Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 22: Down With the Richness

Final Rogue Mega Evolution is Froslass, the new one. I do actually like that Naveen makes some character-appropriate comments about how he's going to take some fashion inspirations from Froslass. Mega Froslass is... it's neat! Her 'fake body' has extended into  a full on towering body that expands out like a cloud at the base, her arms and 'sleeves' have became longer and wavier, there is some long chunk of snow/flesh that acts as a weird 'hair'. That bit is weird, but I appreciate that it's there to make Froslass less 'just the base design stretched out'. Oh, and she's got ice oni horns now. 

Notably, despite all the big deal being given about him getting a mega stone, Naveen does not mega evolve his Scrafty. The Mega Froslass unleashes giant blizzards and summons icebergs that crash down from the sky, while I dodge around with Chandelure... but I actually die to the gimmick! At one point she summons some giant pillars and unleashes a blast of icy wind that freezes Pokemon... but damages the humans! I didn't realize that I was supposed to hide behind the pillars. 

So yeah, my soul was reaped by Froslass. I realized what I had to do and beat the Mega Froslass with my Mega Chandelure, but I did like this fight. It was quite frantic and a lot more fun compared to the relatively easy Altaria and Venusaur fights. 

Like a wart that won't go away, Jacinthe pops up again, actually acknowledging that Rogue Mega Evolutions are a threat to the city... but then goes straight into how important it is for us to join her stupid dumbass tournament so we can go back to protecting the city. This is worse than her being a rich airhead, she is a rich bitch who completely knows that the Rogue Mega Evolution is a danger to everyone, but who cares, right? Her rich people tournament is more important than the plebs. "My tournament is of equal -- if not greater -- importance!"

Naveen tells Jacinthe that our plate is full, and Jacinthe, in her infinite dickery, turns it around and rambles about how her own 'plate' is full of patience, totally, and that will not last forever. What an entitled spoiled twit!

We return to Hotel Z and everyone rightfully bitches about that dipshit Jacinthe. Taunie was fully willing to go back to Hotel Richissime to get things over with, but suddenly the bright sounds of a Battle Zone starting up happens, and we run out... to find that a purple battle zone. Lebanne, two of the SBC rich twits, and holo-Jacinthe show up. Yep, that's the rich dipshits for you. At least the mafia were more direct and had some sense of class about them! Jacinthe talks about how she has personal-use holo-walls and it totally matches her holo-avatar... what an utter asshole! She keeps going on and on about how we wouldn't do 'what is right', to participate in her stupid tournament. This honestly goes on for a bit, before holo-Jacinthe disappears. 

Lebanne sighs, and tells us that consequences await those who defy Lady Jacinthe. The two goons go and fight me. It's a lady with a Mawile and Klefki, and a dude with Dragonair and Shelgon. For all its hoity-toity reputation, the SBC sucks balls. Between each round Lebanne offers to heal my Pokemon, but that would require my Pokemon getting a single point of injury. No such thing happened.

Lebanne fights, and she suddenly hypes things up, yelling and being happy that she can cut loose in a REAL battle. She starts flexing, yells at Taunie and calls her a punk, and she starts doing some awesome feral poses. I like her. She summons a Noivern, which clashes with my Malamar. It's a contest of brute attack as I unleash Psycho Cuts and Night Slashes, and the Noivern unleashes Dragon Pulses. We have a double knockout as moves hit each other at the same time, something impossible in turn-based Pokemon but absolutely anime-accurate here. 

Next up is a Tyrantum, which faces off against my Meganium who Solar Beams it to death. Then a Garchomp appears, and I respect Garchomps. Cynthia has traumatized me enough. I mega evolve Slowbro and one-shot it with Ice Beam before it can do anything. Respect, Garchomp. 

Lebanne then unleashes her final Pokemon... a... Dragalge? That's not the Kalos Dragon-type I expected you to Mega Evolve, but fuck yeah. Lebanne does some more poses, and mega evolves Dragalge... and I think this might be my favourite new Mega. Dragalge's 'hair' expands into like an awesome, over-the-top anime cape, which makes sense since it's a seaweed monster. Its horns become like giant fake eyes, and the general look feels like a great idea of the 'exaggerated features leading to a unique silhoeutte' principle that a lot of the best-looking Megas have. 

It is unfortunately up against Mega Slowbro, and between Psychic and Ice Beam it goes down like a punk, but a very cool punk. 

Lebanne gives me a thumbs up... before assuming a feral pose and yelling that she's going to heal up her Pokemon and battle me as many times as it is needed to drag me to the hotel. The idea of abusing potions is a great little gag, but Taunie stops it and says that we're already planning to go. Lebanne sits like a punk on a rock and starts ranting about how we should've led with that last time, but Taunie points out that they were the ones that waltzed in and trapped people in Weird Zones. 

Lebanne rants a bit, but then shrugs it off, saying that she enjoyed cutting loose for once. She used to be a fighter, and the kind that seeks out strong opponents until she lost a fight to Jacinthe and was... uh... forced to become her maid and talk proper. So... uh... slavery? Or at least Lebanne got harassed into compliance? That's kind of disturbing, actually. Free Lebanne! Apparently, if I lose to Jacinthe, I become a maid? Well. 

