Bye Bye Birdies! Timber's Bird-Themed Run

[Timber Dragon]

Timber Decibel Wing loves birdies. In fact, they love birdies so much that when they set out to conquer the Reborn league, they decided that rather than skillfully craft a well-balanced team to overcome any situation, they'd throw a bunch of birds at everything. Only time will tell how badly this will end.

So! This is a bird-themed challenge where all Pokemon I use are birds or have bird-like features (beak, wings, feathers, basic shape, etc). Just so we're all on the same page, the list of non-Legendary birdies goes as follows:

-Pidgey/Pidgeotto/Pidgeot
-Spearow/Fearow
-Psyduck/Golduck
-Farfetch'd
-Doduo/Dodrio
-Porygon/Porygon2/Porygon-Z
-Hoothoot/Noctowl
-Natu/Xatu
-Murkrow/Honchcrow
-Delibird
-Skarmory
-Torchic/Combusken/Blaziken
-Taillow/Swellow
-Wingull/Pelipper
-Swablu/Altaria
-Piplup/Prinplup/Empoleon
-Starly/Staravia/Staraptor
-Chatot
-Pidove/Tranquill/Unfezant
-Ducklett/Swanna
-Rufflet/Braviary
-Vullaby/Mandibuzz
-Fletching/Fletchinder/Talonflame
-Spritzee/Aromatisse
-Hawlucha

Ambiguous:
-Togepi/Togetic/Togekiss
-Sigilyph
-Archen/Archeops

Since many of the birdies on that list are some variation of Normal/Flying -- and, let's face it, not that spectacular -- the nice folks at the Request-a-Mon thread haxed in some early (and illegal) birdies to make Wing's quest less suicidal, especially during the early game.

With that said, let's introduce our starting team! Whoooooo

Cochin (M)
Species: Torchic
Nature: Jolly/Somewhat Vain
Ability: Speed Boost
My starter, our hero, and thus far the only dude in this harem of female feather brains. He'll be one of my few defenses against Rock- and Electric-types, although the trade off is a vulnerability to Rock-type's sister, Ground -- moves of which Rock-types tend to have at their disposal. In any case, Blaziken will eventually be one of my main powerhouses due to his high stats in general. He's considered broken in the main game, and he'll be a goddamn lifesaver in this run.

Nova (F)
Species: Fletchling
Nature: Serious/Loves to eat
Ability: Gale Wings
The Request-a-Mon thread was generous enough to supply me with a powerhouse, or so people say it's one. I took a chance and asked for a currently illegal Pokemon because of how limited my options are. Although it doesn't have great IVs, beggars can't be choosers, and hopefully I'll soon learn why people consider this thing OP.

P-Sharp (Yes)
Species: Porygon
Nature: Timid/Thoroughly cunning
Ability: Analytic
Once the Conversion2 bug gets fixed, Porygon will come in handy when I need type resistances that absolutely none of my team have. When I requested a Porygon, I also requested an early Up-Grade in my inventory so I can evolve it once I get my first Linkstone. That was nice!

Weiss (F)
Species: Swablu
Nature: Modest/Very finicky
Ability: Cloud Nine
Honestly, she's here so I have something that's not Normal- and/or Flying-type. But she'll also be one of the few Dragon-type countermeasures I have, as my main battlers are all Fire-types. And hey, if Ciel taught me anything, it's how utterly painful an Altaria can be... under the right conditions, at least.



Honestly, a number of things about this run do worry me. The first is how I have no effective way to deal with Electric-types. Unless one of you can make the argument that an Archeops can be a bird, I pretty much have NO access to Ground-type moves and 90 percent of available mons are vulnerable to Electric. The best I can do is brute force it with my Fire-types, but that makes Water another concern.

The other concern is the overall low base stats of many of my options. I love birdies, and in the official games I can gladly take a Pidgeot into the Elite 4 and Champion, but Reborn demands a bit more than the official games, and I fear a large number of my available mons won't deliver. That's the main reason I had the guts to request mons like Fletchinder, so I'd stand a more reasonable chance. The rest will probably need to take more specialized roles beyond damage dealing.

But those concerns will come up when they come up. On with the run!

go birbs

Edited June 13, 2016 by Timber Dragon

[alaneapen]

Cool bird team. Which game will you try this for?

[Honchy]

Cyber bird is already my favorite

[Ironbound]

That's a cool team. I'm obliged to tell you that magby and line are NOT birds, sorry. A beak-like snout does not a bird make. They are more reptilian or vaguely mammalian.

Togekiss is fairly a bird, yes. More specifically an egg-plane-bird, but hey, birds come from eggs, so it'll do!

Sigilyph is also a bird. It's based on the Hummingbird design of the Nazca lines.

Archeops is an Archaeopteryx, aka the First Bird. It counts as a bird, don't worry!

But not magbutt. It's not a bird. No sirree.

[Timber Dragon]

Cool bird team. Which game will you try this for?

Good ol' normal Reborn. I'm not hardcore enough to try Reborn Hardcore, especially with a team like this.

Cyber bird is already my favorite

Cyber birb is coming into its own with Analytic. I was considering switching it to Download, but maybe I'll keep the ability after all.

That's a cool team. I'm obliged to tell you that magby and line are NOT birds, sorry. A beak-like snout does not a bird make. They are more reptilian or vaguely mammalian.

Togekiss is fairly a bird, yes. More specifically an egg-plane-bird, but hey, birds come from eggs, so it'll do!

Sigilyph is also a bird. It's based on the Hummingbird design of the Nazca lines.

Archeops is an Archaeopteryx, aka the First Bird. It counts as a bird, don't worry!

But not magbutt. It's not a bird. No sirree.

It's not as bird-like compared to the others, but I always considered the Magby line vaguely bird-ish. Even Bulbapedia describes it as being like a duck or a booby (tee hee), and its original Japense name probably references this. Besides, it's too late now -- I just beat the first gym, Magbutt and all, and Request-a-Mon probably wouldn't have obliged me if they didn't agree it was at least kinda like a birb. I at least have arguments to support the decision, and besides, I think it's ultimately up to me to decide what's bird-like and what isn't. I heard someone say that Porygon wasn't enough of a bird for this run, yet there it is. But, at least I have validation that Togepi, Sigilyph, and Archeops can be birbs as well, so that's good to hear.

Fern and Mosswater Factory

Fern was up against a bunch of Fire- and Flying- types on a sunny day, so not much to say here (poor Fern). Torchic, Magby, and Porygon did most of the heavy lifting in the factory due to the prevalence of Rock- and Steel-types. The others hadn't been properly grinded yet and I didn't feel like sending them to their dooms, so they were just kinda... sitting there in my team. Freeloaders.

Aster and Eclipse

Oh goody, an Elekid. Electric-types are gonna be boatloads of fun in this run. Luckily there was only Elekid and Magby to worry about this fight. Porygon put up a decent fight, but Elekid + field effect = fainted Cyber Bird. Magby picked up the slack with Feint Attack on her twin, and down goes the first Aster and Eclipse fight.

Julia

Julia is an interesting first gym in this run. I couldn't send any of my Flying-types in there, so just like factory, Combusken, Magby, and Porygon are in the front lines. Porygon handled the gym's trainers. I had intended to switch its ability to Download, but Analytic proved useful since most of Porygon's opponents outsped it, boosting its attacks.

That same ability took down the first few members of Julia's team, but they eventually whittled Porygon down. I sent out Magby next. She did fine until Emolga. I knew she probably wouldn't last long, so I got in two Smoke Screens to help out Combusken, who would have to carry the rest of the fight -- no one had the type advantage or the levels to go on the front lines.

