Mount Ember Beckons

Mount Ember Beckons

Capturing the Legendary Moltres 

-- Mt. Ember --

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- Area Pokemon -

(Key: Pokedex # - Name / Acquisition Method)

022 - Fearow / Normal
074 - Geodude / Normal
067 - Machoke / Normal
066 - Machop / Normal
126 - Magmar / Normal
077 - Ponyta / Normal
078 - Rapidash / Normal
021 - Spearow / Normal

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A narrow beach here leads to a double set of stairs, and then we zone out of this route and into the volcano area, which is surprisingly green!  Ahead is a rather large but friendly bloke who makes some rather disturbing observations before offering to teach you the move Explosion -- that is right, he is a Move Tutor!

- Explosion -

Think long and hard about passing up this move, because Explosion is one of the more powerful moves in the game.  Sadly the only team member that can learn it is our Graveler, and to learn it we have to make a judgment call -- which of the three moves that he has can we most live without? 

Bear in mind that Explosion could easily come in handy when we face the Elite Four, but it is also not a first-choice move in any battle, rather it is a last-choice, we are about to die and need to take that bastard with us, pyrrhic victory sort of move!  As King Pyrrhus might have told us -- if he wasn't dead I mean -- sometimes you have to sacrifice a lot to win...  But as long as the victory is worth the sacrifice...

For me it came down to a choice between Seismic Toss and Rock Slide.  While Rock Slide is a really useful move, it has half of the PP that Seismic Toss does, and ST is a little more reliable as far as accuracy is concerned, and in addition to that, does more damage on average, so it really was not a choice at all -- I over-wrote Rock Slide.  You do not have to do this if you do not want to -- you can get by just fine without this move...  But it really is a powerful one and is worth having, that is all I am saying.

- Rocket Power -

To the right along the path here you will spot a pair of Team Rocket Grunts standing by the cliff face.  If you walk up and try to talk to them, you will overhear one saying:

"Over here.  We'll try digging here.  That treasure the Amins've been talking about should be here."

When his partner notices you eavesdropping he tells you to piss-off down the road!  No worries, you cannot actually do anything with these two until after you have unlocked the National Dex anyway, but pointing them -- and that -- out to you is a good idea just the same.

Now head back to the move trainer and you will note that you cannot head up the stairs here, as there is a ledge and you are on the wrong side of it -- that is an exit, not an entrance in other words.  All that leaves us is to head to the left (west) from here!

Our path is blocked by a large boulder -- so go ahead and push it out of the way until you can move around and past it, then do the same to the next one, and head a few steps north to confront a new type of trainer -- a Pokemon Ranger!

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Cue the music!

In the eyes of a ranger,
The unsuspected stranger
Had better know the truth of wrong from right,
'cause the eyes of a ranger are upon you,
Any wrong you do he's gonna see,
When you're in Kanto look behind you,
'cause that's where the Ranger's gonna be!

(Yes, I do think I am funny, thank you very much!)

- - - -

Pokemon Ranger Beth has a Level 38 Bellsprout worth 684 XP, a pair of Level 38 Gloom worth 1074 XP each, and $1368.  Not only is she the first Pokemon Ranger that we have encountered (she is wearing the proper uniform as well), she is also one of the first trainers outside of a Gym that routinely uses healing potions as part of her battle technique, so you want to make sure to take a little health off of the front before you deliver the heavy moves so that you do not end up having to start from scratch again, right?

North of Ranger Beth is the first patch of accessible tall grass we have encountered in this area,  but for the most part you already have the easy to pull ones.  If you want to troll for the rarer ones be my guest, but when you are done doing that, continue along the path, where you will find some breakable rocks.

You can break those, or just head up the second set of stairs nearby as they lead to the same place, pausing for a quick trainer battle...

Crush Girl Jocelyn has a pair of Level 38 Hitmonchan worth 1140 XP each, and $912. 

If you break the rocks there is a chance that it will spawn a Geodude for you to battle, but as we already have that Pokemon, the only reason to do that would be for the small amount of XP you will get.

Follow the path around east until you reach the treasure ball with a Dire Hit at the dead-end, then backtrack to the west where you will encounter another Pokemon Ranger who is sort of guarding the main entrance to the volcano.