Jacinthe clearly then pays off the organizers of the Z-A tournament and sets herself up as the next promotion match. Rich people are evil! 

Lebanne does a huge, embarrassing, cringey 'heart' pose to shut off the Jacinthe Zone, before giving me a fist-bump and meeting us back at Hotel Richissime. Lebanne greets us, back 'in character', and takes a photo of me. I do the most uncooperative expression, which is sad. We get up, and Canari informs us that apparently Jacinthe trapped everyone in the forcefield. Beat the bitch up, holy shit. Corbeau! Phillippe! You two are mafia! What are you doing? Come on.

Jacinthe yaps about her tournament and how perfect it is and stuff. The tournament bracket is on, and while it does look like everyone is participating, it becomes quite obvious that I'm just going to fight every previous promotional match again. So okay. Of course, Jacinthe and her over-inflated airhead ego has put herself as the ultra exclusive rich seed to fight whoever wins. 

We get the Canari fight, and this is the third time we've fought her. I like Canari, but at this point I just kind of try and get through the fight as soon as possible. I really also wished that Canari's roster has became expanded a bit. I just pop up my Meganium, who learned Earthquake, and quake her Heliolisk and Ampharos; Giga Drain her Stunfisk; and we get a mega rumble between Mega Meganium and Mega Eelektross. Canari, you're all right. She curses up a storm and walks off. 

Next up is Ivor, who reveals that it was Lebanne who beat him up and inspired him... but then declines to say any more. You have a crush on the big scary maid, Ivor? Ivor's team is also the same. Chandelure fries Heracross, then Malamar psycho-cuts Machamp and Medicham, and finally Mega Slowbro one-shots Mega Falinks with a Psychic.

Third is Corbeau. There's a bit of a cute moment where Phillippe is yelling encouragement from the sidelines, and apparently Corbeau has been fighting the Steel specialist to train against me, since Steel is defensively powerful against Poison. That's nice. I take down his Arbok with my Slowbro, but get blindsided with Gyarados again. Hawlucha comes out to take out the Gyarados with Thunder Punches, but ends up getting severely wounded by Bounces. Malamar Psycho-Cuts Roserade, and finally, the moment I am waiting for... Scolipede vs. Scolipede! No! MEGA Scolipede vs. MEGA Scolipede! That was fun. That was cool. I won with Iron Tails and Megahorns, but it was a bit close. I loved this moment, just to see two giant centipede-knights clash against each other. 

Jacinthe yaks on about how the final battle of her superspecialawesomeidiot tournament is going to happen... and suddenly, an interruption! God bless!

It's Zygarde!

L walks in behind Zygarde, and I love how this shuts down Jacinthe's grandstanding. Tarragon recognizes Lysandre as the missing leader of Team Flare, and gives a recap of who he is. Phillippe also recognizes him and gets excited for Corbeau's sake, but Corbeau wants to play it super-cool and not be embarrassed in front of his hero. Canari is shocked that the guy that fired the Ultimate Weapon is there, and poor Gwynn just wants to go home. 

Lysandre tells me that Zygarde wants to forge a bond, a bond that cannot be severed against me. Lysandre also drops the fact that he is amnesiac and remembers none of what he has done, which is news to me! but the Zygarde thing is important, because it's crucial for Lumiose City- and then Jacinthe opens her stupid mouth and yells about how this is totally great for her superspecialawesome tournament, and she randomly slaps Zygarde onto the tournament board as a competitor. Shut up and fuck off, moron. Vapid twit. Rich bitch. 

Suddenly, a bunch of squishy things started moving in from all parts of the room, passing the spectators' feet. It's a Zygarde Core and a bunch of Zygarde Cells! To people who aren't well-versed with Pokemon lore, Lysandre gives us a bit of a backstory and context about them, telling us that Zygarde gets stronger and stronger as more cells are gathered. It's a colonial organism... and Zygarde merges into... the best form, the serpentine Zygarde 50% and the original design that Zygarde debuted in. 

TIME TO FIGHT!

I respect Zygarde, so I fight him with Meganium. Giga Drains and Dazzling Gleams surprisingly only chip off on his health, so he's clearly scaled with Mega-Evolved Pokemon rules. So I Mega Evolve my starter, and charge up a Solar Beam to take out the legendary Pokemon.

Zygarde then zips off in his dog form. No capture, unfortunately. Lysandre tells me that Zygarde was pleased, and tells me that Zygarde has a bit more to go to become Zygarde 100%, or Zygarde Complete. Lysandre then goes off to gather all the remaining Zygarde Cells, because that's apparently what he's been doing off-screen as Zygarde 'has commanded him'. Okay? Weird way to incorporate that collection quest, but sure. Lysandre then tells me to continue growing as a trainer to be worthy of Zygarde, before addressing the assembled trainers of Lumiose, telling them that... 'the time has come to consider why Zygarde has came today, I pray all of you find the right answer'. Very vague and not informative at all, is it, old man? Silly Lysandre. 

