Orasha

Don't worry about it! I think I've spoiled myself for bigger things anyways, so it's okay! Well hopefully my Fairies will be able to get there I have high hopes. I've got something particularly devious planned for the future.

I haven't made it that far yet but I'm looking forward to it. And I completely agree; the nail in the coffin for me was the battle before Shelly. Shelly specifically tells us she's up for the battle, but her word isn't good enough for Victoria. It just felt very condescending to me.

Thanks! And yeah, the first time I played through, I didn't mind, but every successive run she gets more and more annoying to me.

Hey everyone, just so you know, I'll be using screenshots when we get to the the Bennett and Serra battles and after that. I'm not sure how many I'll use or what, but they'll be on the table starting then. Anyways, before going to the Opal bridge, I decided to finish some sidequest stuff, like cleaning the library for a Gothitelle (gimme those sweet, sweet relationship variables), and getting a Growlithe from the police officers; I'd be getting my mystery egg soon! I was mildly apprehensive. On a normal playthrough your Mystery Egg is probably a good Pokemon to add to your team (even if you've never used it before), but the chances of getting something I could use for the run were...slim. I basically had a 4/18 chance (Azurill, Cottonee, Togepi, and Shroomish would all be available, though Azurill would be slightly less useful). So I made it to the bridge, and it seemed as though someone had bombed it from underneath. Now who do you think could have done that? After some slight exploration in Northern Obsidia and Lapis, I walked enough steps to get a Growlith egg, and immediately trade it. I was never that good at telling what eggs are based on their art, but I thought mine was a Cottonee At the time, it was night, which prevented me from trading a Sunkern for a Mime Jr. just yet. And in terms of gangs, I decided to go with Magma, for a whole host of reasons: 1. They're badass enough to battle Aqua to a standstill even with a type disadvantage 2. I never owned Sapphire but played Ruby a lot and 3. I was using 2 or 3 Grass types in rotation, so it made the most sense (I know that Azurill could have soloed the Magma gang if I wanted, but that might have overlevelled it and I didn't want that). After I had ran around for a bit (sped up with Flame Body Slugma from the game corner in party, and the Alt key), my mystery egg hatched! Dun dun dunnnnnn.... It was a Cottonee after all (and a female one at that)! That was probably the best luck I've ever had in this game. Of course, due to my plans for Whimsicott at the time, I wouldn't be using her for a while. But Whimsicott became extremely important to this run. I'm not sure how I would have made it through without the little fluffball. Since I was playing late at night and wouldn't be able to catch a Sunflora for a while, I decided to advance the plot until morning (my sleep schedule is terrible, but we can talk about that later). I picked up a Spritzee from the flower shop, and she came with Wish as an Egg Move. That certainly makes it easier on me; the less breeding I have to do, the better. I also helped my new gang pals rob an old lady for a Pokemon I'm not even going to use. And after a cop no-sells her, he gives me a bike voucher. I feel a little bit bad about that. But those sort of mistakes happen when you're a silent protagonist. After talking to Victoria and meeting Shelly for the first time, as well as seeing whatever Shade is doing... what Shade does I guess, I learned from Aster and Eclipse that Team Meteor was behind the bombing! Quelle surprise Victoria rushed off to stop them and I followed to save her butt. After exploring the cave a bit and picking up Rock Smash, I listened to Solaris drop some plot-critical information, and then rescued Victoria from Aster and Eclipse. It was a double battle, but at least Victoria helped. I regret to inform you that I don't have a lot to say about this fight (or that I even documented my team for it), because it was incredibly dull and not difficult in the slightest. Seriously, Pignite sweeped like 3 of their Pokemon with Rollout, it was hilarious. Probably the best my teammate's AI has ever been. Victoria left to go comfort Shelly, but I decided to get a lot of breeding out of the way. First thing was catching a Plusle or Minun that knew Encore. Then I caught a female Sunflora (it was finally morning), and bred it to get a Sunkern. While I was waiting for that egg to hatch, I bred my Plusle and Cottonee. While all that running around was going on, I decided to raise Hoppip. I thought its Acrobatics, which Jumpluff learns at level 34, would come in handy for Shelly. I also had plans to chain-breed Protect onto Spritzee (it was some extremely long and convoluted plan, I think I was going to try and breed it through Pineco>Paras>Hoppip>Spritzee). Unfortunately, I hadn't done enough research to know that TM breeding through the father was only available prior to episode 14, so