MonoGen challenge

[CURIE]

I'm back after 3.5 years!  The new stuff starts on page 6 if you wanna skip to that.  You'll recognize the newer posts, as my, uh... 'style' has changed rather significantly.  Also I now double space my sentences, no idea why I didn't back then.

 

So basically this works like a monotype challenge, but instead of only having Pokemon of one type, it's all Pokemon of a specific generation.  Now first of all, this is mainly designed for fan-made games, such as Reborn (after all, Ruby and Sapphire are gen 3 games and therefore too full of gen 3 Pokemon to make things a "challenge").  As a matter of fact, the only Official Pokemon games that are varied enough to allow this challenge would be the modern 3ds ones. So anyway, here are the detailed rules:

1: After you choose your game you pick a generation, randomly or otherwise.

2: All Pokemon, both in your PC and your Party, are of that one Generation. Even HM slaves. Exceptions are:
A. Pokemon needed in order to get a Pokemon of your Generation (using Reborn as an example, Stunfisk is allowed in a 1st Gen run so you can trade to get Vulpix)
B. Pokemon who absolutely can't avoid obtaining (Like the Ponyta in the Magma/Aqua gang quest).  These Pokemon are to be released as soon as you're done with them.
C. Pokemon who evolve into, but not out of your generation (For example, in a Gen 1 run, Magby is allowed so that it can evolve into Magmar, but NOT into Magmortar)
D. If the starters of your game aren't of your generation, you can use one of them until a Pokemon of your generation is available, at which point you release your starter.
E. Megas count as the generation the original Pokemon is from (Mega Houndoom counts as 2nd Gen)
F. A shiny clause (an additional rule allowing you to catch Pokemon not of your generation if they are shiny) is optional.  However, you must keep the shinies in the box and never use them.

3. If you happen to accidentally get a Pokemon not of your generation and it isn't one of the above exceptions, you have a penalty: Soft reset right then and there, no matter how much progress you lose from it.

4. Expert Mode (optional): Complete the Pokedex of your generation, or at least as much of it as you can in the game you are playing.

5. A challenge is officially beaten when all the following conditions are met:
A. You've cleared the Elite 4
B. You've cleared the second wave of the Elite 4, if there is one
C. You've caught or beat all the Legendaries of the game (you HAVE to K.O. Legendaries not from your generation, and if you're doing Expert Mode you HAVE to catch the ones that are)
D. You've beaten any post-game superbosses (like Red in HG/SS or Steven in Emerald).  Facilities like the Battle Maison don't have to be cleared, although feel free to try if you think you can do it.
E. If you're playing on Expert Mode, see Rule 4.

6. Reborn specific rules
A. If you want, you can make an exception and buy the Pokemon in 7th street, in order to get the Lucky Egg and Mega-Z Ring.  However, you can't use the ones not of your generation for anything else.
B. You're allowed to pick up and breed the Growlithe you get from the Jasper Ward Police Station, in order to trade for the mysterious egg.  As usual, you must release the parent Growlithe when you're done with it, and if the egg hatches into something not of your generation, then too bad.  It goes too.

So if you think this kind of challenge is interesting enough, feel free to try it with a game and generation of your choice.

I've already recently started mine- I rolled a 6-sided die and got a 6, so I'm doing Gen 6 on Expert Mode (of Reborn).  On the one hand, it makes Expert Mode easier since it's the smallest generation.  On the other, the game itself is harder due to limited choices.

The 6th Gen Mono team (Pokedex: 66/72)

 

Main Team

 

Strider (Greninja) Male
Ability: Protean
Item: Life Orb or Waterium Z or Darkium Z
-Surf or Scald
-Dark Pulse
-Grass Knot
-Extrasensory

Abigail (Delphox) Female
Ability: Magician
Nothing or Firium Z
-Heat Wave
-Psychic
-Will-O-Wisp
-Sunny Day

Randall (Klefki) Male
Ability: Prankster
Item: Light Clay
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Thunder Wave
-Dazzling Gleam

Dashie (Sylveon) Female
Ability: Pixilate
Item: Pixie Plate/Metronome/Amplifield Rock depending on how I'm feeling that day
-Hyper Voice
-Echoed Voice
-Trump Card
-Misty Terrain

DiggersbyTho (no seriously, guess what it is) Female
Ability: Huge Power
Item: Normalium or Poisonium Z
-Earthquake
-Return
-Gunk Shot
-Brick Break

Apollo (Heliolisk) Male
Ability: Dry Skin
Item: Zap Plate
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-Rain Dance
-Thunder

Backups

 

