An experiment of sorts: Can you TRULY beat Reborn with only Eeveelutions?

[CURIE]

It's been a long time since I've been on this site, mainly because I've been busy IRL.  But over the summer I have some spare time, and since Sega refuses to release Persona 5 on something other than the Playstation I felt like returning to this game to finally continue my 6th gen mono-run challenge.  Only to find out it seems to have been automatically deleted at some point, probably due to me not updating it for so long.  Well that sucks.  EDIT: Turns out it's been archived, not deleted.  I've already started this though so I'm going to finish my little experiment here before I restart it. 

 

So I decided to do something else.  Now back when I was regularly active on this site, I had seen multiple people doing Eeveelution-only runs.  It's hardly a new concept.  However as far as I remember, all the threads I looked at involved people either using a mod to give themselves a full team of Eeveelutions at the start, or playing the game normally and only really beginning the challenge run at the point you can first obtain Eevee.  I wouldn't exactly consider either of these "true" Eeveelution-only runs, as one feels like cheating and the other is, well, starting halfway through the game.  I decided that was what I was going to do, a "true" Eeveelution-only run.

 

The rules are simple: I use the Reborn Sandbox Mod to give myself a level 5 Eevee at the beginning of the game, as if it were my starter.  From there, I'm only allowed to use Eevee and its Eeveelutions in battle.  I'm allowed to catch other Pokemon for any non-battle purpose, like breeding, HMs, completing sidequests, and so on.  Also I can't use the sandbox mod for anything else, though that should go without saying.  And no trading with other players, that'd be cheating too. 

 

About fifteen seconds after I decided I would do this, I realized why I hadn't seen anyone else do it before.  Under these rules, I won't be able to get any more Eevees until after I'd gone through the Mosswater Factory, defeated Julia, made it through the slums, fought the whole Scraggy gang, beat the first Pulse Tangrowth, and saved the daycare couple.

 

All with one Pokemon.

 

But I'm not one to give up so easily, I'm gonna still try this.  However rather than a full-blown playthrough of the game, this will be more of an experiment, to see if it's actually possible feasible* to get that far in the game with just the starter Eevee.  Maybe if I succeed I'll make it a full playthrough, I dunno.  But for now, let's set up a plan of attack.

 

PART 1:  THE SETUP

Spoiler

What am I getting myself into

 

Since we'll relying on this one Eevee for the entirety of the experiment, we need to make sure we pick the right Eevee.  For starters, she needs to be a she.  A female.  If she's a male, then I won't be able to breed more Eevees until I unlock Ditto, which is even later in the game.  Now to decide which form to evolve her into.  None of the evolutionary stones can be found until after the first Tangrowth, and the moss/icy rocks are MUCH later in the game, so we have three options.

 

ESPEON

She would have type advantage against the Tangrowth, so that's good.  But I don't think she can actually make it TO the Tangrowth.  Specifically, she wouldn't make it past the Scraggies.  For starters, they're immune to her STAB.  She could use Swift or Future Sight (which DOES hit Dark types), but in either case she'd be taking super effective physical moves the entire time.  And her physical defense is crap.  I don't think I'm using Espeon.

 

SYLVEON

Sylveon is undoubtedly the most powerful of all the Eeveelutions, as well as one of my favorite Pokemon of all time.  But I don't think I'll use her either.  She has the opposite problem as Espeon:  She can beat the Scraggies easily (4x super effective, anyone?) but I don't think she could beat the Tangrowth.  First of all, it would resist all her attacks; even if she had Cute Charm as her ability the best she could hope for is non-STAB neutral damage.  That would still take ages to kill, and she doesn't have that long.  She starts out with high Special Defense, but the thing's going to spam Acid Spray and drop it to zero real quick.

 

UMBREON

As an Umbreon, she would have high defenses and a moveset made for cheesing out opponents in long stall battles.  Confuse Ray, Baby Doll Eyes, Sand Attack, Screech, and a good (for its level) never-miss move in Feint Attack.  It would take luck (a.k.a. several soft resets) but she can lock opponents into not being able to damage her significantly while she chips away at them.  Yes, she's also weak against Scraggies, but at least she has a good defense stat.  The odds are still bad, but they're better than the other two choices.  I'm using Umbreon.

 

With that decided, it's time to begin.

In case you're wondering, the gender is also "Mistake"

 

After watching the opening cutscene, picking up a Normal Gem which I may or may not ever use, and taking a short walk to the Opal Ward it's time to pick up my Eevee.  Now the way this Sandbox mod works, is that I gotta access it from the Grand Hall's PC.  Before I can use the Grand Hall's PC, I have to play along with what the game intends and choose a regular starter.  Since it doesn't matter who I choose, I take Popplio because it's my favorite.  Rather, its final form is.

Lol one of the worst natures possible for Popplio.  Seems I'm not missing out on much here.  Also why is this image so much bigger than the last one

 

Now I can just walk over to the PC and-

 

Oh right.  Forgot about this.  Well, pack it up, experiment failed.  Just kidding, we'll just pretend these battles never happened.  It's not like there's any doubt Eevee would win both these fights anyway, she gets STAB from Tackle.  With them out of the way, I can use the PC to access the Sandbox world and get my REAL starter.  The Pokemon generator there lets you pick the level, so I obviously went with 5.  It also lets you pick if it's shiny (which I decided against), but weirdly enough doesn't let you choose the gender.  So my only option was to rapid-fire generate Eevees until one of them was Female.  After almost a dozen male Eevees:

Nice, Adamant is a pretty good nature for an Umbreon!  I wonder what her-

oh...

 

Well despite a sub-par attack IV,  I'm pretty satisfied with what I got.  She's got a high defense IV, which I feel like will be more important than attack.  Also her ability isn't the hidden one, which is good.  Umbreon is one of the few Eeveelutions whose hidden ability is undeniably worse than the regular one.  As for the nickname, well, it was obvious.  She's a canine (I think?) and is in a scenario where she's at a major disadvantage.  She's the underdog.

 

Now I SHOULD release all the spare Eevees I got, as well as Popplio, but since I don't want to do that to my Second-favorite Pokemon of all time (rather, it pre-evolution) I'll just throw them in a box instead and won't take them out.

As well as that one Bulbasaur I accidentally generated while clicking through the menus too fast

 

 Now my plan was to fight the trainers around Peridot ward, level Underdog up, start tackling the main story, and evolve her when I actually need to in order to win.  That way I'd have to spend less time running back and forth in a straight line, getting her to max happiness.  But I forgot something crucial.