I wasted a lot of time catching a Pineco. I also learned the hard way when I tried to breed Thunder Wave onto Chansey. So Spritzee/Aromatisse were going to be running a different cleric set, which actually turned out to be super useful anyway. After a ton of running around, I returned to Victoria and Shelly, who had me case out an orphanage. Unfortunately for all the children there, its also a mental hospital and run by a walking stereotype questionable psychologist. After trouncing an orderly and getting advice from possibly the weirdest of the children, Anna, I headed back to Shelly's gym. Anna's advice really seemed to help Shelly out, so its time to battle her for my third gym badge! Or it would be, but Victoria gets in my way. It was pretty uneventful, fairies having an advantage to fighting and whatnot, and I didn't want to write out my team at that point anyway (old me was lazy). Her Hariyama did KO a couple of my Pokemon thanks to Belly Drum, but she eventually goes down and lets me take on the gym leader. Victoria reminds me of a helicopter parent; even though Shelly agreed to battle me, Victoria wants to protect her from herself. With Victoria out of the way, I get through Shelly's puzzle after a few tries (with no guide either, I must be playing this game too much...). I know I say this constantly, but I wasn't looking forward to the battle with Shelly. I wasn't even sure whether I should be worried, but I battled her for probably 3 hours on my mono-dark run before I was able to beat her. It was... not fun. Hopefully nothing like that will happen in this playthrough (he says, forshadowingly). My team for Shelly (the Bug Busters)! Manannan lv.32 Huge Power Sea Incense -Play Rough -Aqua Tail -Rollout -Aqua Ring Raiju Lv.32 Volt Absorb -Electro Ball -Nuzzle -Sweet Kiss -Swift Hitodama lv.32 Forecast -Weather Ball -Sunny Day -Hail -Rain Dance Keukegen lv.32 Unburden -Draining Kiss -Aromatherapy -Endeavor -Round Inugami Lv.32 Rattled (I probably should have shuffled to Intimidate but I think I was low on Ability Capsules at the time) -Headbutt -Bite -Roar -Heal Bell Butoh Lv.32 Technician Twisted Spoon -Confusion -Reflect -Icy Wind -Light Screen Before going in, I suspected Manannan was going to be the star player. He could ride the Rain Dance with Aqua Tail, hit the bugs with Rollout, and as a physical attacker wasn't affected by the constant SpAtk lowering qualities of Struggle Bug spam. I led with Manannan and Raiju. First turn her Prankster Illumise did Rain Dance (as it always does), Raiju Nuzzled Masquerain, who hit Manannan with an Energy Ball, which he tanked to OHKO Illumise with Aqua Tail. Shelly brought out Wormadam-T. I used a Lemonade on Manannan, Raiju KOs Masquerain with an Electro Ball, Wormadam uses Mega Drain on Manannan, and Shelly brings out Heather the Yanmega. I switched Manannan out for Hitodama, who turned into its Rain form, only to be OHKOed by Yanmega's Giga Drain (sigh). Raiju Nuzzles Yanmega, and Wormadam uses Giga Drain on Raiju, and I send in Keukegen. Next turn Raiju Electro Balled Yanmega to low yellow HP, but Keukegen outspeeds everything and misplays with Endeavor, failing. Wormadam hit Swirlix with Mirror-Shot, and Yanmega used Struggle Bug. Shelly used one of her potions on Yanmega, Raiju used Electro ball on Yanmega again but it didn't do that much damage (thanks Struggle Bug!). On the plus side, Keukegen Endeavored Wormadam down to low hp, but was then KOed by Wormadam's Mirror Shot. I brought out Butoh, while Shelly used a potion on Wormadam. Butoh used Icy Wind, and Raiju was brought down to red HP by Yanmega's Ancient Power. Next turn Butoh used Icy Wind again, KOing Yanmega, and Raiju got a critical with Electro Ball, bringing Wormadam down to red HP, but in return, Wormadam KOs Raiju with Psybeam. I bring out Manannan. Shelly brings out Anorith, who gets a critical on Knock Off on Butoh, bringing him down to extremely low HP. Luckily, Butoh is able to KO Wormadam with Confusion, and Manannan's Aqua Tail, boosted by the rain, OHKOs Anorith. Shelly sent out Volbeat as the rain stopped. I used Butoh's turn to heal Manannan (possibly seen as cheap, but the AI gets to use healing items so I don't care), which was a good choice since Volbeat's Struggle Bug KOs Butoh. Manannan uses Rollout on Volbeat, and I send out Inugami. Volbeat uses Dazzling Gleam (a weird move to use on two Fairy types but you're the gym leader, Shelly), Rollout takes Volbeat into the yellow, and Inugami's Headbutt almost KOs, but Volbeat survives with a magic pixel and regains with leftoevers. Next turn, Manannan tanks a Dazzling Gleam to KO it with Rollout. All in all, Shelly was still pretty difficult (I had to reset like 4 times), but CERTAINLY more doable than during my Dark run (as to be expected). In hindsight, I should have saved Hitodama for after I KOed all of her Pokemon with Grass moves, but oh well. Misplays don't really matter if I win in the end, right? Next Time: Showdown in the Shadows! Will I be able to exorcise Shade's team? Or will a loss haunt me for the rest of my days?

