Random Dragon Draft Run

[Alweron]

Hi! I have played through various chapters of Reborn few good times and my last run was Ghost/Poison run that I finished last week.

When I was deciding on what "crazy" run of Pokémon Reborn to do, a wild idea appeared. What if I would give myself all those OP dragons from the start and just breeze through the game? Heh, silly me. This is Pokémon Reborn we are talking about. You don't breeze through it. But still I believe that playthrough would not be THAT much fun. But what if I somehow made it interesting? After some thinking I came up with a concept which I called Random Dragon Draft Run. I should state that I am your average pokémon player! Reborn gives me hard time, but I enjoy most of it. I probably cannot do a true monorun or a Nuzlocke, so this is just me having some fun. After this is finished (or abandoned if I deem it to be easy), I will probably do another dual run, as that helps me to grow as a trainer in terms of team building.

 

Anyway, the rules for this run are:
1) Instead of the starter and after every gym battle won I get one random pokémon from the deck (see below). I will be using Sanbox mode for this, of course.
2) I cannot use any other pokémon. That means I will be using the TMX mod for HMs.
3) If I get stuck for more than a week, I can get myself another random pokémon from the deck. This includes getting stuck anywhere, not only gym battles (I am looking at you, various multi-battle gauntlets!).

The deck is as following:
Dratini, Bagon, Axew, Druddigon, Goomy, Jangmo-o, Swablu, Gible, Exeggcute, Horsea, Trapinch, Deino, Skrelp, Tyrunt, Noibat, Turtonator, Drampa, Aerodactyl, Magikarp, Charmander
(Should this not be enough due to me being a noob and getting stuck multiple times, I could always add some pokémon from the dragon egg group. But it probably won't come to this as half of these pokémon are basically game breaking.)

 

***

Starter was CHARMANDER. Not gonna lie, this was pretty good luck. Yeah, Gible would be probably better (i.e. easier), but I do not complain at all, as I could start with Swablu or Magikarp or Horsea and that would have been HELL.
Start of the game is pretty straightforward. Since I have only one pokémon, I don’t need to grind, I just battle trainers who are available and progress through the story. I whited out once to a trainer with some ground pokémon. Surprising, but other than that I didn’t have any trouble. During team up with Fern Charmander evolved and I got to the first gym right on lvl cap.

Julia was sweep with Dragon Rage on my first try. She managed to set up Tailwind, so she outsped me half of the time, but I got lucky and finished with 7 HP. Not a turn to spare! And I thought this is going to be super easy! (Okay, to be fair, if you beat gym leader in Reborn on your first try, it IS easy.)

 

***

Next member of the team is TYRUNT. Not terrible, he's a decent Physical Attacker who learns Earthquake (I am looking at you, Serra!), but has tons of weaknesses.
I whited out once to the Scragggang, other than that slums were easy despite me having only two pokémon and actively switch training one of them.
First PULSE was easy, but that's mainly because it is actually only the one PULSE Tangrowth and nothing else. Was this always the case? Probably yes, but I forgot that Reborn can be...nice to the player
Onyx School was good training for Tyrunt, who to my surprise does not learn any damaging STAB attack for a while. But Stomp is decent and the chance to flinch is also nice.
Florinia took me few tries, but from the start I knew I could beat her. Some flinch here and there, a lucky crit and after about 30 minutes I won. Her using mostly ground attacks (Nature Power) did not help, but she is a GRASS leader after all, so my Charmeleon swept half of her team with Ember. Especially Telluric Ferroseed was taken down before it could do any damage. And her terrifying Cradily was taken care of by Tyrant. I wasted an Ultra Potion in the final turns, though. This was tougher than I originally thought, but I guess I was just overconfident with fire starter...

