[Deinosaur]

Me and Jellicent took part in a 30 Minute Challenge today, and we decided to chronicle it with a warstory.

The rules were:
-Pokemon Sapphire Version
-Checkpoint Style (no timer, play until someone hits the checkpoint, then 5 minutes from there you stop to battle)
-No ROM Speedup is allowed (ours went at much different speeds)
-Starters are allowed while playing, but not in battles against each other
-Standard Battle Rules (Species, Levels, Natures must be the same as ingame - EVs set to 0, IVs set to max - No hold items

We'll be doing a dual commentary of our thoughts before and during the challenge, Deinosaur will be in Green, Jellicent will be in Blue.

- Pregame Thoughts -

Since we are playing no starters, I don't have to worry about countering whatever we decide to pick. Instead, I thought about all the Pokemon you could get early, and decided from those which direction I wanted to go with my team. I decided that I wanted to get a Beautifly, since base 70/90 attacking stats aren't all that bad for a level 10 evolution. From there I was torn between getting a Wingull and a Zigzagoon, so it was gonna be on a whim what the #2 for my team would be. I really had no plans for anything past Petalburg, but I wasn't that worried, since Jelli is inexperienced. Let's just say I was going in confident that I would 2-0 or 3-0 him, depending on how many rounds we wanted to do.

To be honest, I didn't really have a strategy going into this. RSE is the only gen I've never beaten, but I had a general idea of the early stuff, so I figured I'd wing it. Basic plan was to level up a few mons enough that they could take a hit if I needed them to, and other than that, focus on one sweeper.

- Play Session One -

So first things first, after destroying May, I went out to catch a Wurmple. I got me a level 3 Wurmple, which was great for what I was trying to do. After quite some time grinding it, he finally reached level 7, the moment of truth. Dustox sucks in my opinion, its more of a defensive Pokemon, and I wanted me a Beautifly.

Congratulations! Your Wurmple evolved into Cascoon!

...are you kidding me. Well all that time was wasted. I'm hoping Jellicent is doing nothing at all right now so I can catch up. Stupid Casscoon. Alright, well time for plan B. I walk out into the tall grass and pick up a level 4 Rash Wingull. Perfect! So walking around, Wingull is wrecking everything with a STAB Water Gun. I get the message that Jellicent has reached Petalburg City, so five more minutes of grinding, and we move to our battle.

I grabbed Treecko, cuz it could handle the first gym if needed and its access to Absorb seemed slick. I figured it would be easy to switch low level mons out to him, giving them a bit of experience, and then letting him Absorb off the damage he took switching in. I was hoping to get a Zigzagoon or two, as Pickup could net me some nice Rare Candies, as well as Full Restores and Super Potions, easing my reliance on the PokeCenter a bit. After rounding out my team of Wurmple (basically just for Poison Sting hax), Zigzagoon (Pickup, and not terrible early in battle), and Poochyena (intended superstar of the battle), I got to work leveling up Poochyena. In the final minutes, I managed to catch a Taillow, and got a Rare Candy to bring Poochyena up to level 9 ^.^

- Play Session Two -

Okay so after Buster the Wingull destroyed Jellicent's team, it was time to move on to my bigger prize: Beautifly. A short trip into Petalburg Woods, and I catch myself a level 5 Silcoon. It takes sooooo much grinding to get it to level 10 so it evolves, but it's worth it. Beautifly learns Absorb, which is weak, but nice against the Geodudes and such I have coming up in the next gym. So I think I grind for a little while, and I end up with level 11 Beautifly and level 14 Wingull. It was level 11 last time, so I didn't actually train it that much.

Oh shit, I didn't even know you could catch a Wingull this early. Completely wrecked, I knew I needed a new strategy. Finding the woods above me, that Taillow started looking pretty good. I spammed it through the forest, pumping up its level fast and hoping to get to the next checkpoint before Deino had a chance to continue whatever his strategy was. Zigzagoon really pulled its weight and grabbed another Rare Candy, which I used last minute to get Tailow to level 16.

- Play Session Three -

Okay so I am absolutely wrecked by his over-leveled Taillow. Well the rest of his team seems to be pretty weak, so if I can stop that monster, I'll be fine and come out with a victory. We set the checkpoint to Slateport, which gives me an opportunity to dig into the cave at Dewford. I went in looking for a Geodude, but a random whim made me decide on Aron. 4x resist to Taillow's STABs, not to mention Taillow can't get much else movewise this early. So I pick up my level 10 Aron, teach it Rock Tomb, and I'm ready to go. I hit up Slateport with level 16s across the board, and i'm ready face Jellicent for the championship.

Deino had already beaten the first gym while I was spending time leveling Taillow. At this point, I needed to clear 2 gyms and make it to Slateport before he could get a Geodude and level it high enough to tank my Taillow. I snatched another Zigzagoon, hoping for more Rare Candy luck. I also discovered that yes, a level 7 Treecko can clear through the first gym with no items, just spamming Absorb. Taillow blasted through the second gym and I started wondering what level this thing evolves at, though it was too late to bother checking. I was in a race against Deino, and knowing he probably had a Geodude or two by now, I figured my best bet was to grab a Makuhita to smash them with. I zipped through the cave, got a Makuhita, and also picked up a Steel Wing TM for Taillow. I got to the checkpoint and used the last 5 minutes to level up Makuhita.

Deinosaur wins the Best of Three 30 Minute Challenge 2-1!

Props:
-Wingull being strongth early
-Aron stopping Taillow
-Beautifly hard countering Makuhita
-Jellicent what a cute user :)

Slops:
-Cascoon fucking sucks
-Torchic because no starters

Props:

Zigzagoon - those early game Rare Candies were quite sweet
Taillow - totally beasted things round 2
Treecko - even though I couldn't use him against Deino, he definitely pulled his weight early leveling and in the first gym
Deino - GG, man. I had fun ^.^

Slops:

Poochyena - did nothing of note against Deino
Wurmple - time wasted that could've been spent leveling anything else
My lack of RSE knowledge - Wingull early in the game, Taillow one level shy of evolving, ARON IN THAT CAVE! X__X

So thank you for reading, go out and challenge your buddy to a 30-minute challenge!