Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 13: V-Tuber Meet and Greet

So after all that detour, I go back to the main plot where I have to fight Canari. Naveen says that the Quiz Whiz Challenge is going to be taking place in Magenta District. I need to win three rounds, but Naveen is going to help me with like, ear-pods or something for me to get the answers. I am... not the most invested in this story, if we're being honest. It was funny enough when it was just Naveen being a dork in front of his friends, but I feel like they had this 'idol meet-and-greet' sequence go for a fair bit too long without actually going too hammy, if that makes sense. 

First up we have to get past the password with a guard, 'Let's Go Dynamo', which lets me come to a group of like, twenty people. Some of them are fat dudes with Canari merch. One of these mega-fans is a dude called Mani, who keeps muttering about how he's won this and gotten a lot of the eligible prizes. He calls himself a veteran Canatic, and somehow is even more insufferable than Naveen. Canari then shows up... or at least, a holographic version of her. There are like,four unique animations that Canari keeps doing -- making a 'D' with her hands, doing a 'Thunder Waaaave', pulling down her mask and punching the air, and an angry one where her eyes white out. It is a bit obvious that she's repeating some of those in every round, and it does get a bit tiresome. I suppose it might match what idol culture is like?

The first round is a true-and-false quiz, which... Naveen doesn't actually help me, he just mutters some comments here and there about 'oh, this is easy'. I suppose if I picked the wrong box, he'll step in? The design is somewhat similar to the voting floors in Squid Game. The first question is whether she likes block games (Naveen did mention this earlier in the game), whether she likes Macarons (false, but this one was just a random guess by me) and whether the likes Electric-type Pokemon (I mean,  duh, based on her outfit). 

Canari actually kinda mocks people who get the last question wrong, because she dresses in the colours of Electric-type Pokemon. She also summons Eelektross! I love Eelektross, crazy lamprey motherfucker that he is.

As round two starts off, Mani deigns to acknowledge my victory in the first round, which pisses off 'true fan' Naveen. Naveen mutters that this 'self-satisfied one-upping only serves to drive away other fans', which is something that is actually true in some fandoms for sure! The second round is down to five people, including myself, Mani, two randoms, and a very cool lady with a Chandelure hat. Having a unique model probably means she'll be important later on!

The second task involves me getting Eelektross's favourite food, and Naveen goes through a whole talk about how this is a 'deep cut', from episode 231 of 'CanaTalk: Shocking Side Stories'. I have to meet him at a cafe, and apparently it's not just a regular Lumiose Galette, but a Super Lumiose Galette that is baked to crisp perfection, since that is the texture that Eelektross likes. I mean, sure! Anything for Eelektross! Only myself and Mani the superfan gets it right, and Canari does over-act a bit about the importance of the Lumiose Galette's texture for Eelektross. 

And the final round, of course, is a battle against Mani for the right to answer the last question. Mani boasts that even if I win, I won't be able to answer the question because I'm a filthy casual. Mani, despite having a model with six Poke Balls, only uses three Pokemon -- a Helioptile, an Emolga, and a Raichu. Really? You're a fan of this super-idol and you don't even try and use her signature Pokemon? Some fan you are. 

Canari asks who owned the gaming laptop that she initially played games on. Naveen whispers the answer to us immediately, and it's her grandpa -- it's a 'deep cut' and 'the story is tragic', but does not elaborate. I answer the question and I ask Canari for a promotion match... or rather, in her words, PvP match on-stream. Okay! Canari gets a bit angry at that, but only so much that it's a 'waste of time' since she's going to win anyway. Them's fighting words, lady! Canari actually breaks character a bit, which is a cute hint to something that's going to happen later on, muttering that "is this kid really a fan? Ya'd think a fan'd prefer bein' the same rank as Canari..." referring to Canari in third-person and also having a rather notable accent. 

Canari tells me where to meet up with her, Racine Construction. Naveen thanks me for giving him to be the Quiz Whiz winner, even if it's unofficial. Mani also talks a bit about how we are all comrades, joined by the bonds of battle.