Jumpluff. Hoppip looks kinda useless, and doesn't really come online until it learns Acrobatics (its main STAB) at level 34. It also learns U-turn at 49, which is amazing. It is hands down one of the best stall setters I've used (though, to be fair, I usually don't play stall teams). Sleep Powder + Leech Seed + U-turn allow it to basically handle any problem, and it has amazing synergy with another pokemon I learned to love: Whimsicott. I never really played the official games past gen 3, so Reborn had a ton of new ones for me to experiment with. Prankster Whimsicott is amazing. Encore is less useful in Reborn since the AI rarely sets up, but SubSeed is still a great combo. It's also fast, meaning its Energy Ball will usually outspeed your opponent anyway, making it a great revenge killer. And because Jumpluff is so good at setting up Leech Seed, the two are amazing together. Castform. The little weather ball is one of my favorites aesthetically, but he has terrible stats. But Castform is a hidden gem in Reborn, able to turn things to your advantage by setting up favorable weather, or completely nullifying your opponent's field by making a Rainbow Field (caused by using Sunny Day while its raining, or vice versa). Weather Ball also gets a boost in a Rainbow Field.

Before heading into Jasper, I payed a visit to the girl who had been snubbed by her Snubbull (ba dum tiss). Granbull is a pretty good physical attacker, though its generally overshadowed by Azumarill. He does have some interesting moves though, like the ability to learn Close Combat through breeding, the elemental fangs, and Outrage. Jasper Ward was completely overran. Given that they were in shambles, I decided to help the police. That's probably the only time I'll ever say that. Team Meteor was there as well, but weren't really a match for me. Fast leveling rates + boosted experience meant I could basically steamroller everything they had. I was not looking forward to the next PULSE fight. Taka's Chatot is a massive pain, and I had a hard enough time with the last Tangrowth, and it didn't have other Pokemon to support it. Of course, this time I actually had a fire type, but still, I was nervous, okay? My team (very little had changed, so its spoilered) My plan was to get rid of Lileep with Manannan (using Play Rough), then bring out Raiju to deal with Chatot, and then take out Tangrowth with Hitodama or with Keukegen's Endeavors. I decided that if I had to soft reset too many times, I would switch Kodama out for my Cherrim, since Cherrim could set up Sunny Day for Castform. I had been all worked up for nothing, because Taka went down as planned on the second try. I probably could have beaten him on the first try, but I had absolutely atrocious RNG, both Azumarill and Pachirisu hurt themselves in confusion like 3 times in a row, it was ridiculous. After defeating Taka, I ran into a rather impetuous girl with pink hair and a Salamence. Yeah, its just soooo terrible that I managed to defeat the bad guys first, cry me a river. I finished up my business in Jasper, rescuing a girl for a department store sticking and saving some policemen. Then it was time to head into the Beryl Ward. If it was anything like Jasper, I thought, it would be easier than I originally anticipated. After entering the Rhodocrine Jungle, I was contractually obligated to fall for a pretty obvious trap (though, in fairness, I actually did fall for it on my first playthrough). It looked like I was going to be stuck in the cage and need rescuing myself, but Fern came along... Goody. It was time for the infamous "begging" section. And you know what? I actually did it. I actually begged Fern. I mean, having a positive relationship value with Fern probably won't matter in later episodes, but you never know... After losing my dignity (and, I suspect, the respect of those reading), Fern lets me out. I gotta be honest, I didn't expect him to keep his word. Freed, I continued to explore the forest. There was a wrecked library with a helpful healer inside, as well as a Growlithe and a dead police officer. I continued my exploration, finding items, more police officers, and some switches to flip. After defeating some more grunts, it was time to take on Taka and ZEL yet again. I wasn't exactly looking forward to this one either. I forgot to write down their moves at this point, but I was rolling with Manannan Hitodama Inugami Jinmenju Raiju Kodama I started out with Jinmenju and Hitodama. Jinmenju used Sunny Day, followed by Hitodama's Weather Ball (boosted both by Jinmenju's