Orasha

My Team: Manannan Futakuchi Aonyobo Kasha Keseran Ittan-momen Brigid Macha Carbink At this point, I'm basically running three different strategies in rotation, and not all of them work together. Misty terrain allows me to nullify field bonuses and give myself an advantageous one, and powers up my special attackers. Trick Room allows me to turn my attackers' horrendous speeds into an advantage, especially since gym leaders seem to have EV trained Pokemon to help maximize their speed. Unfortunately, the stall bros, Keseran and Ittan-momen, don't work too well under those strategies: Misty field prevents statuses like sleep, and they won't be able to outspeed most Pokemon under Trick Room. Whimsicott's Prankster allows him to still stall, but I have to be very careful with the two of them. With those musings out of the way, its time to take on Luna. Luna wasn't really that hard and I beat her underlevelled as anything, but Fairy has type advantage and I have silly tactics, so I really don't know why I expected her to be harder. With Luna defeated, we can follow Cain into Calcenon city. Traditionally this is a massive cutoff, and you can't return to Reborn after this point. However, Gardevoir knows Teleport, allowing us the cheese the system for a little while. As long as we don't use the healing station in Fiore mansion (and possibly the one inside the Big Top), we can teleport back to the city. I'm not a game programmer, but I think the healing station in the circus grounds doesn't count as a teleport location since its outside or something. I'm honestly not sure if this is a glitch or intentional or what. This isn't too useful, though it will allow us to possibly train or breed moves onto Clefairy easier, and actually use the department store sticker we get at the Circus. Speaking of Clefable, I'm not sure if I'm going to use it. This is another one like Chansey: both are highly ranked within the competitive community (Smogon's monotype hub lists Clefable as an S-tier Pokemon), but both require TMs that aren't in Reborn yet. Clefable is also a set up sweeper, and both of my main strategies have a time limit, so I'm not a huge fan of setting up. I just don't think I can justify it, at least not right now. Of course, I soft reset a bunch of times to get good IVs just in case, and also scouted out its Egg Moves. Anyways, back on the plot rain. I have to go find Hardy on Route 2, which means getting through the Crustle Puzzle. Again, another puzzle I heard bad things about, but which I didn't find that difficult (I say this every time, but I would prefer doing it to Pyrous Mountain). The only weird part is when you slide the Crustles down ledges, since I don't think any NPC tells you that you can do that. I think I'm just weird. Before getting Hardy, I run around to catch a female Snorunt with decent IVs, since its part of the Fairy Egg Group. Eventually, I settle on one with meh IVs, but its fine since I don't think I'll be using Froslass that much anyway. When we reach Fiore mansion, I replace Aonyobo's Teleport with Trick Room. Teleport doesn't allow us to cheese past this point, and she's a great secondary setter. Healing Wish allows her to bring one of my sweepers like Bean Sidhe or Macha back to full HP to take advantage of as many Trick Room turns as possible. After completing the plot train (for now), we face Samson: After trying to face him underlevelled and getting absolutely stomped, I decided to grind everyone up to level 63 (a chore, honestly). Initially I wanted to lead with Florges to set Misty Terrain, since Samson's field is a pain. Once the mist fades, Bean Sidhe was going to take advantage of the field to boost her attack power, and then possibly set up Trick Room with Gardevoir. Unfortunately, that strategy didn't do well and I had to soft reset a few times. After re-acquainting myself with what the Big Top field actually does, I realized that Jumpluff would be able to do amazing work thanks to Acrobatics' boost. Will it be enough? Lets find out. That's all for now, folks! NEXT TIME: Aster and Eclipse! And my rematch with an old nemesis... Charlotte!

I had never heard of Cerastes When I did a dark run I named stuff after night deities so I named one of my mons that too! Though I might have also heard of Achlys if she was mentioned in one of the Greek plays I read. I don't really remember. Excellent work so far, keep it up!

Thanks! Trick Room is something I've never used before, but it works really well. Carbink is basically my Diancie stand in I was not expecting the sweep at all, since Carbink has low attack stats. I was just in awe the entire time

Ooh, another pooiiiisonous run! I bequeath to you an ancient meme from an ancient game series: This should be real fun, especially since you're doing videos! Poison is pretty awesome, and imo should be less difficult than the bug run (also, I must be a huge nerd cause I knew all the mythology references except 1 )

Ah, Radomus. This is probably one of my favorite arcs of Reborn. The interactions between Cain and Radomus are priceless, the cult of Arceus is weird but fascinating, and there's so much moral grey area surrounding the whole thing. It's great. Usually when you face Radomus, the recommendation is to keep Reuniclus and Slowking from setting up Trick Room. Heck, its even what Ame tells you to do! And with a regular team, she's probably right... but our team is far from regular. In fact, after comparing base speeds, I'm pretty sure most of my Pokemon are slower than his, so I actually want him to set up Trick Room. This is especially crucial with Metagross, who would normally outspeed my main Steel and Psychic checks, Granbull and Mawile. In this situation, I also don't want to change fields (at least until after I've defeated Metagross), since I need Trick Room to last 8 turns. Let's do this. VS RADOMUS PRIME Whew. I had to do that battle a few times to get the rhythm of it and to actually get rid of Metagross. But I was able to twist the dimensions on Radomus by using his favored strategy against him to outspeed the iron giant, which is the only reason I was able to defeat him. If Radomus didn't have a Trick Room team, I'm not sure if I would have been able to beat it. The luckiest thing was that Macha didn't bring Metagross into potion range, which would have probably allowed Metagross to sweep. Before progressing to the plot, I decide to get side stuff out of the way, like going to Byxbision and fighting Mr. Bigglesworth, and spending a lot of time Heart Scale farming (Kechibi's ability, Frisk, is really useful here), and resetting their natures to favorable ones. Honestly, I'm not sure if the new nature will affect anything since they're all around level 60 now, but I decide to go for it anyway. While I spend literal hours soft resetting, I start to really wonder about Sylveon. I would prefer him to be type coverage and not another special wall, but without Psyshock or Shadow Ball as TMs, I'm not really sure about his viability. I really want to use him, but Hyper Voice isn't available until much later on... Eventually I do decide to keep using him as a Wish passer and special tank, and hopefully he'll get some coverage moves eventually. After a LOT of plot revolving around Luna and El's cult of Arceus, we have to face Bennett in Iolia valley. This was my team: That's right, for Bennett we're going with Trick Room fairies. As I've said before, my team has a speed problem. All of my heavy hitters are also incredibly slow (other than Gardevoir, and my Gardevoir is slower than most by design). Jumpluff and Whimsicott are the fast duo, but they're a stall pair, not heavy hitters. Trick Room allows us to turn what was our greatest weakness into our greatest strength. With an Amplifield Rock, Carbink gives us 8 turns of Trick Room, and he can just Explode to let a stronger Pokemon in. VS BENNETT With Bennett out of the way, we can take on Luna. But that'll have to wait for next time. NEXT TIME: Violence in the Valley! And later... Chaos at the Circus! Will I be able to triumph over Samson? Or is his field just too unpredictable?