Speed Boost let him outspeed Julia's team. He kicks ass, and then it's time to face Electrode. Blitzle had paralyzed him, so to put him in top shape for Electrode, I switched in Swablu so I can heal him safely. Poor Swablu takes the fall (don't worry, her sacrifice was not in vain). Thank god I found a Super Potion somewhere in the factory, because he desperately needed to recover all his HP. He's restored, Combusken uses Double Kick... and brings Electrode's HP to the reds. Electrode finishes him off. Crap. No one else is fast enough to land a hit on him before getting wrecked.

Luckily! Fletchling has Quick Attack. She's sent in, Quick Attack, and the freeloader mooches off everyone's hard earned exp and gains, like, five levels. What a bum.

Team Updates

Cochin evolves from Torchic to Combusken yaaaaaay

Aaaand we have a new member!

Contrail (F)

Species: Pidgey

Nature: Brave/Likes to thrash about

Ability: Keen Eye (subject to change)

Anyhoo, onto Obsidia, where I plan to get Pidove and bask in the thrashing of plenty of Grass-types (hopefully).

[Ironbound]

All the best, then. And by the way, if you ever make your Porygon into a PZ, Adaptability is the best ability. If not, Download gives a bigger boost than analytic, but then, it is situational (depends on what Pokémon you face on entry) and Analytic may be more consistent since Porygon and Porygon2 are not that fast.

[Quickslip]

Porygon is kinda weird. I would never look at it and think bird but I'd certainly argue that it could be one. For what its worth: -1 bird point on the Magmar list here.

Anyway, good luck with your run. Beware of power plants.

[Dragon116]

Monochome Complex did a flying run not too long ago, you could probably find a few pointers in it.

http://www.pokemonreborn.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17544

[Shad_]

You are on the normal version of the game right? Then it shouldn't be too hard to complete E15, good luck anyway o/

[Timber Dragon]

Edit: asklghalkhsg aaaaugh okay fine, if I'll have to spend time justifying the decision and if I'm having any doubts about it, then it's probably not worth the effort, so I'll start over without the Magby.

kslhglkhs man you people and your anti-Magbutt. I'll admit that it's stretching the definition of 'birb,' and now that it's brought to my attention even I'm starting to have second thoughts, but when I look at Magmar I swear I can justify it being bird-like! It has a duck bill and those turkey thigh/legs like what Combusken has, a black ring around its neck that makes me think of a duck's neck ring, and even those frills on its arms kinda remind me of feathers. Magby and Magmortar are more ambiguous in comparison, but I've always considered Magmar somewhat bird-like.

But honestly, it's usually the beak or the head that does it for me. If a mon makes me go aww what a cute little birb, that's usually good enough for me. That's why I listed the Togepi line, Archeops, and Sigilyph as ambiguous: they don't have beaks. XD

Monochome Complex did a flying run not too long ago, you could probably find a few pointers in it.

http://www.pokemonreborn.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17544

Thanks, I can check it out. Maybe I'll get some pointers on how to get around Rock- and Electric-types. Luckily I'm not doing a Flying monotype run so I have access to mons like Blaziken and Empoleon, but it still might be worth looking at.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Timber Dragon

[Timber Dragon]

So after starting over because you people can't seem to agree that Magmar is totally bird-like, I did stuff that involved throwing birds at things and winning and feeling proud cuz I like winning and I like birds. Wing's journey of birdiness seems to be going well so far.

Team Updates

The new team lineup isn't as much of a female harem as before, but oh well.

Cochin (M)

Species: Combusken

Nature: Jolly/Somewhat vain

Ability: Speed Boost

He's still a chicken and he still kicks stuff. No changes here.

Nova (F)

Species: Fletchinder

Nature: Serious/Loves to eat

Ability: Gale Wings

Not really seeing how this one is OP (she's more like a backup Fire-type at this point), but that'll probably change once she evolves and gets better moves... like Acrobatics. That move seems very sexy.

P-Sharp (yes)

Species: Porygon

Nature: Timid/Thoroughly cunning

Ability: Analytic

This little guy is starting to grow on me, and it'll only get better once I can evolve it when I get that first Link Stone (Porygon also came with an early Up-Grade in my inventory, wheeee). So far Porygon is my only access to Psychic-type moves, and with a Twisted Spoon combined with a high Sp. Atk, it's a good special sweeper. It'll get even more awesome once Ep 16 comes out and the Conversion2 bug hopefully gets fixed.

Weiss (F)

Species: Swablu

Nature: Modest/Very finicky

Ability: Cloud Nine

Admittedly I haven't found much use for Swablu yet. She's not an attacker and most of the moves that would make her useful won't come until later levels, so currently she's mostly an exp sponge. Eventually she'll be more useful, when she becomes a Dragon and stuff and she learns Perish Song for a last-ditch effort.

Comet (M)

Species: Pidgeotto

Nature: Bold/Mischievous

Ability: Big Pecks

What can I say? I've always loved the Pidgey line, and so far Pidgey/Pidgeotto is doing fine as an unspecialized general attacker.

Hesslich (M)

Species: Tranquill

Nature: Impish/Quick to flee

Ability: Super Luck

The Pidove line really doesn't have a good moveset for its stats, but Super Luck + high-crit Air Cutter is actually decent for this point in the game. It'll become less useful as time goes on, but I'm sticking it out because it just so happens that Unfezant eventually gets Facade, and it just so happens that I can get my mits on a Toxic Orb. Noel's Swellow taught me pain and it will be glorious.

Pistol (F)

Species: Fearow

Nature: Serious/Strong willed

Ability: Sniper

I hadn't expected much from a Fearow at first, but she was actually a star player against Corey due to her high attack stat compared to the others + Aerial Ace. In the future she'll also come in handy once she learns Drill Run, which will be one of the few (perhaps only) accesses I have to Ground-type moves, and I'm bound to find a use for Mirror Move.

Julia

Since I had to go in Magby-less, I had less brute force and less not-weak-to-Electric-ness on my side, so I leveled up Porygon a bit more than I did in my previous run. It was able to sweep the first half of Julia's team before Combusken took over. Cyber Birb is proving its stuff.

PULSE Tangrowth and Florinia

Tangrowth and Fletchinder took turns with PULSE Tangrowth. Florinia got a bit tricky with Cacnea and bad luck with RNG, but a bunch of Flying- and Fire-types against a team of Grass-types went about as well as you expect. Combusken took care of Cradily and that was that. The Fern fight previously actually gave me more trouble. For some reason I sometimes have more trouble with that Fern fight than Florinia.

PULSE Tangrowth pt 2 and Taka

Chatot was a bitch. Won that one by the skin of my teeth. It didn't help that I was forced to take a Kricketune as a Cut slave so I could navigate the forest, so I technically only had five Pokemon to use.

PULSE Tangrowth pt 3 and Taka + ZEL

Definitely had a rocky start with this one. Glaceon got some OKHOs, Umbreon was a tank, and Espeon was no slouch either. Combusken had to pull most of the weight since only he and Fletchinder had any kind of effectiveness against Taka and ZEL. I focused on ZEL's team while Lileep wasted time weakly choking my birbs with Constrict. Combusken took down Glaceon, but Espeon returned the favor. I had to use a Cotton Candy to revive Combusken so he could handle Tangrowth, as no one else in my team at the time could hit hard enough to be effective.

Once ZEL's team was finished, I could use both my mons to wail on Taka. Lileep and Tangrowth didn't give me many problems, but Chatot, like last time, was pretty much a race to see who could KO who first. I won, again, but barely.

Corey

Blegh. I lost on the first attempt. A little bit of bad RNG (how did Corey's team get so many criticals?!) and a little bit of bad decisions on my part, mainly relying too much on Porygon's Psybeam + Twisted Spoon when other members of my team could've handled it. I led with Pidgeotto so he could Gust away the Corrosive Mist field effect, and my Flying-types were able to avoid the normal Corrosive field's entry hazard. I was thankful for that, but it wasn't enough.