 

***

Next member of the team is...MAGIKARP! I consider this really lucky, not only because Gyrados is a beast, but mostly because it adds another diversity to the team (I know I will regret saying this when fighting Connal). I treated myself and got a shiny Magikarp as a reminiscent of gen2's Red Gyrados.
Switch training that sucker through the Malchous Forest was bit of a drag, but it helped Charmeleon and Tyrunt to get few more lvls as well.
Anyway. Nothing much to say about the Meteor grunt battles. They are kinda easy (or better said - Reborn kinda easy) even though I don’t have full team yet.
Getting through the first PULSE with Taka was good. His Chatot ouspeeds me (Because of course he does!), but doesn’t do much at this point in the game. And I suppose I should be grateful he gets me out of that cage (Also fuck you, Fern.), right?
The other PULSE was harder as it is a double battle and I was slightly underleveled. During mercifully short grinding I actually got some decent moves on Gyarados and try again. It went well. The only problem was both of my pokémon being leech seeded, but it was a minor inconvenience.
Corey was surprisingly easy. I've never had much problem with him (safe perhaps only for my very first run). I lead with Gyarados and blow away his corrosive mist with Twister on the first turn. I initially didn't know this can be done and just discovered it by a chance! Without this I would have had really hard time, probably. After that it was another easy sweep, this time with Gyarados who got stronger and stronger thanks to Moxie. I'm not gonna say this ability is broken, but I really see why Ame pushed Magikarp so late into the game. (IMHO too late, but whatever.)

 

***

Next member of the team is DRAMPA. Not sure how I feel about it, I've never used one before. Typing is interesting, though. We'll see. Next leader is Shelly and I am NOT looking forward to that… But! Drampa has Cloud Nine ability, which negates weather effects. If this works properly, then I should be able to burn her field with Charmeleon, right? We’ll see how that goes!

 

So, let me know what you think of the Random Draft Concept in general, let me know what you think of this run in particular, I will gladly hear your advices and I am prepared to hear I don't play Reborn the way it is supposed to be played and that this will be an easy run.

 

[Smooth]

Good luck fam 

You’ll need every advantage you can 

Explore reborn to your heart contents 

 

You will won’t regret anything 

[Alweron]

Next member of the team is DRAMPA. Not sure how I feel about it, I've never used one before. Typing is interesting, though. We'll see. Next leader is Shelly and I am NOT looking forward to that… But wait! Drampa has Cloud Nine ability, which negates weather effects. If this works properly, then she cannot set up Raind Dance and I should be able to burn her field with Flare Blitz, right? We’ll see how that goes!

After Shade disposes of Corey’s body and blood, I go rescue Victoria who got herself captured by Team Meteor. I don’t like fighting Aster and Eclipse. Their characters are amazing and their story arc is awesome, but battling them is annoying due to them spamming rock attacks and having fast pokémon which result in more flinching than I would like. I wonder if they may be related to Hardy… But of course they get obliterated.

 

I join forces with Team Aqua and switch train our new team member through the few battles. This section of the game is kinda short so I need to wipe the floor with some of the Grand Hall trainers again as well. I am especially fond of the lovely couple who battles in doubles. During this time Charmeleon finally gets Flare Blitz and I actually overlevel him to 36 to evolve. One Common Candy later and we have obedient Gamefreak’s most favourite pokémon on our team. Gyarados and Tyrunt are at lvl cap already and Drampa is 30+, so I figure it’s time to have a shot at Shelly. I hate her gym puzzle! I mean I don’t HATE it, it’s really good in terms of character lore and difficulty, but I get frustrated every time I do it. Stupid bookcases!

Anyway, the battle itself went as smoothly as it could. I lead with Charizard and Drampa to set up the burning field and it did wonders! I mean yes, she wiped out half of my team (It’s actually nice to see she has a backup strategy in spamming Confuse Ray.) and in the second to last turn she actually managed to set up that rain after Drampa bit the dust. But at this point all of her heavy hitters were gone and it was smooth sail to the end.
This was actually first time I felt bad in this run. This is definitely not the way Reborn should be played. I mean yes, there are ways to get around that fuc*king Prankster Illumise, but this was so...effortless and not fulfilling at all. Though to be honest, I think beating Shelly with only four pokémon, albeit OP ones, would be on the other side of the spectrum and I suffered for hours every other time I battled her, so...yeah, lets just call this a payback. Love you, Ame Shelly, but also fuck you.
(I know at this point in the game your opponents don’t have those perfect IV/EVs yet, so I think the game will eventually give me hard time anyway.)

