69 Trainers remaining - my inner 12-year-old is delighted to discover this. Poni Coast will bring that number down to 65 once I've worked my way through it, so off I go, smashing my way through the rocks with a little help from Tauros until I find the first opponent.
Youth Athlete Anton
Alolan Sandslash Lv58 (Slash/Defense Curl/Ice Ball/Metal Claw, Ability: Snow Cloak, IVs: All 20)
A gentle start. I use an X Defense, Metal Claw deals 13 damage and Slash deals 12, then Phart uses Struggle at +2 Attack but can't manage a quarter of Sandslash's HP. But since the only concerning move it has is Ice Ball and it doesn't even use the move until it's about to faint, a 5HKO from Struggle is fine by me.
"You and I can never meet, so long as you only have one Pokémon in your party."
"If you want to see our precious Exeggutor, you need to have at least two Pokémon with you!"
I'm not running off to grab Ralts just yet because there are actually two Double Battles in Poni Coast, and I'd like to see the other pair's you-can't-battle-with-one-mon dialogue first. In the meantime, I grab that sparkling Dark Pulse TM in the top-right corner of the screen, then a Max Revive, and finally a Power Bracer which happens to be right next to another Trainer.
Firefighter Aiden
Octillery Lv60 (Ice Beam/Bullet Seed/Hydro Pump/Hyper Beam, IVs: All 25)
Clawitzer Lv60 (Water Pulse/Smack Down/Aqua Jet/Muddy Water, Ability: Mega Launcher, IVs: All 25)
I reckon I'll get away with not using X Defenses - it's the other moves that are the bigger issues here. Octillery's Hydro Pump does 43 damage after an X Sp. Def, and while Phart's Struggle can't get the 3HKO I was hoping for with one X Attack, it can with a second one. Clawitzer's first Muddy Water gets a totally useless accuracy drop whilst only taking off 30 HP, then its next two miss entirely and it also faints after 3 Struggles.
"I came all the way to Alola, so I want you to show me two Pokémon!"
"Surely you are able to battle with two Pokémon at the same time, aren't you?"
Here's the other pair. Now that the regular Trainers have been dealt with in the area, I can grab Ralts and get started on the irregular ones.
Honeymooners Noriko and Devin
Ninetales Lv59 (Flamethrower/Quick Attack/Confuse Ray/Safeguard, Ability: Flash Fire, IVs: All 15)
Sandslash Lv59 (Gyro Ball/Swords Dance/Sandstorm/Earthquake, Ability: Sand Veil, IVs: All 15)
Geodude Lv59 (Earthquake/Explosion/Double-Edge/Stone Edge, IVs: All 15)
Graveler Lv59 (Earthquake/Explosion/Double-Edge/Stone Edge, Ability: Sturdy, IVs: All 15)
Golem Lv59 (Earthquake/Explosion/Double-Edge/Stone Edge, IVs: All 15)
Ralts's Quick Claw fails to activate like usual and it gets fried by Flamethrower before it can chuck a Memento at Phart, while Geodude takes one look at Phart and decides to blow itself up, denting it to the tune of 24 HP thanks to an X Defense. Its "ally" Ninetales is less sturdy and loses half its health to the friendly fire. When Graveler is sent out, I decide to use another X Defense and see if it also goes for Explosion... no, it's Double-Edge and doesn't do much at all. But it does decide to blow up on the next turn, KOing Ninetales for the sake of another 14 damage to Phart.
This leaves it facing Sandslash and Golem at +6 Defense, and the latter is also likely going to KO itself at some point. So I use a Moomoo Milk to bring Phart back up to 240/270 HP (Ninetales's Flamethrowers did hurt a bit), and it dodges Sandslash's Gyro Ball while Golem immediately blows up, landing a crit on Sandslash to knock the poor thing straight into red! Phart only loses 17 HP to the blast and can KO Sandslash on the next turn with a completely unboosted Struggle.
5 Pokémon taken down in 5 turns and only one use of Struggle. With enemies like these, who needs friends? It was a nice breath of fresh air before getting back to normal combat. I use a Revive for the second time this playthrough on Ralts and revisit the other pair of Trainers from earlier.
Tourist Couple Steve and Reika
Exeggutor Lv59 (Psyshock/Egg Bomb/Wood Hammer/Leaf Storm, Ability: Chlorophyll, IVs: All 15)
Alolan Exeggutor Lv59 (Psyshock/Egg Bomb/Wood Hammer/Leaf Storm, Ability: Frisk, IVs: All 15)
Both Exeggutor can hit fairly hard with either Wood Hammer or Leaf Storm, but since Leaf Storm will be the stronger of the two on its first use, I start with an X Sp. Def on Phart. Ralts faints once again to an opponent's attack, this one being the Kantonian Exeggutor's Leaf Storm, and the Alolan Exeggutor hits Phart for 58 damage with Wood Hammer. Then I use an X Defense, both opponents use Wood Hammer, then an X Attack while they try Leaf Storm (from the tiny Exeggutor again) and Egg Bomb.
They're both fairly unthreatening now, so I heal Phart up and let it start Struggling. The Kantonian Exeggutor only takes about 25% and Phart's already in need of healing again following a double Leaf Storm, so this may take a while... luckily the recoil from Wood Hammer helps wear them down a bit, and the Kantonian Exeggutor faints after 4 Struggles while the Alolan one only takes 3, knocking itself out with a final Wood Hammer. Time to put Ralts back in the PC for a short while before its last contribution to the run.
Poni Island doesn't do "routes" (why would you need a route system on a largely uninhabited island?), but this would probably count as the final route in the game if it had them. And true to its name, there are another 6 Trainers to rattle through before the Battle Tree, so let's see what that Scientist has over there.
Scientist Kyle
Items: X Speed
Ditto Lv61 (Transform, Ability: Imposter, IVs: All 30)
Porygon-Z Lv61 (Discharge/Lock-On/Tri Attack/Magic Coat, Ability: Download, IVs: All 30)
Oh, what a terrible day to have Imposter. Not only is poor Ditto shafted by auto-transforming into a Cosmog, it doesn't get to copy Phart's Eviolite boosts, and it gains 5 Splash PP so it can't even launch straight into Struggles! Kyle decides the best way to handle this is by using his X Speed, while I go for an X Sp. Def, knowing that there's a Porygon-Z behind Ditto that can actually deal some damage. Actually, make that 2 X Sp. Defs. Ditto makes a start on its Splash PP while I use a couple of X Attacks, then I stall for a few turns and let it Struggle itself to death, dealing 10-11 damage with each puny blow.
The only time I'll ever be glad to see this fainting animation.
Porygon-Z comes in and Downloads itself an Attack boost, a massive boon to a Pokémon with no physical attacks that's facing an Unaware user. Its Tri Attack deals 22 damage to Phart, which isn't bad on its own, but the freezing it inflicts is a bit annoying. I'm too stubborn to heal it manually, so I wait a couple of turns before Phart thaws out and uses Struggle, dealing around 40%. The lack of further status conditions from Porygon-Z means that Phart just needs a Max Potion before it can knock out its opponent and win the battle.
A bridge just past Kyle leads to a small island with an item. It looks as though I'll have to defeat a Veteran to reach it, but no, her line of sight doesn't extend far enough to spot me. The item in question is a Power Band, and by picking it up, I've now completed my collection of all 6 EV-training Power items! They're all borderline useless, but still. May as well take on that Veteran to celebrate.
