Challenge COMPLETE: Everything As Soon As Possible: Pokemon Pearl National Dex No-Restoration Challenge

[QuentinQuonce]

Pokemon Pearl National Dex No-Heal Challenge


Introduction​

It's near-unanimously agreed by fans that Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have the singular worst regional Pokedex in the entire series. At 151, it's frustratingly small, full of less-than-stellar species, and bafflingly doesn't even contain all the new Pokemon introduced in Gen IV. It's one of the principal factors that makes replaying these games frustrating (to say nothing of the other quality-of-life issues like the game's slow speed) and Platinum's subsequent welcome expansion of the Sinnoh Pokedex is perhaps the single biggest improvement that makes it the unquestioned definitive Sinnoh game.

But what if there was a way of mitigating that issue? What if DP Sinnoh's notorious lack of biodiversity could be improved upon such that players need not be restricted to the OG regional Dex's constricted limits?

Well.

One of the more curious characteristics about Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum is that the National Dex is awarded upon completion of the Sinnoh Dex - without the player having to defeat the Elite Four as was the case in FRLG and Emerald. This means - with some effort, and a not insignificant amount of time - that one could potentially complete the Sinnoh Dex in its entirety as soon as one is able to trade, and thus obtain the National Dex much earlier than usual. How early, exactly? Once the player has reached Eterna City, Professor Oak will appear in Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town and award the National Dex if a player has a completed Sinnoh Dex. Despite several recent articles excitedly pointing out that this can also be done in BDSP, I've never seen someone make use of this exploit in the original games - so it seemed the perfect curiosity for me to explore in a new challenge run.

So, onto the details - what impact on a playthrough would this have, exactly? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Once the National Dex is obtained, a whole raft of ways to obtain new Pokemon open up:

• The player will receive the Pokeradar, giving access to new Pokemon in any area with long grass
• The dual-slot mode is unlocked, allowing players to use GBA cartridges of FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald to make new Pokemon appear
• The Trophy Garden will have a wider selection of Pokemon that can appear
• Non-Sinnohan fossils will be available in the Underground
• Eevee will be given to the player as soon as they reach Hearthome City, rather than later in the game
• Rotom will be catchable straight away (EDIT: apparently not. Looks like Rotom's appearance still requires entering the Hall of Fame)

Note that this does not give access to swarms or postgame areas such as Turnback Cave and Snowpoint Temple, which still require entering the Hall of Fame to unlock.

All in all, this makes over 60 new full and partial evolutionary lines accessible during the main story, significantly expanding the options available.

The Challenge​

So. What's the actual challenge in this run? Answer: no healing! No Pokemon Centres, no medicine, no held items. Once I catch a Pokemon, I have to use it until it's out of PP or it faints - whichever comes first. Once a member of my team faints, I must box it and it becomes unusable for the remainder of the challenge. Given this, I envisage a lot of team-swapping, which should give me ample opportunity to showcase Sinnoh's newfound diversity. Let's get to it.

Formal Rules​

• No usage of Pokemon Centres; no usage of HP- or PP-restoring items. Moves which restore HP by draining (Giga Drain, Leech Seed, et al) are permitted, as these are few in number and uncommon enough not to be a mainstay of the challenge, especially given that the inability to restore PP means there's a finite number of uses for each of them. I may revise this decision if I end up catching a Grass-type which proves to be unexpectedly broken.​
• Forced heals obviously cannot be avoided, but anything leading to a forced heal is disallowed; therefore, partnering with Mira or Riley is forbidden during this run.​
• No (healing) held items allowed.​
• Any Pokemon that faints is considered dead, and must be permanently boxed. Depositing and withdrawing in the PC for the purposes of healing is disallowed.​
• No usage of TMs, move tutors, or move reminders for PP restoration. New moves learned by levelling up are allowed. HMs are allowed (given Sinnoh's overreliance on them, this is inevitable) but on a case-by-case basis as and when they are needed, ideally only overwriting a move with full PP. Amendment: TMs are fine as long as they 1) are single-use i.e. not ones I can repeatedly buy 2) are moves the Pokemon does not learn naturally i.e. not teaching something Flamethrower twice 3) do not double up on STAB moves in a way that would make the Pokemon more powerful i.e. giving Infernape Flamethrower, Overheat, and Fire Blast.​
• No repeat species; I can only use any given evolutionary line once. There is no restriction on the number of Pokemon that can be caught and used throughout the game.​
• No using traded Pokemon from other save files, so no usage of Pal Park or ancillary games such as PBR and Ranch and no usage of event Pokemon or in-game trades.​

Let's get to it!​

Part One

Welcome to Sinnoh once again. Having not played DP in many years, pre-Platinum Sinnoh feels incredibly nostalgic.

I boot up my new copy of Pearl, choosing to play as the boy and naming him Salton. After watching the report about the Red Gyarados, I head outside into Twinleaf Town to meet my childhood friend and rival, Tommy. Wanting to find a rare Pokemon just like the one we saw on TV, we pair up and head out to the nearby Lake Verity, but find only Professor Rowan and his assistant Dawn, who quickly depart. But they've left behind a briefcase. Tommy and I go to look, but are set upon by two wild Starly!

It turns out that the briefcase contains three Pokemon - Sinnoh's starter trio: the Grass-type Turtwig, the Fire-type Chimchar, and the Water-type Piplup! Tommy suggests that we use them to defend ourselves, so I reach for one of them.

Since I'll be using the Pokemon I pick for at least a little while, I consider my choice carefully. After some thought, I opt for Chimchar. Though I've always liked the Sinnoh trio equally (I'd go so far as to say that they're the best starter trio overall) if push comes to shove Chimchar's probably my overall favourite.

Anyway. I knock out the wild Starly, and Dawn rushes back to the lake, dismayed that we used her Pokemon. She takes the briefcase and leaves, and Tommy and I leave shortly afterwards, anticipating a hellish ass-kicking from the scary-looking Professor.

But when we encounter him, he doesn't say anything to us. After a moment of thought, he tells Dawn that he's returning to his lab, and leaves without another word. Dawn, suggesting that we drop in and visit later, follows him.

Confused, Tommy and I return home, where I tell my mother what happened to us after a pesky forced heal. Deciding that I should be rewarded for stealing someone's Pokemon, she gifts me a pair of Running Shoes, and concurs with Dawn that I should go to the lab and apologise to the Professor. Tommy appears to have already left, so I set out for Sandgem Town to the east.

Dawn meets me outside the Professor's lab, but before I can enter Tommy bursts out of the door, in a hurry like always. He reassures me that the old Professor isn't at all as scary as he looks, and dashes off without further explanation.

Inside, Professor Rowan greets me, and declares that since the Chimchar I chose seems to have already become attached to me, I should keep it. He prompts me to give it a nickname, too. I decide that for this challenge I'm going to nickname all the Pokemon I use after herbs and spices, so call it Paprika.

But his gift of a Pokemon doesn't come without a condition. Rowan announces that he would like me to help him in his research by taking a Pokedex, and embarking upon a grand adventure to catalogue the Pokemon of Sinnoh. Well, what a coincidence... that's exactly what I was planning to do. I say yes, and he entrusts me with the Pokedex.

Our adventure begins in earnest! Dawn shows me around Sandgem Town and promises to show me how to catch a Pokemon (as if I need teaching) but makes me go home first to let my mother know I'm off on a journey. Sigh, if I must. I backtrack to Twinleaf and mother forces me into another mandatory heal (though, having only been in one battle against a wild Bidoof since the last, it hardly makes a difference) and gives the journey her blessing. After she and Tommy's mother give me a couple of gifts, I'm officially free to get my quest off to a proper start.

Out on Route 202, Dawn demonstrates how to catch a Bidoof and graciously gives me five Pokeballs. I make use of them by catching some fodder for trades and then head to Jubilife City. That's right, it's time to do an excessive amount of trading and fill that dex up! While I'm doing that, feel free to speculate on what Pokemon I might end up using, make suggestions, and just generally discuss. I've got a long task ahead - back when it's finished.

_________________________​

Note: for simplicity's sake, I'm aiming to complete the dex in one go. Due to the excessive amount of trading, catching, and boxing that will need to happen, I'm not enforcing the rules until I proceed.



Current team

Paprika the Chimchar - level 5 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature
(Fully healed)

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

This looks like a fun challenge. It feels like it will be very difficult since you are going for very limited healing. But it is a challenge after all, so it needs to be hard!

One of the more curious characteristics about Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum is that the National Dex is awarded upon completion of the Sinnoh Dex - without the player having to defeat the Elite Four as was the case in FRLG and Emerald. This means - with some effort, and a not insignificant amount of time - that one could potentially complete the Sinnoh Dex in its entirety as soon as one is able to trade, and thus obtain the National Dex much earlier than usual. How early, exactly? Once the player has reached Eterna City, Professor Oak will appear in Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town and award the National Dex if a player has a completed Sinnoh Dex. Despite several recent articles excitedly pointing out that this can also be done in BDSP, I've never seen someone make use of this exploit in the original games - so it seemed the perfect curiosity for me to explore in a new challenge run.

I have seen a lot of talk about doing this in BD/SP, but I have never heard of anyone trying it in the original Sinnoh games before. I suppose it would work for Platinum too, but since it has a bigger and better regional dex to start with, I guess it won't make as much of a difference there.

While I'm doing that, feel free to speculate on what Pokemon I might end up using, make suggestions, and just generally discuss. I've got a long task ahead - back when it's finished.

I took a quick look at Serebii's pages to see which new Pokémon become available. Zangoose is available through Dual-slot mode with Ruby, I think it is a really cool and underappreciated Pokémon. Ursaring is cool too. Don't know if you'll allow trade evolutions, but if so, then you have Electivire, Magmortar or Porygon-Z, Sinnoh Pokémon which are otherwise post-game only in D/P. There's also Salamence, since you can get Bagon with the PokéRadar. It might be hard to raise though. There's more but those are some random ideas I just came up with now. Either way, I'll be following the challenge to see how it goes and which Pokémon you'll end up using.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

This looks like a fun challenge. It feels like it will be very difficult since you are going for very limited healing. But it is a challenge after all, so it needs to be hard!

I have seen a lot of talk about doing this in BD/SP, but I have never heard of anyone trying it in the original Sinnoh games before. I suppose it would work for Platinum too, but since it has a bigger and better regional dex to start with, I guess it won't make as much of a difference there.

I took a quick look at Serebii's pages to see which new Pokémon become available. Zangoose is available through Dual-slot mode with Ruby, I think it is a really cool and underappreciated Pokémon. Ursaring is cool too. Don't know if you'll allow trade evolutions, but if so, then you have Electivire, Magmortar or Porygon-Z, Sinnoh Pokémon which are otherwise post-game only in D/P. There's also Salamence, since you can get Bagon with the PokéRadar. It might be hard to raise though. There's more but those are some random ideas I just came up with now. Either way, I'll be following the challenge to see how it goes and which Pokémon you'll end up using.

Sadly, though I have the other four, Ruby is the one GBA cartridge I'm lacking, so all of those species are out. But there are some good candidates from the dual-slot mode, so I'll definitely be going for some of the others! I'm not sure Bagon will live long enough to become a mighty Salamence but it's def worth a shot.

Out of interest, I looked at all the remaining Gen IV Pokemon added to the Sinnoh Dex in Platinum (minus Rotom, which I mentioned in the OP) to see how many will be available now.

#462-478

Magnezone - inaccessible, as Magnemite is a swarm species
Lickilicky - inaccessible, as Lickitung is a swarm species
Rhyperior - inaccessible, as Rhyhorn is only catchable in the Battle Zone
Tangrowth - inaccessible, as Tangela cannot be caught in DP at all
Electivire - Elekid is a dual-slot spawn, but requires a trade to fully evolve
Magmortar - inaccessible, as Magby is only catchable in the Battle Zone
Togekiss - inaccessible, as Togepi is only catchable in the Battle Zone
Yanmega - Yanma can be caught in the Great Marsh
Leafeon - Eevee can be received from Bebe or caught in the Trophy Garden
Glaceon - Eevee can be received from Bebe or caught in the Trophy Garden
Gliscor - Gligar is a dual-slot spawn, but the only Razor Fang in the game is found in the Battle Zone
Mamoswine - inaccessible, as Swinub is a swarm species
Porygon-Z - Porygon can be caught in the Trophy Garden, but requires at least two trades to evolve
Gallade - Ralts can be caught via the PokeRadar, and there is a Dawn Stone in Mt Coronet
Probopass - inaccessible, as Nosepass is a swarm species
Dusknoir - Duskull can be caught via the Pokeradar but requires a trade to fully evolve; the only Reaper Cloth in the game is found in the Battle Zone
Froslass - Snorunt can be caught via the PokeRadar, and there is a Dawn Stone in Mt Coronet


So four partial lines, and five full ones, and you cannot have both Gallade and Froslass unless you do some serious Pickup abuse. But I'd like to use as many as possible.

 

[Ironmage]

Mons with HP-restoring abilities feel like they would be useful for grinding and fights where enemy trainers only have one or two mons since they could potentially heal off Struggle damage and keep going. Breloom has the most per-turn healing if it manages to get Poison Heal up and running, but there's a part of me that wants to see Ice Body Glalie get an appearence lategame as well.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Two

Multiple dozen trades later, Pokedex filled, and trade fodder all released – the challenge can truly get underway.

Since I won’t be using any of my healing items, I sell them and buy a bunch of Pokeballs. While Chimchar alone does fine against all the scrubby trainers around Jubilife, it's going to struggle against the first gym so I catch a Budew on Route 204, nicknaming it Basil, as well as a Shinx that I nickname Anise. I make sure to catch one with Intimidate and catch it at full health as I think it’ll be useful against Roark, though Paprika loses a fair amount of its health in the process. Basil is too weak to accomplish much against any of the trainers right now; luckily, Oreburgh Gate has slow, weak Geodude which Basil can OHKO.

I return to Route 202 for a short bit of grinding against wild Kricketot, as it can’t deal direct damage and deplete too much valuable HP, but they're so elusive I get frustrated and call it off before long. While I'm there I nip back to Sandgem to show off my completed Pokedex to Professor Rowan just in case he feels like being kind and giving me the National Dex early. He correctly notices that 150 is all the Pokemon (Manaphy who?) and blandly says “good job”. Unfortunately, Professor Oak’s flight appears not to have landed yet so nothing else happens.

Once I’m a bit bulked up, I head to Route 203 and take on Tommy. Sadly, he doesn’t do what Marriland termed “the Barry dance” (his trainer animation from Platinum) but he’s a tough cookie nonetheless. Paprika sees off his Starly, though it brings Paprika down to below 1/3 HP before it goes - at least I can rely on Blaze for a while. Then Basil takes care of Piplup.

There's not much else to do on Route 203 aside from beat up some small children, which is never not a fun pastime. Into Oreburgh Gate, where a Hiker gives me HM06. I’ll be needing that to progress so I contemplate who I’ll teach it to. Once I arrive in Oreburgh, I decide that I could use some additional help against Roark and catch a Machop on Route 207 who I teach Rock Smash - I name it Bay.

My team's not in the best of shape - I haven't levelled up Anise at all, and Paprika is a while off evolving - but I decide they're just about capable of beating Roark. I briefly consider catching a fifth Pokemon, but there’s not a lot that’ll help – Geodude and Onix are bulky but can’t do much in return. Besides, I might want to use them later. So let's do this!

Vs Roark

I lead with Basil, now at level 12, who - as expected - smashes Roark’s Geodude and Onix fairly handily. When it’s time for Cranidos, I send out Anise to soften its Attack power with Intimidate. Initially intending to leave it in, I reconsider at the last second and switch out to Bay, who's predictably KO'd by Headbutt, becoming the first team member of this run to fall. Godspeed. Choosing to be ruthless in the name of expediency, I switch Anise back in and get a second Attack drop before it falls too.

But now Basil should have a slightly easier time of it. I use Stun Spore as Cranidos goes for a Leer, then manage a critical hit with Absorb, bringing it to 50%. Roark uses a Potion, though - and now I've only got 3 PP left, meaning I can't possibly KO. If I make it to level 13 Basil will learn Mega Drain, but of course I need to KO Cranidos to do that. Hmmm... better chance a Growth. I do so and Basil gets clonked with a still-quite-powerful Headbutt. But next turn a boosted Absorb heals off most of the damage and Cranidos can't move due to paralysis. The second hit brings it within a whisker of a KO, and though its next Headbutt is similarly powerful, it's not enough to prevent Basil clinching the KO next turn. Hurrah!

The experience from knocking Cranidos out pushes Basil to level 13, so I replace Absorb with Mega Drain.

It cost two team members (though not sore losses, let’s be real) but we’ve got our first badge! Hurrah!

Not the best out of Sinnoh's badges, but the mix of geometric shapes makes it pleasant to look at.


Right, on with the journey. I head back to Jubilife and find Dawn defending Professor Rowan from two strangely-dressed individuals who identify themselves as Galactic Grunts. Since they won't back down, I team up with her against them. Her Turtwig isn’t much use, but the Galactic Grunts seem to consider it more worthy of targeting than me, so miraculously I make it through the tag battle without taking any damage.

Professor Rowan thanks me for defending him and leaves, and a bloke from Jubilife TV wanders up and says something about me coming to the studio. To be honest, having never spent any time engaging with Jubilife TV, the only significance this has to me is that I can speak to a guy inside to unlock Mystery Gift and grab some old event distributions via DNS trickery. But I won’t be using any of those in this challenge so they’re irrelevant for now. Time to head north and enter the Ravaged Path again!

Current team

Paprika the Chimchar – level 13 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature
HP: 9/36
-Scratch (20/35)
-Leer (30/30)
-Ember (3/25)
-Taunt (19/20)

Basil the Budew – level 13 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature
HP: 26/34
-Mega Drain (15/15)
-Growth (38/40)
-Water Sport (15/15)
-Stun Spore (29/30)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

​

 

[TpOi2006]

This is also of immensely high quality, keep this up!

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Three

Only one Pokemon attacks me in Ravaged Path - a Zubat - but it's enough for Paprika to OHKO and then grow to level 14, where it evolves into Monferno!

Wanting to get the next section of the game done asap, I slip past the remaining trainers on the way into Floaroma Town and go right to Route 205 where a crying child is making a scene - ugh, whatever - and a Galactic Grunt is guarding the Valley Windworks. He refuses to budge but I refuse to leave him alone so he refuses to let me leave unmolested and I refuse to let him savage me with his team so he... you get the point. Having evolved and learned the wickedly useful Mach Punch, Paprika smashes his weak Glameow. But he disappears inside and locks the door, forcing me to go back to Floaroma and seek out the other two grunts making trouble in the meadow. They're both easily dealt with, too, and the owner gratefully gives me a free Honey. Hmm... wonder when the best time to use that might be. The two grunts dropped a Works Key, so I hightail it back to the Valley Windworks and let myself in.

The two grunts inside aren't difficult, though Paprika uses the last of its Ember PP on the first one. Hmm... could make things tricky. It's not long until it learns Flame Wheel, but Mars' Purugly is hella intimidating so I'm not certain it'll live long enough to get it.

I approach the lady herself and engage her in conversation. She explains that Team Galactic are there to use the energy for... something. Idk. My prepubescent brain can't handle the detail. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that I beat her.

I rush outside and do a quick bit of grinding so that KOing her Zubat will nudge Paprika up to level 17. It learned Fury Swipes a moment ago, which thankfully is enough to 2HKO her Zubat while it ill-advisedly uses Leech Life for 1 HP damage - I breathe a sigh of relief that it didn't use Toxic. But despite Mach Punch's power, it only brings Purugly to 50% - just high enough not to trigger the Oran Berry it carries. Purugly retaliates with Scratch and leaves Paprika with only 2 HP - okay, so the second Mach Punch needs to KO or Paprika will faint, and I'm fairly convinced that Basil won't be enough to beat it. I strike again and bring it within an inch of fainting, but it survives and recovers with the Oran Berry. To my dismay, Purugly uses Faint Attack and Paprika faints.

Aw, crap. This might be the end of the run. I send out Basil and pray that it gets a critical hit - it healed itself completely with Mega Drain before this battle, and that's just enough HP to survive a hit, if I'm lucky.

Purugly hits with Faint Attack, doing just over 50%; but Basil's Poison Point ability (the one I groaned at when I saw it had) kicks in and inflicts Purugly with poison. Mega Drain doesn't do much damage, but it does do just enough that Basil might survive a second hit. Purugly uses Scratch and brings Basil down to 1 HP - holy crap. Basil uses Mega Drain, and that combined with the poison damage is just enough to get the job done.

Well damn.

Mars vows revenge or some such other villainous nonsense, and departs. The scientist they kidnapped turns out to be the father of the crying child outside, who runs in and embraces him. Well, all's well that ends well. The little girl informs me that a balloon Pokemon might come visiting - ah yes, Drifloon! I was actually not planning on catching it until I checked and noticed something funny: Platinum actually majorly nerfed this mon by cutting its level to 15, but in DP it's a rather handsome 22. Definitely a candidate for use, especially now.

...hmmm.

Unfortunately, despite me changing my DS's time and waiting 24 hours, Drifloon still doesn't show up. Well, that's annoying.

Oh well. Instead, I catch a Buizel and a Pachirisu on Route 205, nicknaming the former Lemongrass and the latter Mint. Not going to waste any more time on this route just now: it's time to enter Eterna Forest!

At the entrance, a rather elegant-looking girl inside introduces herself as Cheryl, and asks if I'll accompany her through the forest since she's afraid of encountering Team Galactic. Since I need to get through the forest anyway, I take pity on her and we join up. She thanks me, and promises that she'll keep my team at perfect health.

...wait, don't do that.

Since the game forces you to do at least two battles with Cheryl as your partner, you're mandated two forced heals, which annoyingly goes against the spirit of this run. Thankfully they're the last forced heals for a very long time, but it's annoying nonetheless. The rules of the run remain unchanged, though. Even though my team will be revived, any Pokemon that faints while I'm with Cheryl will be considered permanently dead, and I will return to Floaroma Town to box it. I'll also be making use of the Repel I picked up just before entering to prevent any wild battles.

The first mandatory fight is against a Bug Catcher and a Lass not far from the entrance, who unexpectedly prove to be a very difficult fight. Though Cheryl's Chansey sees off the Bug Catcher's Wurmple singlehandedly with a judicious critical hit, Basil winds up paralysed by Spark and then gets swept away by the Beautifly that comes out next turn. Its powerful Gust is an easy 2HKO.

