Ari's Odyssey: a Ground monorun

[Curtis]

Prelude of the Challenge

 

Greetings, fellow Reborn trainers. Curtis here and I'd like to introduce my first Challenge for Pokemon Reborn (after beating E18 content), called Ari's Odyssey. Ari, one of the non-binary playbable character was the choosen to portrait this adventure, just because I love xyr sprite as much as I love Lucia's.

 

This challenge, however, is not different from any monotype out there. Ground was the chosen type for this because after going through a new, basic run in Reborn I noticed I didn't care much for Ground types in general. I like some of them, but never had interest in the type as a whole. The reason behind this run is exactly to change this.

 

With that said, our few rules just for the sake of having them here:

 

1. Every Pokemon used in this playthrough must have a Ground typing or, eventually, evolve into one. This means using fellows like Turtwig and Nidoran are completely fine.

2. HM slaves are allowed, if needed.

3. Non-ground types can be used for breeding purposes or to access Ground types.

4. Pokemons must be nicknamed.

5. Every Ground Pokemon must be caught.

 

Rule #4 is super silly, but is something I wanna do for myself. I rarely if ever nickname my Pokemons, but want to start doing in so despite my lack of creativity. Rule #5 is made for completion purposes.

 

Now that this small intro is finished, let's start the journey!

 

Episode I: Upward Lightning

 

Standards procediments before the ride to Reborn region, confirming Ari as my character choice. Dread Absol that I started to hate appears right away, plot happens and we met Julia, the first gym leader and one of my favorites. We eventually met Victoria as well, and time to pick the starter!

 

The first buddy of this journey is Munch, the Turtwig. While Mudkip kinda is the best option (because Turtwig becomes a option slightly sooner than Mudkip), I prefer the Turtwig line. His name, Munch, is the surname of Detective John Munch from the series Law and Order: SVU. Turtwig has nothing similar to Munch from SUV, but I'm kinda addicted to the show and Munch is my second favorite character there.

 

He, unfortunally, didn't come with Overgrow. We will fix that soon enough.

 

Munch gets a test drive against Victoria's Litten and Cain's Nidoran. The natural bulk gives enough safety against them, and Nidoran's Hustle made it miss some scratches. After leaving the building, it's time to call for backup: getting a Wormadam-Sand, our only other Ground type availabe before Julia.

 

First of all, we needed a source of Headbutt. Bidoof will do, and I properly named him Headbot. Then we go all the way to Seacrest's Garden and headbutt tress for a female Burmy. I tried a lot for a +Atk nature, but in the end I picked a neutral natural. Pineco spam is real. The problem is Burmy changes it's type based on the field it fights, so I couldn't maintain it as a Ground. Then I grinded her all the way to level 20 in the alleways (Underground Railnet turns into steel variant), only to Common Candy-ed it back to ~10. And ta-da, our new ally is here, Dust, the Wormadam.

Munch could deal with everything on his own until Julia with proper planning and Rose Incense, but I didn't want him to feel lonely on double fights vs. street bullies, Meteor grunts and Magikarp sidequest douches.

 

Moving on the plot, we get to meet the third rival...

 

vs. Swag Jockey Fern.

 

No switch in needed. Dust took the lead and ate Fern's team with Bug Bite. A potentially hard fight done way easier thanks to the right Pokemon. Can't say I ever touched in any Burmy/Wormadam in any game, but I must say this line is cute. I'm enjoying Dust.

 

Back for more plot, we invade Team Meteor hideout with another new character, Florinia, Fern's older and cooler sister. Who is also called Rini. Because Julia is that sweet with her friends. How can you not adore her? I could explode here. *bad puns ends here*

 

I love double fights, but being partner with Fern is a huge let down. Thankfully Munch made the fights a lot shorter thanks to Rose Incense + Razor Leaf.

 

We grabbed a Eletric Gem along the way, nice backup for when I start go crazy and capture a Stunfisk. lol (it's part of the challenge, so will happen anyway). Not only that, Munch evolver to a mighty Grotle!

 

After going through the last barrier in our way, the finds one of the heads of Team Meteor and two highlighted grunts, Aster and Eclipse. Rini and Julia takes the big boss, while we deal with the sidekicks.

 

vs. Meteor Grunts Aster & Eclipse.

 

I miss when they used Magby and Elekid. Double Rockruff couldn't survive Razor Leaf. Fern's Budew took a beating from Fire Fang though.

 

And that ends Team Meteor plans, at least for a while. Success for the very first mission? Yay! Rini gives the Field Notes App for our Pokegear, I enjoy collection those but I barely pay attention for their effects until they start to screw me up. Not this time! Ari is the new top dog, go away Fern (if you ever was, not convinced yet).

 

Lastly, a few booms in Julia's gym opens the way for our fights gym battle!

 

vs. Cheer Captain Julia.

 

 

Gym battles will have a slightly longer description compared to rival and Meteor fights, they are our mail goal after all. And less photoshop for me to do. Couldn't think about doing those banners for every time Victoria gets in the way, hehe.

 

Minun vs. Dust: little work for this one. Dust managed to get it to critical health during the Bug Bite, letting us get rid of Julia's Potions right away. With only Quick Attack as damage source against Dust, Minun eventually is defeat.

 

Voltorb vs. Dust: a slightly harder match because Voltorb is way faster than Dust, and Sonic Boom could go throught Dust's small HP easily, not to mention she was a bit hurt from Minun's Quick Attack. A miss here, Dust used Bug Bite, but Voltorb still lives. Another Bug Bite finishes the job, but Aftermath almost takes Dust.

 

Alolan-Geodude vs. Munch: I know it's starting to feel repetitive, but yeah... Rose Incense, Razor Leaf and Geodude didn't even act. Lovely shiny though.

 

Plusle vs. Dust: taking Minun damage in consideration, I expected Dust to able take care of it, or at least soften a bit for Munch. RNG did it's reverse trick and a crit Quick Attack faints our bug.

 

Plusle vs. Munch: another Quick Attack, god bless Turtwing line for being tanky. I was counting on it. Plusle, already hurt, fell for Munch's Tackle.

 

Oricorio vs. Munch: the flying type scared me. Thankfully the first Air Cutter missed, allowing Munch to finish Oricorio in two bites - don't worry, the bird is alive, Munch only likes berries.

 

Electrode vs. Munch: this one was tricky. I had to consider Sonic Boom damage together with Aftermath, which didn't proc in the end for some reason. Later I discovered Aftermath procs only with contact moves, and Razor Leaf isn't one of those.

 

Victory came and we obtained the Volt Badge, allowing our team to go up to level 25 without disobey shenanigans, and TM26 Charge Beam! Feels good to get it out of the way in the first try.

 

Heads up for Episode II in a few days, where we make new allies and kick Fern's butt once again. See ya soon!