 

She learns Baby-Doll Eyes at level 9.  If she evolves while knowing Baby-Doll Eyes, she becomes Sylveon instead of Umbreon.  I can't just NOT learn it, because I need it to deal with the Scraggies.  So I actually have to evolve her immediately, at level 8 to be exact.  And I had already saved over her turning level 8, so I had to buy a common candy.  Right out the gate, I'm wasting money.  And now I gotta run back and forth in a straight line a LOT.  Awesome start.

 

Between these two points is 64 steps (yes, I counted) so a full round trip is 128 steps.  Conveniently, that's exactly the amount needed to raise your Pokemon's happiness by 2, or by 1 if it's over 200.  Underdog starts at 70 happiness and evolves at 220, and the first two level-ups gave her 5 each (the common candy negates the third level).  If you do the math that makes 80 full trips, or 160 one-way trips.  Problem is, 128 steps doesn't actually always raise Underdog's happiness, it's only a CHANCE to do so.  Bulbapedia doesn't say what the chance is, but I think it's 50% because it took me 150 full trips, almost double the amount, before Underdog finally decided to evolve.  Yes, I know.  I'm crazy for seriously doing this.

 

Underdog's Current moveset: Pursuit, Baby-Doll Eyes, Tackle, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON DRAGONBALL Z:  AN HOUR AND A HALF IN AND I ACTUALLY START PLAYING THE FREAKING GAME

 

*It's certainly possible.  It's possible to grind off of level 3 Bidoofs until you're such a high level you automatically win every battle despite the Pokemon not listening to you.  But that's not feasible.  It'd take years of nonstop grinding to accomplish.

[CURIE]

PART 2: AN HOUR AND A HALF IN AND I ACTUALLY START PLAYING THE FREAKING GAME

Spoiler

What, you thought that title was just a joke?

 

I realized that if I went and battled everyone in Peridot before continuing the story, Underdog would likely hit the level cap and I'd have to spend more money on common candies.  I want to spend as little money as I can before fighting Julia, since re-battle trainers don't show up until after you beat her.  Instead I beat up the guys around the Grand hall, and made a beeline for Fern while only fighting the trainers that were in my way. 

Also I caught this dood cuz why not.  Not using these Pokeballs for anything else right now

 

By the time I made it to Fern I was around the same level as him, which made the fight rather easy due to the difference in BST.  His Budew went down in two hits, the Sandile took more but couldn't deal any significant damage because its only attack seemed to be Bite.  Rowlet was a bit of a problem, he took multiple hits to bring down and his attacks did some respectable damage.  But that problem was solved by Baby-Doll Eyes.

Number of tries: 1.  Items used:  None.

 

Next up is the factory.  It went smoothly most of the time, Fern was a bigger help than I or anyone else would want to admit.  But then suddenly:

Hey look it's my first battle with type disadvantage

 

This fight gave me trouble, though ironically it wasn't because of the Crabrawler at all.  Either his only attack was Pursuit, or his AI was too dumb to use anything but Pursuit.  The problem was the Minior.  While I focused my attacks on the Crabrawler it was setting up a Rollout.  I finished off the Crab off, leveling up and learning Confuse Ray just in time to break Minior's streak with it.  It didn't work.  Minior didn't hit himself a SINGLE TIME.  It oneshot all three of Fern's Pokemon (it crit on the Sandile, HOW CONVENIENT) and all that was left was Underdog.  And its Rollout was at full power.  And I had broken its shell, raising its attack.  And it was faster than me.  I couldn't do anything but use a potion and brace for impact-

 

-and it only did like, 15-20% of my health.  Okay then.

 

After that, the only other Meteor Grunts left were the ones with the Solrock and Lunatone.  That battle was a cakewalk for reasons I really shouldn't have to explain.  By the way, I forgot to mention this earlier:  I replaced Quick Attack when I learned Confuse Ray.  Now if something resists Dark, I just have to deal with it.  Annoying, yes, but I need all the cheese moves I can get if I want to cheese my way through this experiment.

 

Underdog's Current Moveset: Pursuit, Baby-Doll Eyes, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE:  THE FIRST MAJOR HURDLES

 

[nam23]

I don't really know if this spice things up or is just masochism...But good luck

At lest soloing might save you money

[CURIE]

PART 3: THE FIRST MAJOR HURDLES

Spoiler

 

Fern may technically be the first boss fight in the game, but I've never had any trouble nor seen anyone have trouble with him.  In my eyes, the fight against Aster and Eclipse is the first real major hurdle.  I knew that one of their Rockruffs had Fire Fang and was a huge danger to my ally, but I didn't know which.  I chose one at random and Confuse-rayed it.  The good news is I guessed right.  The bad news is, I know I guessed right because it used Fire Fang anyway.  The other Rockruff used Howl, and Budew didn't do anything because he was already dead.  I could have used Baby-Doll Eyes to negate the Howl, but if I kept playing the defensive like that they'd just kill all of Fern's Pokemon and it'd be a 2-on-1.  I probably should have focused on attacking the Thunder Rockruff, since it was at +1 attack, but I focused on the Fire one thinking it would save my allies.  It didn't, and by the time the Fire Rockruff went down, all three of Fern's Pokemon were dead (they crit Sandile AGAIN) and Underdog was at less than half health.  Fortunately, after applying a Potion I was able to get things back under control with Baby-Doll Eyes.  Sure is a good thing I spent all that time running around to evolve Underdog before level 8.

 

Total tries: 1  Items used:  1 Potion (forgot to take a screenshot of my victory)

 

Next on the chopping block is Julia.  I have an Elemental Seed but didn't equip it yet, because I was unsure whether the gym trainers fight you on an electric field or a factory field.  After fighting one and verifying it was a factory field, I saw no other reason not to put it on Underdog.  It'll be a free Defense boost and it's not like she has any items to hold right now anyway.

This is where you find that seed BTW, in case you didn't know.

 

Fighting the gym trainers was almost enough to get Underdog to level 20, so I went out and fought a few of the dudes I skipped earlier to push her over that threshold and learn Feint Attack.

This is it, this is the moveset that will carry me until at least after I've defeated the Scraggies.

 

With that taken care of, let's begin.  Let's fight the first gym battle with only an Umbreon.

 

To my surprise, Underdog outspeeds the Minun and very nearly kills him.  He uses Nuzzle, which does pitiful damage, but as you know it's a guaranteed paralysis.  I kill him the next turn, but not before he locks me into Feint Attack with Encore. 

 

Next is Voltorb, who also almost dies in one hit, but since it outspeeds me I have to eat two Sonicbooms and an Aftermath.  Not sure if it's actually faster than me, or if it's just the paralysis.

