Bye Bye Birdies! Timber's Bird-Themed Run

[Timber Dragon]

Team Updaets

Wayward (M)

Species: Braviary

Nature: Impish/Somewhat of a clown

Ability: Defiant

Alternate names included MuricaBirb and Bandit Keith. So, it looks like we got our replacement for Fearow for a generalized physical attacker. Staraptor is coming up next, though that'll probably be more of a Brave Birber.

Hawlucha (F) (can't think of a nickname yet)

Species: Guess

Nature: Careful/Likes to fight

Ability: Limber (subject to change)

Stat-wise, a Hawlucha is only a few pegs better than a bird like Fearow... maybe the key is in the moveset? Oh well. I'll find a use eventually.

Kiki v.2

The birds:

Karma finally got me back. I can tell that it's karma because I'm facing off against Samson.

Whenever I thought of this fight, I thought I'd be cute and do a little joke where I have Talonflame sweep everything, go lol jk, and do another attempt for real, Talonflame-less, to prove to the universe that I'm not cheap.

Except it didn't go that way at all. Talonflame couldn't sweep anything. She didn't even get past Hariyama.

Samson is more mindful of his weaknesses than Kiki is. While I could certainly sweep him, the field effect plus his own bulky Pokemon make it just as likely for him to sweep me. So, when things went well, I was destroying him. But when things went poorly, boy did they go south fast. This might be the first gym battle where where we're both as likely to OHKO each other.

There are so many aspects about this fight that needed to go perfectly, or the whole thing falls apart. On her initial move, Talonflame's Acrobatics needs to deal enough damage to Hariyama to make Samson use a Hyper Potion. If he doesn't use a turn healing, then Aromatisse -- who will be sent out after Hariyama inevitably OHKOs Talonflame with Smack Down -- will be OHKO'd with Heavy Slam, and then everything falls apart from there.

When Aromatisse faces Mienshao, Poison Jab cannot actually poison him nor can it be a critical -- the former makes me waste a turn when fighting Lucario (see below) and that can lead to bad news, and the latter is a OHKO.

When Blaziken faces Lucario, Blaze Kick will take it down to one HP due to its Focus Sash. This is actually beneficial because Samson will spend another turn healing, giving me a chance to heal any damage Aromatisse sustained against Mienshao.

Blaziken will face Samson's Blaziken, in what's essentially a punchy firey cock fight. Ideally Sky Uppercut will OHKO Samson's Blaziken, but with the field effect's randomness there aren't any guarantees.

Hawlucha is the roadblock here. Swords Dance + Acrobatics + the field effect might as well be instant death. Aromatisse NEEDS a OHKO if Swords Dance takes effect, or the whole battle is pretty much over -- no Pokemon I have can survive that kind of brutal setup.

Conkledurr is a somewhat lesser roadblock, and can KO Aromatisse with Poison Jab. Braviary luckily does good damage with Sky Drop, but that depends on the High Striker roll. Luckily Braviary finishes it off, wrapping up his debut battle.

.......

Dude? We need to talk.

It's funny, really. For all this talk about Talonflame being so overpowered that it's not even implemented in Reborn yet, mine has been pretty lackluster so far. Demolishing Kiki was her shining moment, but she had no comparable moments before then, nor after -- not even against Samson.

If anything, my Aromatisse is the one who tends to save the day alongside Blaziken (who's a starter so of course he'll be OP) and occasionally Porygon2. But Talonflame's been, at best... backup. That's it. Not a sweeper save for Kiki, not even a primary front-liner like some of my other birds. Just a specialized mon who gets in an Acrobatics or two, then faints, because great Arceus that thing cannot take a punch.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Maybe Talonflame is more OP competitively, when it has proper items or TMs, in a team that compliments its strengths and gives it a designated role. But with the resources currently available to us in Reborn, and in this particular run, I'm not impressed.