Strawberry (Slurpuff) Male
Ability: Sweet Veil
Item: Rocky Helmet
-Draining Kiss
-Play Rough
-Cotton Guard
-Fake Tears

 

Fangorn (Trevenant) Male

Ability: Harvest

Item: Sitrus Berry

-Phantom Force

-Horn Leech

-Wood Hammer

-Trick Room

 

[Sword Pun] (Aegislash) Male
Ability: Stance Change
Rockium Z
-Iron Head
-Head Smash
-Shadow Sneak
-King's Shield

Not Yet Trained

 

Carbink (unnamed)

Ability: Clear Body

No hold item

-N/A

-N/A

-N/A

-N/A

Slaves

 

Disgrace (Bibarel) Female
Ability: N/A
No hold item
-Every TM move except Flash and Fly
-Only here because not a single gen 6 Pokemon learns Rock Climb
-How embarrassing
-Seriously how does Gogoat not learn Rock Climb

Sweetie (Swirlix) Female
Ability: N/A
No hold item
-Sweet Scent
-N/A
-N/A
-N/A

Hardhead (Litleo) Male
Ability: N/A
No hold item
-Headbutt
-N/A
-N/A
-N/A

 

Surfboard (Clawitzer) Male

Ability: N/A

No hold item

-Surf

-Dive

-Waterfall

-N/A

 

Slavebat Jr. (Shiny Noivern) Male
Ability: Telepathy
No hold item
-Fly
-N/A
-N/A
-N/A

Stuff I probably will never use but had to pick up and evolve because it's Expert Mode:

 

Aromatisse (Female)
Pangoro (Male)
Barbaracle (Female)
Malamar (Female)
Dragalage (Male)
Dedenne (Male)
Furfrou (Female)
Gogoat (Male)
Florges (Female, Red)
Florges (Female, Blue)
Florges (Female, Green)
Florges (Female, Purple)
Florges (Female, Black)

Aurorus (Female)

Tyrantrum (Male)
Shiny Chesnaught (Male)

Avalugg (Female)

Hawlucha (Male)

Goodra (Male)

RIP

 

Don't get the wrong idea, this isn't a nuzlocke. These are just Pokemon I actually used at some point but don't anymore.




Trade fodder the Bidoof (Male, level 3-15)
His hidden ability served him surprisingly well, until his time came to be traded. May his epic battle in which he kicked Fern's grass be always remembered.




Slavebat the Noibat (Male, level 4-4)
His job was to cut down trees. It was a hard and thankless job, but he did it just as well as any Pokemon could. His only flaw was that he could not smash rocks, and it was why he was replaced. He forged the path to the defeat of the PULSE Tangrowths, and stands among the great heroes of the Reborn region.




Unnamed Vivillon (Female, level 19-21)
Origionally caught as a Scatterbug, everyone thought she would just go straight to the box. But in the battle against Corey, her noble sacrifice to rid the field of the poisonous mist ensured my victory, and it will never be forgotten. She even took down Corey's Skrelp with her.

Jack the Gourgeist (Male, level 29-70)

He was an invaluable member of the main team, and his Shadow Sneak tipped the scales in my favor on many occasions. But it was not to be, as Fangorn outshines him, and there really isn't a point to training two Grass/Ghost types.

Sassy the Meowstic (Female, level 4-75)

Like Jack, she was a member of the main team. But as I went farther into the game, she became less and less useful, and was eventually replaced by Abigail. But her efforts in the early game will not be forgotten, as a matter of fact she was at one point my strongest.

 

Pumpkin the other Meowstic (Male, level 24-80)

His usefulness lasted longer than Sassy's thanks to the crazy good ability that is Prankster, but since a second, better Prankster Pokemon exists in Gen 6 his days were numbered from the start.

 

Braveheart the Pyroar (Female, level 15-80)

Exactly the same story as Sassy.  Right down to also being a cat.

 

[VSharma]

Hmm interesting challenge, I believe ill tackle this with a gen 3 mono team

[CURIE]

Forgot to add a rule: This one should make things a bit more interesting: If at some point you accidentally obtain a Pokemon that ISN'T of your Generation, and isn't required to get by the story, your penalty is that you have to soft-reset right then and there, no matter how much progress you lose from it.

