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Pokemon Adventures Rate & Review - Ruby & Sapphire/FRLG/E Arc (Gen 3)

How would you rate this Gen 3 trilogy?

  • 5/5

    Votes: 3 50.0%
  • 4/5

    Votes: 3 50.0%
  • 3/5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2/5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1/5

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    6

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Pokemon Adventures Rate & Review - RS/FRLG/E Arc (Gen 3)
Discuss the many awesome, fun, hilarious, and questionable moments of Pokemon's Ruby and Sapphire, FireRed and LeafGreen and Emerald arc. Lay out your thoughts of some of the best chapters of Pokemon Adventures!

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Pokemon Adventures Quick Summary - Ruby and Sapphire Chapter
Two trainers make a bet to undergo a Pokemon journey. Ruby travels across the Hoenn region to charm his way to the contests. Sapphire travels across the Hoenn region to conquer the gyms. The bet? To achieve their goals first under 80 days! All the while as two villainous teams are on a mad hunt for power resting somewhere underneath the seas of Hoenn.


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Pokemon Adventures Quick Summary - FireRed and LeafGreen Chapter
Several years after the events of GSC, Blue (female protagonist) finally gets to meet her parents after all these years thanks to Silver's help. Unfortunately Giovanni has returned and Team Rocket stole the Pokedex, kidnapped Prof. Oak, unleashed a new alien Pokemon and vanished Blue's parents before her very eyes. What's he after?

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Pokemon Adventures Quick Summary - Emerald Chapter
Emerald, a trainer who loves battling yet dislikes Pokemon, is sent to the Battle Frontier in order to catch Jirachi in seven days. As Emerald investigates Jirachi, he goes on to challenge the Frontier Brains, some of the strongest battling geniuses out there. The scales get bigger and bigger when Ruby and Sapphire join the fray as an relentless thief is on the move to take Jirachi through any means necessary.

Guidelines/Notes
  • All the Rate & Review Threads are excluded from the 60 days limit rule.
  • There is a 5/5 poll. Other than that, there is no recommend system. Discuss and rate the story arcs as freely as you want.
  • You can rate, review and express your thoughts on the whole chapter or certain moments.
  • BE AWARE OF SPOILERS. Please alert others with a "Spoiler Warning!" if your review or thoughts does indeed have potential spoilers.
  • Have fun discussing the many amazing, funny or even questionable moments you've seen in the third generation of Pokemon Adventures!
Links to other current Rate & Review discussion threads
 
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shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Ruby and Sapphire Review and Thoughts Post
Well I can't wait any longer! I'm just so freaking eager to talk about this chapter! I think I'll split my review posts into two, one focusing on the original stand alone storyline, RS, and the other focusing on the expanding two parter, FRLG and E. HEAVY SPOILERS! Oh man where do I begin with this amazing chapter of Pokemon! Actually I'm kind of serious about that. It was really hard talking about all the awesome moments that happened without explaining the entire plot because literally EVERYTHING that happens in the plot is of significance somehow.

The Short Review (Heavy Spoilers)

  • To me this is undoubtedly the best Pokemon love story in the series! However, I also personally think this is also the darkest story in Pokemon Adventures. In some ways it reminds me of a Shakespearean romance/tragedy. This story does a fantastic job of progressing from seemingly another simple Pokemon journey to a Shakespearean disaster romance story where the stakes are extremely high.
  • This story arc does a great job at continuing Pokemon Adventures world building.
  • This story arc gets a new artist, Satoshi Yamamoto, giving up on much of the "gamey" art style by the previous artist, Mato, leaning heavily in favor of a more "realistic/anime" art style featuring more realistic body proportions and a more detailed and gorgeous look of the Hoenn region. It can be clearly seen in the final chapters of the GSC art when this change of artists happened, particularly the Mask of Ice transitioning between forms. Although I liked the gamey art style and it makes a return in the DP story arc, I do think this is an improvement of a simple but already great art-style from the GSC, Y and RGB years.
  • It tells a far better story that GameFreak envisions for Ruby and Sapphire, including the remakes.
  • It tells the fun story of Ruby, a flamboyant boy obsessed with beauty but hates battling, going on to challenge the Pokemon contests and Sapphire, a tomboyish girl who loves battling but hates beauty, going on to challenge the 8 Pokemon Gyms.
  • The unique fashion boy and rough n tough girl duo dynamic is just too funny and full of character. In fact this may be one of the more well-crafted "original" duo dynamics I haven't encountered in a long time in all of media. Yes all of media, not just manga.
  • Ruby's relationship to his Terminator-esque father is quite compelling.
  • Feebas easily out of all the Pokemon here has the best story.
  • The Pokemon teams they use are quite versatile for contests, battles and the environment. Every Pokemon they have has some kind of role in the RS story arc.
  • The story has a lot of epic foreshadowing very early on. For example the earliest foreshadowing is in Petalburg City, more earthquakes have been happening than usual.
  • Like GSC previously, it also tells the story of nearly everyone in the Hoenn region. Not on the same level as GSC which featured both Johto and Kanto characters but it shows enough to make you realize just how big of a place Hoenn is and how important these characters are. However I feel it's more focused tightly on Ruby and Sapphire, the two main characters.
  • The depiction of Hoenn is gorgeous and full of detail due to the new change in art-style featuring more detail, texture, shade and lighting than ever before.
  • The manga's depiction of Maxie and Archie, the main antagonist, as men who've gone mad with power is a simple trope we've seen again over and over and... actually it's not only very compelling, it makes a lot more sense that what GameFreak came up with for Maxie and Archie in the remakes, obtaining power to save Pokemon or enhance humanity. In the original Ruby and Sapphire games, Maxie and Archie don't even have much of a motive at all. In the Adventures adaptation, Maxie and Archie are written around the idea of whose in control, you controlling the power or power controlling you. It's very fascinating of the steps these two are willing to take to great lengths for the sake of power, including spoilers, working together as part of a truce. I believe Kusaka wrote a far better version of Maxie and Archie than GameFreak did for the remakes, I really do.
  • I like the depiction of the Team's lieutenants, from their unique skills to there characteristics. Such as Courtney's interest in Ruby's contest skills and Amber's die-hard loyalty to Archie even after Archie left him to die.
  • For the first time in the Adventures series, Pokemon are also the villains, in fact they are the true or final villains of the Ruby and Sapphire Arc, Groudon and Kyogre.
  • I love how Pokemon Adventures depicts Groudon and Kyogre as misunderstood creatures, like in the games, but at the same time shows them that they are the villains of this story in control of their own power, using Maxie and Archie lust for power as pawns.
  • Groudon and Kyogre are downright the most terrifying take of a legendary I have ever seen. The games and the remakes does not do Groudon and Kyogre's lore justice. The manga does. You actually see people fleeing in terror away from incoming tidal waves and earthquakes, the Gym Leaders are almost powerless to stop these supernatural disasters, the Elite Four and the Regi brothers can only slow down Groudon and Kyogre's bloodlust for battle. To add to it, Groudon and Kyogre not only don't they care about the innocent people and Pokemon around them, they eagerly give out a wide smile for battle to YOU, the reader!
  • Near the end, you get to see Norman with his manly glare crossing his manly arms while manly standing on top of a sky-high dragon, Rayquaza, lol.
  • What happens after will actually leave you worried for the fates of the characters.
  • How it ends is quite polarized. Many fans love how everyone is happily throwing a celebration after the gloomy terrifying events of Kyogre and Groudon. However it's how it leads up to that happy moment, the twist near the end, that is very polarized.
THE LONG REVIEW (Heavy Spoilers)

So this tells the story of Ruby and Sapphire, two kids who make a bet that has to be completed under 80 days. Ruby is a boy obsessed with beauty and wants to win Hoenn's Pokemon contests while Sapphire is a girl who loves nature and battling and wants to beat all 8 gym leaders. They travel throughout the Hoenn region encountering many adventures along the way, meaning new people, new Pokemon, encountering new foes and braving head-on for whatever dangers lies before them. The region they explored, Hoenn, is fairly pretty and in some ways gorgeous and mesmerizing due to the new art-style succeeding the previous one. When this manga first arrived, a lot of people in various types of comment sections were quite surprised, confused and even disappointed at this character dynamic. Traditionally, especially in the Pokemon anime featuring Ash and May, it's the rough n tough boy who challenges the gym and the beauty-obsessed girl who enters the Pokemon contests. There were a lot of people who understandably thought Ruby was kind of annoying and didn't liked that Sapphire was too different from May of the anime. Honestly, I kind of thought Kusaka expected this reaction because he actually addresses how Ruby and Sapphire became like this way which is important to what happens later on. However that's far ahead into the story. So how do you prove them wrong that such a character dynamic duo can work early on! Easy! Good old fashion believable storytelling and this story is epic from beginning to end.


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One of the best things about Ruby and Sapphire is that there is a lot of ominous foreshadowing, most notably there appears to be strange occurrences with Hoenn's environment and sometimes Team Magma and Team Aqua, the antagonists, are just around the corner. Now what's interesting is how Pokemon Adventures handles these two villains at the same time. It's actually very different from the previous arcs in that they show who the villains are, including their boss, quite early, who they are, their personalities, their motives quite early on instead of leaving it as a big secret until near the end. Why does Kusaka, the writer of Pokemon Adventures, do this? It's shown that they are not just battling against Ruby and Sapphire, the two protagonists of this story. They are plotting against each other and we actually get a lot of in-depth comic book time of them showing what plans they are hatching up that it's almost like Team Magma and Team Aqua are also main characters themselves. We see that Maxie and Archie, the leaders, are willing to go to great lengths for power for the sake of having power and it's actually quite compelling and makes far more sense than GameFreak explaining their motives in the remakes. They're not doing it to save the Pokemon or save humans which could endanger Pokemon on the land or humans who need water in the remakes, they're doing it for the sake of power and it's so interesting to see how Team Magma and Team Aqua are working step-by-step to their goals. In fact a central theme here is, are you in control of the power or is power controlling you?

But back to Ruby and Sapphire. So other than their goals to win the contests and gyms, they have personal problems of their own. Ruby has to deal with the manliest man with the manliest glare with the manliest crossing-his-arms-constantly throughout the region of Hoenn, his father Norman who is looking for his son like the Terminator. Norman is the Gym Leader of the Petalburg city who is fairly strict and tough on his son, which is why Ruby thinks Norman wants him to follow into his footsteps of Pokemon battling. At the same time it turns out Ruby is surprisingly a genius at battling even though he hates it which actually asks even more questions. It's not just that but he also shares some other characteristics of his father, most notably a very intimidating glare that scares a lot of Pokemon on first glance. The thing is, he's trying to distance himself away from that. As for Sapphire, she's an independent girl seeking ways to get stronger, help her father, Prof. Birch, at his research from time to time and she often gives an odd look to Ruby whenever they first meet, almost as if she recognizes him somewhere or as a few other people put it, she has a crush on him lol. It's pretty interesting how they evolve over time. We see Ruby confront his Terminator-esque father for the first time and it's revealed that Norman was planning on letting him enter Pokemon Contests on his birthday before he ran away home. We see Sapphire confront Ruby about his amazing battling skills, arguing with Ruby, believing him to be selfish. In fact one characteristic of Ruby that's been mentioned and explored constantly is his selfishness. That's actually one of the best parts about his character, especially how it relates to his relationship with his Feebas. What's funny is that Ruby just flat-out considers Feebas the ugliest Pokemon he's ever seen right to his face. The funny thing is that he enters this Feebas in the Beauty Cup anyway and he actually and surprisingly wins unfortunately however Ruby gets in an argument with his wif- I mean girlfr- I mean a friend who happens to be a girl, Sapphire over his battling skills. Just when it seems the two become really good friends, Sapphire calls him a coward for not participating in the battle against Team Magma and Aqua with the other Gym Leaders. Sapphire leaves him and this leaves Ruby in quite a serious depression to the point that he selfishly insults Feebas for it's appearance, even though he won the beauty cup with it. This causes Feebas to swim away from him in tears. Feebas running away, seemingly forever, actually causes Ruby to break down full of regret. Out all the Pokemon who have story-lines in this chapter, Feebas probably has the best one throughout the story later on.