Ooh, I know this one! It's either Friend, Pal or Ally. Definitely not Underling or Junior.
Veteran Sheri
Jellicent Lv63 (Water Spout/Shadow Ball/Surf, Ability: Cursed Body, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/30/15, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 SpD)
Pyroar Lv63 (Hyper Voice/Fire Blast, Ability: Rivalry, Modest nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Froslass Lv63 (Shadow Ball/Blizzard/Ice Shard, Ability: Snow Cloak, Timid nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Another reminder that Alola's Veterans don't mess around (empty moveslots aside). Jellicent's moveset calls for an immediate maxing-out of Phart's Sp. Def, and even then, 2 Water Spouts deal 59 and 46 damage while I'm setting up. Phart spares itself further injury by dodging a Shadow Ball, but now there's the matter of setting up all the other X items: 2 X Attacks, 2 X Speeds, and a Dire Hit. By the time these are in place, Jellicent has run out of Water Spout PP (which is weird, because I'm pretty sure Shadow Ball is stronger against Phart?) and it goes down in 2 Struggles, but not before blasting through 176 HP with a single critical hit! Jellyfish strong.
Nothing quite so damaging from its allies, as Froslass manages 30 damage with a Shadow Ball before getting a 2HKO. Pyroar does about as much with its Fire Blasts, and while the second one leaves Phart with a burn, a Full Restore fixes it up again so Pyroar can also go down to a 2HKO. Setting your Phart on fire is never a good idea.
With no bridge to carry me across to the next little island, I have to put on some Max Repel and wade through the tall grass like a peasant, but I do come across a Guard Spec. during this process. Past all the grass lies a Backpacker.
Backpacker Yuho
Ambipom Lv61 (Double Hit/Fling/Nasty Plot/Last Resort, IVs: All 15)
Two of its moves are useless and another one will fail unless it's already used both of those useless moves, so this should be easy enough. Ambipom opens with Nasty Plot while I use an X Defense, then takes Phart down to 244/273 HP with Double Hit while I'm using an X Attack. It's an easy 3HKO from there, only using up one Max Potion. The next bridge brings me to a PP Up, a Full Restore, and yet another Trainer.
Black Belt Tracy
Hawlucha Lv62 (High Jump Kick/Sky Attack/Sky Drop/Swords Dance, Adamant nature, IVs: 15/31/15/15/15/15, EVs: 252 Atk)
Machamp Lv62 (Bulk Up/Cross Chop/Scary Face/Dynamic Punch, Adamant nature, IVs: 15/31/15/15/15/15, EVs: 252 Atk)
One X Defense and one X Attack against Hawlucha, who Swords Dances and then starts charging up a Sky Attack. It doesn't get a crit, it doesn't get a flinch, and it doesn't even land thanks to Phart's impeccable dodging skills, but Struggle disappoints afterwards by failing to achieve a 3HKO. Phart has to settle for a 4HKO instead, with the next couple of Sky Attacks connecting for 46 damage each. Machamp is not especially problematic either, its only achievement being landing a Dynamic Punch and causing Phart to hit itself twice before fainting to 4 Struggles.
"I wanna get psyched up! Just show me two healthy Pokémon."
"I wanna beat you down! Come back with two healthy Pokémon."
By ignoring the very obvious path to the Battle Tree and instead taking a different path that leads to a dead-end island, I come across a Misty Seed as well as this Punk Pair. Much like Poni Coast, there are 2 Double Battles in this area, so I'll check out the dialogue of the other pair before I head back for Ralts. And I'll also grab the nearby Metal Coat despite Phart not needing it at all. Who knows, maybe I'll be attacked by a shiny Scyther the next time I visit Poni Plains.
"You want to fight us! You've gotta have two Pokémon."
"You want to fight with us, right? Then you've gotta have two Pokémon."
And so my quest to document all the dialogue Double Battle Trainers use when you only have one Pokémon comes to an end. It's "notable" in that I literally noted it all down, but whether it's interesting is a matter of opinion.
There's a PC up ahead in the Battle Tree, but I can hardly set foot inside it before Red and Blue will walk up and force me to fight one of them. But I can enter the Battle Tree and avoid triggering that encounter by not walking forward at all and just leaving, which then unlocks it as a location for Charizard to fly to. In theory, this would save me time by letting me fly directly to the Battle Tree when I return with Ralts... but it also forces me to fight the Veteran Duo before the Punk Pair, since it's impossible to walk past them without entering their line of sight, and I'd rather not fight the Veteran Duo first because they're a much, much harder fight.
So despite me going to the effort of unlocking a more convenient fly location for the return trip, I ignore it and fly to Poni Plains instead once I've picked up Ralts in the Seafolk Village. It doesn't take too long to get back to where I was and track down the Punk Pair again.
Punk Pair Marie and Troy
Midnight Form Lycanroc Lv61 (Scary Face/Crunch/Rock Climb/Stone Edge, IVs: All 15)
Honchkrow Lv61 (Swagger/Nasty Plot/Foul Play/Night Slash, IVs: All 15)
Phart gets an X Defense and Ralts's Quick Claw fails to work again, so Lycanroc's Crunch is the move that takes it off the field rather than Memento. Honchkrow spends the turn giving itself a Nasty Plot boost that it can't use rather than trying to attack Phart. I don't really want to give it any Attack boosts because of Foul Play (although it might get some anyway via Swagger), so once it's at +6 Defense and taking ~20 damage from the attacks being thrown at it, I give it a Dire Hit and an X Speed, then see how well it fares with Struggle. It instantly loses its Speed boost to Scary Face and is struck by Swagger, but manages to take out half of Honchkrow's HP and then a third of Lycanroc's after I cure the confusion. Its third Struggle knocks out Honchkrow, removing the opponent with the more dangerous moves from the battle, and Lycanroc follows suit 2 attacks later.
Time for the Veteran Duo, and by extension Ralts's last hurrah. I normally don't care too much when its Quick Claw doesn't activate and it's unable to use Memento on Phart to take itself out of the battle - its whole purpose is to faint on turn 1 and it still does so in those circumstances, just to an opponent's attack instead of its own, so the only advantage when Quick Claw fails is that Phart doesn't get double-targeted on that turn. However, since the next Double Battle is the last one in the game (apart from ones where I partner up with someone else) and it's also probably the hardest one of all, I think it'd be best if I make sure Ralts actually gets to use Memento in this fight. Even if that means resetting until the Quick Claw's 20% activation rate kicks in.
Veteran Duo Tsunekazu and Nobuko
Houndoom Lv63 (Flamethrower/Dark Pulse/Shadow Ball/Sludge Bomb, Ability: Flash Fire, Modest nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Magmortar Lv63 (Thunder Punch/Fire Punch/Brick Break, Ability: Flame Body, Adamant nature, IVs: 30/30/15/15/15/30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Volcarona Lv63 (Bug Buzz/Heat Wave/Hurricane, Ability: Flame Body, Modest nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Comfey Lv63 (Floral Healing/Light Screen/Sunny Day/Draining Kiss, Ability: Flower Veil, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/15/30/30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD)
Whimsicott Lv63 (Helping Hand/Sunny Day/Solar Beam/Dazzling Gleam, Ability: Chlorophyll, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/15/30/30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD)
Lilligant Lv63 (Sunny Day/Helping Hand/After You/Solar Beam, Ability: Chlorophyll, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/15/30/30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD)
The battle against Morimoto and Iwao was bad enough, and Iwao didn't even have EVs on his Pokémon. These two Veterans are running a sun team, one side loaded with heavy hitters and the other with support moves for those heavy hitters, and Houndoom and Volcarona also have a type advantage over Phart if they don't feel like simply frying it instead. This might hurt.
