Fern Burn - Hardcore Fire Monotype Reborn run (EP15 Complete)

[drevance]

Hey Everyone!

(I want to point out that I was writing this as I played.)

I’m Drev and I lurk a lot. I’ve always had an interest in monoruns and recently hardcore reborn, because I like to improve as a trainer. Coming from the official games, light platinum, zeta, and insurgence all helped contribute to my improvement in the games. I’m in the middle of my second run of Reborn and doing my first run in Rejuvenation so I decided to finally start my fire mono run. With an added twist of the Hardcore mod. Yay. This was heavily inspired by Hiroki Tatsumi’s fighting monorun.

After a bit of thinking, I decided on my starter, Charmander. A lot of thought went into this and I came to my decision based on the following;

· Fire/Flying

· Tepig, Cyndaquil, and Fennekin are available later in the game

· Currently using Blaziken in my regular run

· So that leaves Charmander or Chimchar. The first game I played was Blue with Charmander as my starter, so little homage to him.

I wanted to get a decent Charmander as well.

Modest nature, can’t really complain about the stats. Good enough imo. Also named him Cinder after the character in a book.

So onwards to face Cain!

Luckily after a growl, he misses his tackle and it is an easy win for Cinder. Next is Victoria.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we lost. So close.

I didn’t want to use my potion here that I got so I took the loss. I used growl twice and had 2 crit hits and well phooey.

After doing a bit of research I learned about the *cough* four eyed trainer near the Egg and EXP share, so I avoided him stealthily and grabbed them.

The first thing that I noticed was the difference in the starting trainers compared to regular reborn. Alright, I gotchu.

We find our second member of the run – Pansear!

I’ve never used one of these monkeys before, so this will be interesting. He gets the nickname Scorch. Unfortunately, he is the only member we can get until we defeat Julia.

As far as the regular trainers go, the first one I actually lost to. Starly just rekt Cinder so I had to train him up to Ember real quick, and since then it was a cakewalk. The Panpour had to be smokescreen x2 and then wasn’t a problem. I believe there is Ducklett that I have to fight off of a trainer, but I’m not very worried about it. Smokescreen or Yawn then just KO em. (I take that back.) The trainer near Fern with the Surskit and Finneon were dangerous. Smokescreen + Lick to paralyze it. Scorch was defeated but Cinder was able to clean up after him, though it was a struggle. Finneon used attract on Cinder and then boy did he fall hard for that lil fish.

After defeating all of the available trainers and healing up I made my way to everyone’s favorite character

Lvl 14 Scorch vs. Lvl 15 Lombre.

2x lick to Paralyze. Lombre spammed growl and followed with a bubble, but 2 Incinerates followed by a 3^rd crit took him out.

Lvl 15 Cinder vs. Lvl 16 Servine

I remember that the Servine line is fast and will most likely outspeed Cinder, so threw up a smoke screen and he used leer. Lucky for me he misses the wrap and I ember him. He gets burned. He uses pound and takes me from 40hp to 32. I ember and he burns, leaving him with a sliver of hp. After a potion heals him back up, I crit with my next ember and down falls Servine.

Lvl 15 Scorch vs. Lvl 16 Roselia

Roselia hits me with a poison sting, poisoning Scorch and hitting with an Incinerate brings it down to ½ HP. After poison hits Scorch falls to 3HP and even using a potion would be negated by another attack + poison, so Scorch faints.

Lvl 16 Cinder vs. Lvl 16 Roselia.

Poison sting again, only 4 damage. Dragon Rage KO.

Victory! So I won against Cain, lost to Victoria, and beat Fern. (Another reason for the Fire run MIGHT have been to watch Fern burn.)

After the battle Cinder evolved into Charmeleon.

I decided to go do the event where you get ripped off $1000 for the pokemon, just in case it gets changed into a fire type in a future episode (and it’s only 1000). Man dragon rage rules. Off to Burn the Fern!

So I made a decision that I think will both pay off and bite me in the rear later on. I replaced Play Nice with Bite, so that I had an attempt to flinch. I thought about replacing Lick with Bite, but considering how many times it saved me already from deaths due to paralyze, I can’t let go. My only concern is Julia, but I think yawn will help there. IDK. I probably sealed my own doom. I CALLED IT HERE FIRST!

So now we get to fight Aster and Eclipse.

WELL HELLO THERE. I shouldn’t be surprised by their Pokémon, but I am. Nothing out of the ordinary. Cinder got hit twice by Magmar, but just Dragon Raged them both. He did overlevel, so this is going to be fun.

Bought some common candies, and some potions. Onwards to the gym! Beat all the trainers, lowered Cinder and Scorch to level 19, bought some Paralyze Heals, Antidotes, and Potions. No idea what is in store, but I’m going to hopefully win within 10 attempts.

-------

So I was basically aiming for a win in 10 attempts. LOL. It took me a bit longer. It really is a lot, so going to spoiler tag it all.

HERE WE GO (Duel of Fates on loop)

Lvl 19 Scorch vs. Lvl 17 Magnemite

OKAY. I wasn’t sure if the levels would be raised much but what was I thinking? L20 Magmar/Electabuzz. Sheesh Drev, c’mon.

Incinerate OHKO Magnemite! Honestly shocked.

Lvl 19 Cinder vs. Lvl 17 Emolga

Acrobatics from Emolga hit and I was 22/55 HP. Dragon Rage took him to red. Super potion. Repeat, Super Potion. Ember and Crit, acrobatics to KO Cinder. WELP.

Lvl 19 Scorch vs. Lvl 17 Emolga

Tanked an Acrobatics and hit with Incinerate. Red HP on Emolga. Go for it again (I’ve already lost at this point) and Charge Beam hits, taking me to 7HP. KO Emolga.

Lvl 19 Scorch vs. Lvl 17 Chinchou

Yawn followed by Water Gun KO on Scorch.

Defeat #1

Attempt #2

Scorch vs. Magemite – OHKO Incinerate

Cinder vs. Emolga – Smokescreen this time to see if I can get a miss to get the ball rolling. NOPE.

Scorch vs. Emolga – Nuzzled, and getting the super potions used via Incinerate. Charge Beamed to death.

Defeat #2

Going to switch it up and try to have Scorch take on Emolga from the start, because he seems to take hits better. Cinder just isn’t going to cut it being outsped.

Attempt #3

Apparently ember from Cinder doesn’t OHKO Magnemite. Got the super potions out of the way though. Nuzzled by Emolga, cure it only to be nuzzled again, and finished off with an Acrobatics crit. Something something about replacing PLAY NICE with bite? *Heavy sigh*

Defeat #3

Attempt #4

Acrobatics crit again (both times).

Defeat #4

Attempt #5

Cinder gets hit with Magnet Bombs by Magnemite, Ember KO with Super Potions used. Emolga uses quick attack and Smokescreen goes up. Charge Beam misses and Scary Face goes up. Dragon Rage and Charge Beam hits. Ember to finish it off.

Lvl 20 Cinder vs. Lvl 17 Chinchou.

Smokescreen and Water Gun misses. Dragon Rage and Electro Ball hits. Dragon Rage to finish him off.

Lvl 20 Scorch vs. Lvl 18 Voltorb.

Confident. Use Super potion on Cinder. Voltorb crits with Charge Beam, and finishes off Scorch with sonicboom.

Lvl 20 Cinder vs. Lvl 18 Voltorb.

Charge Beam and Smokescreen. Charge Beam hits again and Dragon Rage. Potion up, expecting a miss. Explosion.

Defeat #5

I just want to say that I really hate Emolga. So far, Emolga is the biggest threat currently. Julia’s team seems pretty good, with what I assume to be Electrode as her ace still even in Hardcore. No clue what her 5th mon that I haven't seen is yet. I think that if I had a 3^rd pokemon this would go a bit differently, but it’s all part of the monorun style. That numel is practically laughing at me.

Attempt #6

Cinder OHKO’s Magnemite now, but is over the cap. Emolga broomed me.

Defeat #6

Attempt #7

Cinder ignores orders and embers instead of using ember. I enjoyed that. Downed Emolga, who only used quick attack for some reason… Chinchou got a water gun in, but Cinder KO’d him with DR.

Lvl 21 Scorch vs. Lvl 17 Heliolisk

Oh.

Lvl 22 Cinder vs. Lvl 17 Heliolisk

Parabolic Charge crit. Also outspeeds Cinder.

Defeat #7

Attempt #7

Magenmite OHKO. Emolga KO’d. Chinchou KO’d. Scorch learned Flame Burst. Charge + Charged Beam. Heliolisk is still faster with me at level 23. Outspeeding it is going to be the key, I believe.

Defeat #7

Also it seems that Emolga is favoring Quick Attack when Charmeleon stays in after Magnemite. 2 attempts in a row it led with quick attack then died.

Attempt #8

Brooming with Emolga, coming this fall to NBC.

Defeat #8

Attempt #9

Paralyzed at the start.

Defeat #9

Attempt #10

Defeat #10.

At this point, unless something incredible happens or I get further, just going to keep track of defeats. Cinder now outspeeds Heliolisk.

#11 #12 #13 #14

Lvl 22 Scorch vs. Lvl 20 Electrode

Used Potion on Cinder.

Lvl 29 Cinder vs. Lvl 20 Electrode

It outspeeds Cinder, Charge Beam Crit and Dragon Rage set off the Sitrus Berry. One Dragon Rage away and it KOs Cinder.

Defeat #15

#16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27

Attempt #28

Lvl 22 Scorch vs. Lvl 17 Magnemite

Flame Burst OHKO

Lvl 32 Cinder vs. Lvl 17 Emolga

Flame Burst OHKO

Lvl 32 Cinder vs. Lvl 17 Chinchou

Flame Burst. Electro Ball does 17 damage. Dragon Rage KO.

Lvl 23 Scorch vs. Lvl 18 Voltorb

Charge Beam misses, Flame Burst hits, ¼ hp. Voltorb Explodes living Scorch with 22 HP.

Lvl 32 Cinder vs. Lvl 17 Heliolisk

Flame Burst OHKO

Lvl 24 Scorch vs. Level 20 Electrode

Potion to heal Cinder to full. Sonic Boom KO

Lvl 32 Cinder vs. Level 20 Electrode

MY BODY IS READY FOR I AM ENGULFED IN THE FLAMES OF CONFIDENCE! CHARGE BEAM HITS AND CRITS CINDER FOR 30 DAMAGE. FLAME BURST TAKES HIM TO RED HP. SUPER POTION FOLLOWED BY FLAME BURST. REPEAT. FLAME BURST TO RED HP FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER CHARGE BEAM CRIT. FLAME BURST KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

VICTORY ACHIEVED! FIRST BADGE!!!!!

And we have the team thus far

Anyway, I'm Drev and I'll catch you next time when we get to burn the fern.

Edited August 30, 2016 by drevance

[Cobalt996]

Just wait until you're between 10 and 11 badges. Then the Fire-mono fun truly begins.

For bonus "fun," try assaulting Lapis Ward while it's raining.

Dare you not to over-level. It's even more "fun" :3 Although htf are you 33 after rJulia?

[drevance]

Just wait until you're between 10 and 11 badges. Then the Fire-mono fun truly begins.

For bonus "fun," try assaulting Lapis Ward while it's raining.

Dare you not to over-level. It's even more "fun" :3 Although htf are you 33 after rJulia?

I'm not looking forward to any rain. Bad enough Heliolisk rain danced me a few times. But why not, we'll see what the clock weather wizard can do.

I'm holding out hope that with more options now I won't have to over level.

I'm actually really looking forward to the 11th badge, should be a hot match.

[drevance]

Entry 2: PULSE and Florinia

After healing up, we end up meeting our third member of the run, Vulcan the Numel!

We run into Victoria after dealing with a trainer or two. No surprise here, we mop the floor with her.

Cinder takes down Scraggy, Makuhita, Poliwag, and Pignite. Scorch finishes off Kirlia.

Next up is the Scraggy gang. I loved the nicknames they had. But they were wittled down through a combination of yawn and flame burst.

Finally after we made our way out of the slums we head to Coral ward to heal up, and run into Cain. I really like that we see Oshawatt evolve.

Lvl 20 Scorch vs. Lvl 21 Grimer

Start off with a Flame Burst to see how much it does, not much unfortunately. Grimer uses Shadow Sneak x2 and look at that, Black Sludge. Swap out to Vulcan.

Lvl 15 Vulcan vs. Lvl 21 Grimer

Takes a Shadow Sneak on switch in. Acid Spray hits and Magnitude 9 hits. Acid Spray drops Vulcan to 2HP and he hits with a Magnitude 6 and Grimer has a sliver of HP -.-. Cain uses a potion x2 while Vulcan uses Flame Burst, and Magnitude 9 which crits for the win.

Lvl 20 Scorch vs. Lvl 20 Dewott

I mess up and use yawn when the terrain prevents it. GG me. Razor Shell.