Yeah, I can't imagine he was having a fun time. There's a line later where he talks about us surpassing him and its like... naw dude, just use Poison and Steel Types and you could probably manage Florges will probably remain in rotation. I don't have a better cleric/special wall (though Sylveon is a nice backup). She's pretty great.

So at this point I've changed my team around quite a bit. Since I now have an Azumarill with Aqua Jet, Manannan has been retired. In his place is Bean Sidhe (which I know looks a lot like "bean seed" and that Azumarill is kinda like a lil bean, but its pronounced more like "banshee" since Irish is weird). Aromatisse has also entered retirement, being replaced by Brigid the Florges, who runs the exact same set. Macha, who has replaced Inugami, is here for her great attack stat and even better coverage moves. You'll also notice that Keseran finally doesn't have an item. Cain has abandoned his monotype challenge. How well will it serve him? VS CAIN A bunch of plot happens, and we have to face off against a Ditto that managed to copy Arceus in a holy place. Amazing. I slapped a Quick Claw on Kechibi and was fully prepared to soft reset until it allowed him to go first. To my surprise and elation, Dittoceus missed with Focus Blast the first turn on my first try, allowing Perish Song to get off, and ensuring its demise. No screenshot for this one; do you really need one for as cheesy a battle as that? Today's installment was rather short in terms of battles and actual strategies, but next time... well let's just say I'm excited to tell you about it. NEXT TIME: Calamity on the Chessboard! Can I twist the dimensions to my advantage? Or will Metagross Meteor Mash my chances? Stay turned!

True. Reborn is all about making fields work for you, or just straight up making a new field You're probably right. Cinccino would have outsped me though... the main reason I wasn't using Calm Mind was because I didn't want to use Misty Terrain turns to set up, and using her set up move never even occurred to me

Iirc, ekans can be found in the Opal Ward any time of day. The early and mid-game are going to be pretty difficult, but you should probably be able to do it. Ekans is pretty good in the early game due to paraflinching, and Treecko and Charmander are both great picks. Personally I'd go with Charmander, since grass has it pretty rough in the beginning and you don't have a lot of options early on, but both will serve you well. This is, of course, assuming you don't trade to get a fuller team at the start, which I don't think anyone would fault you for.

Ooh, I support! Poison should be fun, it has so many options early on. Good luck!

Noel. Noel. Noel. Noel. Noel. Oh boy. Noel was by far the hardest gym battle I've had. I conquered Corey easily enough, and while Aya took some more work, she wasn't too difficult once I changed my strategy around. But Noel... I must have battled him almost nonstop for an hour. And, for the most part, I was playing in sped-up mode with the battle animations off. I even stopped writing an account of each battle (since I kept on losing and having to delete what I wrote), and just wrote out my general strategy, which worked extremely well and was consistently able to KO his Pokemon... up until Cinccino that is. My team for Noel when it was getting consitently beaten: Cinccino is fast. That little bugger could outspeed everyone on my team, barring Jumpluff and Prankster moves from Whimsicott. And with Skill Link and good coverage, it could KO basically everyone in one or two hits. Time and time again I watched all of my Pokemon fall to what is generally considered a poor Pokemon, even in Mono-normal teams. I'm sure you've heard about the definition of insanity, and I was insane for a while, simply ramming my head against Cinccino like a brick wall, hoping that maybe this time it would miss, or I'd get a critical, or that Manannan, my main source of fighting moves, wouldn't get outsped and KOed by Bullet Seed. I was really at the end of my rope. But then I remembered.... Jumpluff learns Stun Spore! I hadn't kept it, but it was a move it had in the past! I rushed to the Move Relearner and replaced Acrobatics with Stun Spore. I went back to face Noel once again... I didn't expect to win at all, so I didn't take any screenshots of the battle until the end. I also only have a record of what my strategy was, and not what I actually did (until the end, anyway), so this write up is going to be a little weird. I would always lead with Mawile against Wigglytuff, who would tank a Dazzling Gleam or allow Stealth Rocks to be set up (If Wigglytuff used Reflect I would just reset. It wasn't worth it), to OHKO it with Iron Head. Noel would bring out Porygon-Z, I would bring out Jumpluff, Jumpluff would Sleep Seed and then U-turn out to Sylveon. Sylveon would use Trump Card until the duck fainted; how many it would take was variable, but I actually preferred the times when it used up his potions, but whatever. The final time, Tri-Attack paralyzed Sylveon before Porygon-Z was taken out, which will become important later. After Porygon falls he brings out Swellow, which I would counter with Whimsicott. Whimsicott could get off 5 or 6 substitutes thanks to the field, which allowed burn to chip away at Swellow. When Whimsicott could no longer substitute, I would seed the bird and get KOed, and bring out Mawile. Mawile used Sucker Punch and would tank whatever attack Swellow used. Sometimes burn and leech seed damage would KO Swellow here, other times, Noel would use a potion. In case of a Potion, I hit with Iron Head or Play Rough, then that again if he's going to heal again. If he was out of potions, Sucker Punch, or it got KOed by burn and leech seed. Regardless, Noel would send out Girafarig next, who I respond to with Gardevoir. Depending on Noel's potion situation, Gardevoir either 2 or 3 shot it. Then came Cincinno. Normally, this would end the battle, but this time I was prepared. I sent out Jumpluff, who outsped it and paralyzed it. Sure, Keseran was KOed by Rock Throw, but its sacrifice would not be in vain. I sent out Sylveon, intending to hit hard with Trump Card, but Sylveon's paralysis from Tri-Attack allowed Cinccino to outspeed Kasha and KO him. At this point, I thought it was all over, but I decided to at least play it out. I sent out Gardevoir, who outsped the demon thanks to its paralysis and OHKOed it with Moonblast! Cinccino was down! The plan worked after all! Now all I needed to do was take out Clefable. I kept Gardevoir in, who hit with two Psychics before I decided its health was low enough, and had it use Healing Wish, bringing Futakuchi back to full health. Futakuchi was able to tank Clefable's Hidden Power Ground thanks to the Type Berry, and KOed it with Iron Head. Oh. My. Arceus. That was... difficult. If anything, that battle uncovered a massive weakness in my team, which is their generally low speed. Cinccino was able to exploit that time and time and time again, and it was only after some speed control with Stun Spore that I was able to defeat it. Another "problem" with Noel is that his team isn't dependent on field hax for him to do well, so setting up Misty Terrain doesn't derail his strategy. Misty terrain actually hinders my strategy here, since you can't inflict Status under Mist. After defeating Noel, the mountain explodes. Great. Inside, we find Saphira, who says she "terminated" the Meteor base. I wonder how many people she terminated... Anyways, she gives us the Ruby Ring and Amethyst Pendant, which totally won't be important plot items. Nope. No way. Before I head to Route 1, I decide to do a lot of side stuff. It's totally a good time to do it, and not me procrastinating so I don't have to deal with the tediousness of the Route 1 puzzle. First I head to Apophyll Academy to learn everyone's Hidden Powers. None of them are useful at all. Gardevoir's is Steel, which could be useful, but I don't really have the moveslot for it. Kasha's is Dragon, which is as hilarious as it is useless (though I guess it can hit almost everything Neutrally, which is good, but still). I was really hoping someone would have Ground or Fire, but oh well. I also decide to put off breeding Granbull and Mankey, largely because I felt it more tedious than the route 1 puzzle I'm trying so hard to avoid. But I suppose progress is calling to us so... We face off against Fern. No screenshots of my team this time, oops. VS FERN After I win, Fern gets upset and goes to look for Noel. I leave the Shard there as a landmark so I know where to get back to Tanzan Mountain. Ah, Route 1. I'm not a huge fan. Its just so tedious. Sure, I can skip getting Heracross, Pinsir, and Joltik, but I still want those berries and that sweet, sweet sticker. So instead of worrying about the puzzle, I procrastinate even further and grab a Flabebe instead. Luckily for me, the first one I catch has IVs I can live with (low attack and meh speed, but good everything else so oh well). Flower in hand, I teleport to Obsidia to train it up. Florges will be replacing Aromatisse: it learns the same moves, but has better stats and is an excellent special wall. Florges is also why I didn't use my Shiny Stone on Roselia. And to procrastinate even more, I use trade through playthroughs to get a Snubbull that knows Close Combat, since that's an Egg Move it can come with, bypassing the need to spend time breeding. I also used shared box shenanigans to get myself a female Marill. It's high time I breeded on with Aqua Jet. It was nighttime, so I won't be able to catch a Bidoof just yet (the Buizel I got from the Gang quests is female, that's some terrible luck), but that's okay since I had to spend time grinding Florges and Snubbull up 34 levels each. At least Snubbull gets boosted experience... Granbull isn't too shabby as a physical attacker, and has good coverage moves, so it'll end up in the rotation. Aromatisse is getting retired and replaced with Florges, who outclasses it in just about every way. Theoretically, since I have access to berry soil and Sitrus berries, I could run Belly Drum Azumarill or Belly Drum Slurpuff, but I'm not really sure if either set is worth the effort. I like having lots of coverage and priority on Azumarill anyway. Eventually I take on Route 1, at least until morning comes, I run back to the Opal Ward to snag myself a Bidoof, but all of the ones I encounter in a 20 minute period were female. RNGesus really doesn't want me to have an Azumarill with Aqua Jet, apparently. A bit later, while exploring the ice cave off of Route 1, I encounter a male Floatzel, who I caught. I used it to breed Aqua Jet to Marill, finally, and spent the time running around to hatch the egg searching for items in Reborn City with my new Itemfinder. Then its the Herculean task of training Azumarill to level 55... oh boy. But that's all for now! NEXT TIME: Conflict on the Chess Board! Will Poison take its revenge? We might also take on El and/or Radomus. Stay Tuned!