Feeling genuinely sad to lose both my earliest team members so soon, I send out Mint, who proves to be far tougher than its cutesy appearance promises. As Chansey gets paralysed and whittled down, Mint hammers away with Quick Attack and takes down both the opposing Pachirisu and Beautifly. Last out is Silcoon, who I don't even bother leaving Mint in against - I switch to Lemongrass, and bypass its use of Harden by blasting it with Water Gun.

Sigh. And the team is down to two again. I put Lemongrass in front for the next battle against two Psychics. They both have a single Abra who only know Hidden Power Fighting. Lemongrass gets an early critical hit with Quick Attack, but gets hit by one, losing 50% of its health. Luckily, Chansey's Egg Bomb manages to bring down the Abra Lemongrass damaged - but the second targets Lemongrass and knocks it out as well.

Only Mint left. Luckily, it has no difficulty winning the match.

Thankfully, that was the last mandatory fight. I apply a Repel and I speed to the exit with Cheryl, who thanks me and departs. Well, this has been a rough update. Three Pokemon fallen, and only one left standing... but hey, there's Eterna City a few feet away! You know what that means! It's time to backtrack!

Yes, now that I've set foot in Eterna, I can get the National Dex. I race back through Eterna Forest, making use of Mint's Run Away ability to duck out of any fights, back down Route 205, back through Floaroma (though picking up Bay to get through Ravaged Path), down through Route 204, southwards through Jubilife, all the way across Route 202, and finally... *gasp* into Sandgem. I stride confidently into the lab and show Rowan my glittering completed Pokedex, and he blusters with excitement at it.

As he's trying to find the words to thank me, another man walks in. Why, it's noted Kantonian researcher Professor Samuel Oak!

​

Rowan introduces me as his young assistant and proudly tells Oak I've managed to fill the entire Sinnoh Pokedex. Oak, no doubt jealous that none of his young assistants ever managed to fill the Kanto Pokedex, is extremely impressed and offers to upgrade my Pokedex to the National listing. Yes please.

He also tells me that the Pal Park is now open for business. Well, that's nice but irrelevant for now. I'll swing by when I'm able to Surf, probably.

Oak bustles off, busy as ever, but Rowan has a special gift for me to thank me for all my hard work - the PokeRadar! To quote Lil Nas X, that's what I fucking want. Let's get using this right away! My team certainly needs some filling up, so without any further ado, let's get on it.

I return to Route 205 and begin my search for new squad members. It takes forever, but after inserting Pokemon FireRed into my DS's second port, I find and catch an Elekid on Route 205, which I name Turmeric. At such a low level, Elekid knows Low Kick as well as Thundershock which I hope will be good coverage.

As luck would have it, the first one I found is holding an Electirizer. I'm undecided whether to allow tradeback evolutions - thinking probably not, on balance, though I might reconsider later on.

Being that the next gym is Grass, and that having the National Dex makes Eterna Forest a veritable Bug paradise, I decide to spend some time in there. Utilising Pokemon Emerald lets one encounter Pineco, which initially looks appealing. However, a problem quickly becomes apparent: namely, that Pineco's whole thing is suicide. Wild Pineco in the Eterna Forest know not only Take Down but also Selfdestruct, which is not great for a run where success revolves around conserving HP and keeping my team alive. So after some consideration, I decide that Pineco is out.

What else is there? Well, inserting Pokemon FireRed or LeafGreen allows one to encounter Metapod and Kakuna respectively. Either of those would be fantastic to use against Gardenia! ...except not, because if caught as cocoons, they will only know Harden and thus be sitting ducks. Yeah, not feeling that, either.

That leaves Nincada, via the Pokeradar, as my only choice. Yeah, go on. I quite like Nincada, and think it could prove pretty useful in the long run. I eventually find one and catch it on the first ball, nicknaming it Cumin.

...hm?

​

Who're YOU?

​

Look at that, everyone, my naughty early-National Dex shenanigans have caused a sequence break.

Well, no. It's not really a sequence break, especially since she doesn't use your name. But it's amusing to meet her here first instead of outside her gym as is intended. Scared of the ghosts inside the weird old building, Gardenia heads back to Eterna. See you later!

I head out of Eterna onto the northern portion of Route 205. There's a couple more Pokemon on here that pique my interest: I insert Pokemon Sapphire and quickly find a wild Lotad, which I catch and nickname Coriander. Slowpoke is a Pearl-exclusive species via the Pokeradar on this route, too, so I can't resist tracking one down and catching that as well; I nickname it Sage. So far, I've managed to catch all my new team members without damaging them. That's nice. For me at least. Not for Mint, who's taken quite the battering.

Right, that's four new team members - ah, sod it, let's make it a round six! One of my favourite species, Tyrogue, can be found on nearby Route 211, so I head east through Eterna City, bumping into Cynthia en route. She gives me HM01, Cut, which is bound to come in useful at some point. On Route 211, after approximately 12 years of searching, I find a Tyrogue and catch it, naming it Tarragon.

Right, at last I have a full squad of six - time to go and train them up! I've left a fair amount of trainers on the previous routes unfought, so they'll hopefully be easy to beat without inflicting too much injury. Then it's time for badge number two...

​

Current team

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature
HP: 10/39
-Growl (40/40)
-Bide (10/10)
-Quick Attack (30/30)
-Charm (20/20)

Turmeric the Elekid - level 10 (Static)
Gentle Nature
HP: 31/31
-Quick Attack (28/30)
-Leer (30/30)
-Thundershock (30/30)
-Low Kick (19/20)

Cumin the Nincada - level 10 (Compoundeyes)
Naughty Nature
HP: 28/28
-Scratch (34/35)
-Harden (30/30)
-Leech Life (15/15)
-Sand-Attack (15/15)

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature
HP: 31/31
-Growl (40/40)
-Absorb (25/25)
-Nature Power (20/20)
-Mist (30/30)

Sage the Slowpoke - level 11 (Oblivious)
Lax Nature
HP: 41/41
-Yawn (10/10)
-Tackle (34/35)
-Growl (40/40)
-Water Gun (25/25)

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 13 (Steadfast)
Calm Nature
HP: 32/32
-Tackle (35/35)
-Helping Hand (20/20)
-Fake Out (9/10)
-



Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

 

[aegon the unlikely]

You may have just inspired me to do a similar Nuzlocke of my own.

Interesting to see all these ''sequence breaks'' too.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Four

Alright GT, you gathered an interesting team together, now can you train them up efficiently?

I start with Turmeric the Elekid. With Thundershock in its arsenal, it's more than capable of wiping out all of the Fishermen and the Picnicker with the Piplup on Route 205 as well as the Bird Keeper and Ninja Boy on Route 211, and quickly levels up to 15 without losing too much HP - though at the cost of all its Thundershock PP.

Sage the Slowpoke isn't quite as simple. Wild Geodude are easy enough to drown with Water Gun, as are the remaining couple of trainer-owned specimens too. But it loses a lot of HP in the process. Getting the feeling that slow Pokemon in general aren't going to be great for this challenge. It's also not going to be much use against Gardenia but... oh well. I made my bed. Once it finally hits level 15, it learns Confusion which is some use against wild Cascoon (and a replacement for all the Water Gun PP that's now lost) but since they don't yield much experience I only kill a couple of them.

I teach Tarragon the Tyrogue Rock Smash since it has a spare moveslot and appreciates the STAB. The problem is that Tarragon's moves aren't ideal for grinding - Fake Out has utility in trainer battles, so I don't want to use that up, and Rock Smash has very limited PP but a handy side effect. So I'm left to Tackle, which ain't great. I use up one Fake Out PP in a double battle with the twins on Route 204 and against the Bug Catchers yet unfought in Eterna Forest, which gives both Tarragon and Cumin some decent experience.

Switch-training it with Coriander the Lotad seems to work fairly well. I go back to the Oreburgh Mine and switch Coriander into all the Geodude and Onix I find, draining their HP with Absorb. It works well for a while, but eventually Coriander... you guessed it... uses up all its Absorb PP. With that resource exhausted, I figure I may as well go for broke and use up Mint's Quick Attack slaughtering wild Shinx on Route 202. Switching Tarragon out for Mint repeatedly eventually causes Mint to faint. Sad. But we all knew that was coming. Thankfully, Tyrogue is in the Medium Fast experience group, so it's reasonably quick to get to level 15.

The same cannot be said of Cumin. For all that Nincada was the best bug option, it's in the Erratic levelling group, meaning it takes a lot of experience. Though they're frustratingly rare, other Nincada in the Eterna Forest give a pretty good amount of experience. A few of them manage to deal damage before going down, but I have Leech Life - every time Cumin gets low on HP, I retreat to Route 203 and find a wild Abra; Leech Life OHKOs, and fully restores HP.

The only problem is that levelling Cumin up like this takes a lot of PP. Before long, it's going to run out if I'm not careful. Eventually, it hits level 14 and learns Fury Swipes, but I decide not to use it all up levelling further. I go back north to Eterna City and battle a few remaining trainers on the way; unfortunately, Coriander the Lotad falls against the Picnicker with a Shinx and Pachirisu on Route 205, and Cumin narrowly escapes being paralysed to win.

So that leaves me back in Eterna City with Turmeric, Tarragon, Sage, and Cumin all at level 15, all damaged but still capable of fighting. Still, Gardenia is looking pretty insurmountable right now. Even the first gym trainer looks pretty difficult from where I'm sat. I may not have chosen brilliantly...

Slightly desperate, I start looking around for other options that might help against Gardenia. Ponyta, perhaps? Mm, no. At the level it can be caught it only knows Tackle, and even when it learns Ember that won't be strong enough to be a guaranteed nuke against all the Grass-types in Eterna Gym. Growlithe and Ralts can be found with the Pokeradar on earlier routes, but I'd have to train them up, making them unappealing prospects. There IS Drifloon, but there's still four days until I can get it. After some more thought, I settle on Hoothoot. It can be caught at a quite decent level, and knows Peck when caught which is good enough to be going on with.

I head out to Route 211 and run around in the grass looking for a Hoothoot, careful to catch one at the highest possible level (14). I nickname it Ginger and decide to do some training before challenging the gym. Wild Metapod in Eterna Forest give a very reasonable 123 experience apiece, and Hoothoot, like Tyrogue, is in the Medium Fast experience group, meaning that it won't be too difficult to level up.

But that will use up all Peck's PP, leaving me without a weapon against the gym. After some thought, I decide to revise the "no TMs" rule, with a few addendums:

• I cannot use a TM to teach a move the Pokemon would learn anyway
• I cannot teach a Pokemon a STAB move if it already has one

While the only four TMs I have are the rather useless Stealth Rock, Taunt, Bullet Seed, and Flash, a girl in Floaroma Town gives out Pluck, which I collect and teach to Hoothoot once it has exhausted all its Peck PP. After some time spent beating on defenceless bugs that can't fight back, Hoothoot reaches level 16 without having lost any HP, and is just about ready to clean up in Eterna City.

I head to the gym where Gardenia awaits and listen to her explanation that I can't challenge her until I've found all four of her gym trainers. Yes, yes. Believe me, I know.

I can't complain too much, though, because this is legit one of my favourite gyms in the series. Though not really that difficult (especially once you've already done it once) the whole "find the trainer" conceit is incredibly charming and utilises the DS's enhanced graphics and camera angles in a neat but not too showy way.

And then Platinum ruined matters by turning it into this ugly mess.

I just... it's just a really big sundial that could have been in any game. Like, RSE could probably have pulled this off. Also, it removes the fourth trainer which is just adding insult to injury. Platinum didn't hugely improve on any of DP's gyms but Eterna is the only one that's such a hideous downgrade.

Anyway. I quickly find the first trainer and defeat her, gaining enough experience to almost touch level 17. Well, might as well get there before the next trainer. Returning to Eterna Forest, I find a wild Cascoon and let Sage kill it with Confusion. Gotta conserve that Pluck PP, after all.

Reaching level 17 allows Ginger to one-shot all three of the next trainer's Budew, and 2HKO the third's sole Turtwig. The fourth trainer has a Roselia which is also a 2HKO, but I have a close call when it uses Stun Spore - thankfully, it missed, and I knock it out without incident. Only a few HP missing from when the first trainer's Roselia used Poison Sting (but thankfully also failed to inflict a status).

Right. Gardenia time. 8 Pluck PP left. Can I do this?

Vs Gardenia

Ginger is level 18 now, but close to 19 - knocking out her Cherubi (Pluck will do it in two hits) will be enough to get there. Cherubi is relatively easy experience fodder, IF it doesn't do anything annoying. Using Safeguard, Leech Seed, or attacking me directly counts as annoying - using Growth is fine. Thankfully, it does.

Up next is her Turtwig. Now, this thing ain't fun. It has Withdraw and Reflect, which will make Pluck ineffective - and I've only got 6 PP left. Ideally, I want to 2HKO it, which won't happen at this level. If it boosts its Defence - or if Gardenia heals it - I'll waste PP bringing it down, and be left without any effective weapon when Roserade comes out.

My only hope is to use Hypnosis to put it to sleep, switch to Turmeric, and use Leer before switching back and 2HKOing. But that will require that it stays asleep for 4 turns.

I can do this. Might take a couple of soft resets but... I can do this.

I use Hypnosis and successfully put Turtwig to sleep, then switch out to Turmeric. So far, so good. I get off a Leer, and Turtwig stays asleep. Okay, still good... then I switch back to Ginger, and Turtwig wakes up. Crap. But it just uses Grass Knot, which doesn't do too much damage. Okay, I can either try and get it to sleep again or just go for broke. I decide that using Hypnosis again is just asking for trouble and use Pluck, taking off ~60%. It uses Withdraw, but I decide to gamble and use Pluck again, and manage to deal enough damage to make it faint.

Just Roserade left. The good news is that, with Pluck, Ginger has some guaranteed recovery against it. Hmm, do I try and sleep it or use Pluck straight away? Correctly rationalising that Ginger can survive a Grass Knot, I use Hypnosis and successfully put it to sleep. Okay. I have 4 Pluck PP left. Each will do - if my calculations are correct - ~25%. But Gardenia will probably heal and then I'm truly screwed.

I decide to try and repeat the strategy I used against Turtwig, and switch out for Turmeric again. Roserade stays asleep for the switch, but wakes up the next turn and uses Stun Spore as I get off a Leer, leaving Turmeric paralysed. Well... crap.

Well, might as well do what I can. With no other option, I use Quick Attack and successfully manage to deal a good chunk of damage before Turmeric falls to Magical Leaf. Damn it. I was really hoping you'd last a while longer, little yellow dude. Probably optimistic though. Back to Ginger, and I use Pluck as Roserade uses Stun Spore again - Ginger gets paralysed, but it lands a hit with Pluck, stealing Roserade's Sitrus Berry and restoring itself to full health. One more hit should be sufficient to KO. Roserade strikes with Grass Knot, but it's not enough - I pray that Ginger will hit past the paralysis, and my prayers are answered; Ginger gets the KO. And a fat wad of experience to boot.

​

Oh yeah, Hoothoot evolves at level 20. Nice. Gardenia hands over TM86, Grass Knot, and the Forest Badge!

Definitely one of Sinnoh's nicer badges, I like this one a lot.

Phew. That was... difficult, but I'm glad I just took a breath and ran at it. I was not expecting Gardenia to be so tough. I've been rewatching Marriland's Pokemon Diamond Adventure (an old favourite of mine) and it's funny that in his playthrough he absolutely annihilated her, to the point that he reset his game and fought her again to try and give her a decent chance. But the early loss of Paprika made things tricky - I think he would have easily plowed through her team with little trouble. But, no sense looking back at those we've lost... all I can do is move on.

And move on I shall be doing! Time to regroup and then move on. That's all for now, though - next update won't be for a couple of days, but believe me when I say I've got some good candidates lined up to replace my fallen squad members...


Current team

Ginger the Noctowl - level 20 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature
HP: 35/72 (Paralysed)
-Reflect (20/20)
-Pluck (3/20)
-Hypnosis (7/20)
-Peck (0/35)

Cumin the Nincada - level 15 (Compoundeyes)
Naughty Nature
HP: 16/38
-Fury Swipes (4/15)
-Cut (3/30)
-Leech Life (6/15)
-Sand-Attack (6/15)

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16 (Oblivious)
Lax Nature
HP: 7/55
-Yawn (9/10)
-Tackle (9/35)
-Confusion (11/25)
-Water Gun (1/25)

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15 (Steadfast)
Calm Nature
HP: 13/35
-Tackle (2/35)
-Helping Hand (18/20)
-Fake Out (7/10)
-Rock Smash (10/15)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Gonna start spoiler-tagging these because that list of the dead is getting looooong.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Real life got busy. Let's pick this up again!​

Part Five

Alright, so before we can get out of Eterna City, we gotta take down Team Galactic.

My team is in rough shape, so it needs a new addition - and I can think of a perfect candidate. Off to the Old Chateau!

...hm? No, not Rotom. Despite what I was hoping, it turns out that apparently Rotom only appears if you've beaten the Elite Four. What a snob. Nah, but there's something else in here I want, anyway.

Normally only home to wild Gastly, if a GBA game is inserted into the bottom slot of the DS Old Chateau can instead spawn wild Haunter and Gengar! Being able to catch something fully-evolved, and normally only accessible by trading (and ridiculously underlevelled) is immensely cool.

My team are weak and fairly slow, so I need to avoid getting them hurt. Luckily, Ginger's Normal-type means that I can lead with it and not fear getting hit by Night Shade. Even though it's paralysed, it's still fast enough to escape most of the Gastly on the first turn. After about ten minutes of fruitless hunting, I finally find a wild Gengar! I put it to sleep with Hypnosis and chuck a couple of Pokeballs...

​

...and it wakes up and uses Curse, cutting its HP in half. Urgh. Did not want that. I soft reset... and realise that I have three Heal Balls in my bag I could have used. Get your head together, moron.

No matter. Let's try that again. Another long search later, I find a second Gengar and put it to sleep, catching it on the third Pokeball. Hooray! Welcome to the team. I nickname it Lavender for reasons I assume are obvious. The fact that it's still asleep is irrelevant; lots of wild Pokemon can't damage Gengar so I can wake it up without wasting HP. Once I head out into Eterna Forest the first Pokemon that pops up is a wild Metapod - perfect, since it can't harm anything.

Strong as it may be, Gengar's moves at this level aren't great - its only attacking move is Night Shade, aside from Curse which I'm obviously not going to use. Luckily TM46, Thief, is lying on the ground beside the Team Galactic Building, so I pick it up and teach it to Lavender before heading inside.

I also head out onto Route 211 and catch a Meditite, naming it Dill. Since it learns Hidden Power at level 15, I make sure to catch one at level 14.

None of the Grunts in the Galactic building pose much of an issue. The only real threat is that Scientist with his powerful Kadabra. Lavender can 2HKO with Thief, but only if he's stupid enough to use Kinesis instead of Confusion. That takes a few soft resets. Right, time to take on Jupiter!

Since Dill annoyingly lost a lot of HP to an errant critical hit from the first grunt's Glameow, I figure it's probably not likely to help against her Zubat. But Ginger is still hanging in there, so I figure why not give it the chance. Bafflingly, her Zubat opts to use Giga Drain twice, doing almost no damage, and I'm able to 2HKO it with Pluck. Skuntank is up next. I figure it'll go straight for the KO but it rather stupidly uses Screech, allowing me to actually use my last Pluck and steal its Sitrus Berry. Out of ways to deal damage, I figure it's worth trying a Hypnosis. Skuntank uses Screech again, but Hypnosis misses. I figure I'll chance a Reflect and actually get to put it up while it Screeches a third time, but the small Defence boost isn't enough to counteract that -6 drop when Skuntank finally chooses to attack and finally knocks Ginger out.

RIP, you absolute team player you.

Bereft of good options, I decide to go for broke and use Lavender. I strike with Night Shade for some respectable (but hardly stellar) damage and Skuntank...

...uses Screech instead of Night Shade. Huh, okay. Bit dumb but I guess Reflect being up made it want to lower my Defence instead. I go for another Night Shade and bring it down to a single pixel - and Skuntank again chooses to use Screech, leaving it open for a final hit.

Seriously, what's going on, Jupiter?

With Jupiter thoroughly seen to, Rad Rickshaw thanks me for saving him before committing the most egregious crime an NPC possibly can: teleporting away and not taking me with him. Prick. I make my way to his shop and he gives me my well-deserved reward - a bike! Off we go, then. Oh, wait. I'm not allowed to leave the city until I get the Explorer Kit. Not sure how much I'll use that (though, fossils - hmm, maybe) but it's not that relevant right this minute.

Onto Cycling Road, where I blithely whiz down the slope (for "blithely whiz", read "proceed with caution, avoiding the eye of all trainers") and emerge onto Route 206 proper. I've a team spot open but there's not a whole lot of interesting Pokemon here. Sandshrew is in Wayward Cave and Gligar and Baltoy are on this route; Kricketune is probably the strongest one overall but I'm unsure if any of them are worth the effort. We'll see.

Dawn ambushes me as I step onto the north side of Route 207 and presents me with the Dowsing Machine and the Vs Seeker. Neat. Kinda. Once again, I avoid all the trainers on the route as I head east. Ah, Mt Coronet. Would be so cool if you could catch Nosepass here and immediately evolve them like in Platinum. Well, sort of. Probopass isn't that good, especially for this sort of challenge. And it's not great against the next gym, though that's not for ages.

I see a couple of Chingling in here... tempting (more because I like Chimecho than because it's strong) but it can be caught later in the game at higher levels, so I'll pass for now. A strange man who fails to introduce himself stops me and babbles about Mt Coronet being where Sinnoh began. Well, with no further context I'm sure that won't ever be relevant again. Bye-bye, wandering monk or whatever you are.

Why am I skipping so many trainers? Well, for one thing I'm thinking it'll make it easier to grind later on. Like I said, Maylene isn't for a while, but she's pretty far ahead of me in levels.

Out of Mt Coronet and onto Route 208. Hmm... Seviper can be caught on this route. Very tempting indeed. Let's mull that one over...