Lvl 21 Cinder vs. 20 Dewott

Wing Attack hits and he responds with Air Slash. Dragon Rage redbars him while Razor Shell drops Cinder to 1hp. DR for the KO

Lvl 17 Vulcan vs. Lvl 23 Nidorino

Super Potion Cinder and Horn attack gets the KO

Lvl 21 Cinder vs. Lvl 23 Nidorino

2x Flame Burst for the KO, Horn Attack misses.

Lvl 22 Cinder vs. Lvl 21 Venonat

OHKO Flame Burst

Lvl 22 Cinder vs. Lvl 21 Gastly

I out speed it. Flame Burst redbars him, Nightshade and then Flame Burst for the KO

The next trainer on the way to PULSE Tangrowth has a Barboach that KO’s Scorch. Got the yawn off tho. Was Spinda always that strong early game? Psybeam tore up Vulcan. Healed up then made my way to PULSE. I don’t think Spinda was strong, but that Vulcan is like paper.

Scorch yawns PULSE, followed by a Flame Burst which crits. Tangrowth crits a Knock Off, KOing Scorch. He falls asleep.

Cinder comes out and Dragon Rages.

Victory!

Onwards towards the Academy!

I’d also like to point out how far Scorch/Pansear is falling behind. He’s not doing very well.

We managed to acquire the coin case which we used to gain our next member of the run, Aodh the Slugma! As well as grabbing Ignis the Litleo!

I'd also like to point out that the trainers in the school/academy were pretty challenging. I struggled more with them than with Fern. I hesitate to say Florinia but I think that she is an exception.

Anyway, FERN BURN time.

Lvl 23 Scorch vs. Lvl 22 Ludicolo

Yawn followed by a Bite to flinch him. Swap into Cinder.

Lvl 25 Cinder vs. Lvl 22 Ludicolo

Asleep. Dragon Rage into the Super Potion, Wing Attack. Wing Attack again into the Super Potion. Crit hit, Ludicolo down!

Lvl 25 Aodh vs. Lvl 24 Grovyle

Leaf Blade vs Incinerate. Normal Gem boosted Quick Attack, which doesn’t do much against another Incinerate. Grovyle down!

Lvl 25 Aodh vs. Lvl 25 Roselia

Fully expect to go down, hoped to be hit by a physical move to trigger flame body and got poison jabbed! Roselia burned.

Lvl 25 Vulcan vs. Lvl 25 Roselia

Growth and Amnesia. Poison Jab which does hardly any damage and Lava Plume, which redbars Roselia with a burn KO.

Lvl 25 Cinder vs. Lvl 24 Servine

Flame Burst OHKO. Got so excited to take a screenie that I accidently pressed F12…

Lvl 25 Cinder vs. Lvl 24 Ferroseed

I just want to point out, that as Ferroseed comes out, Fern says that I’m not special. Flame Burst OHKO.

And onto the main event.Same as last gym, 10 attempt goal.

Attempt #1

Lvl 25 Vulcan vs. Lvl 23 Cacturne

Feint Attack hits for over half HP. Lava Plume OHKOs.

Lvl 25 Ignis vs. Lvl 24 Grotle

Ignis uses Work Up and Grotle misses a Sand Tomb. 2x Fire Fang to get Grotle to yellow HP. Hits Ignis with Seed Bomb and Sand Tomb. Grotle KO’s Ignis with a sand tomb after a Fire Fang redbars him. I know Ignis is pretty weak atm but I thought he could handle Grotle. Guess his phy defence was way better than I expected.

Lvl 25 Scorch vs. Lvl 24 Grotle

She finally uses a Super Potion. Holy hell is Grotle tough. Flame Burst for about half of the super potion it looks like. Scorch gets the KO luckily.

Lvl 25 Cinder vs. Lvl 24 Breloom

Flame Burst OHKO

Lvl 26 Vulcan vs. Lvl 23 Tropius

I could have stayed in but I wanted to test another lava plume. Leaf Blade KO.

Lvl 25 Cinder vs. Lvl 23 Tropius

Cinder gets him redbarred with a Flame Burst. Tropius uses toxic and sitrus berry to heal. Cinder finishes him off with a Flame Burst.

Lvl 26 Scorch vs. Lvl 24 Gourgeist

I have never seen this pokemon before. But I’m assuming it’s ghost because of the pumpkin and geist. Scorch ignores me twice and gets hit with two Shadow Sneaks. I use an antidote on Cinder.

Lvl 25 Aodh vs. Lvl 24 Gourgeist

Disable, which does nothing. Incinerate x2. Bullet Seed crits once out of 2 hits. Another Super Potion by Florinia.

Lvl 26 Aodh vs. Lvl 27 Cradily

Potion on Cinder. Rock Slide misses. Get hopes up for a Clear Smog, Rock Slide hits.

Lvl 25 Cinder vs. Lvl 27 Cradily

Dragon Rage hits and Rock Slide OHKOs.

Defeat #1

Well I took some things away from the loss. Firstly I need to down level a few pokemon. Secondly, Scorch is key for Cradily due to yawn (I think). Let’s try again. Good first attempt.

Attempt #2

Scorch yawned Cradily and then Charizard Dragon Raged it.

VICTORY!

And here is the team so far

====================================

So far I'm having a great time with this. It really is cool to not have mons over the cap, levelling up on the fight KO is fine. But having to brute force Julia was not enjoyable at all. Yes, it could have been avoided somewhat if I had chosen a starter that could use Bulk Up or Nasty Plot, but since I didn't have access to those moves I had to smash my face against the wall, and that isn't the point. Thankfully, this time around I had more pokemon to choose from and everyone started out around 24/25 for the gym battle. At this point I'm crossing my fingers that the mystery egg is either Vulpix or Larvesta. The three saves I've played I've got the egg I've had Sneasel each time. RIP.

One thing I did notice that really bothered me was that Obsidia Ward was REALLY framey. I was practically gliding across the floor. When I went into a building, a battle, or the southern part or the north area with the game corner, it was fine. Other places in the game were fine as well. I'm assuming it was on my end but nevertheless.

I have a feeling I'm going to have to stock up on common candies for Corey, because based off the levels of Flo, he should probably have pokemon around 30 with an ace around 32/33 I'm guessing. Then I have to worry about the 35 cap with Shelly.

Also I'm not sure if you can get growlithe BEFORE you fight Corey. I know you can after. I'll have to look into it more. But we have some cool pokemon on the horizon. Growlithe, Houndour, and Heatmor. Possibly Vulpix/Larvesta. I'm beyond excited for 7th street for Cyndaquil. I know it's far off but I already have a name picked out for him.

Edited August 5, 2016 by drevance

[PokeFailure]

How tf- I was gonna ask how you got a charizard but realized overleved and came back down I'm stupid sometimes.

You can get growlithe before corey btw.

Good luck on beating Corey, don't let him swim in concrete.

[drevance]

How tf- I was gonna ask how you got a charizard but realized overleved and came back down I'm stupid sometimes.

You can get growlithe before corey btw.

Good luck on beating Corey, don't let him swim in concrete.

I didn't even think about it until after Julia and I had Charmeleon at 33 with 16 Common Candies left. It was as if the stars aligned.

Awesome, thank you! I'll make sure to keep my eye out for it then

Thanks, I'll need it. I have a feeling that Corey is going to be a handful. Also have Taka to worry about.

[Commander]

The thing about Julia is that if you try to power through her and treat her like vanilla reborn's pushover, you're going to get your ass whooped. Funny enough I'm the only person in the world who never thought she was hard but to each their own. It's to teach people a painful lesson of you can't beat a leader with just one or two Pokemon (generally recommend a full team) and to learn about the tools around you such as the majestic Gulpin.

Anyways, designing the leaders could be a real...unpleasant experience of face smashing into a wall. Getting Florinia to even use hazards and statuses was an ordeal in and of itself. Let's just say I put way too much effort into these designs since enemies hitting stupidly hard does not make for fun gameplay which is why my focus was strategy. As long as AI doesn't go to janktown next episode, their shouldn't be that much of a difference in difficulty in future episodes other than the AI stops being...dumb sometimes.

As for Obsidia, that's the original game's designs fault since there's a ton of events (300 maybe) which can actually cause it to lag hard especially due to no gates connecting the maps meaning it all has to unload a ton of events then load just as many. Pain in the butt, but it picks and chooses when to kick in but goes away eventually.

[drevance]

The thing about Julia is that if you try to power through her and treat her like vanilla reborn's pushover, you're going to get your ass whooped. Funny enough I'm the only person in the world who never thought she was hard but to each their own. It's to teach people a painful lesson of you can't beat a leader with just one or two Pokemon (generally recommend a full team) and to learn about the tools around you such as the majestic Gulpin.

Anyways, designing the leaders could be a real...unpleasant experience of face smashing into a wall. Getting Florinia to even use hazards and statuses was an ordeal in and of itself. Let's just say I put way too much effort into these designs since enemies hitting stupidly hard does not make for fun gameplay which is why my focus was strategy. As long as AI doesn't go to janktown next episode, their shouldn't be that much of a difference in difficulty in future episodes other than the AI stops being...dumb sometimes.

As for Obsidia, that's the original game's designs fault since there's a ton of events (300 maybe) which can actually cause it to lag hard especially due to no gates connecting the maps meaning it all has to unload a ton of events then load just as many. Pain in the butt, but it picks and chooses when to kick in but goes away eventually.

I definitely agree with that. Julia is a nightmare with just two, and I imagine having a full team would make the battle much more enjoyable.

So far Florinia has been my favorite fight, and that's not because of the fire types. I usually breeze through her with Kricketune and Numel. However her team this time around was much more interesting and I can already tell that she can't be cheesed with fury cutter spam. On my second attempt stealth rocks were thrown in, which was something unexpected. Not to mention Grotle and Gourgeist were able to take a flame burst from an at cap Charizard, I'm looking forward to running Hardcore normally after this run. Cradily though was a monster. I think that if I wasn't able to put it to sleep and kill it while sleeping it would have taken me a much longer time.

I just ran through Obsidia actually and it was fine. I think it was just something on my end.

I'm actually about to go fight Corey right now, so I'm looking forward to seeing how his team has changed. Not on the Corrosive Mist field though, rescued everyone before the second Tangrowth fight so I could get Growlithe and the egg before to see what I'd get.

[drevance]

Phew, what a doozy...

===========

===============================================================

Entry #3 Beryl Ward

Well it’s time to face our (my) fears and take on the most frustrating move in the game. Chatter. The first thing to do is to talk to the girl in the house right before the Jasper Ward for the sticker we’ll be picking up later on. Make sure to grab the genius wing on the rock to the left of the office, and proceed into the Jaspar Ward!

First thing is first. Get our next team member! So we’ll start the police quest. Back outside, we’re going to head right and fight the Team Meteor Grunt hanging about.

Going to try this out;

Lvl 24 Carnivine/Lvl 25 Grimer

Lvl 24 Spewpa/Lvl 25 Butterfree

Anywho, after another trainer battle we head up to grab the Pokemon Center in Jasper. Once we healed up, head back into the apartment and go left this time.

Lvl 24 Kricketune

Right when we get outside there is a Pecha Berry on the rock above us. Grabbed that. Another Meteor grunt awaits us inside the building.

Lvl 24 Whirlipede x2

Into Malchous Forest. So first we’re going to take a detour and go up to the right and exit the forest. In the first building is the first Police Officer to rescue, so we’re going to save him from Team Meteor.

Lvl 24 Raticate

The next building has an elevator in it, which we need to use to rescue the girl from Peridot Ward told us about. We’ll access it after we deal with PULSE. Back into Malchous forest, cut the tree on the left path this time, where we went right to the officer. Time for a Team Meteor gauntlet. The rock with a tree in the way has nothing, so don’t bother. However, the rock off to the left of it has a revive.

Lvl 24 Venomoth/Lvl 25 Golbat

It was at this point that I remembered Numel has Own Tempo, so he cannot be confused. Get ready to be shrekt Chatot.

Lvl 24 Gallade/Lvl 25 Lunatone

Lvl 23 Staravia/Lvl 25 Gravaler/Lvl 25 Flaffy

Lvl 24 Scolipede/Lvl 25 Solrock

Oh boy, the fight that I’ve been worried about since Julia. Well, this one and the next one in Beryl. I’m going to lead with Scorch, because he’s fairly quick and has flame burst. Going to yawn PULSE Tangrowth and hope that I can burn him to death. Vulcan should be enough to take Chatot, but just in case we have Cinder who should (please) outspeed Chatot.

Vs. Taka

Lvl 27 Scorch vs. Lvl 26 Lileep

Leading with Flame Burst to burn the forest. Lileep hits Scorch with a confuse ray. It also has leftovers. Sigh. A boosted Flame Burst brings it down to red hp and it uses Ancient Power. Super Potion #1 and Flame Burst crits. Snapped out of confusion and Flame Burst KO. Silly me, forgetting that they have different teams.