It turned out that Fearow's Aerial Ace was a decent brute force move. I played a bit more carefully the next time, being sure not to rely on Porygon too much. I was also lucky that Corey withdrew one of his team and sent out Crobat early, getting Porygon a free hit in and allowing Fearow to safely finish it off.

So Corey wasn't too fun, but neither will the upcoming orphanage be fun either. Lots of Electric-types and lots of pain.

Yay pain

[Timber Dragon]

Oh silly me, I forgot that fun orphanage things come after fun Shelly things. I took care of the Shelly things okay and now it's time for some team update things.

Team updates things

Cochin's a Blaziken now whoooooo

Nova's a Talonflame now whoooooo

P-Sharp's a Porygon2 now whoooooo

Hesslich's an Unfezant now whoooooo

Adagio (F)

Species: Ducklett

Nature: Quiet/Proud of its power

Ability: Hydration

Finally got around to hatching this thing. Hydration + Aqua Ring + Rain Dance + Hurricane seems like a pretty sexy setup, but the 4x weakness to Electric is not so sexy. At any rate, Ducklett/Swanna will be my only access to Water-type moves until I get a Piplup from 7th Street way down the line.

Miasma (M)

Species: Aromatisse

Nature: Relaxed/Highly curious

Ability: Healer

inb4 any "aromatisse iz not birb" comments. Aromatisse is bird-like enough for me; it has a beak and feathers and is most likely based on Plague Doctors which are also based on birbs, so just to preempt you, shaddup. Anyhoo, Aromatisse is an early Fairy-type that I was mostly thinking of using against Ciel's Altaria way way way way down the line (hey, fail to plan, plan to fail), but then I noticed that oh yeaah, Fairy-types are a good anti-Kiki thing. Good ol' Fairies!

Murkrow (M)

Species: Murkrow (surprise!)

Nature: Lonely/Likes to thrash about

Ability: Prankster

I haven't named him because I wasn't sure I wanted to get too attached to him. Murkrow was such a pain in the ass to catch that I finally lost patience for wanting good IVs or egg moves or whatnot, so for now he'll just become 1) a last-ditch Prankster/Perish Song kamikaze, and 2) a sperm donor that I'll eventually Ditto breed with for a proper battler. Sorry, guy.

Poor poor Shelly

Sorry Shelly, but Blaziken and a bunch of Flying- or Fire-types against Bug-types doesn't make for a good victory on your part. Moving on!

Orphanage of fun and Electric-types and pain

Aromatisse serves another nice function of not having one or more of the weaknesses the rest of my team has (Electric, Ground, Rock, and... Water). He whittled the opponents down with Draining Kiss and/or Moonblast while I leveled him up. Shelly's team carried most of the weight since a lot of the Pokemon here were Steel-types, and Blaziken and Porygon2 took care of what Aromatisse couldn't handle.

My only complaint with Aromatisse so far is how he's so damn slooooooow. Luckily he seems like he can take a punch to the beak long enough to do useful things, especially with a Calm Mind setup.

[Timber Dragon]

Shadow = Shade + Ow

Oh lordy, Shade.

So, I in all my ADD totally forgot that Shade's field boots both Ghost- and Electric-type attacks. I was only reminded of it after fighting a few randoms in the power plant, but I didn't give it any thought because, Rotom aside, what could Shade's ghosties possibly do with Electricity?

Well, Gengar used Thunderbolt. That was the first hint that I'd probably be in for a rough time.

But first let's do a quick Team Update

I grinded Adagio into a Swanna, hoping I could use her against Chandelure.

And after taking a back seat for the most part due to a lack of offensive and defensive prowess, I bit the bullet and grinded Weiss to an Altaria, making sure she kept Mist for a strategy I had in mind.

Now, I don't consider Shade easy, but in most of my runs he's usually one of the gym leaders I don't have too much trouble with. Ohh, how naive I was. I'd almost forgotten that this was Reborn. Reborn won't let me off easy just because I managed the previous gyms so far. In fact, this bird run gave me a better understanding of why so many people have trouble with Shade. Shade was punishing me for my hubris.

I grossly underestimated the field effect. I thought I mostly had Ghost-type attacks to worry about, but nope. I had led with Swanna but she wasn't dealing enough damage, so I withdrew her for Porygon2. This wound up being a good call because Gengar's Thunderbolt would've OHKO'd her twice over (4x weakness to Electric, after all).

Porygon2's Twisted Spoon + Psybeam did decent damage, but he wasn't sturdy enough to survive for long. I managed to brute force him and some other ghosts with my other mons. Then Shade caught me by surprise by withdrawing someone early and sending out Rotom. Not good for the Flying-type who was out. I sent out Blaziken again and managed to faint Rotom, but Shuppet came out and Destiny Bonded him. There goes Blaziken.

Well, I managed to squeeze by the rest of his team. And theeeen came the brick wall.

PSA: Don't throw bricks at birds.

Chandelure was the mon who threw a wrench in my plans, for reasons I kinda anticipated and others I... did not.

One problem I foresaw was its ability, Flash Fire. I didn't think anything of it until I realized that the only bird that could reasonably stand up to its freakish Sp. Attack movies is Blaziken... who only knows Fighting-type moves (useless against Ghost-types) and Fire-type moves (BAD IDEA).

I thought, okay, I have Swanna! She'll be able to handle an Energy Ball. Chandelure laughed and hit me with an Electric-based Hidden Power.

I thought, okay, Aromatisse is surprisingly bulky! He can take a few attacks to the face. Yeeeeah, you can tell that I use Fairy-types a lot because I kinda sorta keep forgetting that Fire-types resist Fairy-types.

So just to recap, my whole team is either weak to Electric, or their only damaging moves are resisted by Chandelure's ghostiness or fireness.

Well, fuck.

I pondered my ponderer and remembered that Aromatisse has Calm Mind. Since I have zero type advantages against Chandelure (barring Swanna with her 4x Electric weakness), I figured if I can't resist, then the only way to get past this is through brute force. Brute force usually works! Swablu's Mist could set up a field effect to further boost Aromatisse's attacks. This meant also needed to be bulky enough to survive getting Mist set up, so I leveled her into an Altaria. (She was falling behind, anyway.)

For my next attempt(s) I led with Aromatisse. I had him use some Calm Minds while tanking Shadow Claw (a physical attack) and Thunderbolts (special, but often caused Paralysis). I healed when I needed to and when I thought Aromatisse was safe, I started using Moonblast or getting some free heals with Healing Kiss. Of course, Gengar also resists Fairy-type attacks, but enough Calm Minds let Aromatisse deal respectable damage.

Okay, so things looked good. I used Blaziken against Doublade, Shuppet, and Rotom, and Fearow against Trevenant. Porygon2 was a backup or meatshield when the situation called for it.

Chandelure's up, so this was the moment of truth. Altaria is sent out. Chandelure was unfortunately a little faster, but fortunately, Altaria managed to survive Shadow Ball so she could use Mist. The next attack took her down, so now it's time for Aromatisse to save the day.

The plan might've went better if I'd used the max amount of Calm Minds. Even with all the buffs and the Misty Terrain, Aromatisse's Moonblast was only able to take down, maybe, 1/4 of Chandelure's HP at best. Aromatisse could deal decent damage, but so could Chandelure. But the Mist effect eventually faded, Chandelure's attacks were boosted again, and that was that.

For the final attempt, I once again led with Aromatisse but this time used a full six Calm Minds for maximum buffs. I tanked Gengar's attacks the best I could, healed when necessary, and pounded Gengar in two hits despite resistance to Fairy. Mwahaha.

I handled the rest of Shade's team similarly to how I did last time. When it was time for Chandelure, I didn't send out Altaria to use Mist (either I thought I didn't need it, or I forgot. Overconfidence, or sheer forgetfulness? You decide!). I just went straight to Aromatisse and tried to wail on it.