No resets are necessary as Ralts's Quick Claw activates on the first attempt, taking itself out of the fight with Memento at the cost of 2 Attack stages on Phart. Speaking of Phart, an X Sp. Def lets it tank Houndoom's Sludge Bomb quite well, leaving it on 246/273 HP while Comfey sets up a Light Screen.
Now I simply have to max out Phart's stats and KO everything. Reaching +6 Sp. Def allows Phart to take 38 damage from Dark Pulse, which is still not ideal but it's the best it'll get. It helps that Comfey doesn't have Helping Hand and its Draining Kiss barely does anything, as I can squeeze in one X item between heals to keep Phart out of KO range from a crit Dark Pulse. Playing cautiously seems to be the way to go, at least until Comfey runs out of Draining Kiss PP...
Since Sunny Day and Light Screen are already active and Houndoom has no damage to be healed by Floral Healing, the AI recognises that Comfey is dead weight and switches it out. This isn't ideal because not only does Whimsicott have a slightly better damage output than Comfey, it can also boost Houndoom's damage with Helping Hand. A small mercy is that Houndoom is now out of Dark Pulse PP, but if the 136 HP Phart just lost to a crit Shadow Ball is any indication, it's not done fighting yet.
After I've used a Max Potion on Phart, Whimsicott sets up Sunny Day and then lands a crit of its own with Solar Beam, so that's another 79 HP gone already. At least Houndoom's sun-boosted Flamethrower isn't so bad in comparison. Back to X items again - Phart is already at +6 in both defenses, so now I'll focus on Attack and Speed. The remainder of the setup process isn't too bad apart from a random Flamethrower burn and another Solar Beam crit.
Whimsicott has run out of Sunny Day PP in the meantime, which is good since it now has to wait a turn to use Solar Beam, but also bad because it's far more inclined to use Helping Hand now. I'll have to heal Phart up and hope it can target Whimsicott and take it out before it gives a Helping Hand boost to a critical hit. Luckily it gives Phart a free turn with Solar Beam and loses half its HP to Struggle. Phart is too weak to safely attack right away, but after a Max Potion it targets Houndoom and KOs it from full!
Houndoom is not very bulky.
Also, it turns out Whimsicott did have one Sunny Day left, which it uses just after Houndoom faints. So why on earth did it waste multiple turns charging Solar Beam? Weird.
Big moth is here to do big damage. Considering how high Volcarona's Sp. Atk is before the Modest nature and full EVs, I imagine a Helping Hand-boosted crit will just be instant death for Phart. Of course, even a regular crit might mean instant death after Struggle recoil, so I'm slightly fucked no matter what I do here. The best idea I have is just healing to full again and trying to KO someone before anything bad can happen - Phart's struck by a Helping Hand-Bug Buzz combo that takes it down to 201/273 HP, so I risk a Struggle on the next turn. It targets Whimsicott, knocking it out and leaving Phart on 133 HP, and Volcarona "only" deals 50 damage with Bug Buzz afterwards.
Lilligant's about the same as Whimsicott but with After You instead of Dazzling Gleam. Since Phart's X Speeds make it faster than Lilligant even while Chlorophyll is active, I don't think that will be an issue here. I heal Phart back to full once more, and Lilligant deals 19 damage with a Solar Beam while Volcarona goes for another Bug Buzz... which Phart dodges! Now that's a welcome sight. It leaves it with enough HP to semi-safely Struggle again, hitting Volcarona for well over 80% and avoiding the wrath of Flame Body. It survives another Solar Beam and Bug Buzz without any crits, is healed with another Max Potion, tanks another Bug Buzz while Lilligant reactivates Sunny Day, then Struggles on Volcarona again to remove the biggest threat from the fight!
Magmortar's not weak by any means, but its Fire Punch is not as deadly as Volcarona's Bug Buzz could've been, even factoring in Sunny Day. It lands a sun-boosted, Helping Hand-boosted Fire Punch on Phart right away to demonstrate this, only reaching 36 damage, so I let Phart Struggle once again - it hits Magmortar and very nearly OHKOs it. One more Max Potion and Phart can take it out... or target Lilligant instead for 66% of its HP, I guess? Suit yourself. After I heal it again, whoever's targeted by Struggle is getting knocked out, and it ends up being Magmortar.
Fairly trivial from there. Lilligant is outsped and defeated by Struggle, leaving only the Comfey who has no damaging attacks left. One final Moomoo Milk gives Phart enough HP to 2HKO it. Hurrah!
I had no desire whatsoever to use anything other than Phart in this run, but the game mechanics forced me to use something unless I wanted to skip every Double Battle, and Ralts offered a compromise by consistently dying on the first turn even if it couldn't get to use Memento. It had one job, and it did it very well. Now back into the PC with you! There's no need for you to get knocked out any more.
At last, the final sticker is mine. Must remember to go and visit Samson Oak once I've finished everything else.
Taking a couple of steps into the Battle Tree causes Red and Blue to show up and say hi. Well, one of them says hi. They've come to Alola to act as the bosses of the Battle Tree, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy a casual battle against a fellow Champion without worrying about battle facility rules like "no Cosmog" or "no X items" or "seriously why are you using a Cosmog".
Blue offers me a battle against either himself or Red. This is a slight problem because it's a non-repeatable event and I can't fight both of them, even though I need to. So what I'll do instead is fight one of them,hopefully win, then reset my game and fight the other one. May as well start with Red first.
BLUE
MOTHERFUCKING
OAK
There go my hopes of this being an easy fight. Nuh-uh, 40 turns of Splashing it shall be.
Pokémon Trainer Red
Pikachu Lv74 @ Light Ball (Volt Tackle/Quick Attack/Light Screen/Nuzzle, Ability: Static, Jolly nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Lapras Lv69 (Surf/Blizzard/Ice Shard/Psychic, Ability: Water Absorb, Serious nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA)
Snorlax Lv69 (Body Slam/Heavy Slam/Crunch/High Horsepower, Ability: Thick Fat, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk)
Venusaur Lv70 (Leaf Storm/Leech Seed/Sludge Bomb/Earthquake, Ability: Overgrow, Quiet nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 SpD)
Charizard Lv70 (Fire Blast/Air Slash/Focus Blast/Will-O-Wisp, Ability: Blaze, Timid nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Blastoise Lv70 (Hydro Pump/Flash Cannon/Dark Pulse/Ice Beam, Ability: Torrent, Calm nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD)
Pikachu will hit hard and then probably blow itself up from Volt Tackle recoil, but the rest of his team doesn't seem too bad unless Venusaur gets a chance to use Leech Seed. Hopefully Red will simply send in Snorlax or Blastoise after Pikachu so they can spam Crunch/Dark Pulse rather than get clever with status moves.