Anyway, I chose Froakie and named him Strider, after Strider Hiyru (a ninja) I farmed him for Protean, because I'm gonna need all the OP I can get. Not even a minute out of the Grand Hall and I've run into my first exception: Bidoof. When he evolves into Bibarel at level 15, I can trade him for Litleo. Sooooooo obviously I named him to reflect this. And finally, I can't help but notice that Gothita at the beginning of the game was replaced with Espurr. Good for me, farmed it until it was female and named is Sassy, after my cat. Just barley started the game and already 3 team members, maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Eagleby18

[ShatteredSkys]

hmm I still have my mono bug to finish but maybe one day

[CURIE]

Update 2: New "team member" (lol no)-first battle with Fern

I think I might actually miss this Bidoof. I was lucky enough to get one with moody (I didn't farm for it, honest), and he's actually doing the best of the team so far! Though that's not saying much, since I only have two other Pokemon: one whose best move right now is Bubble and the other who knows only Scratch but is a special attacker. Yeah, Sassy is pretty much the weak link in the chain right now, although I expect that to turn around when she finally learns Confusion. Meanwhile, Trade Fodder here gets a sharp boost in a random stat every turn, and it's almost always something that helps him out (Almost. Frikken special attack). And his only move is Tackle! Imagine a Pokemon with Moody and a full-fledged moveset...

Anyway, went into the Underground Railnet for a bit to get a Noibat. Now, I've heard stories of how badly these things suck until they evolve, which is an entire FORTY FOUR levels away! I know I can get my hands on much higher-level Noibat later on in the game, so I think I'll worry about training one then. Until I get there, this Noibat is gonna be known as "Slavebat". Bet you can guess why.

I followed through with the Magikarp and Igglybuff/Cleffa events, but only for the experience gained from the battles. What I do is just refuse to pick up the Pokemon at the end.

And now for the battle with Fern. In hindsight, I probably should have taught Sassy Confusion before then, to be safe. Turns out I didn't need to anyway. Strider spammed Lick on the Lotad, because the Lotad itself spammed nature power, because it became Tri Attack, which was ineffective on Strider, because he was spamming Lick! Circular logic for the win! Anyway, when Snivy came out, I switched for Trade Fodder, who got boosts in just the right stats and was not only able to Tackle-spam Snivy to death, but also Budew! How does it feel to lose that badly to a BIDOOF, Fern?

Anyway, Ima go teach Confusion to Sassy now...

Edited September 21, 2014 by Eagleby18

[CURIE]

Update 3: Mosswater Factory-Bidoof meets his destiny

Note to anyone starting a new Reborn game, there’s a hidden Ability Capsule right next to the entrance to the Mosswater Factory, and if you don’t pick it up before you do the team meteor stuff there, it’ll get blocked off forever.

So I went through the Factory segment with Fern and all. Bidoof was no longer quite as useful, due to the high number of Arons and Roggenrolas, but Sassy had already learned Confusion and started kicking butt, just like I predicted. Also, Strider learned Water Pulse. It’s kinda weird that the first field effect the player experiences is the Factory Field, in a situation where neither him nor his opponents can even use it to their advantage or disadvantage.

Right before the boss battle with Aester and Eclipse, Trade Fodder reached level 15 and evolved into Bibarel. I backtracked to the trading house (and got a rare candy by going in the door Florina and Julia came out of), and traded away Bibarel for Litleo! Litleo was Female, came with the name Braveheart (I know I can change it but I wanna keep it), and had a really good nature, but didn’t have Moxie like I wanted. So in order to keep the good nature, I used the aforementioned Ability Capsule. Also, it came with Headbutt, a base 70 STAB move that gets Moxie boosted! Not bad at all. Problem is, since it’s a traded ‘mon, it gets boosted experience. Normally I’d say that’s even better, but, you know… the level cap.

Of course, I used the new team member for the Aester and Eclipse battle. I went for Elekid first, since his electric attacks are boosted by the field. Took him down with two headbutts (Fern was too busy screwing around with growth to do anything), got the Moxie boost, and OHKOed Magby with the same move. It’s looking like Braveheart here will prove to be a worthy trade for that Bibarel.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Eagleby18

[CURIE]

Update 4: Julia-Candy Shop-Victoria Battle

Remember how I said I might miss that Bidoof? Well I don’t. Because BRAVEHEART IS AWESOME!

My plan for Julia was to lead off with Strider (he evolved into Frogadier during the gym trainer fights), thinking she’d lead off with a Voltorb, and use Lick to turn Ghost type while it either Sonicboomed or Selfdestructed. Instead, she led with Helioptile; so then I reset to lead off with Braveheart. He took down the Helioptile in two headbutts, and got the Moxie boost when Julia sent out a Voltorb. According to my original plan, NOW was the time to use Strider. But instead I was like “eh, I got a Moxie boost going on right now, let’s see how much damage Braveheart can do before she goes down.” You know what happened? COMPLETE HEADBUTT SWEEP. I got my first badge with only a single Pokemon.