ability Flower Gift and the sunlight) to OHKO Glaceon. The rest of the battle was fairly difficult, with Castform putting in serious work. However, I had to restart once, due to horrible RNG with confusion. Sorry I don't have a more detailed summary of that fight, I didn't end up write it down apparently :/ After the battle, one of the Meteors is caught and apprehended by the police I saved! And... it's someone who I've never met. But he's apparently the pink-haired girl's father, and none to pleased. Well then. Next up: Corey. I know I've been saying it a lot this installment, but I really wasn't looking forward to this battle. Even with the increased amount of Pokemon that I had to choose from, most of them were weak to poison, and the ones that weren't didn't have a proper way to deal with Poison types. I had a couple of options to change the field around, and my strategy was going to revolve around that. My team for Corey (Spoilered since I forgot to write down their movesets again :/ That won't happen later, I promise): I led with Raiju, who took Skrelp out easy enough. Corey sent out Croagunk, so I responded with Manannan. Play Rough missed, and Manannan was brought to low yellow HP by Venoshock. Play Rough scored a critical the next round, though, OHKOing Croagunk. Corey brought out Grimer, and I responded with Hitodama and set up Sunny Day and then Rain Dance to change the field to a Rainbow one. Then I hit Grimer with a rainbow-charged Weather Ball, OHKOing it. Corey sent in Skuntank, so I switched to Keukegen. My plan was to get off an aromatherapy and then hit him with a field-boosted Round. He got off Aromatherapy, but two Acid Sprays took him down. I sent in Inugami, but he got 2HKOed by Acid Spray as well. Rain Dance ended, and so did the Rainbow Field, but at least the field was just Corrosive now and not Corrosive mist. I sent out Roselia to stall out Skuntank, which could have been real bad, but instead of using Incinerate he used Pursuit and Acid sprays... Leech Seed + Mega Drain managed to get him down to red HP. Corey used a potion, but Roselia brough Skuntank down to red HP, and he used Incinerate, KOing Roselia. I sent in Raiju, who finished the skunk off with Electro Ball. Corey sent out Nidorina, who KOed Raiju, so I sent in Manannan. Manannan was damaged heavily by the Corrosive Field, so I used a potion. Then I used Rollout, 3HKOing her. Next up was Corey's Crobat...unless he managed to OHKO me, or if Manannan missed, I was going to do excellent damage with Rollout. Instead of attacking, the idiot used Nasty Plot, and to top it off, Rollout got a critical! Crobat was OHKOed! That battle was a wild ride, KOing 4 of my Pokemon and teaching me several new things (for instance, that Rainbow Field only lasts as long as Rain Dance, and that it returns the field to a Corrosive State, not a Corrosive Mist state). Despite some poor plays on my part, like sacrificing Inugami needlessly to Skuntank, I think it went pretty well. So far, even though he's generally considered a poor Pokemon, Castform is really pulling his weight in this playthrough. He has great utility, being able to respond to numerous different types and being able to set up the Rainbow Field, as well as good synergy with Grass Types. Corey told me to meet him on the Beryl Bridge, where he set his Pokemon free, monologued for a bit, and... well, you know what happens. Afterwards, Fern sets him up as a terrible person (I would argue he's worse than Bennett. Like... even though Bennett is terrible, I can at least feel bad for him and sympathize, to a point. With Fern, there are no redeeming qualities). After we both hear an explosion, Fern runs off. Since Corey didn't give me a badge or a TM or... anything, really, it looks like I have nowhere else to go... Next Time: Rumble in the Jungle (field)! Entomology versus Mythology!

Don't forget that you can also pick up a Plusle/Minun each night with some PokeSnax in the same alleyway that you find Electrike! I'm not sure how much they'll help, but at least it'll fill out your team for now. I tried an Electric run a little while back (I didn't document any of it for the forums, though) but I forget how I dealt with Tangrowth :/ I don't wanna back seat game too hard but one of Blitzle's abilities is Sap Sipper and its super useful. Plusle and Minun also learn Encore and Electro Ball, both of which are pretty handy as well (especially when combined with Sap Sipper Blitzle). Good luck I'm looking forward to seeing how you deal with the early game challenges, especially Florinia...