In hindsight, the Mist would've made things a little easier. Aromatisse's Moonblast hit harder than last time, except... I wailed on the rest of his team beforehand, without waiting for Shade to use up all his healing items. That gave Chandelure two freakin' Ultra Potions to himself, plus whatever berry it was holding. Aromatisse hit hard, but unfortunately he could only take so much damage, and eventually he faints.

Well, fuck!

I knew it'd be dangerous, but screw it, I sent out Swanna. Swanna got in two Water Pulses before Chandelure quit toying with me and KO'd her with Hidden Power. Luckily, Chandelure was down to the reds by this point.

And who would save the day but, of all mons, Porygon2? Yup, the mon who mainly took a backseat to this fight wound up landing the finishing blow with Psybeam. It took all the exp for itself despite this supposedly being a team effort (ahem), but you know what? I don't care. Shade is down and my squishy birbs never have to deal with him or his brick walls ever again.

I kinda wanna do a Ghost montype run now.

[Jiggle]

Follow your dreams~

[Timber Dragon]

Le Team Updates

Name: Ditto

Status: Getting busy

You know that's the face of a skank.

ZEL and PULSE Muk

Honestly I never figured out the mechanics of how/when PULSE Muk changes its type. I... never really paid attention. *cough*

But anyway, ZEL leads with Glaceon and I KO it with Talonflame. I sent out Porygon2 for Muk, but Muk was too bulky for it to substantial damage and Porygon2 wasn't bulky enough to last long. _{I really want that Conversion2 bug fixed...}

I was lucky that Muk switched from Water to Electric, because Blaziken fainted it with two Blaze Kicks. The stinky puddle of whatevertypeitis is down, and so is the main threat.

A weakened Talonflame gets some good hits on Espeon, but ZEL didn't want to waste any Ultra Potions. Talonflame weakened Espeon, but alas, too many Psychics to the bird brain is no good. Swanna takes over and did some good damage with Aerial Ace... but she's hit with Espeon's previous Future Sight and faints. What a dick. Well, Fearow finished the job.

By this point my whole team is either fainted or their health is in the reds, but luckily I only had to worry about Umbreon. Blaziken's back, though he's still weak from battling Muk and I had to heal him. Good thing I did, because another Future Sight that Espeon had used beforehand finally hit. Dick! Luckily Blaziken survived. Umbreon could only pathetically hit him with Quick Attacks or Confuse Rays while Blaziken Double Kicked it in the spleen.

Cal

Swanna's in the lead to take care of Infernape. She's such a trooper, taking a Swords Dance + Close Combat to the beak and not dying. Good job, Swanna! She did such a good job that I figured that, despite her being weakened, I could reward her by letting her take on Charizard. Apparently the reward was Charizard Thunder Punching her. Look, it was the thought that counted.

Welp, I figured, now's as good a time as any for Talonflame to try out her new toy.

Yup, she grew to level 44, so you know what that means?

I have an early Archeops?

It means Acrobatics!

I mean. Holy light of Arceus, Acrobatics on Talonflame.

I won't even bother getting into the specifics of the fight. Blaziken took care of Magmortar and Swanna already had her win against Infernape, but honestly you can probably picture what had happened.

The One Where Timber Finally Understands Why Talonflame is Currently Banned

or

The One Where Kiki Dies Early

Kiki, I... I am so sorry.

You're gonna die, and then this happened, and I just...

Sorry, there are no words.

I can't help it if Talonflame is a beast with Acrobatics, and you just happened to throw a bunch of Fighting-types at me. It's just how things go, y'know?

I'll tell you what. Just to make amends (kinda), I'm putting Talonflame in the PC for a while, just so I don't wreck everything. Gotta raise some other birbs anyway.

I also just might change Talonflame's ability to Flame Body, just because Gale Wings can cause so much trauma for others.

So, no hard feelings, Kiki?

Oh who am I kidding.

I LOVE THIS BIRD

Edited June 22, 2016 by Timber Dragon

[Shad_]

That's why i said Fletching's line was OP lol, Acrobatics + Gale Wings on Talonflame is amazing

[daigotsurezan]

That's why i said Fletching's line was OP lol, Acrobatics + Gale Wings on Talonflame is amazing

It gets worse: a Flying Gem boosts Acrobatics BEFORE it checks for a held item, so you get the full boosted 110 power attack.

It's practically unholy.

[Timber Dragon]

I don't know why I never consider the Meteor Admin fights a threat when almost every time I've fought them so far, they actually kinda hurt.

Team Update

Redrum (M)

Species: Murkrow

Nature: Lonely/Mischievous

Ability: Super Luck

Gotta love that nickname. This is the spawn of the Murkrow I got from the Team Aqua base and my Ditto prostitute. While the original Murkrow is mainly a kamikaze Prankster + Perish Song mon, Redrum is intended to be a more respectable battler. Funnily enough, it was a dark and stormy night when I hatched him. Honchcrow and eventually Mandibuzz will probably be the only Psychic-type countermeasures I'll have. He has a good physical attack stat I'm looking forward to, but like a lot of my flock, sneezing on him too hard will faint him. I won't be using much of him until I get a Dusk Stone.

Aster and Eclipse pt something something

Aster and Eclipse got off to a bad start... well, about three bad starts. Solrock and Lunatone in particular can be tricky, even moreso in this run. I have no dependable anti-Psychic measures besides Honchcrow, who I'm keeping benched until I get a Dusk Stone, and the birds who aren't weak to Rock can't get past their Psychic-typing. Even Swanna who can effectively damage them can be effectively damaged in return. The most I can do is brute force them with my hard hitters and hope for the best.

Even Electabuzz and Magmar can be a pain in the ass -- Electabuzz because most of my team are pretty much lightning rods for Electric-types, and Magmar because my heavy hitters are either Fire-type too (like Blaziken and Talonflame) or their attacks are resisted by Fire (like Aromatisse). It's simple enough to just brute force Magmar, but remember Electabuzz and the lighting rod issue.

Once those threats are out of the way, it's usually only a matter of hoping the final wave can be countered by someone who's still conscious. Luckily, during the fight Altaria leveled up enough to learn Dragon Pulse. It and Altaria herself wound up being one of the saving graces for the next battle...

Taka

Okay, so, um.

You know how Talonflame obliterated Kiki with Acrobatics?

Well, thanks to Taka's Gligar, Kiki and her mons got their revenge. I can call this fight a lot of names (mainly bad ones), but Karma is the first one that springs to mind.

The fight had a number of bad starts and worse luck. I kept Talonflame in the PC to make the universe hate me less, so I made Blaziken take care of Klefki. The problem is Blaziken hit so hard that Taka usually didn't get a chance to use any of his healing items, meaning he got to save them for mons who really really needed to be taken down fast. Like Gligar.

Blaziken was a no-no, so Swanna took his place. But where Swanna had the advantage in type, Gligar had the advantage in sheer brute force. Two Acrotabics and literally anyone in my team was down.

I'm glad I decided to start using Swablu/Altaria again. She was kind of dead weight for most of the game so far, but now she's able to reach levels where she can finally become the defensive birb she was intended to be. Praise be to Cotton Guard, because holy Arceus's crap, without Cotton Guard this fight probably could not have been won.

Of course, karma was still punishing me. In two battles in a row, Gligar managed to critical hit Altaria before she could get a chance to use Cotton Guard. Two battles! In a row! The asshat also had a habit of U-Turning at very inconvenient moments (which in this battle, all moments were inconvenient). In the final attempt, I got lucky and Taka sent out Cradily. But since I was being punished, it was usually Chatot. You know how Chatot hurt in fights even when there was no Gligar? Yeah. Chatot + Nasty Plot ended things pretty fast.

Altaria and Aromatisse did most of the work, and that was mainly due to Cotton Guard and Calm mind, respectively. During the final attempt, Altaria got two Cotton Guards in to raise her physical defense to the max. You know that Acrobatics is unholy when even with maximum defense buffs, it still managed to do decent damage. When she was buffed, I used Dragon Pulse, but then Gligar U-Turned and sent out Cradily.

