Ch. 32 - Puzzle
[The situation is quite similar to how it was when players first discovered 'Viridian Forest' and just like how it was possible to cross 'Viridian Forest', players will surely find a way to cross 'Mt. Moon' within the 6-hour time limit.]
"So, no one succeeded in crossing 'Mt. Moon'. I did expect something like this to happen since even I was only able to cross 'Mt. Moon' because I had the Running Shoes."
After going through the article, I put my phone away because it was becoming more and more difficult to keep my eyes open.
[Next Day]
With a fresh morning, I entered the Pokemon World.
Back in the Pokemon Center, I changed the order of my Pokemon in the team. Since I will be facing Electric-Type Pokemon, I moved Rhyhorn to the front of the team.
After changing the team, I exited the Pokemon Center and started heading to the Gym.
Soon, I was in front of the entrance of the Gym. With determination and hope that everything goes well, I entered the Gym.
The inside of the Gym was just as I remembered. The area right in front of the entrance was filled with buckets, and three NPCs standing in between the buckets.
{Image Of The Gym}
'Two of these buckets should have a button which will open the laser door that leads to the Gym Leader.'
'Before the puzzle, Let's clear the NPCs first.' I thought as I moved to the first NPC trainer.
"This is no place for kids! Not even if you're good." said Sailor Dwayne.
[You are challenged by Sailor Dwayne]
[Sailor Dwayne sent out Pikachu]
Sailor Dwayne sent his Pikachu, and I sent my Rhyhorn.
Rhyhorn Lv. 25 - 76/76
Pikachu Lv. 24 - 100%
Pikachu used <Double Kick>, which hit 2 times and was super effective against Rhyhorn but only did 20 damage.
Rhyhorn Lv. 25 - 56/76
Pikachu Lv. 24 - 100%
I chose to use <Drill Run>, which is a Ground-Type move, and it was super effective, knocking out Pikachu in one hit. but...
[Foe's Pikachu fainted]
[Foe's Pikachu's <Static > ability caused Rhyhorn to Paralyze]
[Rhyhorn is Paralyzed! It may be unable to move]
[Rhyhorn gains 594 EXP. Points]
Unexpectedly, Pikachu caused <Paralyze > to Rhyhorn before fainting.
[Sailor Dwayne sent out Elekid]
After Pikachu fainted, Sailor Dwayne sent out Elekid.
Rhyhorn Lv. 25 <Paralyzed > - 56/76
Elekid Lv. 24 - 100%
{Image Of Elekid}
Elekid used <Rock Smash>, which similar to Pikachu's <Double Kick> was super effective against Rhyhorn but only did 12 damage.
Rhyhorn Lv. 25 <Paralyzed > - 44/76
Elekid Lv. 24 - 100%
And I chose to use <Drill Run> which, similar to Pikachu knocked out Elekid in one hit.
[Foe's Elekid fainted]
[Rhyhorn gains 511 EXP. Points]
[You defeated Sailor Dwayne]
[You got ₽768 for winning]
"Wow, Surprised me!" said Sailor Dwayne.
After defeating Sailor Dwayne, I moved on to the next NPC.
"I'm a lightweight, but I'm good with electricity, that's why I joined this Gym." said Engineer Baily.
[You are challenged by Engineer Baily]
[Engineer Baily sent out Magnemite]
Rhyhorn Lv. 25 <Paralyzed > - 44/76
Magnemite Lv. 24 - 100%
{Image Of Magnemite}
Magnemite used <Mirror Shot>, which was super effective and unexpectedly took all of the Rhyhorn's HP.
[Rhyhorn fainted]
Something which I didn't expect to happen has happened, and now Rhyhorn is out.
"Nothing to worry about, I still have 5 more Pokemon left." I said as I chose Charmeleon from the third screen to send out next.
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 66/66
Magnemite Lv. 24 - 100%
I used <Fire Fang>, which was super effective against Magnemite and took 3/4 of its HP but...