After having defeated Julia, Victoria told me about some weird situation in Obsidia: plants were attacking everyone! Before I headed there, I healed everyone and battled some more on the Opal Bridge. After Florinia convinced the officers to let me, I did some exploring. I picked up a Friend Ball at Critical Capture for later, got the Soothe Bell and some nice massages for my Pokemon, and solved a puzzle in the candy shop for a Swirlix. I finally had a full team of six! A massive crack in Obsidia forced me to go through the slums, but before I could enter, Victoria blocked my way. There isn't much to say about this fight. Ralts went down to Swirlix, Pachirisu took out Makuhita, and Azumarill KOed her Pignite. After taking down Victoria, I set the weather to windy and picked up a Hoppip. I wasn't going to use it anytime soon, since it first learns a Flying move at level 34, and I had much better grass types. The slums were pretty underwhelming (especially after Victoria had made such a big fuss), but my Pokemon were also a tad overlevelled, so... Some box shenanigans happen and I ended up fighting a gang of Scraggys and Scraftys, but man oh man do Fairy types trivialize that encounter. After exiting the slums, I went the only way I could go: into Coral Ward. Coral Ward was a pretty depressing place, though not uneventful. After I answered some questions, a blind girl gave me the data on the Misty Field. That would turn out to be extremely useful, since Igglybuff knows Misty Terrain. In fact, it would turn out to be quite an important part of my strategy. I also rescued a Skitty, partially because its in the Fairy Egg Group, and partially because its so darn cute. It's a shame its stats are so garbage. After defeating a sad fisherman, Cain rescued an Oshawott and decides to battle me, because this is a Pokemon game so of course he does. Much like Victoria, he went down easy insert innuendo here thanks to Roselia and Pachirisu. I didn't write down anything about the battle since it was a complete cakewalk. And with everything exhausted in Coral Ward, I headed back into Obsidia, since the path was clear. There's another Salon, and they wanted me to spy on the other one. It sounded like a good deal to me at the time; Igglybuff didn't have that high of a friendship score, so maybe another spa trip would give him the happiness needed to evolve. After I headed north, I picked up Cut from Florinia, and I completed my espionage. Before I proceeded to take on the first PULSE Tangrowth, I evolved my Igglybuff. Took long enough. At the time, I thought he would be super useful in the upcoming battle. My team before Tangrowth consisted of: Kechibi lv.20 Competitive -Disarming Voice -Sweet Kiss -Pound -Misty Terrain Manannan lv.21 Huge Power -Tackle -Aqua Tail -Rollout -Water Sport Keukegen lv.21 Unburden -Fairy Wind -Cotton Spore -Endeavor -Round Raiju Lv.21 Volt Absorb -Spark -Nuzzle -Quick Attack -Swift Jinmenju Lv.21 Chlorophyll -Morning Sun -Magical Leaf -Growth -Leech Seed Kodama lv.21 Natural Cure -Mega Drain -Growth -Leech Seed -Magical Leaf My plan going in was to use Kechibi as a suicide lead, setting up Misty Terrain and possibly getting off a Sweet Kiss before getting KOed by PULSE Tangrowth's Poison STAB. Then I would bring in Kodama to use field-boosted Magical Leafs (leaves?), which would hopefully do good enough damage even with Tangrowth's stats and typing. My team had a pretty big weakness to Poison (as to be expected), as well as no effective way to counter Grass. Grass also nullified my main stalling tactic. After a few attempts, it was clear my plan wasn't sound. Tangrowth refused to stay confused for more than one turn, and even a field-boosted Magical Leaf did almost no damage. So I decided to change things up a bit: Raiju would lead with Nuzzle, Paralyzing the PULSE monstrosity, and would use Swift until he was KOed. Then I would bring in Kechibi to confuse it (though after a few attempts, Tangrowth would still only stay confused for one turn. I'm not sure if I just had really bad RNG, or if that was part of its ability, or what), then I would bring in Keukegen to Endeavor it down to low HP, and finish it off with Kodoma, or, more riskily, Manannan. Even with the new strategy, the battle was difficult and I had to reset a few times. Roselia just didn't have an effective way to deal damage, and Tangrowth could simply Mega Drain for a net gain in health. Manannan's massive attack stat was only useful if it could KO Tangrowth on the first hit, and I lost one match to a magic pixel. Finally, the plan worked (though Kechibi's part was basically useless). Pachirisu paralyzed Tangrowth and chipped away with Swift, Swirlix managed to Endeavor it down to critical HP, and paralysis allowed it to get off one Round before being KOed. Tangrowth was