I wanted to save Altaria's strength so I switched to Atomatisse. Luckily with some Calm Mind buffs and general durability, he did decent damage while being mostly safe. It wound up being a race of endurance. Taka used the rest of his healing items on Cradily and Cradily kept spamming Recover. I think by that point Cradily's other moves ran out of PP, but so were Aromatisse's. Luckily Aromatisse got a critical and finally fainted it.

Gligar came back. I managed to get a Charm in to harshly lower its attack. Proud and exhausted, Aromatisse went down like a trooper. Altaria was sent back out, and this was the point when Timber finally learned, despite all the years of playing, a cardinal mechanic in the Pokermons games she did not realize: did you know that buffs/debuffs wear off when you switch out? Because I didn't! And because Altaria had switched out, those Cotton Guard buffs -- the ones she needed to survive, period -- were gone!

It caught me by surprise, but luckily the attack left her with enough HP to set up a Cotton Guard and survive the next attack. Gligar had already been somewhat weakened before U-Turning, so Altaria just needed to finish the job. Finally! Threat #1 is finally down.

Then I forgot about Chatot, Threat #2. Great.

Like usual, it was a race to see who could KO who first. I was very lucky with RNG. When Altaria fainted (Cotton Guard protects physical damage, and Chatter is special), I sent out Swanna since my options were pretty limited at this point. It was super super lucky that Swanna's Water Pulse confused Chatot and at a critical moment, it hurt itself instead of attacking. That let me finally win. gg Taka. gg Karma.

(Fun fact: I'd put Talonflame back in my party sometime around the final attempt. If Swanna and/or my other mon had fainted, then Talonflame definitely would've finished the fight. Luckily it didn't come to that, so she was mainly there for good luck. Thanks, Talonflame! Even when you don't do anything, you're awesome.)

Solaris's Garchomp

Actually, remember how I said that karma got me back with Taka's fight? Well, after the results of this fight, now I'm not sure what to think except the end result for me will probably be humiliating. But before that happens, I get to celebrate the first time I ever beat Solaris's Garchomp, ever. And the way I did it turned out to be very simple, and very stupid.

First off, Aromatisee got a nice little Air Balloon to make him avoid Earthquake. He was immune to Dragon Rush, and I just had to hope that Fire Fang and/or Stone Edge wouldn't kill him.

At first I stuck with debuffing Garchomp with Charm and then switching to Altaria to attack, but if Garchomp ever got criticals (which he often did, the prick), then my HP was either in the reds or it was over, and I couldn't depend on that kind of hax. But even with all those debuffs, a single Dragon Rush could take out Altaria before she could even set up a Cotton Guard, critical hit or no critical.

I gave it one last shot, but this time, rather than debuff Garchomp, I buffed Aromatisse with Calm Mind. And I guess this method confused Garchomp's tiny little dragon mind, because sticking with Aromatisse and her stupid balloon locked Garchomp into spamming Earthquake.

Of course, that was like keeping a T.rex behind an electrical fence in Jurassic Park -- it's artificial safety, and Earthquake only had so much PP before Garchomp switched to a move that would hit Aromatisse for some painful, OHKO-y damage. I got some Calm Minds in, kept using Moonblast, and watched as Solaris's freakin' Garchomp actually fainted atop Pyrous Mountain.

And that's how I beat a level 75 Garchomp: tie a pink fairy bird thing to a balloon and watch it Moonblast stuff. Victory is pink and fluffy.

[Dreamy]

tie a pink fairy bird thing to a balloon

A sound strategy for nearly anything in life.

[Timber Dragon]

With all the mirrors I broke in Serra's mansion, I wonder how many years of bad luck I've accumulated. I wonder if it's related to that karma thing.

Team Updates

Redrum + Dusk Stone = Redrum with fedora

Aya
So Aya wasn't a nightmare. Sometimes double battles makes things more simple -- it's easier to take something down fast by having two mons gang up on one. Plus, aside from Aya's Tentacruel, the fight doesn't have any egregious type disadvantages to worry about.

The only real threats were Tentacruel for its Water-typing, and Dragalge and Gengar just for raw strength. I led with Fearow and Talonflame (shut up, she gets no OHKOs here; that's with Fighting-types, and Kiki), who quickly finish off Tentacruel. This makes it safe for Blaziken to come out when he needs to, though that also depended on if Nidoqueen felt like using any Ground-type moves (luckily she didn't).

Talonflame and Fearow eventually faint after getting some good damage on Dragalge. Swanna and Blaziken are both up next. From there, Blaziken sticks to Blaze Kick while Swanna assists with Water Pulse or Aerial Ace. Aya's team hit hard so I needed to be careful with all that poison.

Eventually Swanna fainted and Altaria took her place. Near the end, Blaziken fainted, but Altaria got the finishing blow with Dragon Pulse, stealing the hard-earned exp because that's apparently what my birds do.


Dr. Connal hates birds but that's okay, because I hate him just as much
Y'know, I never managed to beat Sigmund at Yureyu Building even in a normal playthrough. I would try, many times, but I always wound up taking on Sirius instead. It's a double battle with Cain where two of his Pokemon are weak to Electric, and if all his team fell (which in my playthroughs, they often did), then you're getting double-teamed. It's only gotten worse in recent episodes now that Sigmund has a field effect on his side during this fight. That's why I usually saved the Sigmund fight for Tanzan Cove.

So imagine my bafflement when, after a few frustrating attempts, I actually beat him in the one run I did not expect to beat him in.

I used Blaziken, Porygon2, and Aromatisse since sending out anyone else would be suicide. The biggest hurdle was getting past Luxray and Raichu. Raichu's Lightning Rod ability in a double battle filled with Electric-types caused many attempts to go south fast, but there was some luck involved with the field effect where their attacks wouldn't hit as hard.

Usually Cain drags me down in this fight, but he was actually useful this time around. Aromatisse and Nidoking managed to take down Luxray and Raichu, through Aromatisse fainted soon after. Blaziken took over for the most part while Nidoking helped out, and even Samurott's ridiculously short appearance got in a good Razor Shell. Blaze Kick + Charcoal managed to brute force Electivire, Eelektross, and Rotom.

The other hurdle, Lanturn, was fortunately handled by a well-timed Disable from Muk that locked Lanturn's Bubble Beam. With the main threat disabled, Blaziken was safe to Double Kick it in the spleen while Muk lobbed disgusting whatevers at it. Yay! I like it when your partners do useful things.

There was a lot of healing involved and some luck involving the field effect, plus a very useful contribution from Muk's Disable, but holy crap guys, a fight that I was dreading is actually out of the way.

Yes, an Electric-type battle that I had never been able to manage during a normal run was finally beaten in a run with a bunch of lightning rod birbs. I'm proud of myself gaiz.

Now I don't have to feel bad for ditching Heather so I could fight Sirius instead.


Bennett and Serra not funhouse of mirrors

Hoo boy, I hate this field effect.

Needless to say, Blaziken and Talonflame were the star players here, but Fearow and Swanna came in handy against Bennett thanks to never-miss Aerial Ace.

I'm glad that most of Serra's team can't do big damage to Blaziken. Most of them spam Signal Beam and Flash Cannon to take advantage of those circus mirrors Serra loves to use, but Blaziken is like a big buff stuffed turkey, so those attacks were mostly just annoyances. The real concerns were missing and taking damage (likely, given Blaze Kick's 90 percent accuracy combined with Serra's evasion boosts) and getting confused from Signal Beam.

I equipped Blaziken with Charcoal and put him in the lead. I'd need to be able to sweep what I can; it's too risky to keep any of Serra's team on the field for long thanks to those ungodly evasion buffs, which under normal circumstances are nuisances, but in this battle, missing hurts you unless using a special attack -- which none of my team has that's super effective.