When I first started the run (before I knew I wanted to put it on the forums), I thought I was going to name everyone after stuff from Irish or Celtic folklore, which is why I named the character Morrigan. If I knew I was going to write it up here at the time I'd probably have gone with shorter and more memeable names... The only Pokemon who actually ended up with an Irish-based name so far is Manannan (named after Manannan mac Lir, a sea god), though, and I went with Japanese folklore for most of the names instead. Some of them fit better than others. Mawile, is named after Futakuchi-Onna, a woman who has a second mouth on the back of her head and feeds it with prehensile hair. Gardevoir is named after Aonyobo, a named ghost of the imperial palace in a supernatural bestiary. Sylveon is Kasha, a cat-like spirit that carries away corpses of those who did evil in their lives. Aromatisse is Hannya, named after one of the most famous masks in Noh theater, which represents women who have become demons due to jealousy. Castform is Hitodama, a fireball-like ghost that represents a soul that's left the body. Jumpluff is Keseran, from a creature called Keseran Paseran, which resembles a floating ball of fluff. Whimsicott's name, Ittan-momen, is that of a possessed roll of cotton that flies around at night trying to smother people. Wigglytuff is called Kechibi, after a fireball ghost that has a human face. Roselia is Kodama, which is a traditional tree spirit. Cherrim was named Jinmenju, after a tree with human-faced fruits. Swirlix was called Keukegen, after a small dog-like creature covered in fur. Since I started out with a theme, I'm continuing to use it just so new names don't feel out of place, though later Pokemon I capture are being given Irish names to change things up a bit. My next run will probably have more standard nicknames

Aw thanks! This run has definitely made me appreciate Castform more He has a lot of versatility that's glossed over due to poor stats.

Manannan Futakuchi Aonyobo Kasha Hannya Hitodama Keseran Ittan-momen Kechibi Sorry for the delay everyone! Now its time to take on Serra! I'm rolling with the same team for her, only Manannan, Futakuchi, and Aonyobo are level 48 now. I'm leading with Kasha this time; the strategy going in was to set up Misty Terrain and eventually send out Hitodama to sweep with Weather Ball. VS SERRA After defeating Serra, the PokeMart teleports off the roof convenient and El takes Bennett away to be his apprentice. Now we can get the medicine and help Anna, but first we're going to level everyone up to level 48, and take Keseran up to 49 so he learns U-turn. So eventually we give the medicine to her, and she pours it on her doll. Children. They never appreciate what you do for them. And yet, it makes her better, so hey, there's that. Anna's real excited and wants us to take on Noel immediately. That would certainly be nice, but we can't have nice things. Also, Shelly is the best: Before the battle can start, Saphira interrupts, and we have to fight to save the kids again. Since we fought Sirius at Yureyu, we're taking Sigmund on here, which, in my opinion, is way easier. Sigmund's team is an absolute pain in Doubles, especially when your partner's AI is questionable at best and the field is catered towards electric types. Here, we don't have to put up with as much BS. VS SIGMUND I choose correctly and allow Saphira to get abducted, though watching her Hyper Beam Sigmund through a wall is pretty cool. Laura blames us for the hole though, which isn't as cool. For the rescue, I switch Hannya out for Futakuchi: Meteors love their Poison types, after all. After going through the weird teleporting tile puzzle and getting some plot, we get sent to the depths with Laura. After wandering around for a bit, we find and fight a Big 'Ole Steelix. I don't need Wigglytuff for this one; unlike Solaris, Steelix is susceptible to my stall cheese. I just have Keseran put it to sleep, seed it, and then switch to Ittan-momen to stall with Substitutes. Even with the Sitrus Berry, Ittan stalls it out without running out of HP or PP for Substitutes. I didn't get a screenshot of the victory, but honestly, with cheese like this, do I really even need one? VS PULSE ABRA After defeating Abra, Lin arrives. She has the double whammy of an improbable haircolor AND improbable hair color. Maybe its just the sprites or the angle on them, but it reminds me of a swan, or Seymour's hair from FFX. Lin takes out Saphira and we skedaddle out of the Meteor Base. Back at Tanzan Cove, some more plot happens. Namely, everyone realizes what Solaris implied earlier: The different gems in the pieces of jewelry are keys. We learn some more about Charlotte, and Anna says we should fight Noel for really realz now. But that's going to have to wait for next time... NEXT TIME: I'm not bothering with any alliteration, Noel was real hard and I'm still bitter about it.