Current team

Lavender the Gengar - level 18 (Levitate)
Adamant Nature
HP: 48/49
-Spite (10/10)
-Mean Look (3/5)
-Thief (7/10)
-Night Shade (4/15)

Cumin the Nincada - level 15 (Compoundeyes)
Naughty Nature
HP: 16/38
-Fury Swipes (4/15)
-Cut (3/30)
-Leech Life (6/15)
-Sand-Attack (6/15)

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16 (Oblivious)
Lax Nature
HP: 7/55
-Yawn (9/10)
-Tackle (9/35)
-Confusion (11/25)
-Water Gun (1/25)

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15 (Steadfast)
Calm Nature
HP: 13/35
-Tackle (2/35)
-Helping Hand (18/20)
-Fake Out (7/10)
-Rock Smash (10/15)

Dill the Meditite - level 14 (Pure Power)
Rash Nature
HP: 5/36
-Bide (10/10)
-Meditate (38/40)
-Confusion (17/25)
-Detect (4/5)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Oh hey! Yes, I'm back. At very... very... long last. Real life continues to be extremely busy. I apologise to the two or three people eagerly awaiting the next part of this run.

To explain, I've been preoccupied as I've written a play (my professional debut, as it happens) which will be premiering in London next year. So while that's obviously huge and exciting, it's safe to say my mind's been elsewhere and I've only been dropping into Smogon for brief snatches every other day and vomiting some brief thought about the series while sat on a train or something.

Anyway! Time to proceed. When last I laid eyes on this save file, I had just emerged from the caves under Mt Coronet into eastern Sinnoh for the first time, my somewhat-battered team of Gengar, Nincada, Slowpoke, Tyrogue, and Meditite at my side. Based on how the previous installments have elapsed, I confidently predict that at least three of them will be dead before this one's over. Let's find out, shall we?



Part Six

Onto Route 208! (Not Route 209, as I mistakenly called it in the last update. Always get these middle routes mixed up.) It's a rather stark place, but a taciturn man on the lower end of the route hands me an Odd Keystone, which is nice. (Yes, I'll probably get a Spiritomb at some point, since it doesn't count as trading.) I'm not going to catch any Pokemon here... yet.

Let's head into Hearthome City, where I endear myself of a local celebrity by stopping her bunny rabbit from escaping. You know, on reflection, I think I actually much prefer how it looks in DP. Plus, Platinum's iteration lags very noticeably. Since this is DP's version, though, no gym times for me yet. I chase down Fantina to the Contest Hall, make her leave, talk briefly to my mother, and am finally allowed to go on my way. There's not much else to do: no TMs to pick up, and the only item of note here is the Shell Bell, which is forbidden.

On the way out... we run into my rival, Tommy. Ugh, so this is actually a legitimate issue with DP (albeit one that's never posed me a problem until now): once you've been to the Contest Hall, you can't leave Hearthome without defeating the rival. Which is kind of a shit move gameplay wise because it means you're unable to go and grind if you need to. Grinding won't really help me here, but you get me. He's not that difficult to beat, but if for whatever reason you can't you're basically locked into fighting him over and over until you manage to win.

"Hey, you're a trainer. You're expected to be ready for any challenge!"

I... oh, but... ugh, fine.

He leads with Starly, which should at least be an easy match for Lavender the Gengar. I use Thief once and it responds by using Double Team. Pessimist that I am, I expect this to lead to an annoyingly long few turns where I waste lots of PP trying to hit it again, but my second Thief gets a critical hit and fells it. Yay! Prinplup is up next. It takes four uses of Night Shade to bring it down, which happens to be all the uses of Night Shade I had left - and it reduces Lavender's HP to 50% with Metal Claw before it goes. However, Lavender levels up and learns Confuse Ray. Though the wiser option would be to delete the move with no PP left, I delete Mean Look, since it's pretty pointless to have in-game.

Since Prinplup also used Growl before I KO'd it, I decide to switch Lavender out before continuing the battle. Ponyta is up next, and after a moment's deliberation I send out Cumin but then switch to Sage and let it take the inevitable hit. With only 3 HP left, he's a dead mon walking. Sorry, Sage. You were never going to last the course, realistically.

Right, back to Lavender, then. I make use of its new move and use Confuse Ray, successfully causing it to deal some damage to itself. Humiliatingly, my subsequent Thief inflicts less damage than Ponyta's confusion hit. Ponyta promptly snaps out of confusion and uses Growl to make me even more piss-weak; I confuse it again and it hits itself again twice, knocking itself out.

Bringing up the rear is Roselia, who I also confuse. However, it resists and uses Leech Seed, draining even more precious HP from me. Arrrrggh. Okay. Let's think. I switch out to Dill the Meditite, who promptly gets hit with Stun Spore. What the hell. I opt for Confusion, expecting to be knocked out - Roselia uses Leech Seed, Confusion hits for respectable damage, Leech Seed leaves Dill at 1 HP, and Roselia promptly finishes it off with Poison Sting. I send Lavender out once more and confuse Roselia again. One last Thief PP left - it won't KO. But I get another critical hit and it does! So that's nice. With no one else to share the fat wad of experience with, Lavender hits level 20, though with no attacking moves left I have a feeling it won't enjoy that position for long.

Well, time to go and box my dead team members. Looks like I'm in the market for new recruits once again!

And as fate would have it, Hearthome City has two gift Pokemon. Yes, since I've got the National Dex, I don't have to wait until later on for Bebe to give me an Eevee. Nice. Another amusing sequence break of sorts here is that due to my early acquisition of the National Dex, talking to her twice in a row causes her to say "hiya! Been a long time!" the second time even though it's been literally seconds. You've got to find entertainment where you can.

Sadly, however, in DP Bebe's Eevee is a pathetic level 5, so I won't be taking this one from her. Shame. Might try and catch one in the Trophy Garden later, we'll see. But at the moment the route south is blocked so that's not an option.

The other gift Pokemon is... Happiny. Which is an egg when you receive it and thus comes at level 1. Even worse. So that's a no as well. Let's look around on the surrounding routes and see what we can scrounge up!

Back on Route 208, Smeargle and Tyrogue are available via the Pokeradar. Well, I've already got the latter, and at this point I'd honestly rather punch myself in the jaw repeatedly than try and raise a Smeargle. So that's a no. But Seviper is also here if one inserts Pokemon Sapphire into the GBA slot! G'wan then. After a long time running around and trying to coax out a Pokemon with an 8% appearance rate I finally find one and sit through its overly-long animation.

Proceed with caution here. Seviper knows Lick at this level, and that's more than enough to knock Lavender out. I decide to confuse it and hope it'll damage itself enough for me to catch it with a Heal Ball. This works, though it gets in a hit with Poison Tail on the way. I nickname my new team member Clove, noting with pleasure the Adamant nature it has.

East of Hearthome lies Route 209, and this route contains a veritable wealth of new Pokemon: Vulpix! Bonsly! Chansey! Tauros! Miltank! Golbat! Misdreavus! Almost spoilt for choice here. Chansey could potentially be quite hilarious - Softboiled technically doesn't count as a healing item, but with its high HP it can heal up the rest of the team very efficiently. As using a healing move outside of battle doesn't deduct PP, it feels a little like it'd be bending the rules to use it. But then again, it's not an unlimited resource, and actively deducts HP from another member of the squad. Hmmm. Jury's out. If Lavender still had any Thief PP I'd also be tempted to spend time hunting for a Lucky Egg. But sadly not.

I decide to catch a Miltank, though, since at this point in the game it's fairly strong. Miltank, of course, can potentially have Scrappy, meaning it can hit Lavender with its Normal moves - but I confuse the first one I find and it fails to make any moves at all. I manage to catch it in my last Heal Ball and nickname her Vanilla. Oh, and look at that, she's holding a Moomoo Milk. Confiscated!

Time to backtrack a bit, I think, and get my two new additions nice and beefed up. I head back through Mt Coronet and spend some time beating up the trainers on the earlier routes, trusting to the high power of their moves to efficiently KO enemies while taking as little damage as possible, then remember that several of the trainers around Solaceon have Happiny and Chansey, which are easily one-shotted by most physical moves while giving out tons of experience. This levels up my two newbies quite well, but at the cost of Tarragon's life - I switched him in again a Bonsly hoping for an easy win and got smacked with a Rock Throw. Goddammit.

I need to go into the Lost Tower anyway to get the Strength HM - Vanilla can make great use of it since all her Stomp PP got used up while training - but after some consideration I decide to catch a new Pokemon in there I think might be of great help against Maylene: Golbat. It's a relatively rare encounter on the highest floor - 10% - but I have a plan to catch it.

I head to the News Press building in Solaceon Town, save the game, and introduce myself. As expected, he asks me to show him a Pokemon I don't have. This is the downside of having completed the Pokedex in full. It takes a hefty amount of soft resetting, but eventually he asks for something I do have (Budew) - I bring it to the building, save again, and soft reset until he gives me three Quick Balls as a reward. Those would otherwise not be available for quite a while. Up to the top floor of the Lost Tower, where I find a Golbat and swiftly capture it, naming it Asafoetida.

What with Crobat being a very simple early evolution, I figure that Asafoetida will be a nuke against Maylene if I can get there in one piece - and with Veilstone containing both the Dept Store and the Massage Girl it should be pretty easy to get its friendship high enough. Unfortunately, that means first having to cross Route 215, with its horrendously beefy three mandatory trainers. I'm especially not looking forward to fighting that Ace Trainer with the rough Gyarados and Monferno. Can we do this...?

That's all for now, but I'll be back shortly with the details of how I made it through! Thanks for reading.

Current team

Lavender the Gengar - level 20 (Levitate)
Adamant Nature
HP: 7/49
-Spite (9/10)
-Confuse Ray (5/10)
-Thief (0/10)
-Night Shade (0/15)

Cumin the Nincada - level 15 (Compoundeyes)
Naughty Nature
HP: 16/38
-Fury Swipes (4/15)
-Cut (3/30)
-Leech Life (6/15)
-Sand-Attack (6/15)

Vanilla the Miltank - level 22 (Scrappy)
Naughty Nature
HP: 65/79
-Defence Curl (40/40)
-Strength (7/15)
-Milk Drink (7/10)
-Rollout (11/20)

Clove the Seviper - level 23 (Shed Skin)
Adamant Nature
HP: 65/67
-Wrap (14/20)
-Lick (27/30)
-Bite (11/25)
-Poison Tail (9/25)

Asafoetida the Golbat - level 22 (Inner Focus)
Naughty Nature
HP: 67/67
-Astonish (15/15)
-Bite (25/25)
-Wing Attack (35/35)
-Confuse Ray (10/10)

dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Okay, so “shortly” is a term with a questionable definition. But whatever. I’m here now.

So my play had its (brief) run during the final week of the last month. It got wonderful reviews (mostly four stars, and one five!) so that’s nice. And now I get to sleep for a month, as is my god-given right. But I’ve taken some time away from that to come back to this and provide a much-overdue update.

Part Seven

So, we’ve got new team members who I think will be perfect for taking on Maylene. The only issue is, we must first cross the gauntlet of Route 215...

Why is this a concern, I hear you ask. Well, it has three mandatory trainers. The first, a Ruin Maniac with a Bronzor and a Shieldon, isn't too much trouble, but I dash across the route to the eastern end. Two Ace Trainers, each with strong teams, stand guard facing each other, dastardly mini-bosses. I decide to do the sensible thing and tackle them one at a time.

I go for the bloke first, as his team is definitely stronger. Asafoetida almost KOs the Monferno with Wing Attack, but annoyingly it survives with a slip of HP left. Luckily, however, the stupid monkey uses Torment. Don’t mind if I do! I do a flick of damage with Astonish and finish it off. Now for that rough Gyarados. After some thought, I switch in Lavender and open with Confuse Ray. Gyarados initially struggles, but then hits through the confusion and finishes Lavender off. Damn, sorry buddy, but thanks. You did well.

Back to Asafoetida, then. Being faster, he gets a lucky flinch with Bite, and Gyarados then hits itself again. It snaps out of confusion to strike with Thrash, but I hit with Bite twice more and it drops. Yay!

The other proves somewhat easier. Clove 2HKOs her nasty Glameow with Poison Tail, and I cautiously leave it in as she switches to Kadabra. Hmm... Bite can OHKO, but it might demolish first me… but it uses Miracle Eye, the fool. I hit with Bite and drop it. Woo!

Well, that's nice. With them cleared out of the way, here we are in Veilstone City. I like this place a lot - it’s got a cool vibe. Seems like it’d be a cold and unfriendly sort of place, but the Game Corner and the Dept Store make it feel more cheerful. Mmm, and it has those curious meteorites, capable of switching Deoxys’ form…

…highly unlikely we’ll be using one of those, though. But a boy can dream.

I deposit Lavender and take a breather. Let's have some fun. Yeah, why not? After obtaining a coin case (and TM63 Embargo - meh, never gonna use that) it's off to the Game Corner! Yep, ever since this got removed in Platinum I’ve been itching to return. DP’s Game Corner is my favourite of them all - unlike the others, it’s actually not that hard to do well here, and the Clefairy bonus game is good fun. So I invest a bit of time. Well, a lot of time.

And whaddya know, the first Clefairy that emerges is a shiny!

I play away and get 12 consecutive rounds, and go and claim my prize, TM64 Explosion! Not likely the most useful move for this run, I have to say. Still, it may yet prove useful in a clutch moment. You never know. The woman behind the counter urges me to keep playing "until I get another explosion of good luck". Eh... you can only get one copy of Explosion per file, so I’m good.

Instead, I go next door and cash in my not-inconsiderable winnings for TM29, Psychic. Ice Beam would be good, but not necessary so early. And Cumin (still clinging on) got me TM34, Shock Wave, on Route 215 so that’ll do for Electric moves for now. I also go to the Dept Store and buy Focus Blast, Natural Gift, Hyper Beam, and Solarbeam. Let’s see if any of those come in handy.

I also spend the last of my hard-earned cash on a couple of Proteins and Carboses for Asafoetida (dutifully equipped with a Soothe Bell), and run around the city in circles for a while. Investing so much into one single Pokemon feels quite outrageous… but necessary, if we’re to get things done the way I'd like.

After some time, I head south onto Route 214. Ah yes, there’s a mandatory trainer here, too – a Psychic, with a Gastly, Kadabra, and Misdreavus. The first two go down easily thanks to Asafoetida’s newly-boosted Attack and Speed, but the latter survives a Bite and inflicts confusion in return. Luckily, sense prevails and Asafoetida gets past being confused to get in a second hit for the KO. The experience from that trio gets it to level 24, upon which…

…it doesn’t evolve. Argh. Not to worry, there’s a Beauty nearby with a Plant Cloak Wormadam! And another Psychic with a Haunter and Kadabra. Let’s menace them. Asafoetida promptly does so, levels up to 25, and… still doesn’t evolve.

Right. One last try before I scream. There’s a couple of Black Belts on Route 215 I skipped. After doing a bit more running around, Asafoetida murders them, levels up to 26, and evolves into Crobat! FFFFFFFYEAH!

Right, we have two open slots... so before I take on Maylene, should we add any more?

Hmmm. Well. Gligar is a dongle mon on Route 215. Could be useful, I suppose, since it's part Flying. But probably not. Houndoom is a PokeRadar mon on the same route… mmm, nah. That Dark-type would just be a hindrance against Maylene. Mighteyena might actually legitimately have had a use with its Intimidate - but it’s a Diamond exclusive (Houndoom is Pearl's), so not an option here. Annoyingly, Drowzee can be caught on Route 215 – that would actually have been great, especially since I so rarely use it – but only though swarms, which aren't available to me yet.

What about Route 214, then? Geodude and Graveler are here… eh. Hippopotas (with an appallingly low encounter rate)... meh. Girafarig… hmm, I do like Girafarig, but again I’ll pass for now since it's part Normal. Anything worth venturing further south for? Wingull? Mmm - I'll save Pelipper for later, I think. Ooh, Swellow can be caught on Route 213! But honestly I don’t think it’ll be very helpful against Lucario, or at least any much more than Crobat will be.

Yeah, I’ll leave it. I head to the gym and find Dawn dawdling outside. She cries about how much she’s currently failing at life, then leaves. K, bye.

Into the gym we go! The Karate Quads should be nice experience fodder. These guys are fun, with their individual “I will strike a blow for [thing]”…ideologies? Priorities? Causes? Whatever. Black Belts are often written amusingly, aren't they? Now fearsomely powerful for this stage of the game, Asafoetida wrecks their Pokemon minions with Wing Attack. Only one of their Machoke minions gets in a counterattack more powerful than Karate Chop with Seismic Toss, but overall not much HP is lost, and I have Vanilla on hand for some impromptu recovery. Asafoetida learns Air Cutter, too.

Veilstone Gym in DP is also one I much prefer to Platinum. Platinum looks better, sure, but ultimately this feels like more of a brain-teaser. Not particularly complex, but you have to run back and forth to get it done.

Anyway! I reach the back and find the diminutive Gym Leader waiting for me. LessssGOOOO!

Vs Maylene

She always leads with Meditite, and often will use Meditate instead of directly attacking, so I take a gamble by using Vanilla, 2HKOing it with Strength when it opts not to attack. Nice. I switch to Asafoetida for her Machoke and 2HKO it, taking a Leer for my trouble.

Right. Lucario. Wing Attack strikes hard, but will be a 3HKO at minimum. Fortunately, however, this Lucario’s moveset is not one that can do much against Crobat. Drain Punch or Metal Claw are its best options, though the latter will be more irritating since it'll recover health.

I strike and take off a third of its health, and it retaliates with Drain Punch, doing a fairly unimpressive 13 damage. Ha! But then I strike again and the darn thing eats its held Sitrus Berry, hitting me for good measure with Drain Punch to heal even more so it's back at about two thirds.

Time to finish this, and hopefully I can do it without triggering a Hyper Potion from Maylene. I hit it with Wing Attack again and Lucario strikes back with Metal Claw – and gets a critical hit, bringing Asafoetida down to a dicey 16 HP. Crap. I need this next Wing Attack to kill it…

…and it does. Lucario falls, earning me the Cobble Badge!

Another very fine-looking badge. Since this is my third, though, it doesn't actually do anything. Well, it lets me use Fly, but I don't have that yet.

Still. That was a mighty fine victory and I'm happy with it. Asafoetida definitely proved a worthy investment. Maylene hands over TM60, Drain Punch. Oooh. That might legitimately be very good on the right candidate...

But I don’t have long to enjoy my victory, as Dawn’s outside the gym again. She whines that she dropped her Pokedex and Team Galactic found it. Not only that, but they’re refusing to give it back and she can’t beat them on her own.

…how did this halfwit end up becoming a Professor’s assistant, exactly? She and Chunzi should hang out, I feel like they'd get on.

I bike over to the warehouse where Dawn is confronting two Grunts and she repeats the same dialogue she just told me a moment ago. Thanks. Figuring Asafoetida could use a rest after the gym, I lead with Vanilla as Dawn and I join forces for a tag battle, obliterating the first Grunt’s Beautifly with Rollout. Unfortunately, he sends out Stunky and it uses Toxic. Erk. When we’re left with only Croagunk I switch out to Asafoetida, correctly anticipating that it’ll tank the Revenge that comes my way, and shred it with Air Cutter.

Dawn’s Clefairy, of course, is absolutely no help whatsoever, using Wake-Up-Slap on the second Grunt’s Dustox and using Gravity for no reason at all.

The Grunts whinge a bit, return Dawn’s Pokedex, and skedaddle. Dawn thanks me for my help and utters a rather perplexing line: “if Professor Rowan finds out I lost my Pokedex… ewww, I don’t want to think about it.” Well, that doesn’t sound weird at all. She says that she intends to go to the Great Marsh. Yeah, good plan, actually. I head into the warehouse to find it locked, but do find HM02, Fly!

Well, the Toxic infliction has put a countdown on Vanilla being our resident Milk Drink user. Obviously, the poison will fade away at 1 HP (which it promptly does) but for Vanilla to be any use in future I’ll need to find a weak wild Pokemon and heal up again. This I promptly do, and heal up Asafoetida with Milk Drink out of battle. Now Vanilla only has one Milk Drink PP left. Mmm, better hang on to that.

I head south and arrive at Valor Lakefront, the site of several swanky hotel buildings filled with well-travelled well-to-do people.

What’s that? Tin Tower? The PROPER name for that place in Johto, you mean? Yeah, I’ll die on this hill, why not.​

Ah yeah, the game director is here too.

Uh no, like literally none of them. I just did a really excessive amount of trading, wbu?

​

Wooo! So, I guess that’s the challenge over, right? No, of course not. Still more to do. Onwards!

But actually… pretty good this time around! Only lost one team member. That’s damn good going compared to the last few installments.


Current team

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 30 (Inner Focus)
Naughty Nature
HP: 94/94
-Air Cutter (7/25)
-Bite (18/25)
-Wing Attack (16/35)
-Confuse Ray (10/10)

Cumin the Nincada - level 15 (Compoundeyes)
Naughty Nature
HP: 16/38
-Fury Swipes (4/15)
-Cut (3/30)
-Leech Life (6/15)
-Sand-Attack (6/15)

Vanilla the Miltank - level 23 (Scrappy)
Naughty Nature
HP: 47/79
-Defence Curl (40/40)
-Strength (4/15)
-Milk Drink (1/10)
-Rollout (10/20)

Clove the Seviper - level 24 (Shed Skin)
Adamant Nature
HP: 58/69
-Wrap (14/20)
-Lick (27/30)
-Bite (9/25)
-Poison Tail (8/25)

dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Eight

I remember very well the first time I caught a Chansey in the Safari Zone in LeafGreen. God, the effort – the nail-biting, painstaking, sheer bloody effort and time invested in tracking down that obese pink hussy, throwing some bait and praying like hell she doesn’t run and you’ll be able to throw at least one ball.

But for all that, I really like Kanto’s Safari Zone. It has serious character, and every zone has at least one rare or worthwhile species in it. And Chansey is definitely worth the effort (in Gen III, at least).

Anyway, this is all just a long way of emphasising quite how much I hate the Great Marsh. Looks great on paper, doesn’t it? And even then only partly. As a marsh and fen enthusiast IRL (no, seriously) this place is one hell of a letdown. It’s not fun to navigate and it’s divided into six areas that… aren’t different. Hoenn’s Safari Zone is pretty dull but at least that has the appeal of four (or six in Emerald) interestingly different segments to spice things up a little.

Worst of all is that the Great Marsh doesn’t even have decent Pokemon to justify being so crappy. 95% of the species here can be caught right outdoors. Want to get stuck in the mud and catch a Wooper? Well, you’re in luck – Route 212 is right there!

Wow, all three of them?​

But anyway. I’ve come here because… well, because the next gym is nearby, and since it’s a Water-type gym I feel like doing the obvious thing and picking myself up a couple of Grass-types to make life easier. Let’s do it.

Since I’ve got that nifty National Dex, non-native Pokemon have a chance of appearing here. Because this is DP instead of Platinum neither Tropius or Tangela are among them, which sucks, but we’ll make do.