So what's interesting later on is what direction does Team Magma and Team Aqua ultimately take in the pursuit for power after one of them takes the Red and Blue Orbs, orbs required to awaken the legendary monsters sleeping deep in the seafloor of Hoenn. They put up a truce and work together. Yes in a surprising and compelling twist, rather than waste manpower to steal back certain parts for the submarine, they are willing to go so far as to work together peacefully, but temporarily, in order to get to the sleeping Pokemon, Kyogre and Groudon deep within the seafloor. You can feel the tension in the Team Aqua and Magma grunts as soon as they enter the submarine together. The only ones who don't seem that tense are Maxie and Archie who have a sense of overconfidence on their faces, thinking they are one step ahead of each other and that is something the two can relate a lot.

Eventually Ruby makes up his mind and decides to team up with Sapphire after realizing the key Pokemon they need to reach to the deep sea floors where Team Magma and Team Aqua are at. They do that with the help of Relicanth, one of the few Pokemon that can dive at deep sea levels. Why are they the only ones to do this? Well because they are the chosen-nah I'm just kidding. It's actually because Relicanth only has enough space for two kids, not two full grown adults which is for the case of the Gym Leaders. Wallace and Winona agrees to this, vouching for them to the other gym leaders, knowing Ruby and Sapphire are experienced trainers and the fact that two experienced trainers are better than one against not one but two villainous teams.

Ultimately however. The reason why this is the darkest story arc is pretty much how this seemingly innocent story leads up to the end. Shocking terror strikes through the heart of the reader and stunning revelations are made throughout the final chapters of this manga. Things take an unsuspecting turn. It's hinted by all their tension and rivalry that Team Magma and Team Aqua are going to fight each other in some big awesome battle right? The manga complete turns this predictable idea the reader might have over their heads because the manga was also hinting at something else, how similar Archie and Maxie's characters are. These two power-hungry men having gone mad under the further influence of the Red and Orbs, straight up betray their own teams, leaving many of their loyal followers on the verge of death, deciding it's better to work together. WHAT THE HELL MAN! WHAT THE HELL! "O.0!?" I mean I know they were hinted at being treacherous but this just takes treachery in Pokemon to a whole new level! This is the point where Archie and Maxie have gone mad with power and have strangely ordered Kyogre and Groudon to pretty much do battle with each other instead of the original plan, flooding and creating landmasses. This is an absolute shocking twist that I don't think anyone saw coming and yet actually kind of stays true to what happens later on. It actually gets more shocking from there. Archie and Maxie are not in control, they are no longer the current main villains. The ones who are in control, who have become the final epic villains of Ruby and Sapphire are Groudon and Kyogre themselves and they are downright far more terrifying than Maxie and Archie.

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The true villains of the Ruby and Sapphire arc.

This is personally the most terrifying, yet faithful for Kyogre and Groudon's case, take on a legendary. From the reader's point of view, this picture looks like they are eagerly grinning at you, the reader, ignoring everyone's lives at stakes all for the sake of their own bloodlust for battle. They are misunderstood creatures like GameFreak says for all Pokemon but that does not mean they are not the villains. They are the final villains, they are the ones who are in control of their own power, not Maxie or Archie who are merely pawns to them. This goes along with the theme of "Who is in control? You over power, or the power over you?", almost quite literally. And man. The disaster they cause making citizens fleeing in terror, making Gym Leaders feel helpless, how nearly unstoppable they are that the Pokemon Champion and Elite Four can't do enough to even slow them down adds to their terrifying nature. What even adds more to it is the new and improved art-style, showing how much of a terrifying place the gorgeous Hoenn region has become with all the tsunami's, storms and earthquakes.

So what do Ruby and Sapphire do? Well considering the fact that the Pokemon Champion, Elite Four and Gym Leaders are all having a hard time on their own slowing down Kyogre and Groudon, you'd think they give up right? No, Juan, the new Gym Leader of Sootopolis and Wallace's master, decides to train them. You'd think it'd be "they are the chosen ones" trope but no. There's actually another reason why Juan is doing this. After attempting to deal with Maxie and Archie during their escape of the deepsea floors, it turns out Ruby and Sapphire manage to have the Red and Blue Orbs inside of them, the same orbs that corrupted Maxie and Archie. Unsure if things will be alright in the end, Sapphire confesses her feelings to Ruby saying "I love you." What was originally an action packed shonen manga is a twist itself, a love story in disguise. Sapphire reveals a realization on her mind for a while, that they both actually met as children long ago. Ruby was your traditional rough n tough boy protagonist and Sapphire was your traditional pretty princess protagonist, playing together when they were little. Things changed when a Salamence came and caused a bloody scar on Ruby's forehead, horrifying Sapphire. It's from this experience that Sapphire decides that she wants to be stronger, hating the idea of being helpless while Ruby is scared by Sapphire's horrified expression and starts to hate battling. The thing is their fears of appearing either scary or weak is starting to catch up to them again.

Another character that has to be mentioned is Wally. Early in the story, Wally is shown as a shy scared child who has an interest in Pokemon but has some kind of a breathing disorder. That shy scared child progresses into a experienced brave trainer who works with Norman to get to the top of Sky Pillar. Sky Pillar is shown to be a dangerous place that is slowly falling apart and Wally is the only one who can do this because the puzzle here can only be done through two people, one of which has to be a child and he's the only experienced trainer nearby who happens to be a kid. Norman needs Wally to help awaken the legendary dragon, Rayquaza in order to stop Groudon and Kyogre.

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The final battle arrives and it is both epic and tragic. Ruby, out of fear for his friend's safety, leaves Sapphire quietly behind at the training area. He sneaks off with Courtney, the Magma Lieutenant he befriended, to the final battle. The reason why this is the darkest chapter is not only because of Groudon and Kyogre's terrifying appearance but it probably has to do with the fact that people actually die in this story arc. I've heard the term "death" thrown around the Pokemon Adventure series but that's actually far more rarer than you think, all the more shocking that it actually happens here. Many big players here die during the chaos, alarming Ruby how dangerous this situation is. Suddenly Sapphire shows up, not wanting to be the helpless girl while also wanting to help Ruby, brings even more worry to Ruby. However lucky for those two, a Milotic comes in and rescues Ruby from certain danger! To Ruby's surprise, that Milotic is actually Feebas, evolving from all the hard work Ruby put into her for the beauty contests. Even luckier for them, the manliest dad, Norman, with his manly glare and his manly cross-his-arms while manly standing on a flying dragon comes to save the day. Everything seems alright, right? No, things aren't alright. While Groudon and Kyogre are scared by Rayquaza's appearance, Maxie and Archie has come back with a vengeful look in their mad eyes, ending Norman and are off to deal with Ruby and Sapphire for good.

So with all this death and horror, how does one fix this? Why time travel of course! Where the heck did that come from? I have no clue actually. This was quite a sudden and very polarized solution to all of this and that was through Celebi, the same Celebi from Johto during the events of the Mask of Ice. Celebi undoes much of the horror by sending Ruby and Sapphire to a different timeline where the characters who died... aren't... dead? Yeaaaah... I'm kind of confused by this. How the writer wrote it makes it seem like two timelines converged together, judging by Ruby and Sapphire's happy reactions, where those who died were healed back alive. At the same time it's explained specifically that Celebi sent them into an alternate timeline. (Edit: as lolipiece said, it was a mistranslation. Celebi used it's power to reverse their deaths, not to send them to a different timeline.) Your also probably wondering why isn't a seemingly out-of-nowhere solution just considered downright bad? Despite the extremely questionable way things were solved, it ended on a satisfying note. Maxie and Archie are killed by their own lust for power and are sent to the "shadow realm" lol. All of the participants are alive and happy, instead just very injured from the battle, waiting to celebrate Ruby and Sapphire's victory. The Team Magma and Aqua grunts resume their lives peacfully as ordinary citizens of Hoenn. Wally comes home as a healthy Pokemon trainer and Ruby and Sapphire? They come home just in time to celebrate Sapphire's birthday with their family. Everyone gives out smiles and Ruby and Sapphire start off a new Pokemon journey. I suppose one of the reasons why this happy ending is so satisfying is that just moments ago, things were dark, death-filled and gloomy. Now it's sunshine and a bright future. I can't exactly explain it to be honest but how things ended were pretty good.

Despite the polarized twist, this was one of the best story arcs with one of the most interesting character dynamics rarely explored in any form of media. What adds even more to this is that this is a love story in disguise of an action-packed manga about a boy and girl who have vastly changed over the years and yet are still in love with each other. You can see it in their expressions, worries, their actions and why they changed in the first place. We see how Team Magma and Aqua progress as villains step-by-step rather than operating behind-the-scenes that they almost feel like main characters and we were shocked on what Maxie and Archie planned next. In the end, this was quite a satisfying chapter of the Pokemon Adventures manga series full of twists and turns.
 
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lolipiece

Pictured: what browsing Serebii does to a person
Staff member
Moderator
Celebi did not transport Ruby and Sapphire to an alternate timeline. That's just a mistranslation. They're in the same Hoenn as before.

It just used its time travel powers to reverse the deaths.
 

U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
I like that we have a male character who is into traditionally feminine things actually have his interests be a part of his character, flaws and all, rather than be a joke or gag. It really adds to Ruby's charm. It was enjoyable to see him not depicted as this frail butterfly when it came to battling.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
FireRed and LeafGreen Review and Thoughts Post
FireRed and LeafGreen story arc, the first story arc to be based on a remake and the first story arc in years to focus mainly on a previous established team of heroes, Red, Green, Blue and Yellow... and Silver... Silver's in here too! This chapter is freaking great at progressing characters who've already achieved much during their Pokemon journeys. Depending on how I feel, I think I may either update this post to include my personal thoughts on the Emerald Arc or include it in a separate post.

The Short Review (Heavy Spoilers)