 

***

I return to the Grand Hall to inform Ame about Corey’s suicide and roll for another member of the team (I use google d20 roll). And his name is...TURTONATOR. Another mon I’ve never used. I briefly consider nicknaming it Shelly, because it seems funny at the moment, but I decided not to nickname this run, so I stick with that. Also, that sucker is weak to rock. Because of course he is. Now you see why I don’t like Aster/Eclipse.
T. can be used as a Shell smash sweeper. I don’t really need another fire type, but I guess he stays on the team for the time being. I don’t plan on using him, if I don’t need to. Next leader is...Shade? Yeah. Hmm, I don’t have a particular strategy in mind for him, so I just try to power through with others and we’ll see.

We battle Fern and he actually gives me some trouble. Nevertheless I got him after one failed attempt. Next we hit Magma gang. Entrance guys are again simple, but Maxwell is on another level. His Ninetales outspeeds me and has serious lvl advantage. I switch my strategy few times and eventually got him, though. Nice to be given Carvanha, but sadly, we cannot use it, so I release it to the wild.

Let’s go talk to Cain! I somehow forgot what team he has and was surprised by his Nidoking. It almost cost me the whole battle, but in the end I pulled through. We go talk to Shelly yet again and after that it’s Orphanage time! No trouble here whatsoever. I lvl up Tyrunt most of the time as I can’t wait to have that Earthquake. After our daring escape and meet up in the underground railnet I am sent off to fight Shade.

Well. First I lead with said Tyrunt who has Strong Jaw + Crunch. At least I thought he has. After Gengar makes quick work of him I switch my strategy around and lead again with Gyarados, who outspeeds “Corey” and OHKOs him. Wait a minute. That does not sound right. I know Gyarados is stronger than Tyrunt, but that Strong Jaw should at least compensate that, right? I check and find out that Tyrunt has Sturdy. Right. So now you know how good trainer I really am…
To be honest I DID at some point know that he has Sturdy, but I totally forgot. I know I will probably need this ability to fight Serra, so no point in switching it now, I guess. At least not at the moment. Gyarados tears apart more than half of Corey’s team, until Mimikyu uses Thunderbolt! Shit! Lucky for me it’s not a OHKO, as Mimikyu is physical attacker and Thunderbolt is special. Gyarados does some decent damage before going down and I finish Corey soon after. Again, this feels so effortless and easy I almost feel bad. But then I remember all those times I wanted to smash my computer screen in other runs, so...I just let myself enjoy this before it gets hard.

 

[Alweron]

8 hours ago, Anti-Loser said:

Good luck fam 

You’ll need every advantage you can 

Explore reborn to your heart contents 

 

You will won’t regret anything 

Thanks. So far so good, but I remember my Gengar run being also easy at this point in the game. I try to grab every significat item along the way, especially the TMs...

[Alweron]

I actually make some progress!
Next roll gives mi GIBLE! I love Garchomp, of course, but after closer inspection I find out his true strength lies in moves he learns from TMs. And we don’t have those. Welp, nevermind, he is still a powerhouse, so I will definitely make good use of him.

Meanwhile, kids get captured and Cain beats it. I meet up with Victoria who sets my next goal - Apophyll Academy. Okay, good, can you take me with you? No? Sigh.
Wandering around Coral Ward I run to Amaria and we clean the Blacksteam Factory. Apart from the Pulse battle it was all smooth. I like really the teleportation puzzle, to be honest. Muk gave me some trouble, but that was mainly because I was weakened from other ZEL’s pokémon. That sonofabitch Glaceon just would not die in one attack! After that now half-dead Amaria gives me keys to her ship. I wonder how Victoria and Cain get across the polluted lake...whatever, off we go! (I guess Cain uses his Grimer/Muk.)

I battle everyone on the beach and in the Academy to prepare for Cal and Kiki. I don’t plan on getting all of the Department Store Stickers (Fuck you, guy who lost his glasses!), but this quest with TV is just so fun. And it gives me one more trainer battle, so…

After making my way to the top of the Pyrous Mountain it’s go time. I lead with Tyrunt to set up Stealth Rock and it does wonders. Especially his Charizard seemed really sad. And mine was sad too, when Cal managed to set up his own Stealth Rock. Nevertheless it was victory on my first try. Not a total sweep though, I had to finish his Magmortar with my underleveled Gabite, so another battle with no turn to spare.