Lvl 27 Cinder vs. Lvl 27 Gligar

It leads with Quick Attack and Cinder hits with Dragon Rage, which lowers it to half. Super Potion #2 and DR again. Dragon Rage KO.

Lvl 27 Cinder vs. Lvl 27 PULSE Tangrowth

Can’t choose between Smokescreen or Flame Burst to lead with. I Flame Burst because this is a monofire run and everything can and must burn. Flame Burst takes him to just a bit before half HP, and he crits a Giga Drain on Cinder for like 10hp. Lol’d. Also WOW the burning field damage was much more than I thought it was for. Another Flame Burst KO.

Lvl 27 Vulcan vs. Lvl 29 Chatot

Hyper Voice OHKO.

Lvl 27 Scorch vs. Lvl 29 Chatot

Chatter OHKO.

Lvl 27 Cinder vs. Lvl 29 Chatot

Flame Burst takes him to red and he hits with a Chatter. Despite being confused by FIRE everywhere, Cinder knows that this lil punk of a bird needs to be burned again. Flame Burst KO.

Lvl 27 Aodh vs. Lvl 26 Klefki

It sets up Light Screen since 4 out of my 5 mons are special no biggie. Incinerate to check for berries. Foul Play and Flame Burst KO.

VICTORY!

I’m actually really surprised that I did that on my first try. Also, this run should be renamed Flame Burst KO. I was disappointed that Incinerate doesn’t get strengthened by the flames text like Flame Burst does. I also take back what I said earlier about Scorch/Pansear. He’s doing very well, better than Aodh/Slugma currently.

Moving on, we can now make our way back to the broken elevator to rescue the girl trapped up there. That nets us another stick, bringing us to the 3^rd floor of the Dept. Store.

With PULSE Tangrowth defeated, we can rescue the 2^nd police officer. I need repels. Onto Beryl Ward! A lot of shards are found on the rocks around here as well, which will be nice for Fire Pledge. Our next stop is the Rhodochrine Jungle.

Of course since I burn Fern all the time, he comes to me when I’m in the cage and tries some first year psych student bullshit on me, but I’ve taken Intro to Psychology. So I just tell him that I’m going to Fern Burn again soon and he runs off, seriously madbro.

After the escape, we free our 3^rd police officer and flip the first of the three switches to proceed through the jungle. After flipping the 2^nd switch for the bridge, we make our way out of the jungle.

Lvl 25 Mothim/Lvl 25 Ivysaur

After healing up the library we head to the back room and find a growlithe standing over a pit. In the pit is an office who had fallen in. Growlithe heads back to the police station and that’s our 4^th officer. Time to flip the final switch. Exiting the Library we go and cut the tree right next to us.

Lvl 25 Boldore/Lvl 26 Carnivine

After flipping the final switch and one quick heal at the library, we make our way back to the bridge in Rhodochrine.

Lvl 25 Golbat/Lvl 24 Lairon

We’re going to head into the building ahead instead of going down, which takes us to our last police officer.

Lvl 25 Mightyena/Lvl 25 Arcanine

Lvl 32 Growlithe/Lvl 33 Growlithe

Aaaaaaaaaaand just like that we have our 6^th pokemon, a Growlithe! Since we came all the way back here, we’re going to make a few pit stops. Grabbing the sticker, giving Growlithe a nickname, getting the growlithe egg, and buying some repels! Ember the Growlithe! I traded the egg in and got an Elekid. Anyway, back to danger.

And the egg

Lvl 25 Grimer/Lvl 25 Boldore

Here we go

Lvl 28 Scorch and Aodh vs. Lvl 26 Glaceon and Lileep

Oh, did I mention the weather was sunny today? Scorch uses yawn on Lileep with Aodh going for a Flame Burst on Glaceon. Glaceon hits both of them with an icy wind, lowering Aodh to half hp and Lileep’s Ancient Power KO’s Aodh.

Lvl 28 Scorch and Lvl 25 Ember vs. Lvl 26 Glaceon and Lileep

Super Potion on Glaceon. Fire Fang lowers Glaceon to redbar followed by a Flame Burst KO. Ancient Power hits Scorch and Lileep falls asleep

.

Lvl 28 Scorch and Lvl 25 Ember vs. Lvl 27 Jolteon and Lileep

I know this is hardcore but I continue to be surprised by changed mons. Jolteon uses double kick to KO Scorch.

Lvl 29 Vulcan and Lvl 25 Ember vs. Lvl 27 Jolteon and Lileep

Jolteon uses Charge Beam on Ember. Ember follows up with a Fire Fang, lowering it to red health. Vulcan uses curse. Charge Beam KOs Ember and Lava Plume KOs Jolteon.

Lvl 30 Vulcan and Lvl 28 Ignis vs. Lvl 26 Espeon and Lvl 26 Lileep

Espeon uses Reflect, Ignis uses Fire Fang, and Vulcan uses Lava Plume. Lileep wakes up and uses Ingrain. Taka uses a Super Potion on Lileep. Espeon psybeams Ignis. Ignis finishes off Espeon with Fire Fang. Lava Plume KOs Ignis.

Lvl 30 Vulcan and Lvl 29 Cinder vs. Lvl 26 Lileep and Lvl 27 Umbreon

Umbreon uses quick attack on Vulcan and Cinder uses Flame Burst on Umbreon. Vulcan uses Lava Plume to KO Lileep.

Lvl 31 Vulcan and Lvl 30 Cinder vs. Lvl 27 Umbreon and Lvl 25 Gligar

Gligar uses Quick Attack and Cinder KOs him with Flame Burst.

Lvl 31 Vulcan and Lvl 30 Cinder vs. Lvl 27 Umbreon and Lvl 26 Tangrowth

Flame Burst on Tangrowth takes him to half hp. Feint Attack and Giga Drain hit Cinder, along with Lava Plume to KO both him and Umbreon.

Lvl 31 Vulcan vs. Lvl 26 Tangrowth

Revive on Cinder and Tangrowth uses Growth. Flame Burst KO

Lvl 31 Vulcan and Lvl 30 Cinder vs. Lvl ?? Chatot

Flame Burst KO on Chatot was quick enough where I didn’t look at his level, rip.

Lvl 31 Vulcan vs. Lvl 26 Klefki

WHY DO THEY HAVE SO MANY POKEMON? Foul Play and a Lava Plume KO

VICTORY!!

After all that, Corey getting caught by the police and buying a few super potions from the Pokemart, we make our way to the gym and solve the puzzle to get Corey to come out and play. Now to smack some sense into the police officers.

Lvl 30 Arcanine

Vulcan evolved into Camerupt!

Lvl 30 Amphraros/Lvl 29 Arcanine

Just for the record, seeing all of these Arcanines lately make me jealous.

Lvl 28 Herdier/Lvl 30 Arcanine

Let's go for under 10 Attempts again!

Attempt #1

Lvl 28 Scorch vs. Lvl 32 Qwilfish

Um wat. Bubblebeam OHKO.

Lvl 28 Aodh vs. Lvl 32 Qwilfish

Bubblebeam OHKO.

Lvl 30 Cinder vs. Lvl 32 Qwilfish

WE ALL DEAD NOW

Lvl 29 Ignis vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

Poison Jab OHKO

Lvl 27 Ember vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

Bulldoze OHKO

Lvl 33 Vulcan vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

Bulldoze and Earth power.

Lvl 33 Vulcan vs. Lvl 30 Swalot

Earth Power hits on switch in. Ice Beam hits and Earth Power finishes him off.

Nidoqueen Bulldoze KO.

Defeat #1

Time to grind.

Alright, so after a while of grinding up everyone to match Corey’s levels and grabbing Mareep for breeding purposes later, it was time to challenge Corey to a rematch!

(Duel of Fates came on my playlist when this started, it’s on shuffle.)

Attempt #2

I’m going to see if Ignis can tank a Bubblebeam and Echo Voice out Qwilfish. Doesn’t do enough. Also Qwilfish has Intimidate.

Attempt #3

Attempt to see if Aodh can get off a Flame Burst to KO Qwilfish. Nope.

Attempt #4

So I’m going to have to sacrifice someone. Can Ember outspeed it? No, but Qwilfish crit.

Attempt #5

Can Ember tank a bubblebeam? Nope. So that leaves Scorch to try and outspeed it. If not, only Cinder/Ignis can.

Attempt #6

Qwilfish is faster but it crit, so attempt again to see if he can tank it.

Attempt #7

Nope. Someone has to be sacrificed. Cinder it is.

Attempt #8

Lvl 33 Cinder vs. Lvl 32 Qwilfish

Cinder flame bursted to defeat Qwilfish. Both faint.

Lvl 32 Scorch vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

Nidoqueen is faster and KOs with bulldoze before yawn can be used. Not looking good fam.

Lvl 34 Vulcan vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

It used ice punch? Earth Power takes it to nearly red hp. Bulldoze KO.

Lvl 33 Ember vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

Intimidate + a CC. Nope. Super Potion + Bulldoze KO.

Lvl 34 Ignis vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

Work Up to get Attack up. Nido uses a poison jab. 2x Headbutt and Ignis eats another jab. Nidoqueen is down.

Lvl 34 Ignis vs. Lvl 30 Scolipede

With a Work Up and Moxie, Fire Fang OHKOs

Lvl 34 Ignis vs. Lvl 31 Skunktank

Work Up x1 and Moxie x2 Fire Fang. Not enough, Ignis is KO’d with Night Slash.

Lvl 31 Aodh vs. Lvl 31 Skunktank

Accidently used Incinerate instead of Flame Burst, Night Slash KO.

Defeat #2

Attempt #9

I have an idea. Risky but I have it nonetheless.

Lvl 34 Ignis vs. Lvl 32 Qwilfish

2x Hyper Voices used while holding a Meteronome, one crit and Qwilfish is redbarred.

Lvl 33 Cinder vs. Lvl 32 Qwilfish

Corey uses a Super Potion, Cinder uses DR. DR again to KO Qwilfish.

Lvl 33 Ember vs. Lvl 30 Scolipede

Scolipede leads with Rock Tomb and Ember uses a toxic powered up Fire Fang. Rock Tomb KO.

Lvl 33 Cinder vs. Lvl 30 Scolipede

Scolipede is faster and hits with Rock Tomb, but Cinder tanks it and uses a DR to KO.

Lvl 34 Vulcan vs. Lvl 30 Swalot

Ice Beam? Anyway, Earth Power to Redbar. Venoshock and Earth Power KO.

Lvl 33 Cinder vs. Lvl 31 Nidoqueen

Flame Burst OHKO

Lvl 33 Aodh vs. Lvl 31 Skunktank

Antidote on Vulcan. Choc. Ice Cream to heal Vulcan. Aodh is KO’d by 2x Night Slashes.

Lvl 34 Vulcan vs. Lvl 31 Skunktank

Night Slash does little damage and Earth Power KOs Skunktank.

Lvl 33 Scorch vs. Lvl 33 Crobat

Tried to Yawn but Crobat KOs with a Venoshock.

Lvl 35 Vulcan vs. Lvl 33 Crobat

Healed up with Ice cream. Crobat hits with Venoshock. Air Slash and Lava Plume. Crobat is a sliver from turning yellow. Air Slash flinches Vulcan. Ice Cream again and tank Air Slash. Air Slash again and Rock Slide KOs Crobat.

VICTORY

The team afterwards

===================================

I both loved and hated this battle. The field is not one of my favorites. However, the most problematic part of it wasn't Qwilfish, even though it was the one doing most of the damage to me, it was Nidoqueen. She could easily eat an Earth power and at that point KO Camerupt. So I had to use the field explosion on her and not on Qwilfish. That presented an entire new problem. Qwilfish is so damn fast that only Charizard and Pyroar can outspeed it. Pyroar doesn't have a move that can ignite the field. Charizard does but he needs to be the one to finish it.

So I was trying a few different things in there and resetting, hence the quick, repeated attempts. Then I noticed that when I had Pyroar in, Qwilfish was using Signal beam more than it did Bubblebeam. But the intimidate was the issue. I didn't want to lose any more pokemon then I had to. So thinking it over and deciding that I wanted to buy more potions incase I used them, I checked to see what I could buy and saw the Meteronome. I figured using that with Hyper Voice might be enough to take out Qwilfish and then I could eat the poison until I saw Nidoqueen. Lo and behold, it actually worked out.

I was debating at some point to train up Slugma to evolve into Magcargo but the 4x weakness from water would be the same result with his base Special Defense going from 20 to 40. So there was no point there. Due to his fraility and speed, I figured I'd use him to antidote up or use potions. Happened to be a sunny day so sold a few items I was waiting on and bought the ice cream. Personally I don't like using items in battle, but in cases like Corey, where I need it for a strategy to work, I deemed it necessary. I also used that revive on the ZEL/Taka fight because I did not want to repeat that. I only ended up KO'ing Charizard immediately with Lava Plume, but he was able to help get the KO.

