north through that, move through the grass, and you find yourself facing the zone point that prior to our capturing Cobalion was blocked by large immovable rocks.  The rocks are now gone, and you can zone into the Rumination Field Zone that is beyond.

Sitting in the center of Rumination Field is Virizion -- what turned out to be (at least for me) the most difficult to capture of all of the Legendary Pokemon!  Seriously, with it down to just a small number of HP it still took me almost two hours and 160 Ultra Ball throws to actually capture it. 

I am not whinging here -- and not on a soap box -- but I have to comment that the tedious process of capturing these guys is... Well... Tedious.  I wonder why they abandoned the 25-ball limit system that they used in the last generation of the game?  Ah well -- hopefully you will have better luck than I did in the capture process, but hey, either way, we have a new Legendary!  Woohoo!  And we have completed the trio!

That pretty much wraps up all of the odds and ends that we needed to do before we head into the League Temple and take on the Elite Four, so head back to the Center to heal and save, top off your kit, and get ready for the epic battle to prove that you are the best Trainer in the land!