In the aftermath (Get it? Because Voltorb’s ability is… ah forget it.), Braveheart went all the way from level 16 to level 20, complimenting her boosted exp. Meanwile, Strider and Sassy are still at 17 each. Yeah, I won’t be using Braveheart again for a while.

So a couple of uneventful Opal Bridge battles later, I went to the Obsidia Ward. My first stop is the same as every time I go to the Mall in real life: The Candy Shop! Jokes aside, the place is important for 2 reasons. For one, I can buy common candies there, so now I don’t have to watch my leveling quite like I did before. If someone goes over level now, I just pop a candy or two and we’re good. Secondly, I got a new teammate there.

As some sort of promotion, the Candy Shop lets you do a puzzle for free, and if you complete it you get a free Swirlix. I kinda cheated and looked up the complete image in the game’s files (it’s the one that’s a picture of Swirlix), and got the newest team member: Strawberry! He came at a much lower level than the rest of the team, so I headed off to the Obsidia Slums to train. But of course, I had to fight Victoria first. Despite being underleveled, Strawberry actually held his own against one of her Pokemon, taking it down all by himself. It helped that his only attacking move, Fairy Wind, was supper effective, and he seems to take hits really well. That being said, his “super effective” attack did absolutely tiny amounts of damage. I’m gonna have to grind to get him to be viable…

Edited September 22, 2014 by Eagleby18

[CURIE]

Update 5: Obsidia Slums-Coral Ward-Cut

I grinded Strawberry until he was the same level as the others (minus the overleveled Braveheart) and went through the slums. Thing about Strawberry is that while he takes hits really well, he kinda sucks at dishing them out. His only attacking moves are Fairy Wind and Round, so I think that if I could just get a stronger fairy move, he’d be an awesome fighter. As it is now, the battles are a little bit on the slower side and I need to use Fake Tears often.

Oh, and Sassy learned Psybeam, so now she kicks even more butt.

Strawberry really got his chance to shine in the Scraggy Gang battle. The Scraggys are all x4 weak to fairy, so they all got swept while Strider used lick to absorb their fighting attacks. From the battle he learned Endeavor, which might compliment his bulkiness. When his health does go down, he takes the opponent with him.

The mist in the Coral ward strengthened Strawberry’s Fairy Wind, but it really was pointless because almost all the Pokemon there were Poison Types. There’s the fisherman who uses a Magikarp and then all Grimers, all the wild Pokemon are Grimers, and then there’s the Cain battle. At least Sassy had plenty of fodder to test the new move with. All that experience got her to learn Fake Out.

So then I got cut and, of course, taught it to Slavebat. I went and did the fake daycare couple battle and explored the alleyway you need cut to get to, but that was uneventful (although I did come pretty close to getting the penalty, and barley escaped at the expense of a Pokesnax).

Edited September 22, 2014 by Eagleby18

[Gaunt]

This is very interesting i might try it someday even though a "mono" challenge (with a "bad" type) is more difficult.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Gaunt

[CURIE]

Update 6: Obsidia Park-That Stupid Tangrowth

Going through Obsidia park in itself was pretty uneventful, except that Braveheart learned Take Down at level 20.

But that stupid Tangrowth. First of all, Sassy was the only Pokemon I had that could stand up to it. Strawberry and Strider had type disadvantage, and Braveheart might have been able to fight as well, if it didn’t just HAPPEN to be raining! I thought I could steal its Pulse item with Covet, but nope, it has the same protection as mega stones. The only thing I could do against it was set up a Light Screen, spam Psybeam (which was also weakened because of Tangrowth’s Filter ability), and hope it kept using Acid Spray. At a couple of points, I had to switch out to Strawberry as a sacrifice to heal Sassy back up. When I FINALLY beat the darn thing, I taught Sassy Charge beam to replace Covet, as it no longer had any use.

Saved the Daycare Couple and restocked on items in the Department store, not much to say there that doesn’t happen in a regular run of Reborn. Went in the Onyx Ward and took out a couple of trainers, but still not much to say there. I think I’ll take the rest of the Ward later, that Boss battle was more than enough for today.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Eagleby18

[Vinny]

I'll try this challenge on Pokemon Red!

Oh wait...

[CURIE]

Update 7: Onyx Ward-Onyx School

I fell victim to my own penalty. I talked to the girl in the Onyx Ward’s apartment building (the one with the rooftop garden), not knowing she’d give me a Cacnea egg, and had to soft reset. Thankfully, I had saved right after I beat the Pulse Tangrowth, so all I had to redo were a couple of trainer battles.