I spend an inordinate amount of money on the binoculars in the gatehouse to see what delights are waiting for me in the mud. For whatever reason, Toxicroak and Drapion both appear with the NatDex… either of those’d be cool coming so underlevelled, but neither shows up. After a lot of checking, the only non-native species I catch sight of is… Gulpin. Meh. Oh, and Exeggcute! Well, that’s more like it. Carnivine, Skorupi, and Croagunk are all also eventually sighted, so overall that’s pretty good.

I head to Area 1 (remembering to collect HM05, Defog, on the way) and surprisingly quickly come across a female Carnivine. Nice. I catch her with relative ease and nickname her Charnushka. …yes, we’re reaching into some seriously obscure herbs and spices now.

Happy to be using Carnivine for this challenge; seriously cool mon. Only knows the fairly unimpressive Vine Whip (and doesn’t learn any other Grass moves naturally until level 47?!) but once that’s used up we’ve got Grass Knot and, er… Bullet Seed, I guess… to take its place.

And hey, it knows Sweet Scent! Eminently useful to my current mission.

Exeggcute is in this Area too, allegedly, but after nearly 30 minutes of failing to find one (irritatingly, Carnivine continues to be plentiful) I say “sod it” and decide Croagunk (in Area 2) is what I’ll go and hunt instead. That shows up fairly quickly. After being outfoxed by its annoyingly high flee rate a few times, I manage to capture one at the pleasingly high level of 26. Please, please, please let it have Dry Skin…

​

Ugh. And a Gentle nature to boot.

It was holding a Black Sludge, too. Insult to injury indeed.

Hmmm. Pass, I think. I consider for a while what would be most optimal to help me against the next gym. Arbok, as a FireRed-dependent dongle species, is the only Pokemon I can force in the Great Marsh. But that’s not hugely inspiring, and no guarantee it’ll have the more useful ability (Intimidate). Paras would actually be fantastic for Pastoria’s gym (Dry Skin or not) but no sign. Quagsire, perhaps? Mmm, not feeling it.

Anything good on Route 212 I can catch? …Smeargle. Fuck that. Ekans? Grimer? See previous answer. I could fish up a Barboach, but that feels like kind of a waste at this point given how late it evolves. Nah, I’m not sure there’s anything decent I’ve not already considered. I guess I’ll stick with the ragtag squad I currently have.

Into the gym, then! Before I do, I head out onto Route 212 and track down the two Scientists who have Abra and Kadabra – easy one-shot KOs for Charnushka’s Bite. It loses some HP in the process, but I’m confident that judicious usage of Ingrain against some of the gym trainers will help to claw that back.

I’m right: none of the gym trainers prove to be too troublesome. Vanilla is even able to contribute a little by taking out the trainer with two Wingull, and ends up learning Body Slam when it levels up. I skip the guy with the Gyarados, though. No sense taking that on, I’m scared enough of Wake’s one.

Hmmm, so. How to tackle this.

Big bombastic Crasher Wake leads with Gyarados, which – good as Charnushka is – she can’t really do much to. None of my team really can do much against Gyarados, tbh. I even consider giving Cumin one final push for experience that’ll get it to evolve and gift me a Shedinja, but Gyarados knows Bite and Floatzel knows Pursuit so there’s not much point.

Vanilla is faster than Gyarados would be, though. I guess she could fish for paralysis with Body Slam and leave it crippled for the others to take down.

You know what, yeah. Let’s try that.

Vs Crasher Wake

Never got the appeal of this guy, y'know.

It’s Gyarados vs the big cow. Vanilla gets in the first hit with Body Slam and it seems as if fate’s feeling kind – Gyarados is paralysed. It uses Swagger and though Vanilla hits herself on the next turn, Gyarados is unable to attack. The next turn, Vanilla snaps out of confusion and lands a solid hit with Body Slam, taking a hit from Thrash in return, but triumphs the next turn by fainting Gyarados with Strength.

Since Vanilla’s currently on +1 Attack, I decide to leave it in as Wake switches to Floatzel. Bad idea. Floatzel, wickedly fast, uses Brine and scores a KO.

A moment of silence, please. RIP, Vanilla. No-one was a team player quite like you.

Since the only one with a hope of outspeeding is Asafoetida, that’s who I switch in next. Wary of Floatzel’s Ice Fang, I decide that preventing it from attacking is the way to go and use Confuse Ray. It hits itself and I decide to push my luck with Bite – no joy, as Floatzel neither flinches or hits itself. It still seems somewhat confused, though, because rather than playing sensibly it uses Swift. Er, okay. But its Sitrus Berry activates and heals off most of the damage I inflicted. A further use of Bite gets it to ~45% and gets me the flinch I’d hoped for – but Wake uses a Hyper Potion as I strike with Wing Attack in a vain attempt to finish it off.

To my surprise, Wing Attack does over 50%. Oh. So I should have just used that from the off. Moron. Well, it’s at 50% now, so one more hit seals the deal.

Just Quagsire left. Ah, nice to finish with the easy one. Letting Charnushka take over, I strike with Vine Whip and fall just short of an OHKO as it retaliates with Slam, bruising but failing to paralyse. Sorted! Quagsire falls to another Vine Whip and I punch the air. Victory!

Wake forks over the Fen Badge and TM55 Brine. Decent enough move until we get Surf, too bad nothing on my team can use it.

Not my personal favourite of the Sinnoh badges, but it does have a really neat design.

I brace as I exit the gym, waiting for Tommy to crash into me… hmm? Oh yeah, that’s only in Platinum. Never mind. I sadly box Vanilla (lamenting the final Milk Drink PP I never used) and head after the suspicious Galactic Grunt by the Great Marsh, who flees. I give chase and… ah yeah, there you are, Tommy. He wants to battle because of course he does. I easily cream his gang of wimps and he mercifully leaves.

Oh my god, swearing in a Pokemon game!!! Someone call PEGI!

...oh wait, they actually did, didn't they?​

I chase down the Galactic Grunt and KO him too. He runs off and… oh hey, it’s Cynthia. Remember her from Eterna City? Me neither, she’s kind of a nonentity in DP. She asks how my Pokedex is filling up. It IS filled up, since you ask! She blathers a bit about how the lake contains a legendary… yeah cool, caught it already. Then she asks if I’ve seen the Psyduck on Route 210. Honestly? No, it really wasn’t on my radar, I zoomed right past that place.

She gives me the SecretPotion (OMG JOHTO REMAKES CONFIRMED!!!1!!!11!1) and tells me I should go and use it on them because apparently she’s too important to do such things herself. Uh, sure. Fine, but I’m only doing this because you look like the sort of person who might give me a Surf HM later on.

Huh, apparently she also once went on a Pokedex quest. …was her starter a Gible? If so, I feel cheated.

Anyway, guess we’d better make the long trek back to Veilstone and then to Route 210. Ugh, wish I had a Flyer on my team. Oh well. It’s not all bad. I’ve left quite a few trainers in the vicinity of Solaceon Town unfought (all three of the trainers in Café Cabin, for instance) and Charnushka does a small bit of grinding on them.

Oh, and one or two fortuitous wild Chansey, too. Gotta love how those things are just running round Sinnoh in the wild, don’t you?



Current team

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 29 (Levitate)
Hardy Nature
HP: 66/84
-Bite (3/25)
-Vine Whip (4/15)
-Faint Attack (17/20)
-Ingrain (14/20)

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 31 (Inner Focus)
Naughty Nature
HP: 65/97
-Air Cutter (3/25)
-Bite (14/25)
-Wing Attack (11/35)
-Confuse Ray (9/10)

Cumin the Nincada - level 17 (Compoundeyes)
Naughty Nature
HP: 4/42
-Fury Swipes (4/15)
-Cut (3/30)
-Leech Life (5/15)
-Sand-Attack (6/15)

Clove the Seviper - level 25 (Shed Skin)
Adamant Nature
HP: 56/72
-Wrap (11/20)
-Lick (27/30)
-Bite (6/25)
-Poison Tail (6/25)

dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Nine

I decide to dawdle around a bit before moving on to the next stage of my adventure and head back to the Seven Stars restaurant. Cumin has been a hanger-on for my team for too long, so I figure I may as well go for broke and attempt to evolve it into Ninjask/Shedinja. Ninjask probably won't last too long, but might well prove an invaluable clutch in one crucial battle if it survives long enough to get Baton Pass. Shedinja has a legitimate chance of holding on for a while if I'm careful, though. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of foes in-game who can't touch it. (The irony of the next gym being Ghost-type is not lost on me.)

I pair Cumin and Asafoetida and do a few double battles, trusting to Asafoetida's overwhelming power to take care of most of the foes before they can pick Cumin off. (Though I do also teach Cumin Protect, which helps.) This brings it up to level 18. Inching closer and closer.

This uses up all of Asafoetida's remaining Air Cutter PP, so I teach it Fly and head to Route 212 to clean up a few trainers on the north end I've not been to yet. Oh yeah, Trophy Garden - anything worth catching there...?

I'm not 100% sure whether you can soft reset the special Pokemon, so give it a couple of tries to find out. Castform... Igglybuff... eh, not really worth it. Then he says Chansey. Well, I'm not overly concerned with catching one but I can make use of that. I may only have a few Leech Life PP left, but Chansey's HP is so gigantic that Cumin can recover an impressive amount of HP while taking very little damage in return. Plus, as Cumin is now level 18 I can use the Repel trick to ensure I meet one. I do, and laboriously kill it with Fury Swipes, Cut, and Leech Life, recovering to full health in the process since its Doubleslap is mercifully pathetic. Now Cumin is level 19. Very close now.

Wandering out onto Route 209, I decide that yeah, now's the time to get myself a Spiritomb. I boot up my spare DS and send my Platinum trainer underground and begin the thoroughly tedious process of going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again, going underground, talking to him, going up again...

Yeah, I know, I could have gotten a Digger Drill from the Underground Man and done this using a Secret Base, but this is more straightforward. I had the radio on while I did it and it made time pass much more quickly.

...wow, this is kind of a big moment. When I first played through Pearl, I never did get Spiritomb via the Underground - too difficult to do without a large gang of other players, which I very rarely had. I can't even remember how I first got one - either someone traded it to me or I waited until HGSS came out and it was a Pokewalker species. Thank god Gen V made it far easier to get.

After much upping and downing, the Hallowed Tower is ready and Spiritomb appears! I consider my stack of Pokeballs and decide to try my luck with a Quick Ball, and to my surprise it succeeds. It seems an incredibly inappropriately cheery ball for a Pokemon as dark and grim as Spiritomb, but never mind. I cast about for obscure herbs and decide to call this one Tulsi. ...no, not as in Gabbard. It's a type of basil, look it up. Anyway.

Right. Let's clear those Psyduck. I do so and they disperse with a cute little animation I've always liked. Having successfully bid me to do one task, Cynthia appears from nowhere and pushes her luck by commanding me to bring an Old Charm to her grandmother in the remote mountain hideaway of Celestic Town. She justifies this outrageous demand by saying that there are lots of rare Pokemon between here and there. Uh, are there? From a cursory scan of Route 210's wild Pokemon, it's largely the same as we've already seen. Of course Bagon can be caught here with the Pokeradar, which is neat, but somehow I don't think she meant that.

Cynthia sends me on my way and says that her grandmother has a sort of bossy attitude about her, so she'll be easy to find. Mmm, clearly you learned a great deal from her.

Onto the foggy part of Route 210, then. It's annoying, but I'm not wasting a moveslot on Defog. There are quite a number of unavoidable trainers here, but Tulsi swiftly distinguishes herself by using Faint Attack to bypass the fog, additionally demolishing the Fighting-type Pokemon we tussle with by deploying Hypnosis and Dream Eater before they can smack her around with Foresight-enabled Fighting moves.

And so we make it through relatively trouble-free. Ah, Celestic Town. As far as I'm concerned the thing that makes this place worth coming to is the bloke who just straight-up gives you the Choice Specs if you visit at the right time of day. Absurdly early to be getting such a busted item. Gen III never gave you a Choice Band for nothing. I end up getting the Blackglasses instead. Well, that's not nothing: most of my team know a Dark move right now. I'll be back for those Choice Specs though, mark my words.

Time for me to make the sickest addition to my team ever: Celebi. God, that'd just be too cool.​

Approaching the centre of town, I notice an old lady fretting about an odd spaceman. Sure enough, there's a Galactic Grunt standing in front of the ruins complaining that this town stinks and has nothing of value. I agree, but we differ slightly in our reaction in that he wants to blow it up while I'm perfectly content to leave it standing as long as I'm not forced to come back. Call me a bleeding-heart liberal. He takes that as a challenge and fights me, but Asafoetida predictably wrecks him and he runs off crying. Little bit of a contrived reason for a fight; Platinum definitely improved this sequence.

The old lady thanks me for sending him packing and introduces herself as Cynthia's grandmother. Wow, who'd have guessed. She exposits a bit about the ruins and then gives me the big prize - HM03, Surf. Yeah, we can't use this. I mean, because nothing on my team learns it. But also because we need five gym badges. So I guess it's time to Fly back to Hearthome City, where the previously-inaccessible gym is now conveniently open for business.

Wow, an underwhelming mid-game Ghost gym? Sinnoh and Johto really do have a lot in common. Seriously, I don't get the whole maths theme here at all. This genuinely feels like a concept from a beta version the developers forgot to change. But annoyingly, this looks more aesthetically fitting than its other iteration - a big, gloomy grand cathedral with burning candles and a purplish colour scheme. Platinum's updated version of this gym is blandly generic, and the puzzle is only marginally more interesting.

Still, there's a few trainers here to whale on. Trying to share the experience fairly proves to be a stupid error, however, as two of the trainers' Gastly use Night Shade on Clove, bringing it to the edge of death. Well, shit. Looks like Clove probably ain't long for this world. But let's continue on. Tulsi takes a lot of damage too, but recovers it all off by draining the final trainer's Gengar with Dream Eater.

Boss time.

Vs Fantina

So is it just me that's always thought Fantina was intended to be a man in drag?

She opens with Drifblim and I with Tulsi, and we start off by trading Ominous Winds before she switches to repeatedly using Minimise. Of the two, my attack is the more effective (though it'd be more so if not for Tulsi irritatingly having a -SpAtk nature). Faint Attack would bypass Minimise, but that would trigger Drifblim's Aftermath so I stick to Ominous Wind. I'm hoping for that mythical all-round stat boost to trigger when I finally land a second hit and kill it, but nothing comes.

She opts for Mismagius next. Spooked by its high level and how fast it's likely to be, I switch out for trusty old Asafoetida. It'll definitely outspeed, but its Bite isn't going to OHKO. I strike and knock off about 60% of its health - its Sitrus Berry kicks in and restores a decent amount, but if I can survive the next hit I think I'll juuuuuust be able to do it...

...and Mismagius, for no reason I can fucking fathom, uses Magical Leaf instead of Psybeam or Shadow Ball. Seriously, what the fuck?

...I just... I wish I were making that up. Aren't Gym Leaders supposed to have good AI?! I can't even think of a joke about this, it's too stupid.

That leaves us with Gengar. I won't even bother with any of the others. I think Tulsi will just about be able to handle this. Gengar strikes with Shadow Claw, leaving Tulsi almost fainted... but Hypnosis lands and Gengar falls asleep. Okay. Dream Eater should just be a 2HKO, if it just stays asleep for long enough. And it does - letting Tulsi clinch the win and clamber back almost to full health.

Phew. Fantina hands over TM65, Shadow Claw, and the Relic Badge.

Cool name, boring badge. Considering how well-designed most of the others are, this one's really quite uninteresting.


Right, out of the gym and... oh god, you again.

And yet, somehow you keep managing it. What do you want me to do for you now, pick up your dry-cleaning?​

She muses for a second that she thought Team Galactic were an eccentric bunch of freaks, but now thinks that it seems that they might actually be dangerous. Both of those things can be true, y'know. Though, fair enough; people often do underestimate extremists until it's too late, so props for dropping a small bit of realism on me while I'm battling ghosts and taming magical animals.

Anyway, she rapidly changes tack and says that I should go to Canalave City because it has a library. It's quite possibly the least subtle prompting this series has ever done.

Before I do that, though, I decide that I'm going to finish the job I started and evolve Cumin, who's only a few hundred points off level 20. It's almost out of PP, though... so how to get this done? Eventually, I decide to simply root around in the grass on Route 209 and run from anything not named Chansey, trusting to the immense weakness of its single offensive move to make switching back and forth safe. After a protracted search I find a couple and briefly switch Cumin in and out, letting Charnushka take them out. And it works like a treat! Cumin finally reaches level 20 and evolves into Ninjask, leaving a husk behind that all good Bug Maniacs will know becomes a Shedinja.

...a Shedinja named SHEDINJA, though, not Cumin. That's fine, it wouldn't really be fitting to have two squad members with the same name. Need to think of a new one!

...wait, how have I not called anyone "Garam Masala" yet? Probably because it's too many letters, but shame on me nonetheless. I Fly to Eterna and nickname my new Shedinja, giving it the slightly awkward moniker of "Garamasala" to accommodate the character limit.

Hey, we've got a full team of six! First time that's happened for a while. But this leaves us without any way of getting to Canalave City...

​

Current team

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30 (Levitate)
Hardy Nature
HP: 69/84
-Bite (0/25)
-Vine Whip (4/15)
-Faint Attack (16/20)
-Ingrain (14/20)

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 33 (Inner Focus)
Naughty Nature
HP: 55/97
-Fly (14/25)
-Bite (9/25)
-Wing Attack (2/35)
-Confuse Ray (9/10)

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20 (Speed Boost)
Naughty Nature
HP: 4/42
-Fury Swipes (1/15)
-Cut (0/30)
-Fury Cutter (20/20)
-Protect (5/10)

Clove the Seviper - level 26 (Shed Skin)
Adamant Nature
HP: 4/74
-Wrap (11/20)
-Lick (27/30)
-Bite (4/25)
-Poison Tail (2/25)

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30 (Pressure)
Jolly Nature
HP: 65/73
-Faint Attack (2/20)
-Hypnosis (12/20)
-Dream Eater (8/15)
-Ominous Wind (1/5)

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20 (Wonder Guard)
Naughty Nature
HP: 1/1
-Fury Swipes (1/15)
-Cut (0/30)
-Fury Cutter (20/20)
-Protect (5/10)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Ten

Right, full party of six but no way to cross the water on Route 218... let's go there anyway and see what happens. I head through the gatehouse and talk to a friendly fisherman who offers me... the Old Rod?! Oh right, you can come here early in the game. Where's the Good Rod again? Oh yeah, Hearthome. I fly over to Route 209 and pick up the Good Rod before returning.

Seeing as I can't catch anything via Surfing yet, fishing one up seems like the best option. The Town Map informs me that Route 218 is revered as a great fishing spot, which turns out to be a flagrant lie since all that one can catch with the Good Rod are Magikarp and Finneon. Mmmm. On reflection, I think I missed the boat on Gyarados. You can catch it with the Good Rod in the Great Marsh, but the Repel trick doesn't work when you're fishing. Guess it's Finneon, then. Meh. I mean, I'm not averse to Finneon, but... bah, whatever.

I fish one up fairly quickly - level 20, female. Since Clove only has 4 HP, I lead with it and inevitably it gets knocked out when my first ball fails. I throw a Net Ball and succeed. Well, that worked itself out. Hello, new team addition. Haven't nicknamed anything Cinnamon yet, so that's what I call her. Weirdly, it feels really fitting.

Well, bye, Clove. You did good. I swap Clove for Cinnamon, teaching the latter Surf, and head across Route 218...

...and it gets knocked out instantly by a wild Tentacool. Seriously, I tried to flee on turn 1, that failed, it used Wrap, and then slaughtered me with Acid.

Well, that has to be an all-time record. Bye, Cinnamon, we hardly knew ye. Waste of a good name, but oh well.

Anyway. I make it quickly to Canalave City (brushing off Dawn's father en route) and drop off Cinnamon into the PC for a not-very well-earned rest.

Um... no. No, I had to cross a river to get here. What, are you dense?​

Well, at least now I can Surf. Part of me wonders if it's worth going off somewhere to find a new team member - looking at the encounter tables for various routes, using the Repel trick with Asafoetida means I could potentially capture a Tentacruel or Golduck at a high level. However, after using up my last few Super Repels, nothing appears! Frustrating... Well, I'm out of ideas for now. Let's just head across the bridge.

...where Tommy bumps into me, declaring that I can't challenge the nearby gym unless I defeat him. Fine. His Staravia takes a massive chunk out of Tulsi with a critical-hit Aerial Ace, but I'm able to recover off the damage by putting it to sleep and draining it with Dream Eater. His Ponyta, Roselia, and newly-acquired Heracross are no match for Asafoetida's mighty Flying power, while Charnushka laughs at his Prinplup's Metal Claw and slaps it about with Vine Whip.

Barry cries like a baby and runs off. Let's hope the gym presents a little more challenge.

How about a quick trip to Iron Island first, though. Anything good here...? Well, there's Sableye. Kind of pointless when Spiritomb outclasses it in basically every way, though. Riolu is out, since I'd be required to heal to get one (and I'm not raising it from an egg anyway). I'd be kind of tempted to try for a Mawile if I had a copy of Ruby to make use of. Qwilfish can be caught here, too, but only with a Super Rod. Shame. That's a fun Pokemon to use, I had a good time with one on Colosseum a while ago.

Hmmm... Graveler. That might actually be of some use against Steel-types. Yeah, go on. I chuck a Quick Ball at a level 32 female and to my surprise it works first time. I scratch my head before naming her Galangal. Not bad at all. Well - Magnitude sucks. But hey, what do you know - Graveler learns Earthquake at level 33! I knock around a few scrubby trainers on Iron Island and Route 218 until Galangal levels up, then head into the gym.

Cool place, this. Legitimately a little confusing to navigate (at least for my defective brain) and has a cool industrial vibe. And the way the lower levels are displayed when you're up high is impressive; really showcases what the DS can do. The trainers are mostly fairly bland, but it's kinda cool that most of them are unskippable. Galangal doesn't struggle with any of the ones who have Onix and/or Steelix... there's just that one freak with the Azumarill, for whatever reason. It knows Iron Tail so I guess that makes it appropriate? Fair enough. Tulsi eventually wears it down, but it soaks up a ton of punishment.

Right. We're ready for Roark's dad!

Vs Byron

Right. Right right right. Who to lead with? Hard to say. That Bronzor of his is a sturdy wall, and I'm not sure which of my team are going to be able to muscle past it. Maybe let's look at the TMs I've got. Pity Toxic is useless. I could teach Garamasala Shadow Claw, but I'm not convinced it'd do that much damage.