After that it was Kiki time. Again, I had no particular strategy in mind, so I hoped to power through. I leveled my heavy hitters up to lvl 44 and finally let my Tyrunt evolve after he learned Earthquake. First attempt went...poorly. I lead with Tyrantrum to set up Stealth Rock...which was totally useless. I don’t have any good hard counter, aside from Charizard, who OHKOs her Lucario, but his Wing Attack does not really help. I also don’t have a way to abuse or change Kiki’s Ashen Field, so this is mostly juggling my pokémon around. It does not help two of my heavy hitter are weak to rock attack and OF COURSE SHE HAS ROCK SLIDE on two of hers! 

This is good example of how good and frustrating Reborn can be. Sure, I don’t have a full team of battle ready pokémon and sure, I eventually beat her after few (not that many) tries. But if you don’t (or in this case pretty much can’t) use the field effects to your advantage, then even when you use OP pokémon, you may really lose. I like it, but yes, this is frustrating sometimes and can be seen as unfair. 

---

Next team member is Bagon. Nice. Yeah, Salamence by itself is not that special, his learnset is not amazing (remember we don’t have those good TMs), but I could always use another heavy hitter. And Salamence definitely is. Especially with Moxie. So this is bye-bye for Turtonator.

I need to lvl up my Gabite fast though, as I really can’t train two pokémon on the run. Next Gym Leader is Aya and again I don’t have a mean to abuse her field, so I will need to bring up some heavy damage…

But first we gotta save Cain, who got lost on his way. Surfing on your Muk is not that great idea, hm? I make my way through the Azurine Island to battle Aster and Eclipse ONCE AGAIN. Even without Victoria I beat them, of course. After few dialogues I battle and beat Taka, even with his annoying Chatot.

We meet up with Victoria and yet again make our way through the Pyrous Mountain. I like being paired with ally trainer, it is usually good opportunity for easy levelling (Aya ). So I level up my Gabite to be somewhat battle-viable. I try to beat Solaris, but it’s a no-go. Tyrantrum lost his Sturdy ability, which I didn’t notice before, and Garchomp OHKOs my whole team. In a different run I would probably do something fun just to beat him, but my hands are tied in this one.

After Kiki’s death I mop the floor with Cain, who finally opens up the door to the Byxbysion Wasteland. Ugh, the Wasteland. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea. But the map is pain in the ass. After short time I find that one switch and make my way to the Wasteland Hideout.

(Side note: This object does not make much sense, does it? I see the need to have it somehow locked out for the story to make at least some sense and means to progress linearly, but this should probably be some small settlement like in the desert, not a single house with a single family, right?)

We get to see Fern acting like a douche again and we meet Hardy. After some lovely chitchat it’s battle against Fern. I’m not gonna lie, he gave me some trouble here. Not sure why, but it was definitely not easy.

Aya on the other side...not gonna say she was easy, but I expected her to be a bigger obstacle. Is it wrong to say she is kinda hot? How old is she supposed to be anyway?
After my easy victory (not a total sweep though) and some more pleasant talk from Fern I finally go to rescue the children. Man, this took so long no one can blame Heather for not talking after being electroshocked all this time.

---

When running next to Grand Hall I remember to roll for my next pokémon. Dice gives me Axew. Cool, cool. Haxorus is definitely a heavy hitter, but...I don’t think I will be using it at the time. I need to evolve Gabite and level up Bagon, so in order not to stop and grind, I think I’ll keep Drampa on the team for now and let Axew chill in the PC. 

Realistically I need to think of a final version of my team. Gyarados, Charizard and Garchomp are easy picks. Later I guess I could get that Haxorus and Salamence and see how they hold up. Next and/or for rotation I am thinking Aerodactyl (especially for Adrienn) and maybe Hydreigon (that dark typing <3). This sounds good. But let's not get ahead of myself.

So, Cain and I make our way through old Yureyu building. Battling grunts is reasonably easy and fun at the same time. I really need to evolve Gabite, though.
I know you battle both Sirius and Connal eventually, but I always choose to battle the latter here. Why? Because of Heather, of course. And he is tough. It takes few good tries to beat him, partly because I’m still paired with Cain. Not being at the level cap is also an issue, I guess I need to do some grinding before Serra. But inevitably I win and we make our escape.

I love the Railnet puzzle. It is reasonably easy, yet fun. I could think of few ways hot to make it little bit more fun and not frustrating, but as they say - hindsight is 20/20 and should Ame redesign this now, I believe I would get stuck for hours. After Heather takes off (Not gonna lie, thank you would be nice…), I backtrack to get that Flash HM and items.