On a happier note, I tried my hand at the lottery yesterday and got nothing, but today I got an Ultra Ball because of Braveheart! I swear, she’s like my favorite team member right now.

Oh, and you know that group of kids in front of the Onyx School, who argue which gym leader is best? Well, I don’t know why, but in my file, only the girl who battles you is there. It’s kinda creepy when she says she’s in a private conversation when there’s no one around…

The last couple of battles had been with a large number of Poison types, so going through the Onyx School’s trainers provided Strawberry with a new chance to shine. And by shine, I mean wear the opponents down really slowly. I swear, if he could only get a better move, he’d be a powerhouse. And Braveheart learned Fire Fang, which is cool because not only is it stronger than Ember, but it also gets a boost from Moxie.

I read through all the books before taking the quizzes, and tried to see how many I could get before having to backtrack. I got all of them but one! Not too bad if I say so myself.

The battle with Fern’s Lombre went the same way as before (Strider spams Lick to become invincible), and Braveheart took down Servine without too much difficulty, but taking down Roselia with Sassy’s Psybeam proved harder than I thought it would. I guess it can tank special hits really well. Anyway, with that battle, all my Pokemon were level 24 or 25. I went to the rooftop garden to grind them all to the level cap, and Sassy learned Psyshock right before evolving into Meowstic. It’s a bit early to tell, but I think she’s now the strongest team member.

Now, time to stock up on super potions...

Edited September 23, 2014 by Eagleby18

[CURIE]

Update 8: Florina

I’ve been dreading this one battle more than anything else. Most people here agree that to take out Florina’s Cradily, you pretty much NEED fighting type attacks. And up to this point, only 5 Pokemon from 6th Gen are available, none of them having fighting type attacks.

First of all there was the level issue. First, I tried having everyone at level 25 except for Braveheart, who was 24 because of the boosted experience. But I later had to bring her down to level 23, and Sassy down to 24.

Florina leads with Maractus, and I led off with Braveheart. I know, the whole Nature Power/Sand Tomb thing put her at a disadvantage, but thankfully fire fang knocked out Maractus in two hits and freed her from the Sand Tomb (with only 12 health left). I kept her in as Breloom came out, and then switched to Strawberry, because I knew it would use Mach Punch and that Strawberry would eat it up like it was cotton candy. His Fairy Wind was surprisingly powerful, able to take the thing down in two hits. From it, he grew to level 26 and learned Aromatherapy. I have a strange feeling that will come in handy later on…

And then the infamous Cradily came out. I switched to Sassy and pretty much had to spam Psyshock, and hope that the Cradily spammed Smack Down instead of Recover or Mega Drain. It took me several tries before the thing finally went down, and Sassy was about to die.

While Florina’s fourth Pokemon was out, I took the time to heal Sassy with a super potion, although it turned out I should have used it on Braveheart, because the fifth Pokemon was Ferroseed. I had no choice but to switch out to Braveheart, who was about to die, and use Fire Fang and PRAY it didn’t miss. Thankfully it didn’t, Ferroseed went down in one hit, and I got the Moxie boost. Last up was Cacnea, and like with Julia I was like “eh, I’ve got the Moxie boost, let’s see if Braveheart can finish this before she goes down”. She did.

I have enough time to go to the Jasper ward and start episode 3, but I won't because it's raining today and will be windy tomorrow. Let's just say I have a plan for Taka, and that plan involves fighting him on a NOT rainy day.

[CURIE]

Update 9: Jasper Ward-Taka

Not many people can say they beat Taka on their first try.

My plan was to lead with Sassy, bring the Lileep down to almost being KOed, and switch out to Braveheart. She’d then finish off the Lileep, get the Moxie boost, and take out the infamous Chatot with an all out Moxie boosted Take Down or two. Then, with another Moxie boost, do as much damage to the Mega Tangrowth as possible before going down, sending Sassy back in to finish it off.

It didn’t go as planned, but I still won. For starters, when I switched to Braveheart on the Lileep, I forgot Taka had super potions. Then, I decided that since Lileep’s attempts at attack were pathetic, I’d have Braveheart set up a few Work Ups. I did and was then able to take it down in a few Fire Fangs and get the Moxie boost.

But then Taka sent in the Tangrowth, not the Chatot like I expected. I spammed Fire Fang and almost KOed it, but then got an unlucky critical Acid Spray to the face and lost Braveheart. I then sent in Sassy to finish the job with Psyshock. It was kinda like my original plan, except that the ungodly Chatot was still alive.