[Charmeleon is hurt by the foe's Magnemite's <Rocky Helmet>]
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 56/66
Magnemite Lv. 24 - 25%
Magnemite used <Shock Wave>, which was super effective against Charmeleon and did some heavy damage.
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 29/66
Magnemite Lv. 24 - 25%
Again with the <Fire Fang>, I knocked out Magnemite.
[Foe's Magnemite fainted]
[Charmeleon is hurt by the foe's Magnemite's <Rocky Helmet>]
[Charmeleon gains 417 EXP. Points]
[Engineer Baily sent out Voltorb]
After Magnemite, the next opponent was Voltorb.
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 19/66
Voltorb Lv. 24 - 100%
This time I chose to use <Dragon Claw> but before Charmeleon, Voltorb used <SonicBoom >, which took the remaining of the Charmeleon's HP.
[Charmeleon fainted]
After Charmeleon fainted, I quickly navigated to the third screen and selected Weepinbell.
Weepinbell Lv. 22 - 63/63
Voltorb Lv. 24 - 100%
Voltorb again used <SonicBoom >, which didn't do much damage to Weepinbell and only took 20 HP.
Weepinbell Lv. 22 - 43/63
Voltorb Lv. 24 - 100%
Whereas I chose to go with the <Sleep Powder> strategy and used <Sleep Powder>.
[The foe's Voltorb fell asleep]
Weepinbell Lv. 22 - 43/63
Voltorb Lv. 24 <Asleep > - 100%
After Voltorb fell asleep, I used <Vine Whip>.
[The foe's Voltorb is fast asleep]
Weepinbell Lv. 22 - 43/63
Voltorb Lv. 24 <Asleep > - 65.5%
Again with <Vine Whip> but...
[Foe's Voltorb woke up]
After waking up, Voltorb used <SonicBoom >
Weepinbell Lv. 22 - 23/63
Voltorb Lv. 24 - 65.5%
And after Voltorb, Weepinbell used <Vine Whip>
Weepinbell Lv. 22 - 23/63
Voltorb Lv. 24 - 30.9%
Now I need to make a choice. I know that Voltorb will again use <SonicBoom >, and from the previous turns, it is clear that I would do around 20 damage.
So If everything goes to plan, then Weepinbell should survive with 3 HP, and using <Vine Whip> should be able to knock Voltorb out.
So, I again chose <Vine Whip> while Voltorb used <SonicBoom >, and just as I had expected.
The <SonicBoom > did exactly 20 damage leaving Weepinbell with 3 HP.
Weepinbell Lv. 22 - 03/63
Voltorb Lv. 24 - 30.9%
After Voltorb, Weepinbell used <Vine Whip>, which knocked out Voltorb.
[Foe's Voltorb fainted]
[Weepinbell gains 428 EXP. Points]
[Weepinbell grew to Lv. 23]
[You defeated Engineer Baily]
[You got ₽1,152 for winning]
"Fried!" said Engineer Baily.
After defeating the second NPC, most of my Pokemon were not in great condition, so I headed back to the Pokemon Center to heal my Pokemon.
"I didn't expect Rhyhorn to be knocked out. It seems that even though they are Electric-Type Pokemon, they can use moves that are not Electric-Type."
After healing my Pokemon, I once again made my way back to the Gym.
After entering the Gym, I made my way to the last NPC who was standing beside the laser door.
"When I was in the Army, Lt. Surge was my strict CO. He was a hard Taskmaster."
[You are challenged by Gentleman Tucker]
[Gentleman Tucker sent out Pikachu]
Rhyhorn Lv. 25 - 76/76
Pikachu Lv. 25 - 100%
I thought of using <Drill Run> to quickly finish the battle, but Pikachu used <Grass Knot>, which was super effective and one hit knocked my Rhyhorn
[Rhyhorn fainted]
"What the fuck!!!"