  • FireRed and LeafGreen. It is the first Pokemon Adventures story arc to be based on a remake game, FireRed and LeafGreen.
  • This means this is also the first story arc where we see Red, Green the rival, Blue the female protagonist and Yellow revisited as the main characters of the region of Kanto. However they do share the spotlight with Silver, a close friend of Blue.
  • Interesting Did You Know Fact. In most current releases of the FireRed and LeafGreen story arc, it features Chapter 268 which is the first chapter of the story arc. This WAS NEVER, I REPEAT NEVER intended to be included in a volume. The writer originally intended this as a one-time "lost chapter" that was never supposed to be released in a magazine again or included in a volume. I am so glad they did included this chapter in the volumes. This is one of the most emotionally-told stories of any Pokemon mediums ever, we get to see a better side of the Mask of Ice's father-like characteristics that was only hinted at in GSC, we see Blue and Silver as kids with their very first Pokemon escaping together, we see them taking each others masks and see their faces for the first time. One of the most beautiful scenes is that we see them and their Pokemon smiling like well happy children at the light of freedom. Years later, we get to see Blue happily talking to her oldest friend,Silver as teenagers, thanking him for the elegant new clothing.
  • I am very glad that they included the "lost chapter" in the volume, this was a very satisfying chapter that warms the heart.
  • What!? Unnamed female protagonist is evolving! Congratulations unnamed female protagonist evolved into Leaf! Jokes aside, Blue arguably has the biggest update out of all the characters, wearing an entirely new set of colorful clothes from the FRLG remakes. All the Pokedex Holders are around their mid teens at this point, most of whom have updated clothing.
  • What is the story about? It's about Blue who finally gets to meet her long lost parents. Unfortunately a mysterious Pokemon appears and takes them away into a black hole causing Blue to be shocked into a coma. It's up to Red and Green to investigate this mysterious Pokemon as Blue is recovering from the coma. Meanwhile Silver wants to look where his parents are in Viridian City, meeting Yellow. Things get more complicated as Team Rocket, the real Team Rocket this time, has finally made their return and kidnapped Prof. Oak. It is from this we see Blue and Green desperate to find Blue's parents and Prof. Oak, Red questioning his role as a Pokemon trainer, Silver confronting the harsh reality of who his father is and Yellow seeking to help her friends and defend her home.
  • Heavy spoilers beyond here.
  • Mewtwo returns with a giant spoon as a weapon. Personally I think this is way more badass than the armor he wore in the movie.
  • Giovanni has big plans. He mutated a space virus into Deoxys, he gathered his three newest Lieutenants called the Three Beasts for specific purposes, he kidnapped Blue and Green's relatives, he outfitted the Trainer Tower into his own base of operations, he gathered the ruby and sapphire jewels to enhance Deoxys capabilities in order to be even far stronger than Mewtwo. We later learn that he interestingly did it for the sake of two goals. As a trainer, he wants to challenge Red's title for Pokemon Champion for his loss in Viridian Gym. As a father, he wants to find his son, Silver and hand over leadership to him.
  • Oh yeah. Giovanni is Silver's father. Pokemon fans everywhere - GASP! At least that's how I remember it from the comment sections of various sites. This was a huge surprise and considering the fact that Kusaka does do a lot of research into the series, many Adventure fans were convinced that the scientists who spoke of a red-haired boy being Giovanni's son is none other than Silver.
  • The Three Beasts are modeled after classic horror monsters. Orm, the muscle, is modeled after Frankenstein. Carr, the brains, is modeled after a... werewolf? Um... what? I don't get that one to be honest. Finally we got Sird, the other brains, who is modeled after a vampire.
  • Interesting Did You Know Fact. Did you know Sird, the female lieutenant, made her first appearance in the Pokemon TCG? She is portrayed in the card "Rocket's Admin" petting her Persian, which is a Pokemon she actually has in the manga.
  • Blue finally meets her parents. Pokemon Adventure fans are happily excited, wondering what her parents will say!... Any minute now!... Any minute now... Yeah... Blue's parents never talk once. Literally. I'm going to be honest with you. One of the reasons why Adventure fans were so excited to read this chapter is to see Blue and her parents reunite, that's how the chapter actually starts off. Due to the strange fact that Blue's parents never really say anything, their reunion felt strangely lackluster. Some other fans however think it's somewhat poetic but I really wanted to see the two talk at least once, say a few words, something.
  • The battle between Mewtwo and Deoxys is epic. In fact we see a healthy Mewtwo pushed to his limits by a powered-up Deoxys.
  • Interesting Did You Know Fact. This chapter arguably has the most anime references out of any Adventures chapter. Some obvious and some hidden in plain sight. For example did you know the Team Rocket Airship is actually based on the Team Rocket Airship from Mewtwo Returns?
  • Interesting Did You Know Fact. In fact what could be consider a huge anime reference itself or either a simple game update is Pikachu's design in Pokemon Adventures. Currently FireRed and LeafGreen is the only chapter to ever use the anime's "skinnychu" updated design for Pikachu and for a short moment too, retaining the original "fatchu" design.
  • We see that Silver is horrified that his father just happens to be, as Red puts it in the original story arc, the leader of the most evilest organization in the world however to the reader's surprise, Giovanni does care about his son, risking his own life to save him. The scene where Giovanni saves his son is quite a memorable scene that adds a bit more complexity to Giovanni's character.
  • Red and Yellow meet and Sird ships them lol. Okay, it's more like teasing but I thought it was still pretty funny that the Team Rocket elite would joke about them being a couple.
  • In the end, everyone is alright. Silver accepts that Giovanni is his father, Blue rescued her parents and Green rescued his grandpa, Mewtwo is happy that the violence is over and we get to see Yellow sleeping in shirtless Red's arms lol. It's a happy ending for everyone!
  • Nope. Sird's back and she came back to give every Pokemon Adventure fanboy and fangirl nightmares... hint hint...
  • If you don't know what I'm talking about, Sird basically somehow turns Red and his friends into stone. In the Pokemon-verse, from the anime to mystery dungeon to Yveltal. Turning to stone is basically a censored way of saying' "YOU DEAD!" But seriously though, a lot of Adventure fans who saw this scene freaked out. It wasn't like Ash who was turned to stone and later miraculously revived in the same movie. This shocking albeit somewhat strange twist was left on a cliffhanger which freaked out fans even more, leaving them to worry until the next story arc was released, the Emerald Story Arc. And guess what? Fans were still freaking out. The Emerald Story Arc seemed to start out at a fresh new location, with a fresh new protagonist, with a fresh new story exploring the fresh new mechanics of the Battle Frontier. Taking into account that this isn't the anime's weekly release schedule but the manga' monthly release schedule, Pokemon Adventure fans were more worried than ever about the fates of the original RGBY crew. Back than, I read the comment sections and I have never seen that many Pokemon fans actually worried about the fates over their favorite fictional characters. Kusaka really did a good job of getting many of his dedicated readers to freak out. I think it partly has to do with the fact that just Pokemon fans in general have never seen such a scary suspenseful moment in any Pokemon series before on this scale, especially left on a cliffhanger. If you think about it, this is in Pokemon history, Pokemon's first real suspenseful moment where many Pokemon fans may believe that even though you believe that they'll be alright, a part of you may think things may go very wrong and Kusaka did enhanced such thoughts with the Emerald Arc early on, leaving many fans uncertain.
  • Overall this is basically Part 1 of the FRLG chapter and it's an amazing Part 1 story line that could easily stand on it's own without the Sird twist at the end. It's a smaller more closely-knit story grant it compared to the more big epics featuring almost every game character's motives, goals, dreams, background but it works very well and I like the nice change of pace.
The Long Review (Heavy Spoilers)
Okay so unlike past story arcs, this isn't some huge epic that tells the story or literally almost every character's motive, goal, dreams or background. This is a smaller more closely-knit story focusing mainly on Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Silver. In fact this is less the story about the world of Pokemon set in the Sevii Isles and is more of a personal story for our Pokedex Holders. They aren't out on some great Pokemon adventure to earn badges or to explore a new world, at least not as their main objective. Team Rocket has returned, THE REAL Team Rocket not Neo Team Rocket, and everyone's lives are turned upside down. Red is questioning his abilities as a trainer as he realized he may have been relying too much on the Pokedex, a tool that has been taken away from him. Blue is horrified that her long-lost parents have been taken away from her, you can see it on her face that range from a shocked coma to afterwards signs of depression in her eyes. Green, underneath that tough-guy exterior is a worried grandson who wants to find his grandpa, Prof. Oak who has been kidnapped by Team Rocket. Finally there is Yellow who is helping Silver find his father but at the same time is greatly disturbed that her home, the Viridian Forest, is under attack by Team Rocket. Eventually it all leads them being reunited together in a happy ending right? Well will get that to a sec.

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Blue, one of two characters that probably had the most progression out of any character in the FRLG chapter and most comments I've read are fans who admit she was annoying in the RGB chapters but are nevertheless happy for her early in the FRLG chapter...

One of the interesting things about this chapter I thought is how there is actually still a lot of room for progression for these characters. These aren't characters who have big dreams, these are characters who already achieved their dreams long ago and are nearing the age of adulthood actually. In fact, one thing fans loved about this chapter early on is how much Blue has matured into a young woman, in fact she probably has the most progression out of any character here over the last few years. She isn't the same seductive thief she was years ago. She is a bit of a tease and she still is an expert at stealing, which is good as she still retains remnants of her past but she's a teenager now that wants to more or less live a normal life starting with meeting her long lost parents. In fact, that's something the manga sort of unintentionally does. I assume unintentionally as the first chapter we see was never supposed to be released in current volumes and that is Ch. 268 - The Escape. However I'm glad it did and not only is it quite a sweet chapter but the jump between Blue's childhood as a little girl clad in a black dress who is an expert thief/orphan on the run with Silver from the Mask of Ice to a teenager clad in elegant clothing, given to her by her oldest friend Silver, who has matured a lot, giving up much, not all, of her seductive thieving personality as she is no longer on the run from the Mask of Ice but is instead happy to meet her parents. It's quite a jump and a believable one like that and from the comment sections I recall reading, many Pokemon Adventure fans straight up called her annoying in the first RGB chapter however, they were nevertheless happy for her happiness as they admitted she's been through quite a lot. However these comments I speak of was around the time there was no lost chapter and the FRLG manga was just starting. It's what happens next that these same commenters kind of freak out. Just when Blue is about to meet her long-lost parents, they vanished deep into a dark black hole causing Blue to be horrified, shocked into a deep coma. It's from here that a mystery appears and where the story of the FireRed and LeafGreen Chapter truly begins.

Throughout the course of this chapter, one thing I thought was interesting about this chapter is that it basically says to the Pokemon Champion and his friends that they are experienced trainers not to be underestimated however they still have a lot to master, key-word MASTER. Not simply learn, master. A common theme I've notice in not just experienced trainers like Red but even some of the most OP trainers like Cynthia and Diantha is that even though they are experienced, they still have a lot to learn and master and that's how Red and his friends progress by learning the ultimate moves from Ultima. Throughout the course of the story, Red and Green journey together in order to solve the string of recent mysteries. Why is Prof. Oak gone? Why and how were Blue's parents kidnapped? What does the real Team Rocket's return have to do with any of this? Who was that mysterious Pokemon they fought, so fast that they can't even identify it clearly? And who is Silver's father? It's these mysteries that when unraveled are more connected than it seems, bringing our five heroes together. Even worst, Team Rocket has literally turned the citizens of the Sevii Isles against them, the Pokedex Holders having almost no help from anyone at this point.

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Red questioning his skills, his motives, his will to fight.

It's from these string of mysteries do we get to see not just how they continue to progress as trainers who still have a lot to master but also as characters. We see Red questioning himself as a master trainer, realizing that he has been relying too much on the Pokedex for many of his battles. We see Green calling Red names, putting up the tough-guy act but in actuality as Prof. Oak's grandson, he is incredibly worried to the point that even he ends up making careless mistakes. As for Blue, Blue is an interesting case as we see her further progress as a character through more subtle reactions and conversations. We can see the depression in her eyes over his parents, the worried look how the citizens of the Sevii Isles turned on them and also surprisingly the mature voice of reason to Red at one of his most lowest points in his life when he really needs a friend to talk to. Finally we see Yellow and her Pikachu, ChuChu. ChuChu is a fun little Pikachu I wish we see more of as she seems to have an exciting thrill for Pokemon battles. Yellow however progresses as sort of a defender of the forest, showing that underneath that cute adorable exterior that many fans associate her with is a very powerful psychic who will not standby to see her home destroyed.

As the story continues we also get to see two unexpected character progressions that people were just not expecting. Silver who is a main protagonist of Johto visiting Viridian City in search of his father and Mewtwo who has been given a significant character development, more closer to that of his anime counterpart but has just enough unique characteristics to remain unique on his own. As the story progresses, we see our heroes encounter Giovanni's newest Lieutenants, The Three Beasts who are based on movie monsters. We have Orm who is based on Frankenstein, a huge hulking member who ironically uses cute, small and soft Pokemon like Jumpluff and Shuckle. We have Carr who is apparently based on Werewolf, he is the brains, the dwarf who has dreams of being the next Rocket Leader utilizing strong defensive steel-types which are useful for trapping. Finally we have Sird who is based on Dracula, she is also the brains but is also the more stealthier member as she utilizes many nimble and stealthy Pokemon such as her dreaded Starmie that can disguise itself into any environment. These three are powerful lieutenants armed with their own Rocket version of the Pokedex which puts our heroes at a surprisingly significant disadvantage, which goes to show how knowledge is power.

Even though this is a closely-knit adventure, they do meet a few important character such as Ultima as mentioned before but also characters like Celio, the PC admin of the Sevii Isles, and Lorelei of the Elite Four who is born from the Sevii Isles. These characters assist our heroes on their mission against Team Rocket, to save their friends and to uncover the truth behind this. And it's quite an exciting adventure, seeing the Pokedex Holders put all their experience on the table. One of my favorite moments is seeing Green utilizing his Porygon2 to sneak into the virtual world of Team Rocket's security system of the Trainer Tower. It's an exciting build up of a not-so exciting result of the Trainer Tower. Blue and Green successfully rescue their loved ones and fans are expecting Blue's parents to say something after all these years. Instead, they just smile and much like Red of the games, they "..." to Blue. Some fans think this is quite poetic but others, such as myself, find the payoff strangely lacking. I say strangely lacking as it seems like Kusaka could easily put in some dialogue here as this isn't like the anime needing extra voice work. Is it possible that Kusaka could not think of good dialogue for a satisfactory result or perhaps did he think that Blue's parents silently smiling is the best way to go?



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Deoxys vs. Mewtwo - One of the greatest battles in Pokemon History.

