Challenge Postgame challenges thread

[Codraroll]

Tired of playing one of the Pokémon games? Do you think you've done everything that can be done in-game without starting over? Don't do so, because there are still Postgame Challenges to face!

You've probably noticed our threads for The Gauntlet Challenge or The Scramble Challange, or at some point taken on a Nuzlocke Challenge. If not, we have an entire thread filled with those and other types of challenges. These give players an alternate way to play the Pokémon games, adding a little extra difficulty to what is at heart a very easy (but incredibly versatile!) set of games.

But as different and diverse these challenges are, they all have one thing in common: They require you to restart your game, and take a quite long time to complete. An entire playthrough's worth of gaming, erasing whatever progress you've made on the cart beforehand. Boxfulls of Pokémon will have to be migrated or deleted. Your eight shiny badges stripped away, your Battle Whatever progress erased. That PP Max or Master Ball you always saved for that one instance it's really needed - gone. Challenges present a fresh start, but they also tend to require something to end. This challenge thread is different.

Basically, what I'm trying to make here is a "bite-sized challenge" thread. As the title suggests, these are challenges that can be done during the postgame of another playthrough, where nothing has to be deleted or lost, and the challenge can be completed in an afternoon or so. It's also easier to acquire whatever Pokémon you want or need for the challenges, to teach them the necessary moves, and all the other logistics stuff.

So, what would the challenges consist of? Well, pretty much anything that could repeatedly be done in the post game. The most prominent example would be fighting the Elite Four, with restrictions on Pokémon, moves, levels, items or all of them. Other things could be beating postgame trainers such as the daily Rival battles, Miyamoto in B2W2, or certain high-level Chateau trainers. Or maybe something completely different altogether, like getting into Union Cave to catch the Fridaily Lapras and then get out again.

What would the rules for the challenge be? You decide! Request a challenge, and people will provide you with one (or pick one already made by somebody else), quite like the aforementioned Challenge threads work. As the challenges are quite compact, your challenge run can be summarized in one post with pictures or text. If you receive and complete (or fail at) a challenge you like, feel free to post your story here!

The challenges should fit some criteria, though:

• First and foremost, repeatability. One-time events such as the Delta Episode or catching Legendaries wouldn't count. This thread is meant to provide things to do when you've done everything the base game seemingly has to offer.
  
• They should be possible to do without hacking the game. Impossible combinations of Abilities, moves and levels are not allowed.
• They should also be possible to do, at all. "Defeat the Elite Four with Pokémon only knowing Explosion" is an example of an impossible challenge (since all incarnations of the Elite Four to date involve Ghost types - In Platinum this is only true for the Champion, however).
  
• They should have as little randomness as possible. For instance, whether "get 10 wins in the Battle Tower using Tauros, Oddish and Slowbro" is doable depends largely on what foes you encounter. Doing the same in Trainer Hill, however, is allowed because the players will always face the same foes. There will always be some inherent randomness in move selection, accuracy and so on, but that isn't considered as crucial. Basically, you should be allowed to plan ahead. Beating bosses at battle facilities is a bit of a grey area, because you'd have to wade your way through a lot of random battles before reaching them, which might be hard to do with your pre-designed Pokémon.
• Since this is in-game, conditions are likely to change as the challenge progresses. If you meet up at the Elite Four with a team of lvl. 1 Pokémon, they're not all going to be lvl. 1 when you face the second trainer, and by the time you face the Champion, any survivors should be in the fifties at least.

So, I guess I should try to compile a list of repeatable, non-random postgame battles for challenges to be built around:
(WORK IN PROGRESS! If you can contribute, please point out any battles I might have missed!)

R/B/Y:

• The Elite Four

G/S/C:

• The Elite Four
• Silver at the Indigo Plateau (Monday, Wednesday)
  
• Union Cave Lapras (Fridays)
• SS Aqua
• Certain trainers (PokéGear)
• Red

R/S/E:

• The Elite Four
• Wally
• Certain trainers (Trainer's Eyes/Match Call)
• Trainer Hill (Emerald)

FR/LG:

• The Elite Four
• Most trainers (Vs. Seeker)
• Trainer Tower

D/P/Pt:

• The Elite Four
• Most trainers (Vs. Seeker)
• Rival Barry (Saturday, Sunday)
• Drifloon at Valley Windworks
• Trainers at Seven Star Restaurant
  
• Gym Leaders at the Battleground (Platinum)
• Maids at the Pokémon Mansion (Platinum)
• Pokémon Center trainers (Platinum)

HG/SS:

• The Elite Four
• Red
• Certain trainers (PokéGear)
• Gym Leaders (Fighting Dojo)
• Silver at the Indigo Plateau (Monday, Wednesday)

B/W:

• The Elite Four
• Cynthia (Spring)
• GameFreak Morimoto
• Big Stadium
• Small Court
• Bianca (Saturday, Sunday)

B2/W2:

• The Elite Four
• PokéStar Studios
• Black Skyscraper/White Treehollow
• Big Stadium
• Small Court
  
• GameFreak Morimoto
• GameFreak Nishino
• Colress
• Hugh
• Cheren
• Chili/Cilan/Cress (Tag Battle)
• Shadow Triad (monthly)
  
• Pokémon Breeders
• N (Once per season)

X/Y:

• The Elite Four
• Trainers at Battle Chateau
• Serena/Calem in Kiloude City
• Restaurant Le Nah
• Restaurant Le Yeah
• Restaurant Le Wow
• Sushi High Roller

OR/AS:

• The Elite Four
• Wally at Battle Resort
• Certain trainers (Trainer's Eyes/Match Call)
• Mauville Food Court

Note that challenges are not limited to battles! "Expedition challenges" could also work, for instance "Climb Mt. Coronet using this team only. No healing, no fleeing. Get up there and back down to a city without whiting out".

(to be compiled: Colosseum and XD).

How to start a Postgame Challenge:

This is actually remarkably simple.
1. First, find one of those Pokémon games from your shelves. It's recommended to play a save where you've beaten the Elite Four.

2. Then, state in this thread what game you're playing.

3. Wait for somebody to give you a challenge.

4. Have fun playing your challenge!

5 (optional): Return to this thread to tell people about your experience. Was it too easy? Too hard? So impossible that you think nobody else will manage it?

You will also find a list of previously-given challenges in the second post of this thread, so you might pick one from there and omit point 3 altogether. Though, point 4 should never, ever be forgotten.

So, how to kick off this thread? Well, with a challenge, of course! Normally, you'd have to ask for them (should this be a rule?), but I'll kick it off with a challenge of my own:

In any game, beat the Elite Four using a team of Grass Pokémon only. Dual types are allowed. All Pokémon must be at lvl. 40 or below at the start of the challenge. Healing items may not be used between battles.

Want to take it on? Come on, do so, and post your results here! The game you picked, the team you chose, who survived for how long, and how you won/lost. Have fun!

 

[Codraroll]

Reserving this post for challenges posted by users. To be updated at a semi-regular basis:

Challenges made so far!

Codraroll: In any game, beat the Elite Four using a team of Grass Pokémon only. Dual types are allowed. All Pokémon must be at lvl. 40 or below at the start of the challenge. Healing items may not be used between battles.
First taken on by: None
First won by: None

Karxrida: Beat the Elite Four using only 2 Pokemon. You may not have either Pokemon's levels exceed the final E4 member's weakest Pokemon when you start this challenge, no using Rare Candies, and you cannot change the Pokemon's moves with TMs/HMs.
First taken on by: None
First won by: None

You may now post. Which game have you got bored of lately?

 

[Rainman Legends]

BW2 Should have the PWT (Pokemon World Tournament) in as it is basically required to have a EV trained team to beat the Champion+Gym Leader Challenge

 

[Codraroll]

^Will you be facing the same teams in every run through of those challenges, though? I might expand the list to accept random or semi-random battle facilities, but for the time being I wanted to restrict it for challenges that'll be identical for all people doing them, every time.

I don't have much experience with the PWT, however, so if it turns out it fits that description, I'll add it.

 

[Karxrida]

Beat the Elite Four using only 2 Pokemon. You may not have either Pokemon's levels exceed the final E4 member's weakest Pokemon when you start this challenge, no using Rare Candies, and you cannot change the Pokemon's moves with TMs/HMs.

 

[cant say]

Why isn't Red in the GSC list?

 

[Codraroll]

^What do you mean "isn't"? Look, he's right there, and has always be- ...oh, crap, I forgot to tick the "silent edit" box. Dang.

Also, Karxrida, challenges are to be made upon request, so as not to flood the thread with challenges nobody take on. I'll add it to the examples list, but don't just throw challenges out there just yet. That goes for everybody.

Speaking of which, have anybody considered taking on a challenge yet?

 

[powergo1]

OK so I'll take Karxrida 's Challenge, Alpha Sapphire, with the two Lati@s that I caught and haven't altered, right after I grind them up to around lvl 70 (min Level is 73). I'll post soon!