After quick chitchat I am sent to fetch the medicine from Spinel Town. I really, really don’t like Chrysolia forest. But it is mercifully short, so at least that’s good. After we FINALLY obtain Exp. Share (I always struggle finding the last chair…) it’s go time. I sweep through Serra’s trainers to get some more experience. Might I say her gym “puzzle” is stupid? But hey, I probably would not think of anything better and I definitely would not be able to code it.

Bennett time! Last time I really struggled with him, mainly because I had no counter for him and he outsped most of my pokémon. Now he does not stand a chance. I destroy him with no problem.

Now let’s talk Serra. She’s also hot, of course, but that’s not the point here. I am terrified of fighting Adrienn, but I know some pokémon in my deck are not weak to Fairy. ALL of my pokémon are weak to ice. Except for Kingdra. Which I don’t have. So I am here to fight pretty much the hardest gym leader, yet I stand confident. Why? Because my Tyrantrum destroys her Mirror Field with Earthquake. That’s why. So how did that work out for me?

Not good. I mean yeah, I destroy her field and Glaceon no problem, but then comes rest of her team. Ninetales does not go down in one hit and always sets up Aurora Veil. Froslass outspeeds everything I have and hits really hard with Ice Beam. Also that Slush Rush Sandslash need to come out on the right turn...

Long story short, I had to juggle my pokémon like crazy to beat her and even then it took few good tries. Tyrantrum is surprisingly fast and luckily she missed that one Thunder Wave on my Gyarados, which would otherwise mean my failure, probably. (Side note: Fighting Blake will be hell.)

[Alweron]

Instead of getting that medicine for Anna Nostra right away, I backtrack all the way to the City to roll for my new team member - NOIBAT. Yeah, not gonna happen, get in the PC. I also “activate” Move Relearner and get some good moves. I never understood how this works, but she can “relearn” even moves I’ve never been offered, but hey, I don’t complain. And while I’m here I get few more levels from Grand Hall trainers.

Anyway, after finally getting that medicine I prepare for Noel and of course get interrupted by Team Meteor and Connal (this time I remembered this is going to happen). I make my stand in the living room. Beating two orderlies is easy as always, but Sirius scares me. Luckily I get to set up Stealth Rock and the rest is history, I need only good switches. Now up to this point I fight almost all battles with basically only four pokémon, as Shelgon is still low leveled and I am not fan of using Drampa, even though he stays on the team for the time.

I let the twins get kidnapped and meet with Saphira in the Tanzan Mountain. This part was always kinda annoying, I hate the long backtrack to heal. Meteors here are kinda tough and give good amounts of EXP. But I hate how they overuse that fucking Minior. 

Anyway, we battle our way through Giant Steelix and Pulse Abra. Was the latter always part steel type? I dunno, but both are reasonably easy for me in this run. And also fun.

After we make it back to the hideout, it’s Noel time! I hate that “child prodigy” part. It does not really make sense, does it? Yeah, I know, every generation surpasses the previous one, but he’s like what, eight years old? No way, Jose… On the other hand I actually love the idea of a wild card pokémon being used. I think the idea of monotype gyms is kinda outdated and this brings a nice touch to it. Although that Clefable gave me some hard time in pretty much all of my runs. Even in my ghost/poison run!
I really don’t care for relationship points in this run, so I burn the field immediately and proceed to tear through him...and fail. I try again and this time it goes much better as I’m able to make better matchups. Even though I need some luck in the end, I beat Noel on the second try. 

---

I backtrack once again to Grand Hall to roll for my new team member. TRAPINCH. I love that guy! Flygon is definitely in my TOP10. Sadly, he is outclassed by Garchomp pretty much in every way (save for that Levitate ability), so I won’t be using him...probably. I also pick up Mining kit which I always forget…

After we make our way to Route 1, it’s again Fern being himself. He gives me moderate trouble, but I win on my first try. First battle for my recently evolved Salamence and it looks promising. 

I pay a visit to the Nature Center to pick up Itemfinder and finally see how crazy about hidden items Ame really is. Luckily Aventurine Woods is completely optional, because I hate it. Seriously, it’s probably my least favourite part save perhaps for the Desert Train puzzle, which is mandatory!
What I really like is that youngster who has lvl 20 Gothita...and a lvl 60 Luxray! That’s so funny compared to trainers whom you usually meet.