Jumpluff doesn't learn acrobatics until level 34 but it'll still be great at its job. It also gets U-turn at level 49, which makes it a good status setter. Also, you might know this already, but hitting the Alt key speeds the game up, which makes grinding (and refights) a lot less tedious. Good luck on your run! i can't wait to see how you handle Corey and Aya

Thanks! And yeah, it wouldn't be a Reborn run without using Gardevoir Sorry for the delay everyone, I should have the next installment up later tonight or tomorrow!

Good work beating Florinia! Honestly much better than my attempts when I did an electric run; breloom would just outspeed everything with Mach punch... Good luck on the rest of your run, I hope you make it all the way through!

So... Aya. Oh man. Let's get right into it! I brought everyone down to level 43 with Common Candy just in case. HannyaLv.43Aroma VeilAmplifield Rock-Moonblast -Misty Terrain-Aromatherapy-Wish Raiju Lv.42 Volt Absorb Zap Plate -Discharge -Thunder Wave -Sweet Kiss -Super Fang ButohLv.43TechnicianNeverMeltIce-Psychic -Reflect-Icy Wind-Light Screen INTRODUCING: Futakuchi! Lv.43 Sheer Force Iron Plate -Crunch -Sucker Punch -Iron Head -Baton Pass Jumpluff (Who I still really needed to rename at this point oops) Lv.43 Leaf Guard Sky Plate -Acrobatics -Leech Seed -Sleep Powder -Poison Powder Manannan Lv.43 Huge Power Sea Incense -Play Rough -Aqua Tail -Rollout -Double Edge The strategy I had coming in was risky. Basically, Raiju was there to hit Tentacruel hard, while Hannya would set up Misty Terrain. Even if it was KOed, as long as it set up Misty Terrain, that would give me 8 turns where I didn't have to worry about Aya's terrain hax. Misty Terrain also nullifies the effects of Poison Spikes (since status doesn't work under it), which cripples her strategy even more. My first attempt ended in failure, though I was pretty close. A misplay (status doesn't work in a Misty field) and bad luck (Futakuchi missed with Crunch at a critical juncture) ran out the Misty field, and after it expired she easily swept everyone. And she just continued to sweep me, for about 7 or 8 tries after that. My strategy was flawed. Raiju just didn't have the power to take out Tentacruel quickly, costing me valuable time, and having to switch Manannan in to deal with Nidoqueen cost me time as well. I did some thinking and switched out Raiju for Ittan-momen. Ittan-momenLv.44PranksterMeadow Plate-Energy Ball-Encore-Substitute-Leech Seed This time, I led with Hannya and Manannan. Aya's team prioritizes setting Spikes, which I hoped would allow Manannan to freely OHKO Nidoqueen. I was right; Tentacruel and Nidqueen spent their first turn setting up Toxic Spikes and Spikes, so Manannan was able to OHKO Nidoqueen, and Hannya set up Misty Terrain. Aya sent in Gengar, so next turn I switched out Hannya for Butoh. Tentacruel used Muddy Water, hitting both, and Gengar hit Manannan with a Shadow Ball (which a Misty field weakens), and the Azumarill hit Tentacruel with Double-Edge. Gengar then outsped everything to hit Manannan with Sludge Bomb, leaving him with a magic pixel of health, but Butoh OHKOed the ghost with Psychic. Tentacruel set up a second layer of Toxic Spikes, and Manannan manages to KO Tentacruel with Double-Edge before fainting to recoil damage... Aya responds by sending out Dragalge and Drapion, so I use Hannya. Butoh outspeeds her Pokemon to hit Dragalge with Psychic, but it only takes about 1/3 of hits HP. Drapion hits Butoh with Poison Tail, bringing Mr. Mime to like 1 HP, and Dragalge finished it off with Sludge Wave, which also brought Hannya to low yellow HP and took away about 1/5 of Drapion's HP. Its a good thing Hannya survived, because she KOed Drapion with Moonblast. Aya sends out Venusaur, and I respond with Jumpluff. I switch out Hannya for Futakuchi, while Jumpluff hits Venusaur with Acrobatics for about half of its HP (it would have been more without an item, but I seriously didn't remember that Acrobatics is powered up without one... FML). Venusaur and Dragalge team up on Futakuchi, hitting her with Hidden Power and Hydro Pump, bringing her to critical HP. Futakuchi uses Sucker Punch on Dragalge, but it deals very little damage, and Jumpluff nearly KOs Venusaur with another Acrobatics. Venusaur KOs Futakuchi with Power Whip, causing Dragalge to hit Jumpluff with Hydro Pump, though it doesn't do much damage. I bring out Ittan-momen. Aya is cheeky and uses a potion on Venusaur; meanwhile, Ittan-momen seeds Dragalge, Jumpluff hits Venusaur with Acrobatics again, and Dragalge hits Jumpluff with Dragon Pulse. Next turn, Aya uses her last potion on Dragalge, Ittan-momen makes a substitute, Jumpluff KOs Venusaur with Acrobatics, and the terrain returns to normal, dealing pretty massive damage to Ittan-momen (though the substitute prevents him from getting poisoned if I remember correctly). This is it. Dragalge is her only Pokemon and its a 2 on 1. Jumpluff tries to put Dragalge to sleep, but misses, and the seahorse KOs Jumpluff with Sludge Wave. Luckily, Ittan-momen is behind the substitute. I bring out Hannya, but I know its useless, and Ittan-momen sets up another substitute. My only hope is to KO her with SubSeed. Dragalge is faster than Aromatisse, and KOs her with Sludge Wave. I continue using Substitutes until Ittan doesn't have enough health left. Dragalge is at critical HP. As long as I can survive this turn, and maybe the next turn, I can win. So I caved, and used a revive on Butoh. Don't hate me please. As it turned out, I didn't even need to use revive, since Dragalge hit Ittan with Shadow Ball, barely doing any damage. I don't know if she ran out of PP for the move, or if she was just too cocky, but the next turn Ittan encored her into using Shadow Ball, and took her out with Leech Seed damage. That was... stressful. Probably the hardest battle I've had so far. In retrospect, if Jumpluff hadn't missed with Sleep Powder, I definitely would have won without using revive just in case. And if Dragalge really had run out of Sludge Waves, then it still would have been a "clean" win. I still don't know how I feel about using a revive, but oh well... On a more positive note, Aromatisse is an absolute lifesaver. Without those 8 turns a Misty Field, I don't think I would have been able to beat Aya. The capability to shut down your opponent's field hax is amazing, especially in gym battles. Mawile was less useful than I expected, but hopefully she'll be able to help shut down future Fairies, like Noel's Clefable. Now that Aya has given us Strength, we can finally rescue the kids! And by we, I mean Cain and I, since its more double battles and more weird partner AI. In the power plant, I let Sigmund keep on keeping on, since I want Saphira kidnapped. I go up