Hmm. Let's lead with it, though. Can always switch it out if it gets into trouble. I send out Garamasala against Byron's Bronzor and select Protect. And... something very odd happens: Byron, instead, instead of attacking, switches Bronzor out. Uh, buddy, pretty sure your Bronzor knows Confuse Ray and Hypnosis? You absolutely should be able to fight me. He switches to Steelix and then... switches out again. Okay, this is bizarre. Steelix knows Sandstorm. One usage of that move and Shedinja is toast.

He keeps switching back and forth, and something occurs - I should start using Fury Cutter. It won't do much to Steelix, but after a few uses it'll take a chunk out of Bronzor. He switches a few more times and after about my ninth or tenth Fury Cutter, Bronzor falls, with Steelix having taken barely 10%. Byron finally sees sense and opts for Bastiodon. Why didn't you do that straight away? That thing knows Ancientpower.

I switch out to Galangal, and Bastiodon uses Iron Defence as I go for a Magnitude to soften it up. Despite me scoring a Magnitude 8, the boost to its Defence means that I only do around 40%. Might just be in range of a KO from Earthquake. I select Earthquake as Bastiodon uses Flash Cannon. Ah, shit. It hits and utterly wrecks Galangal, but it just survives with 2 HP remaining. Earthquake hits, but Bastiodon also survives with a shred of HP.

I know Byron will heal next turn, so I let rip with another Earthquake as he uses a Hyper Potion, bringing Bastiodon back down to 50%. Next turn, it uses Iron Defence again, which allows it to survive my next hit. But as it's faster, it's able to use Ancientpower next turn and knock Galangal out.

Shit. Sorry, mate. You legitimately were really good while you lasted, but I was hoping you'd be around for longer.

Right. Who's fast enough to pick Bastiodon off? Not Charnushka... Cumin is, but doesn't have the firepower. Guess it's down to Asafoetida, then. I switch it in and go for Bite, praying that if it isn't powerful enough to finish the job it'll flinch.

No such luck. I get a critical hit! ...but it's still not enough to wipe out that last little bit of HP. Bastiodon strikes back with Ancientpower, bringing Asafoetida's HP to a brutal low. But it still lives. I use Bite once again and it goes down.

Okay. Just Steelix left. This isn't going to go well for my guys. But let's hope that together they're enough. I stick with Asafoetida and use Confuse Ray, successfully confusing it and getting a turn of confusion damage. Next turn, I use Fly - but Steelix snaps out of confusion and KOs with Dragonbreath after receiving a pitiful amount of damage. Oh, Asafoetida. You lasted so long and put in SO much good work! The actual MVP of this run. I'll miss you terribly.

You're up, Tulsi. Nothing to do but put it to sleep. Literally nothing, in fact, since it used up the last of its Ominous Wind and Faint Attack PP on that Azumarill earlier. Tulsi successfully uses Hypnosis and Steelix stays asleep for long enough for Tulsi to use all 4 remaining Dream Eater PP, bringing Steelix into the red zone of health - but once it wakes up, it uses Dragonbreath again and paralyses, successfully flinching a couple of times with Ice Fang and bringing Tulsi down. RIP.

I... I don't know who to go with next. Charnushka has a shot - one Vine Whip PP left, and Faint Attack too - but is it fast enough to strike first...? Well, Tulsi was faster, and Charnushka has the same Speed stat (34). Guess there's my answer. I switch Charnushka in and hit with Vine Whip, doing an actually appallingly low amount. Steelix surprisingly opts for Gyro Ball rather than Ice Fang and Charnushka just survives, allowing it to get in a Faint Attack - but Steelix survives that too and uses Dragonbreath for the KO. Argh!

Just Cumin and Garamasala left. Steelix has a tiny pixel of health left... I think I can do it. Cumin has one Fury Swipes PP left - better than Fury Cutter, I suppose. Let's do it. Maybe 5 HP is all I need. But Cumin strikes a measly 2 times and this fails to KO. Steelix hits with Dragonbreath and Cumin survives. Okay... Fury Cutter it is. I strike - and that last hit is just enough to finish it.

Holy shit, what a fight. Byron concedes the Mine Badge and TM91, Flash Cannon.

Even though this a fairly middle-of-the-road badge, I really like it. Has a lot of little detail it takes the eye a moment or two to register. Neat badge, neat rewards.

Ya-HUH. But just barely! Boy does this hit differently.

​

Well.

I leave the gym, the guide at the door gushing that I'm good enough to be the champion now... oof, let's not even think about that yet. Tommy is right outside. He congratulates me on getting the Mine Badge and tells me I need to come with him to the library. Thankfully he dashes off as usual rather than making me walk with him.

Yeah, before I do anything else... I really need to go and find some new team members. Because with one half-dead Ninjask and one low-on-PP Shedinja, I'm in no fit state to do anything at all.

At least I can Surf now, so a few new areas (with hopefully interesting new spawns) will have opened up. But we'll be treading very carefully.

Current team

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20 (Wonder Guard)
Naughty Nature
HP: 1/1
-Fury Swipes (1/15)
-Cut (0/30)
-Fury Cutter (11/20)
-Protect (2/10)

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20 (Speed Boost)
Naughty Nature
HP: 27/61
-Fury Swipes (0/15)
-Cut (0/30)
-Fury Cutter (19/20)
-Protect (5/10)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

Clove the Seviper - level 26
Adamant Nature

Cinnamon the Finneon - level 20
Docile Nature

Galangal the Graveler - level 34
Hardy Nature

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30
Jolly Nature

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30
Hardy Nature

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 35
Naughty Nature

 

[pieman83]

You know, I never actually noticed before that the Mine Badge is supposed to be three pickaxes.
RIP to everyone who's fallen so far, this is such an interesting challenge you have going here!

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Eleven

Time to put a new band together. Before boxing Asafoetida, I fly back to Celestic Town, remembering to grab the Wise Glasses from the man in the shop while I'm there, and take a paddle in the pond outside. Golduck can be found via Surfing in it - all the way up to level 40, no less - and I've decided that that's a good place to start.

Jackpot. After running from two Psyduck, the first Golduck I encounter is a monstrous level 39. It's likely going to obliterate Cumin with a single hit, so I throw a Net Ball and pray hard. It works!

Ah, I should have led with Garamasala, nothing Golduck can do to it. It has Damp and not Cloud Nine; that's annoying, especially with all the Hail I'll be encountering soon.

Anyway. I name my new team member Valerian and teach him Surf over Psych Up. Who next? Well, the next gym's Ice-type, so a beefy Rock/Steel type would be ideal. What a pity that Aron, catchable with the Pokeradar at Fuego Ironworks, is Diamond-exclusive. But I head over to Fuego Ironworks anyway, just to get some easy experience against a couple of the workers' Water-weak Pokemon, and to pick up TM35, Flamethrower. Might come in useful.

Can't resist getting Valerian to level 40 before I go on, so I head south from Sandgem Town and down to Route 221. There's a guy with three Hippopotas here, but I decide to avoid fighting him - no sense taking three lots of sandstorm damage if I don't need to. But Valerian is more than capable of dealing with the rest and I quickly reach the Pal Park. Professor Oak meets me there and excitedly tells me that I can migrate Pokemon from Kanto and Hoenn now. Mmm, no can do, fella - it's against the rules. Any chance you've seen three legendary birds roaming around, though? ...no? Shame.

Hmmm. So I definitely want something advantageous against Candice. Medicham would be a good option, but - darn! I already caught and used a Meditite earlier, so that's out. I shouldn't have done that, in hindsight it was really dumb. Machoke and Rapidash are out for the same reason.

Rock or Steel it is. Bastiodon fits the bill, but it has a variety of disadvantages - it's slow, lacks offensive power, and would be a pain to raise considering the low level it would come at. I consider Sudowoodo but something about it puts me off. After some more thought, I decide that Steelix is the best option. Oh, but. Here's the rub. It's only catchable in one room in Iron Island: the one where you have to join Riley.

Since I'm not allowed to partner with him, if I'm going to do this I'll need to stay in the tiny cluster of tiles at the very entrance of the room. A frustratingly cramped space to look for Pokemon, but it's possible - Steelix's miserable 10% appearance rate will make it a chore, though. I could use the Repel trick - Galangal is the required level 34 - but the trick only works with conscious Pokemon, and I feel like reviving it, even for this, would be cheating.

Well, there's only one way to do this. I run up and down the three-tile space over and over until finally one appears. It's going to be a bitch to catch at full health, but I have 10 Dusk Balls so those seem the best option. At level 34, Steelix has no moves that can directly damage Shedinja - but it does have Sandstorm. I weigh up my options; it's a high risk gamble. But I think it's worth it. If only I had a Taunt user... I send Garamasala out to face it and laugh as Steelix tries to Slam and Dragonbreath to no avail. Nine Dusk Balls later... and it's a successful catch. I name it Monkshood and set off, job done.

...and then on my way out of Iron Island, I make an unforgivably careless mistake and get spotted by the Picnicker I carefully avoided earlier. Gah. Valerian easily dispatches her Staravia, but her next Pokemon is Cherrim. Not sure anyone on my squad is well-equipped to take that on. I opt for Cumin and get in a few hits with Fury Cutter, doing pitifully little, but it uses Leech Seed, sets up Sunny Day and blasts me with Solarbeam.

Well, fuck. Sorry, Cumin. Finishing off Byron's Steelix aside, you contributed comparatively quite little but... actually lasted way, way longer than anyone else. Can you believe it's been around since part three? (And in a way, still is, I guess.) I guess I was, uh, technically correct when I said that Nincada

could prove pretty useful in the long run.

Eh. Oh, well. Right, how to finish off this Cherrim? After a moment's thought, I send out Valerian again. Cumin managed to get Cherrim to about 60%, so if I get lucky with Fury Swipes I reckon Valerian can finish it off. Four hits does the trick. Phew.

Damn, almost wrecked by a Cherrim. How embarrassing.

Right, so Monkshood is going to need some better moves than it currently has. It gets all the elemental fangs... at level 1, ugh. So I run around and grab the two Heart Scales in the overworld, replacing Rock Polish with Thunder Fang. I'm going to need someone who can use Strength, so I head to Route 209 and KO a bunch of wild Staravia and Chansey until all of Monkshood's Slam PP is used up, then replace that with Fire Fang and Sandstorm with Strength.

Okay, so that's plus two and minus one. Any more?

Actually, yeah. Looking at the encounter tables for the next few areas, there's a couple of Pokemon around Snowpoint City I'd like to add to the squad. Might have to wait a bit, though. I know there's two Galactic Grunts blocking the way in Platinum if you try and go there before dealing with all the stuff... are they there in DP? Oh, they're not. Nice. Looks like I can go north!

I head back to Eterna, up through the northern segment of Mt Coronet, and emerge onto the frosty snowscape of Route 216! Ah, I've been looking forward to getting here. No, seriously. I know the deep snow is a pain in the neck, but I love these routes. Ice-types, Skiers, Snowboarders, a great soundtrack... can't beat it.

Speaking of things I can't beat, the way onto Route 217 is barred by one very tough Ace Trainer indeed: a mandatory encounter with Raichu, Hippopotas, and Pelipper. Two of those are tricky customers indeed. Hmmm, what's the best course of action here? Monkshood has little to fear from Raichu... except the strong likelihood of paralysis. On the other hand, while Valerian can probably outspeed, Surf might fall a little short of a KO. I decide to chance it with Valerian and give it the Wise Glasses I obtained earlier to tilt the odds in my favour. It's a tense moment as the HP bar drains, but it works and Raichu falls. Hippopotas is up next, and goes down with ease. Since its arrival prompted the weather to switch from Hail to Sandstorm, I switch to Monkshood for Pelipper and hope it doesn't use Water Pulse while I attempt to 2HKO with Thunder Fang. Thankfully, it's more preoccupied with using Roost (which turns my 2HKO into a 3HKO) but I'm not complaining.

There's a couple more trainers on Route 217 but I avoid them for the present, focusing instead on picking up a few items - most notably HM08, Rock Climb!

And then another Ace Trainer guards the northern end of the route. This one has a Roselia and a Seaking. Equally annoying. But I've a plan. Time for Valerian to expand its options - I teach it Ice Beam to take care of Roselia with ease. Seaking takes a few hits to bring down and whittles away with Peck in the meantime, causing Valerian to lose a fair amount of HP. Not ideal. I was hoping that Golduck learned Drain Punch, but no such luck. Would have made sweeping the gym a lot easier.

I decide to get to Snowpoint quickly and take stock before heading back out onto Acuity Lakefront to look for new team members. Snowpoint City is as lovely as I remember it - but there's not much here to actually do. Can't board the ship or enter the temple yet, sadly.

Honestly, yeah, and I kinda dig it.​

There's a potential trade with an NPC, which is the sort of thing I'm usually all over - except for the fact that it's That Bitch.

Lies. Blink twice if you want to be rescued, buddy.
​

I kid. Gaspar the Haunter isn't actually a terrible option for an in-game run: good nature, decent IVs, double experience. I'd probably want to use it if not for the fact I already used Gengar earlier in the run. Ah, well.

Speaking of in-game trades, fun fact.

Most curious.

Anyway. Time for some more new blood. Heading back to Acuity Lakefront, I encounter a level 35 Sneasel (fetchingly male, so it has the nice long ear feather - the other just looks so odd) and catch it in a Quick Ball, nicknaming it Sumach. Welcome aboard!

The other takes a little more time. I inserted Pokemon Emerald in the GBA slot before setting out, so before long I find a cute little Teddiursa in the snow and catch that in a Quick Ball too; I nickname him Borage. Lovely lovely! It's only then I realise I could have caught an Ursaring, which appears on Route 217. Oh well. It's way past being due an evolution so it'll only be a Teddiursa for one level. Needs some better moves, though.

Time to take on the gym? Yeah, why not. Assuming I'm allowed...? Yup, nothing stops me. Huh, this is quite a sequence break. No wonder they corrected this in Platinum. Still, hopefully this means I'll have a bit of a lead over Team Galactic in terms of levels when I eventually have to continue the story.

Snowpoint Gym might be the one legitimately difficult gym in the series. I've seen many people get stuck on it. It often briefly foxes me, but the trick is working out how to get to the starting points to crush the snowballs.

What's actually difficult for me personally, in this instance, is avoiding the trainers. A couple have fairly weak teams, but there's such a truly ridiculous amount of nonconformity in the species used here - Pelipper, Steelix, Golduck, Floatzel, Tentacruel, Quagsire - that I'm not 100% comfortable taking them on for fear of losing one of my guys unexpectedly. Snover, I can handle. But I want to conserve my squad for the leader.

Vs Candice

Candice is pretty great, one of my favourite gym leaders. It's intriguing to have a bubbly young woman whose bubbliness is specifically called out as atypical for her chosen element.

I lead with Monkshood and she opens with Snover. What with this thing having Ingrain, Avalanche, and Leer, I'm pretty sure I can get a Fire Fang off without too much trouble - and I'm right. She switches to Medicham so I send in Valerian against it. Best to start off with a weaker move, so I choose Water Pulse. Medicham is faster, but uses Bulk Up instead of attacking. Water Pulse, combined with the hail damage, gets Medicham to 50%. Surf will finish this decisively, if I survive the next hit. But unexpectedly I strike first and drop it. Huh. I guess we were tied on speed.

I tempted fate using my Water-type, though. Candice signals that her next mon will be Abomasnow. Argh. Let's switch to Monkshood again. I go for trusty old Fire Fang, and Abomasnow uses Swagger. Argh! Come on, Monkshood, hit hit hit hit hit...

But it hits itself instead. Damn it. This was going so well. I try again as Abomasnow uses Grasswhistle. Fortunately, Grasswhistle misses - and Monkshood successfully attacks. Thanks to the boosted damage from Swagger, Fire Fang is a clean KO. Last up is Sneasel. I stay with Monkshood as none of its moves are likely to inflict major damage - but it doesn't even attack, instead using Taunt. Inviting me to only attack? I don't need to be told twice. Monkshood snaps out of confusion and strikes again with Fire Fang, fainting it and winning me the match.

Well, that went yards better than the last gym bout. Candice bestows upon me the Icicle Badge and TM72, Avalanche.

Really like this badge, too. Cracking design, cool vibes. Marvellous.


Badge number seven! Nice. And all without actually doing any of the pre-seventh badge story. I could/should probably return to Canalave, but... hey. I can use Rock Climb now, so I feel like I should go and make use of that in a few places.

Wow, this really is one hell of a sequence break.



Current team

Monkshood the Steelix - level 36 (Rock Head)
Relaxed Nature
HP: 66/105
-Strength (15/15)
-Fire Fang (9/15)
-Thunder Fang (11/15)
-Dragonbreath (13/20)

Valerian the Golduck - level 42 (Damp)
Naive Nature
HP: 107/130
-Water Pulse (12/20)
-Fury Swipes (9/15)
-Ice Beam (9/10)
-Surf (4/15)

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20 (Wonder Guard)
Naughty Nature
HP: 1/1
-Fury Swipes (1/15)
-Cut (0/30)
-Fury Cutter (11/20)
-Protect (2/10)

Sumach the Sneasel - level 35 (Keen Eye)
Mild Nature
HP: 84/84
-Fury Swipes (15/15)
-Agility (30/30)
-Icy Wind (15/15)
-Slash (20/20)

Borage the Teddiursa - level 36 (Quick Feet)
Impish Nature
HP: 89/89
-Slash (18/20)
-Faint Attack (20/20)
-Sweet Scent (20/20)
-Charm (20/20)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

Clove the Seviper - level 26
Adamant Nature

Cinnamon the Finneon - level 20
Docile Nature

Galangal the Graveler - level 34
Hardy Nature

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30
Jolly Nature

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30
Hardy Nature

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 35
Naughty Nature

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20
Naughty Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Twelve

With Rock Climb unlocked, I decide to take a breather and dash all over Sinnoh, collecting numerous items and - more importantly - whaling on various trainers who were too strong to tussle with when I first encountered them. Sumach and Borage dine out on these and gain a couple of levels apiece, the former learning the relatively underwhelming Beat Up and the latter evolving into a mighty, grizzly Ursaring.

Speaking of bad attacks, there's no escaping the fact that both my new members have incredibly lacklustre movesets, and will continue to for as long as they grow. Sneasel in particular is disappointing since it learns few Ice moves on its own - Ice Punch, one of its best moves, is available only by breeding in this game. And Ice Shard comes way too late to be a realistic prospect. All I have to rely on now is Icy Wind. And Fury Swipes. Well, they're good enough for wiping out weaker opponents without a backwards glance (and do so very well). Slash can be rather powerful when it gets a crit; ah, if only there was an item I could give it to boost the likelihood of that happening... but the Scope Lens is far-off and the Razor Claw isn't until Victory Road (and Sneasel evolves with that anyway).

Similarly, Borage has Slash and Faint Attack: both good enough, but they're rapidly going to lose their shine (not to mention their PP) very quickly. As I'm exploring and need it anyway, I teach Borage Rock Smash as a handy option against all the Geodude I neglected to fight previously. It works well while the PP lasts: Normal-types definitely appreciate Fighting coverage.

But yeah, at some point I'm likely going to have to turn to TMs to make these guys better. The cautious part of me wants to wait as long as possible in case I teach one of them something good and they get KO'd a moment later. A little overcautious perhaps, but y'know.

I go far and wide across the land and collect a bunch of TMs from where they're lying around waiting to be found - TM81 X-Scissor, TM28 Dig, TM80 Rock Slide, TM31 Brick Break, TM40 Aerial Ace, TM30 Shadow Ball, TM29 Psychic, TM13 Ice Beam, and best of all TM26, Earthquake. What a prize! Have to consider very carefully who should get that. But probably not for a while yet. Once Sumach has expended all of its Icy Wind PP against all the KO-able Staravia and Golbat I can find I teach it Ice Beam instead. Nifty.

Rock Slide is in Mt Coronet, which I feel very naughty ascending before the appropriate time.

Huh, I thought this was only added in Platinum too. But this obviously ensures we can't go any further here yet.​

Right, so I guess it's finally time to head back to Canalave and let the story proceed as intended? Ugh, fine, if I must.

I've kept them all waiting for literal days, but no one says anything. Rowan, having called the meeting between us, pontificates on the nature of Pokemon evolution and says a bunch of stuff about legendary Pokemon that recent games have conclusively disproven. He then commands us each to go to one of Sinnoh's three lakes and search there for the legendary Pokemon.

Even if I hadn't already been there this would be insulting. Why am I assumed to be weaker than Tommy?​

But his orders are cut off by a big tremor. Rushing outside, we find that there was an explosion at Lake Valor! Oh no, how sad. And how bizarre that the surrounding area isn't a smoking crater. Guess I'd better rush over and see if there's anything I can do.

Truly one of my favourite NPCs ever​

I make the tedious journey across Sinnoh on foot and arrive some time later at Lake Valor, where from the outside you'd never know it'd been blown to hell. Inside, it's carnage - a hellish, smoking crater as far as the eye can see, boiling hot and awash with the entrails of slaughtered Magikarp. Or at least the DS's best approximation of that.

I easily dispatch the Galactic Grunts milling about and head to the cavern in the centre. Hmm... Saturn. Who's best to take on that powered-up Kadabra? After a moment's thought, I decide to teach Sumach Shadow Claw. I'm correct in my assumption that this will take care of Kadabra without a hitch. Saturn switches to Toxicroak rather than Bronzor to counteract Sneasel and I consider for a second. Uhhh... hmmm. Fighting-types are tricky. I opt for Monkshood, hoping I can burn or paralyse it. The first turn, Toxicroak uses Faint Attack while I strike back with Dragonbreath, doing a surprisingly high amount of damage. The next turn, I unexpectedly hit first with Fire Fang - and realise a moment later why. Toxicroak strikes back with Revenge, knocking Monkshood out. Noooo!

Bugger. Well, that's at least left it in position for someone else to defeat. Valerian finishes Toxicroak off with Surf, levels up, and ironically tries to learn Zen Headbutt. But since all its moves still have PP I decide not to. I'd get rid of Surf if I could (it only has one PP left now) but that's obviously not possible. Next turn, I finish his Bronzor with Surf, and now I really want to get rid. No Heart Scales left in the overworld, though... well, I have two Psychic TMs, so it won't be a wrench to use one of them later on.