I wouldn't be this disgruntled if Talonflame wasn't known as this godly firebird that'll wreck everything and laugh at you over a cigarette. Maybe the claims were exaggerated or I'm just not using it right because I suck (it wouldn't be the first time). I dunno. All I know is that Aromatisse saved my butt far more than Talonflame ever did.


Y'know, I kinda miss the cigarette that Charlotte holds in her vs. picture

The birds:

Charlotte's fight went a little something like this,

but with Yang's little sister Ruby there to be the meat shield while Yang does all the awesome stuff.

The whole battle mainly boiled down to keeping Blaziken healthy while he hit stuff with Blaze Kick or Flare Blitz. Charlotte's field effect is so potent that Fire-type attacks do big damage even to other Fire-types. Combine that with Charcoal and two Bulk Ups, and Blaziken was a one-birb show... out of necessity. No one in the flock was capable of dealing heavy enough damage to Charlotte's team, let alone surviving long enough to do so. No, not even Talonflame. Especially not Talonflame. Lightweight, I tell ya.

The good news is that Charlotte gives you the Flamethrower TM, which I immediately teach to Talonflame. Now she has use as a Fire-type instead of an Acrobatics slave -- Flame Charge was not doing its job.

[Timber Dragon]

Team Updates:

Stormfall (F)

Species: Golduck

Nature: Naive/Capable of taking hits

Ability: Swift Swim

Since Swanna has pretty much been decommissioned by this point, Golduck will be a secondary Water-type bird. In some cases, using her will be safer than Empoleon. Empoleon's Steel-typing makes him a defensive tank... in a normal game, but in Reborn, many opponents carry powerful Fighting- or Ground-type moves that can easily ruin his day. Golduck at least guarantees I have a reliable Water-type that doesn't have any common weaknesses beyond the usual Electric.

I get the Dubious Disc from Terra's 'dungeon' and how P-Sharp is finally a Porygon-Z. Now there can't be arguments that P-Sharp is indeed a bird. It has WINGS now! whooooo

Blake

The birds:

Blaziken and Talonflame against Jynx and Rotom Frost. They gang up on Jynx first because Psychic = good for Blaziken. Rotom takes down Talonflame (of course) with Thunderbolt. Aromatisse takes her place (of course!) while Blake sends out Vanilluxe.

Blaziken KOs Rotom with Sky Uppercut and Aromatisse Moonblasts Vanilluxe. Vanilluxe deals good damage against Aromatisse with freakin' Flash Cannon of all moves, but survives (take notes, Talonflame). Blake sends out Froslass. Blaziken takes out Froslass with Flare Blitz while Aromatisse heals, though Vanilluxe does the same.

Weavile is up next. Blaziken Sky Uppercuts it while Aromatisse uses his turn to heal Blaziken. Weavile is down but Walrein is out.

Hoo boy, gotta take this one down fast. Blaziken Sky Uppercuts it and I take a chance with Aromatisse to attack, even though he needs to heal. Unfortunately Vanilluxe's Freeze-Dry finishes him off and Walrein's Surf takes Blaziken down. Double KO.

Porygon2 and Empoleon are out. Porygon2 uses Discharge to take out Walrein, unfortunately also hitting Empoleon but I use his turn to revive Blaziken. Empoleon survives, but Walrein hangs on by a sliver of its HP. Walrein inadvertently finishes off Vanilluxe with Surf, but Blake heals Walrein. I heal Empoleon up for another round of Discharge. I took a chance with Empoleon's Drill Peck since the field effect would strengthen it, but Discharge turned out to be a critical and takes down Empoleon. Whoops. Surf finishes off Porygon2 immediately after. Double whoops, double KO again.

Blaziken is back out, albeit weakened, and my only other bird available is Braviary. Luckily Blaziken finishes it off with Sky Uppercut, without needing Braviary's help. I could've used his turn to heal Blaziken, but oh well, Blake's down. Not bad for a bunch of birbs going against Ice-types.

Also, Blake pays me far less than the Meteor grunts I fought along the way. As if we don't have enough reasons to think he's a dick.