the stairs, and its time to get Sirius that was a bad pun and I should feel bad. My team: Manannan Lv.45 Huge Power Sea Incense -Play Rough -Aqua Tail -Rollout -Double Edge HannyaLv.45Aroma VeilAmplifield Rock-Moonblast -Misty Terrain-Aromatherapy-Wish ButohLv.45TechnicianNeverMeltIce-Psychic -Reflect-Icy Wind-Light Screen Keseran (I FINALLY REMEMBERED TO GIVE IT A NICKNAME WHOO) Lv.45 Leaf Guard Sky Plate -Acrobatics -Leech Seed -Sleep Powder -Poison Powder Ittan-momenLv.45PranksterMeadow Plate-Energy Ball-Encore-Substitute-Leech Seed Futakuchi Lv.43 Sheer Force Iron Plate -Crunch -Sucker Punch -Iron Head -Baton Pass Oh Sirius. Hitmontop hit Manannan with Fake Out, much to my annoyance, and Chandelure used Heat Wave, which scored a critical on Manannan, much to my greater annoyance, and Nidoking used Thrash on Hitmontop. Chandelure and Hitmontop teamed up to take out Nidoking with Sucker Punch and Psychic, Manannan brought Chandelure to critical HP with Aqua Tail, and Cain sent out Samurott. Sirius healed Chandelure, and Hitmontop hit Manannan with High Jump Kick, almost KOing him. Samurott used Night Slash (why?! Cmon Cain) on Chandelure for about half its HP, and Manannan KOed Hitmontop with Play Rough. He levels up, and I replace Double Edge with Superpower. I switch Manannan out for Hannya, but she gets ganged up on by Manetric and Chandelure and KOed. Luckily, Cain remembers Samurott has water STABs and KOs Chandelure with Razor Shell. I send out Ittan-momen, and Sirius sends out Seviper. Greeeeaaat. Cain switched Samurott out for Venomoth, and while Ittan-momen scored a critical with Energy Ball on Manetric, he got taken down by Ice Fang and Poison Fang. I brought out Butoh. Manetric burned Venomoth with Fire Fang, Butoh hits Seviper with a Psychic, nearly KOing it, but Seviper retaliated with Poison Fang for the KO. I send out Futakuchi, who KOed Manetric with Sucker Punch. Meanwhile, Venomoth used Giga Drain on Seviper. It was probably meant for Manetric but still... Luckily his AI was better next turn, as Venomoth hit Seviper with Psybeam, but was then KOed, but it was okay since Futakuchi scored a critical with Iron Head, KOing the snake. Siritus sent out Honchkrow and Probopass, and Cain brought out Samurott; Honchkrow's Foul Play brought Samurott to about half HP, while Samurott hit Probopass with Razor Shell. Probopass paralyzed Samurott, and Futakuchi took about half of Honchkrow's HP with Iron Head. Then Sirius KOed Samurott with Brave Bird, while Probopass hit Futakuchi with Magnet bomb, but the recoil from Brave Bird allowed Mawile to easily KO the crow with Iron Head. I switched Futakuchi out for Keseran, but Probopass is a total pain and managed to KO both Jumpluff and Azumarill. Luckily, Cain KOed Probopass with Mud Bomb. Phew. Sirius was more annoying then I remembered. That can mostly be attributed to my team's inability to hit electric types for super-effective damage. I suppose I could have brought Pachirisu along, but his Manetric has good coverage moves so I'm not sure how well that would have worked. Seviper was also extra annoying, especially because he was levels higher than my pokemon. With the orphans rescued again, its time to go to the railnet. This is one of those puzzles that I heard bad things about before I played Reborn, but I honestly never found it too difficult. I would seriously prefer the Railnet to Pyrous Mountain. It's really not that bad, IMO. The railnet has tons of goodies, including the Move Relearner's key, a guy we can rescue for a sticker, Flash, and most importantly, the corrupted Pokeball. Everyone and their mom uses Gardevoir in their playthroughs, and this run is no different. She outclasses Mr. Mime in basically every way. Besides, it was at this point in the game that I started to get an idea. A wonderful, beautiful, awful idea. It won't come online for a while, but once it does... Let's just say it'll be a little different. Also, eventually I'll be using a nonstandard set on Gardevoir, so don't hate me too much for using her, okay? After training training Ralts to be level equivalent and going to the Move Relearner for an early Moonblast and Healing Wish, it's time to hop back on the plot train. Heather runs away, and so does Cain (again), and the rest of the orphans go to Charlotte's house. Anna isn't feeling well, so we have to pick up medicine from Spinel town. But to do that, we first have to get through the forest of lost framerates Chrysolia woods puzzle. I also pick up an eevee, and soft reset until it comes with Wish as an Egg Move. At this point, I really wasn't sure whether I was going to use Sylveon. Pixilate makes it a beast, but we won't be able to teach it Hyper Voice for a while, and with no Shadow Ball or Psyshock TMs, Sylveon loses out on valuable coverage moves. The best replacement would probably be Trump Card, which can reach INSANE attack power, but I wasn't sure. I did a fair amount of running around, levelling up Eevee to be 46 so it learned Trump Card, and then sticking it in the daycare center with Ditto. Of course, I was a massive idiot and forget that you can't pass down moves from the father through Ditto, so it turned out to be completely useless. Luckily, all that wasted time allowed me to train every relevant pokemon to be a good level for Serra's gym. I also picked up an Audino and a Dedenne, but I don't really think I'll be using either. Without access to its mega-evolution, Audino is outclassed in every way as a Wish-Passer by Aromatisse and Florges. Not to mention it would require breeding to get one with the right moves... And while Dedenne has an interesting movepool, I don't think there's space for it. Also its stats are pretty trash. After learning my lesson about breeding and Ditto, I decide to just evolve my level 46 Eevee into Sylveon, and have the Move Relearner teach it relevant Fairy moves. I eventually decided on a set of Misty Terrain, Trump Card, Swift, and Wish. Now its time to take on Bennett and Serra. My team for Bennett (I decided to start using screenshots at this point, so check the spoiler for those ) And since we're using screenshots now, most of the battles will be in spoilers from now on as well. For Bennett, the plan going in was to OKHO Larvesta with Manannan, and then switch in Hitodama to set up Sunny Day and wreck house. Will it work in practice? VS BENNETT After witnessing Bennett get stomped, El decides that he's Elite Four material. Yeah. Right. El offers to be Bennett's master, and they leave to provide peace and security to their new empire... or something. So it turns out due to file size I won't be able to talk about Serra yet, so.. NEXT TIME: Aggression in the Reflections! Also, probably going to do Sigmund and Steelix as well, and maybe Abra. Stay tuned!