 

Anyway, next is Geodude and by the time it comes out, Underdog is almost dead.  The good news is it spams Rollout, allowing me a chance to heal Underdog up with potions while interrupting its streaks with Confuse Ray (a tactic which actually WORKED this time, lucky me). 

 

At some point she switches out to Oricorio, which doesn't change much because her air cutter also does low damage.  She also used Tailwind, a pointless gesture because I'm still paralyzed.  After killing her with two Feint Attacks it's back to the Geodude, and I stall him out long enough for Tailwind to go away.  I then use a Paralyze Heal and finish him off. 

 

Next is Plusle, who I know is pretty much a carbon copy of Minun.  I try to confuse her so as to stop her Nuzzle, but that ends up being a fatal mistake.  She uses Nuzzle anyway, and before I can do anything else she uses Encore, locking me into Confuse Ray.  What proceeds is a sad cycle of Plusle beating me up while I can't fight back (or switch out, because you know, only one Pokemon), only to use Encore again every time it wears off, outspeeding me because I'm paralyzed.  I try using more Paralyze Heals, but she just uses Nuzzle immediately every time.  I keep going, hoping she'd hit herself at just the right moment for me to use a different move, but it doesn't happen.  Eventually Underdog goes down and I have my first loss of the run.

That damn Plusle was confused the entire time, but only hit herself ONCE.

 

And then I soft reset.  If I don't, I would lose that Elemental Seed forever, not to mention the money, the Potions, and the Paralyze Heals.  I can't afford good sportsmanship in this run.

 

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Feint Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON I WANT TO DIE: EV TRAINING BEFORE THE FIRST GYM?

 

[nam23]

As every player will tell, you, the RNG only matter when it is against you.

 

[CURIE]

PART 4: TIME FOR A REMATCH... OR TWO

Spoiler

I may not have gotten to Julia's Electrode on my last attempt, but I feel like if Underdog had just a few more points in attack, we would have won.  The Minun, the Voltorb, and presumably the Plusle all only barely survive Feint Attack, so if I EV trained a bit I should be able to oneshot them.  Although by "a bit" I actually mean more than a bit.  The way EVs work is that for each 4 you have, your stat goes up by 1... if you're at level 100.  But I'm only at level 20, so it takes 16-20 EVs to raise my stats by a single point.  And of course, the Power Items aren't until later in the game, so that means I have to kill a crapton of Ekanses and Patrats.  And before you point it out, yes, I've already picked up and used that Protein in the Peridot Ward.

Now I don't know what the IVs/EVs are on Julia's Pokemon, so I can't actually tell how many more points in attack I need to get the kill.  Since it takes so long to get one point, I decided to just grind one at a time and try fighting Julia after each one.  So after 16 dead Patrats it's time for a rematch.

 

What no this isn't the same image recycled what are you talking about

 

As usual I lead with Feint Attack and... get the kill!  Awesome!  I also outspeed the Voltorb and oneshot him too, turns out I actually am faster than him.  I plow through Geodude and Oricorio since they can't do much to Underdog, and when it's Plusle's turn she still barely survives the Feint Attack.  It was then that I noticed she was level 13, and the Minun was level 12.  Turns out whey weren't complete copies of one another, and I won't be able to oneshot her without several more points in attack.  If only Underdog's attack IV was higher...

 

Anyway, just like last time the Plusle hit me with Nuzzle first and then Encore.  This time however I knew it was coming, so instead of a status move I was locked into Feint Attack and killed her.  All that left was Electrode.

 

The thing outsped me, obviously, and spammed SonicBoom.  Feint Attack did just under half health, meaning it'd take three hits to kill.  Meaning I'd take three Sonicbooms.  Which I didn't have enough HP to survive.  I had all but accepted that I was going to lose again, but then my second Feint Attack got a critical hit and I killed the thing with 3 HP remaining!

 

...and then found out it had aftermath.

It was a tie.

And apparently ties count as losses in Reborn.  You learn something new every day, I guess.

 

Something else that happened during this battle that I didn't mention was that Underdog grew to level 26 after killing the Plusle.  It was then that I realized I was doing something wrong, I should have been exploiting the obedience delay from the start!

 

You see, in Reborn when your Pokemon goes over the level cap mid-battle, it doesn't stop listening to you until the NEXT battle.  Presumably this was done so that the player wouldn't have to worry about how much XP their Pokemon had going into a boss fight, for fear it'd stop listening at a crucial moment.  So if I grind Underdog to just under level 21, she'd level up after killing Minun and I'd have a stronger Pokemon for the rest of the battle!  So instead of going back to Opal Ward to EV train more, I ran around Peridot beating up whatever trainers I hadn't already.  And it's a good thing I did, because I found this:

I'll save this for later

 

After defeating several more randos it's time for attempt #3.  I use Feint Attack on the Minun and-

 

Yeah, I was afraid of this.  Turns out I only have a chance of getting the kill.  A small one at that, most likely.  I start soft resetting hoping I get the right damage roll (or a crit) but after 5 or so tries I decide to just wing it and see what happens.  I kill Minun with a second Feint Attack, the Voltorb still dies in one hit but not before dropping me to half health with Sonicboom+Aftermath.  When Geodude comes out I take the opportunity to apply a Paralyze Heal and a Potion before taking it and Oricorio down.  Plusle comes in, and STILL barely survives Feint Attack.  Ugh.  Well this time I have an idea.  On the second turn where it uses Encore, I apply a second Paralyze Heal (it had used Nuzzle just like every other time) and since the last actual move I used was Feint Attack, I get locked into that and kill the Plusle.  Now I can face the Electrode without being Paralyzed... which ended up not mattering because it's still faster than me.  Oh well.

 

After going back and forth between Feint Attack and Sonicboom a couple times, The Electrode is almost dead and Underdog is at 25 HP.  Also my Encore has worn off.  If I go for Feint Attack, it'll bring me down to 5 HP and aftermath will kill me again.  So instead I use Confuse Ray.  It uses Sonicboom, of course, so on the next turn I apply a potion.  He didn't hit himself that turn, so I apply a third Potion and then he hits and KOs himself.  Since it wasn't me who landed the finishing blow, Aftermath doesn't trigger.

Number of tries: 3 (I don't count those soft resets as tries)  Items used:  3 Potions, 2 Paralyze Heals, 1 Elemental Seed

 

Finally, Confuse Ray actually worked in my favor.

 

Uderdog's Current Moveset:  Feint Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack.