at extremely low HP, so I gambled and sent in Azumarill. This time, the Tackle managed to KO it. With Team Meteor dealt with and Obsidia returned to normal (well, closer to normal than it was before), I decided to do some sidequests. First I rescued a Happiny, who I thought would be useful later on (more on that later), and trade a Furret for a Castform. Castform has crappy stats and, despite having a cool ability and looking cute weird front-butt aside, generally sees no use. But he was my only source of Fire STABs, and that was extremely useful in the short-term. Castform also had good synergy with Cherrim. In order to get to Florinia, I had to battle through the whole trainer's school. Thanks a lot, Fern. I picked up a coin case, which will come in handy later, and answered the questions correctly, allowing me to proceed. Its at this point that I first realized something interesting: 4 out of my 6 party members gain boosted experience. On the upside, that makes grinding a lot less painful. On the downside, I might have to actually use Common Candies. It's time to take on Fern again. Pachirisu led and took down Lombre with Nuzzle and Spark spam, which caused Fern to use his potions. I left Raiju in to Nuzzle Servine, and he's able to get one Quick Attack off before being KOed by Leaf Storm. Next, I brought out Kechibi, set up Misty Terrain, and confused Servine with Sweet Kiss. The Jigglypuff manages to get Servine into the red with small damage from Disarming Voice and Servine hitting itself in confusion. However, one Leaf Storm hit Kechibi pretty hard, so I had it set up Misty Terrain again, and it was KOed by another Leaf Storm. I sent out Roselia to finish the job with field-boosted Magical Leaves, and Servine falls. Finally he brought out his Roselia, who I responded to with Castform. Castform got seeded setting up Sunny Day, but he managed to bring Roselia to extremely low HP with Embers before being KOed. Roselia is still out, so I bring out Kodama for a mirror match and KO him with Magical Leaf. My team before Florinia Hitodama lv.22 Forecast -Ember -Sunny Day -Hail -Rain Dance Kodama lv.23 Natural Cure Rose Incense -Mega Drain -Growth -Leech Seed -Magical Leaf Manannan lv.23 Huge Power Sea Incense -Tackle -Aqua Tail -Rollout -Water Sport Kechibi lv.20 Competitive -Disarming Voice -Sweet Kiss -Pound -Misty Terrain Raiju Lv.21 Volt Absorb -Spark -Nuzzle -Quick Attack -Swift Keukegen lv.21 Unburden -Fairy Wind -Cotton Spore -Endeavor -Round Florinia was interesting. I started out with Kodama, who got Sunny Day up before Maractus used Pin Missile, trivializing the damage. Ember made short work of the little cactus, but not before Flo used one of her super potions. She brought in Breloom, and I responded with Kechibi. Kechibi got Misty Terrain up (though Mach Punch brought her down to around half HP), so I brought in Keukegen. Misty Terrain increases the Sp. Def. of Fairy types, trivializing Mega Drain, and Mach Punch isn't very effective against Fairy types. After a field-boosted Fairy Wind brought Breloom to low HP, Flo used another Super potion. However, after two more Fairy Winds, Breloom was knocked out. Ferroseed was up next, so I responded with Castform. Due to Ferroseed's massive weakness to fire, I decided to forgo setting up and just attack with ember. Ferroseed was brought to around half HP, but seeded Hitodama. Unfortunately for Flo, Hitodama's next ember was a critical, KOing the little iron bugger. Cacnea came out next, so I set up Sunny Day. Pin Missile striking 5 times and leech seed forced me to use a Super Potion, but one ember brought Cacnea into the red. I thought it was finished, but then Hitodama missed... and was KO'ed by pin missile and leech seed. I sent out Kechibi to set up Misty Terrain and stall, and while she did get the terrain up, she was KO'ed by Sand Tomb and its damage over time. I brought out Roselia, who finished Cacnea off with Magical Leaf. Cottonee was a massive pain, who managed to KO Roselia and seed Manannan, but it finally fell. Last but certainly not least was her Cradily...I had not been looking forward to this. I switched to Keukegen, who Endeavored Cradily down to 8 HP before being taken out. I sent out Manannan, since Cradily didn't know any grass moves, and tried to KO it with Rollout. In retrospect, I should have used Aqua Tail, since Cradily survived with 1 hp and used Recover. Unfortunately for Cradily, two more turns of Rollout KO'ed it. Honestly, Florinia was a little easier then I expected. Even with a few misplays and some bad luck, I was still able to achieve victory. Florinia handed me the badge, a TM I'll probably never use, the PULSE dex app, and informed me that other wards were under attack by massive plants. My forays into Jasper and Beryl Ward will have to wait for tomorrow...