Disappointed I couldn't pull a Larvesta or Vulpix from the egg, as I haven't used them before and another member would be greatly appreciated. However, after I beat Shelly I can grab a Houndour and finally some fire stones. I also grabbed Mareep to breed later to give Charizard Dragon Pulse, and I plan on getting Nuzleaf for Extrasensory for Typhlosion.

I guess Shelly is going to be the victim of my frustration when I raze the gym to the ground.

Also going to expect more than 6 pokemon from now on in 2x trainer double battles.

EDIT: Not sure why I said he needs to finish it food. I don't even know what my train of thought was.

Edited August 7, 2016 by drevance

[Commander]

Technically that fight was going to be a 6 vs 8 but since I gave Taka 5 before, it wouldn't make since for his Klefki to disappear. That Qwilfish probably is the most interesting thing on his team and just as an FYI all those Pokemon you suffered will be available to get including that Nidoqueen which is implemented already. Just have to make a pain in the butt sidequest to make.

Oh Corey how everyone loves and hates him for being that frustrating. I won't lie when I say that I purposely made him harder than he should be difficulty wise (aka Field Corey is much easier for that reason). You completely ruined what little happiness he had in his life so I wanted the fight to reflect that which is why he can hit so dang hard as he wants to completely destroy you. That's a hard feeling to capture in a battle.

But yeah, making some of the early game teams was kind of fun...and Rain Dance Heliolisk was the most frustrating thing every to create. But yeah I try to stay a little bit unpredictable since most people who play hardcore played Reborn and I also like to take everyone's cheese strategies and rip them in half more or less to make them think. Of course even I have limits in my skills which start to show very late in the game.

[drevance]

Technically that fight was going to be a 6 vs 8 but since I gave Taka 5 before, it wouldn't make since for his Klefki to disappear. That Qwilfish probably is the most interesting thing on his team and just as an FYI all those Pokemon you suffered will be available to get including that Nidoqueen which is implemented already. Just have to make a pain in the butt sidequest to make.

Oh Corey how everyone loves and hates him for being that frustrating. I won't lie when I say that I purposely made him harder than he should be difficulty wise (aka Field Corey is much easier for that reason). You completely ruined what little happiness he had in his life so I wanted the fight to reflect that which is why he can hit so dang hard as he wants to completely destroy you. That's a hard feeling to capture in a battle.

But yeah, making some of the early game teams was kind of fun...and Rain Dance Heliolisk was the most frustrating thing every to create. But yeah I try to stay a little bit unpredictable since most people who play hardcore played Reborn and I also like to take everyone's cheese strategies and rip them in half more or less to make them think. Of course even I have limits in my skills which start to show very late in the game.

It's probably the AI but out of probably the 15/16 times that I got to Heliolisk, I saw Rain Dance once. It was much more happy to use Eerie Impulse or Parabolic Charge, which was my first time seeing that move.

That Qwilfish was odd. 5 of my 6 pokemon it would bubblebeam. The minute Pyroar came out, it would usually signal beam me. I've noticed that a lot of water pokemon will end up using something that isn't water on Pyroar most of the time. I'm not sure what that's about, but it's allowed me to set up or get Echoed Voice strong enough to where I just one shot everything else.

I can imagine field would be easier, but I've always fought the corrosive mist. So if there's a way to get him to do the regular field then I need to figure that out and try that. Although having the corrosive mist allows for a few explosive strategies.

==========

Entry #4

After the event at the Beryl Bridge, we head to the Lapis Ward!

Lvl 30 Porygon2/Lvl 30 Kadabra

Lvl 32 Marill/Lvl 30 Granbull

Lvl 30 Octillery/Lvl 31 Honchcrow

Lvl 30 Breloom/Lvl 30 Hippowdon

AAAAAAAAAAAND I've figured out what I wanted to, so not going to list every trainers mons now.

And after visiting the Pokemon Center, finding the Aqua hideout, we make our way to Team Magma’s.

Lvl 32 Camerupt/Lvl 34 Ninetails/Lvl 34 Slugma/Lvl 32 Houndoom/Lvl 32 Houndoom/Lvl 32 Delphox

Dear god this was a nightmare. I'm legitimately afraid to take on Archie now for the Houndour.

Okay, so yes, trainers have most definitely changed. Glad I figured that out. Anyway, we find Victoria with Shelly outside the gym. After a few minutes of talking they head back in. Victoria decides to head to the Grand Stair and we follow. She gets captured and we gather Rock Strength, a Heart Scale, Ability Capsule, and a few other items before we make our way down to save her.

Aster and Eclipse again

Lvl 34 Solrock and Lunatone vs. Lvl 34 Aodh and Lvl 36 Emboar

Emboar uses sucker punch but completely wiffs it and Solrock uses Heat Wave, which Aodh avoids. Aodh uses Rock Slide which does little damage to Solrock but hurts Lunatone. Lunatone gets a super potion. AGAIN Sucker Punch wiff. Solrock hits Aodh with Psychic. Aodh uses lava plume, which gives both Solrock and Lunatone a burn. Sucker Punch finally hits and KOs Lunatone. Psychic on Aodh again followed by Rock Slide.

Lvl 37 Rhyhorn and Lvl 34 Solrock vs. Lvl 34 Aodh and Lvl 36 Emboar

WHY ARE YOU SUCKER PUNCHING A RHYHORN? DAMNIT VICTORIA. Solrock KOs Aodh. Rhyhorn knows Dragon Rush? Cool. Okay.

Lvl 37 Rhyhorn and Lvl 34 Solrock vs. Lvl 34 Vulcan and Lvl 36 Emboar

Turns out Earth Power is single target. Cool. Sucker Punch KOs Solrock. And Earth Power KOs Rhyhorn.

Lvl 35 Electabuzz and Lvl 34 Milotic vs. Lvl 34 Vulcan and Lvl 36 Emboar

Heavy sigh. Low Kick hits Vulcan. Milotic water pulses Emboar. GG Confused. Fire Punch crit hits Electabuzz. GREAT. Earth Power to hit Milotic.

Lvl 35 Magmar and Lvl 34 Milotic vs. Lvl 34 Vulcan and Lvl 36 Emboar

Cool, KO Emboar so the water hits 4x weak Vulcan. Water Pulse KO on Vulcan.

Lvl 35 Magmar and Lvl 34 Milotic vs. Lvl 33 Scorch and Scraggy

Feint Attack and Water Pulse KO Scorch before he can yawn Milotic. Scraggy poison jabs Milotic for near 0 damage.

Lvl 35 Magmar and Lvl 34 Milotic vs. Lvl 35 Ignis and Lvl 33 Scraggy

Echoed Voice on Milotic and Flame Burst hits Scraggy. Water Pulse KOs Scraggy

Lvl 35 Magmar and Lvl 34 Milotic vs. Lvl 35 Ignis and Hariyama

Echoed Voice on Milotic. Magmar uses confuse ray on Ignis. Milotic uses aqua ring. Hariyama uses belly drum. Ignis somehow hurtfully yells at herself. Magmar flame bursts Ignis. I NEED POKEMON WITH FLASH FIRE. Milotic water pulses Hariyama who KOs Milotic with Knock Off

Lvl 35 Magmar vs. Lvl 36 Ignis and Lvl 35 Hariyama

I love being confused and not listening to orders. Hariyama brick breaks and wins.

If episode 16 features the Water Gym after we do the fairy one I just may snap and laugh until the end of time. Don’t worry, there’s still a ground gym that will test my mettle.

Anyway, escape rope out and heal up. Only Charizard can learn fire pledge so I teach it to him then head to the gym

Dr. Sigmund ew. Time to fight his orderly.

Lvl 33 Wishcash vs. Lvl 33 Scorch

I feel my soul being destroyed.

Lvl 33 Wishcash vs. Lvl 34 Ignis

Echoed Voice, Aqua Tail. Echoed Voice, Zen Headbutt

Lvl 33 Wishcash vs. Lvl 34 Cinder

DR, not ded. Aqua Tail, DR KO.

Lvl 34 Kecleon vs. Lvl 34 Vulcan

Lava Plume and Shadow Claw

Lvl 34 Slowking vs. Lvl 34 Cinder

Flame Pledge and Water Pulse

Lvl 34 Ember vs. Lvl 34 Slowking

Retaliate and Water Pulses

Lvl 34 Slowking vs. Lvl 34 Aodh

Lava Plume and Water Pulse. He’s burned.

Lvl 34 Slowking vs. Lvl 35 Vulcan

Earth Power KO

Lvl 34 Dousin vs Lvl 35 Vulcan

Wtf is that? Kill it, kill it with fire. Burned.

Lvl 34 Electross vs. Lvl 36 Vulcan

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Second attempt? GET BROOMED.

Sacrifice Cinder to Wishcash, Yawn him on Scorch. PYROAR/IGNIS ECHOED VOICE w/ Metronome

Swept.

Victoria time

Lvl 34 Vulcan vs. Lvl 34 Scraggy

Poison Jab by Genius Victoria and is that a life orb? Lava Plume.

Lvl 34 Cinder vs. Lvl 35 Poliwrath

WHERE WAS HE WHEN YOU WERE CAPTURED? Wing Attack for almost half hp. Wing Attack again. Waterfall, finally. Victoria is horrid.

Lvl 33 Scorch vs. Lvl 35 Poliwrath

Super Potion followed by Acrobatics. Super Potion and yawn. Waterfall OHKO

Lvl 34 Ignis vs. Lvl 35 Poliwrath

3x Echoed Voice.

Lvl 35 Ignis vs. Lvl 35 Hariyama

Hariyama gets a crit brick break OFC.

Lvl 34 Ember vs. Lvl 35 Hariyama

Intimidate and Super Potion Vulcan. It Belly Drums to 1hp basically and Flame Burst KO.

Lvl 34 Ember vs. Lvl 34 Gallade

Swords Dance and RIP.

Lvl 34 Vulcan vs. Lvl 34 Gallade

Lava Plumeeeeeee

Lvl 34 Vulcan vs. Lvl 37 Emboar because why not.

Sucker Punch fails, Super Potion. Sucker Punch fails, Earth Power. Sucker Punch hits and Earth Power KO

At this point I’m almost afraid to try to get Houdour because I know Archie is going to be op

Shelly having perma rain is going to delay me a bit. heavy sigh. I thought Fire Pledge would solve my problems if it rained, turns out it doesn't. Right about now I wish I had that Drought Vulpix hatch. Anyway, next post will cover both Shelly and Shade.

[drevance]

We did it. We DID IT.

I was struggling big time with this battle. It's a bug gym and I'm using fire types? Yikes. Basically that perma rain was only helping to shut me down completely. I could take out Masquerain but besides that I couldn't do much. Shelly would just confuse me while Masquerain scald'd me in the rain. Occasionally Illumise would switch out the Armaldo who outspeeds everything on my team. YAY. I spent a lot of time trying. So much that I just didn't bother keeping track. It was that bad. So I asked Commander about it and he gave me a pretty big tip on how to avoid the rain.

So I gave it a try without the rain. Scorch and Aodh led against her Masquerain and Illumise. Scald hits Aodh and OHKOs him while Illumise uses Struggle Bug. Scorch hits with Flame Burst to set the field ablaze. Next comes out Ignist, who Fire Fangs Masquerain repeatedly to have Shelly use all of her potion ups. Illumise contiues to do a mix of Confuse Ray and struggle bug before switching to Armaldo. Scorch continues to flame burst Illumise and Armaldo. Rock Slide KOs both. Next come out Ember and Cinder. Ember uses flamethrower to KO Masquerain and Charizard using Fire Pledge on Armaldo. Rock Slide missed Ember and KOs Cinder. Next Heather comes out and I send out Vulcan. Fire Pledge on Armaldo to KO it while Heather uses Ancient Power on Vulcan. Lava Plume takes it to near death. Vespiqueen comes out next and uses Attack Order on Ember and Heather KOs Ember with Ancient Power. Lava Plume KOs Heather and takes Vespiqueen to half HP. Bugsy comes out. Attack Order and Lava Plume crits Bugsy, KO'ing it and Vespiqueen goes down.

Next time we take on Shade.

[drevance]

Not only have we progressed significantly but we picked up our 7th member of the run, Happy the Vulpix. We spent maybe too much time mining for fire stones not that long getting fire stones (still missing 2 of them, one for Ember the Growlithe and the other for our future Flareon). Also Ninetails is OP. Seriously. Anyway, let's start things off.

==================

Entry #5 - A Mega Turn of Events.

So first thing is first is we have to inform Ame about Corey and see what needs to be done next. But of course everyone's favorite burnt Fern is waiting for us already. Fern didn't really put up a fight, except for Roserade OHKO'ing Ember. As usual, I FERN BURN and he goes down easy. Moxie'd Fire Fang on Ignis is really something fun.