NEXT TIME ON UMBREON SOLOS REBORN:  THE PART I'VE BEEN DREADING

 

[nam23]

Time for a stalling battle

[VividGrey]

I'm living for this thread, good luck!!

[CURIE]

PART 5:  I GET BEATEN UP BY SOME SCRAGGIES

Spoiler

With the first gym leader defeated I don't have to worry about money anymore, so I went on a bit of a shopping spree before continuing the story.  Restocked on Potions, bought more Common Candies, got some more Pokeballs because why not, and made sure I had at least one of every kind of status-healing item available.  I don't want to be caught off guard and killed by some random trainer, that'd be embarrassing.

This would have sure been helpful earlier...

 

Coming up is the part I've been least confident about being able to beat:  The Scraggy gang.  But before I can fight the Scraggy gang, I gotta go through the slums.  And before I can go through the slums, I gotta fight Victoria again.

It was super easy.  Despite taking neutral damage to dark in gen 7, Ralts went down in one hit anyway.  So did Pichu for that matter, only managing to get 2 HP of damage in from Fake Out.  Torracat didn't fare much better, He doesn't resist Dark yet and his Double Kick did pitiful damage despite having type advantage.  Number of tries: 1 Items used: None.  Didn't even bother taking a screenshot.

 

Subtle forshadowing Ame

 

Going through the slums was similarly easy.  Since I've only been using one Pokemon this whole time, That Pokemon's been eating up all the xp that was meant to be shared by a team, and as a result was 8-10 levels above everyone else.  Coupled by the difference in BST, and this whole section was a cakewalk.  Of course, that's not the part you're here to read about.  You're here to see the boss at the end of the area.

 

After clearing out all the trainers, grinding up to just under level 26, and deciding against learning Assurance (Feint Attack has more PP, which is a pretty big deal when it's your ONLY attacking move), it's time to fight the Scraggy Gang.

 

Right off the bat, I realized this might be easier than I thought.  All four of the Scraggy Gang know Swagger, and apparently their AI will use it whenever I'm not already confused.  And since teamwork and coordination is apparently not programmed into said AI, it means that both Scraggies used Swagger on the fisrt turn, giving me two extra levels of attack for free.    Also they both wasted a couple turns spamming Sand Attack, which is of course meaningless because Feint Attack always hits.  It sure is a good thing I didn't replace it with Assurance.  Theoretically, if I keep this battle up long enough they'll get me to maximum attack, meaning I can actually win this if I don't hit myself too many times.

 

Yeah... fat chance of that happening.

 

I started off by using Baby-Doll Eyes to lower their attack stats, one at a time.  My idea was to then do the same with Sand Attack and leave one of them alive in that all-but-incapacitated state, almost turning the fight into a single battle.  But I didn't take into account the AI knows how to switch out now, so as soon as one of the scraggies went to -2 attack it switched to the Scrafty.  Underdog also hit herself that turn, which might have actually been for the better otherwise I'd have dropped the other one to -2 and it'd get switched out too.

 

I Confuse-Rayed the Scrafty (Underdog's faster than all four of these guys) but it didn't do much.  It still attacked, but for whatever reason its AI used Feint Attack even though I know it has Low Kick.  Next turn, it switched back to Scraggy #1.  Now these first two Scraggies don't have Low Kick, only Headbutt, so by this point Underdog was just above half health (the one doing the most damage to me, was me).  I use Baby-Doll Eyes on Scraggy #1(only once this time), apply a couple of potions, and go for Feint Attack.  By this point I'm already at +6 Attack, so I actually two-shot Scraggy #1 despite the 4x resistance.

 

Instead of Scrafty again, Scraggy #3 comes in.  This one actually does have Low Kick, and its AI isn't afraid to use it.  Thankfully it still doesn't do THAT much more damage.  I try to Baby-Doll Eyes it, miss, and remember I'm at like, -4 accuracy.  Oops.  I then two-shot Scraggy #2, but it takes several turns longer than it needed to from me hitting myself and having to use several potions to recover before trying again.  It works the second time and Scrafty comes in.  Rinse and repeat the same strategy.  Scraggy takes three hits to kill, and the first two go off just fine (the thing's still using Feint Attack for some reason).  But on what would be the killing blow, Underdog hits herself.  That just HAPPENS to be the turn Scraggy decides to finally use Low Kick, and Scraggy #3 finishes me off with his own.

 

It was at this point I realized my mistake.  I should have knocked out Scraggy #3, not 2.  Scraggy #3 knows Low Kick and 2 only knows Headbutt!  But even with that mistake, I did a lot better than I expected to for my first attempt.  Perhaps I can actually beat this in a reasonable number of attempts instead of a million like I expected.

 

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Feint Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON REVENGE OF THE SCRAGGIES:  I EITHER MAKE IT OR BREAK IT

EDIT:  Added some rather important details that I somehow forgot the first time.

[Urist_Imiknorris]

Welp, time to stall one of them out of Swagger.

[CURIE]

PART 6: THE RNG WARS CONTINUE

Spoiler

In subsequent attempts against the Scraggies, I realized that I got really lucky the first time with most of my Baby-Doll Eyes and Confuse Rays actually hitting.  After the first turn (where they both use Swagger) they both use Sand Attack for the next two turns, dropping me to -2 and then -4 accuracy.  My strategy at this point is to use Baby Doll Eyes once on each of them, then again on one of them, prompting a switch.  That's a total of 3 Baby-Doll Eyes, the second of which is under Confusion and the third of which is under Confusion and -2 accuracy.  Needless to say, it took several soft resets to actually get this far.  One time I did get that far, but then Underdog hit herself twice in a row immediately after and decided to soft reset anyway.

 

Eventually I triggered the switch (and didn't hit myself) and Scrafty came in.  Since I was at -4 accuracy by this point I didn't want to waste turns on status moves that probably wouldn't land (or even help if they did lol) and went straight for Feint Attack spam.  Scrafty once again used Feint Attack for some stupid reason, and two turns later he was dead with Underdog at around half HP.  Scraggy #1 came back in, and I took the opportunity to spam Potions and bring her back to full.  The two Scraggys couldn't do enough damage to overcome the healing, as both of them only knew Headbutt and one of them was at -1 attack.  I went to take Scraggy #1 out, hit myself, and spent a few more turns healing again (I was at +6 attack by this point so Underdog does a lot of damage to herself).  Trying again, I snapped out of confusion this time and to my surprise, oneshot the thing.  No, I didn't crit, I guess I was just at +4 attack earlier when i was twoshotting these guys.