Lysandre walks off, and all the fuzzy feelings I get from a cool meeting is crushed immediately when Jacinthe opens her stupid mouth and starts ranting about how the exceedingly incredibl(y annoying) host of this terrific(allly poor) tournament to begin the final round. Come, bitch, fight me and end this already. 

Jacinthe rambles about her plans at Rank A, which is a stupidly vague 'make each trainer strong' because that's her duty as an influential socialite. Just... just fuck off and go to your room, rich twit. 

Jacinthe is a Fairy-type trainer, and she starts off with Carbink. Come on. Meganium one-shots Carbink with a Giga Drain. She sets up Stealth Rock... at the corner of the room. What an idiot. Next up is Mawile. Chandelure, Flamethrower. Next. Jacinthe then sends out Aurorus, which isn't even in the Fairy Theme. Hawlucha, Brick Break. Next. A Gardevoir? Hold up, you're Diantha if Diantha was unlikable, huh? Anyway, Malamar. Night Slash. Next. 

Her ace is... CLEFABLE? Okay, I kind of expected her mega to be a Fairy-type, but I expected a Generation VI Fairy-type. For Clefable to get any attention... that's neat. Jacinthe gives some stupid 'responsibility to guide the masses', and turns Clefable into Mega Clefable... and hahaha what a stupid design. I like the big butterfly fairy wings, but the ears become ugly chunky tubes and she's got... a... beret? A flesh beret? Not feeling it. Mega Scolipede, Gunk Shot the shit out of that Mega Clefable. 

Nope, not a single piece of effort was given in the fight against Jacinthe. I am promoted to Rank B, and Jacinthe claims everyone is pleased. They are all clapping, but I think they're clapping because the tournament is over more than anything. Jacinthe gives some self-centered bullshit about how they have learned something about deep bonds between trainers and pokemon, but the only deep bond is the depths of your ignorance and stupidity and annoyance. She says a bunch of more stuff but if you can't tell, I found her extremely insufferable. Good writing, Pokemon team, I guess, in making her so unlikeable. My guy and Jacinthe do a fist-bump, but I choose to interpret it as me trying to punch her in her smug face and missing. 

We go back to Hotel MZ, and, uh, Naveen is so traumatized he's eating curry croissant? Or, well, he claims this is in the spirit of celebration, but it is a bit surprising for him. Taunie handwaves that she's going to catch up to me soon because she has a promotion match. Please beat up Jacinthe too, Taunie. The team notes that Floette and AZ are absent...

...And we cut to a scene with the two of them at the rooftop of the hotel. AZ overlooks the Prism Tower and mutters about someone called "Ange", who was meant to be the guardian of the city, towering and watching over 'her' always. I think he's talking about the Prism Tower? So maybe there's a Legendary sealed within? AZ then mutters about a 3000-year-old desire, foolishly held, a 3000-year old mistake, foolishly made... one that costed Floette's life... and mutters that young bright lives must pay his remaining debts. Ominous stuff!

The next day begins with AZ, again, ominously noting that 'Lumiose trembles'. As this happens, Vinnie summons us to Quasartico. I feel like we're going into the endgame now, and it's quite exciting! Certainly more exciting than this nonsense with Jacinthe!

Random Notes:

• These two Jacinthe-centric parts were... a bit tough for me to write and edit. I really, really found Jacinthe to be utterly insufferable especially compared to our previous focus characters of Corbeau, Canari, and even Ivor -- who I found stupid but in an entertaining way. I just really didn't enjoy her story at all. 
• I will admit that Jacinthe's battle theme is quite well done. That's something that did make the fight a bit more entertaining, and that's coming from someone who doesn't like electro.
• Naveen, on the SBC: "that sure was quite a thing we just witnessed. I'm not sure WHAT thing, exactly, but quite a thing." Same, bro. 
• I am actually surprised that the Zygarde cell gathering wasn't a fetch quest that runs throughout the game. Even if it's going to be plot relevant, I expected there to be like a couple of huge gathering missions for the cells, or at least a separate encounter with Zygarde core. 
• Not going to lie, with Lebanne's colour coordination, I was sure she was going to use a Mega Noivern. With Noivern being quite popular among the Generation VI Pokemon, I was surprised! I wasn't really thinking what mega that Jacinthe would use; but I kind of expected a pseudo-legendary like Dragonite or Goodra since all her goons used pseudos. 
• So for the bracket... I beat Canari to fight Ivor (who beat Tarragon) to fight Corbeau (who beat Taunie and Gwynn, and Gwynn beat Tarragon). Poor Taunie, she just can't stand up against the mob, can she? 
• I did chuckle that apparently Zygarde, legendary Pokemon and protector of nature, actually was a good boy enough to sit down and have his photo taken for the tournament. 
• In-between the Canari, Ivor, Corbeau, Zygarde and Jacinthe fights, we can talk to all the other people. Nothing is interesting other than Gwynn simping over Canari and Tarragon not giving a shit and caring more about taking away the posh food. That's a bit of a writing crime, honestly.