Next up was Cain but man oh MAN was he tough. His lead of Samurott and followed by a Nidoking with Thunder Punch made my life troublesome. But after a few attempts, the most I've had to use on a rival battle so far, we got it. Leading with Ignis we Headbutted Samurott to death, haxing Cain far more than anyone should have been haxed. STAB Headbutt is great. Next Nidoking came out and with Moxie boosting Ignis' horrid attack, we somehow flinched Nidoking 4 times, 3 in a row to KO.Haunter went down to a single Lava Plume from Vulcan. Vulcan pretty much Earth Powered the rest of his team into submission.

Fighting through Dr. Sigmund's orderlys was interesting. Happy evolved into Ninetails, knowing Flamethrower, Hex, Confuse Ray, and Extrasensory(which will be swapped back to Will-O-Wisp once I obtain the future MVP of the run, Krakatoa). Lo and behold I need to switch on the power.

So we go against Shade and oh my stars he has a Mega Gengar.

Shade leads with Rotom and this thing has NO CHILL WHATSOEVER. It's discharge after discharge. I end up sacrificing 4-5 mons to bring him down with only Golurk to mop up the mess. Two runs later I make it all the way to Chandelure using one of my Max Revives to only be broomed by it. ARHGLJF

Then it started. Happy's Drought mixed with a Heat Rock was key. Confusing Rotom and spamming Flamethrower he fell. Cinder Fire Pledged Golurk into submission. Ignis Fire Fanged Dusknoir down. Happy burned Aegislash into ashes with Flamethrower spam. Out came Corey and he Mega evolved. Scorch used yawn to put him to sleep and Corey OHKO'd with a boosted Shadow Ball. Out came Cinder to take a hit and Cinder fell. Corey fell asleep and Vulcan came out and hit him with an Earth Power, OHKO'ing Mega Gengar. Last but not least, Chandelure came out and mopped everyone up save for Happy and Vulcan. Happy led a vailent effort in confusing Chandelure, only for a boosted Shadow Ball to KO her. But her work would not go unnoticed. Vulcan ate a Shadow Ball to only blast back an Earth Power, leaving the frightening Ghost at red health. Chandelure hits itself while I heal. It then hit itself in its own confusion, sealing the deal for Vulcan and earning me my 4th badge!

Cya at Kiki!

[drevance]

So after meeting back at the railnet we find out that Cain ran off to the Coral Ward so we give chase. There we meet the true final boss of this run commander no please water gym leader and she tells us she needs halp at the factory that is pumping all the sludge out. We head over there and the stairway to heaven icewalk appears from her Lapris and we head inside the Factory from above! We run into some grunts and have a double battle. Her Lapras is over level 70 violent flashbacks of Shelly occur and it pwns the Meteor Grunts. Eventually we get separated and fall for a trap. Solving puzzles gets us to find that a Muk is trapped in a PULSE machine and that the creepy old guy in Meteor tries to kill us but gets frozen by Kingdra. We fight ZEL next and take on the PULSE Muk.

Not much to say, combined with Drought and Earth Power/Fire spam we fell Muk without much trouble. The true final boss - commander please be kind water gym leader gets attacked with Superpower and walks it off. Meanwhile she gives us her key to a boat to sail after Cain. She bids us fairwell and to visit her at her mansion if make it that far north. So off after Cain!

We arrive at Apophyll and make our way to Kiki who asks us if we're a student. No ma'am, trying to challenge the reborn league as an everyday trainer but some evil Team Meteor keeps interfering and I just want to burn Fern . So she asks us to wait while she gives a lesson, then retreats to the academy so we chase after someone AGAIN. Odd how no one has noticed Cain isn't here. Run into Victoria who everyone loves and adores, so I get loved and adored because I pwn am friends with Victoria. I get told to go up to the big ol' mountain that is actually a volcano to fight a student of Kiki's. His name is Cal and he's the ex-Fire Gym Leader. I'm a fire type trainer so ight, let's face off. Victoria tells me some teenage romance stuff but I'm so fired up over Cal that I can't be bothered to listen to whatever she has to say.

We make our way around and OMG WE FIND A NEW TEAM MEMBER.

"DREVANCE! We're best friends! Name a pokemon after me!"

"K"

Yup, my best friend is an anteater IRL.

Something about a fire stone and evolving Arcanine, IDK.

Solving one of the puzzles I actually really like in this game when

"DREVANCE!"

"K."

Anyway, we ascend to the top fairly quickly. On my way up I got rid of my beard, fun fact.

So this battle was fun/interesting. Cal starts off with Infernape and I lead with Camerupt. Earth Power KO. Next is Typhlosion and rinse repeat, although Typhlosion turns it from a super heated field to a burning one or whatever. Surprisingly we're both fire trainers. Next comes out his Charizard and I had switched to Scorch. Mega Evolution. I'm pretty sure at this point every major battle from now on has megas. Mega Charizard X. Yawn and two hits later he KOs Scorch, falling asleep. Vulcan comes out and KOs with an Earth Power. Magmortar(?) comes out next and rinse repeat. Finally Blaziken comes out and Ember comes out to lower his attack. Ember drops from Blaziken. Vulcan comes out and Earth Powers which crits. Blaziken goes down and I learn Earthquake.

Back down to the Academy Kiki isn't feeling well but is going to honor our agreement and battle me so I can get strength. Victoria is really upset so we battle.

She was actually pretty tough. Mega Gallade goes down after 2 Lava Plumes. Scrafty goes down after Fire Pledges. Emboar eats Earth Power. After those three she just kinda crumbles from Fire.

Now with that out of the way, just like with Shelly she tells to go on. She watches.

Kiki. Kiki. Kiki.

First attempt has Machamp brutally destroying my team. I retreated and redid my Team. I swapped Ignis and Scorch out for Brian and Patrick.

Attempts 2-4 passed with Machamp brutally destroying me.

Swapped out Brian for Scorch. Yawn'ed Machamp and it seemed to work. Struggled to get past Hitmonlee. 2 Earth Powers for sashed Toxicroak. Lava Plume OHKO Lucario. Scrafty went down from Fire Pledge spam. Mega Medicham decided to not have any of it. Strength KO everyone.

Attempts 6-8 repeated Machamp destroying me as I tried a few different approachs.

Then AuthorReborn told me that he had his Torterra use Curse and had no problems with Machamp's damage.

Attempt #9

Scorch uses Yawn on Machamp and eats a Dynamic Punch and lives. Stone Edge KOs up and he falls asleep. Out comes Vulcan. Vulcan uses Curse and Machamp sleeps. Vulcan uses Curse and Machamp sleeps. Vulcan uses Curse and Machamp sleeps. Machamp wakes up and uses Strength for like 15 damage and Earthquake takes him to nearly 1hp. Potion spam x2. Strength again and he is KO'd. Out comes Scrafty. Earthquake OHKO. Out comes Toxicroak. Earthquake followed by Lava Plume KO. Hitmonlee comes out and uses Poison Jab for like 15 damage. Earthquake OHKO. Lucario comes out and Hidden Powers Vulcan for like 35 HP and Earthquake OHKO. Mega Medicham comes out and hits Vulcan with a strength which takes him to 19HP and Earthquake is a OHKO.

Kiki collapses and we are told that Cain hasn't arrived yet, so we head off to go find him.

Cya next time when we meet Aya and her trusty Broom!

=================================

Not going to lie here, I wasn't expecting to face Megas this soon. Shade surprised me but I guess it's only natural I face some now. I'm assuming that the Aqua Gang leader has Mega Sharpedo? Anyway I'm finding out that the Megas faced so far have actually made it easier for me to win than if they weren't there (excluding Kiki). I only happened to beat Shade because Gengar lost Levitate and that allowed Camerupt to one shot him with Earth Power. Same with Charizard X. Losing flying leaves him open to ground and he just gets shredded. I'm going to guess that Aya has Mega Venasaur which has Thick Fat surprisingly, so not sure what I'll do. Probably just Curse Up again and Earthquake spam. Could always lower it's Defense through Crunch and Rock Smash if I need. Obviously I've only fought 4 megas so far out of idk how many, but those are just my initial thoughts.

I'm a bit worried about both Taka and Cain as they are my next big battles. Leading with Samurott is rough and I'm more than willing to bet that a certain someone has given Taka a water type that is going to make me laugh maniacally heavily sigh and soft reset a few times to get a strat. Anyway, I'm really surprised how far I've made it as going into the run I thought this was going to be neigh impossible it's doable.

I am concerned with the higher leveled mons that starting now I'm going to have to use items in battle which I am very against. It's already happened in the past where I had to and I'm not okay with that, but I do understand that this is a much more difficult setting. I guess I'm going to have to get used to it. I also made sure when I was mining to keep any max revives I found, so I have a few for important battles. I was saving up for Shadow Ball and Calm Mind but with this now looming before me I will probably either hold off until I have a decent stock of better potions or just get Calm Mind.

It's going to be rough for a bit with no new Fire types until I get to Sierra. I can grab Flareon which has some decent defenses, that one Darmartain or whatever it's called and Tepig. Although I plan on going back and grabbing Rotom because I heard it can change forms in E15 so I can have Fire/Electric and FINALLY HAVE ELECTRIC COVERAGE IS GOING TO BE GREAT. I'll pick up Houndoom as well at that point. Then once I hit 7th street I'll have Cyndaquil and Litwick which will be very nice. I have a ton of heart scales for Eruption is it's K. Then I'm pretty stale until Magby/Fenniken. Rotom is what I'm most excited for if I'm to be honest. Having Electric attacks is going to be an Arceus send, literally. I think that the most difficult part of this run is getting past Aya as I just don't have many choices. I mean there's only what, 20 available fire types in a run if you include Larvesta, which isn't bad. IDK. While I kind of regret not being able to get a Larvesta for bug STAB, Ninetails has saved me so much with Drought it isn't funny. It's a shame that Magcargo has to be benched though, although I think he'll be useful in Ciel's battle and possible in Charlotte's.

[Commander]

I think there's like an almost unanimous poll that Kiki is the easiest gym leader in hardcore and everything in her episode bar ZEL is really easy. As for the difficulty, I designed the game's difficulty based on a team with 0 IVs, 0 EVs, and super potions up until Samson, along with shift mode to get a feel for the difficulty and how well performing they were.

Shade wasn't supposed to have a Mega (I did originally plan for Mist Corey to have a Mega Beedrill, but that was way too insane), but it was a Banette that I just for the life of me could not get to work well. So that whole thing was basically a YOLO in which I gave his Gengar like 0 IVs and negative speed iirc. His revamp team is much better than the old one which is still on my youtube channel. Solarence actually planned for Kiki to have the first Mega and it being Mega Cham.

Cal and Victoria are kind of exceptions since that's the only Cal fight and that's probably the last Victoria fight for a long time. I generally try to pick out a Pokemon that'd best suit the leader without being OP but as you'll see sometimes I throw a left hook so you'll never know. And yeah, I suck at designing fire type teams for some odd reason.

Edit: I dare you to fight Fern on Route 1 on a Rainy Day if you think Amaria will be bad.

[drevance]

I think there's like an almost unanimous poll that Kiki is the easiest gym leader in hardcore and everything in her episode bar ZEL is really easy. As for the difficulty, I designed the game's difficulty based on a team with 0 IVs, 0 EVs, and super potions up until Samson, along with shift mode to get a feel for the difficulty and how well performing they were.

Shade wasn't supposed to have a Mega (I did originally plan for Mist Corey to have a Mega Beedrill, but that was way too insane), but it was a Banette that I just for the life of me could not get to work well. So that whole thing was basically a YOLO in which I gave his Gengar like 0 IVs and negative speed iirc. His revamp team is much better than the old one which is still on my youtube channel. Solarence actually planned for Kiki to have the first Mega and it being Mega Cham.

Cal and Victoria are kind of exceptions since that's the only Cal fight and that's probably the last Victoria fight for a long time. I generally try to pick out a Pokemon that'd best suit the leader without being OP but as you'll see sometimes I throw a left hook so you'll never know. And yeah, I suck at designing fire type teams for some odd reason.

Edit: I dare you to fight Fern on Route 1 on a Rainy Day if you think Amaria will be bad.

I actually went on youtube just to see if there was any hardcore reborn stuff but I couldn't find anything past Julia. Then I saw tests against the Gym leaders by a channel named Commander, figured it was yours. Everytime I've beaten a leader I've checked the test video to see it done with a non monofire. So I saw the Mega Banette and wondered if that would have made the fight more difficult.