 

[VexenReplica]

Some ideas for XD/Colosseum battles/challenges:

Mt. Battle or 100-man challenge (either singles or doubles)
Any of the many Colosseums scattered across Orre, including the Orre Colosseum that is exclusive to XD
Battle Bingo, exclusive to XD (located in Realgam Tower)
Duel Square in Pyrite Town
Master Greevil re-fight in XD

 

[Doubt]

In any game, defeat the elite four using only NFE pokemon (or terrible 1-stages such as Dedenne. Megas are obviously out). Upon entering, the levels of your pokemon must not exceed that of the highest-leveled elite 4's weakest (Drake's weakest, etc). All held items are fair game, as is multiple of the same species. Healing between matches is OK, but bonus points if you complete the whole challenge without healing between matches.
Best of luck!

 

[WideTomato]

Cool thread! I'm definitly looking forward to try some of those challenges when I get more time to play Pokemon. I think the mono-grass type challenge is doable in some games, put I really can't see how you could do it in games where the elite four is in their early 70's? Unless you'd want an extensive amount of X-items?

Well, I have another challenge, nice and simple: Take on the elite four without using healing- or battle items in- or outside battles. In itself this challenge is not defficult at all, you could just go with a bunch of level hundreds, so here are some optional rules to make it harder:
Level limit: Pokemon must not be higher than that of the champions highest, first trainers highest, first trainers lowest or 10 levels under that of the champions highest.
Battle mode: Battle mode must be ''set'' to prevent a free switch out.
No held items: Held items are the only extra power you can rely on. Trust me the difference is big.

Another one that does not involve repeatedly defeating the elite four: In any game, take on the victory road with freshly caught Pokemon, or Pokemon that is at least 5 levels below the typical wild Pokemon. No fleeing from battles, no repels and no healing items.

 

[DeathxShinigami]

I think I would be able to take on the Elite Four "Grass mons only" challenge. I'll attempt to do it on a Pokemon Crystal rom (Due to the more forgiving E4 levels). Some breeding and teambuilding + training will have to be done so this may take some time.

 

[Swede]

Technical Difficulties: Defeat the Elite Four in any generation using only three Pokemon with levels no higher than the Champion's weakest Pokemon upon starting the challenge.

Here's the catch: none of your Pokemon can use a move with a BP greater than 60. Technician ability is not allowed, and neither are moves that boost up a pokemon' attack or special attack.

 

[Codraroll]

It would be nice if people decided to take on challenges too, and not just throw them out there. Both the OP and a later post I made asked people expressively not to post challenges unless asked to.

Then again, if that's the only way to get activity in this thread...

 

[WideTomato]

I think the reason people don't take on many challenges is because of the extensive or at least considerable amount of preparation you need to do before you can actually take on the challenge. Take for example the mono grass challenge, it would probably take longer to get 6 grass-types and grind them to lv. 40 than it would actually take to beat the elite four with them. I think it would be nice to have a variate of challenges people could take, instead of having someone come up with something every time someone wants a challenge. I would personally rather chose from a list of challenges than have someone give me one, mainly because I don't like turning people down if I don't like the challenge.

In the spirit of keeping activity, I will request a challenge on Pokemon Emerald. The challenge should need a absolute minimum of preparation needed. I keep every right to turn down the challenge if I don't like it, I will not sit through something I wont enjoy just because someone asked me to.

 

[Codraroll]

^Absolute minimum?

Catch six wild Pokémon anywhere apart from Victory Road or Spear Pillar. Any Legendaries or one-off Pokémon you may not have caught already can not be used (Regis, Sudowoodo, etc). Without training them, use the team to beat all re-battle-able trainers between Verdanturf Town and Mauville City without healing. You are, however, allowed to use TMs.

 

[WideTomato]

^Absolute minimum?

Catch six wild Pokémon anywhere apart from Victory Road or Spear Pillar. Any Legendaries or one-off Pokémon you may not have caught already can not be used (Regis, Sudowoodo, etc). Without training them, use the team to beat all re-battle-able trainers between Verdanturf Town and Mauville City without healing. You are, however, allowed to use TMs.

Sounds interesting, accepted. I don't know if you should post "accepted" or just do the challenge, but for now, I'll do it this way. I'll edit the post when I have done the challenge.

 

[Doubt]

Guess I'll ask for an AS challenge then. I'd prefer something that's not challenging the elite four, but that's not totally out of the question, so if you have a really good one, go for it. I'd also prefer something that's not too hard, but at the same time isn't ridiculously easy.