Yellow finally meets up with the others, the Team Rocket elite jokingly teasing that Red and Yellow are some kind of couple which I thought was kind of cute and funny how these seemingly menacing trainer experts gossip over the little things while also making certain Adventure fans gleeing in excitement of what Kusaka is hinting at. Eventually as the story progresses, the Pokedex Holders find out the truth So what is the truth? It turns out that Giovanni takes his title "The Self-Proclaimed Strongest Trainer" quite seriously, wearing his loss against Red like a scar. As a trainer, he wants to claim Red's title of Pokemon Champion through a fair 1 on 1 match between Mewtwo and Deoxys, depending on how you label fair I suppose. Other than the fact that Deoxys is powered up by the ruby and sapphire jewels from the Hoenn region, the battle is quite epic pushing both Pokemon to their limits. Believe it or not, it's actually quite rare to see Mewtwo being pushed to his limits in a fair 1v1 fight, no trickery, just trainer tactics and skills. In most adaptations, Mewtwo is usually being blackmailed to surrender or tricked but here we actually see Mewtwo, designed to be the world's strongest Pokemon, barely standing, barely able to lift a fist against the much faster, heavy-striking, heavy-defensive Deoxys. It's quite an intense fight and one of the rare fair fights against Mewtwo that actually gets fans thinking, "Mewtwo might actually lose!" All the more satisfying that Red and Mewtwo are forced to use more than raw strength but their wits too in order to win.

There is however another reason why Giovanni is doing all of this and that is his duty as a father. After all these years, we see that Giovanni is looking for his son and this plays a critical role in much of the endgame of FRLG chapter. To Giovanni, he sees it as a welcoming reunion, an new successor perhaps. To Sird and Orm, a happy family reunion. To Carr, his dreams of being the leader of Team Rocket are gone. And to Silver? Horror and disillusionment. He's not happy but angry, scared and desperately smiling, wishing this isn't true. This isn't just a surprise to Silver but also a surprise to many Pokemon fans who learn of this and when I say many Pokemon fans, I don't just mean Adventure fans. Fans were already beginning to theorize that the red-haired boy the Rocket Scientist spoke of being Giovanni's son was none other than Silver and with this revelation, many Pokemon fans were shocked and others convinced that this game-based manga supported this theory only to be confirmed in HGSS.

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In a rare moment, Giovanni may not be entirely "evil" as many people say he is.

This revelation sends shock waves throughout the story of FRLG as we see in-fighting among the Rocket ranks. Carr has gone mutiny, attempting to overthrow the current leadership and anyone else who supports him. Blue and Green are worried that Red, Yellow and Mewtwo might not make it, Red decides to end this alone which caused Yellow and Mewtwo to worry themselves and Giovanni is thrown in a dangerous situation with his son, desperately trying to save Silver from the deadly flames at all cost, going so far as to risk his own life, an unusual and somewhat surprising move on Giovanni's part as readers have never seen Giovanni performed such selfless actions. What adds to this it's not just his actions but this is the first time in a long while since we've seen Giovanni actually panic over his son's possible fate. Giovanni is the sort of man who doesn't even fear the deadly Mewtwo up-close but here we can see he is clearly panicking, desperately needing help not for him first but his son first, recalling his last thoughts about being not the leader of Team Rocket but as a father to Silver in his younger years.

Luckily everyone is saved. Red is saved by Deoxys. Green saves Giovanni and Silver. Yellow and Mewtwo is also saved by Deoxys. Silver still has a hard time accepting his father but Green tells him that he's not so different from Giovanni, recalling Silver's past of how he stole a Pokemon and the gym badges in order to get revenge against the Mask of Ice. However Silver changed and Giovanni did saved Silver, which causes Silver to break down in tears, realizing there must still be some good somewhere in Giovanni. So the Pokedex Holders pretty much reunite. We see Yellow sleeping in Red's arms in Red's shirtless glory lol. Everyone's happy. Silver accepts his father, Blue and Green saved their loved ones and Red saved everyone while Yellow defended her home. Everyone wins right?

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Never before have I seen a scene that has left so much uncertainty and suspense in Pokemon fans.

Apparently Sird lives, coming back to take Deoxys however the Pokedex Holders step in, taking the beam attack from her Pokeball. It's a strange twist but nevertheless quite a shocking one that would leave many Pokemon Adventure fans quite disturbed. That is, we see the Pokedex Holders frozen in stone. If you know your lore, Super Mystery Dungeon, Mewtwo Strikes Back, Yveltal, you know that people turning into stone is like another way of dying and what was even more shocking was that this was left on a cliffhanger. In many comment sections on many sites around the time this chaper was released, a lot of Pokemon Adventure fans were freaking out, moreso for the fact that they had to wait for the Emerald Arc. It gets even worst for Pokemon Adventure fans who wanted to know their fates as the Emerald Arc starts off with a fresh new character with a seemingly fresh new story set in a fresh new location that seemed like it has nothing to do with the FRLG arc. Fans weren't certain this was "Part 2" until it was revealed what Emerald's goal was and this wasn't the anime's weekly release schedule. This was a monthly release schedule. I'm going to be honest but I have never seen this many Pokemon fans legitimately freaking out. Unlike the Mewtwo Strikes Back movie where Ash turns into stone, he turns out alright in the same one movie. Here it's left on a cliffhanger and Kusaka did a really good job of keeping his audience in suspense. Pokemon fans were legitimately freaking out over this scene.

Overall I thought this was a really good story arc. If it wasn't for the twist though, I believe it could actually stand as it's own story arc rather than be part of a 2-parter. Still the twist at the end was quite shocking, sending chills to everyone's spines.
 
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e9310103838

Well-Known Member
About Ruby & Sapphire, the significance of this chapter also includes that this is the first chapter without the participation of the former protagonists. And because the game uses two villains and each is active in their own version for the first time, PMSP must integrate the two villain routes. In a sense, this chapter is the pinnacle of the series, even Kusaka and Yamamoto want to make a chapter (BW) beyond it.

About FireRed & LeafGreen, from this chapter, they started serializing multiple chapters at the same time. Kusaka even said that the chapter is the most difficult serializing he feels. (although this title seems to be given to B2W2 now lol) :D
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Emerald Review and Thoughts Post
The Emerald Chapter, it's one of my favorites. Actually all the Pokemon Adventure chapters are my favorites. I recommend to anyone who loves competitive battling, who loves the Battle Frontier and just want to see the ultimate Pokemon fanservice to surpass Metal Gear! LOL. But seriously the Emerald Arc is a good contender for the best Pokemon fanservice, the other one being the GSC story arc. Also what DEFINITELY needs to be mentioned is that the Emerald Chapter contains a huge chunk of the Pokemon series, as in THE ENTIRE POKEMON SERIES, best action scenes. In fact if your looking for awesome action in almost every corner of the plot, the Emerald Chapter fits that well.

