Where we last left our intrepid heroes, Princess Leia and the Cornfield Kid, they had just left their home of Aspertia City and were marching boldly towards nearby Floccesy Town in hopes of finding Hugh, ‘cause if that kid’s left alone for too long I ain’t being held responsible for whatever happens.  On the outskirts of Floccesy Town, however, we encounter… oh, good lord; it’s Alder.  Alder, famous in Black and White as Unova’s Champion, is an exuberant giant of a man with flaming red hair, pecs of steel, and a poncho that makes him look like he belongs in a Peruvian folk band.  He has a disturbing habit of jumping off cliffs in order to get to the ground faster, which he demonstrates now, leaping from on high to land smack in our path as we attempt to enter Floccesy Town.  Alder proclaims that he is going to train us, and marches purposefully into Floccesy Town.  We follow, hoping for some sage advice like “one strategy is to use Pokémon that you capture in your party!” (that is a legit quote from the official strategy guide, by the way).  When we reach Alder’s house, however, it turns out that he has changed his mind.  He isn’t going to train us, because we already have something we’re supposed to be doing – finding Hugh and delivering our spare Town Map.  This is, admittedly, important.  After all, if Hugh gets lost and starts to feel confused and alone, he could…

…anyway.  Alder sends us on our way, and we wander off to the east of Floccesy Town to see what we can find.  Here we meet a few trainers, who give us sage advice like ‘if you make eye contact with a trainer, you have to battle!’ and tell us how amazed we’re going to be by their Patrat (undoubtedly, it is in the top percentage of all Patrat).  We encounter a typical Pokémon-style roadblock in the form of a Hiker who won’t let anyone without a Gym Badge pass, and, unimpressed, turn north to Floccesy Ranch.  Here we finally track down Hugh, raring for a couple of practice battles; Jaime and Ulfric stomp him quickly enough.  At this point the owners of the ranch, a husband and wife team, wander past and greet us, casually asking whether we happen to have seen a Herdier, since they have two who normally stick together, but can’t find the second one at the moment.  Not to worry, it’ll surely turn up… right Hugh?

Uh… Hugh?

Hugh is glaring at the owners with utter vitriol, fists clenched, a vein popping on his reddening brow.  He demands to know how they can possibly be so nonchalant and storms off to find Herdier and make sure it hasn’t been killed or eaten or whatever.  Jim and I look at each other and shrug as Hugh’s muffled obscenities fade into the distance.  We split up to determine what Pokémon can be found at Floccesy Ranch.  Jim almost immediately finds a Riolu, the juvenile form of his favourite Pokémon, which he captures and names Dovahkiin.  We quickly determine (unsurprisingly) that Riolu is very rare here, and chalk this up to Destiny.  He and I both capture Mareep as well, out of sheer Gold and Silver nostalgia, naming them Elisif and Sansa, respectively.  We continue to hunt, and reflect on the number of Pokémon species we’ve found so far.  Almost from the get-go, Black and White 2 have been offering us a great deal more variety than their predecessors, with Pidove, Sewaddle and Sunkern appearing on the road out of Floccesy Town in addition to the more standard Patrat and Purrloin, but Floccesy Ranch is making things very interesting indeed.  We soon identify Azurill and Lillipup in addition to the Mareep, Riolu, Patrat and Pidove we’ve already noted, and later find a few Psyduck as well.  If this keeps up, it’s going to make Black and White 2 much more enjoyable to replay than the previous games, which offered a grand total of five species before the first Gym battle, counting the starter (Patrat, Lillipup, Purrloin, and one of the elemental monkeys).  We applaud this change, and move on.  While Jim hangs around level-grinding, I wander off to find Hugh, who is searching the ranch for the missing Herdier.  I decide to humour him and help look.  We eventually manage to track down the sheepdog Pokémon by the sound of its barks.  When Hugh realises its voice is coming from just around the corner, he dashes off to find the owner… leaving me to deal with the black-clad ginger fellow who seems to have abducted Herdier.  The villain introduces himself as a member of Team Plasma, the organisation that attempted to conquer Unova two years ago.  He proclaims his annoyance at being interrupted in the middle of his mission, and prepares to deal with me using his most ruthless methods: he throws a TM at me and runs away, leaving Herdier behind.

Uh… okay?

I mean… if that’s how Team Plasma handles its opponents these days… by throwing useful items at them and then legging it… well, then, honestly I’m totally fine with it.  I hope one of them has a Master Ball.

Hugh drags the owner over to see Herdier, screams at him again for not being more concerned, and leaves in a huff.  What can I say?  Kid’s got issues.  Jim and I stick around a little longer to train before heading back to Floccesy Town to consult Alder and see if he’s ready to teach us yet.  Alder, for his part, seems keen to keep jerking us along.  He comments in surprise that we’ve already grown a great deal in the time we’ve been away, and now he would like us to help him teach someone else!  We mutter darkly that the time we’ve been away amounts to more than two thirds of the time we’ve been trainers, but grudgingly follow him into his house to indulge in practice battles with two young trainers and their elemental monkey Pokémon.  This little episode seems intended to replace the Striaton Gym sequence of Black and White, which teaches new players how to make use of (and avoid falling foul of) the type chart.  Alder first has you fight the monkey who is weakest against your starter Pokémon (in my case, Pansear), and then the one who is strongest (Pansage), similarly to how the Striaton Gym pits you against a Gym Leader with a type advantage, but gives you the monkey capable of defeating him.  Honestly, I think the Striaton Gym’s method was clearer and more instructive, though the point was somewhat hamstrung by the very limited variety of Pokémon available, which forced the lesser Gym trainers to use Lillipup rather than actual Grass-, Water- or Fire-types.  Alder’s way of doing it is neat enough, though I fear it may not be explicit or forceful enough for anyone who doesn’t already understand the system.

Alder explains to us that a new Pokémon Gym has just been opened in our hometown of Aspertia City, and suggests that we return there to check it out.  This will be the subject of my next entry, though there’s one more thing to talk about today: achievements!  Pokémon now has an achievement system, which is introduced to us by a very peculiar and rather pushy fellow known only as Mr. Medal as we leave Alder’s home.  He hands us Medal Boxes containing a bunch of silvery disks stamped with question marks.  These are ‘hint medals,’ and contain somewhat vague hints at things we can do to earn the actual medals that will replace them, like ‘catch a lot of Pokémon,’ ‘save often,’ ‘visit Pokémon centres,’ and so on.  Mr. Medal has people stalking us to keep track of when we earn our medals, and will track us down at Pokémon Centres whenever he needs to deliver one.  Many video games (perhaps even most, these days?) have similar systems, and although receiving medals for catching 5 Pokémon or using not-very-effective moves 10 times or whatever is a bit groan-inducing for experienced trainers, I actually think it’s quite a nice way of encouraging new players to explore everything they can do with the games and ‘learn the ropes’ as it were.  It’s reasonably unobtrusive and doesn’t slow the game down much, so it’s not as if it’s getting in the way of anything, and I’m fairly happy with it.

Anyway, that’s all for now – see you next time, when we challenge the newly-minted Aspertia Gym!