 

[KingHeracrossTheBug]

Guess I'll ask for an AS challenge then. I'd prefer something that's not challenging the elite four, but that's not totally out of the question, so if you have a really good one, go for it. I'd also prefer something that's not too hard, but at the same time isn't ridiculously easy.

I don't know how the level curve works in AS but here we go:
-Catch 6 different Pokemon in Shoall Cave, fly to Littleroot Town and from there, go on foot all the way back to Shoall Cave. You may never heal your Pokemon, but you CAN use TMs (and obviously HMs). Bouns points for not evolving them

 

[hard]

A good challenge for a streamed play would be:
Catch 6 Pokemon of your choice and beat the E4 without any training.
Legends are banned, Rare Candies as well.

Someone up for such a mess? :)

 

[powergo1]

Right, here I go!

Beat the Elite Four using only 2 Pokemon. You may not have either Pokemon's levels exceed the final E4 member's weakest Pokemon when you start this challenge, no using Rare Candies, and you cannot change the Pokemon's moves with TMs/HMs.

Pokemon:

Latias: LVL 70 Latios: LVL 72
Recover Recover
Dragon Pulse Dragon Pulse
Psychic Psychic
Zen Headbutt Zen Headbutt

Judging by this, this'll be fun.

Attempt 1:

Hide

To start off, I give Latias Latiasite and Latios Soul Dew. Now for my battle vs Sydney (Dark Type why?)

TURN 1: He sends in Scrafty, I start with Latias. I Dragon Pulse, takes him below yellow, and he Crunches Latias to just over half

TURN 2: I Dragon Pulse, Scrafty is dead. Sharpedo is sent in.

TURN 3: Dragon Pulse for the OHKO. He sends in 'Absol', I send in Latios

TURN 4: Absol turns out to be Zoaroak, but gets OHKO'd by DP. Sends in Shiftry

TURN 5: Shiftry Fake Outs

TURN 6: DP OHKO's, Mandibuzz comes in

TURN 7: DP takes Mandi to the yellow, she Tailwinds in return

TURN 8: Mandi Faint Attacks, Latias OHKO's with guess what!

TURN 9: Mega Absol kills Latias with Night Slash

TURN 10: I Revive Latias, Latios Faints

TURN 11: I revive Latios, Latias Faints

TURN 12: I heal Latios, Night Slash TAKES DOWN TO RED

TURN 13: DRAGON PULSE OHKO'S YEAAAAAH.

(Please Understand)

Battle 2: Phoebe, The Ghost-Type Trainer! I decide to keep the items the same.

TURN 1: I send in Latias, she sends in Banette. I Mega Evolve, and Zen Headbutt for 3/4 damage. Banette Shadow Balls for 1/3 damage.

TURN 2: Zen Headbutt for the kill. Drifblim is sent in.

TURN 3: Psychic for 2/3 damage, Drifblim uses Phantom Force

TURN 4: I recover back damage, PF does nearly a half

TURN 5: Zen Headbutt KO's, Aftermath takes me down to 1/4. I send in Latios for safety's sake. Phoebe sends in Mismagius

TURN 6: Psychic nearly kills, Shadow Ball does 1/4 damage

TURN 7: Mismagius heals, I Zen Headbutt

TURN 8: Zen Headbutt faints Mismagius, Latios levels up and Chandelure is sent in

TURN 9: Psychic OHKO's, Dusknoir is sent in

TURN 10: Psychic damages, Ice Punch damages.

TURN 11: Phoebe heals, Zen Headbutt misses

TURN 12: Psychic does 4/5, Ice Punch KOs, incomes Latias

TURN 13: DP crits and kills. In comes Sableye.

TURN 14: Latios is revived, Shadow Ball KOs

TURN 15: Latias uses DP for 3/4 damage, but Foul Play KO's

FAILURE

Well that sucked, time to try a different Pokemon in the team, cough Kyogre cough.

 

[noobcubed]

Obligatory link to Youtube video showing BW Cynthia being beaten with six level 1's:

 

[Codraroll]

I think the reason people don't take on many challenges is because of the extensive or at least considerable amount of preparation you need to do before you can actually take on the challenge. Take for example the mono grass challenge, it would probably take longer to get 6 grass-types and grind them to lv. 40 than it would actually take to beat the elite four with them. I think it would be nice to have a variate of challenges people could take, instead of having someone come up with something every time someone wants a challenge. I would personally rather chose from a list of challenges than have someone give me one, mainly because I don't like turning people down if I don't like the challenge.