The Short Review (Heavy Spoilers)
  • Emerald Arc. It is the second Pokemon Adventures story arc to be based on an expansion games. It also the last story arc of Gen 3.
  • This chapter seemingly features a fresh new character, a fresh new storyline and a fresh new location displaying the mechanics of competitive battling and the Battle Frontier which adds to the more uncertainty that fans had over the cliffhanger ending of FRLG
  • It features the character, Emerald who is assisted by Latios, Latias and Todd from the game, Pokemon Snap. For many fans, he is easily the most bizarrely-designed character for the Pokemon manga, featuring odd body proportions and a crescent hair-style. Unlike Yellow who looks like a character legitimately from the games, Emerald looks more closer to a character from a certain type of shonen-style manga, at least until the ORAS arc where he's given a more Pokemon-esque design.
  • Emerald starts out as an odd character. He loves Pokemon battles but he doesn't love Pokemon? Todd realizes that although he doesn't like Pokemon he likes Pokemon battles as a sport.
  • What I think is interesting is like how fans saw Ruby as annoying at first, Emerald had a similar response. Many fans thought Emerald was annoying early on in the story until he progressed into quite the interesting character. However some fans still had mixed responses to his character to the end either because they believed Wally should've taken that role, his odd design or simply did not like the way his character progressed. Personally I like Emerald and was surprised how Kusaka was able to pull off such an unusual and rarely-seen character archetype in shonen-style manga in general, which is later revealed near the end of the plot.
  • One thing to note is how the story is handled. The first half of the Emerald Arc introduces EVERYONE's story of the Battle Frontier. The Battle Frontier in some ways feels like a small region with it's own culture and exclusive characters. The second half of the Emerald Arc becomes more of a personal tightly-knit story similar to the FireRed and LeafGreen arc.
  • The plot starts to unravel early on. Emerald is sent on a mission by Prof. Oak and Krys to catch Jirachi in seven days in order to save a certain group of trainers from a terrible fate. He is only challenging the Battle Frontier as part of his hobby. The scales get bigger and bigger when Ruby and Sapphire join the fray as an armored thief hungry for power, Guile Hideout, is on the move to take Jirachi through any means necessary.
  • Guile Hideout is quite the unique villain. He's not part of some villainous team like previous villains, even manga-exclusive villains were part of some kind of group. He is the first main antagonist in Pokemon Adventures to act mostly alone. He is also easily the best masked villain, able to do some serious damage to the Battle Frontier starting by stealing all the highly-trained rental Pokemon, taking Anabelle as prisoner and is able to fight Pokemon alone without any Pokemon thanks to his armor's unique properties mimicking the moves reflect and light screen and his sword mimicking the properties of counter and mirror coat. All the more unexpected when it's revealed who is behind that armor.
  • As the story continues, we see Emerald taking on the Battle Frontier and it's quite a blast seeing Emerald coming up with competitive (think VGC or Smogon) based strategies in a fluid non-turn based environment. It's quite epic seeing Emerald come into different situations and restrictions such as battling the Pike Queen Lucy under "toxic" conditions or battling the Pyramid King Brandon and his Legendary Titans that are intimidatingly gigantic.
  • We also see Emerald taking on Guile Hideout's "underlings", rental Pokemon gone berserk. He deals with them by using a unique pellet gun that calms the berserk Pokemon by giving them a sense of nostalgia of home. It's quite an interesting way to deal with Pokemon and has to do with Emerald's backstory and title, The Calmer, later on.
  • Emerald meets up with Ruby and Sapphire at some point in the story. Ruby and Sapphire are hilariously cute together, gaining some traits of their love of battling and beauty from each other, which causes Emerald to be more than annoyed by their flirting.
  • Ruby tries to teach Emerald about the bonds of Pokemon but this annoys Emerald for some reason, relating to his interest in loving Pokemon battles but not Pokemon. He wants to switch out his team, not wanting to be too attached to his current team. Emerald's Pokemon are shocked, disappointed or saddened by his actions and Emerald later becomes depressed for what he did. This becomes more problematic as it's revealed that to challenge Spencer, he needs Pokemon that he can trust. It's here we start to understand what kind of person Emerald is.
  • Heavy spoilers beyond here.
  • Despite Emerald's recent actions, we get to see Emerald's most trusted Pokemon returning with a victory from the Battle Palace, showing that even though Emerald gave up on his Pokemon, his Pokemon haven't given up on their trainer. Emerald can't help but smile at his Pokemon's persistence and from here, Emerald's interest in Pokemon battles over Pokemon start to change.
  • Spencer of the Battle Palace reveals that he's gained the ability to tell who has touched the Red and Blue Orbs, briefly touching the orbs himself. He explains that he knows that not only Ruby and Sapphire have touched the red and blue orbs but that Guile Hideout not only touched the blue orb, he let the power corrupt his own body. Guile Hideout reveals his true identity. Archie of Team Aqua and you can see it on Ruby and Sapphire's face, they find this quite disturbing.
  • Apparently Gold is a master of disguise lol, disguising himself as Guile Hideout. Also Krystal has arrived just in time to chastised Gold's recklessness. Their little interactions are funny and full of chemistry.
  • Interestingly the details of Krys's Pokemon having a sticker star are still intact.
  • Unfortunately Archie has successfully captured Jirachi a while back and force opens it's third eye, Jirachi granting him his wish. What does Archie wish for? A giant sea demon, one that resembles Kyogre, to drown all of those on the Battle Frontier.
  • One thing to note is how terrifying and ominously detailed the Fake Kyogre is. The artwork is monstrously beautiful, detailing Fake Kyogre as made up of the dark stormy sea itself, covering the Battle Frontier in it's shadow.
  • Eventually it's revealed that the Pokedex Holders who were turned into stone in the FRLG chapter are moved to the Battle Tower and Emerald has successfully captured Jirachi, needing him to free them from stone and it's here that readers, who may think this character is annoying, are now rooting for him to succeed.
  • One thing to note is that from this terror that we see characters largely or silently progressing. For example, Gold. We see Gold and his friends finding the OG Pokedex holders frozen in stone. Instead of Gold being his usual self, he stands there silently looking at Silver. It's one of the best "quiet" moments/progressions in the series where Gold calls Silver his friend for the first time and promises him that he will free him and the others.
  • Unfortunately things only get worst as Jirachi is unable to grant Emerald's wish, Jirachi's eye being closed to Emerald.
  • Also apparently Pika and ChuChu weren't in their Pokeballs during the petrification... somehow? They kind of glossed over that one but oh well. Still pretty cool see surfing Pikachu in Red's cap and flying Pikachu in Yellow's straw hat. The mystery of what ever happened to Red and Yellow's hats have been solved! lol.
  • We get to see practically all the Pokedex holder's Pokemon in action or having some kind of cameo and it's either amazing or wonderful to see old favorites again, even for a glimpse of a second, from Gold's flying Mantine to Sapphire's tanky Donphan in action to Red's Espeon and Blue's Ditto standing together in one scene.
  • As the story progresses, Ruby and Sapphire are shocked to find out that Emerald is the size of a kid, more specifically he has dwarfism or a similar condition. Emerald explains that he's bothered by the fact that he always felt alone.
  • Emerald's backstory is a sad one that explores an unusual archetype rarely explored in main characters of shonen-style manga and that is a teenager in a boy's body. He explains that he lost his parents at a young age and that he originally loved Pokemon but because his cousins kept taunting him for his height, how he depended too much help on Pokemon, he started to dislike Pokemon and dislike assistance from people too, trying to do things on his own. He kept moving between different family members and eventually ran away from home, recognizing the soil of different Pokemon's birthplaces which shocks the Trick Master, an important figure in Emerald's life. Emerald is a teenager in a boy's body and can easily blend in an orphanage full of children. It wasn't until he met the Trick Master again who built him gadgets to make him appear taller and bigger and later met Krystal and Prof. Oak, two other important figures in his life, that he obtained a Pokedex and skills of an experienced trainer, ready to take on the mission to find Jirachi and save the Pokedex Holders from petrification.
  • On a side note, the art of the Battle Frontier is just gorgeously drawn. There's also something strangely beautiful seeing the Battle Frontier buildings, such as the Palace, the Dome, the Towers etc, being flooded by the Fake Kyogre. It's almost like Fake Kyogre is turning the Battle Frontier into Atlantis lol, covering it in crashing waves that seep above the building's top floor.
  • Emerald is still depressed that he can't seem to save anyone at this point. It isn't until Gold and Krystal get hurt and Archie taunts him how he loves Pokemon battles over Pokemon that we see Emerald getting into action. Emerald finally just shouts it out that he no longer cares about Pokemon battles, he now only cares about Pokemon and the people who care for those Pokemon. Hearing this, Jirachi opens his heart to Emerald, granting the wish to undo the petrification of the OG Pokedex Holders.
  • A miraculous moment appears, Pokemon Adventure fans "HURRAH!" in the air and the Pokedex Holders have no words to say, they only run smiling with their arms opened wide. The original Pokedex Holders are frozen no more and we see everyone, EVERY Pokedex Holder rejoice in happiness. Unfortunately their reunion is cut short thanks to Archie's legions of berserked rental Pokemon and here we see EVERYONE in action, fighting together! THIS POKEMON FANSERVICE IS OVER NINE THOOOUUSAND! Pokemon fans everywhere have died of excitement lol or at least I've seen comments claiming this lol.
  • One funny part during this fight is how Silver tells Gold that he heard everything he said while frozen lol. I couldn't help but laugh at this scene as Gold felt like he lost his cool there for a moment.
  • Afterwards WE GET TO SEE AN EPIC GOLD AND RED TAG-TEAM UP! Red's Poliwrath and Gold's Politoed team up and strike down Archie's armor with the move Brick Break, revealing that the armor has BOTH the strengths and weaknesses of Light Screen and Reflect. The best part is that barely any words are spoken during this epic team-up, they don't explain it at all in words. THEY SHOW IT and it's a stunningly badass scene that will get your inner Pokemon fan gleeing in excitement.
  • Eventually Emerald resorts to calming all the Pokemon by revealing an interesting fact. One of the pieces of soil he got is from Mew's home, Faraway Island. He surrounded the entire Battle Frontier with this soil, calming all the berserk rental Pokemon because Mew is supposedly the genesis to every single Pokemon and here this seems to prove that.
  • We then see all ten Pokedex Holders teaming up together for one last final attack, using the ultimate elemental moves they learned against the Fake Kyogre. To top it all off, Red's Pika, Yellow's ChuChu and Gold's Pibu team up together like a family and launch Volt Tackle as the nail in the coffin, destroying Fake Kyogre for good once and for all. This is quite an awesome end to one of the most intimidating threats the heroes of Pokemon Adventures have ever faced.
  • Archie at this point is very desperate with a mad look in his eyes. It's eventually explained that Archie and Maxie who are on the brink of death was given a second chance by Sird of all people, the villain responsible for the petrification of the OG Pokedex Holders. Sird shows them the armor "Eternity" and the sword "Instant" which allows them to stall their currently short lifespans but only one person can have it. Ruby and Sapphire wonder where Maxie is and it's implied to both the character's and reader's horror that Archie killed Maxie. Archie desperately tries to cling to his damaged armor only to realize that the damaged armor he's holding isn't even the real armor, it's the fake one used by Gold lol. The Pokedex Holder's are in shock as Archie disappears into nothingness, his body becoming too unstable at this point to exist any longer.
  • And with this, is the end of the current danger that our heroes have faced, that have plagued fans since the FRLG arc. Everyone is happy afterwards, full of excitement and energy except one person. A callback to how the manga-exclusive character Yellow saved the day and became so tired that she fell asleep in her fellow Gen 1 protagonist's arms, Emerald becomes too tired that he falls asleep in Ruby and Sapphire's arms, the protagonists of Gen 3.
  • In the next day, Emerald wakes up and realizes it's the 7th day and he hasn't won his 7th Frontier Symbol yet. Tucker agrees to battle him however there is one huge problem. His Battle Dome is a facility that depends on a tournament using actual trainers and there are no actual trainers around... or at least no actual trainers outside of the Pokedex Holders lol.
  • Red suggests a tournament together shocking everyone by surprise! Scott absolutely loves this idea and Gold finds this fishy lol, confronting him what he used the last wish for. Scott used the wish that the Battle Frontier would have the grandest opening. Everyone onboard the Battle Frontier looks shocked, seeing tons and tons of ships featuring not only returning characters from Kanto, Johto and Hoenn but some cameo appearances hinting at the upcoming Sinnoh chapters such as Riley.
  • The readers never get to see the tournament however that is easily made up for the fact that we got to see all 10 Pokedex Holders team up and fight together.
  • The chapter ends off with two iconic scenes. We see the Pokedex Holders standing together side-by-side together looking forward to a brighter future and the next one showing their Pokedex's and a final reunion picture where they are all smiling at the camera with their Pokemon.
  • One thing a lot of fans have noticed about the ending scene where the characters look to a brighter future together is how the characters are positioned, which represents shippings coined by fans based on large amounts of evidence. Some fans believe it to be an outline of who Kusaka plans to bring together.
  • However not everything seems like smiles and sunshine's. A flashback happens during Krys's conversation with Prof. Oak. Krys quickly asks Archie who gave him that armor? Archie sighs, accepting his fate and answers them anyway saying... "Team Gal..." before being cut off by his disappearance. This ominous foreshadowing would later be expanded upon in the next story arc of Gen 4, The Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Arcs.
  • Other than that, seeing the Pokedex holders smiling together at a bright future, their Pokedex's on a desk somewhere in Oak's Lab and the ominous foreshadowing of a villainous team in the future tells us one thing. This is the last chapter of the Gen 3 saga, the finishing conclusion of the fates of the petrified Pokedex Holders, and as of now the last time we see these three generations of Pokedex holders meet together. Perhaps one day Kusaka will write another huge cross-over story arc on this scale but for now it's quite a great farewell letter to those who are finishing Gen 3 and are about to pick up Gen 4.
THE LONG REVIEW (Heavy Spoilers)
The Emerald Chapter continues right after the FireRed and LeafGreen's shocking cliffhanger ending. Fans are dreading over the fates of the protagonists of the FireRed and LeafGreen arc to the point that some are hoping that the Emerald arc answers questions as soon as possible instead of what new and exciting experience awaits them at the battle frontier. Those who give the Emerald arc a chance might be annoyed at first but if they continue reading, they may be pleasantly surprised how the Emerald chapter is not only a farewell letter to Gen 3 fans and a satisfying conclusion to the Gen 3 trilogy but is also one of Pokemon Adventures very best stories.

The Emerald Chapter starts off with a seemingly fresh new story set in a fresh new location featuring a fresh new protagonist named Emerald. He's not just a fresh new trainer but one that is exclusive to the manga with no signs of continuing the FireRed and LeafGreen arc. Emerald is the second Pokedex Holder to be exclusive to the manga, an original creation, rather than be adapted from one in the games. When Emerald first appears, readers will find him to be quite energetic and rude sometimes like your typical shonen protagonist. What sets Emerald apart from Yellow however is that Emerald does not look like a character from the Pokemon games. When Yellow first appeared, some readers, such as myself, actually mistaked her for a legitimate video game character branding an iconic but simple hat featuring a mixture of country, sporty and out-door type of clothes with the iconic jeans that many protagonists tend to have. Here he looks more closer to a shonen protagonist from a specific type of genre, sporting a large crescent-shaped hair, gadgets and odd body proportions. However just like the Emerald Chapter itself, there's a lot more to this protagonist than meets the eye.

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Emerald, the protagonist of the Emerald Arc.

When the story starts, Emerald, a boy who doesn't like Pokemon but loves Pokemon battles, excitedly and rudely interrupts Scott's interview with news reporters over the Battle Frontier. Scott is the head of the Battle Frontier and is actually one of Emerald's greatest collaborators. Because Emerald interrupted his interview by announcing that he's challenging the Battle Frontier putting Scott in the spot, Scott has no choice but to open the Battle Frontier early for one challenger and it's from this, that not only does Emerald's story begins but so does the Battle Frontier itself. You see the Battle Frontier in some ways feels like it's own character, it's own region on a smaller scale with it's own culture, architect, design, beautiful artwork seen at different angles and people. However the Battle Frontier isn't officially open so what people? Other than the obvious ones like Scott who runs the Battle Frontier, Todd from Pokemon Snap and Latias and Latios who can communicate to Emerald through telepathy, I am of course talking about the Frontier Brains, seven challengers that Emerald must face in order to win Frontier Symbols, the Battle Frontier's equivalent to badges. Unilke Gym Badges however, the Frontier Brains are quite strong using full evolved or even legendary Pokemon combined with strategies you normally would see in competitive Pokemon such as VGC or Smogon. Due to the odds stacked against Emerald, he has to in return make his choices carefully, coming up with own competitive strategies in a fluid non-turn-based environment. Seeing Emerald stating and using knowledge about Gen 3 competitive in a non fluid non-turn based environment leads to some of Pokemon Adventures very best and smartly crafted battles. Eventually it starts to seem obvious that Emerald is going to win against every Frontier Facility but him winning or losing the result is not the exciting part. The exciting part is how he wins and how he loses and in return seeing how he reacts to his victories bring the competitive fanboy outside of us.

Factory Head Noland is the first Frontier Brain to challenge Emerald forcing him to use Rental Pokemon. Here Emerald must learn how to properly use managing skills, trading one rental Pokemon after another. When he meets Noland, Noland in the most simplistic way uses type-advantages. What seems like a simple game of rock-paper-scissors as often seen in the anime quickly evolves into a game of outsmarting the other as type-advantages are not always reliable. For example, Emerald uses a popular tactic seen in VGC/Smogon but is almost never seen in any Pokemon adaptation and that he orders his Linoone to use the move "Trick" on Mawile. When Noland realizes that Linoone switched his Choice Band on Mawile, yes an item used in battle, he realizes that Mawile's move-sets are locked to Iron Defense, unable to use Flamethrower super-effectively against his next Pokemon, Pinsir, rendering type-advantage useless in this situation. It's from this quick moment that Kusaka tells you, the reader, that this is not your usual rock-paper-scissors battles, that this is more closer to the rich deep competitive experience with different conditions factored in and without the turn-based mechanics.