Mewtwo's Genwunner Bullcrap

Remember when I said that if there was any fight where I'd need to use the Prankster-Perish Song trick, it'd be Arceus? Well, I lied. It's Mewtwo.

Sorry, I had to do it. Maybe I could barely scrape by if Mewtwo didn't have Leftovers like 80 percent of the other mons you fight, but he did, and my flock just couldn't keep up. I probably could've figured something else out, but honestly I didn't have the patience to deal with Mewtwo and his Gen 1 OP Psychic-type bullcrap.

It's kinda funny how when Genwunners exalt their favorite generation, they only think of it in terms of the Pokemon designs. I wonder what would happen if someone made them sit down and actually PLAY the later games, then compare the mechanics and presentation to Gen 1's. Or, you could make them slog through Mewtwo in this fight, because he and the field effect do a nice job reminding us that Gen 1, truly, was only the beginning of this series.


T3RR4

The birds:

Terra was a fight that I was not looking forward to, but not for the reasons I was expecting. I tend to not take advantage of my Flying-types' immunity to Ground, because Ground-type Pokemon tend to go hand-in-hand with Rock-type moves. T3RR4 certainly delivered on the reasons I was dreading her, but since the only Flying-type I brought into the fight was Braviary, Rock-type moves were the least of my worries.

No, Terra was hard just because she was annoying. But I'm sure you already realized that.

Thankfully by this point, I found the Dubious Disc and evolved Porygon2 into Porygon-Z. Armed with a much higher Sp.Atk and equipped with Mind Plate to take advantage of the field effect, Porygon-Z became one of my main front-liners.

I lead with Porygon-Z and T3RR4 leads with Team Rocket's leader who looks suspiciously like a Nidoking. Psybeam gets GIOVANNI down to the reds and even confuses him. Porygon-Z takes minor damage from a Flamethrower, but I'd like to stay healthy. I heal while T3RR4 does the same.

GIOVANNI is withdrawn for HIPHOPOTAMUS, Psybeaming hitting it instead for meh damage. Stone Edge nearly KOs Porygon-Z, but Porygon-Z is faster and finishes off HIPHOPOTAMUS.

T3RR4 brings GIOVANNI back and I heal Porygon-Z. GIOVANNI uses Flamethrower and Thunderbolt, which thankfully aren't too bad. Psybeam deals big damage but not enough to KO him, but this makes T3RR4 use her healing items. I get lucky when GIOVANNI uses Blizzard, which misses, so Porygon-Z is able to finish him off.

EXCAKILL is up next. It was risky bringing Blaziken into the fight, but Excadrill doesn't have the best defense so Blaziken should be able to outspeed it and hopefully OHKO it before things go south. Blaze Kick gets EXCAKILL's HP down low but not enough to KO it, and Earthquake OHKOs Blaziken. It worked out, though, because EXCAKILL's Life Orb finishes it off.

Golduck is up to bat against CLAYBOYBUNNY. Thanks to the field, Amnesia should also increase its Sp.Atk... except I tested this theory before reading in the Bug Wall that the field's offense/defensive split was improperly done. Well, her damage is okay regardless but far from a OHKO. Bulldoze isn't too painful but it keeps lowering Golduck's speed. Doesn't matter -- CLAYBOYBUNNY takes them both out with Explosion in the fight's second double KO.

I'll send out Aromatisse. If I'm right... nope, it's SWAGSIRE. Oh well. For shits and giggles I get in a Calm Mind, not realizing the field effect's effect is broken. Moonblast barely scratches it. This isn't working. I switch to Braviary... which was an awful idea because of Blizzard. Fuck.

Porygon-Z's back on the field, but desperately needs healing. I use my sole Hyper Potion and a lucky Tri Attack paralyzes SWAGSIRE. Unfortunately SWAGSIRE is still very bulky. It doesn't hit particularly hard, but with its defenses combined with those Arceus forsaken Leftovers, I can't deal enough damage while still staying healthy. Porygon-Z uses the last of its HP to revive Golduck for later.