I go to the construction office, where, of course, Tarragon is surrounded by a ton of Canari merch. Environmental clues have kind of told me that Tarragon is Canari's grandfather, so them being associated isn't too surprising. Tarragon promises to 'tell me everything' if I beat him in battle, and we go to the construction garage to fight him. Tarragon uses Ground-types, opening up with a Hippowdon. It's not a particularly difficult challenge now that I'm running Meganium and Greninja. My starters make quick work of the Hippowdon and Diggersby, and Tarragon unleashes his ace... Excadrill!

Tarragon taps his helmet and Mega Evolves Excadrill, which is awesome -- did not expect this to happen, particularly since I was thinking that many of the Mega Evolutions was going to be given to Gen VI Pokemon. Excadrill's evolution is... interesting? The design of the mole body stays the same, but the metal parts on Excadrill's forehead and arms turn into halves (or one-thirds) of a gigantic serrated drill. The somewhat chainsaw-looking blades look goofy, although I do like the red exterior, and how it's keeping the spirit of the Pokemon. 

I fight his giant red drill with my giant golden drill, as I send out my shiny Mega Slowbro and take down the Mega Excadrill. 

Tarragon congratulates me for my victory, and says that as both a Canari fan and a rising star in the Z-A Royale, I did quite good. But Tarragon then decides to tell a secret about Canari... the holo-projection of Canari that's been interacting with me in Quiz Whiz... is actually Tarragon! We get a cute sequence where he does the Canari pose, and I know this is something that some V-Tubers do. The game does make it a bit of a heartwarming moment, because Tarragon tells me that Canari likes streaming and gaming, but is a bit shy around fan interactions so he's the one masquerading as Canari during these events. I genuinely don't know (and don't care enough) that much about these kinds of V-Tuber or Streamer or whatever culture to have an opinion on this, but I do appreciate how sometimes the fans can get a bit... too much. And something like this would be nice. 

Canari's base is in a curtained-off corner of the garage. She actually exists! It's filled with plushes, including Tyanmo and Eelektross plushes. Canari's quite polite and seems to be quite a bit more soft-spoken than the Tarragon-holo-Canari that has been hosting the quiz whiz. She's a bit reluctant to battle, but doesn't want me to 'put [her] on blast online' for refusing to battle. Really makes this whole designated promotion match thing kind of a poorly thought-out system in-universe!

As the army of construction workers arrive to cheer on Canari, our battle starts. Canari notes that she wants to win the royale to open video game tournaments in Lumiose City. A highly important goal, but not exactly one that requires you to like, go through all this trouble, surely. 

Canari's team is all Electric-types, and I don't actually have any Ground-type representation in my party so I just tank her team with my Scolipede and Aegislash. She runs a Heliolisk, an Ampharos and an adorable Stunfisk... but of course, her ace Pokemon is Eelektross. MEGA Eelektross, which got me quite excited! Canari makes a bit of a crack with energy drinks, before mega evolving her partner. Her Mega Stone is on her top, and she taps it to evolve Mega Eelektross... into... uh....

Huh. 

I don't actually know how to describe Mega Eelektross. It is essentially a 'regular' Eelektross, but its tail extends to a milky white tapering end, and its hands are 'gloved' inside two white mini-Eelektroses. I get the idea that Eelektross's hands kind of resemble extra lamprey mouths, and now Mega Eelektross is pretending to be a whole trio of lampreys, but... I dunno. The fact that the extra bodies look very milky-white and somewhat unfortunately resembling of condoms makes me not like the design as much. 

Mega Eelektross was actually a bit of a speedy menace, and actually took out half of my party. It takes down my two damaged Pokemon, and I made the mistake of sending out Greninja who shows up only to get one-shot. Likewise, Absol gets taken out, and I had to use Mega Meganium and weather Mega Eelektross down with Giga Drains. Respectable, Canari. Respectable!