We continue seeing Emerald challenging other Frontier Brains and find him more as a relatable protagonist that somewhat resembles us in our own competitive experience. We find ourselves having the same annoyed look on Emerald's face when he goes up against the beautiful but deadly Pike Queen Lucy who uses a team that combines tank stalling and toxic-poisoning, reminding us of our own experiences against stall-toxic teams. We see Emerald frustrated that Pyramid King Brandon who uses the shockingly giant legendary titans ordered the move explosion when his Regirock was on the brink of a KO, calling it a cheap move whereas Brandon responds that this isn't anything like your usual fair battles that would often be associated with the anime, calling this a serious battle where all competitive advantages must be used, no room for fairness in the Battle Frontier. We find it funny how Emerald is somewhat disappointed how he won against Arena Tycoon's Greta through her rules.

To players who understand the deep competitive mechanics of Pokemon, Emerald is a relatable protagonist for the most part. However it's not just how Emerald's understanding of competitive mechanics scores him major wins. It's also how his understanding of competitive knowledge spots something odd in the Battle Frontier, oddities that lead to disturbing revelations. What is this oddity? It's Emerald's Sceptile he "stole" from the Battle Factory. One thing that caught Emerald's eye is how Sceptile manage to survive a sheer cold attack up-close. For those who do not understand the mechanics of the move "Sheer Cold", it's a move that only works on the opponent's Pokemon if they are at a equal or lower level than your Pokemon. In the Battle Frontier, all Pokemon are at Lv. 50 and yet Sheer Cold did not affect Sceptile at all because it turns out he's a level higher than the Lv. 50 Glalie that used Sheer Cold which leads Emerald to theorize that someone put that wild Sceptile in the Battle Factory and there may even possibly be someone else other than him, Scott, Todd and the Frontier Brains on the closed Battle Frontier. Through Emerald's competitive knowledge, he's uncovered a mystery on his hands and his suspicions are confirmed when Noland is found brutally beaten by an unknown assailant who stole all the rental Pokemon.

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The unknown assailant, Guile Hideout.

As the story progresses, we learn that the thief who stole all the rental Pokemon is none other than Guile Hideout. Unlike previous villains, Guile Hideout is quite the cruel man as he has no problems brutally beating down people and threatening people by the throat to get what he wants, all the more an intimidating foe. The man is corned by the Frontier Brains and just when it seems things are about to be solved, Guile Hideout's armor proves more than just a disguise, it's a tool that can take attacks from Pokemon and dish out attacks in return from his sword. Worst, the Rental Pokemon have gone berserk and it's up to Emerald to display other capabilities aside from competitive battling, his gadgets. His most well known gadget is the E-Shooter, a pellet gun capable of calming down Pokemon by shooting soil of the Pokemon's birthplace, giving them a sense of nostalgia. During this confrontation, we also learn what Emerald is doing here in the Battle Frontier. To search for Jirachi, the legendary Pokemon that grants wishes, the same thing that Guile Hideout is searching for. Unfortunately these answer of who is the culprit, what Emerald is doing here and what his gadgets only leads to the Frontier Brains and Emerald's friend, Todd, to ask even more questions! Why is Guile Hideout after Jirachi? How is Emerald able to tell which Pokemon is born from which location and why is Emerald after Jirachi himself? Eventually however things take a turn for the worst when Guile Hideout successfully captures the wish-making Pokemon only to everyone's short relief that Guile Hideout has no clue how the wish-making Pokemon even works. Suddenly what started as a seemingly fresh new Pokemon journey featuring a boy who doesn't like Pokemon but loves Pokemon battles evolves into something darker, sinister and yet a hope of light somewhere in the mix. Who is this hope of light for? For the fans specifically, those who are wondering what happened to the OG Pokedex Holders of FireRed and LeafGreen.

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Ruby and Sapphire have progressed from aggressive rivals to a flirtatious couple. Times change don't they lol?

As the story continues, Ruby and Sapphire arrive to participate in an upcoming tournament at the Battle Dome. You see the Battle Dome isn't like the other facilities that rely on virtual trainers. It needs actual trainers as part of a large tournament and it's here that Emerald meets Ruby and Sapphire who were sent to assist his search. How does Emerald respond? He not only claims he doesn't need there help but find this cute adorable flirting couple to be quite annoying that he hilariously yells at them to stop. The chemistry he has with Ruby and Sapphire is quite funny. Despite Emerald's rejections, Ruby and Sapphire are persistent in not only to convince him that he needs their help but that the Pokemon he's used are his friends, not tools for sport as how Todd understands what Emerald meant by how he doesn't like Pokemon, but he likes Pokemon battling. And it's from here that we start to see another side to Emerald that starts to break down when Ruby tries to teach him what bonds can accomplish through his Milotic. Emerald doesn't listen and Ruby's persistence only causes Emerald to switch his team that he's kept through and through previous Frontier facilities in favor of an entirely different team. And to fan's shock, Emerald loses to Dome Ace Tucker.

Emerald's actions has caused his previous team of Pokemon to be disappointed, confused, shocked and most notably, saddened. Emerald's true colors start to show more when he tries to challenge Palace Maven Spencer of the Battle Palace. You see the problem here is that the Battle Palace focuses on the bond and trust between trainer and Pokemon and here Pokemon can't give commands to their Pokemon, Pokemon fight on their own. It is here that Emerald reveals that he reveals that for some reason, he has a hard time trusting Pokemon. Unfortunately Emerald has to go to chase after Guile and Spencer gives him a suggestion, leave his Pokemon here and let them fight on their own. Emerald gives off a smirk on his face saying this is too convenient and Spencer just smiles back that it's his choice in the end. Emerald smiles and tells his Pokemon that he believes in them, leaving them behind to battle as he heads off.

Soon the stakes are raised higher. The Salon Maiden Anabelle has been kidnapped, brainwashed by the mysterious Guile Hideout and Emerald is forced to battle her and her legendary Raikou. Luckily Spencer comes and delivers Emerald his Pokemon, saying that they won the Spirit Symbol. Emerald smiles and gladly takes them on as team members and friends. He wins the battle against Anabelle but things don't look any better as Guile Hideout raises his sword to Anabelle's neck, demanding to know how Jirachi's wish-making abilities work. It's when Guile Hideout learns the truth about Jirachi's abilities that things start to take a drastic turn. Spencer comes in and reveals a shocking truth that starts to add up when you consider that Guile Hideout's personal Pokemon are all water-types. He reveals that he at one time touched the red and blue orbs for a quick second, gaining the ability to tell who else has touched the orb by just looking at the glint of their eyes. He was able to tell Ruby and Sapphire touched the red and blue orbs and he was able to tell that Guile Hideout touched the blue orb and more. According to Spencer, he reveals the shocking truth that Guile Hideout didn't just touched the orb, he let the power corrupt him. Guile Hideout has a big laugh, revealing his true face. Ruby and Sapphire are the most shocked, finding this revelation to be disturbing as it's none other than Archie of Team Aqua.

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Fake Kyogre rising...

Thanks to the newfound knowledge Archie gained, he is able to grant his wish, forcing Jirachi's third eye open with his trusted Surskuit. Archie is a man who has longed for control over the seas and from this, he wishes a great demon to drown the entire Battle Frontier. This wish takes the form of a Fake Kyogre bigger than the Battle Frontier and made of the seas itself. It's from Fake Kyogre's control over the seas that it's crashing waves leads to some terrifyingly beautiful artwork of the Battle Frontier's tallest buildings covered in water in a sort of a Atlantian style. Luckily for Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire, Archie has discarded Jirachi deeming him useless, not realizing it can grant more than one wish based on the scrolls on it's head. Even better Gold, apparently a master of disguise lol, has arrived to save the three from danger in Guile Hideout's armor? It's a strange idea that causes Krystal to show up and chastise Gold for. It's through this newfound chaos that we get to see why Emerald is here searching for Jirachi and a slow upcoming reunion building up that gets the fans excited, hoping the reason they think why they are all there comes true.

And it does. It turns out the reason why they've been sent here to capture Jirachi is to use one of it's wishes to bring back Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Silver from their petrified status, frozen in stone. To make things easier, Scott was informed by Prof. Oak to move the statues to the Battle Frontier in return Scott would get the final wish. It's here that Gold looks at the fallen Pokedex Holders, sees his friend Silver. He assures Silver that he will free him and for the first time he calls him his friend. It's a brief and silent moment but it's an iconic one that fans will surely remember of Gold's good heart. Unfortunately things aren't as hopeful as it seems, Jirachi can't seem to grant Emerald his wish of freeing the other Pokedex Holders. No one can understand why and Krys and Gold decides that Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald should train to learn the ultimate moves, Frenzy Plant, Hydro Cannon and Blast Burn in the mean time. Jirachi not listening to Emerald makes Emerald depress and Ruby and Sapphire are shocked to find out that Emerald is a teenager stuck in a boy's body. Emerald explains that the reason why he has a hard time trusting Pokemon or refusing assistance from people is that he always felt alone.

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Younger Emerald

Emerald's backstory is a sad one that explores an unusual character archetype rarely explored in main characters of shonen-style manga and that is a teenager in a boy's body, a person who has dwarfism or a condition similar to it. He explains that he lost his parents at a young age and that he originally loved Pokemon but because his cousins kept taunting him for his height, how he depended too much help on Pokemon, he started to dislike Pokemon and assistance from people as well, trying to do things on his own for the most part. He kept moving between different families and eventually ran away from home, recognizing the soil of different Pokemon's birthplaces along the way which shocks the Trick Master, an important figure in Emerald's life. Emerald is a teenager in a boy's body and can easily blend in an orphanage full of children. It's here that he meets Krystal, another important figure in his life, who teaches him how to catch and battle Pokemon. It wasn't until he met the Trick Master again who built him gadgets based on Emerald's ideas to make him appear taller and bigger. He later meets Prof. Oak and obtains a Pokedex, ready to take on the mission to find Jirachi and save the Pokedex Holders from petrification with Krys's assistance.

Ruby and Sapphire look shocked and saddened by the depressed Emerald explaining where his behavior of liking Pokemon battles but not Pokemon come from. It isn't until Gold and Krystal get hurt and Archie taunts him how he loves Pokemon battles over Pokemon that we see Emerald finally making up his mind in action. Emerald just shouts out that he no longer cares about Pokemon battles, he now only cares about Pokemon and the people who care for those Pokemon. Hearing this, Jirachi opens his heart to Emerald, granting his wish. It's here we see how much Emerald has changed and grow over time, from a young lad who loved Pokemon only to be taunted to hate them, feeling alone in this world having a hard time trusting Pokemon and yet his Pokemon ever gave up on him to the very end. There's an saying in the Pokemon series how sometimes it's not the trainer who chooses the Pokemon, it's the Pokemon who chooses the trainer.

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Damn invisible ninjas cutting up onions again...

One of the most miraculous moments full of hope happens, Pokemon Adventure fans "HURRAH!" in the air in excitement and tears and the later generations of Pokedex Holders have no words to say, they only run smiling with their arms open wide. The original Pokedex Holders aren't frozen shocked, they have warm faces and are full of energy, smiling at their younger counterparts. It's a short moment as it's unfortunately cut short but it's nonetheless a sweet happy moment full of hope in one of the darker storylines of Pokemon Adventures. As mentioned before their reunion is cut short thanks to Archie's legions of berserk rental Pokemon and here we see EVERYONE in action, fighting together! The fan service here is just so amazing, in fact the scene here below showing all the Pokedex Holders fight is best viewed as large as possible, which is why I kept it under a spoiler button. For many Pokemon fans who've seen this scene the first time, this is EPICNESS on a level unlike any other!

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The action doesn't end there. In one of the best action scenes, we get to see an awesome tag-team up of Red's Poliwrath and Gold's Politoed delivering the finishing blow against Archie's armor. One of the best things I love about this scene is how words are barely spoken, they just explain the weakness in Archie's armor by showing it! If your understand your competitive mechanics, there is one particular move that can easily destroy Archie's armor as it has the properties of this particular move, meaning it has both strengths AND weaknesses. To sum up this scene, it's stunningly badass.

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Guile Hideout meets his match.

Poliwrath and Politoed successfully breaks Archie's armor forcing Archie to rely on more rental Pokemon going berserk. To his surprise Emerald has already set up soil across the entire Battle Frontier, soil from Faraway Island, the home to Mew. This absolutely shocks Archie. Now that the OG Pokedex Holders are freed, they have all learned the Ultimate Moves, they have put an end to Archie's armor and his control over the rental Pokemon, all that's left is Fake Kyogre himself, the sea giant that threatens everyone's lives on the Battle Frontier.