Pokemon Ranger Logan has a Level 37 Exeggcute worth 777 XP, and a Level 40 Exeggutor worth 1816 XP and $1440.

A short distance past the Ranger is a cave entrance that leads inside of Mt. Ember, which consists of a medium-long corridor and then another entrance that leads into the main area of the volcano.

This is a great area to capture a Machoke, as it is not just the first place we can capture one, buy a location that has them in abundance.  If you have yet to capture a Machop this is also a good place to do that as well.

Ahead of you is the exit, with the last few breakable rocks for this area, opening on to a short passage that ends in an exit to the outside, on the side of the mountain.

You will recall that set of stairs on the "right" side of the ledge that we were on the "wrong" side of earlier?  This is the continuation of that path.

When you head up the stairs you will notice some moveable boulders to the right -- first smash the breakable rock closest to us, then move the bottom one out of the way and smash the rock that is blocking the other.  Push the pair of boulders out of the way above to access the treasure ball that contains the Fire Stone, which you put in your pack.  We will have a need for that one later.

The Team Rocket Factor

-- Legendary Pokemon Moltres --

Now head back to the west and continue past the stairs, following the path around and down to a dead-end with another treasure ball, this one containing an Ultra Ball!  Excellent!  Backtrack to the stairs now, and head up.  After you zone into the next area, please save your game, and then work your way north, moving the boulders in the following manner:

(1) Push the right-hand boulder up.
(2) Push the left-hand boulder left.
(3) Push the middle boulder left.
(4) Push the top boulder up.
(5) Now push it right twice.

You now have access to your next Legendary Pokemon, Moltres!

- Moltres -

It would be an idea to save again now, before you engage, so that if anything goes wrong you can easily reload and try again...

You may recall that Articuno was a bitch to capture -- yes, well, here we go again!  Just remember to follow these easy steps and you will certainly capture this one too:

(1) Whittle away its health so that it is in the red, but not at risk of death.
(2) Use any Stat modifiers -- like Paralyze, Sleep, etc. -- that you can.
(3) Be patient!  This is a matter of LUCK, and NOT skill!

Moltres is one of the trio of Legendary Bird Pokemon, and the one we are facing here is Level 50, which means it will not be a push-over.  With any luck you will be able to do serious damage to it on your first strike, which should cause it to use the move "Endure" which will guarantee it at least 1 HP if you hit it hard again.

IF it uses Endure, go ahead and hit it HARD, so that you take it down to 1 HP.

If it does NOT use Endure, be very careful with our second attack so you do not kill it. 

Remember, you only get one chance at this guy, if you kill it, it is gone from the game forever (unless you saved so you can reload and try again).

At the risk of repeating myself from before, this really is a matter of luck -- you are trying to get one of the four known rolls from the Random Number Generator used by the game to cause the ball you throw to capture it.  Adding stat modifiers and even lowering its health are not actually necessary here -- if you get the right roll, you capture it, regardless of its health or stats! 

That being the case,  your best strategy is to pick a Pokemon that it cannot one-hit-kill like Graveler or Gyarados, and simply keep it healed while tossing ball after ball.  That way you are not using up any really valuable kit -- Lemonade we can replace all day long after all!  Just keep your Pokemon in the game as it were, and toss those Ultra Balls until you capture it or run out of balls.  If you run out, reload and do it again until you manage to capture it.  That is all that there is left to say about this pull...  Do not be tempted to use your Master Ball here, you will need that later.

After Action Report: I did not need to reload the saved game to capture this one. 

When I started I had 48 Ultra Balls, and when I finally captured him, I had 11 Ultra Balls left.  At the start I had 25 Lemonade and 5 Revive, and at the end I had 11 Lemonade and 2 Revive.  This was not a cheap capture!

Still once you understand that it is the RNG you are fighting, and not the Pokemon in front of you, the many failures get easier to take, because you know that eventually you will capture it -- and you did!  Good on ya, mate!

Now be sure that you save the game right away -- it would be heartbreaking if you accidentally turned off the game or it got reset or bugged and you had to do this all over again, right?