A big part of the difficulty was that I chose Empoleon as a starter and was using Mamoswine as my principle Ground type. Being Neutral to fire just can't cut it in her field, especially in the first few turns, and even Thick Fat Mamoswine goes down pretty fast. The closest I got was when her Typhlosion decided to use Hyper Beam for basically no reason, which allowed me to KO either him or Darmanitan. If I ever revisit that save I'll try Rain Dance, but at this point I'm going to wait and see how far some of my Mono challenges go. Well, like I said, I beat Ruby with a mono Normal run (I think I used Slaking, Dodrio, Castform, Girafarig, Zangoose, and Kecleon; it speaks to that games lack of difficulty that I was able to beat it with that lol) and I enjoy a lot of Normal pokemon, though I haven't started a Normal run of Reborn yet. Currently I'm doing an Electric run, which has been completely blocked by Florinia, for now; a Dark run that I'm procrastinating on, that has to grind a bit before they'll be able to beat Noel (that Clefable...ugh); and a mono Fairy + Fairy Egg Group run that you can find here.

No problem! And it's definitely a compliment; your run in particular has made me want to try out Bug teams. Speaking of Terra, I can't imagine how annoying her field effect is going to be for my mons... Thank you and everyone else for the luck! I certainly needed it today against Aya, but that's a story for later!

Monotype runs are one of my favorite things on the forums (they're the reason I decided to finally make an account), so it's no wonder that I'm here. I'm currently doing a few other monotype runs: procrastinating on grinding my Dark team to be able to beat Noel, and an Electric run that so far is being walled completely by Florinia. However, I didn't really document those at all, so I figured I'd start another run. I kind of wanted to do Psychic or Bug, but both of those are currently being done, and done well, so I decided to go with a type I hadn't seen on the forums at the time: Fairy. Since I waited before joining and haven't checked the boards a lot, Wolfox has also started a Fairy run. That's okay though, because that's where the "twist" comes in. As you may have guessed from the tags, I've allowed myself to use any Fairy type, and any Pokemon from the Fairy Egg Group. So this really isn't a Monotype challenge, and might even be heresy. I chose this twist for one simple reason: it gives me more Pokemon to choose from in the early game where fairy types are scarce. It also has the side effect of differentiating my run from Wolfox's. Non-fairy types in the fairy egg group are as follows: I'll also be trying to get maximum reputation points with everyone, which means defeating Solaris and Dittoceus. Since weather is b0rken at the moment, I'm using Waynolt's excellent select weather mod, which also comes with a choose your own starter mod. After looking through the Monotype Availability Guide, and the Fairy and Fairy Egg Group lists, I was torn between three pokemon: Shroomish, Marill, and Togetic. After much deliberation, I chose Marill; I can get a Togepi much later in the game, and while Breloom is the only Fighting type I have access to, I have other Grass Pokemon I can use, whereas Marill is the only Water type I could potentially have. After picking an avatar I like (the black girl with the punk hair) and choosing a meaningful name (Morrigan, after the Phantom Queen of crows and fate from Irish mythology, since the Tuatha De Danannan are in many ways just really powerful fairies), I set out to Reborn City. After soft resetting a bunch to get a Marill with Huge Power and a Pachirisu on the bridge, I blitzed through Victoria and Cain's starters. Exploring the Peridot ward gave me more pokemon: Cherubi, from the rooftop garden; Budew, who was attracted to my Rose Incense, and Igglybuff, who I rescued from an attempted pokenapping. At this point, I was a little leery about leveling up Budew or Igglybuff, since I wanted them to evolve at specific levels. So until I picked up the Soothe Bell at the Salon, both were just riding around, hopefully gaining friendship points from steps. Outside one of the factories, I ran into an insufferable character, Fern. He went down easy to Pachirisu's Charms and Bides, and Cherubi's Growth-boosted Tackles. After being forced to team up with him later, we faced two important Meteor grunts: Aster and Eclipse. They were more difficult. Marill got a bubble beam off on Magby before being taken into the red by Elekid's shock wave. I switched in Pachirisu, who absorbed Elekid's attack, and luckily Magby was concentrating on eliminating Fern's pokemon. Magby