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All for one and one for all!

The Pokdex Holders order their Pokemon to fire the ultimate moves against Fake Kyogre but it's not enough. It's now up to Red and Yellow's Pikachu and Gold's Pichu to land the finishing blow, an all-powerful volt tackle! This successfully destroys the Fake Kyogre, ending Archie's plans for good or at least it seems. Archie is still alive and he is desperately trying to find his damaged armor. Archie reveals how he got here so far after being nearly on the brink of death. He explains that he met a woman named Sird, the same Sird responsible for the OG Pokedex Holder's petrification who offered him and Maxie the armor "Eternity" and the sword "Instant" which would save them from the brink of death. However there was only one armor and sword meaning only one person can have it. It was through this that Maxie and Archie fought over this armor and the look on Archie's bloodlust eyes and on Ruby and Sapphire's horrified faces implies that Archie killed Maxie. Archie continues to desperately look for the damaged armor and he finds it only to realize the damage armor isn't even real, it's the fake one used by Gold. This causes Archie's body to become unstable to the point that he no longer can exist, ending the current danger to the Pokedex Holder's once and for all. Similar to Yellow, the first manga-exclusive protagonist, of the Yellow Arc, Emerald falls asleep in the hands of his fellow Gen 3 protagonists, Ruby and Sapphire.

He wakes up only to realize he hasn't won his 7th symbol yet and it's the 7th day. Emerald hurries to ask for Tucker an official match and he agrees if there wasn't one particular problem. The Battle Dome uses actual trainers, not virtual trainers and there are no trainers around... at least outside of the Pokedex holders there is lol. Red suggests a tournament surprising anyone and Scott absolutely loves the idea as part of the official opening ceremonies of the Battle Frontier. Gold thinks this sounds fishy and wonders what Scott wished for the final third wish. Scott wanted the Battle Frontier's opening to start off as quite the grand spectacle, wishing for many many many MANY trainers to come and to the Pokedex Holders surprise, they see a ton of ships from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and even some from the upcoming Sinnoh region featuring Riley.

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The Pokedex Holders look to a bright future. Interestingly they are positioned as boy-girl couples who interact with each other and have a lot of history together. The fan-coined shippings from left to right are called...
  • Chosenshipping - Blue x Silver
  • Mangaquestshipping - Gold x Krys
  • Specialshipping - Yellow x Red
  • Franticshipping - Sapphire x Ruby
The Pokemon Adventures Emerald Chapter ends with the Pokemon holders looking forward to a bright future. It seems everything will be alright. On a side note, from this scene, fans have noticed how the Pokedex Holders are positioned in boy-girl patterns, interacting with each other and are based on the most evidentially supported ships of the series. Some fans believe this to be Kusaka's outline for plans used to serve in later storylines. There's also another piece of information that has to be addressed and that is the fact that Krys asks Archie, moments away from death, the question "Who gave you that armor?". Archie sighs, accepting death at the last second saying "Team Gala..." and is cut off there, shattering into nothingness. Anyone who played or read the Diamond and Pearl games or Manga instantly knows what ominous foreshadowing Archie spoke of. It's also quite fitting at the Emerald Arc feels like one last farewell to fans who've enjoyed their time learning the wonderful world of Hoenn and how Kanto has grown little by little over the years. The Emerald Arc is the last of the Gen 3 arcs and it is quite a blast before Pokemon fans step into the world of Sinnoh.
 
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Lucky3

Well-Known Member
R/S is probably the most epic Pokespe has ever been. Groudon and Kyogre really feel like legendary beasts with the power to cause the apocalyse. The protagonists are fairly unique and interesting. It's almost perfect. Too bad the ending dragged it down a little. I don't think a manga like this needs deaths to be good, but if you're going to do it, then stick with it. Otherwise, it makes it feel like the stakes are meaningless, and in arc whose main strength is making the stakes feel high, that's a big issue. It's the same for Ruby forgetting the love confession. Erasing half of the consequences of everything that happened just leaves a bad aftertaste.

FRLG is the best remake arc by far. It develops all the old characters while having a pretty engaging story at the same time. The final battle reminds me a little of the one in Silph Co. in RGB, and that's how it should be.

Emerald is one of my personal favorites. Everyone loves the Holder reunion at the end and the epic final battle, but I also like the parts with Emerald facing the Frontier Brains, because I spent a lot of time in the Battle Frontier in Emerald. Emerald as character is honestly a little lackluster compared to almost anyone else, but he doesn't detract too much from the arc because we know there's something bigger at play.

Overall, I'd say it's a very solid generation in the manga, perhaps the most solid as a whole.
 
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lolipiece

Pictured: what browsing Serebii does to a person
Staff member
Moderator
It's the same for Ruby forgetting the love confession. Erasing half of the consequences of everything that happened just leaves a bad aftertaste.

He never forgot.

He was just pretending to.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
The point still stands though. Not much of a point to have a love confession just to reset their relationship to its previous stage at the end.
SPOILERS but...
Aren't they dating in the ORAS chapter? I remember Ruby saying "I want to be with you until the last moment!" to Sapphire when the world was seemingly ending and afterwards they decided to spend their possible last moments together doing a Pokemon contest, hand-holding together. The way it's done, I wonder if it's a subtle reference to how Sapphire confessed.
 
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Lucky3

Well-Known Member
SPOILERS but...
Aren't they dating in the ORAS chapter? I remember Ruby saying "I want to be with you until the last moment!" to Sapphire when the world was seemingly ending and afterwards they decided to spend their possible last moments together doing a Pokemon contest, hand-holding together. The way it's done, I wonder if it's a subtle reference to how Sapphire confessed.
Yeah, that moment is obviously meant to parallel Sapphire's confession and I'd say they're indeed dating. But that was the end of ORAS. The fact that it took another arc and six years in-universe(much more for the readers) to get a resolution to their relationship, when it had already gotten a resolution, which was randomly taken back for no particular reason, is pretty ridiculous. I don't think the teenage drama adds a lot to ORAS, either, so I still say this should have been tied up in RS.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Yeah, that moment is obviously meant to parallel Sapphire's confession and I'd say they're indeed dating. But that was the end of ORAS. The fact that it took another arc and six years in-universe(much more for the readers) to get a resolution to their relationship, when it had already gotten a resolution, which was randomly taken back for no particular reason, is pretty ridiculous. I don't think the teenage drama adds a lot to ORAS, either, so I still say this should have been tied up in RS.
Fair enough but we should be happy because...
Sapphire's reaction is just so freaking adorable and funny. This is basically all Franticshippers here lol.
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Finally gotten around to downloading the RS arc and finished it yesterday, so came here to share my thoughts.


The RS story from the games is kind of the baseline for a lot of the games that followed: it was the first to use the “evil team awakens legendaries” plot, and other games have just expanded on this and tweaked the format. In the BW/BW2 thread, Lucky3 disparages the BW chapter (which I’m yet to read) as hewing too closely to the games’ plot: I felt this with the RS chapter, but the manga avoids this via a lot of great little tweaks that are much appreciated: the earthquakes and climate change taking place all over Hoenn provides a more realistic aspect to the evil team’s plans, the recurring presence of Gabby and Ty grounds the story and deepens our connection with the Hoenn region, and the rivalry between Aqua and Magma is used interestingly. More so than the previous chapters, the RS chapter had lots of little touches that essentially use the source material from the games but twist the context slightly, like Wally raising Ruby’s Ralts or Groudon choosing Mt. Chimney as a new lair after the climactic battle.


The RS chapter starts well, though the plot kicks off at an almost ridiculous speed – I’d expected it to take a bit longer to set things up – and up to the midpoint is a great story, but I remember feeling that it had dipped in the middle: the final battle is so prolonged and so stretched out over the last few volumes that it becomes frankly quite tedious. The 21-day gap is weird and incredibly anticlimactic (did... did no one sleep for three weeks?) and the introductions of Rayquaza and the Regis are rushed and feel underdone. The GSC chapter’s final battle went on for a while too, but was fought on multiple fronts and maintained a decent pace: the climax of the RS chapter should have been tighter. Moving the search for the Regis to before the official beginning of the climax might have fixed this: as it is, they don’t really get much explanation or context, and it just seems like they’re there to set up their appearance in the Emerald chapter.


It’s interesting, too, to be following two separate protagonists for the first time who have completely separate quests. I liked the little arcs given to various members of the protagonists teams – Feefee’s story in particular is nothing short of heartbreaking (and Ruby absolutely does not deserve her) – and the manga’s great way of working in the effects of obscure moves like Grudge, Assist, and Block into the plot. As usual, Adventures elevates a couple of the minor characters to pleasingly larger roles: Courtney in particular was a standout, and I expected to find Gabby and Ty annoying but didn’t. Professor Birch is surprisingly underused, though, and I was surprised at how long it took Wally to make a reappearance (Treecko, too – once again the grass starter has to wait till last) even though his transformation from wimp to badass feels much more satisfying than in the games.


I wish the backstory between Ruby and Sapphire could have been somewhat less awkwardly shoehorned in, but one thing I particularly liked about this chapter was the way it built on the work the GSC chapter did in fleshing out the role of the Gym Leaders: in this chapter we learn more about who appoints them and how they operate as a group. I’m hoping later chapters expand on the Pokemon Association: there’s a wealth of questions raised by their existence, and this chapter made me question if their motives aren’t altogether good. It’s little things like that that make the manga worth reading; I love the dark touches Adventures brings. It’s never stated outright that Norman physically abused his son, but Ruby’s continuous fear that his father will find him, and the eventual clash between them at the Weather Institute, definitely does more than suggest it. The deaths of Norman, Steven, and Courtney are shocking, visceral moments, which makes the ending all the more emotional.


I’m always wary of the trend towards escalation in long-running series, and I think ultimately RS struggles to avoid falling victim to some of the pitfalls of this. The stakes of the finale are even higher than the last two chapters, and though the action always feels personal the fact that it’s dragged out means that I found myself wondering when it would end instead of being swept along in the story. This is probably the darkest chapter of the series yet, though, and while it’s not my favourite I’m sorry to leave the characters behind and return to Kanto in the FRLG chapter. The Emerald chapter is the only one I’d read prior to downloading the series, so I’m looking forward to seeing the Hoenn bunch again.



____

Btw, anyone know if the XY and ORAS chapters will be released digitally? Does Viz even have the rights to them? Repeated Google searches have yielded nothing.
 

BenLee really not taken

Hey everyone, Bhrjr here.
Finally gotten around to downloading the RS arc and finished it yesterday, so came here to share my thoughts.


The RS story from the games is kind of the baseline for a lot of the games that followed: it was the first to use the “evil team awakens legendaries” plot, and other games have just expanded on this and tweaked the format. In the BW/BW2 thread, Lucky3 disparages the BW chapter (which I’m yet to read) as hewing too closely to the games’ plot: I felt this with the RS chapter, but the manga avoids this via a lot of great little tweaks that are much appreciated: the earthquakes and climate change taking place all over Hoenn provides a more realistic aspect to the evil team’s plans, the recurring presence of Gabby and Ty grounds the story and deepens our connection with the Hoenn region, and the rivalry between Aqua and Magma is used interestingly. More so than the previous chapters, the RS chapter had lots of little touches that essentially use the source material from the games but twist the context slightly, like Wally raising Ruby’s Ralts or Groudon choosing Mt. Chimney as a new lair after the climactic battle.


The RS chapter starts well, though the plot kicks off at an almost ridiculous speed – I’d expected it to take a bit longer to set things up – and up to the midpoint is a great story, but I remember feeling that it had dipped in the middle: the final battle is so prolonged and so stretched out over the last few volumes that it becomes frankly quite tedious. The 21-day gap is weird and incredibly anticlimactic (did... did no one sleep for three weeks?) and the introductions of Rayquaza and the Regis are rushed and feel underdone. The GSC chapter’s final battle went on for a while too, but was fought on multiple fronts and maintained a decent pace: the climax of the RS chapter should have been tighter. Moving the search for the Regis to before the official beginning of the climax might have fixed this: as it is, they don’t really get much explanation or context, and it just seems like they’re there to set up their appearance in the Emerald chapter.