Hm. Indeed, I hadn't looked at it like this. I guess maybe letting people post challenges (and I or someone else have to archive them) would be the best solution, then. People can then pick a challenge, and try to see if they can do it or not. Or discuss whether it is at all possible...

Okay, the floodgates are open. Post challenges if you desire. Pick challenges and post your results, and this thread instantly becomes a lot more interesting.


With that last bit in mind, I think I've got the ultimate challenge here. I think it should be theoretically possible, but I might be wrong:

In any game, show up at the Elite Four with a team of Pokémon all at lvl. 5 or lower. Beat the Elite Four. No Rare Candies are allowed. No hacked Pokémon are allowed (that includes legendaries at levels impossible to obtain). However, all other bets are off. Revives, Mega Stones, Exp. Share (or Exp. All), abuse of evasion modifiers, Smeargle with any moves, maxed-out Pokémon-Amie, Battle Style "Shift", EV training, F.E.A.R., and so on and so forth. Repeat PP stalling is allowed, but discouraged (otherwise, you can just alternate between two Pokémon while constantly using Revives to eventually win any battle).

- I'm not sure which game this would be the easiest in. G/S/C has the easiest Elite Four, but the available Pokémon at the time weren't exactly stellar, and there were no Abilities to abuse. From Gen. V and on (apart from ORAS), you can choose the order of the Elite Four, which gives you more freedom to plan. Gen. VI gives the extremely powerful Pokémon-Amie, but Elite Four in both games are of a very high level.
- Strategies such as Ghost type Curse, Sandstorm, Hail, Pain Split and such may deal massive damage to opponents compared to direct attacks. Of course, as you level up, even direct attacks can be a legitimate strategy.
- TMs can be abused to tailor your team for every battle.
- Keep in mind that Giratina, Dialga and Palkia are obtainable at lvl. 1, should you wish to use them.


EDIT: Of all possible posts to be ninja'd by...

 

[Doubt]

I don't know how the level curve works in AS but here we go:
-Catch 6 different Pokemon in Shoall Cave, fly to Littleroot Town and from there, go on foot all the way back to Shoall Cave. You may never heal your Pokemon, but you CAN use TMs (and obviously HMs). Bouns points for not evolving them

Sounds good! I'll get to work on it soon!
Edit: Beginning now. I'll be posting my process as I go through it, starting with the teambuilding.

The Challenge

Alright, so I need to catch 6 different pokemon in shoal cave, then with them in my party take them back to shoal cave without healing.
Here's a breakdown of the encounters in ORAS:
Golbat/Sealo/Spheal/(Dewgong + Delibird + Cubchoo Dexnav)/Zubat/Tentacool/Tentacruel/Magikarp/Wailmer
Alright. So, I'm not going to evolve these mons, and I'm obviously not going to use repels because that isn't in the spirit of the challenge.
I can take these right out: Zubat, and Magikarp. This because they're way low level and would do nothing but bring the team down. I can also assume I don't want Spheal or Tentacool because Sealo and Tentacruel exist, so I'm left with these:
Golbat - Sealo - Dewgong - Delibird - Cubchoo - Wailmer - Tentacruel
That leaves me with 7 choices. Right now it's between Delibird and Cubchoo on what to cut. Delibird is...underwhelming, and Cubchoo is stage 1 (well, so is Wailmer, but that titanic HP is good). I think I'm going to cut Delibird (although I could end up cutting both and Dewgong because Dexnav can be annoying.)
Off to catching!
Sealo down...
Wait, Snorunt is here too. Might switch that out for something, because the water is low right now.
Golbat down...
Welp, guess I got a Snorunt now, so why not?
Ugh Shoal Cave why you no waaaaater? Well, I don't have the patience until morning, so it looks like my final team will just end up being Snorunt/Zubat/Golbat/Sealo/Delibird/Spheal. Ugh. Whatever.
Spheal down.
Delibird down. Only Zubat to go. Hopefully dexnav will give me something better than the horde stuff.
Hmmm, it doesn't appear to. I guess EXP All will help keep it up.
Zubat is mine. Time to go heal my mons (because false swipe and capture, and whatever), then start the trek.
Actually, on the way out I found a Cubchoo (I didn't have one in Dexnav before), so it's replacing Zubat.
Well, upon healing my mons I found out I have a (Gold? She talked about topping all the silver cards and my card is goldish now) card, so wooo!
Alright. Time to finalize some movesets.
Alright, some initial thoughts. First, Delibird's moveset is terrible. TERRIBLE. We'll need to fix that. My second notice is Sealo and Spheal. These guys are notable for having Rest, which will pretty much be my only healing (unless that's against the spirit of the challenge...?)
Alright, decked Delibird out with Ice Beam/Brick Break/Secret Power/Fly, so it's no longer dead weight.
Cubchoo gets Brine/Aerial Ace/Frost Breath/Shadow Claw
Sealo gets EQ over Body Slam and Surf over Swagger
Golbat is going with Steel Wing over Mean Look and Acrobatics over Swift.
Snorunt gets Ice Beam over Protect and Shadow Ball over Ice Fang
Spheal gets Ice Beam over Aurora Beam and Surf over Body Slam.
That seems just about final (Wish I had done Waterfall>Surf on Sealo as Sealo has 10 more Atk, probably thanks to Adamant), but maybe if I hit the Move Deleter on my way I will.
Let's roll.
Alright, here's the plan. I won't post anything routine after this, to avoid such a huge, boring wall of text. We'll go from Littleroot, take Route 103 to Mauville, from where we head to Lilycove as normal. From there it's a straight shot to Shoal Cave, so I'll just do that. I won't run from ANY battles, including those with pathetically weak pokemon; this is a test of endurance. EXP Share will be off now that I don't have a deadbeat member.
At Mauville without incident.
At Lilycove without incident. I seriously had some insane luck and didn't have a single encounter on the way here. The hard part is next though....
Aaand I'm in Shoal cave. Only one encounter on the way here, so I guess I have to say it: 7.8/10 not enough water. I'm going to work my way through to the end of Shoal Cave though, just to see what happens.
Delibird gains its first level in Shoal Cave. It's currently paralyzed and at 11 HP, but the AI is being really dumb and dong stuff like Mean Look twice in a row, Snore while awake....etc.
Aaaand Delibird faints, after a first turn, full HP rest from a Spheal, into a body slam. Then it's up to Cubchoo, so, whatever, I guess.
Cubchoo's out.
Hit the end.