Anyway. With Saturn defeated, he vows revenge (or something) and tells me that Mars has already led a splinter team to Lake Verity, near "that hick town Twinleaf". Hey, that's where I'm from! Better go and defend it, I guess.

...not just yet, though. Since Monkshood's gone, I'm gonna make another new addition to my team. I head back to Veilstone City and box Monkshood, briefly withdrawing Asafoetida so I can fly northwards to Snowpoint. Don't judge me, I'm getting sick of going everywhere on foot. Definitely need to catch a new Flying-type soon.

But that's not what my new team member will be! I head onto Route 217 and make my way to the sole grassy patch. Time to fire up the Pokeradar again...

...how the hell are you meant to see the shaking grassy patch in this blizzard?! Luckily, I have several Super Repels so it's just a case of running back and forth and eventually hitting the right tile.

Yes, that's right, I'm hunting Snorunt! And let me tell you, for something with an allegedly one-in-five chance of appearing (22%, to be exact), it takes its sweet time showing up. And of course the first one I encounter is male. I picked up a Dawn Stone in Mt Coronet earlier, too, so it's Froslass I want. Don't think I've ever used one for an in-game run. Which fits because Snorunt is pretty much always the sort of Pokemon you meet about 80% of the way through a game. But I'm persistent (you can tell, right) and much, much later I find a female! I throw a Quick Ball and make a successful catch, nicknaming her Yarrow.

Oh, sweet, she's got a Mild nature! Extremely good for Froslass, especially since she comes already knowing Crunch, Ice Fang, and Headbutt. Pleased indeed with my new team member, I hightail it back down south to Twinleaf. Ah, I should go and say hi to my mother like a good child would... but she'd heal me, so it's a no. Into the lake!

Well, this one hasn't been blown apart by a bomb, so that's something. The water level has risen since I was last here, but I don't get a chance to Surf on the lake. Instead, I find that a bunch of those nasty Galactic grunts are holding Professor Rowan hostage, while Dawn appears to be taking on Mars. I can already predict how that battle will go.

Since the four Grunts here must be fought as pairs, I figure it's a good opportunity to give Yarrow some easy experience. Valerian sweeps the quicker, more dangerous foes while Valerian either Protects or takes down the slower ones.

Valerian smokes her Golbat with Ice Beam, and very nearly KOs her Bronzor with Water Pulse. It responds with Confuse Ray. Hmmm... looking at her Bronzor's moveset makes me realise that (unlike Saturn's) it can't touch Shedinja outside of confusing it, so I figure why not let Garamasala take over? I switch to Garamasala and laugh at her ineffective attempt to use Gyro Ball.

But then the joke's on me as Mars switches to Purugly.

Oops.

Hmmm. Well, it's obviously going to use Faint Attack. What do I do? Well, I use Protect first, but that's just delaying the inevitable. Who do I switch to?

You know what... looking at my team, I'm not sure I'd particularly want any of them to take a Faint Attack from Purugly. Argh. Well, I brought that on myself. Garamasala, Garamasala... we had such a good run. You lasted so much longer than a Shedinja could reasonably have expected to last. I let Purugly strike it with Faint Attack, and the ghostly bug goes down.

Back to Valerian, then. As all my Surf PP is exhausted, I go for Water Pulse - but it turns out Purugly is even faster, and I take a Faint Attack from it after all. Ugh. It's not in vain, though, as Water Pulse gets a critical hit and takes the fat cat out.

Well, another lake, another team member lost. Luckily, when I eventually make it back to Lake Acuity for the third time, Jupiter - very much my favourite of the Galactic Admins - opts not to fight, instead leaving with an infuriating chuckle. Tommy, who she trounced moments before we arrived, mournfully talks about wanting to get tougher and slowly departs.

I figure I may as well take the opportunity to briefly explore the lake before following Jupiter to the Hideout in Veilstone (against her express instructions - naughty). I like this one the most, the snow really improves the vibe. Obviously the cavern is empty, Uxie already having been removed by Team Galactic, but on the far northeastern bank I find TM14, Blizzard (ooh, yes please!) - and in the grass, a wild Lunatone! That'd be thanks to the Pokemon Sapphire cartridge currently crammed into the bottom slot of my DS.

I throw a Dusk Ball (which fails), an Ultra Ball (which also fails), and finally a Great Ball (which succeeds). Luckily, it doesn't inflict any damage on Sumach, as at level 36 it only knows Rock Polish, Psywave, Embargo, and Cosmic Power. Definitely going to need to teach that some better moves. I nickname it Mugwort and have a rummage around my TM pocket. Yes, there should be some that work...

We're going to Veilstone, so it's time for another long Fly-less trudge down through Route 217 and 216. Luckily it's not as far as Twinleaf...



Current team

Sumach the Sneasel - level 39 (Keen Eye)
Mild Nature
HP: 93/93
-Shadow Claw (14/15)
-Beat Up (9/10)
-Ice Beam (10/10)
-Slash (14/20)

Valerian the Golduck - level 45 (Damp)
Naive Nature
HP: 58/139
-Water Pulse (2/20)
-Rock Climb (19/20)
-Ice Beam (3/10)
-Surf (0/15)

Borage the Ursaring - level 39 (Quick Feet)
Impish Nature
HP: 120/120
-Slash (3/20)
-Faint Attack (14/20)
-Sweet Scent (20/20)
-Rock Smash (3/15)

Yarrow the Snorunt - level 36 (Ice Body)
Mild Nature
HP: 84/84
-Headbutt (14/15)
-Protect (8/10)
-Ice Fang (12/15)
-Crunch (15/15)

Mugwort the Lunatone - level 36 (Levitate)
Brave Nature
HP: 104/104
-Rock Polish (20/20)
-Psywave (15/15)
-Embargo (14/15)
-Cosmic Power (19/20)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3 (Intimidate)
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5 (No Guard)
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17 (Blaze)
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14 (Poison Point)
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10 (Swift Swim)
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12 (Run Away)
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12 (Swift Swim)
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15 (Static)
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21 (Keen Eye)
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

Clove the Seviper - level 26
Adamant Nature

Cinnamon the Finneon - level 20
Docile Nature

Galangal the Graveler - level 34
Hardy Nature

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30
Jolly Nature

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30
Hardy Nature

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 35
Naughty Nature

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20
Naughty Nature

Monkshood the Steelix - level 36
Relaxed Nature

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20
Naughty Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Thirteen

After a long trek down to Veilstone, I head into the Warehouse, ready to take on Team Galactic properly. Oh yeah, I need a key... the Grunt in there helpfully informs me that a Grunt out front of the official HQ has it. I head over there and find the bloke in question admiring the antenna-controller-radar dish things. He recognises me and seems insulted I don't recognise him in turn. Having a name might help in that regard, mate. He mournfully tells me that his failure resulted in his Clefairy being taken away and that his partner "went back to his old country". Um... I'm sorry. That sounds rough.

Anyway, once he's done whining he runs off, leaving a Storage Key behind him. Sounds like just the thing I need! I head back into the Warehouse and open the locked door, descending into the shadowy corridors below where bad guys lurk in wait.

As pathetic as the Grunts might seem, a couple are legitimately tough. Sumach and Borage both take some damage for the first time since joining the squad. The guy with a Wurmple, Cascoon, and Dustox is much more enjoyable to face, though; Mugwort even scores its first KO against the second of those. Mindful of its limited PP, I've been trying to avoid having Sumach use Ice Beam so far, but the appearance of several high-level Golbat causes that resolve to crumble. Annoying. However, I've only just remembered that a forced heal is on the horizon, so if anyone does run out of PP here it's not quite the end of the world just yet - good news for Valerian, who's running very low despite still being by far the most powerful member of the team.

There's a bit of loot here, as well. I pick up TM49, Snatch - fitting for a TM in the villainous hideout, but not a lot of use to me - and TM36, Sludge Bomb! Oooh, now THIS I like. Always been one of my favourite moves, though a difficult one to use effectively given Poison's lame offensive coverage. None of my squad can learn it, anyway. Maybe I'll find someone later who will. Oh, and TM21, Frustration. That's a no.

Anyway, after clearing out all the foes in here, I find the Galactic Key! Feels a bit anticlimactic after already getting the Storage Key (particularly as both were just lying on the ground) but this is basically the upgraded version that will get us into the main building. Nice nice. Ugh, they have beds in here... tempting, but forbidden.

The final pair of Grunts are a mandatory fight - although they're set up to be a double battle I take them on individually, wincing as I use up the last of Valerian's Water Pulse PP and Borage's Slash PP on the male Grunt's Stunky and Croagunk.

Right. Onwards and up to the boss's office. I open the door and find Cyrus, Team Galactic's commander in chief, waiting for me. He coldly tells me that he knows I'm here to save Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, but that he doesn't care - he's got what he needed from them, and it'll save him the trouble of disposing of them. Damn, this guy's brutal. Better beat him down and hopefully teach him a lesson.

I'd like to let Yarrow deal with his Murkrow - but it's still so slow, and its offenses so weak, that I don't dare, and let Sumach take care of it instead. Hmmm, he's got a Sneasel, too. Which is tricky to face. Borage has one Rock Smash PP left, but it's not fast enough to avoid getting shredded first and I'm not even convinced it'll OHKO. After some thought I decide to part with TM80, Rock Slide, since his Sneasel has no moves super-effective against Mugwort. Don't make me regret this, buddy. I'm hoping that Sneasel will use Screech, and it does, but Rock Slide falls short of a KO, its held Sitrus Berry activates, and Cyrus uses a Super Potion as I attack again, giving it the opportunity to use Slash. Doesn't get a critical hit, but still does an annoyingly huge amount of damage. I let Valerian take care of his Golbat, since it's a beefy level 40 and I genuinely doubt that even Sumach's Ice Beam will be assured a OHKO - surprisingly, Valerian outspeeds, but its Ice Beam falls just short of a kill, and Golbat uses Bite, leaving me teetering on the brink of death. Luckily, Cyrus fails to heal as I opt for Rock Climb and finish it.

Cyrus acknowledges my strength and then says some emo shit about having abandoned emotions as a useless triviality. He then gives me a Master Ball for no reason. Sweet, thanks! Maybe you're not so bad after all.

...what? Even if he's not planning to use the Master Ball, it's kind of dumb that he just gives it to you. What does he expect to happen?

Anyway. Cyrus tells us that we can free the Pokemon of the lake if we go through the warp panel on the right side of the room. Yes, let's-

Mmm. Actually, let's not.

We've got to fight Saturn again, and to be honest I'm not sure my team as it stands currently are up for that. Everyone's low on HP and lower on PP, and he's going to be much more challenging than Cyrus was. That brutal Toxicroak of his gives me great cause for concern. If only Mugwort were a few levels higher, it'd learn Psychic... sigh. Maybe, just maybe, if I evolved Yarrow into Froslass and taught her Psychic, she'd have a chance... but no. Too underlevelled still. And that Bronzor is just going to be a pain to take down, too.

Y'know, I've got a slot free on my team; maybe I should go and catch something else. Yeah. Let's.

I need a wall. Something that can soak up punishment. Pondering what would be good, I trek over to Mt Coronet and up into the area only accessible with Rock Climb. Most of the species here are ones I've already used (Machoke, Golbat, Medicham) but hey, after a couple of encounter I find a Bronzong. That'll do! I chuck a Quick Ball and get it. Starting to think this challenge should be renamed The Quick Ball Challenge.

After scratching my head and Googling herb names, I nickname it Epazote. Beat that.

Got a full party again! Let's see how long that lasts...

Epazote has a Bold nature and the Heatproof ability: this thing will absolutely be a wall. Mmm, especially since its moves suck. Iron Defence, Safeguard, Block, Gyro Ball. Perhaps it's worth teaching it something else.

I return to the laboratory where a pair of Scientists are fretting about the evil implications of the machines they helped to develop. One of them pre-emptively tells me that they don't deserve sympathy. Oh don't worry, I wasn't about to give you any. I walk past the containers in which the three lake guardians are being held and approach Saturn, leading with Sumach again. The benefit of having already fought him is that I can say for sure that I can one-shot his Kadabra.

Annoyingly, Saturn opts to switch to Toxicroak. I was hoping for Bronzor first. But whatever. I switch out for Epazote and use Iron Defence as Saturn's Toxicroak hits with Brick Break. This'll buy me a few turns. Even though it's ineffective, I figure that a couple of hits from Gyro Ball will leave it weak enough that something faster can finish it off. But Toxicroak foils my plan by using Swagger, and Epazote hits itself. Agh! It subsequently hits with X-Scissor - thanks to my heightened Defence, it hardly leaves a mark, but I need to hit back. Epazote hits itself once again but manages to land a hit the next turn, doing a decent amount of damage. Toxicroak strikes again with Brick Break - I breathe in sharply, but it leaves Epazote on just 3 HP. It manages to not hit itself and strikes once again, leaving Toxicroak in range for Sumach to KO for sure. Of course, it faints Epazote next turn.

Well, I wanted a cheap and dirty sacrificial wall, and I got one. Probably cheated myself out of using Bronzong later on when it might have been better. RIP, Epazote. You had one job and you did it. Sumach comes in and gets a swift, easy kill.

...right, that still leaves Bronzor to deal with, though. Hmmm, how to play this? Sumach definitely can't do it; nor can Borage. If Valerian had Surf or Water Pulse PP left, probably. Argh. I opt for Mugwort. Psywave, at least, does type-neutral damage so it's a decent option.

I send Mugwort into battle and strike quickly with Psywave, cutting Bronzor's HP neatly in half. Bronzor hits back with Extrasensory; it hardly impacts, but next turn Psywave does far less damage and Bronzor uses Shadow Ball, doing more damage and lowering Mugwort's Special Defence. Ack. Ack. Ack. Another hit will probably KO. But I think Psywave should finish it as long as it's not a morbidly low damage roll...

...and it does. Phew!

God. Saturn was way more intimidating than Cyrus was. You should take over Team Galactic or something, dude.

Saturn also acknowledges my strength and tells me I can release the lake trio if I want. Don't mind if I do! I press the proffered button and the pixies float out of their containers, vanishing without so much as a grateful nod of the head. Bye then. Saturn departs, only stating ominously that Cyrus is planning... something... on Mt Coronet. Well, I guess we're going back there then.

After getting the hell out of the HQ and depositing Epazote in the PC, I prepare to head back along Route 215 and back through Hearthome. What to bring with me? Ordinarily you'd want a ton of healing items, but obviously not on this occasion. Pokeballs, I guess? Might be something useful to catch on Mt Coronet... I know Loudred, at least, can be found there, which might be good.

This is it, then. I get on my way and arrive at the eastern entrance to Mt Coronet. The upper level, where I caught Epazote not so long ago, now looks very different: the ancient cave painting at the back of the cavern has been completely removed. Wow, not even a trace. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who's responsible for this efficient removal job, so I head through and am thoroughly unsurprised to find two Galactic Grunts loitering in the caves beyond. Ugh, just disappear already.

It's not long before I'm out in the open, finding myself on a snowy mountainside. I'm sure the view would be lovely if I could see it.

...hmm, I mentioned Loudred just now... yeah, go on, let's have a look. I fire up the Pokeradar and start looking in the grassy patches. Bingo! Only takes three tries to find one, and it's a laughably easy catch. Right, herb names, herb names...

...wait, how have I not called anything Parsley yet? Welcome aboard! I'm sure you'll make a fine addition to the squad. Ironically, once I've caught it and head back inside the mountain, the first Pokemon I encounter is a Clefairy. That might have been good, too, but hey, Loudred got there first. Plus it seems like more fun.

More Galactic Grunts show up, giving several members of the squad time to shine. Mugwort gets a couple of judicious KOs against two Dustox; though it costs me Valerian's last Ice Beam PP to muscle past the Grunt with a high-powered Golbat, Yarrow handily dispatches another Grunt's Wurmple and Silcoon, allowing it to level up and learn Ice Shard! Now I can evolve it without worry.

literally nobody has ever told me this
​

Yes, those guys were off the main path, but I wanted Yarrow to have some glory. And to chuckle at that wimpy Grunt guarding the exit who doesn't even have a Pokemon. Lame.

Ugh, all the Grunts on the way to the summit have a Bronzor. Fuck offffffffff. I decide that it's a job for the new guy... uh, girl. Loudred learns Flamethrower, and I happen to have TM35. Could have gone for Fire Blast but nah. Since all the Bronzor owned by trainers in DP have Levitate rather than Heatproof, Flamethrower is a happy 2HKO on all of them, and hilariously neither even gets an attack in, both opting for Safeguard. Otherwise they're pretty easy, but Sumach also uses up the last of its Ice Beam PP on the second one's Golbat (though levels up and learns Metal Claw, for which I boot Beat Up from its moveset).

The final Grunt leads with Golbat, so I decide that this is the moment for Yarrow and use the Dawn Stone I picked up earlier on it, evolving her into a gorgeous but rather coy-looking Froslass. Lessgoooooo! With the additional speed and power granted to her by evolution, Yarrow takes care of Golbat and Glameow, leaving Bronzor for Parsley to sort out (again without taking a hit).

And that's it. The exit lies ahead - I stumble towards it and find myself upon Spear Pillar, the vast mountain's summit. It's an awe-inspiring place, strewn with the broken pillars and crumbled masonry of some long-extinguished civilisation. The air is chill but clear - we must be above the clouds. But there's hardly a moment to appreciate any of this before I'm challenged by two more Grunts; ostensibly, the strongest Grunts in Team Galactic. Ooh, I'm quaking.

They demand to take me on in a double battle, opening with Stunky and Dustox, and I send out Yarrow and Mugwort. Yarrow gets a surprise critical hit on Stunky, dropping it with Ice Fang, while Mugwort takes care of Dustox with Rock Slide. Aces. Croagunk and Glameow come out to replace them - a combination of Headbutt and Rock Slide ensures Croagunk flinches, while Glameow uses Charm over and over. It doesn't save it.

The Grunts correctly assess themselves as pathetic, then let me go on.

Mars and Jupiter are waiting ahead, while Cyrus stands behind them, ready to set in motion his final plan. Emotionless as ever, he turns to the altar ahead of us, proclaiming that the Red Chain will let him bring forth Palkia, the master of space and dimensions! Sure enough, everything goes dark and a strange rupture appears, from which emerges a huge, oddly-shaped dragonlike creature. Cyrus deems it Palkia, one of Sinnoh's ancient creators, and the sky itself begins to fill with strange lights and energy - the dimensions themselves are distorting.

I'm at a loss as to why Cyrus wants this, but he helpfully explains that it's all so that he can stop this world's existence and bring about a new one: one in which he rules over all things as a deity. Well, that makes sense. Fair enough then.

Unsettled, I take a step back, but Mars mockingly tells me that there's no way for me to just walk away. She and Jupiter are clearly spoiling for a fight, and it looks like I've no option but to take them both on at the same time.

Fine. Bring it, you pair of harpies. I'm ready.



Current team

Yarrow the Froslass - level 37 (Snow Cloak)
Mild Nature
HP: 92/101
-Headbutt (10/15)
-Ice Shard (30/30)
-Ice Fang (3/15)
-Crunch (12/15)

Mugwort the Lunatone - level 38 (Levitate)
Brave Nature
HP: 42/109
-Rock Polish (20/20)
-Psywave (4/15)
-Rock Slide (1/10)
-Cosmic Power (19/20)

Sumach the Sneasel - level 42 (Keen Eye)
Mild Nature
HP: 47/99
-Shadow Claw (6/15)
-Metal Claw (35/35)
-Ice Beam (0/10)
-Slash (13/20)

Valerian the Golduck - level 46 (Damp)
Naive Nature
HP: 18/142
-Water Pulse (0/20)
-Rock Climb (14/20)
-Ice Beam (0/10)
-Surf (0/15)

Borage the Ursaring - level 40 (Quick Feet)
Impish Nature
HP: 29/123
-Slash (0/20)
-Faint Attack (4/20)
-Sweet Scent (20/20)
-Rock Smash (1/15)

Parsley the Loudred - level 40 (Soundproof)
Mild Nature
HP: 127/127
-Bite (24/25)
-Flamethrower (10/15)
-Stomp (20/20)
-Screech (40/40)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

Clove the Seviper - level 26
Adamant Nature

Cinnamon the Finneon - level 20
Docile Nature

Galangal the Graveler - level 34
Hardy Nature

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30
Jolly Nature

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30
Hardy Nature

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 35
Naughty Nature

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20
Naughty Nature

Monkshood the Steelix - level 36
Relaxed Nature

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20
Naughty Nature

Epazote the Bronzong - level 38
Bold Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Fourteen

I need to stop Cyrus, but Jupiter and Mars are stood in my way.

(Those have to be codenames, right? What are the odds you’d start a team called Galactic and recruit three people called Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn? And Charon in Platinum, of course.)

Anyway. My team are bruised and down to their last ebb, but I screw up my courage and prepare to face them. This is going to be one very tough fight, so it's time to pull out all the stops to ensure we win. I have two Protein, two Iron, two HP Up, and a Zinc. Since using the HP Up on anything not at full health would technically be healing, I give those, the Iron, and the Zinc to Parsley. The Protein go to Yarrow, who needs to boost the power of its Ice Fang as much as possible.

Having also been largely quite sparing with held items this run, that's all change too. My stock isn’t exactly stellar, but I have an Icicle Plate, a Rock Incense, and a Fist Plate – I give those to Yarrow, Mugwort, and Borage respectively, after teaching Brick Break to Borage. There's no type-enhancing item that suits Parsley so I give her the Wise Glasses.

Right, here we go. Ugh, I wish I could fight them one at a time. But suddenly Tommy runs in and gets between us! Oh hey, good timing there. He vows to get Jupiter back for beating him at Lake Acuity, and a tag battle ensues. Both opponents lead with double Bronzor. Blargh, hateful things. At least they’re fairly weak. I lead with Parsley again to burn them up and Tommy leads with... Munchlax, ugh. I’ve never really been bothered by your rival using a Munchlax as his lead before, but right now I need all the firepower I can get. Screech can be useful and Body Slam is great if it scores paralysis, but otherwise it sucks. If I had the time/opportunity, I’d knock it out, but I can’t afford to waste the turns. My best hope is that they opt to target him instead.

Still. It’s a twelve-on-six fight which is one of the few times the odds are more in your favour, so can’t complain too much. I do really like that he managed to catch a Munchlax, too. It’s a really nice subtle bit of character growth.

Right. How to play this.

After some thought I rationalise that the best way to ensure a win with as few KOs as possible is to adopt that most optimal tag battle strategy – knock out one side, and gang up on the survivors. But which side to go after first? Who’s more threatening? Mmm, Mars for sure: simply for that bastard Purugly. That thing is a brutal monster. And so fast!