I kept Sassy in and tried to set up a Light Screen to soften the force of that Chatter, but it outsped me and used Sing to put Sassy to sleep. I switched to Slavebat, using him as a sacrifice to switch in Strawberry. The Chatot tried Sing again, but it didn’t work because of Strawberry’s Sweet Veil ability! I used Aromatherapy to bring Sassy back to life, although it later proved pointless. Strawberry tanked a Chatter really well, and managed to sharply lower the opponent’s Special Defense with Fake Tears once. I tried to do it again, but he got knocked out by the next Chatter. Then, since I hadn’t given Strider a turn in the battle anyway, I was like “why not, I’ll try it”. I didn’t expect Strider to outspeed the thing, and I did not expect water pulse to OHKO it. But both happened.

Also, on the way to Taka I caught a Scatterbug. Not much to say about it, I'll evolve it of course because I'm doing expert mode, but I'm not gonna actually use it as part of the team.

[Bearpus]

this is very fun to read, keep up the good job

[CURIE]

Update 10: Jasper and Beryl Wards-Rodochrine Jungle

With the plants gone, I saved the first two police officers. Yeah, I plan on going through that quest, I’m just not gonna pick up the Growlithe at the end. Not to mention, that's how you get the secret storyline…

Also, I did the sticker quest and went back to the department store to pick up a Metronome from the third floor. My reasoning is that since Strawberry has to attack multiple times to take someone down, it’s best to make his attacks stronger as time goes on.

Anyway, I moved on to the Beryl Ward. Today was a windy day, so I went and recued the Drifloon kid (although I could’ve sworn you had to talk to the mom first…). I went down to the spot he gets ambushed by Venipede, but no one was there. I guess I do have to talk to the Mom for that one.

I went and rescued the 2 remaining Police Officers, and found the dead one. If you find all of them BEFORE fighting the upcoming boss battle, you unlock the secret story.

When going through the Rodochrine Jungle, I found a Bunnelby, which I didn’t excpect because I thought you only found them in the graveyard area. I caught her and sure enough, she had Huge Power! Next up is the infamous Meteor Admin double Pulse battle, so I’m wondering if I should grind her up. At level 24, she’s only 4 levels away from the others…

[CURIE]

Update 11: The Infamous Meteor Admin Double Pulse Battle

Turns out I didn’t grind Bunnelby after all. After several failed attempts at the double battle, I decided on leading with Braveheart and Sassy. First turn Sassy sets up a Light Screen (that Glaceon and Espeon have some POWERFUL special attacks), and then we completely whale on the eeveelution team, since the Lileep is not much of a problem compared to the Chatot and Mega Tangrowth.

Things went smoothly until the Umbreon was almost dead, when I accidentally pressed a wrong button, and just then the Umbreon got an unlucky critical hit, and Braveheart went down. Since the rest of the trained team is specially oriented, and Umbreon is pretty much immune to special attacks, I had to come out with BunnelbyTho and double kick it to death. After that, the rest of the battle went rather smoothly considering it was 2 on 1. It took longer and resulted in more party members dying than it should have, though, because Taka got all sorts of unlucky hax on me.

And now we come to the secret storyline. In case you don’t know about it, I’ll explain. In the normal chain of events, the ??? person who is strongly implied to be Corey runs away, and you later meet Corey at the gym where he acts like he’s never met you. But if you’ve rescued all the Police before doing the Double Boss Battle, this happens:

A short walk away from the scene of the double battle, you find the mystery person surrounded by the Policemen you’ve saved, with Heather watching. Mystery Guy is like “But the grunts were supposed to detain you” and the Warden’s all like “They did, but then this guy saved them because he’s awesome”. Then, the Warden unmasks Mystery Dude, revealing that he is, in fact, Corey. Heather is baffled, and then flies off on her Salamence in rage. Corey reveals that there are other Gym leaders working with Team Meteor, but doesn’t say who they are. He makes his usual speech about how much life sucks, and disappears. The Police are like “He’s gone to the gym!” and run off.

And in case you’re wondering, this all means you’re gonna have to wait if you want the Growlithe/Azurill trade. That can only be done at the station, and none of the officers are there right now.

The secret story continues at the gym, but I’m not going there yet. One, I need to restock on Super Potions, because I used a lot in that battle (also Common Candies since I have a new team member). Two, I wanna train up BunnelbyTho. And three, I need a Sunny Day…

Edited September 27, 2014 by Eagleby18

[CURIE]

Update 12: Miscellaneous Stuff Happens

Well, if I had known BunnelbyTho was already past the point of evolving, of course I would have leveled him up earlier! Having a Huge Power Diggersby would have been awesome in that battle! All’s well that ends well though, I guess, and DiggersbyTho is now level 30 like the rest of my team.