 

Scraggy #3, the one who knows Low Kick, was next.  Since their AI was dumb and had them both use Swagger, I could get a free hit in.  I chose Scraggy #3, since #2 was still at -1 attack.  In retrospect, perhaps I should have gone for #2.  Scraggy #3 barely survives, probably due to being 2 levels higher than #1.  On the next turn Underdog hits herself, and between that, the Low Kick, and the Headbutt, she goes from almost full to almost dead immediately.  I try a couple potions, but each time the Low Kick + Headbutt deals EXACTLY 20 damage, leaving me stuck in a position where if I hit myself again, I'm done for.

 

Now, I should mention that while running around pressing A on everything, I've found two Super Potions.  I didn't want to use them unless I absolutley have to, because I still have difficult fights after this one (Yes, fights.  Plural.  As in not just the Tangrowth) and the only things I can buy are regular potions.  It was certainly possible for me to win this fight without using it, in fact it was a 67% chance I could kill Scraggy #3 next turn and from there I could just spam more potions until I kill Scraggy #2.  But if I got that unlucky 33%, who knows how long it'd take to get this far again.  I ended up using the Super Potion.

 

I ended up not even needing it.  Underdog used Feint Attack next turn and finished off Scraggy #3, and all that left was Scraggy #2 who was at -1 attack.  I probably should've used one more potion to make ABSOLUTE SURE I didn't get ganked by RNG at the last moment, but it didn't matter.  Underdog Snapped out of Confusion and oneshot Scraggy #2.

Number of tries: 2 not counting all those soft resets.  Items used: 1 Super Potion, SEVERAL regular Potions.

 

So there we have it, I got past the one fight I was most worried about.  I don't feel very good about it, though.  Remember a couple sentences ago how I oneshot Scraggies #1 and 2 but #3 barely survived?  If I had attacked #2 earlier when I had the free turn, he would've died and it'd just leave #3.  Then, when Underdog almost died, I could have used regular potions to heal her up since Low Kick did less than 20 damage.  I didn't have to use that Super Potion.

 

I didn't realize this until I had saved over my victory, so now it's too late.  All I can do is hope I don't need it later.  And yes, I know I can get an Ultra Potion in Coral Ward.  I just have my own reasons for not wanting to use that, either.

 

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Feint Attack, Baby-Doll Eyes, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON I HOPE I DIDN'T NEED TO SAVE THAT SUPER POTION:  THE BORING EPISODE

 

[CURIE]

PART 7: THE BORING EPISODE

Spoiler

 

I mentioned last time that I knew about this Ultra Potion already but didn't want to use it if I didn't have to.  The reason is that you need to give it up in order to get Skitty.  I want Skitty because it's how you are able to breed Wish onto Eevee, and while that wouldn't be until much later into the game, I won't be finding another Ultra Potion lying around until all the way in Agate Circus.  Yes, I can also use Pikachu to breed Wish, but that means I have to waste time and money raising a Pichu's happiness.  Possibly multiple Pichus, if I want to get good natures/IVs.  I'll keep it for if I really do need it, but I would prefer not to.

 

And now we get into why I called this "the boring episode".  I need to level grind.  Yes, even though I'm past the level cap.  Now that the Scraggies are defeated, I don't have much use for Baby-Doll Eyes and I already know exactly what I want to replace it with:  Screech.  Underdog learns Screech at level 29, and she's currently at 26.  You thought xp grinding was frustrating?  You though xp grinding on much lower level Pokemon was frustrating?  Try xp grinding on much lower level Pokemon when your Pokemon won't listen to you.

C'mon, I know you can oneshot it!  JUST HIT IT ALREADYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

When your Pokemon is above the level cap it sometimes obeys you, so eventually I was able to get her to level 27 and then 28.  Thankfully I didn't have to go any farther than that, as I had picked up the Rare Candy in the Mosswater Factory.  I used it to boost her to 29, learned Screech, and then Common Candied her back down to 25.

 

That's all for today, since I want Tangrowth to have its own entry and there isn't really anything else worth writing about until then.  It's the other reason I called this "the boring episode".

 

Oh right I fought Cain too I guess.  It was easy.  The less I talk about Cain, the better.

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Feint Attack, Screech, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON REBORN VS ONE EEVEE:  THE "FINAL BOSS" OF THE EXPERIMENT

 

[CURIE]

PART 8:  THE "FINAL BOSS" OF THE EXPERIMENT

Spoiler

To my surprise, it turns out Umbreon actually can learn Cut meaning I technically don't need an HM slave.  At the same time though, I can't waste an entire move slot on my only Pokemon.  So I picked a random Bidoof off the street, gave it Cut, and learned something interesting.  You know how when you cut the tree in front of the park, it triggers a cutscene but the fight doesn't actually start until you walk forward?  Well it turns out that unlike most other cut trees, that specific one doesn't respawn when you go to another area and come back.  That means I can walk away, leaving Florina and Amaria still suffocating, and drop Bidoof off into the nearest PC, and enter the fight with only Underdog.

This tree does respawn though, so I had to go the long way around through the slums again.  All the while Florina and Amaria are being strangled to death.  Hilarious.

 

Anyway it's time to fight the last roadblock before we can do the daycare quest, the "final boss" of the experiment:  The Pulse Tangrowth.

 

My strategy for this fight is simple.  Since Tangrowth is the only Pokemon, it can't switch out, meaning I can inhibit it as much as I want.  I outspeed him and start with Confuse Ray, but of course that doesn't work and it hits me with Acid Spray.  I then start spamming Sand Attack, and by the time he's at low enough accuracy to start missing he had already dropped me to -6 special defense (he had been spamming Acid Spray the whole time).  On the final Sand Attack, he gets lucky and hits me with Mega Drain, almost dropping Underdog and restoring the health he lost from hitting himself.  If this fight were on the Forest Field like it originally was, I would probably have lost right there.  Not wanting to risk losing to another lucky hit, I used my second Super Potion and started spamming Screech.  While doing so he got another hit in, strangely enough though it was with Acid Splash even though I was already at minimum Special Defense (good thing I used that Super Potion, it still would've killed me).  With him at -6 defense and -6 accuracy, he couldn't do anything to stop Underdog from two-shotting him with Feint Attack.

 

Number of tries: 1.  Items used: 1 Super Potion

 

...That was actually pretty easy compared to the Scraggies.

