Be it grass, fruit, or beasts, whatever you eat, you have to live its part.

Yamask finally stayed out long enough for me to talk with him.

[After almost a year of trying to get the Pokémon who possessed him for Halloween to actually have a conversation with him, you think he'd be in a better mood. Except not, because Yamask used to be a human.]

His name's Tim Balkie, but he says that I can call him "Punk" if I want. He was 17 years old and lived in Goldenrod City. He likes listening to "punk rock" music and getting into fights, and he wanted to make it so that everyone in Johto is free and no one can tell anyone else what to do. He says he died when he got into a fight and someone hit him on the head with a baseball bat.

[Talking to the ghost of someone who died. Could this get any more depressing?]

Today's his birthday.

[It can.]

He says that he was staying in the PC Box because he'd heard that Pokémon can't die if they're in there, and he didn't want to forget about his life again like he did before we met.

[It really can.]

...I don't know how to cheer him up. I don't even know if I can. Is this even something that someone can be cheered up from?

[Anyone in Mahogany Town will be able to find him sitting under a tree with a pokéball on his lap, fiddling with the pokégear. From what it's reading aloud, he's going through the pokédex data for Yamask, specifically the moves that they can learn.]

[54 Combee eggs. That's what this video opens on. Someone who's been to the Lake of Rage before might recognize them as being in the cheapest cabin in the resort, but they fill so much of the shot that it's hard to see anything else besides the eggs and the Vespiquen and Combee who are responsible for filling up Apollo's PC box nearly to capacity over the last several months.

Apollo's voice comes from behind the camera.]

Vespiquen and Combee have been getting ready to start a hive for a while now, so they've been laying eggs and having me keep them in the PC. Vespiquen decided that they had enough eggs now, so she's going to let them hatch. She wanted to show them to everyone first though.

[Vespiquen speaks up in pokéspeak.]

With my trainer's assistance I have amassed a vast starting population for my future domain! Surely no other Vespiquen in history has presided over so many children at their hive's inception! I doubt that any of you watching this will have their offspring turn out even remotely as impressive as mine!

[Apollo isn't going to bother translating that for the non-Pokémon who are watching. Vespiquen doesn't need her ego stroked. A question occurs to him though, one that he had assumed the answer to already but hadn't actually asked yet.]

These eggs are all going to hatch at around the same time, right?

They will.

I should make sure that they all have food waiting for them then. You two are going to be busy.

[The feed comes on to show a forest, mostly clear of snow save for some stubborn drifts that have taken shelter beneath the evergreens. Exactly where this is isn't clear, though the music is that of the Lake of Rage, so that at least gives a general area. Apollo's voice comes from off-camera.]

It's almost spring now. I think that spring is my favorite season. You don't need to shelter from the cold and snow all the time and you can watch all the plants start to bud and the seeds sprout after being buried under the snow. Everything's beginning fresh. The best part about this spring though is that it's warm enough again that I don't have to wear shoes anymore. My feet have been sore wearing boots all the time, even worse than just putting on shoes to go into a store or work at the Pokémon Center. Covering your feet makes sense if you're going out in the snow, but I still don't understand why people keep wanting me to wear shoes to come inside where the floors aren't cold, or why anyone would want shoes to have such thick bottoms. I can't feel the ground when I'm wearing shoes and they seem like they're shaped to make me walk differently. They aren't comfortable.

[He suddenly realizes that he's off on a tangent about one of his pet peeves with this world and forces himself off of the topic. Unfortunately for the viewers, he fails to provide a segue.]

Once it gets warmer and the ground softens, I'm going to try planting some of the berries that I got from the berry orchard in Pallet Town. They're supposed to need to be kept warm all the time in something called a "hothouse". They don't look like they're hard to make. I'll just need to find materials to make them out of. I can probably find something useful in Goldenrod City.

I think I've figured out what kinds of places the berry plants on the routes grow best in, but the people at the berry orchard couldn't tell me much about where the plants that they were growing grow naturally. Has anyone else tried to grow berries?

[Just when you thought that all the Christmas egg hatching posts were over with and everyone could focus on the new arrivals, Apollo's egg starts to hatch, and since he sees other people recording their eggs hatching he figures that some people might be interested. The miracle of birth and all that.