"It seems my luck is not working today" I said as I chose Charmeleon.
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 66/66
Pikachu Lv. 25 - 100%
Pikachu used <Shock Wave>, which hit a critical and took more than half of Charmeleon's HP.
[The <Electric Gem> strengthened <Shock Wave>'s power]
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 27/66
Pikachu Lv. 25 - 100%
While I used <Fire Fang>, which also took half of Pikachu's HP.
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 27/66
Pikachu Lv. 25 - 45.5%
'Now what are the chances of another critical and Charmeleon fainting...' I thought.
This time I used <Dragon Claw>, hoping that Charmeleon wouldn't faint from Pikachu's next attack.
Pikachu again used <Shock Wave> and thankfully this time it didn't hit a critical, and Charmeleon survived with 9 HP.
Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 09/66
Pikachu Lv. 25 - 45.5%
After Pikachu, Charmeleon used <Dragon Claw>, which took the remaining of Pikachu's HP.
[Foe's Pikachu fainted]
[Charmeleon gains 563 EXP. Points]
[You defeated Gentleman Tucker]
[You got ₽1,400 for winning]
"Stop, You're very good." said Gentleman Tucker.
'Now only the puzzle and Gym Leader remain, but first, Let's make another trip to the Pokemon Center.'
After a quick trip to the Pokemon Center to heal my Pokemon, I was now in front of the three rows of the Buckets.
"Now comes the most difficult part." I said as I looked at the three rows of buckets.
"So, From what I remember, To clear this puzzle, I would need to find two switches which are inside any of these buckets."
"I would need to look inside every bucket to find the switch. It would have been easy if it was just that, but there is always a twist."
"After finding the first switch, which will unlock one of the two lasers on the door, if the next bucket that I will look into doesn't contain the other switch, then the puzzle will reset, and both the switches will again be placed randomly inside any of the buckets. Not only that, but the laser which was unlocked after finding the first switch will again be locked."
"So basically after finding the first switch, if I didn't find the second switch on the first try, then I would have to start all over again with the switches, the location of switches changed after every try."
"It would have been near impossible, but thankfully I know the trick to this puzzle."
"Which is that the second switch will always be in the bucket right next to the bucket in which the first switch was."
"Like if the bucket in the center contains the first switch, then the second switch will be within the four buckets surrounding the bucket that contains the first switch. The second switch could be in the bucket left to it or right to it, or it could be inside the bucket after it in the next row or before it in the previous row."
"It makes things a lot easier as I would now only have to look in one of the four buckets, increasing my chance of finding the second switch."
"Then Let's get started." I said as I moved to the first bucket in the first row.
[Only trash]
Moving on...
[You found a switch under the trash]
"Oh, I already found the first switch." I said as I looked at the small red switch inside the bucket. I pressed it.
[The first electric lock opened]
I looked at the laser door, and sure enough, one of the lasers was now turned off.
"Now comes the challenge. Since the switch was inside the bucket of the first row, the second switch would be within one of the three buckets surrounding it."
Moving towards the bucket after it in the next row hoping for it to contain the switch and...
[You found a switch under the trash]
"Yes, I know I can trust my luck" I said as I looked at a small red button similar to the previous one. I pressed it.
[The second electric lock opened]
[The motorized door opened]
With a buzzing sound, the second laser also stopped, and the path to the Gym Leader opened.
Moving to the Gym Leader who was sitting on a yellow machine with metallic coils on both sides, like a mechanical throne.
Lt. Surge, The Lightning American.
{Image Of Lt. Surge}
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
<Team's Current Status>
[1 - Rhyhorn Lv. 25 - 76/76]
[2 - Gyarados Lv. 27 - 92/92]
[3 - Weepinbell Lv. 23 - 63/63]
[4 - Charmeleon Lv. 24 - 66/66]
[5 - Hoothoot Lv. 14 - 43/43]
[6 - Ponyta Lv. 16 - 45/45]
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x