 

 

With Tangrowth out of the way I can pick up this third Super Potion, which is good because I still don't want to use the Ultra Potion and the experiment isn't actually done yet.  You may or may not have already noticed, but there's something rather important that I haven't mentioned since beating Julia.  Something I thought would be easy and unremarkable but then realized I would have to save it for the very end, not for convenience but out of necessity.  The whole purpose of the experiment is to save the daycare couple with only Umbreon, right?  Well before I can save the daycare couple, I have to defeat the fake daycare couple.  And believe it or not, they're actually harder than the Tangrowth OR the Scraggies.

 

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Feint Attack, Screech, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON THE EEVEELUTION-ONLY EXPERIMENT:  THE ACTUAL FINAL BOSS

 

[CURIE]

PART 8: ACTUALLY THE FINAL BOSS

Spoiler

Only one fight stands between me and the daycare couple, and proving that it is in fact feasible to do a truly Eeveelution-only run of Reborn.  It's the fight against the two Meteor Grunts who kidnapped and are impersonating the daycare couple.  I actually could have done this fight the moment I beat Julia, and I actually tried to do just that at first.  After all, it's only a pair of grunts, right?  They'd probably be low level and get swept away by my level 21 Umbreon, right?  Well after multiple attempts, getting my ass kicked on every single one, I realized I would have to save this fight for last.  Because somehow, these two random ass grunts are harder than anything else I've faced.

 

Actually, scratch that.  They're not two random ass grunts.  Remember those two guys all the way back in Mosswater who gave me trouble?  These guys?

 

These are those same two grunts, and each of them has picked up a new Pokemon since then.  Additionally, I don't have Fern or anyone else backing me up this time, making the battle a 2v1.  They both lead with their new Pokemon, which are Jangmo-o and Venonat.  On the first turn, the Jangmo-o always uses Protect and the Venonat always uses Poison Powder.  Since this is going to be a dragged-out fight, poison is an automatic death sentence.  Yes, I have items to cure it, but that would require a whole turn to use which I don't have time for.  Feint Attack didn't do enough damage to oneshot Venonat, so if I don't get lucky with Poison Powder missing, I'm done for.  When I do get lucky, I kill Venonat the next turn and Crabrawler comes in to replace it while Jangmo-o uses Leer.  This time, Crabrawler actually knows knows a fighting type move:  Rock Smash, which has a 50% chance to drop defense.  And by 50%, I mean 99% because it seems happen almost every time.  Baby-Doll Eyes didn't help either, because the thing would just keep using Rock Smash and I'd just keep losing more HP while getting nowhere.  So between that, the Leer, my inability to cure the stat drops since I can't switch out, and the fact that everyone in this fight is a physical attacker, Underdog always dies before or shortly after Minior comes in. 

 

That was before going through the slums.  After beating Scraggy (but before grinding to level 29) I went back to see if I could kill the Venonat with Feint Attack.  Still couldn't.  It looked like I could possibly kill it (and/or the Jangmo-o) with the Dark Gem, but I didn't want to use it at the time since I may have needed it for the Tangrowth.  That brings us to now.  I still have that Dark Gem, as well as one more Super Potion, and Screech instead of Baby-Doll Eyes.  Plus I've grinded to just under the level cap, so I'll be 26 after I get my first kill.  And if I still can't win, I can go to the Casino and get Substitute which will block the poison and the stat drops as long as it's active.

 

But for now let's see if I can win with what I have.

 

After some testing, I learned that even with the Dark Gem I couldn't oneshot either lead Pokemon.  How dissapointing.  I could confuse Venonat on the first turn, and if it hurt itself I could oneshot it, but that wouldn't be any different than if I twoshot it after getting lucky with a Poison Powder miss (this is also why I determined a Pecha Berry wouldn't help).  I also learned from earlier testing that the AI will always switch to Crabrawler on turn 3, so if I were to get lucky enough that Venonat hit itself twice I could kill Jangmo-o on the same turn.  It would still get in a Leer, so I'd still be in a similar position as usual, but the important thing would be that the Jangmo-o is dead and I'd only be taking one defense drop per turn and not two.  Also I'd be level 26.

 

It took either four or five soft resets, but I got this exact scenario to happen.  The Minior came in, I used Screech on Crabrawler (which would allow me to twoshot it), and Minior did something I didn't expect:  Use Confuse Ray.  Underdog's first attack landed, almost killing the thing, but then the confusion caused her to hit herself, making her take one more defense drop than she should have.  By this point she was almost dead, so I used the Super Potion.  Her next hit landed, killing it (the defense drop on its Rock Smash worked every time but one).  The Venonat came in, and since it had hit itself twice already Underdog was able to snap out of Confusion and take it down in one hit as well.  Now, this whole time the Minior had been building up rollout, so it was now on its 4th or 5th stage.  And Underdog was almost dead again.

 

So it all came down to a 1 in 3 shot.  I use Confuse Ray, and if Minior doesn't hit itself, Underdog dies.

 

Minior didn't hit itself.

 

Before giving up and going to the Casino for Substitute, I had one more strategy to try.  After 3 soft resets, I more or less replicated this battle up to the point where Crabrawler came in.  Instead of Screech, I used Confuse Ray.  The idea was that, if I could get him to hit himself once, I could oneshot him with Feint Attack after Screech and have to deal with one fewer defense drop.  It didn't work at all, the Crabrawler snapped out the very next turn and Underdog hit herself from Minior's Confuse Ray.  I got better luck with Rock Smash's 50% chance not working, but it didn't matter.  Underdog still died.

 

Fine, I'll go to get Substitute.

 

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Feint Attack, Screech, Confuse Ray, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON WHY ARE THESE GRUNTS THE HARDEST THING IN THE GAME:  I GO GAMBLIN'

 

[nam23]

Fun (and irrelevant)fact: Back when I was first at this place I fought the fake day care couple but somehow never found the real one until it was time to save the orphan. I even thought they had them taken to some far away base (mostly becaune I never bothered coming back to oceana pier after the first time)

At least this game got the voltorb flip which can be beaten through logic to some degree(not realistic but many times better than just waiting to have 9M to buy coins).

 

[CURIE]

PART 9: I ALMOST DON'T GO GAMBLING BUT THEN DO

Spoiler

Last time we left our intrepid Umbreon, she struggled and ultimately failed to defeat the vile impostors who had kidnapped the real daycare couple.  Without the TM for Substitute, her only viable strategy was to get really lucky with Confusion (on both sides of the field, as her foes knew Confuse Ray too) but the odds were so stacked against her, she couldn't pull it off even after many soft resets.  Realizing she would need the power of TM90 to overcome this obstacle, she and her trainer (who is totally not a soulless husk controlled by her) headed to the Onyx Ward to win it at the Casino.  Along the way though, she stopped by the Department Store to pick up a Pecha Berry.  After all, the Dark Gem had proven ineffectual; with or without it she could only two-shot either of her opponent's lead Pokemon.  Since there was no point in wasting it, and the held item options this early in the game were limited, she decided a Pecha Berry would suffice so that she wouldn't have to worry about being poisoned right off the bat.  It was when she (uh, I mean her trainer) approached the counter that she remembered something else:  THIS exists too!