Now here's an egg no one's likely to recognize, though Cecil will recognize the self-warming egg pillow it's sitting on at least. The video shows that the egg is in a cave not too far from a nice fire, with a larger-than-average Fearow, a Furret, and a Growlithe watching intently, a Zangoose leaning against a plastic bin in the background, chewing on a twig and looking only vaguely interested, and what perceptive viewers might recognize as the arms and legs of a very large Golurk sitting mostly off-camera. The pokégear has obviously been propped up on something, since Apollo comes around from behind it and sits down next to the egg, which is shaking and gaining another crack every few seconds.]

I guess today is a day for eggs. Combee and Vespiquen laid some eggs while I had them out of the PC to check on them, and now the egg that appeared a while ago is finally hatching. It's too bad it didn't hatch while I was near a PC, then everyone could have seen it- [A particularly large and loud crack interrupts him and he leans a bit closer to the egg, which glows white and transforms into...

Whatever it is, it sparkles as it makes its debut. It looks around curiously as the assembled Pokémon greet it, Apollo smiling and giving a psychic greeting that doesn't get picked up by the pokégear. It continues to look around quietly for a few more seconds before...]

Arrrrrrrrr!

[With a horrible screech it uses Quick Attack, headbutting Apollo in the forehead and knocking him back, then zooming over to hit Fearow, then Furret and Firaga the Growlithe. Zangoose charges in because this situation obviously needs a woman's no-so-delicate fist, only to be hit by a Wing Attack that makes her stumble and accidentally punch Firaga. Golurk tries to grab the baby, but it's low Speed stat makes that a futile gesture at best. The baby continues to dart between the other Pokémon for a bit longer, getting them to accidentally hit each other several times, before knocking over the pokégear as it darts past and heads for the cave's entrance. Fearow passes by the camera, the look on his face unmistakable as being that of someone who's just developed a crush - if this were animated and not reality, his eyes would be big pink hearts right about now. The feed continues for a while longer, allowing the viewer to fully appreciate the cave's ceiling, before finally shutting off.]

[Responses will be ICly delayed until Apollo can catch his new fossil Pokémon.]

[Even though this has happened before, Apollo didn't see it coming this time either, so he's almost as surprised as last time. The only difference this time is that he knows now that mammal-like Pokémon come from eggs, so there isn't that revelation to deal with as well.]

Furret had eggs again, this time with Firaga. Combee and Vespiquen had eggs too.

[He moves the camera to show a forest green canvas tarp with all of these on it:



Also visible are a Furret trying to comfort a Sentret who walked in on Mommy doing things with Firaga, a Growlithe who's eagerly racing around the Sentret and Growlithe eggs, sniffing and nuzzling them, a Vespiquen reclining regally among the Combee eggs with a Combee flittering around her, and a Zangoose with a twig in her mouth, pounding her fist into the palm of her other hand while glaring at an Autumn Form Sawsbuck who has a black eye as a result of being a little too pushy about getting on with this whole egg-making business with someone who's known him for less than two weeks.]

Since winter's almost here it would be better if the eggs were taken care of by someone. I don't want to have to leave them in the PC all winter if I can help it. They're okay with me giving the eggs to other people as long as they're taken good care of.

There are four Sentret eggs, two Growlithe eggs, and eight Combee eggs here. Sentret look like this [Camera focuses on the slightly traumatized Sentret.] and they evolve into Furret like this one [Camera focuses on the Furret holding the aforementioned Sentret.], Growlithe look like this [Camera focuses on the super-energetic Growlithe.], and Combee look like this [Camera focuses on the Combee tending to his queen.] and the females evolve into Vespiquen like this one [Camera focuses on the Vespiquen.]. I can have Nurse Joy send them to your PC Box at whatever PokéCenter you're closest to.

[Egg claim post is here. There are still some left, including one more fire-breathing squirrel!]

[Apollo's plan for this post was to mention that he'd gotten the Mineral and Storm Badges and was finally able to use Fly now that the fog was gone, but more importantly to talk about the whole Yamask possession thing where he became a teenage punk for two days.

But as the feed comes on to show his face and he's about to speak, his eyes glance down and his jaw starts to drop. The hand holding the PokéGear drops and dangles, the camera showing a brief glimpse of the Fearow he's riding before it comes to rest on what Apollo is seeing.