It’s interesting, too, to be following two separate protagonists for the first time who have completely separate quests. I liked the little arcs given to various members of the protagonists teams – Feefee’s story in particular is nothing short of heartbreaking (and Ruby absolutely does not deserve her) – and the manga’s great way of working in the effects of obscure moves like Grudge, Assist, and Block into the plot. As usual, Adventures elevates a couple of the minor characters to pleasingly larger roles: Courtney in particular was a standout, and I expected to find Gabby and Ty annoying but didn’t. Professor Birch is surprisingly underused, though, and I was surprised at how long it took Wally to make a reappearance (Treecko, too – once again the grass starter has to wait till last) even though his transformation from wimp to badass feels much more satisfying than in the games.


I wish the backstory between Ruby and Sapphire could have been somewhat less awkwardly shoehorned in, but one thing I particularly liked about this chapter was the way it built on the work the GSC chapter did in fleshing out the role of the Gym Leaders: in this chapter we learn more about who appoints them and how they operate as a group. I’m hoping later chapters expand on the Pokemon Association: there’s a wealth of questions raised by their existence, and this chapter made me question if their motives aren’t altogether good. It’s little things like that that make the manga worth reading; I love the dark touches Adventures brings. It’s never stated outright that Norman physically abused his son, but Ruby’s continuous fear that his father will find him, and the eventual clash between them at the Weather Institute, definitely does more than suggest it. The deaths of Norman, Steven, and Courtney are shocking, visceral moments, which makes the ending all the more emotional.


I’m always wary of the trend towards escalation in long-running series, and I think ultimately RS struggles to avoid falling victim to some of the pitfalls of this. The stakes of the finale are even higher than the last two chapters, and though the action always feels personal the fact that it’s dragged out means that I found myself wondering when it would end instead of being swept along in the story. This is probably the darkest chapter of the series yet, though, and while it’s not my favourite I’m sorry to leave the characters behind and return to Kanto in the FRLG chapter. The Emerald chapter is the only one I’d read prior to downloading the series, so I’m looking forward to seeing the Hoenn bunch again.



____

Btw, anyone know if the XY and ORAS chapters will be released digitally? Does Viz even have the rights to them? Repeated Google searches have yielded nothing.
I think the reason for them not being released digitally yet, is because Viz JUST started releasing the Pokémon mangas digitally.

https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/pokemon-manga-goes-digital/
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Finally gotten around to downloading the RS arc and finished it yesterday, so came here to share my thoughts.


The RS story from the games is kind of the baseline for a lot of the games that followed: it was the first to use the “evil team awakens legendaries” plot, and other games have just expanded on this and tweaked the format. In the BW/BW2 thread, Lucky3 disparages the BW chapter (which I’m yet to read) as hewing too closely to the games’ plot: I felt this with the RS chapter, but the manga avoids this via a lot of great little tweaks that are much appreciated: the earthquakes and climate change taking place all over Hoenn provides a more realistic aspect to the evil team’s plans, the recurring presence of Gabby and Ty grounds the story and deepens our connection with the Hoenn region, and the rivalry between Aqua and Magma is used interestingly. More so than the previous chapters, the RS chapter had lots of little touches that essentially use the source material from the games but twist the context slightly, like Wally raising Ruby’s Ralts or Groudon choosing Mt. Chimney as a new lair after the climactic battle.


The RS chapter starts well, though the plot kicks off at an almost ridiculous speed – I’d expected it to take a bit longer to set things up – and up to the midpoint is a great story, but I remember feeling that it had dipped in the middle: the final battle is so prolonged and so stretched out over the last few volumes that it becomes frankly quite tedious. The 21-day gap is weird and incredibly anticlimactic (did... did no one sleep for three weeks?) and the introductions of Rayquaza and the Regis are rushed and feel underdone. The GSC chapter’s final battle went on for a while too, but was fought on multiple fronts and maintained a decent pace: the climax of the RS chapter should have been tighter. Moving the search for the Regis to before the official beginning of the climax might have fixed this: as it is, they don’t really get much explanation or context, and it just seems like they’re there to set up their appearance in the Emerald chapter.


It’s interesting, too, to be following two separate protagonists for the first time who have completely separate quests. I liked the little arcs given to various members of the protagonists teams – Feefee’s story in particular is nothing short of heartbreaking (and Ruby absolutely does not deserve her) – and the manga’s great way of working in the effects of obscure moves like Grudge, Assist, and Block into the plot. As usual, Adventures elevates a couple of the minor characters to pleasingly larger roles: Courtney in particular was a standout, and I expected to find Gabby and Ty annoying but didn’t. Professor Birch is surprisingly underused, though, and I was surprised at how long it took Wally to make a reappearance (Treecko, too – once again the grass starter has to wait till last) even though his transformation from wimp to badass feels much more satisfying than in the games.


I wish the backstory between Ruby and Sapphire could have been somewhat less awkwardly shoehorned in, but one thing I particularly liked about this chapter was the way it built on the work the GSC chapter did in fleshing out the role of the Gym Leaders: in this chapter we learn more about who appoints them and how they operate as a group. I’m hoping later chapters expand on the Pokemon Association: there’s a wealth of questions raised by their existence, and this chapter made me question if their motives aren’t altogether good. It’s little things like that that make the manga worth reading; I love the dark touches Adventures brings. It’s never stated outright that Norman physically abused his son, but Ruby’s continuous fear that his father will find him, and the eventual clash between them at the Weather Institute, definitely does more than suggest it. The deaths of Norman, Steven, and Courtney are shocking, visceral moments, which makes the ending all the more emotional.


I’m always wary of the trend towards escalation in long-running series, and I think ultimately RS struggles to avoid falling victim to some of the pitfalls of this. The stakes of the finale are even higher than the last two chapters, and though the action always feels personal the fact that it’s dragged out means that I found myself wondering when it would end instead of being swept along in the story. This is probably the darkest chapter of the series yet, though, and while it’s not my favourite I’m sorry to leave the characters behind and return to Kanto in the FRLG chapter. The Emerald chapter is the only one I’d read prior to downloading the series, so I’m looking forward to seeing the Hoenn bunch again.



____

Btw, anyone know if the XY and ORAS chapters will be released digitally? Does Viz even have the rights to them? Repeated Google searches have yielded nothing.
I'm just making a guess here but I think the XY and ORAS chapters won't be released digitally until BW2 is finished.

So personally I think the RS chapter surpasses the original RS game's stories like in that of the recent Resident Evil 2 remake game of the original Resident Evil 2 and what alterations and twists that are further made only surpasses the original. For example, we just get to see how terrifyingly dangerous Groudon and Kyogre are, why you should definitely not awaken them at all costs because the manga shows you what's not just happening in Sootopolis city but also other places affected by Groudon and Kyogre's disaster-like abilities. I personally liked the backstory between Ruby and Sapphire, I thought the build-up to the final battle was one of the best parts as we get to see Team Magma and Team Aqua as sort of the main characters with interesting and shocking plot development and Rayquaza I thought was brilliantly introduced by Wally but I did felt like the Regi-brothers were more than just rushed but kind of felt shoe-horned in at the last second. Another thing was that although the epic final battle was pretty awesome, it was also, and probably to date, the longest final battle storyline in Pokemon Adventures or at least it felt like that way. This is partly due to the fact that there were just so many characters involved in it and I liked that we don't just see the Gym Leaders stand around and do nothing but it did felt like it was dragged-out at times and if you skimmed it, you might miss some important details. The last battle was good but I understand why you felt like it dragged-out, I think that's actually one of the few final battles that covers more than one volume worth of Pokemon Adventures.
 
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I'm just making a guess here but I think the XY and ORAS chapters won't be released digitally until BW2 is finished.

So never, then. Haha, at this point I've pretty much given up on BW2 ever finishing, I think there's more chance of The Winds of Winter being released first.

So personally I think the RS chapter surpasses the original RS game's stories like in that of the recent Resident Evil 2 remake game of the original Resident Evil 2 and what alterations and twists that are further made only surpasses the original. For example, we just get to see how terrifyingly dangerous Groudon and Kyogre are, why you should definitely not awaken them at all costs because the manga shows you what's not just happening in Sootopolis city but also other places affected by Groudon and Kyogre's disaster-like abilities. I personally liked the backstory between Ruby and Sapphire, I thought the build-up to the final battle was one of the best parts as we get to see Team Magma and Team Aqua as sort of the main characters with interesting and shocking plot development and Rayquaza I thought was brilliantly introduced by Wally but I did felt like the Regi-brothers were more than just rushed but kind of felt shoe-horned in at the last second. Another thing was that although the epic final battle was pretty awesome, it was also, and probably to date, the longest final battle storyline in Pokemon Adventures or at least it felt like that way. This is partly due to the fact that there were just so many characters involved in it and I liked that we don't just see the Gym Leaders stand around and do nothing but it did felt like it was dragged-out at times and if you skimmed it, you might miss some important details. The last battle was good but I understand why you felt like it dragged-out, I think that's actually one of the few final battles that covers more than one volume worth of Pokemon Adventures.

I definitely preferred the RS chapter's story over the games (and Emerald, to be honest, since this chapter has the two teams go head to head in a more organic way than Emerald managed). It was interesting the way it implied that Groudon and Kyogre's motives for doing battle aren't as pure as the games suggest; that split image of Groudon and Kyogre facing each other (I was looking for it on Google images then realised you already posted it...) is honestly pretty disturbing.

zzKWNzF.jpg


And it was definitely good to have the Gym Leaders be more involved (loved the fakeout with Wattson's almost-death).

Rayquaza was given a good introduction, I just think it ended up feeling rather anticlimactic since it's only part of the solution in this canon rather than being able to instantly stop the fighting the way it does in the games. Archie and Maxie were both great, though: seeing them kill Courtney and burn Norman's corpse really cemented them as the worst villains we've seen yet. Looking forward to reading the FRLG and Emerald chapters soonish...
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
So never, then. Haha, at this point I've pretty much given up on BW2 ever finishing, I think there's more chance of The Winds of Winter being released first.



I definitely preferred the RS chapter's story over the games (and Emerald, to be honest, since this chapter has the two teams go head to head in a more organic way than Emerald managed). It was interesting the way it implied that Groudon and Kyogre's motives for doing battle aren't as pure as the games suggest; that split image of Groudon and Kyogre facing each other (I was looking for it on Google images then realised you already posted it...) is honestly pretty disturbing.

zzKWNzF.jpg


And it was definitely good to have the Gym Leaders be more involved (loved the fakeout with Wattson's almost-death).

Rayquaza was given a good introduction, I just think it ended up feeling rather anticlimactic since it's only part of the solution in this canon rather than being able to instantly stop the fighting the way it does in the games. Archie and Maxie were both great, though: seeing them kill Courtney and burn Norman's corpse really cemented them as the worst villains we've seen yet. Looking forward to reading the FRLG and Emerald chapters soonish...
Actually I think Groudon and Kyogre were always portrayed like that, it's just that I think GameFreak kind of shied away from it so you never always realized that the reason why the Elders say not to awaken Groudon and Kyogre is not because of you they fear, it's because of Groudon and Kyogre they fear more, however they don't completely shy away from it. You can see the horror in Maxie and Archie's dialogue realizing how wrong they are in Pokemon Emerald and the remakes. I think in Pokemon Adventures is much more noticeable because Kusaka went all-out to just show how dangerous they are.
 
Finished the FRLG chapter a few days back and will progress onto Emerald this week.

Thoughts:

-I wasn't hugely keen on how this one opened. It felt tremendously rushed and just a little bit forced. Still, this being a short chapter, it meant we got to the action more quickly, so it's not entirely a black mark against it.
-The stuff with the ultimate moves is interesting, and I liked the focus given to them. Adventures always makes you think more about the mechanics and techniques of battling, and this round is no exception. Giovanni embodies the idea of innovative battling, too, and Adventures makes him a more interesting villain than other canons. His interaction with Silver was nice but felt way too brief.
-Ultima is my new favourite character
-Lorelei may as well have not been there. I know, I know, game canon mandated she be present but I'm not sure what she contributed.
-The Three Beasts were cool. Much like Sham and Carl from GSC they're an interesting take on Rocket grunts. Nice to have one of them just flat-out die and I'm hoping Sird appears again later on (DPPt remake arc is probably most likely).
-Mewtwo vs Deoxys. Faaaacking epic.
-First cliffhanger ending of the series to date. And it's great. The fakeout happy ending before Sird appears is borderline cruel.

So all in all, not the best chapter and probably the weakest in terms of actual story content. Still, not a bad read. I have a feeling I'm going to like the Emerald chapter a lot.
 
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