I feel like I should tell both Solarence and you that the regular trainers themselves have given me some trouble. Nothing on the scale of Shelly but it's been really rough at some spots to just battle some of the regular trainers. Having leveled up mons with a variety of types has been terrifying to say the least water. I never realized how many water types there are until this run and dear Arceus it is fear inducing. I was legitimately afraid of the first Team Magma quest because I had to face Team Aqua and I still haven't touched Archie. Actually stuck on Taka's Floatzel as I write this, damn Waterfall.

I'm not sure how others would have done but if Cal had Mega Zard Y I think I would have had to try him a few more times. Yes he's 4x to rock and 2x electric but once the field is combusted water hardly does anything without setup and Y has higher base Special Def and has ground immunity. I probably would have had to go back to Reborn and level up my Magcargo and gone back purely for Mega Zard Y. I was really hoping for X so I could KO him with ground. I was surprised he didn't run a Flareon.

Fern on a rainy day on route 1?

Fern on a rainy day?

Fern rainy day?

Rainy day?

Rain?

[drevance]

So we head off to find Cain because we're taking the Reborn league challenge! Anyway, we run into Eclipse and Aster on our way to Cain and they're very, very cocky about how they're going to capture us since they captured Cain. They go down fairly easily to a combo of Solar powered fire attacks and Curse Camerupt EQ spam. Next we heal up and move to take on the true threat^tm. Taka.

Oh Taka. I hate you so much now. Burning Klefki is no sweat, but Floatzel is another story as it outspeed every pokemon I have. After multiple defeats and resets, I manage to tank a hit by Floatzel and sleep/confuse it to KO it. Aerodactyl is defeated similarly. From that point it was just more Solar powered burning. I never thought that I would thank Arceus to see a Chatot use Nasty Plot, but I sighed with relief when it did and proceeded to OHKO it with a boosted Flamethrower.

After we freed Cain we learned about Team Meteor's plan to use CAMERUPT to destroy Apophyll. Using such a great, sacred pokemon for their schemes has our rage consume the hero.

We head back to Apophyll and speak with Kiki, Victoria, and Cain. We then decided to go up and stop Team Meteor. Victoria decides to team up with us and we go on a rampage, burning everything in the mountain that we come across. Eventually we come to the peak and find Cain facing trench coat and Taka. Cal is facing the lava. He exclaims that he lost and the trench coat reveals himself to be someone named Solaris. He says that his plan is to have the Camerupt force the volcano to erupt and destroy the entire island. Hearing his plans for harming the sacred fire type pokemon, our hero is consumed with rage and attacks Solaris.

Solaris sends out his Scizor and the enraged trainer sends out Ember the Arcanine. Ember ignites the field and leaves Scizor with one HP. Scizor burns from the field. Solaris sends out his next member, Garchomp. Garchomp OHKO's Ember. Scorch comes out to yawn and is OHKO. The enraged trainer's rage becomes forcibly quelled by Solaris as Garchomp proceeds to annihilate each and every team member, leaving Drev completely and utterly defeated.

Victoria and Cain cannot believe it, shocked in disbelief as the very trainer that was a mystical timelord that can rewrite history when defeated undefeated in their eyes, stood in defeat. Kiki arrived and told the shell shocked trainers to back up and brings forth her Medicham who moves to destroy the PULSE machine, only for Cal's Magmortar to catch it and throw it into the lava. Everyone while already in a state of shock, is dumbfounded and while they were mesmerized by Cal's action, Solaris has Garchomp Dragon Rush Kiki. Cal has a change of heart and has Magmortar destroy PULSE Camerupt and Solaris retreats. After a falling out between Victoria and Cal everyone retreats.

Victoria says something that we've come to expect at this point and we get no badge. Cain tells us that we need to head into the Wasteland and challenge Aya for the Venom Badge and the power to use Strength. We sail back to Reborn City.

At the gate to the wasteland Cain tells us a bit about him and Aya and battles us before unlocking the door.

Curse Camerupt says hi.

We then make our trek through the wasteland and it's badass music. We finally find the next Gym and run into Fern talking trash to Aya. We meet Hardy, the Rock Gym Leader from Agate City. We then find out a bit about Fern and Hardy before battling.

Fern talked a big game about switching out grass types but he still got burned. Krokodile fell to 2x Flamethrowers. Next Aya returned with her team healed and we challenged her. Fern and Hardy watched with Hardy being the ref.

Leading off with Vulcan and Happy, we confuse Nidoqueen and hit Tentacruel with Earth Power while she uses blizzard which both mons avoid. Next Happy uses flamethrower on Nidoqueen and Tentacruel is healed with an Ultra Potion. Earth Power crits Tentacruel and gets the KO. Nidoqueen uses sludge wave. Next comes out Drapion and Drapion uses Aqua Tail to KO Happy, with Vulcan KO'ing Nidoqueen. Next comes out Gengar and out comes Ember. Earth Power crits Drapion after he Cross Poisons Vulcan and Focus Blast misses from Gengar. Flamethrower lowers Gengar to red hp. Venasaur comes out next and Mega Evolves. Shadow Ball KO's Vulcan and Power whip hits Ember and weakens him. Ignis comes out next. Gengar gets Focus Blast KO on Ignis while Ember hits Mega Venasaur with Flamethrower. Cinder comes out next and together they KO Gengar. Dragelge comes out. Cinder uses Smokescreen on Dragelge while Ember KOs Mega Venasaur. Dragelge misses a Hydro Pump. Crunch and Smokescreen. Dragelge misses another Hydro Pump. A third smokescreen and Ember gets KO'd with Sludge Wave. Scorch comes out and yawns and Cinder uses Dragon Rage while Sludge Wave misses. It falls asleep and DR spam with Cut spam hits. Dragelge is healed up to full and wakes up at half HP. It continues to miss while Scorch and Cinder fell it with Cut/Dragon Rage spam.

Victory! We can FINALLY use Strength. So now we can make our way back to the Railnet to save the kiddos!

The team so far;

Torkoal, Magcargo, and Heatmor in the PC.

===============================================

Okay so wow. Solaris has a team. Half expected Mega Garchomp but owell. I didn't expect to win and I personally prefer losing here for the later dialogue. Taka was frustrating because Floatzel completely outspeeds everything. Thank Arcues that Cain didn't lead with Samurott. If he did I would have struggled much more than I actually did, seeing as I beat him on my first try.

Nothing new with Fern. I'm probably over confident whenever we battle because Fern Burn but yeah, nothing special to note.

Aya was a fun fight, and it only took me two tries. The first battle I got to Dragelge and it finished off my exhausted team so I swapped members around and took care of business. I tell you what though, Gengar and Tentacruel were the scary ones here. Tentacruel had toxic spikes which it used the first time and Muddy Water which thankfully neither we used on the second fight. Nidoqueen was meh. Gengar KO'd 3 of my mons the first attempt which was annoying. Mega Venasaur was surprisingly lackluster, being surprisingly weak even with Thick Fat. I didn't think STAB/Sunny Day boosted made that much of a difference compared to it's relative defenses and Thick Fat but I'll take it. Dragelge was the most worrisome part. I had to make sure I could lock it down without items and ASAP. Smokescreen continues to stay on Charizard for that very reason. I'm going to be excited to get Dragon Rage off in the near future so he can have Dragon Pulse.

I don't see my team changing much. Emboar, Flareon, and Darmanitan will probably see places on the team. Flareon has some defense along with a few interesting moves. Emboar for the fighting coverage finally and Darmanitan for dat OP Flare Blitz. Darmanitan will most likely replace Pyroar, and Typhlosion will replace Charizard. We'll see how the team members rotate. As of now I can confirm that Camerupt and Ninetails have a permanment spot on the team. Camerupt is surprisingly my most devastating pokemon. He's reliable, powerful, and strangely enough always the one to get the final KO, Aya excluded.

[drevance]

What a productive day.

===================

Shiver me Timbers!

Off to save the children! The wonderful children of Reborn!

We team up with Cain to mop the floor with Team Meteor until we reach the top of the Yuruyu building and find the Doctor shocking Heather. We step in to battle him.

Nothing much here to say. A combo of Earth Power, Curse Earthquake, and Sunny Day boosted flamethrowers did him in. Lanturn was flinch/confused/smokescreened to death.

We then make our escape through the railnet, but before we do we find the Move Relearner's house key as well as the dull key and take them back. We let go of Crunch on Ember and replace it with Thunder Fang for some very slight coverage. Let's face it, I usually just burn water types now and hope for the best. Anyway.

We exit and make our way to Laura's house and are tasked to get Medicine from the nearest pokemart which happens to be where our next Badge is. We run into some Arceus fanatic, a bug type lover (YOU SHOULD MEET SHELLY), and Serra the Ice gym leader. After some talking we notice that things are teleporting around (grabbed the spare EXP.Share because why not) and then make our way to the center to heal up before taking the gym on. We get flawless victory on the puzzle and mop the floor with Serra's son, bugboy. He fell to the greatest type of pokemon, Fire. Onto Serra!

I lead with the MVP of the run, Vulcan while she leads with Abomasnow who Mega Evolves. He calls in the hail to attack the team and hits Vulcan with a Ice Beam(?) which takes him to almost yellow. EARTHQUAKE to ruin the field and Vulcan gets KO'd by it. Out comes Happy for Sunny Day. Ultra Potion and Flamethrower. Ultra Potion and Flamethrower. Flamethrower KO. Mamoswine comes out next and Happy switches with Cinder. Flamethrower OHKO. Cloyster comes out next and holds onto 1 HP from flamethrower and KOs Cinder. Ember comes out and gives us the KOs. Glaceon comes out and Flamethrower takes it to red HP. Flamethrower again and Glaceon switches into Froslass to be OHKO'd. Back to Glaceon and KO'd. Vanilluxe comes out and is OHKO.

VICTORY

Next we buy the medicine and head back and regroup. We also grab Eevee at this point and evolve it into Flareon and slap on an EXP share.

Team Meteor is making their way over to us we meet Charlotte's sister, who has a Dragonite! Team Meteor is coming in to attack and we finally meet ol' eyepatch.

He doesn't give us any real trouble, however Honchcrow almost won it for Sirius.

Next we go after to hit Team Meteor back. Now I will preface that this was a very difficult part because of the Team Meteor members. I had to go back and heal up 5 times during this.

Eventually we are teleported away and find a giant Steelix. We engage in battle with it!

However, with the gift that is FIRE we BURN it to cinders. Back to the base to confront ZEL, Sirius, and Pulse Abra.

Fire spam KO

We put Abra down and meet Lin who knows we aren't part of Team Meteor and leaves to take on the Steelix. We make our escape at this point and regroup at the house, having rescued everyone. Noel is now ready to battle us for our next badge but we take a slight detour beforehand. Meet our newest teammate, Leah!

We raise everyone quickly to level 53 and head back to take on Noel!

He sends out Cincinno and out goes Vulcan. Cincinno misses a tail slap and Lava Plume sets the field ablaze. Cincinno goes down after healing twice and the fielding KO'ing it. Staraptor comes out next and Vulcan is swapped for Ember. With intimidate working, Ember withstands a Brave Bird and KO's with with a boosted flamethrower. Pyroar comes out next and we send out Vulcan who gets KO'd. Ember comes back out for the Intimidate and gets a Close Combat in before being KO'd. Cinder comes out and a flamethrower finishes off Pyroar. Porygon-Z comes out next and Cinder switches with Leah. She uses Flare Blitz to OHKO Porygon-Z. Lopunny comes out and KO's Leah. Out comes Happy for Sunny Day and Lopunny Ice Punches Happy while she gets a 2x Flamethrower KO. Finally we have Clefable come out and our own Pyroar comes out to finish the job with Flamethrower!

Victory!

Cya next time!

==================

WOW. I know I had the advantage with Serra but singles? That trivialized her. If she had been doubles it would have been much more difficult. Nothing much to say here. Mega Abomasnow wasn't even threatening as it ate damage from the mirror. I expected Mega Glalie but /shrug. Glaceon could take a hit which was nice, but Serra destroyed any chance she had by swapping into Froslass who could probably outpseed my team.

Noel though was what surprised me. He's always given me trouble in Reborn so I was ready to do multiple attempts. Porygon-Z and Cincinno were the tipping points for me. Tail Slap missing and Flareon just destroying Porygon is what made that run possible. Flareon has most definetly earned a spot perm on the team. I also bought Shadow Ball and gave it to her for now. Won't hurt for the next gym perhaps. The next thing for us to do is to fish a Luvadisc, go get Tepig and Darmanitan, and go finish the Team Magma quest to get Houndoom.

Since Commander loves watching me have horrid flashbacks of the rain Since Commander suggested that I take on Fern on route 1 in the rain, I plan on doing that next. Rip. I'm excited for 7th street. Like you have no idea. Cyndaquil timeee! Although I'm nervous about the next Gym, I should be fine.

Edited August 13, 2016 by drevance

[Commander]

Well...Serra without her field advantage is really, really weak but doubles Serra if she outspeeds you, you are royally screwed from my hilarious montage of getting destroyed. She's one of the leaders who relies way too much on her field and the AI is not her friend. Sirius took a while to get to good level in difficulty though Sigmund is way more competent for some odd reason.