Empoleon's out. I accidentally use Agility, but it worked out in that his increased speed also boosts his crit rate. Scald burns him, but the Agility did the trick and two Surfs finally KO it.

Okay, NOW it's time for RAWRCHOMP. Empoleon doesn't have the HP to survive anything RAWCHOMP throws at him, Ground-type move or no, so I use his last turn to heal Golduck. Golduck is out, and ohhh this is bad. Hydro Pump managed to hit but barely damages it. I'd almost forgotten that Garchomp is a pseudo-legendary for a reason.

I heal Golduck. The next Draco Meteor misses, but Surf still doesn't do much damage and Stone Edge takes off a big chunk of her HP. I heal Golduck in the hopes for an opening. Bulldoze hits hard and lowers her speed, which just increases RAWRCHOMP's chances for a critical hit.

Without much choice, I use my lone Max Revive on Porygon-Z. Luckily RAWRCHOMP uses Flamethrower, which does paltry damage, but the next Stone Edge finally does Golduck in.

Porygon-Z is out again, fully healed, but a critical hit Draco Meteor nearly OHKOs it. I heal AGAIN, but two Bulldozes leaves it with 3 HP. Okay, someone's gotta finish this thing off, and who better than the established dragon slayer? Porygon-Z uses its final moments to heal our hero.

Aromatisse once again saves the day with Moonblast and a little bit of luck -- RAWRCHOMP chose to use Flamethrower instead of pretty much anything else that would end this battle.

Aromatisse is the lone survivor with 17 HP and a whole ton of pride. That's, what, two successful big-time Rawr--er, Garchomps taken down?

Seriously, I love this birb. Whenever things go south, no matter what I'm fighting, I can usually count on Aromatisse to do useful things.

[Red_Chaos]

Not bad, Terra was always a pain for me

[Timber Dragon]

PULSE Swalot

I did the Prankster-Perish Song thing again. I'm sorry, I don't like relying on such a cheap strategy, but PULSE Swalot is a nightmare in the best of times. NONE of the birds available to me could keep up with the field effect's heavy healing, let alone survive more than one or two hits. I tried, I really did, but it just wasn't happening.

But can you really blame me? LOOK at that asshole! What the crap is inside that green abyss it calls a mouth? The gates to hell, I'll bet.


Team Meteor party! Solaris, Freezer Dick, Meteor Dudes, and whatshisface

The birds:

This had to be the hardest battle in this run, and I am very proud of my flock for eventually pulling through.

It took some painful lessons and multi-bird destruction, but I eventually found out what worked. My and Florinia's team were at a disadvantage to Blake, and even the initial Meteor Ace fight tossed out pairs that covered each others' weakness. That, or they just happened to be types that were bad news for me and/or my robot plant buddy.


Meteor Ace dude folks

For the Meteor Aces, Grumpig and Noctowl tended to take out Blaziken early, so Braviary eventually became my lead instead and life was made much easier. Until recently I've been neglecting the wonder that is Sky Drop, a move that essentially stunlocks an opponent into inaction as long as you outspeed it, which Braviary usually does.

While Sky Drop didn't do the heaviest damage, for one turn it'd take an opponent out of action -- an opponent that could likely sweep me and Florinia -- and damage it. While it left Florinia to fend for herself, at least it'd hopefully be against a single mon that she could deal with... usually. That Darmanitan took down half her team while Braviary just kinda flew around and dropped stuff on the floor, but regardless! Relying on Sky Drop early on let me take down some big threats and allowed some other birds in on the action. Because believe me, this battle took some teamwork.

(Spoiler: Porygon-Z and Altaria didn't do jack, but I'm sure they were cheering from the sidelines.)


Freezer Dick and whatshisface

So, a full-team double battle between a not-a-Gym Leader and a Swag? No pressure.