Also, his Lapras has a Serious nature. That's not weird in itself - a lot of Trainers have Serious natures on all of their Pokémon, to the point I've just been leaving the natures out of their team descriptions unless they're non-Serious - but I think Red is the first Trainer I've seen where it's just one of his Pokémon that's Serious. Maybe because it uses both attacking stats and it's got fairly well-rounded stats overall so Game Freak didn't want to lower any of them?
Pikachu spares Phart for a moment by using Light Screen on turn 1, then hits for 51 damage into +4 Defense. The recoil it takes is actually a lot less than I expected, so maybe it won't KO itself after all? Guess I'll find out sooner or later. For now, I'll just keep going with the setup process and let Pikachu take 40-HP chunks out of Phart.
I wasn't counting its attacks, but it must've been close to using up all 15 Volt Tackle PP by the time it conked out. A couple more dodges from Phart and it might have survived. No matter, Snorlax is next out and Phart has mostly finished setting up, missing only its X Speeds (not that it needs them for Snorlax).
A Guard Spec. keeps Crunch from getting any Defense drops to up its 28 damage, then I use a couple of X Speeds so Phart can go before Charizard later on. Now fully set up, Phart launches itself at Snorlax and, uh... starts using Splash. Almost forgot about that. Snorlax ends up running out of Crunches and switching to High Horsepower and Heavy Slam, which seems odd because Body Slam would surely outdamage both of them. Of course, it eventually depletes its PP for those moves too and starts using Body Slam at last.
I did expect Red to withdraw Snorlax once it ran out of PP, but I didn't think it would be Charizard that replaced it. Mind you, Blastoise doesn't actually have any Sp. Atk EVs, so maybe the AI thought about more than just "what would be super effective?" when picking a switch-in.
Unfortunately Splash still has 6 PP, so Charizard gets to unleash a few Fire Blasts while Phart is still waiting to regain its true power, although they're only reaching 30 damage at most. And then I have to deal with a Will-O-Wisp burn just when Phart's about to Struggle. It finally gets to attack once it's cured, dealing just over 50% to Charizard before getting burned again, then Struggles again after a second Full Restore and takes down Charizard. Phart's finally scored its first KO of the match!
Red sends in Blastoise next. Whatever damage Dark Pulse deals remains a mystery for now as Phart dodges its first one, then lines up for a 3HKO with Struggle. The second Dark Pulse lands for an unimpressive 20 damage, and poor Blastoise misses again with its third attack before fainting.
Not the most ideal situation for Phart - it needs healing, but that will give Venusaur a chance to use Leech Seed. Luckily it goes for Leaf Storm instead and misses, then uses it again to deal fairly trivial damage before Struggle 2HKOs it. Phew, no need to worry about permanent passive damage/healing. Lapras hits all of its Blizzards but doesn't do much with any of them, and once it's been dispatched with 3 Struggles, Red has to send in his PP-less Snorlax and let it Struggle itself to death. Victory!
After I've mashed through all of Red's lengthy rambling dialogue, I'm free to explore the Battle Tree, though of course there's no point as I have to reset my game in order to fight Blue.
Slightly different lines compared to when I picked Red, but the free heal is exactly the same and just as unwanted as before. Time for round 2!
Pokémon Trainer Blue
Alakazam Lv69 (Psychic/Future Sight/Shadow Ball/Reflect, Ability: Synchronize, Modest nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Machamp Lv69 (Cross Chop/Bulk Up/Knock Off/Poison Jab, Ability: Guts, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Aerodactyl Lv69 (Rock Slide/Crunch/Iron Head/Sky Drop, Ability: Pressure, Jolly nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Exeggutor Lv69 (Leaf Storm/Psychic/Sludge Bomb/Hypnosis, Ability: Chlorophyll, Modest nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Arcanine Lv69 (Extreme Speed/Flare Blitz/Thunder Fang/Bulldoze, Ability: Intimidate, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Gyarados Lv69 (Aqua Tail/Crunch/Ice Fang/Dragon Dance, Ability: Intimidate, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Blue definitely looks nastier overall. Alakazam carries Shadow Ball and doesn't seem likely to KO itself like Pikachu, and there are two Intimidate users and three other super-effective attacks spread across his other Pokémon, one of which is Knock Off. This definitely isn't the sort of battle where Phart can shrug off losing its Eviolite.
Just like Pikachu, Alakazam sets up a screen on turn 1 and grants me a free X Sp. Def usage, then takes off 38 HP with a Shadow Ball. It misses its next attack while Phart is brought to +6 Sp. Def, leaving me free to use a Guard Spec. and start on all the other boosts. Aside from a rogue critical hit on Alakazam's last Shadow Ball bringing Phart down to 24 HP, the setup process is uneventful. Now Phart can begin Splashing.
There was no way Phart was going to get fully set-up and use Splash 40 times before Alakazam ran out of PP, so off it goes to be defeated at a later date. At least it wasn't Machamp that replaced it - Phart can keep its Eviolite a little longer.
It still has 15 Splashes to go before it can attack, and it's not affected by Pressure since the move targets Phart itself. Aerodactyl's Crunch turns out to be fairly weak (24-ish HP per hit) and only requires Guard Specs. and the occasional Max Potion to deal with, so the remaining Splash PP is slowly whittled away. It soon runs out of Crunch PP and starts picking its other moves, leading to Phart getting kidnapped and rendered immobile by Sky Drop a few times, but it gets knocked out by 2 Struggles once Phart is able to attack.
Gyarados is Blue's next choice, sparing me the wrath of Knock Off for now. The Attack drop from Intimidate is slightly let down by Gyarados wasting a turn on Dragon Dance instead of attacking. It's let down even further when it uses Dragon Dance another two times, then only musters 32 damage with Crunch and loses half its health to a single Struggle. The best it can do is squeeze in another Crunch courtesy of all its Speed boosts before fainting.
I heal Phart to full and brace for Knock Off - 34 damage. That's not so bad, and Machamp itself shouldn't be too hard if Blue's AI is like other Trainers I've faced and it doesn't go for Knock Off again. How well Phart can tank STAB critical hits from Exeggutor or Arcanine without its Eviolite is another matter. But for now, Phart simply uses Struggle twice to KO Machamp while it tries to Bulk Up.
Exeggutor's next, knocking Phart down to 222/276 HP from full with a Leaf Storm. The Sp. Atk drop hurts it a lot, but a critical hit will ignore that drop and almost certainly OHKO Phart if it lands. And of course Struggle falls just short of knocking Exeggutor into yellow... but its next Leaf Storm fails to crit and Phart gets a high damage roll to 2HKO it! Arcanine comes in afterwards and takes Phart down to +5 Attack again with Intimidate. I am worried about Flare Blitz despite it not being quite as destructive as Exeggutor's Leaf Storm, but it looks as though Arcanine would rather focus on gaining the speed advantage with Bulldoze than dealing damage. I throw a few X Speeds at Phart along with an X Attack, and sure enough, it keeps using Bulldoze, so Phart can click Struggle twice for an easy KO. It actually did use Flare Blitz on its last turn but it still wasn't enough.
The problem with my opponents leaving their zero-PP Pokémon until last is that it makes for a bit of an anticlimax. But still funny.
Before Red and Blue leave, the latter tells me that we'll definitely battle again... provided I can make it through the Battle Tree. So no, I will not be smelling either of them later.
Having stepped foot inside the Battle Tree and defeated its bosses, I've now seen every corner of Alola's four islands and completed my "second island challenge"! All that's left to do now is make a few preparations before heading to Aether Paradise to see what all this Rainbow Rocket nonsense is about. (And Title Defense battles, of course. But that comes later.)