After mercifully short Route 1 we make our way to the Vanhanen Labyrinth that we clear of hidden items. Lot of them.

Inside the castle it’s time for some exposition chitchat with Radomus/Luna/GG/Cain and then we battle! That Primarina...it wrecks basically my whole team. OHKOs all of my dragons, OHKOs my Charizard and outspeeds most of my team. Only one who can somehow stand up to it is Gyarados, but even then it’s not a KO, unless he has some boost from Moxie. It takes surprisingly long, but after about ten or so attempts I beat Cain.

Blah blah, GG is “kidnapped” and we go to the rescue. Arceus battle! Because we side with Radomus, of course. After Steelix and Abra I am quite confident...and I fail. I fail so many times. Arceus not only outspeeds most of my team, but also 2HKOs it completely. Combined with Leftovers and Recover I cannot get past him. I lead with Tyrunt to get rid of Crystal Cavern, although my dragon attacks get boost from that field. Arceus would OHKO my whole team otherwise. 

After a while I backtrack ALL THE WAY to the Grand Hall to train. And I mean it. After long(-ish) grind I train my whole team to the level 60. Then I try again. With mixed results. I eventually manage to beat Arceus, but it is not a good battle. I have no means of strategizing, so I just power through with some good RNG.

Anyway, after Adrienn finds xyr Gym in ruins, I go back to Vanhanen Castle. I really like the idea of chess puzzle, but I dislike the design of the figures as I am pretty much unable to tell them apart (or more like remember what is what) and factor all their movements this way. So I just google the answers.

Radomus is a total sweep. I have Crunch on about half of my team and I know he sets up a Trick Room, if given an opportunity. So in a normal state I outspeed him. Due to me not having STAB Dark Attack, I need to target one pokémon by both of mine and his Gallade actually does some decent damage and it costs me two of my pokémon, but nevertheless this was pretty easy.

---

Elias kidnaps Luna and I am sent to rescue her. While near Grand Hall I roll for my new team member, although I suspect I won’t be using him again. And I am correct as the roll gives me EXEGGCUTE. Never mind, off we go to find 7th street.

I really like this part, to be honest! Not only I get to meet the scum of the Reborn, but the part with me being thrown into jail is really fun. I kinda feel this lacks some boss fight, but hey, after Ditto/Arceus I am kinda relieved to have some breathing room.

Anyway, after rescuing Luna and assuring her I am not afraid of darkness, we get to Iolia Valley. This puzzle is...well, first of all, not much of a puzzle, but a really good and interesting obstacle.

Before Luna we sweep through Bennet. He was bigger threat than last time, but still his bugs are no match for my dragons.

And after Bennet we sweep through Luna. Not sure what was the key, but I remember I set up Stealth Rock and everything else was kinda easy. Although her ice attacks were NOT helpful, of course.

---

Before Cain and I burst through the sleeping guards, I backtrack once again to get my next pokémon. DRATINI is definitely OG, but at the time I guess I am too lazy to train him. The only one who could be switched is Salamence and he has Moxie, which is awesome.

Anyway, after huge 4m0unt of d1alogu3zzz and after battling few clowns we find ourselves on Route 2. This puzzle is awesome, I really like it. Poor Crustles sleeping for eternity to serve as bridge…
Also that one clown, who has lvl 85 Goomy? Hillarious!

We meet with Amaria and Titania, who behaves like a total douche, but deep down is kind and wholesome...right? We enjoy some family pleasantries and then we backtrack to the Circus to fight Samson. But not before some other family chitchat, this time between Cain and Aya. Love you both.

Oof. Samson is Kiki all over again, but much harder. That fuc*king Hawlucha wrecks my whole team! It does not help that I constantly roll weak to my Earthquake, but in the end Tyrantrum is definitely MVP, because it actually survives boosted Acrobatics from Hawlucha and finishes it with Rock Slide. Garchomp performs pretty well being a steamroller. And I OHKO Lucario with Charizard. No, wait, he has Focus Sash. Dammit. Whatever, he goes down on the second turn. Other than that Conkeldurr once finished rest of my team with Drain punch, but I came prepared the second time and got him with ease. Wow. I am NOT looking forward to fighting Ciel on this Field. I know Stealth Rock will help a lot, but I don’t have a single electric attack…

---

Anyway, I roll for next team member and it’s...GOOMY. Yeah, never gonna happen, buddy, get in the PC. I need to cross Route 2 once again and remembering what’s to come, I swap Salamence for that Dratini. Training while being paired with Aya is super comfortable, so I guess I’ll have a new team member after all.