went down to Sparks (and a Vine Whip from Snivy), and Fern and I ganged up on Elekid until it fainted. After narrowly escaping getting blown up by Julia, it was time to face the mistress of explosions herself. Team Before Julia: Raiju Lv.17 Volt Absorb -Spark -Bide -Quick Attack -Charm Jinmenju Lv.17 Chlorophyll -Morning Sun -Tackle -Growth -Leech Seed Manannan Lv.17 Huge Power -Tackle -Bubble Beam -Rollout -Water Sport Kechibi lv.8 Competitive -Charm -Sweet Kiss -Pound -Misty Terrain Kodama lv.7 Natural Cure -Absorb -Growth -Water Sport Julia was pretty difficult, as she usually is. It certainly didn't help that I was only using 3 party members. Helioptile went down to 2 field-boosted Sparks from Raiju, and she sent out her first Voltorb. I switch into Manannan, who used Rollout. I figured if she stuck to Sonicbooms I'd be able to out-damage her, and possibly take out her next Pokemon (or die to aftermath). After one Sonicboom, she decided to use up both her potions, and voltorb went down. She sent out Emolga, who managed to get off a Nuzzle on my Marill, but is 1HKO'd by Rollout. Marill was in the red and paralyzed, and Julia was going to send out her second Voltorb, so I countered with Jinmenju. I was fully prepared to lame it out with Leech Seed + Morning Sun, but she opted to use Rollout instead. I boosted with growth and then tackled Voltorb into submission. Luckily, Aftermath didn't KO Cherubi. Blitzle was next, so I sent in Raiju once more. After healing Cherubi and Marill with super potions (while she barely does any damage with Quick Attacks), I went on the offensive and KOed Blitzle out with field-boosted sparks. Finally, it came. Electrode. Possibly her most annoying Pokemon. I decided to stall her with Cherubi's leech seed + morning sun combo. She missed a couple attacks, I actually got up to full health, which allowed Cherubi to boost with growth. When I ran out of morning Sun's, Electrode was in the red and Cherubi was at 34 hp. I decided to switch to Marill, since I didn't want Cherubi to get KO'd by Aftermath. Marill tanked 2 sonicbooms and the aftermath, but survived with only 5 hp left! Being overlevelled and stall tactics certainly made up for my lack of party members. Well, that was the first gym! I'm actually at Aya currently, so I'll be writing up progress every day until I get caught up, and then updates will probably be less frequent. What do you think so far? Is this challenge too h e r e t i c a l for you? Would you like there to be some amount of roleplaying/kayfabe in the write ups, or would you prefer I just stick to discussing teambuilding and writing about the important battles? If you have any other feedback or suggestions, let me know!

Hello everyone! I've lurked as a guest for a while now, mostly looking at the various guides and enjoying reading about different monotype challenges. Monotype runs are actually the reason I decided to finally join; I have a few playthroughs going on and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. My history with Pokemon is...well, pretty scrubby. Out of all the official games, I've played Ruby the most; I've probably done upwards of 20 runthroughs of it, including a Normal Monotype run. I also was swept up in the Pokemon Go craze until it made my phone bill skyrocket. Around that same time, a Pokemon fan game whose name I can't remember made the news, and it was through talking about that with some friends that I first heard of this glorious game. Pokemon from 6 generations (and probably gen VII eventually)? A key that speeds up the game, making grinding, breeding, and hatching eggs take far less time? A dark story line that explores some of the Pokemon Universe's darker implications? I really couldn't have asked for more. My first playthrough was fairly successful, moreso then I expected, but the Route 1 puzzle broke me. I didn't know about the guy who exchanged candies for Honey, or that you could just buy honey from the flower shop, so I seriously thought I had to run around with Honey Gather, and I rage quit. About year later I decided to reinstall the game (and episode 16 had come out!), and I finally managed to take my team past Route 1... only to be walled by Charlotte (Empoleon is great, but not for Charlotte). So yes, I'm doing challenge runs despite not beating the game before. How will that work out? Will I make it further? Will Charlotte continue to wreck me? You'll just have to tune in to find out. Outside of Pokemon, I'm a theater kid who specializes in stage combat, a breakdancer, and also a writer. Oh, and I also really enjoy Japanese history (pre-Meiji era), as well as paleontology and Egyptology.