I'm going to be interested in what happens during the next leader unless you cheese it and do the singles fight instead.

[drevance]

Well...Serra without her field advantage is really, really weak but doubles Serra if she outspeeds you, you are royally screwed from my hilarious montage of getting destroyed. She's one of the leaders who relies way too much on her field and the AI is not her friend. Sirius took a while to get to good level in difficulty though Sigmund is way more competent for some odd reason.

I'm going to be interested in what happens during the next leader unless you cheese it and do the singles fight instead.

So first of all, Fern in the rain sucks. I made sure to copy that specific save and fought him in the rain. There's a reason why when Julia put up Rain Dance earlier today on her Heliolisk that I immediately soft-resetted on habit only to realize that rain didn't affect that team.

=====

Entry # I really, really hate Radomus

So immediately we fight yaboi Fern who gets burned.

Although when we battled in the rain he showed me what a broom looks like I let him off easy.

After navigating Route 1 we meet up with Cain at Radomus's place and omg he isn't leading with Samurott, THANK ARCEUS. Something about Curse Camerupt? Cain wasn't very tough, Samurott and Nidoking being the most terrifying of his mons. Those aside it was pretty regular for Hardcore I guess. We end up having to chase after El since he kidnapped GG. We make our way to the gates and fall in where we meet an interesting character, the Coral Ward's Gym Leader. Xe doesn't like us at first but once we expose El Xe sides with us. Cue Arceus fight.

Fire Spin + Smokescreen essentially. Few soft resets to get rng on my side but it worked. Sided with Radomus btw.

Gates open and we tail Adreinn to xe's gym cue the freakout. After talking for a bit we split ways. I happen to catch a Tepig and head to the Lapis Ward to battle Team Aqua.

Now being nearly 30 levels makes a difference. Lemme tell ya. I GUESS I HAD A BROOM AFTER ALL! Got my houndour, trained everyone up to 57/58 at the Grand Hall and ran back to Radomus. I'm actually ight at Puzzles and only had to consult an outside source for the last one (;

I also updated to the newest version of Hardcore at this point and found this gym guy who explained how to go from doubles/singles. So naturally I chose doubles.

I instantly regretted everything. First of all what I failed to realize was that Psychic now does rock damage. So we'll leave that there. Also, there are multiple pokemon with trick room, so focusing down Exeggutor only to have Slowking through it up makes me sadface. I spent a bit more time struggling through it until I realized that with the pokemon I have, I can't do doubles because Radomus literally one shots me without calm mind or anything. Even Leah who has like 150 spec def or something gets one shot with a unaltered psychic/strength.

So I tried Singles. Single Radomus is deceptively difficult for an entire other reason. Starmie. Let me tell you how the battle went.

Lead with Houndoom and Feint Attack Girafarig to use up all the Hyper Potions. Before the final attack Radomus does one of two moves. A. Girafarig dies. B. Switches to Gallade for Justified Attack Boost. So after seeing this switch, I learned to anticipate it. There were a few losses from Gallade alone. So with Girafarig dead I swap to Happy for drought and then switch into Houndoom. Most of the time when Happy comes out Gallade uses Close Combat. So Houndoom dies. Gallade has def/spec def down. In comes Ember for intimidate. Ember can now tank any of Gallade's attack unless they crit. Flamethrower spam because sun. Next comes Starmie. Starmie outspeeds everything. RNG dependant for Leah being able to tank a hit, but usually it's all OHKO from this point. So I swapped out Vulcan for Ignis.

Back to Starmie. Hyper Voice Starmie. If Starmie calm minds, Headbutt for flinchhax, if not, KO with Hyper Voice. Metagross comes out next and Cinder OHKO's with Flamethrower. Next is Renunicles and Leah comes out and Flare Blitzs it for over 50%. Calm Minds and Flare Blitz for the KO. Next comes GG! Cinder comes out to smokescreen spam. That is his life. After two he gets Hyper Voiced. Next comes Ember who Intimidates (just incase) and Hyper Voiced. Next is Happy who dodges a Hyper Voice to use confuse ray on GG. Hyper misses again and Flamethrower + burn. Rinse repeat. Repeat. Happy gets KO'd and as she falls so does GG.

and relevant because trained up today

==========================

I think doubles Radomus is impossible on a firemono. I could be wrong, but I think it's impossible. Hell, the only reason I won is because Starmie refused to use Psychic on Pyroar. It would either use Calm Mind or Thunderbolt. I think it only used Psychic once on Pyroar on 12 attempts. I tell ya, there's a lot of times that I giggle as things burn and cheer after a hard fought win, but I feel like I cheesed that fight, like I did with Shelly and it doesn't sit right with me. Then again, with the fire types available at her I couldn't see how I could win in the rain. With Radomus I have a wider selection but again, when he outspeeds you and is far bulkier and only needs one hit to KO, it makes it really dependent on things like accuracy or status conditions. Like I'm going to keep Smokescreen on both Charizard and Typhlosion because I need it. IDK what I'm going to do when I have to go underwater. Probably laugh/cry.

I will say that around Shade it got much easier. Early game was deff the most difficult part so far, due to the lack of pokemon or evolution stones. However I haven't got to late game as I still have Dark, Fighting, Fire, Ground, Flying and I don't think any of those are going to be easy. Although having Fire/Electric will be nice. I need to level everyone up to 65 before I head to Agate though.

That being said, I think that at this point it isn't so much as me getting better per se but that I have decent mons and moves. I will definitely offer up that I've improved in both how I play and movesets from this run so far, but the available pokemon and two new ones I can get soon really made a difference. Even battling Julia today with a team of 6 was a huge difference compared to 2. Anyway, more soft resetting for me tomorrow because I want that blue flame.

[drevance]

Well it has been a minute or two since my last update.

Few things have happened. We've gained a few new teammates. We caught a Ponyta, Litwick, Cyndaquil, and Darmanitan. All of which have been nicknamed. I also spent a ton of time trying to level everyone up only to realize I most likely won't use them all. Anyway, onto 7th Street!

Immediately soft reset for shiny Cyndaquil. WORTH IT. Next we deal with everyone's favorite old lady who isn't very difficult surprisingly. Afterwords we meet Bennett and are captured by El's crazy cult. An hour or two of frustration with memorization and distractions and we make our way past the maze and puzzle to capture Litwick after saving Luna. Afterwords we head up to train.

Not much really happens. I grabbed the dusk stone for Litwick and made my way to Luna. My battle with Bennett was actually rather close but I still won in the end. Onto Luna!

I also recorded the battle because I'd rather not deal with typing it out and forgetting everything that happened. I will preface this with saying this is my second attempt. My first ended up with me losing to Luna's ace as I made some bad choices the first run.

Video of the battle

Short update though, and going to go find Rotom before we head to Agate! I'll see you after Samson!

===============

Honestly I was more worried for the battle than I should have been. My first attempt had Darmanitan doing work as Ninetails fainted early on, but it annihilated Spiritomb and Sableye my first run, just Sandstorm + toxic on Typhlosion didn't help with Eruption and ultimately Umbreon outlasted me with Moonlight/Leftovers.

I was debating about bringing Emboar but I just couldn't think of who to switch out as I remembered Luna's regular team barely but I guessed that there would be more coverage against fighting types so decided against it. While I didn't use Darmanitan as much in the video, it was useful in the battle and my only regret is I didn't use it in place of Typhlosion because I think Flare Blitz would have given me the KO.

[drevance]

Double update. Not sure how far I'll get tonight but figured since there wasn't much between Luna and Samson that I would combine Samson with Charlotte.

First thing is first, after many many many repeatedly heavy sighs I figured out the strength puzzle for the Rotom Key. My first time doing that puzzle and no me gusta. Anyway after placing Rotom in the PC and mixed around my party I made my way to Agate to meet Terra. While I get an occasional laugh from Terra, I'm not necessarily a fan. There are characters I like much more, like Cain. Anyway we made our way to Agate and dealt with the clowns. Found the move tutor guy who has drill run and Rapidash Lord Chespin learned it, guessing that it might be useful in the near future. I assumed that I would be going against either Mega Lucario or Mega Blaziken. Part of me was holding out hope that Charlotte had Mega Blaziken and so far I've been fairly accurate when guessing Mega Evolutions for Gym Leaders.

Shade -- Yes

Cal -- No

Kiki -- Yes

Archie -- Yes

Aya -- Yes

Serra -- No

Noel -- No

Fern -- Yes

Radomus -- Yes

Luna -- Yes

Solaris/Sirius whoever had the mega Manectric -- Yes

The annoying old lady that I stole pokemon from -- Yes

Samson -- No

Charlotte -- No

So I'm going to guess the rest of the Mega Evos that I can think of.

Blake -- Glalie

Terra -- Garchomp

Ciel -- Altaria

Taka -- Aerodactyl if he has one?

What gyms are left after Ep15? Fairy, Rock, Steel, Dragon, Water? Judging from the types alone, Rock and Water are going to throw me into the dirt. Dragon might. Steel will hopefully not be very difficult. Fairy IDK, don't have much experience battling fairy types honestly. Luckily we have Rotom so hopefully the water gym is completely weak to Electric pls >:]

anyway back to Agate. Before we can battle Samson we need to get a Battle Pass because it would far to easy to challenge him straight up. Also where is Hardy?

Route 2's puzzle of the Crustle took me a while, mainly because I did the top portion first and I had no recollection of how to do it. I prevailed. The bottom portion wasn't too bad from how it went compared to my memory of it. Anyway, make our way to meet our favorite Garchomp food and her friend Titania. We find Hardy and are told that Team Meteor has not only captured a town with a super long name but is sieging another town with a shorter yet still long name. So we are going to head there and back Saphira up but before we can we need Surf. Back to Agate. Now we can challenge Samson!

Boy did that Blaziken surprise me. Also kept me stuck for a while because it didn't know how to miss HJK apparently. Finally I realized that Lord Chespin could bounce and force a HJK miss and KO it. On the downside, someone needs to either KO Hariyama or act as a sacrifice so he can get KO'd quickly because EQ + Smack Down is NASTY. I didn't think Heracross would outspeed Lord Chespin but I was proven wrong, so that means he would outspeed Krakatoa as well. Don't get the Mienshao switch but I won't complain over it. Hawlucha scares me but Commander had no problem with Blitzing it. I knew that everyone could outspeed Conkeldurr so that didn't concern me much. I just wish I could have won without having a sacrificial pawn.

Now to have a level 15 Horsea in my party >.<

Back to grab Surf, I chose to read the diary and not say anything about it. I'm pretty nosey plus I figured that's what I had to do to get Surf. After they both dive down the waterfall it's time to surf finally! Grabbed ton of goodies in the mountain, kept an eye out for any of Corey's pokemon which I didn't find. Teamed up with Aya who was surprisingly strong and made our way past Team Meteor to our next Eclipse/Aster battle. I swapped out Horsea for Cobalt996 (Chandelure) and battled them. Infiltrator destroyed Lunatone and Solrock because Shadow Ball. Milotic was the bane of my existence. Why didn't I train up Rotom? WHY?

After a two attempts Aya wins with me watching. Then I was pretty sad about the death that happened. I grabbed Grass Knot from the left path and finally made my way to my first destination. FIRE CITY. Found a Magby that I can't yet get but I will because Magmortar is going to be great. Blahblahblah everyone is excited to see me, I give the Ruby Ring to Charlotte and we I get to go challenge her.

I liked the gym puzzle, and only the last part I had to retry because I had running shoes on and messed up. Turned em off and did it fine. Onto the battle that I had been waiting for since starting this run.

I was expecting her to have Flash Fire left and right but she didn't. My only concern was her Darmanitan which would either Rock Slide me or Hammer Arm. But yeah just burn burn burn. She loves the immolating spirits so burn burn burn. ALSO LAY OFF KRAKATOA SO HE CAN ERUPT FFS. Flash Fire is love. Flash Fire is life. Burning fire types was so nice. Man am I glad she didn't have Mega Charizard Y though. I mean besides Darmanitan and Mega Houndoom she wasn't really threatening. Rotom wasn't using Discharge so I had nothing to fear.

And I'll seeya next time when we get pounded in the ground light Terra on fire.

============================

Was a bit weird not having many trainers to battle but it's been that way since Radomus so I'm not very surprised. Samson was more difficult than Charlotte imo. More could go wrong. I'm just a bit surprised that Charlotte wasn't able to take full advantage of the field and have more Flash Fire. That would have made the fight much more difficult as I couldn't use Fire attacks boosted by the Field, Sunny Day, STAB and Item Boosted. But it was a fun fight nonetheless. I'm looking forward to CoM Charlotte after I complete Episode 15.