Sadly I don’t really expect Parsley to make it through the battle unscathed, but let's do our best. If it’s a question of who I’d choose to sacrifice first after that, I'm unsure. Yarrow is my best shot at taking out their nasty Golbat so she's my go-to if and when Parsley falls, though Skuntank and Purugly will both annihilate her - but my thoughts are really about who's going to be best against Cyrus. Hard to say on that score.

While the double Bronzor are annoying, they’re by far the least threatening member of each team so I'm relatively relaxed about leaving Jupiter’s one untouched while I sort Mars out. I use Flamethrower on Mars' Bronzor, almost finishing it, and it uses Light Screen (too late!) while its fellow uses Extrasensory on Munchlax, who uses Screech on it. Next turn, I get a kill with Flamethrower while the second Bronzor attacks me this time. Munchlax uses Stockpile rather than attack. Mmmph.

And Mars goes straight for Purugly. Arrggghh. What to do, what to do. Honestly, since nothing I can do will be that effective, I figure Screech is my best option, to give whoever comes in next the best shot at beating it. I use Screech and Purugly uses Slash on Munchlax, who helpfully finally decides to attack and uses Body Slam in return, paralysing it. That drops it to below half health, though its Sitrus Berry activates. It's possible, just possible, that Parsley can finish it off with Stomp. Bronzor uses Gyro Ball on Munchlax, doing almost no damage.

Faster than Purugly now, I use Stomp and finish it off. Munchlax's Body Slam hits Bronzor and paralyses that too. Nice! Out comes Golbat. Again, I'm not going to KO it as I am so I figure using Screech again is the best play. Golbat hits Munchlax with Poison Fang, finally killing it (phew) and allowing me a successful use of Screech.

Tommy sends out Ponyta (groan). Not a fabulous choice, either. Golbat hits it with Poison Fang and inflicts it with poison, but it uses Fire Blast on Bronzor and... brings it to 10%. Dude, Ponyta really sucks, doesn't it? 50% STAB Fire Blast and it still can't OHKO something weak to Fire.

Anyway. Parsley uses Stomp on Golbat and very nearly OHKOs. Next turn, it uses Confuse Ray on Ponyta, but the flaming nag manages not only to avoid confusion damage, it hits again with Fire Blast, taking Jupiter's Bronzor down. Okay, I take that back... well done, Ponyta. A second use of Stomp sees off Mars' Golbat, too. Okay, now it's 2v1. Skuntank comes out... I'll chance another Screech, I guess. But it uses Poison Jab and Parsley falls, and so does Ponyta as the poison damage becomes too much to take. Thanks, Parsley. You were great.

Who to use now, then...? Yarrow would be great, as I can leave it in to deal with the final Golbat. But Ice Fang isn’t going to do nearly enough damage to take it down before it pulverise me with Night Slash.

Reluctantly, I choose to send in Valerian, while Tommy sends out Staraptor. Finally a good partner. I use Rock Climb - Valerian's only remaining option - and Staraptor uses Take Down, which gets a smashing critical hit and faints it.

Jupiter sends out her last mon, Golbat. You know... Yarrow is almost at full HP. If it can survive being hit on the switch-in, it should be able to KO the next turn with Ice Fang in conjunction with whatever Staraptor uses. Yeah. Let's do this. I switch out Valerian for Yarrow (and hilariously I needn't have bothered, as Golbat attacks Staraptor instead, poisoning it with Sludge Bomb) and they finish it off together, winning the battle.

And, um… Parsley evolves. Oh mate, this is awkward. First member of the squad to faint AND evolve in the same battle.

Tommy preens and goes on about how wonderful he is before healing all of my Pokemon. Even though forced heals are against the spirit of this run, I’m grateful nonetheless: my team very much needed it. He then runs off because apparently the end of the world is solely my concern or something.

And it looks as though things are hotting up, as Palkia seems to be doing something different to before. A radiant swirl of starry energy emanates from around it, which Cyrus identifies as the start of a brand-new galaxy. It's enough to cause him to finally show a bit of emotion, praising Palkia’s display as “fantastic” and “beautiful”. Which, yeah, graphically it's pretty good.

But suddenly the music of the lake trio plays, and they appear around Palkia one by one. The swirl of energy disappears. Oh dear. Looks like the lake trio have showed up to put a stop to Palkia's manipulation of space. Too bad. Cyrus rages as Mesprit briefly appears in front of me for... some reason? ...and declares that he'll defeat me, because I guess he needs to save face or something.

Apparently Cyrus's Pokemon all magically evolved in the short time between him leaving the HQ and arriving at Spear Pillar. For an emotionless robot, it would seem he likes saving these things for a special occasion.

Even though Tommy just healed me, the rules of the challenge mean that Parsley is still considered dead, so I waste a turn by chucking a Pokeball at Cyrus' Honchkrow and let it KO her with Drill Peck. Sorry, chuckie. To be fair you were never going to win against it anyway.

Riiiight... who's up next? Hmmm. I think... I think... there's a very, very small chance that Mugwort can survive Honchkrow's Dark Pulse, which would give it an opportunity to use Rock Polish and then Rock Slide. Tight, but it's our best shot. I bring it in, and... I guess we’ll never know, as absurdly it chooses Drill Peck, which Mugwort tanks with ease. It uses Rock Polish and outspeeds next turn to use Rock Slide. I doubt it'll KO and I'm right, but Honchkrow flinches so I'm able to go ahead and strike again for the win.

Everything Cyrus uses is weak to Rock, but he opts for Weavile next. Mmm... even with Rock Polish taken into account, it's probably still faster - the level advantage is just too great. But what else can I do? Borage is the only other one who can win against Weavile, but that means definitely taking a hit in the process. Argh... I don't know what IVs Cyrus' Pokemon have. But if there's a chance I can outspeed, I should take it. I stick with Mugwort as Weavile is sent out.

And... I don't outspeed. Weavile strikes with X-Scissor, which is enough to cause Mugwort to faint. Crap. RIP, Mugwort. I'm sorry. I liked you a lot and you deserved better than this.

Borage it is, then. I taught it Brick Break earlier: have to hope it's enough to KO. Weavile hits Borage with Night Slash, dealing a massive amount of damage, but Borage survives and strikes back with a Fist Plate-boosted Brick Break, getting a clean KO.

Gyarados is up next. I’ve really no idea who is best-placed to take Gyarados on. Looking at who I've got left - Sumach, Yarrow, Borage, Valerian - I figure it probably is Valerian. It’s the fastest, the highest-levelled; and even then it probably won’t prevail, but it can leave an opening for someone else to. Rock Climb is the go-to move (even with Intimidate factored in). Happily, I confuse it on the first hit, though it manages to attack me anyway with Ice Fang. I respond with Ice Beam, hoping against hope for a lucky freeze. No joy. And then Cyrus uses a Full Restore, making all of that meaningless.

I use Rock Climb again - it gets a critical hit, but nothing else. Gyarados responds with Aqua Tail. Not saying I want you to use Earthquake, but maybe try Giga Impact? Give Borage an opening to wreck you. I strike with Ice Beam again and get hit by another Aqua Tail - down to the wire. Hoping it'll do just enough, I use Surf and bring Gyarados' HP down to a tiny amount - but it strikes back with Ice Fang and KOs.

A moment of silence, please, for a Pokemon with true BDE. Valerian, you were a boss from start to finish.

Having been thoroughly weakened, Gyarados is, at least, a pleasant easy kill for Sumach with Slash.

And last we have Crobat. Hmm, stay with Sumach or switch to Yarrow...? Hard to say. Sumach is faster, though Crobat outspeeds them both anyway. Offensively they're about even. I opt to keep Sumach in play and fire off an Ice Beam. Getting in first, Crobat uses Air Slash, which brings Sumach down to below half health; it won't survive another. Ice Beam would need two more hits to bring it down in any case.

Well, looks like Sumach is done for as well.

No.

No. No. I’ve invested too much into Sumach to let it end like this. Sorry, Borage - sorry it’s come to this. I switch out to Borage as Crobat uses Cross Poison, knocking it out. God damn it. There just wasn't another way.

Sumach won't take another hit so I'm not switching back to it. Yarrow is at full health, and can tank even a Bite - as long as it doesn't get flinched. I send it out and use Ice Fang as Crobat strikes with Air Slash - I grit my teeth, but Yarrow doesn't flinch and lands the hit. It's powerful. Is it enough for me to...?

It is. I use Ice Shard next turn and it deals just enough damage to cause Crobat to faint. We did it. At a heavy cost, but we did it.

Outraged that I defeated him, Cyrus swears that this isn't the end of his wicked plans and departs, Mars and Jupiter disappearing with him. Yeah, bye. Can confidently predict I shan't be seeing you lot again. Loooo-serssss.

Dawn and Professor Rowan arrive, nice and late. Rowan congratulates me for stopping Team Galactic, but says that there's still something I must do - Palkia is still out there, and needs to be confronted. Mmm... can I take a rain check on that? Oh, apparently not. Dawn cheers me on but does nothing else... seriously? You're not going to heal me like Tommy did? What is the actual point of you? Just going to let me go up against Palkia like THIS?*

Fuck’s sake. No, whatever. It’s fine. I take a breath and step towards Palkia, and the battle begins.

If you can call it a battle. I certainly can’t KO it with Yarrow and Sumach. But I have one Net Ball, some Ultra Balls... and, of course, the Master Ball. I’d been intending to save this in case I decided to catch Mesprit, but... needs must. The big dragon is more than capable of wiping out both my remaining team members - and if they both die, the challenge is over.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. It'd be such a waste, though. My finger hovers over the touchscreen. I could just run, I suppose. Nah. Wasteful. I should try and catch it if I can. I just don't want to use the Master Ball on it. I've got two Quick Balls left. Can I catch Palkia in a Quick Ball…?

Go on. I throw the ball, and... it's a successful catch. God bless Palkia's absurdly high catch rate!

Might as well give it a nickname. After some thought, I decide to call it Ginseng, and it gets sent to the PC. Should I add it to my team...? God knows there's space. Might be fun. Not to mention useful against the Elite Four.

Dawn comes up and congratulates me again, then says we should go. Yes please - I don't ever want to come back to this place. She promptly hustles me away from the altar as Rowan stays behind to say something alone.

...she doesn't actually take me home, though. She couldn't even do that! Seriously, this girl makes Liz Truss look competent.

But since I'm here, I may as well double back to get the Lustrous Orb I sighted just after catching Palkia. Can't hurt to have it, though I'm genuinely torn on whether I'll use Palkia going forward. Have to think about that one over the weekend...


____________

*No but seriously, I know this is a no-heal challenge but I legitimately don't see the sense in not letting you leave Spear Pillar if your team isn't going to be healed. Especially since if you do wipeout against it, you can just return. Surely more than a few people have narrowly beaten Cyrus, run out of Revives and had to go up against the cover legend with a Torterra that has 3 HP remaining. Idk, seems dumb is all.



Current team

Yarrow the Froslass - level 38 (Snow Cloak)
Mild Nature
HP: 51/103
-Headbutt (15/15)
-Ice Shard (29/30)
-Ice Fang (14/15)
-Crunch (15/15)

Sumach the Sneasel - level 43 (Keen Eye)
Mild Nature
HP: 57/102
-Shadow Claw (15/15)
-Metal Claw (35/35)
-Ice Beam (9/10)
-Slash (19/20)


To be added...?

Ginseng the Palkia
??? Nature
HP: ???/???
???/???
???/???
???/???
???/???

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

Clove the Seviper - level 26
Adamant Nature

Cinnamon the Finneon - level 20
Docile Nature

Galangal the Graveler - level 34
Hardy Nature

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30
Jolly Nature

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30
Hardy Nature

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 35
Naughty Nature

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20
Naughty Nature

Monkshood the Steelix - level 36
Relaxed Nature

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20
Naughty Nature

Epazote the Bronzong - level 38
Bold Nature

Parsley the Exploud - level 41
Mild Nature

Valerian the Golduck - level 46
Naive Nature

Mugwort the Lunatone - level 39
Brave Nature

Borage the Ursaring - level 40
Impish Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Fifteen

Well, it's been a crazy few days. In-game, at least. I'll not bore you with the details of the last week of my life.

Using an Escape Rope as soon as I enter Mt Coronet again, I emerge on Route 208 and head straight for Route 222. Nothing in the game actually suggests "the guy blocking it is gone, you can go here now!" but luckily I've played through Sinnoh before. Might have taken me weeks to figure that out otherwise.

Before I do, though, I stop off at the Pokemon Centre to deposit my fallen warriors and check over that Palkia I just caught. Hmmm... it has a Lax Nature. That stinks. Though it likely won't stop it being hella overpowered.

Y'know what. I've decided I can do without it. It'd be fun to demolish the scrubby trainers of Sinnoh - but for now, I'm leaving it where it is as a reserve. Maybe if my squad is a total wreck by the time I get to the Elite Four, it'll be needed. We'll see...

There's some good spawns on Route 222 - in classic Pokemon fashion, a couple are ideally-suited for the next gym. I find a Purugly in the grass straight away and catch it without issue - I'm hoping it has Limber, but annoyingly it has Own Tempo. Purugly's never been a favourite of mine, but it worked well enough for Mars. Good nature, though (Hasty) and it's very fast indeed. I nickname her Mace (that's an actual spice, but Purugly is an abrasive sort of species and it does put me in mind of the spray...)

As I arrive here at night in-game, Gastrodon is a relatively common spawn too, and I use a Net Ball (instead of a Quick Ball for once) to catch it, nicknaming it Sorrel. Gastrodon knows Hidden Power; a quick soft-reset test against a wild Glameow confirms that this one's HP type is Fighting. Not a bad one to have.

The last Pokemon I catch on this route is via the Pokeradar: Flaaffy. Not the most brilliant mon, but it's way overlevelled for evolution and there's a plethora of Water-type trainers I haven't fought yet, so hopefully it'll do alright for itself. This one, I nickname Chervil.

Alright! Welcome aboard, newbies. Let's proceed. Amusingly, several trainers on Route 222 have Pokemon that can't touch Ghost-types (two have Machoke, one has Lopunny, and another has Feebas), so this allows Yarrow the chance to grind some easy experience and catch up to everyone else in their 40s. Headbutt is weak, but that doesn't matter when you can simply use it over and over against a foe that can't touch you; I eventually use up all of its PP and, rejecting Hail as an option when Yarrow hits level 40 at last, decide to use one of my Psychic TMs on it.

Teaching Surf to Sorrel, I trek back to Route 213 and into the hidden rocky area accessible only with Surf, sweeping away all the trainers with lower-levelled Water-types with Chervil, levelling it up to 43 and evolving it into Ampharos!

Not much to do in Sunyshore, so I decide to tackle the Gym straight away. The gym leader, Volkner, is hanging out at the Lighthouse, depressed because no trainers have been tough enough to beat him yet. Huh, after a whole game of Tommy beating me to the punch it's nice to finally get ahead. Let's smash him good and proper. Sorrel's Ground-type should come in useful, blessed as it is with an immunity to all the Electric-types I'm soon to face. It's not an auto-win, however. After some thought, I decide to also teach Mace Dig, and give it the Earth Plate I found in Mt Coronet to help it cut through the trainers here.

...aside from the kid with a random Mr Mime. Typical. Luckily, Sumach has no trouble disposing of it with Shadow Claw. Oh, and an Ace Trainer with Steelix and Medicham. (By the way, why is Steelix ALWAYS the go-to for anyone who defies their type specialty? There was one in Snowpoint Gym too, and Flint infamously uses one. Weird.) Blargh, nearly all the trainers here are mandatory. Most are fine, though high-level Raichu are capable of surviving Dig. Some crafty use of Swagger ensures that none of them get the chance to strike back.

I like this gym, though. Cool vibe.

Okay, time to take on Volkner, the last and toughest of Sinnoh's Gym Leaders!

VS Volkner

I'm not going to lead with Mace. Volkner's Raichu knows Brick Break, and is high levelled enough that it will definitely live through one hit from Dig. But it can't do anything else against Sorrel, so I figure that's who to lead with. Sure enough, Sorrel tanks some Brick Breaks and strikes back with Body Slam; within three turns, both Pokemon are paralysed. Thanks to Raichu failing to move twice, Sorrel is able to get it to 25%, but Volkner heals and outlasts further hits to KO. Bah. RIP Sorrel. Well, at least I didn't do what I was tempted to and teach it Earthquake. Mace is able to mop up from there, thankfully avoiding paralysis.

Volkner opts for Luxray next. Ugh, fine. Let's do this. Mace outspeeds (because Luxray suuuucks) so I hit with Dig, doing around 40%. It hits back with Charge Beam, successfully getting a boost off it. A second Dig brings it down to the red zone, but this, of course, triggers its held Sitrus Berry. Luxray hits with Crunch, doing a respectable but not fatal amount of damage, and this allows a third use of Dig which gets the KO.

Ambipom is up next. Ugh, if only Sorrel had lived - Ambipom can't do anything to it. Mmm. I feel like Ambipom will probably outspeed Mace, though. Thinking it over, Chervil will definitely be able to tank its Shock Waves and maaaaybe 2HKO with Discharge...?

I send in Chervil to take the big monkey on. And Ambipom... oh, this is hilarious. Ambipom uses Baton Pass. Without boosting. For nothing. Just switches Octillery straight into a Discharge. It doesn't OHKO, but it comes close and I'm able to use Signal Beam to pip the last bit of HP.

And we're sticking with Chervil as Ambipom comes out again! As expected, it goes for Shock Wave for minimal damage. Discharge - only 2 PP left after all the Gyarados I slaughtered earlier - doesn't quite manage half of its health, so I go for Signal Beam to nudge it into KO range. And that gets a critical hit, knocking Ambipom out as it uses Nasty Plot.

Va va voom! And that's it. All the Sinnoh gyms conquered. Volkner acknowledges defeat, calling it the funnest battle he's had in a while (bit weird, but then I guess if you've won for 100 battles straight, your first loss would be at least interesting) and hands over TM59, Charge Beam as well as the Beacon Badge.

Not a bad-looking badge at all. It's kind of understated for the final one.

Ah, but which one???​

It's a shame that NPC who tells you each team you used for each gym isn't in this game. Would legitimately be quite useful.

Then again, I am writing all this down, so never mind.

Seeing as my Surf user is now dead, I don't deposit Sorrel just yet, instead heading down to the beach. Oh yeah, Jasmine's here. Hey. She gives me HM07, Waterfall, the last HM I need to explore this land. Cool!

Now to find someone who can use it...

All that one can find in the waters immediately north of Sunyshore are Tentacruel, Pelipper, and - rarely - Mantyke. Since the last of those is effectively useless unless I can find a Remoraid, that's a no. The maximum level they can be is 45, though, and I have a couple of Pokemon at level 44 now - so I apply a repel and swim back and forth, eventually encountering a mighty level 45 Pelipper. Takes forever to catch, but that's fine because its moves are garbage - Stockpile, Swallow, Spit Up, and Fling. Literally can't do anything to Yarrow. It wastes a ton of PP as I waste a ton of balls, but that's all good with me as I promptly teach it Surf and Fly when I finally catch it. Finally a Flyer on my team again! If it lasts until Aaron it'll be useful too. Hmmm, I'll keep Fling; I have a Grip Claw in my bag, which interestingly enough gets a high damage level despite not looking that heavy. Oh, and I've got the Iron Ball, too! Don't even remember finding that.

I nickname my new addition Nettle. Never had much interest in Pelipper at first but it's grown on me over the years, particularly since it gained Drizzle. Is that bandwagoning?

Anyway. I wonder if it's worth teaching Nettle a new move since I deleted both Spit Up and Swallow. It's cute that Pelipper can learn Shock Wave. But I'll hang onto it for now, since Yarrow can also learn it. I teach Chervil Charge Beam once its final Discharge PP gets used up on a Swimmer's Lumineon. Charge Beam's low PP stinks, but Chervil doesn't learn any new Electric moves (or any moves, come to that) for a very long time.

Urgh... Victory Road needs so many HMs to traverse: Rock Climb, Rock Smash, Strength, and of course Waterfall as well as Surf. Maybe I should have planned a little better. That said, we did have a Rock Climb and Strength user... not entirely my fault they're not with us any more. Any interesting Pokemon that can learn a few of those moves? We're sort of at the end of what the Pokeradar and the dual-slot mode can get us at this point. Actually, both Nidoking and Nidoqueen learn three out of four of those... kind of bummed I didn't add one of those to my team earlier, really.

One Pokemon is the obvious answer: Bibarel. It'd have been nice to actually use it as a bona fide team member (I've never actually used Bibarel on any team). But the highest-levelled Bibarel are found at Lake Acuity, way weaker than I'd want to be raising now.

Hmmmm. Maybe it can just be a HM slave for Victory Road and then tossed aside.

(Didn't we used to call those HM whores, not slaves? What happened to that?

Yeah, go on then. I fly over to Lake Acuity and catch one, nicknaming it "HM WHORE" in defiance, and teaching it Rock Smash, Strength, Waterfall, and Rock Climb. Won't use it in battle (not that it'd be much good anyway) but it might come in handy as a sacrificial shield for someone else. Now let's get going to Victory Road!

Other than the obviously unavoidable one, none of the trainers on Route 223 are particularly worth taking the time to fight, so I move across the route as speedily as DP's torturous Surfing speed will allow, finally approaching the large and ominous waterfall barring the Pokemon League from easy access. Up we go!

Hmmm... you know, as much as I found Platinum's widening of the cave mouth weird and unnecessary, it does admittedly look more imposing than the uninspiring small entrance in DP.

Or do I only THINK it looks better because I've got the benefit of hindsight? Crafty game developers, creating an artificial divide!​

Ooh, before I go in, where else can I use Waterfall...? There's one on Route 208, which gets me a Carbos. Nice, nice (there's also an Iron here I never picked up earlier on). I remember there's one in Mt Coronet too, but I don't think it's worth trekking all the way back up that damn mountain for... *checks notes* a Stone Plate? Yeah, definitely no. Particularly as I literally already have a Rock Incense. And there's a couple on Route 210 hiding a Meadow Plate and a Wave Incense... oh, yeah, go on. We have a Water-type user, after all.

Right. Let's do this. Just grab a couple more Super Repels first...

...oh, never mind. Everything in here is higher in level than me. Luckily pretty much all the wild Pokemon are slow enough to escape from.