Well, Blake's Walrein said hi, and it was a painful bricky icy wall that made life needlessly difficult for my other birds. When Blaziken had been leading, he would get Surf'd and there would go my only Fire-type to handle the rest of Blake's team, because no way was I bringing in that lightweight Talonflame -- I need birds that can SURVIVE for more than a turn.

While Florinia's Hippowdon handled Haxorus, Braviary continually Sky Dropped Walrein to save both our asses. Eventually it was safe enough for a simple Aerial Ace to take down Walrein. After Hippowdon had fainted, Torterra finished off Haxorus through a combination of brute force and leftover sandstorm damage.

The biggest threats were out of the picture, and Golduck handled Fern's Rhyperior, Mamoswine, and Krookodile. Blaziken probably could've handled all those things too, but I was a little worried about any Ground-type attacks they'd have. Poor Blaziken got pounded so much during these previous attempts that I wanted to guarantee it was safe for him to come out. Blaziken is the victim here!

Or maybe it's that karma thing coming back. I mean, he did spend a lot of the game hitting stuff and winning.

Anyhoo, Rotom eventually gets sent out, so it's time for Golduck to bail for Blaziken. She manages to survive Rotom's Volt Switch, which sends out Weavile while Fern sends out Roserade. I guess karma isn't through with Blaziken, because both Weavile and Roserade bum rush him and severely weaken him. Florinia has her Ferrothorn out and Gyro Ball OHKOs Weavile, and Roserade's Extrasensory finishes Blaziken off.

Braviary's out, and Froslass replaces Weavile. In an epic triple KO, Braviary, Froslass, and Ferrothorn all manage to finish each other off while Roserade's just kinda standing there wondering what the crap just happened.

Blaziken is revived by this point. Though weakened, he Blaze Kicks the rest of Fern and Blake's team while Florinia sometimes did stuff too.

See, Blaziken? That's how you do it! You hit stuff and then you win, and all is right with the universe.


Solaris and Orderly Dude

So I don't know how I got onto this story path. As far as I know I did everything exactly the same as my normal run, but in this run, my partner is Julia and luckily she manages to be a little more durable than Florinia.

I did not feel like dealing with Solaris's Scizor, so Braviary Sky Drops it ASAP, which just so happened to save him from Whiscash's Rock Slide (which turned out to not be that painful, but me and rocks didn't exactly get along in this run). Julia's Electrode outspeeded both it and Braviary, and so managed to get in some preliminary damage. Eventually Scizor is out of the way.

I give Julia a hand with Whiscash like a buddy, and she repays me by exploding her Electrode. The resulting chaos hits Braviary, close but not quite faints Whiscash, and barely scratches Tyranitar, who had replaced Scizor. Braviary finishes off Whiscash, and Tyranitar finishes off Braviary.

Kecleon is sent out, and Blaziken handles Tyranitar with Sky Uppercut. Unfortunately, Gyarados takes its place, but fortunately, Julia loves electricity and Gyarados doesn't.

Excadrill with Life Orb and Swords Dance had been among the biggest problems in previous attempts. By the time I managed to take it down (if I ever did, if I even got that far), then my team was too exhausted to handle anything else and Julia was probably completely wiped out -- it was that dangerous. But this time, no messing around, no chances, Blaziken OHKOs it with Flare Blitz, he takes the recoil damage like a champ, but that's okay, because the biggest threat to the fight is down.

Yes, Excadrill was the biggest threat. Not a certain Garchomp, though it's still danerous, and it and Kecleon finish off Blaziken. Golduck is out to deal some good damage to Garchomp and Kecleon with Surf before being taken down.

From there, it's all Aromatisse. It's the rematch of that fateful battle atop the volcano. But this time, there's no fanfare, no cheap strategies with floaty air balloons or otherwise, just boop, Moonblast, moving on cuz I have way more problems to deal with besides you. Like seriously, Garchomp was the least of my worries in this fight. This is why I love Aromatisse: he can render a pseudo-legendary to a non-issue because there's a Magnezone coming up.

