Father the Relaxed Tauros, Return/Strength/Rest/EQ
The name is a reference to a Russian anecdote my dad likes to tell (A boy comes to school and his teacher asks him, "Why were you absent yesterday?" The boy replies, "I was making our bull breed with our cows." The teacher questions, "Couldn't you have let your father do that?" The boy answers, "I guess he could have, but a bull is better for that purpose."). Anyway, this guy came near the end of my Nuzlocke, which can be supported by the fact that I got him in Pacifidlog Town. Basically, during the match with Tate and Liza, I was vastly unprepared. For anybody who's played RSE before, they know that Tate and Liza are little devils. That Lunatone killed at least 4 members of my team, leaving only Blastoise and Alakazam alive. At that point, I elected to train Tauros and a Vulpix (which I thought was better than a Cyndaquil because it had Will-o-wisp and Confuse Ray... In other words, more than one usable attack). Tauros panned out; it's really a fantastic ingame mon. Return just hits everything stupidly hard and EQ gives it perfect ingame coverage. It pretty much needs just those two slots; the rest is irrelevant. Lategame, he was also my mon to take Graveller Selfdestructs and was the only mon to not be crit-OHKOed by them at full health.
Kieran the Brave Typhlosion, Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Substitute/Sunny Day
So, remember that Vulpix I talked about? Yeah, that died at the merciless hands (?) of Gabby and Ty's Magneton, which crit-OHKOed the poor little guy. As a result, I was forced to take out one of the few decent mons I had remaining - Cyndaquil. At this point, I was fairly dirt poor and didn't have Fly either (a Dodrio I'd been using for that purpose was a victim of Tate and Liza), meaning I couldn't scrounge up money for Flamethrower too quickly (however, I was able to do so right before Victory Road) and was forced to run Flame Wheel / Fire Blast, which admittedly served me quite well. Its final moveset was literally a Smogon set from R/S; I had no idea what to stick on it bar FT/FB before the Elite Four (I had FT/FB/Quick Attack/Smokescreen, lol) and I opted to ask Smogon. The set was actually pretty nice; it worked well against Glacia. Also, Substitute saved me from heart attacks due to Sheer Cold Walrein, which outleveled every mon on my team, lol.
Uri the Quirky Alakazam, Psychic/Shock Wave/Calm Mind/Reflect
Alakazam was my starter and you may or may not be surprised that something so frail could live to the end of the game (and, in fact, sweep Wallace with the aid of CM!). See, although Alakazam is frail, at its final level of 52, it possesses a whopping 165 Special Attack. Confusion rips through the game at the start, Psybeam rips through the game until you get Psychic, and Psychic just rips through the game. Calm Mind is a little bonus (you don't even get it from Tate and Liza, lol) that really makes Alakazam fantastic. It never dies because it always kills everything first. The nickname is a reference to Uri Geller, a guy who claims to be able to psychokinetically bend spoons and sued Nintendo for referencing him in Kadabra/Alakazam.
Mars the Sassy Blastoise, Surf/Ice Beam/Bite/Protect
Blastoise was caught at a kind of midgame-ish point as a Wartortle; although I didn't expect much of him (Wartortle doesn't get anything for STAB bar Water Gun until Surf...), he proved incredibly useful against Norman (he has Protect). Upon getting Surf, he just became really, really good. Even with his only OK offenses, he always had fantastic bulk that was really, really useful. It was fun to use this against that bastard Kingdra that Juan has and win in the end. I felt like naming this after the god of war(tortle) because I'm lazy, but he did live up to his name.
Clubba the Timid Flygon, Dragon Claw/Fire Blast/Crunch/Fly
While looking through my box for mons that could use Fly, I happened upon Trapinch. If you look through this moveset very carefully, you'll notice a major flaw - there's no physical STAB move. While grinding up Trapinch to a reasonable level (in other words, 40 from 22...), I accidentally let it evolve and only realized my error after letting it do so. At this point, I didn't want to waste the Earthquake TM on it in the future - Tauros is a much better user of it - so I decided to just give it a special set and move on. Surprisingly, this guy was actually really useful against Phoebe - Crunch hurts the Banettes and quickly gets rid of the non-Ice Beam Dusclops.
A few obituaries
Stella the Quiet Steelix, level 31, Dig/Screech/Bind/Rock Throw
This one was a pretty solid mon. Nothing broke through its defense. And then it met a Counter from Slaking. It was OHKOed from there, unfortunately, the second mon I caught in the game.
Grim the Careful Flaafy, level 28, Thundershock/Thunder Wave/Tackle/Growl
I can't recall what this mon died to (Gabby and Ty, I think), but I do remember thinking it was a bad idea to name it after death.
Hill the Rash Altaria, level 38, Fly/Dragonbreath/Secret Power/Sing
One of the mons brutally murdered in cold blood by Tate and Liza. This was the first Pokemon I ever caught; a mon that I'd invested a great deal of effort in to since the beginning of the game, but one that ended up dying anyway. Granted, it was rather underwhelming throughout the game - 70 base offenses are never good and Swablu goes with Peck for too much time. Nonetheless, it was sad to see it die. The name is some King of the Hill reference I can't recall.
Ya Sure the Brave Blaziken, level 41, Blaze Kick/Strength/Double Kick/Bulk Up
The second of the mons brutally murdered by Tate and Liza, this one held a lot of promise. I got it as a Blaziken in the tall grass of 119, where it instantly stood out as a good mon. I added it to my team and wasn't disappointed in its performance. Its Attack was quite high and always rivaled Alakazam's Special Attack. It's a shame that it wasn't able to go on to the end of the game. The nickname is a reference to
this comic.
Duuuuude the Rash Dodrio, level 43, Fly/Steel Wing/Tri Attack/Rage
The third of the mons that Tate and Liza erased from existence, it was quite strong. Just as Tauros would do well later on with Return, Tri Attack was a fantastic attack. Unforunately, it was not fantastic enough (or, for that matter, Steel Wing) to do well against Tate and Liza. I caught it as a Doduo (Dudo-o), which was the (again) lazy justification for its name.
Andy the Bashful Anorith, level 13, Scratch/Harden/Cut/Rock Smash
Although this guy's death at the hands of Tate and Liza was not so unsettling, his absence was irritating, to say the least. Anorith was a pretty good HM slave.
Pixel the Adamant Vulpix, level 36, Fire Blast/Will-o-wisp/Confuse Ray/Ember
This little one was one of my failed attempts to revive a team that then had only two members. As I was going to get the Fire Stone, I decided to fight Gabby and Ty. Clearly, this was a very bad idea - they had already killed another mon - and they ended up doing so again with the same mon. Gabby and Ty (along with Tate and Liza) are mass murderers and should be treated as such.