Da Team (Start)

Delibird@Lvl 34
Bashful - Hustle
-Splash

Cubchoo@Lvl 34
Calm - Snow Cloak
-Brine
-Endure
-Charm
-Slash

Sealo@Lvl 32
Adamant - Thick Fat
-Body Slam
-Rest
-Snore
-Swagger

Golbat@Lvl 32
Careful - Inner Focus
-Feint Attack
-Swift
-Poison Fang
-Mean Look

Snorunt@Lvl 34
Bold - Ice Body
-Bite
-Ice Fang
-Headbutt
-Protect

Spheal@Lvl 31
Gentle - Thick Fat
-Aurora Beam
-Body Slam
-Rest
-Snore

Edit2: Challenge is over. Thoughts below.

Thoughts

7.8/10 not enough water. I was expecting more encounters, but I had, well, not enough overall. I decided to go through to the end of Shoal Cave, which is where my two faints and most of the encounters occurred. Delibird was way better than Cubchoo, but I never switched the order, so only those two and Sealo ever saw any action.
Overall it was a good challenge, but it was too easy. To up the difficulty, I might suggest catching pokemon from before Fortree/Lilycove area. That should keep it more interesting at the end.

 

[rufus drumknott]

Beat the Elite Four using only 2 Pokemon. You may not have either Pokemon's levels exceed the final E4 member's weakest Pokemon when you start this challenge, no using Rare Candies, and you cannot change the Pokemon's moves with TMs/HMs.

I was feeling a bit down this morning and I've been wanting to take one of these challenges (been busy with breeding projects) so I decided to try this one on. It doesn't seem too bad.

I wasn't sure whether to assume the last E4 member was the Champion or the last person who I face before that, but it turns out it doesn't really matter because the Pokemon I want to use are below both anyway. So I'm doing this on AS, and here are my Pokemon, grabbed from my Battle Box:

Hide

#428. Lopunny (lv. 70) @ Lopunnite
| Nicknamed 'Vermillion' | Hatched in Parfum Palace
Jolly Nature | Limber | 31/31/31/04/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Return | Substitute | Power-Up Punch | Drain Punch
OT: Monchhichi | ID: 28746

#113. Chansey (lv. 70) @ Eviolite
| Nicknamed 'Lucky'
Bold Nature | Natural Cure | 31/xx/31/xx/31/31
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Sp. Def.
Soft-Boiled | Toxic | Seismic Toss | Substitute
OT: Shadow | ID: 59728

I also have my Talonflame in my party so I can Fly back to the Battle Resort afterwards, but she won't enter any battles at all. Now ... to the Pokemon League!