Blaziken sets up two Bulk Ups and Blaze Kicks Cryogonal. Luckily Cryogonal couldn't do much damage. Blaziken misses against Jynx and takes damage, but he hits the next time and OHKOs it with a critical (up yours).

I heal when Glaceon is on the field -- Blaziken is in the yellows and I need to keep him healthy. Blaze Kick takes it down to the reds. So close. Signal Beam confuses him and that sucks. Not OHKOing Glaceon was actually a blessing in disguise since Serra used up an Ultra Potion, though the next Blaze Kick did the job.

Blaziken misses against Vanilluxe and takes damage. Then Vanilluxe's Frost Breath gets a crit (which is a 100 percent crit move, ouch) and now Blaziken has 5 HP left. I'm gonna make my birds too fat to fly with all the ice cream I keep healing them with. Or, in Blaziken's case, maybe I just make him a bigger stuffed turkey... filled with ice cream. You're welcome for the new Thanksgiving recipe.

Pffft oh this was perfect. Blaze Kick is running out of PP so I use Double Kick instead. Serra withdraws Vanilluxe and sends out... Aurorus. Double Kick hits it for a glorious 4x weakness to Fighting. I guess even I get to have some luck in this battle.

Vanilluxe is back, Double Kick misses and Blaziken takes damage. (Sorta) Mercifully Vanilluxe uses Mirror Shot instead of Frost Breath, which would have fainted Blazikena after that collision damage. Unfortunately, Mirror Shot also lowered his accuracy, sooooo fuck. Thankfully Double Kick connects and faints it.

Now it's Frosslass time. The hail that Aurorus had conjured boosts Frosslass's evasion. The item she's holding also boosts her evasion. Blaziken's evasion had been lowered previously, Blaze Kick has 90 percent accuracy, and unlike the rest of Serra's team, Frosslass uses attacks that can actually deal some decent damage. Would hax be on my side? Will my main battler faint and send my plans crashing face-first into a mirror and get all bruised and bloody and get 7+ years of bad luck?

Blaze Kick OHKOs her and I win. Yay!

[Timber Dragon]

Le Updates of Teame

Carrion (F)

Species: Mandibuzz

Nature: Careful/A little quick tempered

Ability: Big Pecks

Finally, a designated defensive birb.

Sirius
This must be my reward for managing to beat Sigmund at Yureyu, because this Sirius is a much more straightforward fight than either of Dr. Butt's encounters.

I lead with Mandibuzz because... she just happened to be in the first slot. Sirius leads with Chandelure. Mandibuzz is bulky enough to survive for a while and strong enough to land good hits in, but a Heat Wave dealt heavy damage and burned her, a Confuse Ray made it worse, and a Shadow Ball finishes her off. Oh well, not bad for your debut fight.

Lesse... I have Blaziken, Talonflame, Aromatisse... I'm getting some Shade flashbacks here. In that case, Timber knows what to do! (Not really.)

Send out Aromatisse and get in two Calm Minds followed by a Moonblast. Luckily Chandelure sticks with Psychic and Confuse Ray, and Heat Wave misses at one point. Chandelure was already weakened so yay.

Yay Manectric. I love Electric-types. Aromatisse is weakened but thankfully he still has enough steam left. Manectric uses Crunch instead of anything more ouchie so it's a KO right there.

Bring in Porygon2 for Seviper. If I recall, Seviper has Aqua Tail so Blaziken and Talonflame would be risky, but Porygon2 has Psybeam. Psybeam deals decent damage, but then Sirius recalls Seviper for... Hitmontop. Two Psybeams take care of that nuisance. Seviper comes back and Porygon2 finishes where it left off.

Blaziken is sent out for Probopass and its nice 4x Fighting weakness. Blaziken Double Kicks it in its schnozz... and leaves it with, like, 1 HP left. Jesus, Blaziken. Well, Probopass paralyzes him with Thunder Wave. I figure I'd use the chance to heal up Aromatisse, just in case. Sirius heals up Probopass in the meanwhile. Okay, let's try this again. Paralyzed! Can't move. And here comes the Rock Slide fooooor meh damage. Blaziken uses Blaze Kick again, using Probopass's big schnozer like a giant red target, like, "Please kick me!"

Healing Aromatisse turned out to be the right call, because Sirius finishes things off with Honchcrow. A Brave Bird does serious damage (it must be the fedora), but Aromatisse survives and KOs it with Moonblast.

Phew! A much easier fight than Sigmund's shock-happy team.


Steelix

I brought along my Perish Song Murkrow in the event Steelix destroys me, but I wanted to see if I could win without resorting to that. It turns out that a team of squishy birbs can take on anything if you just revive them enough.

Everyone but Aromatisse could outspeed Steelix. I got in a good hit with Swanna's Aqua Pulse, but where Earthquake couldn't wreck me, Stone Edge (or was it Rock Slide?) could. Blaziken was the best burd for the fight, but Earthquake is a guaranteed OHKO.

The fight mainly boiled down to letting Blaziken get in a Blaze Kick, get KO'd, send next birb out and use turn to revive Blaziken (further healing is pointless since most everything's a OHKO anyway), rinse and repeat until Steelix faints.

Sometimes I have to wonder how my flock feels when I sacrifice them for the greater good.


PULSE Abra

Murkrow and Sucker Punch. Pretty good for what's essentially your debut fight, Redrum. That was easy!


Noel

After I discovered the whole 'Blaziken uses a bunch of Bulk Ups and wrecks everyone' strategy for Noel, I haven't really bothered to find any other way to deal with the kid. That technique might've been passable for when Noel's Swellow had Fire Orb + Guts + Facade = YOU WON'T SURVIVE WITHOUT A MILLION BULK UPS, but just for shits and giggles, I decided, nah. Hell, maybe I won't need to use Blaziken at all!

(Well, he's still in my party just in case, because c'mon... this is Noel).

I lead with Honchcrow because... actually I don't know. Why did I lead a Honchcrow against a Fairy-tpe? Well, whatever. Honchcrow uses Wing Attack, but then gets paralyzed with Thunder Wave and OHKO'd by Dazzling Gleam.

Fire against fire, then. I send out Aromatisse and do a few Moonblasts. I'm kinda surprised Noel didn't use any healing items. I have a feeling this'll bite me later.

Oh god, it's the Swellow. THE Swellow. Welp, Porygon2 has Discharge. Swellow uses Brave Bird, ouch. Discharge OHKOs Swellow, ouch. I'm very glad for Swellow's nerf. I am so very, very glad for Swellow's nerf.

Porygon-Z... huh. Okay, better get some inspiration, P-Sharp, cuz that's what you'll be one day. We both use Tri-Attack, but unfortunately, Porygon-Z is faster and P-Sharp was already weakened from Swellow. I heal it, but Porygon-Z's next Tri Attack paralyzes P-Sharp and takes a big chunk of its HP. I took a chance, and whadoyaknow, Porygon-Z uses Discharge instead. P-Sharp survives and its Tri Attack finishes it off. Well, I guess we proved who's the better Cyber Birb.

Cinccino is probably the most annoying member of Noel's team minus pre-nerf Swellow. I switch Porygon2 for Talonflame -- not taking any chances against this one. (Well, if I REALLY didn't wanna take a chance, I'd have sent out Blaziken instead, but y'know...). Of course, maybe I really should've taken a chance, because Cinccino has Rock Blast. Sorry, Talonflame. Acrobatics did a good job, but it didn't save you here.

Aromatisse is sent back out, still weakened but hopefully still okay to battle. He BARELY survives a Tail Slap with 2 HP, and after Talonflame's work, Moonblast finishes the job.