Youth Athlete Anton
Alolan Sandslash Lv58 (Slash/Defense Curl/Ice Ball/Metal Claw, Ability: Snow Cloak, IVs: All 20)
A gentle start. I use an X Defense, Metal Claw deals 13 damage and Slash deals 12, then Phart uses Struggle at +2 Attack but can't manage a quarter of Sandslash's HP. But since the only concerning move it has is Ice Ball and it doesn't even use the move until it's about to faint, a 5HKO from Struggle is fine by me.
"You and I can never meet, so long as you only have one Pokémon in your party."
"If you want to see our precious Exeggutor, you need to have at least two Pokémon with you!"
I'm not running off to grab Ralts just yet because there are actually two Double Battles in Poni Coast, and I'd like to see the other pair's you-can't-battle-with-one-mon dialogue first. In the meantime, I grab that sparkling Dark Pulse TM in the top-right corner of the screen, then a Max Revive, and finally a Power Bracer which happens to be right next to another Trainer.
Firefighter Aiden
Octillery Lv60 (Ice Beam/Bullet Seed/Hydro Pump/Hyper Beam, IVs: All 25)
Clawitzer Lv60 (Water Pulse/Smack Down/Aqua Jet/Muddy Water, Ability: Mega Launcher, IVs: All 25)
I reckon I'll get away with not using X Defenses - it's the other moves that are the bigger issues here. Octillery's Hydro Pump does 43 damage after an X Sp. Def, and while Phart's Struggle can't get the 3HKO I was hoping for with one X Attack, it can with a second one. Clawitzer's first Muddy Water gets a totally useless accuracy drop whilst only taking off 30 HP, then its next two miss entirely and it also faints after 3 Struggles.
"I came all the way to Alola, so I want you to show me two Pokémon!"
"Surely you are able to battle with two Pokémon at the same time, aren't you?"
Here's the other pair. Now that the regular Trainers have been dealt with in the area, I can grab Ralts and get started on the irregular ones.
Honeymooners Noriko and Devin
Ninetales Lv59 (Flamethrower/Quick Attack/Confuse Ray/Safeguard, Ability: Flash Fire, IVs: All 15)
Sandslash Lv59 (Gyro Ball/Swords Dance/Sandstorm/Earthquake, Ability: Sand Veil, IVs: All 15)
Geodude Lv59 (Earthquake/Explosion/Double-Edge/Stone Edge, IVs: All 15)
Graveler Lv59 (Earthquake/Explosion/Double-Edge/Stone Edge, Ability: Sturdy, IVs: All 15)
Golem Lv59 (Earthquake/Explosion/Double-Edge/Stone Edge, IVs: All 15)
Ralts's Quick Claw fails to activate like usual and it gets fried by Flamethrower before it can chuck a Memento at Phart, while Geodude takes one look at Phart and decides to blow itself up, denting it to the tune of 24 HP thanks to an X Defense. Its "ally" Ninetales is less sturdy and loses half its health to the friendly fire. When Graveler is sent out, I decide to use another X Defense and see if it also goes for Explosion... no, it's Double-Edge and doesn't do much at all. But it does decide to blow up on the next turn, KOing Ninetales for the sake of another 14 damage to Phart.
This leaves it facing Sandslash and Golem at +6 Defense, and the latter is also likely going to KO itself at some point. So I use a Moomoo Milk to bring Phart back up to 240/270 HP (Ninetales's Flamethrowers did hurt a bit), and it dodges Sandslash's Gyro Ball while Golem immediately blows up, landing a crit on Sandslash to knock the poor thing straight into red! Phart only loses 17 HP to the blast and can KO Sandslash on the next turn with a completely unboosted Struggle.
5 Pokémon taken down in 5 turns and only one use of Struggle. With enemies like these, who needs friends? It was a nice breath of fresh air before getting back to normal combat. I use a Revive for the second time this playthrough on Ralts and revisit the other pair of Trainers from earlier.
Tourist Couple Steve and Reika
Exeggutor Lv59 (Psyshock/Egg Bomb/Wood Hammer/Leaf Storm, Ability: Chlorophyll, IVs: All 15)
Alolan Exeggutor Lv59 (Psyshock/Egg Bomb/Wood Hammer/Leaf Storm, Ability: Frisk, IVs: All 15)
Both Exeggutor can hit fairly hard with either Wood Hammer or Leaf Storm, but since Leaf Storm will be the stronger of the two on its first use, I start with an X Sp. Def on Phart. Ralts faints once again to an opponent's attack, this one being the Kantonian Exeggutor's Leaf Storm, and the Alolan Exeggutor hits Phart for 58 damage with Wood Hammer. Then I use an X Defense, both opponents use Wood Hammer, then an X Attack while they try Leaf Storm (from the tiny Exeggutor again) and Egg Bomb.
They're both fairly unthreatening now, so I heal Phart up and let it start Struggling. The Kantonian Exeggutor only takes about 25% and Phart's already in need of healing again following a double Leaf Storm, so this may take a while... luckily the recoil from Wood Hammer helps wear them down a bit, and the Kantonian Exeggutor faints after 4 Struggles while the Alolan one only takes 3, knocking itself out with a final Wood Hammer. Time to put Ralts back in the PC for a short while before its last contribution to the run.
Poni Island doesn't do "routes" (why would you need a route system on a largely uninhabited island?), but this would probably count as the final route in the game if it had them. And true to its name, there are another 6 Trainers to rattle through before the Battle Tree, so let's see what that Scientist has over there.
Scientist Kyle
Items: X Speed
Ditto Lv61 (Transform, Ability: Imposter, IVs: All 30)
Porygon-Z Lv61 (Discharge/Lock-On/Tri Attack/Magic Coat, Ability: Download, IVs: All 30)
Oh, what a terrible day to have Imposter. Not only is poor Ditto shafted by auto-transforming into a Cosmog, it doesn't get to copy Phart's Eviolite boosts, and it gains 5 Splash PP so it can't even launch straight into Struggles! Kyle decides the best way to handle this is by using his X Speed, while I go for an X Sp. Def, knowing that there's a Porygon-Z behind Ditto that can actually deal some damage. Actually, make that 2 X Sp. Defs. Ditto makes a start on its Splash PP while I use a couple of X Attacks, then I stall for a few turns and let it Struggle itself to death, dealing 10-11 damage with each puny blow.
The only time I'll ever be glad to see this fainting animation.
Porygon-Z comes in and Downloads itself an Attack boost, a massive boon to a Pokémon with no physical attacks that's facing an Unaware user. Its Tri Attack deals 22 damage to Phart, which isn't bad on its own, but the freezing it inflicts is a bit annoying. I'm too stubborn to heal it manually, so I wait a couple of turns before Phart thaws out and uses Struggle, dealing around 40%. The lack of further status conditions from Porygon-Z means that Phart just needs a Max Potion before it can knock out its opponent and win the battle.
A bridge just past Kyle leads to a small island with an item. It looks as though I'll have to defeat a Veteran to reach it, but no, her line of sight doesn't extend far enough to spot me. The item in question is a Power Band, and by picking it up, I've now completed my collection of all 6 EV-training Power items! They're all borderline useless, but still. May as well take on that Veteran to celebrate.