(Sorry for only one pretty picture. I wasn't sure what to take pictures of, so I'm just going to rely on my writing skillz.)

Hide

*checks bag* 11 Full Restores, 23 Hyper Potions, 39 Revives, a few more Ethers and stuff. (Well he didn't say no healing items.) I'm going to grab another 5 Full Restores, just in case. I guess Soft-Boiled is a bit redundant here, but it's already PP-maxed, I'm not going to get rid of it. I seriously overestimated the E4 here last time. Maybe it's time to underestimate them; I have a good feeling about this!

First up, Sydney. Wait ... now that I think about it, a double Fighting weakness may not have been the best idea. Hm. Oh well. We're already here so. I'll send out Lucky first, since Vermillion is not going to appreciate an Intimidate from Scrafty right off the bat. Toxic is like my favourite move, you guys. I'm just going to wear Scrafty down with Toxic and Seismic Toss until it's time for Sydney to heal him, then take the opportunity to switch Vermillion in.

And I predict it right! Vermillion comes in safe. She uses Power-Up Punch, but Scrafty lands a crit with the first Brick Break bringing Vermillion into the red. Scrafty faints and Mandibuzz comes out. I try to risk the +2 Drain Punch ... and it doesn't work. Vermillion dies to a Brave Bird at 3/4 health but at least that got rid of Mandibuzz too. Take the floor, Lucky.

Sydney sends out Shiftry and I know it'll take two Leaf Blades to break Lucky's Substitute, so I put up a Sub. On the first turn, Lucky heals, and on the second turn, Lucky uses Toxic. The second Leaf Blade breaks the Sub, of course, so we put it back up and use ST. Now Sydney is going to heal up Shiftry, so I ... Revive Vermillion instead of putting up a free Sub. I just did that and even I can tell it was a questionable decision. WHATEVER. Back to the stall game. A crit Leaf Blade breaking Lucky's Sub in one turn hurts, but not too m- A SECOND CRIT?! Geez. Well that didn't hurt too much either, and I switch Vermillion in after Shiftry falls. She takes out Zoroark-disguised-as-Absol with an unboosted Drain Punch, then does the same to Sharpedo; it takes two hits to knock out Absol, but he doesn't hurt Vermillion too badly and we're all good.

I heal up the bit of HP my team are missing and move on to Phoebe. She is one cute little lady! Unfortunately for her, her looks aren't going to save her Pokemon. I send Vermillion out first, and she knocks out Banette just by boosting twice! Drifblim follows, hurting Vermillion a bit with Afermath, but Vermillion simultaneously recovers health and sweeps Mismagius off the table with a Drain Punch. Phoebe sends out Chandelure and I click Return hoping Flame Body doesn't activate ...

It doesn't! And Vermillion goes up another level (she gained one earlier against Sydney). Dusknoir falls to another Return. Sableye lands a crit with Fake Out ... then tanks a Return and KOs Vermillion with a Foul Play.

...er. Okayyy. Now we're in a spot of trouble. Sort of. We don't have anything to hit this Sableye with now that Lopunny can't Mega Evolve. This is where advanced planning would have come in handy, folks. Nothing for it but to PP-stall Sableye out. This is going to take a while. *eyeroll*

The rest of the battle in a nuthsell: Sableye crits twice in a row with Foul Play, hits once - no, twice - no, thrice more before Lucky's Sub breaks! Yeah, might as well heal Vermillion up while we have the chance ... sigh. I'm seriously tempted to throw Ruby, my Talonflame, out. It'd end in the same result, right? But I don't because I'm not like that </3 Sableye runs out of PP on the only moves that can hurt Chansey at last, and starts resorting to Fake Out and Shadow Claw. Instead of wasting PP, we can just switch-stall here, so I do that until Sableye starts to Struggle, when I leave Lucky in to take the weak blows. I restore some PP while I'm at-

PHOEBE JUST USED A FULL RESTORE OH MY GOD WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER. BACK TO SWITCH STALLING I AM SO NOT WASTING THAT ELIXIR. Ugh. Holy God.

Finally, finally, after some more turns of Struggling from Sableye, I'm finished with Phoebe and life can go on. To Glacia. Despite her pretty looks, I'm not a big fan of Glacia, but I'm glad to see her after the excruciating nightmare of Mega Sableye anyway. lgi, Vermillion.