 

These would've really helped with the Scraggies...

 

An automatic cure for Confusion could be just what Underdog needed to tip the scales in her favor, and defeat those villains without having to spend hours grinding Casino Coins!  She eagerly bought one and equipped it, and headed back to the daycare center to rematch the impostors for the hundredth time.

 

As in the last couple attempts, she soft reset until the Venonat hit itself twice in a row from Confusion (it took 4 resets).  It switched to Crabrawler as usual, and by this point the Jangmo-o had been felled by her Feint Attack.  Next, our heroine Confuse-Rayed the Crabrawler hoping that this time, she would have better luck with it.  She didn't.  The crab snapped out of confusion immediately once again and she had wasted her turn.  Meanwhile, while the Minior's own Confuse Ray had of course been blocked by the berry, it simply used the move again next turn and was successful.  Knowing things would only go further south from there, Underdog aborted the attempt.

 

She decided to give one more shot before she would go gambling.  After 9 soft resets, she had made it back to the point where Crabrawler was switched in.  Instead of chancing it with Confuse Ray, she used Screech and went straight for the 2-hit KO.  The thing got 2 Rock Smashes in before it went down, and one of them got the defense drop meaning she was at -2 defense.  By the time Venonat came in she was confused once again, but she pulled through like the badass she is and killed it.  On top of that, Minior's Rollout missed!  This was the best she had ever done in this fight!

 

Now she just had to beat the Minior.  As its strategy relies on landing Rollout several times in a row, she went for Confuse Ray.  Or rather she tried, and instead hit herself in her own confusion.  Her health was low at this point, so she had no choice her TRAINER had no choice but to apply the Super Potion.  On the next turn she snapped out and landed the Confuse Ray, but Minior landed the Rollout anyway.  Her -2 defense, combined with the Rollout being at stage 3, meant it wiped out almost all the heath the Super Potion restored.

 

She was stuck in the same situation as last episode:  If the Minior didn't hit itself this turn, she would lose again.

 

And just like last time, the Minior didn't hit itself.

As you can see I went for Feint Attack, in retrospect it should've been Sand Attack.

 

With that, Underdog had accepted that she had no other choice than to obtain Substitute.

 

Now before she could start grinding Casino coins, she'd first have to get the coin case.  Most of the OTS students went down with little trouble, being not much tougher than the street rats in the slums.  However, one guy's Morelull proved to be quite the nuisance.

 

Its Effect Spore had paralyzed her, and since it resisted Dark it would take 3 Feint Attacks to kill.  And every time she got close, the paralysis would stop her and give it time to heal with Moonlight.  After several rounds of this farce, she tried to hit it with Screech so as to oneshot it.  Only to remember she was at low accuracy, as it had been spamming Flash in between Moonlights.  There was no choice but to spam Screech until she got lucky and landed it, before finally killing the Morelull in one hit.  It used Mega Drain a couple times, but did pitiful damage.  The battle wasn't hard, just very annoying.

 

It was also the very last trainer before the Coin Case.  How convenient.

 

Now Underdog could finally begin her gambling career.  Or rather her trainer could, as Pokemon are not legally allowed to gamble.  Sniffing around the casino, she found a total of over 1200 coins just... lying around, dropped and forgotten by the humans who frequented the place.  Humans can be so incompetent sometimes.  First she tried the slots...

 

...and found out she was actually pretty good at the timing!  However after a thousand or so coins she got bored and moved onto the other game they were hosting, Voltorb Flip.  It was better than the slots because there was no risk of actually losing coins, and the solutions could just be found using an online calculator (look, I like both Minesweeper and Picross.  I'd like to think of myself as pretty good at both of them.  But Voltorb flip is just badly designed.  Too many "bombs" in too small an area, it's almost always mathematically impossible to determine where the bombs are for sure, even when using a calculator.  At least with Minesweeper it's in specific uncommon circumstances that things are left up to chance.)

 

It still took quite a while, because her luck sucked that day.

Really game?  7 percent?  Another time I had a 5 percent chance and it was still a bomb too.

 

Eventually she had enough coins to buy the TM90 Substitute, the most expensive item in the casino.

Also this happened.

 

Now the question is:  Which move should Underdog forget to make room for Substitute?  Obviously not Feint Attack, it's her only attack.  She had used Sand Attack the least during this adventure, but she wanted to save that for a future battle too (if I ever actually continue this as a full playthrough).  That leaves Confuse Ray and Screech, both of which have been helpful in the past and have ample potential to be helpful in the future.

 

She decided to save the game before forgetting either, that way she could go back on her choice should she need to.

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Undecided

NEXT TIME ON THE TRUE EEVEELUTION-ONLY CHALLENGE:  ACTUALLY ACTUALLY THE FINAL BOSS FOR REAL THIS TIME I SWEAR... MAYBE.

 

Sorry it's been a while, I was busy IRL.  It didn't help that the Pokemon fandom is going down in flames right now either.

[CURIE]

PART 10: THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM?

Spoiler

Obviously I've fought these guys way more than 3 times by now, but this is the 3rd episode straight about them so the title still applies.

 

I would prefer to jump into battle immediately and not waste any more time typing, but I still have to decide which move to overwrite with Substitute.  After thinking about it a bit I chose to forget Confuse Ray, since I feel Screech will be more helpful in the future and confusion has been... unreliable throughout this experiment.  As I mentioned last time I saved before using the TM, so if I change my mind and want to overwrite something else I still can.

 

Now let's see if I can't finally take these guys down.

 

Right away I use Substitute to avoid getting Poisoned.  Venonat takes the bait and wastes its turn with Poison Powder, and Jangmo-o uses Protect as always.  Now is where things get uncertain, I don't know what the AI will do when it knows it can't poison or drop my defense.  Jangmo-o starts spamming Dragon Tail, which is about what I expected, but weirdly enough Venonat STILL goes with its original strategy, using Poison Powder (even though it doesn't work) again and then switching on turn 3.  Knowing this, I reset and do it over again intending to hit Crabrawler with Screech on the switch-in.  But this time Venonat DOESN'T switch on turn 3.  Okay...  Well in that case I focus on Jangmo-o, as the Venonat has revealed its only attacking moves to be Confusion and Psybeam.  As long as my Substitute's up, it literally can't do anything to me.  I finish off the Jangmo-o and only THEN does the Venonat switch out.  Now I'm faced with both Crabrawler and Minior at the same time, but at least my Substitute's still up.  I use screech on Crabrawler, and the Minior breaks my Substitute with Rollout just in time for Crabrawler to hit me with Rock Smash.  It gets the defense drop because of course it does.