Ooh, this is gonna be fun. Ice is probably my favorite type aesthetically (except for Abomasnow lol). Good luck!

Ah, Solaris. If he didn't have 3 full restores, I could definitely beat him with the stall tactics I have now (mainly by baiting him into using Dragon Rush, switching in Whimsicott after the KO, and using Prankster Encore to facilitate setting up Sub Seed). But I only have 5 encores, which means 15 turns of wearing him down. I just don't think its feasible. In hindsight, its possible that putting Garchomp to sleep with the help of Focus Sash would cause him to use a Full Restore, and I could chain that with Sleep Powders until he was out. Unfortunately, I don't that save anymore, so I can't even test the theory out. After checking around on Bulbapedia for useful Egg Moves, I saw that Igglybuff can learn Perish Song! That thing everyone cheeses Solaris with. Unfortunately, it has to be chain bred through Politoad, who I definitely can't access. But wait, isn't Perish Song one of the Egg Moves Igglybuff can come with in this game? A quick check in one of the guides confirms it tentatively, and I check some of my other runs to see if I got one. And I did. I'm not sure whether trading between playthroughs is frowned upon or not, but I did it anyway; Igglybuff already receives an exp boost in the main game, and its not like I was going to use it in my other profile anyways... Yeah, you don't have to beat Solaris, but I'm trying to get the maximum amount of relationship points with everyone. I also didn't realize that I could have stalled him out in other ways, but the world will never know if that would actually work. . After spending quite a long time getting Jigglypuff trained up, its time to take on Solaris. Focus sash + Perish song and Prankster Substitute made it pretty easy. Thank Arceus for Jigglypuff. There's also a lot of plot in this section, including Kiki's death (why couldn't she have given me the badge), Cal's betrayal, and Taka being revealed as Solaris's son! After everything blows over, Victoria gives me the Strength TMX, but I can't use it since I don't have a badge. Great. To get it, I'm going to have to beat Aya, Cain's sister and another Poison specialist. Greeeeaaaat. Speaking of Poison Specialists, Cain decides that I have to beat him in order to get the key to the Byxbision wasteland. C'mon Cain, just think of the children, why are you wasting time? Cain got absolutely wrecked. Venomoth got outsped, put to sleep, and then Acrobatic's to death by Jumpluff (and also made Cain use both his ice creams). Mr. Mime took out Haunter, but not before taking a Shadow Ball. Samurott went down to Energy Ball, Muk was KOed by Mr. Mime, and Azumarill tanked a poison tail by Nidoking to OHKO it with Aqua Tail. Ah, the Byxbision wasteland. What a weird place. Somehow everyone's graves are here, in addition to being in the Beryl Cemetary. Extra weird. I do some exploring and decide to brave the Byxbision Grotto without Flash so that I can get Mawile. I consider forcing myself to get a female Mawile so I can chain-breed Seismic Toss onto Chansey, but ultimately decide against it. Without access to status TMs like Toxic and Thunder Wave, Chansey really just won't pull her weight enough, especially when I have access to Special Walls like Aromatisse and Florges. The Nurse Pokemon just doesn't seem worth it. After what seemed like days, I finally caught a Mawile with passable IVs, and she even had Sheer Force, so I didn't need to use any ability capsules After training her up to be level equivalent with everyone else, I decide its finally time to take down the Aqua Gang's leader. Since I put it off for so long, he goes down easy, and I get a Houndour, who immediately gets thrown in the box. I continue to train Mawile to level 45 so she learns Iron Head, and then use a Common Candy to take her down to level 44 before facing Fern. My team (Specifically designed to counter his): HitodamaLv.43ForecastHeat Rock-Weather Ball-Sunny Day-Hail-Rain Dance Manannan Lv.44 Huge Power Sea Incense -Play Rough -Aqua Tail -Rollout -Double Edge Kodama Lv.42 Poison Point Big Root -Giga Drain -Toxic -Leech Seed -Toxic Spikes Raiju Lv.42 Volt Absorb Zap Plate -Discharge -Thunder Wave -Sweet Kiss -Super Fang ButohLv.44TechnicianNeverMeltIce-Psychic -Reflect-Icy Wind-Light Screen Hannya Lv.44 Aroma Veil Amplifield Rock -Moonblast -Misty Terrain -Aromatherapy -Wish Honestly, Hitodama could probably solo his team other than Krokorok, but I wanted to spread the experience around. Castform set up Sunny Day and OHKOed Ferrothorn the next turn. Krokorok came in, so I switched in Kodama...but it had Fire Fang, so she was OHKOed. I sent out Manannan, who tanked a Fire Fang and OHKOed the crocodile with Play Rough. Next up was Roserade, so I sent in Butoh. Psychic brought it into the red, but didn't KO, so I set up Light Screen while he healed. Another Psychic, another heal, and I set up Reflect as well. Then I KOed with Psychic. For Scyther, I sent in Raiju. I paralyzed him and then used Discharge until it fainted. Next up was his Serpior, so I sent out Hitodama to set up Sunny Day again. Serprior managed to take out more pokemon then I'm proud of, but Manannan outsped it and KOed it with Play Rough. Now all that was left was Aya... But I think I'll save that for later! NEXT TIME: Watch out for the Waste! A Desperate Strategy May Lead to Victory! Then, Pugilism at the Power Plant! Sigmund or Sirius, who will it be? And then: Aggression in the Reflections!