Johto.

Beams of sunlight shine through the cloud cover and reflect off of the sea between Cianwood and the mainland as a pod of Wailord surface and spout water from their blowholes. A wind blows lines across the long grasses of Route 39. Flocks of bird Pokémon fly through the air, so far away that it's impossible to tell what kind they are. Far in the distance the snow-capped peak of Mt. Silver can be seen, with Mt. Mortar dwarfed by comparison. Ilex Forest is a tiny patch of reds and oranges at this height, and the shining skyscrapers of Goldenrod City look like models, even the Radio Tower appearing small. And, so far away that it's hard to see, is New Bark Town.

Apollo's awed voice can faintly be heard in the background, though it's easy to miss.]

All that time I spent walking... it was all this small? ...But it keeps going...

[He finally understands what the map is actually trying to show, and with that comes a thought.]

Is Grandpa's forest this small too?

...

I never knew the world.

[Responses will be ICly delayed by an hour or two while Apollo recovers from being shown how limited his worldview was.]

[The video comes on and immediately begins spinning around wildly, eventually coming to rest slightly crooked with a thin root visible in the corner of the image. The first clear thing that can be seen is Apollo, apparently having jumped down from somewhere, punching Cobra Commander in the face as part of his landing, after which this music starts to play.

(Click for the complete log of what can be seen.)

( Click for a summary of what can be seen. )

As Apollo's team begins to regroup for healing and all level up at once, the camera shakes and a paw covers the lens. There's a glimpse of Apollo's Furret, the source of those Grass Knots that Cobra fell victim to, and then the feed ends.

Apollo: 1. Cobra: 0.

Responses will be ICly delayed until Apollo's finished making sure his team is healed up.]

[Apollo doesn't fully understand why people make badge posts, but his team is resting after the battle so he might as well, right? He definitely needs to do something to calm down after spending the entire battle worrying about his team's safety. Plus there's something he wants to check on.

So the video opens with a shot of Fearow, Furret, and Sawsbuck resting in the Ecruteak park. In the background you may catch glimpses of Combee gathering nectar from some flowers and Vespiquen hovering nearby. After a moment of this the camera whips around to show the Fog Badge and Strength HM he won in his hand, then moves to show his face. He looks like he's doing better since the last badge post he made.]

It took two tries, but they managed to beat the Ecruteak City Gym. The Pokémon there have some really strong moves, especially the one that makes other Pokémon faint after a while. I almost couldn't call Fearow back in time, but I kept them all from fainting, so it worked out.

They want to try to beat another gym so I was thinking we would go to the one in Olivine since it gives two HMs. I was wondering though, how much longer will it be until the first snows come? It feels like I'll have time, but I want to make sure.

[The video opens on the Lake of Rage, before angling down to show Apollo's face. He's lying on his back in the grass next to the lake. Unlike some of his previous posts, he's not just his usual calm self. He's in a good mood right now, if that contented smile is anything to go by.]

This place really reminds me of home. A lake, a forest, mountains... The giant water snakes who sometimes try to eat me when I go swimming are different, but other than that it's a lot like home. It's nice here. The Pokémon with me like it too.

[The arm holding the gear falls to the ground and the camera films the sky through blades of grass for a while before Apollo sits up and points it back at his face. He's serious now.]

What do I need to know to beat the gym in Goldenrod City? How do I know if the Pokémon with me are strong enough to win?

[Well someone's looking a bit smug right now. The camera turns to show a male Combee eating his way through a small pile of Berries.]

I got third place in the Bug Catching Contest with this guy. All I had to do was ask the Pokémon if any of them would be okay with me catching them just until the end of the contest and then letting them go, and this guy offered to come with me. He never even needed to get hurt to get caught and now he wants to travel with me for a while instead of going back to his home. See? Some Pokémon will come with you if you just ask. You don't have to fight them all the time.

[The camera turns back to Apollo's slightly less smug face. He holds up the Sitrus Berry he won.]

I won this. It's supposed to heal better than an Oran Berry, so it sounds like they'd be good to collect, but has anyone seen these growing anywhere? None of the Pokémon with me have seen them before.