 

Knowing things are only going to go south from here, I reset again.  This time I keep Jangmo-o alive, and keep using screech on Venonat until it switches.  It never does this time.  Is the game cheating?  Does the AI know what moves I'm making before it makes its own?

 

Eventually it finally switches, but by that time Underdog is at half health due to needing to make another Substitute.  Thankfully the Screech landed so I twoshot the Crabrawler, though not before having my Substitute broken again.  With Venonat coming back in, I use Substitute one more time (now Underdog has only 10 HP) to block the Poison Powder.  I twoshot Venonat and now the fight is a 1v1.  Since Jangmo-o's Dragon Tail doesn't do much and my Substitute's still up, I'm free to spam Potions (don't wanna use anything stronger if I don't have to).  After getting close enough to full health, I make a new Substitute and finish Jangmo-o off.  That just leaves Minior.

 

And then my computer crashed immediately after taking this screenshot.  Nice.

 

Underdog's Current Moveset:  Undecided

NEXT TIME ON JUST KILL ME ALREADY:

 

JK, I'm finishing this fight today.  I was clearly going to win that, so if I stick to the same strategy I'll win next time for sure.  Well... assuming Venonat eventually switches out.

 

It did, but not before it revealed its fourth move to be Supersonic, which hits through Substitute due to being a sound move.  Wonder why it wasn't using that last time...  Well it didn't matter anyway, the Persim Berry Underdog was still holding saved her just int time to for Venonat to switch.  The rest of the battle goes mostly the same as last time, the only notable difference being that Jangmo-o got me with a Leer while I was Substitute-less. 

 

Eventually I make it back to the Minor.  If I were at lower health, I would have spammed Sand Attack so as to keep him from getting a Rollout streak going.  But with almost full HP and Substitute still up I just used Screech twice (I don't want to risk almost killing it and activating Shields Down) and went straight for the kill.  At -4 defense, it went down in one hit.

Number of tries:  A LOT.  Items used:  1 Persim Berry, 3 Potions

 

Joke's on you, finding the key is the easiest part of all this.

 

See?  Already found it

 

My sentiments exactly.

 

Now I can breed as many Eevees as I want.  With that, I have proven that it is indeed feasible to beat Reborn with a true Eeveelution-only run.  Sure, there's still an entire game left unbeaten, but I already know others have done it with Eeveelution teams so I know it's feasible.  I declare this experiment a success, you can in fact TRULY beat Reborn with only Eeveelutions.

 

Underdog's "Final" Moveset:  Feint Attack, Screech, Substitute, Sand Attack

NEXT TIME ON THE COMPLETED EXPERIMENT:  EPILOUGE

 

[Urist_Imiknorris]

The epilogue is the entire rest of the game, right?

[CURIE]

On 6/15/2019 at 12:25 AM, Urist_Imiknorris said:

The epilogue is the entire rest of the game, right?

Haha, no.  More like setting things up for if I return in the future to do the entire rest of the game.  I still have a mono-gen-6 run that I started long ago and never finished, I at least want to do that first.

 

PART 11:  AN EPILOGUE, AT LEAST FOR NOW

Spoiler

First of all, HUGE shoutout to Ame for making the Oval Charm immediately available after rescuing the daycare couple.

Oh and also for making the rest of the game.  That's cool too I guess.

 

My next step was to go back to the casino and grind coins for a bit to get a Slugma, but first I went to go pick up Happiny because there's no reason not to, it doesn't cost me anything.  I went to look at the stats just for fun and suddenly-

 

I think this is the best IVs I've ever seen on a randomly-rolled Pokemon... and it's USELESS.  Since Chansey is female-only, I can only breed more Chanseys with this, meaning I can NEVER bring these crazy stats over to my Eevees.  Just kill me already.

 

After picking up a Slugma and making sure its ability is Magma Armor, it's time to decide who Underdog's mate should be.  My two main choices are between Munna for Yawn and Espurr for Covet*, since the stronger stuff like Stored Power and Wish would require a higher level cap.  I had decided on Yawn, as Covet seemed like it would be mostly used for Heart Scale grinding which wasn't needed yet.  Not to mention Munna is a traded 'mon, and the least I can do for Underdog is give her a mate she actually gets along with.  So I grabbed my Bidoof from earlier and started training.

 

*Yes, I know Eevee gets Covet at level 1.  But these Eevees don't hatch with it, I already tested.  So the only way to get Covet is either breeding or the move relearner.

 

Oh right, I never mentioned it was shiny.

 

Now it could be interpreted that I broke the rules by level grinding with a Bidoof.  Only use Eeveelutions in battle and all.  But I say this falls under "breeding purposes" so it's okay.  Besides, I'm only grinding off of wild Pokemon, not furthering the game's story.  Anyway I traded in Bibarel for Munna, and soft reset until I got a male with acceptable stats.  The idea is that later in the game, when I get access to Stored Power, I'll use this thing to breed an Espeon.

 

Not a bad nature for Espeon, and the terrible physical stats don't matter because, well... Espeon.  I went with this one.

 

After picking up Espurr, Skitty and Swirlix (just so that I don't forget them later), I dropped the two lovers in the daycare and waited.  Since I don't have an Everstone or a Destiny Knot, these Eevees are going to be mostly randomized.  As such, I bred a full batch of 5 and will pick the best two out of the bunch to evolve into Espeon and Sylveon.  Let's see what I got.

 

Those second and third ones are pretty good, for Espeon and Sylveon respectively.  Neither of them have the hidden ability, but that's okay since I have exactly two Ability Capsules.  I set them aside for training, and that's where I think I'll leave this.  It's been great fun torturing myself (except for when I had to grind Umbreon above the level cap, that was awful), but for now I want to move on to something else.  I'll see you again if/when I come back.

P.S. Even with the Oval Charm, even with Slugma, even with the fast-forward key Ame programmed in, Breeding without a bike SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS

[gryson]

good luck with shelly

Espeon and Umbreon are weak against bug and struggle bug will lower Sp A so that sylveon and espeon can't do big damage