Ooh, I know this one! It's either Friend, Pal or Ally. Definitely not Underling or Junior.
Veteran Sheri
Jellicent Lv63 (Water Spout/Shadow Ball/Surf, Ability: Cursed Body, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/30/15, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 SpD)
Pyroar Lv63 (Hyper Voice/Fire Blast, Ability: Rivalry, Modest nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Froslass Lv63 (Shadow Ball/Blizzard/Ice Shard, Ability: Snow Cloak, Timid nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Another reminder that Alola's Veterans don't mess around (empty moveslots aside). Jellicent's moveset calls for an immediate maxing-out of Phart's Sp. Def, and even then, 2 Water Spouts deal 59 and 46 damage while I'm setting up. Phart spares itself further injury by dodging a Shadow Ball, but now there's the matter of setting up all the other X items: 2 X Attacks, 2 X Speeds, and a Dire Hit. By the time these are in place, Jellicent has run out of Water Spout PP (which is weird, because I'm pretty sure Shadow Ball is stronger against Phart?) and it goes down in 2 Struggles, but not before blasting through 176 HP with a single critical hit! Jellyfish strong.
Nothing quite so damaging from its allies, as Froslass manages 30 damage with a Shadow Ball before getting a 2HKO. Pyroar does about as much with its Fire Blasts, and while the second one leaves Phart with a burn, a Full Restore fixes it up again so Pyroar can also go down to a 2HKO. Setting your Phart on fire is never a good idea.
With no bridge to carry me across to the next little island, I have to put on some Max Repel and wade through the tall grass like a peasant, but I do come across a Guard Spec. during this process. Past all the grass lies a Backpacker.
Backpacker Yuho
Ambipom Lv61 (Double Hit/Fling/Nasty Plot/Last Resort, IVs: All 15)
Two of its moves are useless and another one will fail unless it's already used both of those useless moves, so this should be easy enough. Ambipom opens with Nasty Plot while I use an X Defense, then takes Phart down to 244/273 HP with Double Hit while I'm using an X Attack. It's an easy 3HKO from there, only using up one Max Potion. The next bridge brings me to a PP Up, a Full Restore, and yet another Trainer.
Black Belt Tracy
Hawlucha Lv62 (High Jump Kick/Sky Attack/Sky Drop/Swords Dance, Adamant nature, IVs: 15/31/15/15/15/15, EVs: 252 Atk)
Machamp Lv62 (Bulk Up/Cross Chop/Scary Face/Dynamic Punch, Adamant nature, IVs: 15/31/15/15/15/15, EVs: 252 Atk)
One X Defense and one X Attack against Hawlucha, who Swords Dances and then starts charging up a Sky Attack. It doesn't get a crit, it doesn't get a flinch, and it doesn't even land thanks to Phart's impeccable dodging skills, but Struggle disappoints afterwards by failing to achieve a 3HKO. Phart has to settle for a 4HKO instead, with the next couple of Sky Attacks connecting for 46 damage each. Machamp is not especially problematic either, its only achievement being landing a Dynamic Punch and causing Phart to hit itself twice before fainting to 4 Struggles.
"I wanna get psyched up! Just show me two healthy Pokémon."
"I wanna beat you down! Come back with two healthy Pokémon."
By ignoring the very obvious path to the Battle Tree and instead taking a different path that leads to a dead-end island, I come across a Misty Seed as well as this Punk Pair. Much like Poni Coast, there are 2 Double Battles in this area, so I'll check out the dialogue of the other pair before I head back for Ralts. And I'll also grab the nearby Metal Coat despite Phart not needing it at all. Who knows, maybe I'll be attacked by a shiny Scyther the next time I visit Poni Plains.
"You want to fight us! You've gotta have two Pokémon."
"You want to fight with us, right? Then you've gotta have two Pokémon."
And so my quest to document all the dialogue Double Battle Trainers use when you only have one Pokémon comes to an end. It's "notable" in that I literally noted it all down, but whether it's interesting is a matter of opinion.
There's a PC up ahead in the Battle Tree, but I can hardly set foot inside it before Red and Blue will walk up and force me to fight one of them. But I can enter the Battle Tree and avoid triggering that encounter by not walking forward at all and just leaving, which then unlocks it as a location for Charizard to fly to. In theory, this would save me time by letting me fly directly to the Battle Tree when I return with Ralts... but it also forces me to fight the Veteran Duo before the Punk Pair, since it's impossible to walk past them without entering their line of sight, and I'd rather not fight the Veteran Duo first because they're a much, much harder fight.
So despite me going to the effort of unlocking a more convenient fly location for the return trip, I ignore it and fly to Poni Plains instead once I've picked up Ralts in the Seafolk Village. It doesn't take too long to get back to where I was and track down the Punk Pair again.
Punk Pair Marie and Troy
Midnight Form Lycanroc Lv61 (Scary Face/Crunch/Rock Climb/Stone Edge, IVs: All 15)
Honchkrow Lv61 (Swagger/Nasty Plot/Foul Play/Night Slash, IVs: All 15)
Phart gets an X Defense and Ralts's Quick Claw fails to work again, so Lycanroc's Crunch is the move that takes it off the field rather than Memento. Honchkrow spends the turn giving itself a Nasty Plot boost that it can't use rather than trying to attack Phart. I don't really want to give it any Attack boosts because of Foul Play (although it might get some anyway via Swagger), so once it's at +6 Defense and taking ~20 damage from the attacks being thrown at it, I give it a Dire Hit and an X Speed, then see how well it fares with Struggle. It instantly loses its Speed boost to Scary Face and is struck by Swagger, but manages to take out half of Honchkrow's HP and then a third of Lycanroc's after I cure the confusion. Its third Struggle knocks out Honchkrow, removing the opponent with the more dangerous moves from the battle, and Lycanroc follows suit 2 attacks later.
Time for the Veteran Duo, and by extension Ralts's last hurrah. I normally don't care too much when its Quick Claw doesn't activate and it's unable to use Memento on Phart to take itself out of the battle - its whole purpose is to faint on turn 1 and it still does so in those circumstances, just to an opponent's attack instead of its own, so the only advantage when Quick Claw fails is that Phart doesn't get double-targeted on that turn. However, since the next Double Battle is the last one in the game (apart from ones where I partner up with someone else) and it's also probably the hardest one of all, I think it'd be best if I make sure Ralts actually gets to use Memento in this fight. Even if that means resetting until the Quick Claw's 20% activation rate kicks in.
Veteran Duo Tsunekazu and Nobuko
Houndoom Lv63 (Flamethrower/Dark Pulse/Shadow Ball/Sludge Bomb, Ability: Flash Fire, Modest nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Magmortar Lv63 (Thunder Punch/Fire Punch/Brick Break, Ability: Flame Body, Adamant nature, IVs: 30/30/15/15/15/30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Volcarona Lv63 (Bug Buzz/Heat Wave/Hurricane, Ability: Flame Body, Modest nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Comfey Lv63 (Floral Healing/Light Screen/Sunny Day/Draining Kiss, Ability: Flower Veil, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/15/30/30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD)
Whimsicott Lv63 (Helping Hand/Sunny Day/Solar Beam/Dazzling Gleam, Ability: Chlorophyll, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/15/30/30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD)
Lilligant Lv63 (Sunny Day/Helping Hand/After You/Solar Beam, Ability: Chlorophyll, Calm nature, IVs: 30/15/15/15/30/30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD)
The battle against Morimoto and Iwao was bad enough, and Iwao didn't even have EVs on his Pokémon. These two Veterans are running a sun team, one side loaded with heavy hitters and the other with support moves for those heavy hitters, and Houndoom and Volcarona also have a type advantage over Phart if they don't feel like simply frying it instead. This might hurt.