Concerned about Terra but I have a ways to go until that battle so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Gotta train up Rotom once we can turn it into Electric/Fire. Super excited for him.

[Commander]

I keep forgetting Typhlosion gets Flash Fire XD so I'll probably change that for Hardcore (probably not here) and CoM for E16. Charlotte's teams was one of the first ones I actually did where the only revamp she got was that Talonflame. The only reason she has that bird was for a compromise not giving her Mega Charizard Y, and for good reason because she just hits so freaking hard without it. Her damage checks were pretty borderline in my original testing so I'm probably not going to give her a buff.

Samson oh boy Samson has a funny story. His original Mega was Lucario. Lucario is one of my least favorite Pokemon (it's growing on me, but not by much), but that Mega sprite was just so ugly. So I did a poll and people picked Blaziken over Heracross (I also did a poll for Noel). Noel originally had a Mega Audino for a Misty Terrain gimmick, but it didn't work as intended (if it was regular reborn difficulty though, that would've probably impressed a lot of people imo). I also learned Gogoat is not a Grass/Normal type designing that fight. Noel was also going to get Mega Bird Jesus but that thing was broken to hell.

Anyways, Samson's team was a lot of fun to design even though I had to like completely flip the level cap of Luna and Samson since Luna made the cap 70. I even edited the trainer card to match (I betcha didn't notice that slight change). I probably should lower his levels by 1 or 2, but it's kind of to bring back memories of how overleveled he felt back in the XII-XIII versions of reborn. Luna was designed the same way as a nod.

Can I also say I'm very impressed by all the Megas you got including Cradburry. That old lady was the last person to get a Mega when I was doing trainer edits since I felt like revamping her team a little bit. That was another fun fight to design despite her not being too hard. I also sometimes did Megas just merely for the purpose of guess the mega like you were doing since I try to pick a Mega that makes sense to the leader.

Edit: I'm also surprised you didn't name me after the Ninetales.

[drevance]

I keep forgetting Typhlosion gets Flash Fire XD so I'll probably change that for Hardcore (probably not here) and CoM for E16. Charlotte's teams was one of the first ones I actually did where the only revamp she got was that Talonflame. The only reason she has that bird was for a compromise not giving her Mega Charizard Y, and for good reason because she just hits so freaking hard without it. Her damage checks were pretty borderline in my original testing so I'm probably not going to give her a buff.

Samson oh boy Samson has a funny story. His original Mega was Lucario. Lucario is one of my least favorite Pokemon (it's growing on me, but not by much), but that Mega sprite was just so ugly. So I did a poll and people picked Blaziken over Heracross (I also did a poll for Noel). Noel originally had a Mega Audino for a Misty Terrain gimmick, but it didn't work as intended (if it was regular reborn difficulty though, that would've probably impressed a lot of people imo). I also learned Gogoat is not a Grass/Normal type designing that fight. Noel was also going to get Mega Bird Jesus but that thing was broken to hell.

Anyways, Samson's team was a lot of fun to design even though I had to like completely flip the level cap of Luna and Samson since Luna made the cap 70. I even edited the trainer card to match (I betcha didn't notice that slight change). I probably should lower his levels by 1 or 2, but it's kind of to bring back memories of how overleveled he felt back in the XII-XIII versions of reborn. Luna was designed the same way as a nod.

Can I also say I'm very impressed by all the Megas you got including Cradburry. That old lady was the last person to get a Mega when I was doing trainer edits since I felt like revamping her team a little bit. That was another fun fight to design despite her not being too hard. I also sometimes did Megas just merely for the purpose of guess the mega like you were doing since I try to pick a Mega that makes sense to the leader.

Edit: I'm also surprised you didn't name me after the Ninetales.

Yeah, I imagine that she would be more difficult if I didn't have her locked down to non-fire type moves. I've come to realize the difference between what was easy for the run and how easy it is for a regular team. When my other file gets to Charlotte I'm going to abuse Flash Fire if possible because it made it easy, with the except of Darmanitan but I just need to have something outspeed it and Typhlosion.

On one hand I was really expecting Lucario so I had that as preparation in my mind, so when I happened to see Mega Blaziken I heavy sighed so yeah. My first few attempts were basically Blaziken sweep. If I didn't have bounce I imagine I would have been stuck on him for a lot longer. I've never battled/encountered Mega Heracross but if it's any faster than regular Heracross then I want to thank everyone for voting for Blaziken. I fought Luna at low 60s and the only mon near cap was Charizard against Samson. I can't vouch for a run that has more available pokemon than I did but I thought his levels were fine. Not to mention that his Heracross, Mienshao, and Hawlucha are the only fast ones excluding SB Blaziken. I haven't really felt any issues with levels except for Eclipse and Aster after Samson as they were a lot higher than me but I hadn't fought wilds or the repeatable. The fight before Blake was rough but that wasn't due to levels.

Funny story about Cradburry. When I originally went through the game I was pretty sure that I'd be facing Megas at some point and so I'd take measure to see each Ace of named battles. When I learned that they didn't I was relieved. So when I started Hardcore I made careful note of possible Megas after Shade. I wasn't sure if Cradburry would have one but on the off chance she did I had to prepare for it. She couldn't have any of the starters as Megas. Deffo not Metagross or anything that I have fought up to this point. She also wouldn't have any of the possible ones for the last few leaders/big battles. The only one that made any sense for her to have would be Banette because the other ones seem too strong for her and I don't see us fighting another Ghost User to use Banette. That also assumes that we won't face anyone that has a surprise mega that doesn't fit the team. So I kept Houndoom for it.

I thought it was funny that I got Blake and Serra's Megas mixed up as far as guesses go. I was worried about Glalie from Serra and bought potions just in case due to it being faster than most of my mons at the time and has decent offense.

I'm not sure if it's a good thing that I'm more worried about the other 5 mons than I am about the Mega. Because more often than not it seems each Leader has 1-3 pokemon that are an absolute nightmare not including their Mega.

No, I had no idea and I often check my card because I get paranoid that I mix up the level caps. Kudos for that. Completely slipped by me.

When I was looking at what monotype to do for my first run of Hardcore I had a set of nicknames/people that I was going to do it of. Fire happened to have the right amount. I'm assuming that Ninetails is a favorite of yours? I have it named after someone that I think of a cornerstone of sorts, given the role of a Drought Ninetails in this type of run. Others were named either due to availability or utility. I actually named my Darmanitan Commander because of Sheer Force and STAB Flare Blitz because Shelly caused me such grief I wanted a mon that if hit could OHKO pretty much anything given sunlight and a hold item. I have my Magby named Solarance, but I don't have access to a spare Magmarizer and I don't feel like it would be right to add a spare one in. I'm really excited to have a Magmortar as I haven't used one before.

[drevance]

THIS ONE IS FOR YOU DAD!

Sorry, had to be super dramatic or something there because

R4WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWR ...

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Anyway, with that sentiment out of the way, where was I?

Oh yeah, the PULSE Avalugg or w/e. Burned it to the ground.

Blake's apartment puzzle was so far the easiest puzzle compared to Shelly Gym and 7th Street Sub Sanctum.

ZEL's backstory

Anyway after learning that Heather is actually an E4 member no one is shocked, surprisingly.

Cal no. Pls.

I thought it was cool that we got to go up the mountain and fight with Cal/Shelly. DAT FIRE TEAM DOE

Heat Rotom joins the ranks!

Run into an old friend who for some reason IS OP LIKE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE the trainer of a beautiful milotic who I hope freezes and shatters just like Giovanni did to that Magmar in Pewter City that is rare and pretty. Took about 13 tries to get them beat and we got waterfall, and next we head up to Blake.

YES I GOT ANOTHER MEGA RIGHT. Unfortunately Blake is a piece of trash and was defeated in 3 moves because the volcano's eruption that was heard around the world, KRAKATOA, greeted him from the start and OHKO'd all of his pokemon. MY MAN. Then we Mafia'd him dragon drivebys flybys and got the Ruby Ring back. Learned that Terra is a liar. So back to Agate.

Terra escapes into the video game world aka gen 1 so we make haste.

First few trainers aren't bad, this can't be too bad right?

WRONG.

Oh look, it's some guy trapped in a corner. No wait, it's Commander! I'll battle you in a second, I have a funny feeling that the next area is going to make me rage hardcore (see what I did there?) anyway we make our way to Mewtwo who, surprise surprise, Mega Evolves [which I did not see coming] So like 9 years of me being defeated because this thing is Kungfu Fighting and it's fast as lightning. To be frank, it was a little bit frightening. Yet somehow we prevailed, by haxing it because it missed something somehow or I tanked something finally. IDK. I literally beat it and immediately blocked it from my memory. That was painful.

So there was a battle with Commander for a bit inbetween losses. Needless to say, I abstained from further shame as he put me in my place multiple times. Snorlax doesn't take well to fire. Lesson learned. Also, Mega Alakazam is terrifyingly strong. If only it didn't refuse to use any move but energy ball on Houndoom... We'll be back.

Onto Terra.

Oh boy.

Oh boy.

Oh boy.

Nidoking ammirite? This thing outspeeds my entire team despite having lower base speed and them matching level with some EVs in speed. But you know what, that's the name of the game. Nidokings always have scared me since Cain, so thank you Hardcore devs. Next up is more fast groundtypes that scare me. SWAAAAAAAAAAAGSIRE is the absolute bane of my existence. It is due to him that I spent about 2 hours bashing my head against the wall. I will admit that I swapped to regular Reborn and gave him a shot and still struggled with him. It fascinated me that he was giving me such a problem. Perhaps I'm just bad. Then I remembered something.

Swagsire.

Quagsire.

Fat.

Fat.

Fat.

Like 75 lbs fat.

Hmmm. Grass Knot? But it has to be someone speedy and sorta strong as I know that its Spe but based off of weight. SCORCH WELCOME BACK. Speaking of movesets, what kind of hidden power do you hav- OMG YOU HAVE GROUND HIDDEN POWER COME HERE YOU LOVABLE MONKEY.

Now, the problem is these pesky earth types are just too gosh darn mean and hit me like a semitruck. What could I possibly do...>intense flashback of Julia battle

-Checks inventory

-Air Balloon

Let's get this show started...

Let me preface this by saying that I was basing this strat around the game's AI with typings and my own experience. So for example with Nidoking you see me spending 10ish seconds maybe on the party screen going crazy. I wasn't sure who would be best to send out, who needs to stay alive, who has enough power to KO Nidoking for sure with sun out if he hits himself, who has a chance to possibly resist a Sludge Wave if it doesn't quit. Running the choices through my head. It landed and I said sure.

I was thinking of reviving Happy for Sunny Day but 1. I hate using items mid battle. 2. She'll get OHKO'd 4. I don't know if Garchomp has more PP than standard.

I was also going for the defense down chance but for some reason it wasn't in the cards.

Next time I see ya it'll be after I complete Episode 15! I have a few plans in store for the file after I defeat Ciel and I certainly plan to evaluate the Fire types available and all that jazz in regards to the gym leaders and general trainers. After Ciel we also have to head back to 7th street to take care of Archie rematch.

=====

I've been pretty spoiled in the run up to this point. This was the first gym that was actually my type weakness and it makes me think to Rock/Water. If Chimchar or Torchic become available in Episode 16 I'll get a real giggle out of it.

Seriously Terra was a nightmare. Either Happy survived a hit from Nidoking or he swept everyone. It wasn't funny. He was way to fast for me to handle and I had to rely on hax. I would rather not resort to abusing AI to get past things but damn is that battle difficult. I sort of want to go back and try it on regular with my strat and see how that goes but Mewtwo AND Terra were just absolute nightmares.

Part of me is worried about Ciel because Flying/Dragon and I have a strong feeling that she has a CHATOT which alone is enough to make me rage. I hate confusion more than anything because for some reason RNG is never on my side but when I confuse the enemy, they snap out quickly or rarely hit themselves. Then again I did flinchhax Cain's Nidoking 5 times in a row with Pyroar's STAB Headbutt, so win some lose some?

Finding Commander was honestly one of my favorite parts. I look forward to finding other NPCs that were added once I finish and finding Corey's mon. Right now I have Nidorina and Toxicroak's first evo. Both before I updated. Also Qwilfish. So I'm going to spend some time looking for them. I have a feeling I'm going to be looking for a while to say the least.

Depending on how the CoM goes, I may or may not try to reconstruct the teams they have in my Alpha Sapphire to use for fun in random link battles. Idea that popped into my head today. Granted it will take a lot of time and breeding to do but something I can do. The goal is to wrap E15 by tomorrow night as Monday I head back to Campus so we'll see. I'd like to just have CoM to do during school as I'll be getting an essay or two plus book reviews right off the bat. Anywho, those are the plans. Very rough. Reuniting with friends, dungeons and dragons, tons of reading because History, progress will be much slower come next week but the biggest part of the run is going to be finished before then, so yay.

Buh-bye.