Today was finally a Sunny Day, so I went to the top of the hobo-run apartment and got myself a Helioptile. It was male, so I named him “Apollo”, after the Greek god of Light. Dry Skin for the ability, Naïve nature. I do intend to use this thing on my team, but I’m not sure if I should grind him up to the rest of the team just yet. I guess I’ll try my hand at Corey and see how things go first. If I do grind him, it definitely won’t be today, because it’s Sunny, and Dry Skin… you know. By the way, if he has Dry Skin, WHY WAS HE SOAKING UP THE SUN ON A SUNNY DAY? IT HURTS HIM!

I also caught another Bunnelby, and named him SlaveTho, because he’s gonna be my new HM slave. He can learn Cut AND Rock Smash, while Slavebat can only learn cut. Slavebat went to the PC, most lilkey never to return.

I went to the Beryl Library to get the Soul Candle from the talking Gothitelle, but she wasn’t there. I guess you have to beat Corey first? I did get the ill-fated doll, but it’s not like that’s important or anything. All that’s gonna come of it is a wild encounter MUCH later on with a Pokemon I won’t even catch.

Also went all the way to Obsidia and back to restock on Super Potions and stuff. I now have 12 Common Candies, 2 for each team member if you count Apollo. Then I paid a visit to the Move Tutor. I had 2 heart scales from running around pressing "A" on random rocks, and I put them to good use: Teaching Gust to Vivillon (who I evolved alongside BunnelbyTho while waiting for a sunny day) and Buldoze to DiggersbyTho. Nothing going on recently story-wise, but I'm finally ready to take on Corey and conclude the secret storyline.

[CURIE]

Update 12: Corey and the Secret Story, part 1

When entering Corey’s gym in the secret story, the first difference from the normal story you’ll notice is that the advice guy is gone, replaced with the Police Warden. He tells you that when the Police rushed in, they were gassed and now the officers are stumbling around confused.

By “confused”, he means “mind controlled”. The Officers walk around randomly, and when they see you say stuff like “we must obey” and attack you, and they’re pretty darn tough. Defeating them seems to free them from their mind control. Weird thing is, there’s only 3 of them around the gym, but 4 in the previous cutscene.

The gym’s usual puzzle is the same, turn all the pillars blue. It’s just a bit more difficult with the unusually tough Police Officers stumbling around. Notice how in Corey’s secret bedroom, there’s a card key reader on the wall. That totally won’t be significant later…

Corey himself goes over all the stuff you did to screw with him (which in the normal story he pretends to have no idea about), and reveals that HE was the one who created the PULSE systems (or at least the PULSE Tangrowths). He then asks an interesting question: “Are you after my badge, or my blood?” He then tells you to meet him in the arena, where he’ll show you misery.

When you go to the arena to fight, Corey says he’s hit rock bottom and has nothing else to lose. The only reason he’s kept going was his daughter, who’s now going to never speak to him again. And it’s all because of you. Apparently I had “ruined the small splinter- the fraction of the life I had rebuilt!” (actual quote from him). Now, the only thing he wants left in life is to end yours. He turns on the Corrosive Mist Field, and says “Suffer”. And the battle begins.

Continued in Part 2 with the actual battle

[CURIE]

Update 13: Corey and the Secret Story, part 2

First of all, you really are going to suffer if you don’t get rid of that Corrosive Mist. For that reason, I led with Vivillon. She was very underleveled, but she survived long enough to serve her purpose: using Gust to clear the field. As a matter of fact, she stayed alive long enough to Paralyze AND Confuse the first Pokemon (Skrelp). DiggersbyTho came in next and smashed that B00TY with Buldoze, and proceeded to do the same to most of the guy’s team. I switched out to Sassy when Croagunk came out, since 4x weakness to Psychic was too good to resist, but it turned out to be a bad idea because Sucker Punch. When the Crobat finally came out, I actually used DiggersbyTho as a sacrifice to heal the Sucker Punch damage. From full health, she managed to survive a hit and KO the thing with Psyshock. And she leveled up, AND she learned Shadow Ball.

When you beat Corey, he’s like “Everything… Everything’s gone”. Then he says, you know, the usual Corey bullcrap about how life has no point. He actually wants you to kill him, but knows you won’t. You’ll just hand him over to the Police. He has a better idea: You know by now what that is.