Speaking of Magnezones and air balloons, Julia's Magnezone came floating in on one. I'm just picturing this one-eyed steel behemoth floating into the arena on a widdle balloon, all calm and happy like. Just picture it. Julia is a fun trainer.

Anyway, the rest of the battle was just me and Julia working together. And so once again, the day is saved, thanks to... the Powerpuff Girls AROMATISSE!

...

This fight was terribad and I never wanna do it again.


Birbs vs Burbs

The birds:

My flock versus Ciel's, WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN

Getting past that damned Togekiss is the biggest hurdle in the fight, next to Mega Altaria, but I'll leave that up to my resident Garchomp pounder. Air Slash and Thunder Wave can literally flinch you into inaction until you faint, kind of like the karmic version of Braviary spamming Sky Drop, but I had the same problem in my normal run so up yours karma, you're just a dick like Blake and Fern.

Since it's damn near impossible to escape unless Togekiss uses an equally devastating Aura Sphere (dangerous for Empoleon and Porygon-Z), and I have no means of paralyzing it, priority moves are the key here, which means Talonflame needs to pull her weight. She gets taken down fast, but Acrobatics did its job and Aromatisse finishes it (of course he does!), though gets paralyzed in the process.

Golduck is out for Archeops, but the dick immediately U-Turns for Noivern, so Aromatisse is back again. He does good damage and restores some HP with Draining Kiss. While Seel uses her healing items, I cure Aromatisse's paralysis. He can BARELY survive Novern's Boombursts (almost forgot about that issue...), so I get in a Calm Mind and keep healing until I get an opening. With Calm Mind, Aromatisse deals more damage and therefore heals himself better with Draining Kiss. Noivern is eventually taken care of.

Archeops is back, and Porygon-Z is sent out. Luckily Rock Slide misses and Discharge OHKOs it. Yay!

Gliscor is out now and you know how much I love those things. I take a chance with Porygon-Z and it delivers -- it outspeeds Gliscor and two Tri Attacks KO it. Yay x2!

Seel's Talonflame, hoo boy. No one's outspeeding it so they'll have to take a punch, and hopefully Empoleon will do so (Golduck had been weakened during the first encounter with Archeops). Empoleon barely survives a Flare Blitz, Surf does great damage but doesn't quite KO it, and an Acrobatics finishes him. Braviary survives the next Acrobatics and gets the final hit in, because by this point we're all keenly aware of a Talonflame's ability to not faint.

It's time for Altaria. HOPEFULLY Calm Mind allows Aromatisse to survive a Hyper Voice and OHKO it, and can survive long enough to do so. Altaria uses Earthquake instead and Aromatisse Calm Minds. The next turn will probably determine the victor here. WHO WILL IT BE?

Altaria uses Earthquake again, so not-a-spoiler: it's Aromatisse. OF COURSE no one is surprised.

And so ends the current final episode, meaning that I have successfully completed 15 episodes worth of birbs!

yaaaaay *confetti and stuff*

I wasn't sure exactly how I would get this far, but somehow I did. A few early birds (heh) got decommissioned eventually for much better birds, which is a little disappointing (poor poor Pidgeot) but quite necessary (yay Braviary) for progress, the greater good, etc etc.

With that said, I temporarily abandon this thread during the wait for Episode 16. In the meantime, I'll be doing a Ghost-type monorun, which will be interesting because as much as I like ghosts, I've never really used Ghost-type Pokemon all that much. I'm sure it'll be a learning experience with plenty of laughs, awesomeness, and pain, just like this run.

Anyhoo, see you next episode.

[Doxaanima]

Sat down and read the whole thing, it was a great commentary, good luck on your ghost run

[Azodian]

All hail Aromatisse, slayer of dragons!

This was a good read, very enjoyable. It's nice to see one of my new favorite mons tearing it up despite it's harmless fluffy exterior.