Canari then... curses up a storm! Which is rendered in !%*@^&=!(#&$, but it is actually funny to see that her temper is actually a lot worse than Tarragon's. Canari gets a bit angry at Tarragon, Tarragon promises to buy her a gift, and Canari mellows out immediately and apologizes for flipping out. She hasn't lost -- or really, battled -- in a while, and notes that it's a bit different losing in a battle versus losing in the streams, because the chat can cheer her on in the streams. That's cute. 

Canari acknowledges her defeat, I get ranked up from F to E, and she gives me a TM and an autographed plush. She tells me that she has been watching the Quiz Whiz, and knows her fans well enough that she realizes I must have had help, and tells me to give it to my ally. She does end it off with an offer for me to properly decide to be a fan, which is nice. 

I return to a debriefing with Team MZ, and Lida and Naveen get into a bit of an argument about the 'pain' that Canari put us through. Naveen defends the fact that famous people sometimes need to do that, but actually becomes somewhat wholesome when he tells Lida that she'll understand when she becomes a famous dancer. Aww, Naveen! I give Naveen the authographed Canari plush, which blindsides him and makes him super-happy. Lida and Taunie lampshade how different Naveen is from his usual antics, but Naveen still draws the line at eating Taunie's croissant curry. 

In the next day, Team MZ have a bit of a discussion about how Mega Evolution is needed to fight other Rogue Mega Evolutions, and Taunie briefly brings up recruiting "Cannoli" to our team, which has to be the best mistaken name yet. At this point, Vinnie calls in with another mission and another set of Rogue Mega Evolutions. 

I also wander around to explore the new Wild Zones. 11 has a river bisecting two parts of a park with Clauncher, Stunfisk and some other watery Pokemon. Wild Stunfisk is kind of fun due to the fact that they hide both in the mud around the water, and in the water itself -- and being flat and hidden by the grass, they actually do ambush you for once. Claunchers and Clawitzers are extremely aggressive! This location also has Furfrous, and more importantly, Inkays! Finally! I can have my friend Malamar!

So yeah, Illithid the Inkay has joined my party. I still find it hilarious that the way to evolve Inkay just involves flipping the Nintendo upside-down... and thanks to the way evolution works in this game, the option for 'Evolve' just appears in the menu the moment I do so. That's funny.

Wild Zone 12 has been hit with a case of random winter, with Snover, Snorunt and the flighty Delibirds lurking around the area. Snovers and the Alpha Abomasnow are the hostile ones here, but the Gogoats (it does make sense for Gogoats to be in a tundra environment, huh) are also surprisingly aggressive. In Wild Zone 12 is also a tennis court covered with rock smash rocks, and within it are Machops and Machokes. Training in the cold, I suppose!

Anyway, with another new permanent party member that I think will be replacing Absol, onwards to the next part of the story!

Random Notes:

• I am very bad with the scaffolding puzzles, as it turns out. 
  
• I did another side quest where a Rising Star little boy teaches me about barrier moves. Unlike what I thought, the barriers spinning around your Pokemon is just a visual effect and it doesn't matter where the animation hits. 
• Another side-quest involves me zapping a broken holovator to light it back up. 
• I do like that the Battle Zone trainers' Pokemon are thankfully not limited to whatever Wild Zone is around at the time. I see them using Heracrosses and Absols and Scizors and Barbaracles. That's nice!
  
• The DYN4MO mega-fans have six Quick Balls in their models because it matches Canari's colours. Cute, I suppose!
• I actually picked 'an autograph, please' when Canari asks for the prize, and Naveen ends up going on speaker to speak for me. I assume something similar will happen if I get any of the other answers wrong. 
• So far, everyone's signature Pokemon has a Mega Evolution. Chandelure is one of my all-time favourites, so I might actually swap out Aegislash for Chandelure if the Chandlure-hat girl is actually going to be a major character using Chandelure down the line. 
• Stealth Rock is interesting, because it manifests in partially-invisible thorny spike-balls floating in the air, damaging any Pokemon that runs through it. 
• I've also been going around to older areas to catch more of the rare encounters. Interestingly, Shuppet spawn at night around the giant obelisk; and Audinos also sometimes appear as a rare encounter.