Two PuPs make short work of Abomasnow, though Vermillion had to eat a Wood Hammer and a couple of hail turns, and Glacia used a Full Restore on her Abomasnow. Beartic meets the same fate as his comrade, though to a Drain Punch instead. Vanilluxe doesn't even get to move due to a Return in the face. Vermillion uses PuP to knock out Froslass instead, just in case she has Cursed Body. If she did, it doesn't activate though. Walrein, the curse of all Battle Maison streakers comes out, but as in the Maison as in here, Vermillion saves me from him, growing another level in the process! Glalie then follows the suit of his teammates and faints to another Return. Now I feel a lot better after that dumb Sableye.

No Glacia, I'm not trying to 'thaw your heart'. I'm just here to beat up some monsters. Don't be so conceited.

We scuttle off to meet Drake. What's his first Pokemon again? ...I have no idea but I'm sure Vermillion can handle it so I don't switch her place with Lucky's.

Oh right, Altaria. Huh, well, shouldn't be a problem. Vermillion boosts with a PuP once, is forced to suffer a Dragon Pulse, but makes short work of the Bluebird of Happiness with a Return. I try to boost against Flygon again, and Flygon manages to get a Screech in before going down to another PuP. Hm, hope that doesn't bite us in the ass later.

Drake's next Pokemon is Dragalge. Fortunately, Poison Point doesn't activate as Vermillion proves the full extent of her love for me with another full-powered Return, and grows another level. I heal up and take out Haxorus at the same time, Kingdra falls to Return, then here comes the big guns: Salamence. Who promptly shows us exactly why we laugh at the AI by having only one lame Dragon-type STAB in his arsenal. Unfortunately, he does take Vermillion down with a Zen Headbutt anyway, but Lucky artfully dodges literally half a dozen Dragon Rushes from behind a Sub and finishes Salamence off with ST and Toxic damage.

I plop down in Drake's chair to check out my team and heal them up.

Steven is going to be a tough nut, and not just because I'm going to have to focus on not ogling his pretty face. I absolutely cannot let Vermillion faint. Her Mega form is crucial to beating Meta Metagross. If she can boost beforehand, all the better too. So with that 'strategy' in hand, we mutter a quick prayer and go off to beat the big boss.

Steven's music is cooler than cool *_* I love all the E4 music tbh. But we have to focus! It's Skarmory up first. He uses Toxic. ...Okay, but we're still fine. We can use a Full Restore when things get too dire. Skarmory gets in a Spikes, which might be bad, but it's what I'd take over damage. After Skarmory goes out, Steven sends in Carbink. Carbink can only 2HKO with Moonblast, so when Vermillion can only dock off about 90% with +2 Drain Punch, I use a Full Restore anticipating the same from Steven. It works, and Vermillion 2HKOs Carbink and gets to +3.

Steven brings out Claydol, but Return OHKOs it. Looks like a +3 PuP makes short work of the Aggron that comes out next too ... except for Sturdy. I'm nervous there, but at 70% health, Iron Tail shouldn't KO Vermillion. Fortunately, it misses entirely, and Steven uses a Full Restore, allowing Vermillion to get all the way up to +6! Aerodactyl comes out, but anything Vermillion has would take him out at this point, so she just gets back some health with Drain Punch.

Then the big boss' big bad comes out: the metal spider. Vermillion casually tosses her ears back ... and OHKOs Mega Metagross with Drain Punch.

Hah! What exactly was I even worried about there? Piece of cake. That's a ribbon for Vermillion, a ribbon for Lucky, and even a ribbon for Ruby, just for cheering us on.

And with that, we head off on our Bicycle and arrive home victorious (again).

Final thoughts:

That was pretty fun, and suitably challenging too, though perhaps that may simply be due to the fact that I chose to make it harder on myself by bringing in the 'Not Like Other Girls (TM)' squad. The Mega Kangaskhan I use to level-grind was at level 70 when I first brought her to the E4 iirc, though she was never alone ofc so I may just be exaggerating the easiness of the challenge. But bulky hitters would definitely be best to go through this challenge with.

I enjoyed myself immensely though, and it did cheer me up. Although I agree with WideTomato that challenges that require a lot of preparing are ... hard to prepare for. I was originally going to try Codraroll's mono-Grass team challenge, but I burnt myself out catching the right Pokemon alone, so I think the challenges that aren't harder to get ready for than riffling through stuff we probably already have in our PC/Pokebank, or catching some 'mons without having to train them (or look for the right ability, like I was trying to do with Codraroll's challenge), would be the best. That's why I did this one instead, since it only needed me to pick up two of the Pokes I already have in my Battle Box.

I think I'll drop by and ask for another challenge sometime, this thread is really awesome :)