What, you thought the secret story would result in Corey living? Hah, you don’t get Reborn. In this game, the alternate storylines are just different ways to get to the same ending. Corey sneaks out of the gym without the Police noticing, the Warden says to go follow him and they’ll be right behind you.

On the bridge, Corey tells you about why he joined Team Meteor. The ruby ring was bought by him from some collector with the intention of making it an engagement ring. He tells you that his wife died in childbirth of Heather, at the hands of a malfunctioning machine. He says the doctor who was in charge of her refused to give up the ring. The doctor was part of Team Meteor, and they killed her purposely to get the ring. To this day, he doesn't know why they want it. He bartered with them, and they agreed to let him keep it if he joined them. The last thing he tells you is that Heather has the ring, and to protect her for him, before doing exactly what he does in the normal storyline.

The police go back to the station after this scene, leaving the gym truly empty, not even the advice guy is there. Don’t forget to go pick up the silver ring, though. If you go back to the station, none of the Police’s dialogue is different than usual. The secret story is officially over.

[CURIE]

Update 14: Lots of choices all at once

Up to this point, the team I had was composed of pretty much the only available 6th Gen Pokemon at the time. But once I beat Corey and gained access to the Lapis Ward, it was choices overload (or at least compared to how it was earlier).

The Gardevoir wannabe talking Gothitelle finally appears, which means I got the Soul Candle, which means I got a Pumpkaboo. If you’re curious, you get it by bringing a Soul Candle to one of the Pumpkins in the Graveyard during the nighttime. It’s male so I named him Jack (really creative name, I know). Should I train him up or not? And should I grind Apollo yet? In Lapis Ward, I went to the flower shop and got a Spritzee (female, currently unnamed), should I use her over Strawberry? Should I join a Magma/Aqua gang yet, and if so, which one? Wild Espurr live in the Aqua hideout, should I get and train a male one? And most importantly, an event is coming up where I can get a linkstone, should I use it on Strawberry or Jack (or Spritzee)?

Well, I decided to train Apollo but not Jack, at least not yet. After looking over stats and movesets, I choose to stick with Strawberry. I’m not going to join either gang until I have to in order to access 7th street, because it was so painful to hear Gossip Gardevoir talk about it and tell me she “didn’t think I was the type”. Not to mention, it adds a new challenge to the game, not being able to get Rain Dance, Sunny Day, or a Bike until much later on. But since I can still run around in, like, 8 tiles of the Aqua Gang alley, I went ahead and caught a male Espurr, naming him Pumpkin after a cat I used to own. And of course, I made sure he had his hidden ability. Not gonna train him up yet though. And I still haven’t decided on the linkstone…

Oh, and in the new Opal bridge battles, Strawberry learned Draining Kiss. This is awesome because he can attack just a liiiitle bit stronger now, and the HP regen of it makes him even more insanely bulky!

Edited October 2, 2014 by Eagleby18

[Gaunt]

Of the 3 you mentioned i would suggest to train Jack (and that is toootally not because i like Ghosts and hate Fairies ) but if you're already training Strawberry use the Link Stone on him/her

Edited October 3, 2014 by Gaunt

[Vinny]

I'm not commeting a lot, but i'm loving this challenge. Dammit, i really should start mine... dangnabbit.

I'd love to see someone do a nuzlocke in this mode xD

[Chase]

Well. This will give me something to do today.

[CURIE]

Update 15: New Sticker-Under the Stairs

Not gonna be using Braveheart for awhile, because I just swept the Scolipede sticker battle with her (Fire fang + Moxie). And since she’s a traded ‘mon, she ended up going WAY over the other teammate’s levels. After restocking on supplies from the new floor, I went under the grand staircase.

By the way, did I ever tell you how much that place annoys me? I keep having brain farts and going down paths I already went before, and keep having to loop all the way back to the entrance, and all the while there’s those stupid Digletts! They can have arena trap, which means unless you have a flying type Pokemon in the lead, you HAVE to KO it. And even that wouldn’t be so bad if THEY DIDN’T HAVE SUCKER PUNCH.

On the bright side, I got a Heart Scale down there, so I got to reteach Swords Dance to DiggersbyTho. As if she wasn’t already enough of a physical attacking powerhouse. Also Ability Capsule, which is cool because there is a specific Pokemon in the future I want to use it on…

I tried out the new Swords Dance in the Aester/Eclipse battle and it did not disappoint! Only problem is that I can’t use DiggersbyTho for a while now. Same reason as with Braveheart.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Eagleby18