After Titania accuses me of reading her journal (TBH this time I actually DID read it…) and both her and Amaria throw themselves off the waterfall, I cross the water and pick up all the hidden items before the Citrine Cave. Once again I am in awe how many of these Ame scattered around. After mercifully short ice cave maze we make it to the Route 2 and I get paired with Aya.

Aster and Eclipse. They are horrible as usual. They actually took out all of my pokémon with their last Vileplume. It then took Aya three pokémon to deal with that half-dead Vileplume. Anyway, we made it! She gets captured and I go on. The final part before reaching Calcenon City is kinda tight, as half of my team gets wiped out, Charizard barely survives Toxic, so I am really careful.

Nevertheless I make it through, of course. After some more lovely chitchat it’s Charlotte time. I am really nervous, because she is terrifying. And although my whole team resists her fire attacks, she knocks out literally half of my pokémon. Luckilly I manage to set up that Stealth Rock. Again, Tyrantrum is MVP, because he has rock and ground attacks. I manage to win on my first try, but that’s just because my dragons are OP. 

---

Rolling for my next pokémon gives me HORSEA. Wot, that’s a tough one. I really like Kingdra, but I guess I don’t need another water pokémon right now. Although she is not weak to ice and electric attacks. Which is HUGE plus. On the other hand I am still hoping for Aerodactyl, so I don’t have any free spot on the team...Well, she stays in the PC for the time being while I train Dragonair. He has Thunder Wave, which I definitely can use.

Fighting PULSE Avalugg is kinda hard. He is bulky as hell and even my STAB Flamethrower or Rock Slide does not do that much. But it’s a win on a first try.

We make our way to the Ametrine City. There are two fights I am really scared of. I fight glitch Missingnos to gain few more EXP, but I guess it still won’t be enough. Both Aster and Cal scare the shit out of me.
We rescue Heather and her and Cal jumps on their pokémon to fight off the aerial units of Team Meteor. Hey, I wanna do this too! And I actually have the very same pokémon they use! No fair
Instead I battle some doubles and finally make it to the top. And fail epically. Aster’s Lycanroc sweeps through my team like knife through butter. Seriously, only Charizard survived the initial attack. I try few times, but this is a no go.
I backtrack to Agate Circus to train. Hello, Clown Indra, interested in some battling?

After long, long grind, I come back with Kingdra (Side note: I used Sandbox Mode to get Dragon Scale. I know it can be obtained on like the 10th or 11th floor in Obsidia, or supposedly can be found being held by wild Horsea. I don’t have the patience to fish for dozens of pokémon, so...) and all of my team on lvl 74. And still I almost fail. That sonofabitch (I always thought Aster is a girl…) has actually two Lycanroc! In the end Kingdra with Surf saves the day.

Now to the Cal battle. I am scared as hell, but doubles actually benefit me as I can get rid of the Snowy Mountain field and hit hard in one turn. He of course hits hard and Blizzard restores the original field, but I manage to pull through. Whew, this was really hard. I’m gonna say Aster fight was one of the hardest in this run. Who would’ve thought?

Now it’s Terra time and I’m feeling confident. And as always I forget about that lvl 75 Mewtwo. Shit. He of course wipes my team without any problem. But luckily I have Synthetic Seed. After some thinking I slap it on my Dragonite, use Thunder Wave and bye bye, Mewtwo.

I was confident up to the moment when Terra sent out her Garchomp. Again, a pokémon that outspeeds and basically OHKOs most of my team. Because of course he does. How the hell did I get through this last time?
I try to set up Dragon Dance on Gyarados while fighting her Quagsier, but that stupid Glitch Field does not help. After about ten tries I manage to kill Garchomp with lucky attack due to her switching out. I guess that AI was confused. Only other problem is her Pallosand, that just stalls and stalls...but I manage to get through with Charizard. (Pallosand used Synthetic Seed, so it had BIRD typing.)
Big oof.