For Girafarig I try to heal up Aromatisse, but healing can't keep up with its Psychic. I send out Swanna to revive him just in case. Thunderbolt OKHOs her, as I... kinda maybe totally did anticipate (sorry, Swanna). Porygon2's back out, albeit weakened, but better able to tank its attacks. I keep healing Porygon2 while I wait for an opening, where Girafarig uses Thunderbolt instead of Psychic. Once it's safe-ish (Porygon2 is still paralyzed) it uses Tri Attack. Noel abruptly remembers he has healing items, but Porygon2 is healthy enough where it can keep attacking while being able to barely survive. Girafarig goes down.

Aromatisse is back out for Clefable. This matchup became mainly an endurance contest of attacking, (de)buffing, and healing. Clefable's attacks don't necessarily hurt, but between the field effect, Leftovers, Noel's healing items, and Soft Boiled, I was more worried about Aromatisse running out of PP for his attack moves. By the time Moonblast was down to 3 PP, I lost patience and used a Dire Hit. It turned out to be unnecessary because Clefable used other moves instead, but good grief, finally it goes down.

See? No Blaziken required.

And now that I've proven that I can beat Noel without Bulk Up Blaziken, next time I fight him, I'm using Bulk Up Blaziken. Just because.

[Honchy]

I never used mandibuzz before, also I'm not a big fan of Noel, because of his putting down Anna attitude.

Also, I never realized, but why are you still getting gym badges in the game. There are people trying to murder you, and your character is focusing on gym badges. If the league is so important, the leaders should just give you the badges if it's for some ultimate save the world reason.

[Timber Dragon]

I never used mandibuzz before, also I'm not a big fan of Noel, because of his putting down Anna attitude.

Also, I never realized, but why are you still getting gym badges in the game. There are people trying to murder you, and your character is focusing on gym badges. If the league is so important, the leaders should just give you the badges if it's for some ultimate save the world reason.

I've never used Mandibuzz either, and admittedly she hasn't seen much action until recently, but so far she's been useful for being one of the few defensively oriented birbs I have.

Needing badges for HMs wouldn't be so bad if the circumstances where you need them weren't so urgent. Kids are captured and need rescuing ASAP? Nope, gotta climb a volcano, beat a gym leader, stop the volcano, and beat another gym leader so you can actually use the HM that you really desperately need. Entire town is potentially starving? Nope, gotta fight a gym leader first and then actually get the HM from someone else. Someone fell down a waterfall and someone else dived down to rescue her? Nope, gym leader time. It kinda makes me wonder how long the people you need to help are waiting for you to finish your business. Even Titania gets pissed at you because you took so long.

NotArceus

The birds:

Like with Steelix and PULSE Abra, I have Perish Song Murkrow ready to kamikaze if it comes to that. And just like Steelix and PULSE Abra, it didn't come to that.

I was fully prepared to do Perish Song; from the beginning I'd decided that if there was any fight where I'd need to use it, it's this one. The field effect and the fact that it's a freakin' Arceus makes the fight stacked against you, and really, a lot of the fight depended on luck.

First off, Judgement's type changes at random thanks to the field effect. That means if a Judgement became a type that Blaziken was weak to or even neutral against, it's a OHKO and the initial barrage is over, which would throw off the rest of the fight. Sometimes the RNG decided to use Shadow Ball instead, but it could've just as well been another Judgement.

Blaziken leads with a Fighting Gem (I probably could've just stuck with his normal Black Belt, but whatever). Judgement luckily was a type Blaziken resisted, knocking his HP to the reds but not KOing him. He gets in a Double Kick and Speed Boost increases his speed, allowing him to get in another Double Kick before fainting.

Talonflame is equipped with a Flying Gem and with her priority to Flying-type moves, gets in a boosted Acrobatics. It's minor damage all things considered, but everything helps. NotArceus uses Shadow Ball instead of Judgement, letting Talonflame barely survive and allowing her to get in a second Acrobatics before NotArceus uses Judgement.

Honchkrow is next, equipped with a Dark Gem, and getting in a Sucker Punch. Again, it's minimal damage, but everything helps.

Porygon2 is the sacrificial birb this time -- I noticed that NotArceus tended to use Focus Blast on him over anything else, so since there was no point to survival, I use its turn to revive Blaziken. Aromatisse's turn is used to heal him fully, and of course, Judgement OHKOs him.

Blaziken is back on the field. Like in the opening, Judgement just so happens to be a type that Blaziken resists. He gets in two Double Kicks thanks to Speed Boost, and that gets the finishing blow to the bubblegum god.

Like I said, the whole fight boiled down to luck. Arceus is tough even in a normal playthrough, but against a bunch of birds? I love my speedy kick chicken. Well, I love all my birbs, not matter how much I heal-sacrifice them BUT IT'S FOR A GOOD CAUSE DAMMIT.

Anyway, I beat Arceus without Perish Song, so there.

Radomus

The birds:

Y'know, Psychic and Rock are a weird combination to have to deal with when the Pokemon in question actually aren't Rock-type themselves.

Mandibuzz will be a star player here. In addition to being immune to the Psychic/Rock chess battering ram, she's bulky enough to hopefully able to survive some of the non-Psychic moves Radomus has, and the field effect boosts her Feint Attack's power.

I open with Mandibuzz and Talonflame while Radomus leads with Gallade and Reuniclus. Talonflame is today's sacrificial bird. With Gallade being part Fighting, he needs to go down ASAP, and Acrobatics does just that. Unfortunately, with her 4x Rock weakness, a single Psychic will destroy her so she just needs to hold out for however long she can.

Metagross is sent out, but they both gang up on Reuniclus and take it down. Unfortunately, I probably should've focused on Metagross instead because Strength also has the additional Rock-type damage. Since Metagross had previously hit her with a Meteor Mash, it's a KO. Welp.

Aromatisse is sent out and I use his initial turn to revive Mandibuzz. Radomus sends out Slowking, and it and Metagross gang up on Talonflame, fainting her. Porygon2 takes her place. Tri Attack deals decent damage against Slowking, but Slowking and Metagross gang up on Porygon2 and KO it (I'm sensing a pattern here). Mandibuzz is sent back out. I use Aromatisse's turn to heal her while Mandibuzz finishes off Slowking.

Metagross OHKOs Aromatisse with Meteor Mash. Really bad timing because Malamar is sent out, and Aromatisse would've been effective against it. Honchkrow is sent out to be a placeholder while I revive Aromatisse. This time Mandibuzz focuses on Metagross, who's a bigger problem than I expected. Honchkrow barely manages to survive a Meteor Mash (luckily it didn't use Strength). He and Mandibuzz KO Metagross with Dark attacks while Malamar just kinda squids around. Said squid finishes off Honchkrow with Super Power.

A recently-revived and weakened Aromatisse is sent back out while Gossip Gardevoir is sent in. This is what I was hoping for, because no one in my team is readily equipped to deal with Fairy-types -- the best I can do, as usual, is brute force.

Aromatisse uses Calm Mind while Mandibuzz uses her turn to heal him. Gardevoir... gets a critical with Moonblast and OHKOs him. Swanna is the last of my team. She uses her turn to revive Aromatisse AGAIN before getting KO'd by Psychic. Aromatisse gets a Calm Mind while Mandibuzz focuses on keeping him healthy. Gardevoir and Malamar both focus on Aromatisse (Jesus, people!) who barely survives and OHKOs Malamar.

Now they're both (sorta) safe to wail on Gardevoir and she faints. Phew!

And speaking of Psychic-types... Team Updates!

Okay so I need some suggestions here. After spending how long riding my bike back and fourth atop the ctrl alt delete place thingy you fight Arceus, I caught two birbs: Xatu and Sigilyph.

Psychic bird

Other Psychic bird

The problem is that they're both Psychic birds and I'm not sure which one to focus on. Now, I could just raise both for redundancy, but that's extra work and I think ultimately, one is the better option than the other. Here's my two cents on the dilemma:

Sigilyph

-Overall higher stats, so better staying power over the long term.

-More useful abilities like Wonder Skin and Tinted Lens.