No resets are necessary as Ralts's Quick Claw activates on the first attempt, taking itself out of the fight with Memento at the cost of 2 Attack stages on Phart. Speaking of Phart, an X Sp. Def lets it tank Houndoom's Sludge Bomb quite well, leaving it on 246/273 HP while Comfey sets up a Light Screen.
Now I simply have to max out Phart's stats and KO everything. Reaching +6 Sp. Def allows Phart to take 38 damage from Dark Pulse, which is still not ideal but it's the best it'll get. It helps that Comfey doesn't have Helping Hand and its Draining Kiss barely does anything, as I can squeeze in one X item between heals to keep Phart out of KO range from a crit Dark Pulse. Playing cautiously seems to be the way to go, at least until Comfey runs out of Draining Kiss PP...
Since Sunny Day and Light Screen are already active and Houndoom has no damage to be healed by Floral Healing, the AI recognises that Comfey is dead weight and switches it out. This isn't ideal because not only does Whimsicott have a slightly better damage output than Comfey, it can also boost Houndoom's damage with Helping Hand. A small mercy is that Houndoom is now out of Dark Pulse PP, but if the 136 HP Phart just lost to a crit Shadow Ball is any indication, it's not done fighting yet.
After I've used a Max Potion on Phart, Whimsicott sets up Sunny Day and then lands a crit of its own with Solar Beam, so that's another 79 HP gone already. At least Houndoom's sun-boosted Flamethrower isn't so bad in comparison. Back to X items again - Phart is already at +6 in both defenses, so now I'll focus on Attack and Speed. The remainder of the setup process isn't too bad apart from a random Flamethrower burn and another Solar Beam crit.
Whimsicott has run out of Sunny Day PP in the meantime, which is good since it now has to wait a turn to use Solar Beam, but also bad because it's far more inclined to use Helping Hand now. I'll have to heal Phart up and hope it can target Whimsicott and take it out before it gives a Helping Hand boost to a critical hit. Luckily it gives Phart a free turn with Solar Beam and loses half its HP to Struggle. Phart is too weak to safely attack right away, but after a Max Potion it targets Houndoom and KOs it from full!
Houndoom is not very bulky.
Also, it turns out Whimsicott did have one Sunny Day left, which it uses just after Houndoom faints. So why on earth did it waste multiple turns charging Solar Beam? Weird.
Big moth is here to do big damage. Considering how high Volcarona's Sp. Atk is before the Modest nature and full EVs, I imagine a Helping Hand-boosted crit will just be instant death for Phart. Of course, even a regular crit might mean instant death after Struggle recoil, so I'm slightly fucked no matter what I do here. The best idea I have is just healing to full again and trying to KO someone before anything bad can happen - Phart's struck by a Helping Hand-Bug Buzz combo that takes it down to 201/273 HP, so I risk a Struggle on the next turn. It targets Whimsicott, knocking it out and leaving Phart on 133 HP, and Volcarona "only" deals 50 damage with Bug Buzz afterwards.
Lilligant's about the same as Whimsicott but with After You instead of Dazzling Gleam. Since Phart's X Speeds make it faster than Lilligant even while Chlorophyll is active, I don't think that will be an issue here. I heal Phart back to full once more, and Lilligant deals 19 damage with a Solar Beam while Volcarona goes for another Bug Buzz... which Phart dodges! Now that's a welcome sight. It leaves it with enough HP to semi-safely Struggle again, hitting Volcarona for well over 80% and avoiding the wrath of Flame Body. It survives another Solar Beam and Bug Buzz without any crits, is healed with another Max Potion, tanks another Bug Buzz while Lilligant reactivates Sunny Day, then Struggles on Volcarona again to remove the biggest threat from the fight!
Magmortar's not weak by any means, but its Fire Punch is not as deadly as Volcarona's Bug Buzz could've been, even factoring in Sunny Day. It lands a sun-boosted, Helping Hand-boosted Fire Punch on Phart right away to demonstrate this, only reaching 36 damage, so I let Phart Struggle once again - it hits Magmortar and very nearly OHKOs it. One more Max Potion and Phart can take it out... or target Lilligant instead for 66% of its HP, I guess? Suit yourself. After I heal it again, whoever's targeted by Struggle is getting knocked out, and it ends up being Magmortar.
Fairly trivial from there. Lilligant is outsped and defeated by Struggle, leaving only the Comfey who has no damaging attacks left. One final Moomoo Milk gives Phart enough HP to 2HKO it. Hurrah!
I had no desire whatsoever to use anything other than Phart in this run, but the game mechanics forced me to use something unless I wanted to skip every Double Battle, and Ralts offered a compromise by consistently dying on the first turn even if it couldn't get to use Memento. It had one job, and it did it very well. Now back into the PC with you! There's no need for you to get knocked out any more.
At last, the final sticker is mine. Must remember to go and visit Samson Oak once I've finished everything else.
Taking a couple of steps into the Battle Tree causes Red and Blue to show up and say hi. Well, one of them says hi. They've come to Alola to act as the bosses of the Battle Tree, but that doesn't mean they can't enjoy a casual battle against a fellow Champion without worrying about battle facility rules like "no Cosmog" or "no X items" or "seriously why are you using a Cosmog".
Blue offers me a battle against either himself or Red. This is a slight problem because it's a non-repeatable event and I can't fight both of them, even though I need to. So what I'll do instead is fight one of them,
BLUE
MOTHERFUCKING
OAK
There go my hopes of this being an easy fight. Nuh-uh, 40 turns of Splashing it shall be.
Pokémon Trainer Red
Pikachu Lv74 @ Light Ball (Volt Tackle/Quick Attack/Light Screen/Nuzzle, Ability: Static, Jolly nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Lapras Lv69 (Surf/Blizzard/Ice Shard/Psychic, Ability: Water Absorb, Serious nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA)
Snorlax Lv69 (Body Slam/Heavy Slam/Crunch/High Horsepower, Ability: Thick Fat, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk)
Venusaur Lv70 (Leaf Storm/Leech Seed/Sludge Bomb/Earthquake, Ability: Overgrow, Quiet nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 SpD)
Charizard Lv70 (Fire Blast/Air Slash/Focus Blast/Will-O-Wisp, Ability: Blaze, Timid nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Blastoise Lv70 (Hydro Pump/Flash Cannon/Dark Pulse/Ice Beam, Ability: Torrent, Calm nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD)
Pikachu will hit hard and then probably blow itself up from Volt Tackle recoil, but the rest of his team doesn't seem too bad unless Venusaur gets a chance to use Leech Seed. Hopefully Red will simply send in Snorlax or Blastoise after Pikachu so they can spam Crunch/Dark Pulse rather than get clever with status moves.
Also, his Lapras has a Serious nature. That's not weird in itself - a lot of Trainers have Serious natures on all of their Pokémon, to the point I've just been leaving the natures out of their team descriptions unless they're non-Serious - but I think Red is the first Trainer I've seen where it's just one of his Pokémon that's Serious. Maybe because it uses both attacking stats and it's got fairly well-rounded stats overall so Game Freak didn't want to lower any of them?