My team (including those in rotation): Ittan-momen Butoh Manannan Hannya Hitodama Jumpluff Raiju Kodama After defeating Shade, he shows me a vision of the orphans being kidnapped, so I rush over to the underground as fast as I can. Victoria tells me I need to go to Apophyll Academy somehow, since her master has the TMX Strength. Why I just can't...call the police or something, I don't know. Pretty sure Sigmund's legal grounds for taking the orphans went away the second he collaborated with a terrorist group to get it done. In Coral Ward, I arrive just in time to watch as Cain uses Grimer to surf across the poluted water. Why can't I catch a grimer and get it to do that? Not fair. After losing hope leaving, I run into Amaria, who wants us to help her with a factory. Since I have nothing better to do, I decide to help her. Amaria is kind of a badass, so she makes an ice bridge by combining waterfall with icebeam. If that combo doesn't create a Field, I'll be disappointed. We end up getting separated and I fall into a hole. After a somewhat tedious puzzle, I emerge one rare candy and one ditto richer. I also explore the basement, finding a TM, a PULSE readout, and magnet powder. That'll come in handy later. I was in a rush when I faced ZEL at Blacksteam factory, and I don't remember much about how the battle went. I know Hitodama set up Sunny Day and then OHKOed Glaceon, and then dealt some good damage to Espeon (which forced ZEL to use her potions). He was definitely KOed by Future Sight, and I revenge killed with Ittan-momen. For Umbreon I brought out Manannan, who got confused and then hurt itself from confusion for like 4 turns in a row, before finally taking Umbreon out with 2 Play Roughs. For Muk, I initially brought out Raiju to paralyze it, which he did, and then he did crap damage with Electro Ball until fainting. Then I brought in Ittan-momen; paralysis allowed me to set up SubSeed, and Muk went down to the stall. Solaris is a sore loser, but Amaria rescues me. She also gives me her boat, allowing me to go to the Apophyll Academy. Apophyll is pretty easy overall. In fact, most of my Pokemon are getting closer and closer to the level cap; I might actually have to use Common Candies soon. After facing the trainers and getting another department store sticker, I go to listen to Kiki's lecture. I feel a little bad saying that I want to be a student since I have more pressing concerns, but oh well. After the lecture, I run into Victoria and talk to Kiki. It turns out that I must test my might in order to fight her, and I have to go through Cal, a former gym leader. I gotta be honest folks, I really hate the Pyrous Mountain puzzle. I don't even consider it that difficult, it's just annoying and time consuming, and its never really made sense to me. I actually prefer Shelly's puzzle to this one. So after following a video and making my way through, its finally time to take on Cal. Weather is bugged in Episode 16, but every time I go to Apophyll beach it starts raining, and it was still raining when I fought Cal. To be honest, it feels sort of cheap. I know I could change the weather to normal, but every time I go inside and come back out, it starts raining again. Who am I to argue with the will of Arceus? Everyone on my team is now level 40, and Mr. Mime replaced Confusion with Psychic. For Cal, I boxed Whimsicott and led with: Jumpluff Lv.37 Leaf Guard Sky Plate -Acrobatics -Leech Seed -Sleep Powder -Poison Powder Cal's Infernape went down to the Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, Acrobatics Combo, and used one of his ultra potions. I had pretty good RNG; Infernape didn't wake up the whole time. He sent in Typhlosion, who began charging Solar beam, I responded with Manannan and he was OHKOed by Manannan's Aqua Tail. He sent in Magmortar, so I responded with Jumpluff. Jumpluff outsped him to get off SleepSeed. After using Acrobatics, Jumpluff got burned and Magmortar woke up, so I used Poison Powder. Then Jumpluff fainted. I sent in Raiju, who took down Magmortar with Super Fangs and Electro Balls, even after Cal used his last potion. He sent in Delphox, so I brought out Hitodama. He transformed in the rain, and 2HKOed the fox with Weather Ball. Castform proceeded to take out Charizard, and Aromatisse 2HKOed Blaziken. I return victorious, and Kiki agrees to battle me. Victoria is not happy, since Kiki is sick and apparently this is like Yugioh where your health can seriously be drained from the fighting of other things. Weird. She stands in my way, so I have to beat her again. I'm still a tad overleveled, so Victoria goes down easy. Its not even a noteworthy battle, so I didn't write down what happened. My team for Kiki: Hannya lv.41 Manannan lv.41 Raiju lv.40 Butoh lv.41 Ittan-momen lv.40 Hitodama lv.41 Their moves haven't changed. Kiki went down pretty easy. Manannan tanked through Machamp (who Kiki used a potion on) and Gallade pretty easily, Butoh OHKOed Toxicroak and 2HKOed Hitomonlee, Raiju paralyzed and Super Fanged Lucario to red health before being KOed, and Kiki used her last potion. Hitodama used Sunny Day, creating a Rainbow Field and bringing Lucario to low HP with Weatherball. However, he was KOed by Aura Sphere. I brought out Ittan-momen, who revenge killed Lucario with Energy Ball. She brought out Medicham, and Ittan-momen was able to SubSeed for 2 turns before I switched into Aromatisse, who got the final KO with Moonblast. Kiki collapses so we don't get a badge. I'm getting flashbacks to Corey... Victoria then points out that Cain is missing and that I should go find him, so I head to Azurine Island. After exploring for a bit, I run into Aster and Eclipse again! My team Ittan-momen OHKOed Solrock with Energy Ball, and Lunatone used Rock Slide, making Kodama flinch. They sent out Rhydon and switched Lunatone out for Milotic, and Milotic gets hit with Energy Ball for large damage. Kodama OHKOs Rhydon with Giga Drain, and they send out Magmar. I switch out Kodama for Manannan, and Ittan-momen KOs Milotic with another Energy Ball. Magmar hits the Whimsicott with Fire Punch, and they send out Lunatone. Ittan OHKOs Lunatone, only to be KOed by Fire Punch. Manannan OHKOs Magmar with Aqua Tail but is burned in the process. They bring out Electabuzz, and I send in Jumpluff. I switched Manannan out for Kodama, and hoped to outspeed Electabuzz with Jumpluff; the electric pokemon outspeeds me and hits Kodama with Thunder Punch, and Jumpluff puts it to sleep. Electabuzz gets seeded and continues sleeping, and Kodama and Jumpluff spend the remaining turns whittling it down with Giga Drains and Acrobatics. Next up is another battle with Taka to rescue Cain, so I switch out Jumpluff (I seriously have to rename him at some point) and Kodama for Raiju and Hitodama to better deal with his Pokemon. Taka goes down pretty easily, but unfortunately I didn't write down anything about the battle, other than Hitodama setting up Sunny Day and OHKOing Klefki with Weather Ball. Sorry about that. After freeing Cain, its time to head back to Apophyll and face... Solaris. And his Garchomp. But that'll have to wait for tomorrow! NEXT TIME: Impossible Battle! Will we be able to dent Garchomp, or will Meteor's leader OHKO my entire team?

I'm interested in seeing a Fighting or a Rock run.