-Seems to have a better move pool that takes more advantage of both its typings.

Xatu

-Is a cuter birdy.

You're probably thinking that this is a joke, but I'm honestly conflicted here.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Timber Dragon

[YinYang9705]

Use Sigilyph.

[Timber Dragon]

Team Updates

Timber Brightcrest (M)

Species: Dragon Empoleon

Nature: Brave/Quick to flee

Ability: Defiant (subject to change)

Yeeeah, not sure how 'brave' and 'quick to flee' go together. Maybe it's seeing the value of a tactical retreat? Anyhoo, WHOOOOO I have so been looking forward to this guy. In fact, if I'd planned ahead better, I'd have requested Piplup instead of Magby (which is still totally a bird gaiz). He hasn't seen much action yet, mainly sponging off my team through Exp.Share, but WHOOOO a defensively-oriented bird who unlike Mandibuzz will also be able to hit hard.

Goodnight Luna

The birds:

So, I haven't wrecked a gym leader this badly since Kiki.

Her Honchkrow with Brave Bird + Moxie put a huge dent in my first attempt, so lesson learned. Next attempt, Blaziken Sky Uppercutted Bisharp and Tyranitar, and Aromatisse was sent in to handle Malamar. Since I needed to guarantee that Honchkrow would go down immediately, I set up two Calm Minds and OHKO'd Malamar with Draining Kiss, also restoring any damage he'd taken to near full health.

When Honchkrow appeared, it luckily used Dark Pulse rather than Brave Bird (though Aromatisse would've survived either way), and a buffed Moonblast took advantage of its squishy defenses -- something I know all too well with my birbs, especially my own Honchkrow.

Since Aromatisse was already buffed, I figured, hey why not let him handle the rest of the team? Well, the resulting sweep probably added Luna to the list of things that Karma will get back at me for one day.

Okay. So. Aromatisse.

wut

I don't think I gave this bird the props he deserves. When I first got him I didn't think much of him. He didn't seem all that spectacular. I figured he would just be a random Fairy-type that might come in handy from time to time. What I did NOT expect was for Miasma to save my ass on many many occasions. In fact, he technically proved his worth the second I got him up to speed and used him against all those Electric-types in the orphanage. He's turned out to be such a backbone that he's rarely left my active party. Even when I don't count on him to sweep, I can count on him to hold the fort long enough for me to do something useful.

From taking down Solaris's Garchomp, to his stall against Noel's Clefable, to decimating Luna, and being a general brute forcer when the situation called for it, Miasma has become a true teammate. A real bird-that's-not-really-a-bird-but-looks-enough-like-one-for-the-purposes-of-this-run fluffy pink Fairy fighter, destroyer of dragons and darkness.

You rock, Miasma. Continue making this run less infuriating than it could be.


Taking care of some pre-Agate business

So! With Luna out of the way, it's time to head for post-Agate areas, which means a long while before we get to head back to Reborn proper. It's a loooong point of no return with four gym leaders and many tough bosses, and no access to the Department Store.

So before I venture out to the Great Beyond, I'd like to grind for cash so I can save up for cool Department Store thingies. The ones that'll eat into my wallet is the full set of Power EV items and EV reduction berries. Speaking of EVs, I'll take a quick reassessment of how my flock's doing in that department and adjust if necessary. I'm by no means an EV trainer, but if a bird has all these EVs in special attack when they're supposed to be a physical attacker, then that's a problem.


The flock

In terms of pre-Agate Pokemon, if there was a bird I wanted to add to my flock, I probably already did it by now. I know that I missed a few (Noctowl, Pelipper, and Swellow at the top of my head, but there are more), but honestly they're not all that great. Or, they can be useful with some proper setup, but by the time I'll have access to appropriate TMs or items, I'd have already caught better birds like Braviary, Hawlucha, and Staraptor that don't need those kinds of specialized setups to be useful.

And some of my birds are already falling behind, or will in the near future. Swanna will most likely be phased out for Empoleon as my primary Water-type, with Golduck possibly taking her place as backup in the future. Fearow is being used less and less and will probably give way to Braviary or whoever as a generalized physical attacker. And poor Pidgeot has been collecting dust in my PC since level 28. I wish I could use all my cute birds, but the reality is that some of them are not keeping up and certainly won't be able to handle post-Agate content with the resources currently available.

Post-Agate is a significant milestone of sorts, so here's a recap of my team:

Primary birbs:

Cochin (M) lv. 61

Species: Blaziken

Nature: Jolly/Somewhat vain

Ability: Speed Boost

Item(s): Black Belt, Charcoal

-Blaze Kick

-Bulk Up

-Sky Uppercut

-Focus Energy

P-Sharp (Yes) lv. 56

Species: Porygon2

Nature: Timid/Thoroughly cunning

Ability: Analytic

Item(s): Silk Scarf, Twisted Spoon

-Tri Attack

-Discharge

-Psybeam

-Conversion2

Nova (F) lv. 53

Species: Talonflame

Nature: Serious/Loves to eat

Ability: Gale Wings

Item(s): None or Charcoal

-Acrobatics

-Flame Charge

-Me First

-Roost

Miasma (M) lv. 62

Species: Aromatisse

Nature: Relaxed/Highly curious

Ability: Healer

Item(s): Pixie Plate

-Moonblast

-Charm

-Draining Kiss

-Calm Mind

Weiss (F) lv. 49

Species: Altaria

Nature: Modest/Very finicky

Ability: Cloud Nine

Item(s): Draco Plate

-Dragon Pulse

-Cotton Guard

-Round

-Perish Song

Redrum (M) lv. 55

Species: Honchkrow

Nature: Lonely/Mischievous

Ability: Super Luck

Item(s): BlackGlasses

-Night Slash

-Wing Attack

-Nasty Plot

-Sucker Punch

Carrion (F) lv. 54

Species: Mandibuzz

Nature: Careful/A little quick tempered

Ability: Big Pecks

Item(s): Dread Plate

-Feint Attack

-Pluck

-Punishment

-Iron Defense

Timber Dragon Brightcrest (M) lv. 54

Species: Empoleon

Nature: Brave/Quick to flee

Ability: Defiant

Item(s): None yet

-Brine

-Drill Peck

-Icy Wind

-Agility

Will-probably-be-retired/Actually retired birbs:

Comet (F) lv. 28

Species: Pidgeot

Nature: Bold/Mischievous

Ability: Big Pecks

-Gust

-Quick Attack

-Feather Dance

-Sand Attack

Hesslich (M) lv. 49

Species: Unfezant

Nature: Impish/Quick to flee

Ability: Super Luck

Item(s): None

-Air Slash

-Quick Attack

-Roost

-Feather Dance

Pistol (F) lv. 40

Species: Fearow

Nature: Serious/Strong willed

Ability: Sniper

Item(s): None

-Aerial Ace

-Assurance

-Agility

-Mirror Move

Adagio (F) lv. 56

Species: Swanna

Nature: Quiet/Proud of its power

Ability: Hydration

Item(s): None

-Water Pulse

-Aerial Ace

-Aqua Ring

-Brave Bird

Backup/Misc. Birds

Murkrow (M) lv. 44

Species: Murkrow

Nature: Lonely/Likes to thrash about

Ability: Prankster Super Luck? Uh...

Item(s): None

-Mean Look

-Assurance

-Taunt

-Perish Song

Xatu (M) lv. 44

Species: Xatu

Nature: Jolly/Somewhat stubborn (Definitely subject to change)

Ability: Synchronize

Item(s): None yet

-Psychic

-Wish

-Miracle Eye

-Psycho Shift

Sigilyph (F) lv. 40

Species: Sigilyph

Nature: Naughty/Capable of taking hits

Ability: Tinted Lens

Item(s): None yet

-Reflect

-Synchronoise

-Mirror Move

-Gravity

Edited July 4, 2016 by Timber Dragon