I am Legend

Last post, I mentioned that I only had one outstanding Legendary Pokémon from SoulSilver to catch: the elusive Eon Pokémon Latios. I also mentioned that since he was the last legendary to catch, I'd probably be okay using my precious Master Ball on him if the hunt proved too difficult.

Well, it looks like I needn't have bothered, as I managed to catch him with a single Fast Ball. That's right, I'm now the proud owner of a level 35 male Latios, whom I've named Sonic (to complement Knuckles the Latias, of course).

Thanks, Sonic!

Even though this was undoubtedly the highlight of my Pokéxploits this past week, I still managed to add a few more entries to the 'dex. Using a Water Stone I won in the Pokéathelon, I evolved Namora into a Cloyster. After an hour or so in the Ruins of Alph, I managed to catch a level 20 male Smeargle named Dog Vinci. And as always, I've been diligently evolving my Pokémon; first Janet into a Yanmega, then Caesar into an Ambipom. I've started training some Pokémon that need high friendships to evolve, turning Morrigan into a Crobat, Squeeq into a Marill and then Azumarill, and O'Hare into a *shudder* Lopunny. I gotta say that friendship evolutions are a lot more work than simple level-up evolutions. Not really looking forward to shooting for an Umbreon and Espeon.

Finally, I managed to find Old Amber and a Dome Fossil in the Ruins of Alph, earning myself an Aerodactyl and a Kabuto.

This brings me to a respectable 298 Pokémon, meaning I have less than 200 to go in order to fill out my 4th generation Pokédex. While I still have several outstanding Pokémon to catch in SoulSilver, now's probably as good a time as ever to move on to Pokémon Ruby. I'll probably still be spending time in Johto/Kanto earning Stones in the Pokéathelon and hopefully catching those last few stragglers, but the next phase of my Pokéjourney is about to begin.

Wish me luck.

For the Birds

A lot's been going on in the last week of January. To begin with, Rebecca and I celebrated our four year anniversary. I know that she's been wanting to go on vacation to Africa for a while now, so I decided to do something wild and romantic and took her to the Rainforest Café at Yorkdale Mall (you're welcome!). A few days later was the premiere screening for Petty Thieves, a short film I co-wrote and have been working on for almost two years.

To top everything off, I managed to catch both a Moltres and an Articuno in quick succession.

Talk about a good week.

Neither of the Legendary Birds were particularly difficult, but they weren't exactly a cinch. Both did take a few tries and about a hundred Ultra/Dusk balls between the two of them. But that's not important. What's important is that the mighty Moltres (Jean Grey) and Articuno (Shiva) have fallen. As I caught Zapdos (Rayden) some time ago, this means that I now possess the three Legendary Birds.

Now, if I remember my Pokémon: The Movie 2000 correctly, catching all three Birds is a fairly inadvisable thing to do. Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres are essentially guardians of nature, and to catch even one of them would be to throw the world's balance out of flux. Catch all three, and that could spell the end of the world.

But then again, and this is the important thing, do I look like I give a fuck?

So okay, maybe I've left the world in eternal chaos, but the fact remains that I now have all the first and second generation Legendary Pokémon. In fact, with the exception of the Legendaries that can be caught by trading a Kyogre and Arceus, the only one I have left to catch in SoulSilver is Latios. I'll probably give it a proper go in the next few days, but if it proves to be too frustrating I may just use my Master ball, because why not?

The fact that I've almost exhausted all the available Legendaries is just further evidence that it's almost time to make the jump to the Hoenn region of Pokémon Ruby. But in the meantime I'm still making progress in SoulSilver, mostly by leveling up and evolving Pokémon. Since last update, I've evolved:

I.M. Buizel into a Floatzel
Shelob into a Gastrodon
Dr Bong into a Bronzong
Shrub Zero into an Abomasnow
Skitty into a Delcatty
Terezi into a Lickilicky
Mr Tickle into a Tangrowth
Aloysius into a Mamoswine
Finneon into a Lumineon

... and I've also hatched another Tyrogue named JCVD, whom I evolved into a Hitmonchan. I also managed to finally get Trainer Blue (aka your generation 1 rival [aka Gary Motherfucking Oak])'s phone number, which means every Sunday night I get to really challenge myself to a fairly intense battle at the Saffron city gym.

So yes, a good week all things considered.

Pokémon Count at 133:53 hours of gameplay: Seen 381, caught 287
Professor Oak says: If you Headbutt a tree, sometimes a Pokémon might fall out!