I've considered using Slurpuff, but I have Pokemon that do his job better. I also don't really need Rest since I'm using Wish-passers. I was very lucky in my battle with Corey. His AI waited so long to use Incinerate on Roselia, and Azumarill using Rollout was a massive gamble. If Crobat had attacked instead of setting up, I would have lost. Surprisingly, my most difficult fight so far (I just recently defeated Radomus) was Noel. He gave me more trouble than Aya, it was crazy. But I'll get to that story eventually

I think, and I could be completely wrong about this, that you need to start the Zorua event on a windy night. It will show up in one of the alleys pretending to be Murkrow (since Murkrow only shows up on windy nights), and then after that it doesn't matter what the weather is, as long as it's nighttime. I had a hard time finding it for a while but that seemed to work for me. I'm not sure how being in EP 16 effects that though, I've always caught it earlier than that.

Shelly told me that I needed to tell Ame about Corey's death. How Gossip Gardevoir (or any other news team, to be honest), hadn't reported on it by now, I have no idea. Before progressing the plot, I decided to get some exploration out of the way, now that I had Rock Smash. With mining rocks available, I had the ability to add Chansey or Whimsicott to my team. And with Link Stones around (both in the field and for purchase), Aromatisse and Slurpuff were options too! With that figured out, I went to tell Ame. Well, I would have, but Fern beat me there, and wants to get wrecked again. Par for the course, really. My team was the same except everyone was level 33 now, and I switched out Swirlix and Granbull for Kodama Lv.33 Poison Point Big Root -Giga Drain -Growth -Leech Seed -Toxic Spikes and Jumpluff lv. 34 Leaf Guard Rose Incense (Yes, I didn't read the fine print on Acrobatics and had an item on Jumpluff for... way longer than I should have. Oops) -Acrobatics -Leech Seed -Sleep Powder -Poison Powder My strategy was to lead with Castform, set up Sunny Day, switch to Jumpluff to deal with Ludicolo, and then back to Hitodama or Butoh to take out Roserade. In practice, I used Jumpluff to deal with Roserade and switched to Hitodama to take out Servine. With that done, I decided to do a ton of sidequesting, sticker gathering, and breeding out of the way. With every Pokemon that I wanted to use trained to the right level, I went and talked to Cain. My team at this point, with some talk about how I was using them, since I was finally able to use some strategies other than "hit the opponents with super-effective attacks and STABs." Ittan-momen Lv.35 Prankster Meadow Plate -Energy Ball -Encore -Substitute -Leech Seed An excellent stall Pokemon, Whimsicott is also my source of Grass type coverage. Rest assured, with Encore, Substitute, and Leech Seed, he is VERY annoying. Encore is slightly less useful against the AI then it would be against human opponents, but that's because AI in Reborn rarely set up. It still has its uses though. Whimsicott's blistering speed also makes him a good revenge killer. Butoh Lv.35 Technician NeverMeltIce -Confusion -Reflect -Icy Wind -Light Screen Mostly a placeholder until I get Ralts, Mr. Mime is still my only source of Psychic STABs, and Icy Wind is a good coverage move. The dual screens are there for emergencies, but his mediocre speed makes them difficult to set up reliably. Manannan Lv.35 Huge Power Sea Incense -Play Rough -Aqua Tail -Rollout -Aqua Ring As always, the main physical attacker with great mixed bulk. Hannya Lv.35 Aroma Veil Big Root -Moonblast -Draining Kiss -Aromatherapy -Wish Aromatisse is usually used as a cleric; however, Protect isn't a TM in this game, making her options more limited. I decided that I would run Draining Kiss over Calm Mind for three reasons: 1. Draining Kiss allows recovery independent of wish against anything Moonblast can't KO 2. I already have Fairy STAB attackers, and once I get Ralts Aromatisse has no use as a setup sweeper and 3. Wish passing means any bonuses from Calm Mind would be extremely transitory. I'll probably replace Moonblast with Misty Terrain when she learns it, turning her into an even more useful support Pokemon. Hitodama Lv.35 Forecast Heat Rock -Weather Ball -Sunny Day -Hail -Rain Dance Castform is still good utility, with a sun-boosted weatherball OHKOing most things that are weak to fire. His crappy stats are just starting to show, though. Raiju Lv.32 Volt Absorb Zap Plate -Electro Ball -Nuzzle -Sweet Kiss -Swift This plucky little squirrel generally paralyzes and attacks, which is fairly good utility. He's become less useful over time, and like Hitodama, will probably be switched out soon. In Box As a side note, I was really digging my team at the moment. It was more of a balanced or defensive team, which are archetypes I don't usually play (I generally prefer hyper-offense with the maximum amount of type coverage). Its a fun change of pace. Cain wasn't that hard: I led with Ittan-momen, who OHKOed Dewott with Energy Ball. He brought out Nidoking as a response, so I seeded it before being OHKOed by Poison Tail. I sent out Manannan, who tanked a Thrash (why Cain didn't just use Poison Tail again, the world will never know), and OHKOed Nidoking with Aqua Tail. He sent out Grimer, so I switched Butoh in, who OHKOed the blob with Confusion. He sent in Venomoth, I sent out Raiju, hit him with Thunder Wave, and then spammed Electro Ball until it fainted. After the battle, Heather appears, and Cain runs after her, conveniently not giving me what he promised to give me. Why does everyone keep cheating me out of stuff?! After a bunch of yelling, Heather gets kidnapped and Cain and Shelly decide to rescue her. I follow along because I have nothing better to do saving people is the right thing to do. On the bright side, I get teamed up with Shelly! After a bunch of double battles and running up and down 5 flights of stairs like 20 times (my character must be in amazing shape), Heather and the rest of the interesting children are liberated and we escape to the railnet. Unfortunately for us, the door is locked and I need to beat Shade to open it. On the one hand, I think Anna is throwing me a bone by giving me another badge, but on the other hand, why couldn't she just ask him to turn the power on? My team for Shade was the same, except everyone was level 37, except Raiju who was level 38. He also replaced Swift with Super Fang. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty tired when I faced Shade and didn't write down a detailed record of how it went. Basically, I led with Raiju, who paralyzed and KOed Gengar and Banette both. He brought out Doublade, so I responded with Hitodama, who set up Sunny Day and KOed it with Weather Balls. I kept Hitodama in for Rotom, but he ended up fainting, and I brought in Ittan-momen for the revenge kill. I almost KOed Trevenant with Jumpluff (and, in hindsight, if he wasn't using an item he probably would have), so I brought in Ittan-momen for the revenge kill again. Manannan survived a Hidden Power Electric to OHKO Chandelure with Aqua Tail. Really basic, really brutal, and not that difficult. Next Time: Battle on the Beach! Fighting versus Fairies!