Pikachu spares Phart for a moment by using Light Screen on turn 1, then hits for 51 damage into +4 Defense. The recoil it takes is actually a lot less than I expected, so maybe it won't KO itself after all? Guess I'll find out sooner or later. For now, I'll just keep going with the setup process and let Pikachu take 40-HP chunks out of Phart.
I wasn't counting its attacks, but it must've been close to using up all 15 Volt Tackle PP by the time it conked out. A couple more dodges from Phart and it might have survived. No matter, Snorlax is next out and Phart has mostly finished setting up, missing only its X Speeds (not that it needs them for Snorlax).
A Guard Spec. keeps Crunch from getting any Defense drops to up its 28 damage, then I use a couple of X Speeds so Phart can go before Charizard later on. Now fully set up, Phart launches itself at Snorlax and, uh... starts using Splash. Almost forgot about that. Snorlax ends up running out of Crunches and switching to High Horsepower and Heavy Slam, which seems odd because Body Slam would surely outdamage both of them. Of course, it eventually depletes its PP for those moves too and starts using Body Slam at last.
I did expect Red to withdraw Snorlax once it ran out of PP, but I didn't think it would be Charizard that replaced it. Mind you, Blastoise doesn't actually have any Sp. Atk EVs, so maybe the AI thought about more than just "what would be super effective?" when picking a switch-in.
Unfortunately Splash still has 6 PP, so Charizard gets to unleash a few Fire Blasts while Phart is still waiting to regain its true power, although they're only reaching 30 damage at most. And then I have to deal with a Will-O-Wisp burn just when Phart's about to Struggle. It finally gets to attack once it's cured, dealing just over 50% to Charizard before getting burned again, then Struggles again after a second Full Restore and takes down Charizard. Phart's finally scored its first KO of the match!
Red sends in Blastoise next. Whatever damage Dark Pulse deals remains a mystery for now as Phart dodges its first one, then lines up for a 3HKO with Struggle. The second Dark Pulse lands for an unimpressive 20 damage, and poor Blastoise misses again with its third attack before fainting.
Not the most ideal situation for Phart - it needs healing, but that will give Venusaur a chance to use Leech Seed. Luckily it goes for Leaf Storm instead and misses, then uses it again to deal fairly trivial damage before Struggle 2HKOs it. Phew, no need to worry about permanent passive damage/healing. Lapras hits all of its Blizzards but doesn't do much with any of them, and once it's been dispatched with 3 Struggles, Red has to send in his PP-less Snorlax and let it Struggle itself to death. Victory!
After I've mashed through all of Red's lengthy rambling dialogue, I'm free to explore the Battle Tree, though of course there's no point as I have to reset my game in order to fight Blue.
Slightly different lines compared to when I picked Red, but the free heal is exactly the same and just as unwanted as before. Time for round 2!
Pokémon Trainer Blue
Alakazam Lv69 (Psychic/Future Sight/Shadow Ball/Reflect, Ability: Synchronize, Modest nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Machamp Lv69 (Cross Chop/Bulk Up/Knock Off/Poison Jab, Ability: Guts, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Aerodactyl Lv69 (Rock Slide/Crunch/Iron Head/Sky Drop, Ability: Pressure, Jolly nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Exeggutor Lv69 (Leaf Storm/Psychic/Sludge Bomb/Hypnosis, Ability: Chlorophyll, Modest nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Arcanine Lv69 (Extreme Speed/Flare Blitz/Thunder Fang/Bulldoze, Ability: Intimidate, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Gyarados Lv69 (Aqua Tail/Crunch/Ice Fang/Dragon Dance, Ability: Intimidate, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Blue definitely looks nastier overall. Alakazam carries Shadow Ball and doesn't seem likely to KO itself like Pikachu, and there are two Intimidate users and three other super-effective attacks spread across his other Pokémon, one of which is Knock Off. This definitely isn't the sort of battle where Phart can shrug off losing its Eviolite.
Just like Pikachu, Alakazam sets up a screen on turn 1 and grants me a free X Sp. Def usage, then takes off 38 HP with a Shadow Ball. It misses its next attack while Phart is brought to +6 Sp. Def, leaving me free to use a Guard Spec. and start on all the other boosts. Aside from a rogue critical hit on Alakazam's last Shadow Ball bringing Phart down to 24 HP, the setup process is uneventful. Now Phart can begin Splashing.
There was no way Phart was going to get fully set-up and use Splash 40 times before Alakazam ran out of PP, so off it goes to be defeated at a later date. At least it wasn't Machamp that replaced it - Phart can keep its Eviolite a little longer.
It still has 15 Splashes to go before it can attack, and it's not affected by Pressure since the move targets Phart itself. Aerodactyl's Crunch turns out to be fairly weak (24-ish HP per hit) and only requires Guard Specs. and the occasional Max Potion to deal with, so the remaining Splash PP is slowly whittled away. It soon runs out of Crunch PP and starts picking its other moves, leading to Phart getting kidnapped and rendered immobile by Sky Drop a few times, but it gets knocked out by 2 Struggles once Phart is able to attack.
Gyarados is Blue's next choice, sparing me the wrath of Knock Off for now. The Attack drop from Intimidate is slightly let down by Gyarados wasting a turn on Dragon Dance instead of attacking. It's let down even further when it uses Dragon Dance another two times, then only musters 32 damage with Crunch and loses half its health to a single Struggle. The best it can do is squeeze in another Crunch courtesy of all its Speed boosts before fainting.
I heal Phart to full and brace for Knock Off - 34 damage. That's not so bad, and Machamp itself shouldn't be too hard if Blue's AI is like other Trainers I've faced and it doesn't go for Knock Off again. How well Phart can tank STAB critical hits from Exeggutor or Arcanine without its Eviolite is another matter. But for now, Phart simply uses Struggle twice to KO Machamp while it tries to Bulk Up.
Exeggutor's next, knocking Phart down to 222/276 HP from full with a Leaf Storm. The Sp. Atk drop hurts it a lot, but a critical hit will ignore that drop and almost certainly OHKO Phart if it lands. And of course Struggle falls just short of knocking Exeggutor into yellow... but its next Leaf Storm fails to crit and Phart gets a high damage roll to 2HKO it! Arcanine comes in afterwards and takes Phart down to +5 Attack again with Intimidate. I am worried about Flare Blitz despite it not being quite as destructive as Exeggutor's Leaf Storm, but it looks as though Arcanine would rather focus on gaining the speed advantage with Bulldoze than dealing damage. I throw a few X Speeds at Phart along with an X Attack, and sure enough, it keeps using Bulldoze, so Phart can click Struggle twice for an easy KO. It actually did use Flare Blitz on its last turn but it still wasn't enough.
The problem with my opponents leaving their zero-PP Pokémon until last is that it makes for a bit of an anticlimax. But still funny.
Before Red and Blue leave, the latter tells me that we'll definitely battle again... provided I can make it through the Battle Tree. So no, I will not be smelling either of them later.
Having stepped foot inside the Battle Tree and defeated its bosses, I've now seen every corner of Alola's four islands and completed my "second island challenge"! All that's left to do now is make a few preparations before heading to Aether Paradise to see what all this Rainbow Rocket nonsense is about. (And Title Defense battles, of course. But that comes later.)
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