The trainers, on the other hand, are a mixed bag. Cautious though I am, I'm also desirous of their juicy experience yields, and almost none of them can be avoided in any case. So I have to work out a strategy for each to avoid taking damage where I can, as much as possible. Some are enjoyably easy - Yarrow and Sumach obliterate the Psychic with Haunter, Gengar, and Alakazam as well as the Bird Keeper with Noctowl and Staraptor, while the Ace Trainer with Golduck and Blissey barring the way to the second floor initially seems quite fearsome until I realise that her Golduck only knows Psychic moves thus can't do squat against Sumach (taking into account Byron's odd behaviour earlier in the run, it would seem that opponents in DP will switch if they can't damage you directly, even if they have a non-damaging move like Confuse Ray or Disable that they could use instead. Must test if this is the case in other games). Some judicious passing around of the Choice Specs ensues to ensure that various members of the squad can achieve OHKOs on their most threatening foes, and we make it through largely unscathed.

For all that it's pretty tough in here, I greatly prefer this iteration of Victory Road to Hoenn's, or even Kanto's, both of which are tediously long. Hoenn's in particular always confuses me, whereas this one is pleasingly short and doesn't necessitate the use of Flash (always a point in any cave's favour). Not particularly keen on either of Unova's variants either. But anyway. Sumach has a quite nice time all round in here too thanks to the few wild Kadabra that show up once we hit the second floor, all of which can be 2HKOed by Metal Claw as they try to hit back without success.

Speaking of Sumach having a nice time, as we reach the final stretch of the cave I happen upon a certain item: the Razor Claw! Hellooooo. This little piece of metal is what the dark boy needs to evolve. I also pick up a couple of TMs: TM41, Torment (meh), TM59 Dragon Pulse (eh), and TM79, Dark Pulse (hmmm). I don't collect TM71, Stone Edge (yum), because it necessitates passing by a pair of optional trainers I'd rather avoid.

There's also a tantalising area to the east I'm not allowed to go into even though I'm a big boy who already got the National Dex.

Oh come on, at least put some effort into your excuse for why I can't go in. Rockfall? Flood? Rampaging Gible? Marley's still trying to find her clothes?
​

I return to the second level and grind against wild Kadabra until Sumach finally evolves into a glorious Weavile, waiting specifically until level 49 so that it learns Ice Shard (as a Sneasel) and Dark Pulse (as a Weavile). This proves crucial to defeating the penultimate trainer, Veteran Edgar. His mighty Tentacruel is a vicious foe, capable of tearing through my team, but a critical hit from a Spell Tag-boosted Shadow Claw is enough to KO it. His Golem is easily taken care of by Nettle, but his last Pokemon is Empoleon. Mace has one Dig PP left - unlikely to KO, but none of my team are likely to come close to doing that. Sure enough, it strikes for some respectable damage but Empoleon, of course, strikes back for the win. RIP, Mace! I feel like if I'd used it longer it would have been phenomenally good. But oh well. Chervil is able to finish the job next turn.

Only one trainer left before the exit - a Dragon Tamer with two Gible and a Gyarados. Yarrow picks the weak dragons off with Ice Shard, and Chervil OHKOs the Gyarados with Charge Beam as it uses Dragon Dance, mercifully taking no damage.

Made it. That was seriously tough, but I made it. I emerge from the cavern and take in the sight of the immense waterfall before me, atop which waits my ultimate goal - the Pokemon League.

It's almost time.



Current team

Yarrow the Froslass - level 42 (Snow Cloak)
Mild Nature
HP: 62/114
-Psychic (7/10)
-Ice Shard (24/30)
-Ice Fang (1/15)
-Crunch (13/15)

Sumach the Weavile - level 49 (Pressure)
Mild Nature
HP: 85/130
-Shadow Claw (7/15)
-Ice Shard (30/30)
-Ice Beam (7/10)
-Dark Pulse (14/15)

Nettle the Pelipper - level 46 (Keen Eye)
Bold Nature
HP: 123/123
-Stockpile (20/20)
-Surf (7/15)
-Fly (15/15)
-Fling (10/10)

Chervil the Ampharos - level 45 (Static)
Calm Nature
HP: 90/147
-Cotton Spore (40/40)
-Light Screen (30/30)
-Charge Beam (6/10)
-Signal Beam (12/15)



To be added...?

Ginseng the Palkia - level 47 (Pressure)
Lax Nature
HP: 153/153
-Water Pulse (20/20)
-Ancientpower (5/5)
-Dragon Claw (15/15)
-Spatial Rend (5/5)

Dearly departed

Anise the Shinx – level 3
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

Clove the Seviper - level 26
Adamant Nature

Cinnamon the Finneon - level 20
Docile Nature

Galangal the Graveler - level 34
Hardy Nature

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30
Jolly Nature

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30
Hardy Nature

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 35
Naughty Nature

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20
Naughty Nature

Monkshood the Steelix - level 36
Relaxed Nature

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20
Naughty Nature

Epazote the Bronzong - level 38
Bold Nature

Parsley the Exploud - level 41
Mild Nature

Valerian the Golduck - level 46
Naive Nature

Mugwort the Lunatone - level 39
Brave Nature

Borage the Ursaring - level 40
Impish Nature

Sorrel the Gastrodon - level 42
Modest Nature

Mace the Purugly - level 44
Hasty Nature

Retired, with full honours

HM WHORE the Bibarel - level 35
Impish Nature

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Sixteen

We've reached the Pokemon League at last. The time has come.

...almost. Need to do a bit more planning, I'm not going up against the Elite Four without a full party.

So, who shall I add? Obviously there's Ginseng, the Palkia. Hmmm. You know what, nah. If I've got this much reticence about the prospect, I'm not going to feel good about using it. It's just too powerful.

I double back down the waterfall. Victory Road has Medicham, Machoke, Golbat, and Graveler... all of whom I've already used. Bah. Just about the only one left is Kadabra, which I decide I can make use of. I catch it in an Ultra Ball after a couple of tries, though it does get in one use of Psychic on Sumach which annoys me since Pressure deducts two PP instead of one. Welcome aboard, newbie. Late in the day but perhaps that's the best time. It's male, Hardy nature; I decide to call him Cayenne.

Kadabra's moveset at level 46 is quite unimpressive, but it'll do for now. It doesn't even learn Focus Blast like Alakazam does, sadly.

Right, still one short... what about Mesprit? Yeah, why not. Gotta use that Master Ball on something. I head over to Lake Verity and enter the cavern, where Mesprit tauntingly waits before disappearing as soon as I interact with it. Professor Rowan somehow enters the cavern and tells me I should chase after Mesprit because it wants to play, then scolds me for not picking up the Marking Map. Oh yeah, I should probably do that if I want to actually find it. For the first time in the series, tracking down a roamer is actually somewhat simple since it's all on one screen and you don't have to go through the laborious process of scrolling through the Pokedex EVERY TIME to the legendary you're chasing and looking up where it is. Sorry, I hunted a roamer in Gen III recently and I'd forgotten quite how tediously long it takes.

It only takes about five minutes for me to get Mesprit on Route 202, where I promptly chuck the Master Ball at it. Playtime's OVER, chum! As befits a rare Psychic-type, I name it Saffron. Mesprit's moves are also, predictably, garbage. Since I refuse to rely on Confusion at level 50, I promptly use up my second TM29 and overwrite that with Psychic. Yes it learns Extrasensory literally one level from now. But still.

Even though I've had a few Psychic-types on board, it's struck me that I haven't got any Psychic-boosting items. Might be useful. Looking them up, apparently the Twistedspoon isn't anywhere in-game... meh. The Mind Plate, though, is deep within Solaceon Ruins (and the Odd Incense - two for the price of one, that). I make the trip to get it, since there's also a Rare Candy in that room. While I'm in the area, I remember that TM19, Giga Drain, is waiting to be collected on Route 209 - I also swing by the Veilstone Dept Store to buy TM25, Thunder and TM15, Hyper Beam, and teach them both to Saffron.

Right, so, there's one thing I still need to get done... and it's a fight I'm not especially looking forward to. As I approach the Ace Trainer guarding the door, Tommy bursts in and demands that I battle him to see who's more worthy. Don't think we really need a battle to determine that, but... okay.

His first few Pokemon aren't terribly demanding. Sumach knocks out his Staraptor with Ice Beam, and Cayenne has been given the Choice Specs for this fight so knocks out both Heracross and Roserade with Psychic. And then Tommy chooses Snorlax. Ooh. Tricky. Brutal, even. Argh, I wish I had a good Fighting-type on hand. I'm not sure who's best-placed for this.

Y'know what... sorry, Cayenne, but last in, first out. Psychic strikes for barely 20%, and Snorlax predictably fells Cayenne with Body Slam a moment later. Well, you got two kills. That's more than a lot of my other brief additions managed. Hmmm. Right, who next? It's not the best choice, but I opt for Chervil to take over. I hit with Charge Beam, getting a Special Attack boost, and though I'm expecting an Earthquake or a Body Slam back, Snorlax instead uses Rest. Small mercies. Another hit from Charge Beam raises my Special Attack again, and then again. I can get it to 50% before it kills me, at least. The next hit brings it to below 50%... and Snorlax uses Rest again! Well, only two Charge Beam PP left, but Chervil's offenses have been boosted enough to do about 25% per hit - so even if it does kill me, someone else can finish the job. Two more hits and one more boost - out of Charge Beam PP. Can Signal Beam do it...? It can! Signal Beam KOs, netting me a surprisingly easy win.

Rapidash up next. I switch to Nettle; it uses Sunny Day, but Surf still takes away over half of its HP. But as I prepare to strike again, Rapidash uses Will-o-Wisp. Ugh. Nettle gets the KO, but now it's officially on a timer. Damn it.

Chervil would be the ideal candidate to deal with Empoleon... if it had any Electric moves left. So it falls to Saffron. The sunlight is still strong, so Thunder has an even worse chance of hitting than it usually does: 50%. Ordinarily 50-50 odds are odds I'd take the risk on... but this is Pokemon, so 50-50 is more like 20-80. Still. What choice do I have? I hit with Thunder for heavy-but-not-fatal damage - Empoleon hits back with Shadow Claw and deals a staggering amount of damage back.

My next Thunder misses. Empoleon hits this time with Metal Claw, bringing Saffron down to a scant few HP.

But my next Thunder hits, and it falls. Tommy cries, Tommy wails, Tommy howls, Tommy stamps his feet... you get the picture. Tommy runs off, and I take a moment to regroup. Well, he certainly made us bleed for that win.

And once again we're down a team member. RIP, Cayenne. No one can say you didn't pull your weight.

Right, time to ACTUALLY prepare for the Elite Four. And to fill that vacant slot... hmmm. Only one Pokemon jumps out at me - Tentacruel. Can be caught at level 45 on Route 223; it so happens that Chervil is that level, so I apply a Repel and Surf around idly for ages until I find one. Nice easy catch with a Quick Ball; I nickname it Hemlock. Welcome! Hopefully you'll be as destructive as your name implies. Sadly it has a rather lacklustre Impish nature, but oh well.

I head to Veilstone and sell all superfluous items: evolution stones, precious artifacts, TMs none of my squad can learn... oh, and all the revives and potions and PP restorers I've picked up. Obviously won't be finding a use for those. Oh, I have some TinyMushrooms, too; where's the guy who buys those in this game... oh, there isn't one in Sinnoh? Huh, never noticed that. You know, for all that we talk about item bloat in later generations, I feel like DP was where the rot set in... there's a whole bunch of items from previous gens that have no purpose in Sinnoh.

Anyway. Having made a lot of cash from my sales, I buy as many Protein, Carbos, and Calcium as I can afford and dump them into everyone who can use them.

Then it's time to consider who'd benefit from a level boost. I have nine Rare Candies, and the Elite Four are way ahead of me level-wise. Even Tommy was. Yarrow, though only a few points away from the next level, is still lagging behind the others - once she levels up, I give her eight; enough to take her to level 51 and learn Blizzard, replacing the now-out-of-PP Ice Fang. It's technically not HP restoration, so I consider it fair use. The last one I give to Hemlock - beginner's privilege, I guess.

Now comes the slightly more enjoyable part - allocating TMs. I teach Giga Drain to Hemlock... Grass-type coverage will be useful, I suspect. For the same reason, Saffron gets Grass Knot. Hemlock knows Water Pulse, but that's not really good enough so it's gone in favour of Surf - it also knows Poison Jab, which I decide can stay. But I teach it Giga Impact, too - probably won't be very effective, but might be a decent last-ditch attack.

Since Chervil is out of Charge Beam PP I teach it Shock Wave, and finally ditch Cotton Spore in favour of Focus Blast, as it's the only one on the team who can learn it. Nettle... ah, Nettle, I want to teach you something better to replace Stockpile, but honestly there isn't anything you'll make good use of, and that burn means that you'll be gone sooner or later. I leave it as is.

Now to decide who gets what item for our first battle... and we're ready.

​

Saffron @ Odd Incense (Levitate) Level 50, Bashful Nature HP: 31/142 Psychic (10/10) Hyper Beam (5/5) Thunder (7/10) Grass Knot (20/20)​	Sumach @ Icicle Plate (Pressure) Level 49, Mild Nature HP: 85/130 Shadow Claw (7/15) Ice Shard (30/30) Ice Beam (6/10) Dark Pulse (14/15)​	Yarrow @ Wise Glasses (Snow Cloak) Level 51, Mild Nature HP: 84/136 Blizzard (5/5) Ice Shard (24/30) Crunch (13/15) Psychic (7/10)​
Nettle @ Wave Incense (Keen Eye) Level 46, Bold Nature HP: 108/123 (burned) Stockpile (20/20) Fly (15/15) Surf (7/15) Fling (10/10)​	Chervil @ Fist Plate (Static) Level 45, Calm Nature HP: 90/147 Shock Wave (20/20) Light Screen (30/30) Focus Blast (5/5) Signal Beam (11/15)​	Hemlock @ Choice Specs (Liquid Ooze) Level 46, Impish Nature HP: 144/144 Giga Impact (5/5) Surf (15/15) Poison Jab (20/20) Giga Drain (10/10)​

​

Ready to take on the Elite Four. Well, ready as I'll ever be, at least. Those items will definitely fluctuate between battles based on who I judge to need them most.

Confident? Mmm... no. But let's do it all the same. After the guard at the door validates that I have all eight badges (how do you think I got through Victory Road?) I enter and head up to where the first of them is waiting.

VS Aaron

Though he's much, much less threatening than he is in Platinum, from where I'm standing Aaron is still pretty tough here. He leads with Dustox and I with Saffron, who safely OHKOs with Psychic.

Next up is Beautifly, which Sumach is capable of dispatching with Ice Beam. Aaron sends in Heracross and I send out Yarrow to meet it. It has Psychic, but even with a Choice Specs it'll never OHKO - have to hope it won't be able to KO in turn. Psychic takes off over half of its health and it strikes back with Megahorn - it's a brutal hit, but Yarrow survives with 10 HP and gets the kill.

Vespiquen is next on the agenda. Again, none of the squad have a hope of OHKOing - but Sumach is the best option. Ice Beam hits for around 40%. Uh-oh. Vespiquen uses Attack Order, and that's Sumach fainted. Crap. Yarrow is switched in, and uses Blizzard - but it misses. Vespiquen hits it with Power Gem, dropping it too.

Well. Who next? I send in Saffron and successfully get off a Thunder, finishing it off.

And bringing up the rear is... Drapion. Saffron isn't ever going to get the KO and I doubt it outspeeds, but I think Hemlock can weather some hits - none of Drapion's moves are super-effective. Drapion batters Hemlock with Aerial Ace and X-Scissor while it returns fire with Surf, doing around 30% per hit - it heals itself with its Sitrus Berry after the second, and Aaron restores HP after the third. I land two more hits, but Drapion manages to get the kill first.

One battle in and three dead. I send out Nettle and it heroically tanks an Aerial Ace before getting a kill in return with another Surf.

Well... shit.

VS Bertha

Three squad members left. I was hoping to use Hemlock's Choice-boosted Surf and Giga Drain to make this an easy sweep, but... oh dear.

It's Saffron against Quagsire. Psychic does a respectable amount as it sets up a Sandstorm, and even gets a Special Defence drop into the bargain; a second hit finishes the job.

Sudowoodo is up next. I switch to Nettle and use Surf, but it gets in ahead of me with Sucker Punch - then survives with a thread of HP left. Nettle survives Sucker Punch with enough HP to weather the next turn of burn and weather damage and gets the kill next turn, but then faints.

She sends in Golem next. I send in Saffron and manage to KO with Grass Knot - Bertha sends out Whiscash, but Grass Knot fails to KO and Saffron falls to its Rock Slide. Chervil is last up, and fails to even land a hit. RIP.

___________
​

Well... that's that.

First time I've failed one of these runs (outright failed at least). Ah well - sometimes it works out, and sometimes it don't.

Still, this was a really engaging challenge to try, and a lot of thought went into it. A run like this relies on luck, and I had a good amount of that - just not enough to see me all the way through. But I'm happy I got as far as I did, since I had my doubts I could make it to this point.

Stating the obvious, but strong sweepers found the most success here overall - anything slow was doomed to suffer death by a thousand cuts. Shoutout to the stars of this run - Ginger, Asafoetida, Valerian, Sumach, and Yarrow in particular. You guys all did great.

Overall, since Pearl was my first Gen IV game, it's been fun to come back to. And it was very fun to play through Sinnoh with some non-native species without trading. Even if, ironically, my final team was only 2/6 non-native. But I've tried out some species I normally wouldn't use.

Thanks to everyone who's followed along, I hope you've enjoyed reading this.

But for now - goodnight.​

Current team

n/a


(Not) to be added

Ginseng the Palkia - level 47 (Pressure)
Lax Nature
HP: 153/153
-Water Pulse (20/20)
-Ancientpower (5/5)
-Dragon Claw (15/15)
-Spatial Rend (5/5)

Dearly departed​

Anise the Shinx – level 3
Docile Nature

Bay the Machop – level 5
Rash Nature

Paprika the Monferno – level 17
Hardy Nature

Basil the Budew – level 14
Calm Nature

Lemongrass the Buizel - level 10
Rash Nature

Mint the Pachirisu - level 12
Gentle Nature

Coriander the Lotad - level 12
Careful Nature

Turmeric the Elekid - level 15
Gentle Nature

Ginger the Noctowl - level 21
Lonely Nature

Sage the Slowpoke - level 16
Lax Nature

Dill the Meditite - level 14
Rash Nature

Tarragon the Tyrogue - level 15
Calm Nature

Lavender the Gengar – level 20
Adamant Nature

Vanilla the Miltank - level 25
Naughty Nature

Clove the Seviper - level 26
Adamant Nature

Cinnamon the Finneon - level 20
Docile Nature

Galangal the Graveler - level 34
Hardy Nature

Tulsi the Spiritomb - level 30
Jolly Nature

Charnushka the Carnivine - level 30
Hardy Nature

Asafoetida the Crobat - level 35
Naughty Nature

Cumin the Ninjask - level 20
Naughty Nature

Monkshood the Steelix - level 36
Relaxed Nature

Garamasala the Shedinja - level 20
Naughty Nature

Epazote the Bronzong - level 38
Bold Nature

Parsley the Exploud - level 41
Mild Nature

Valerian the Golduck - level 46
Naive Nature

Mugwort the Lunatone - level 39
Brave Nature

Borage the Ursaring - level 40
Impish Nature

Sorrel the Gastrodon - level 42
Modest Nature

Mace the Purugly - level 44
Hasty Nature

Cayenne the Kadabra - level 46
Hardy Nature

Yarrow the Froslass - level 51
Mild Nature

Sumach the Weavile - level 49
Mild Nature

Nettle the Pelipper - level 46
Bold Nature

Chervil the Ampharos - level 45
Calm Nature

Hemlock the Tentacruel - level 46
Impish Nature

Saffron the Mesprit - level 50
Bashful Nature

Retired, with full honours​

HM WHORE the Bibarel - level 35
Impish Nature

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

This was unexpected. I really didn't think you'd fail with this challenge! I have been following it since the beginning, and while it has certainly given me the impression that it has been very tough on many occasions, I always thought and expected you to make it all the way to the end. After your impressive victory against Byron, I thought you would be able to beat any opponent. But with the high level spikes at the end, and with all your restrictions, I guess it was never going to be a guaranteed success. Nonetheless, congrats on making it as far as you did!

Some comments on specific stuff:

To be honest, having never spent any time engaging with Jubilife TV, the only significance this has to me is that I can speak to a guy inside to unlock Mystery Gift and grab some old event distributions via DNS trickery. But I won’t be using any of those in this challenge so they’re irrelevant for now. Time to head north and enter the Ravaged Path again!

While you didn't obtain any events for the challenge, using the Wi-Fi exploit to grab events is something I can highly recommend now that the challenge is over. D/P has a lot of cool events, notably several that aren't obtainable in Platinum or HG/SS...

Mmm, and it has those curious meteorites, capable of switching Deoxys’ form…

…highly unlikely we’ll be using one of those, though. But a boy can dream.

...including a Deoxys event, which can allow you to make this dream a reality!

As well as 2 Shaymin, 4 Darkrai, 4 Manaphy, Celebi, Jirachi, Arceus... and many more.

So if you're into collecting events and/or mythicals, you should go for it!

I can't complain too much, though, because this is legit one of my favourite gyms in the series. Though not really that difficult (especially once you've already done it once) the whole "find the trainer" conceit is incredibly charming and utilises the DS's enhanced graphics and camera angles in a neat but not too showy way.

And then Platinum ruined matters by turning it into this ugly mess.

I just... it's just a really big sundial that could have been in any game. Like, RSE could probably have pulled this off. Also, it removes the fourth trainer which is just adding insult to injury. Platinum didn't hugely improve on any of DP's gyms but Eterna is the only one that's such a hideous downgrade.

I haven't thought about this before, but I actually agree. The Eterna Gym in D/P was fine as it is, not particularly challenging but fun and with a nice scenery. Platinum didn't really change it for the better, it was mostly a "change just for the sake of changing things", which is unnecessary. In comparison, I think Platinum changed the Hearthome Gym for the better.

To explain, I've been preoccupied as I've written a play (my professional debut, as it happens) which will be premiering in London next year. So while that's obviously huge and exciting, it's safe to say my mind's been elsewhere and I've only been dropping into Smogon for brief snatches every other day and vomiting some brief thought about the series while sat on a train or something.

A bit late, and unrelated to the challenge, but congrats on this! I didn't know you wrote plays. I have been curious about this ever since I first read about it, so if you don't mind, what is the play named? Though if you don't want to reveal it for privacy reasons, that's okay and understandable.

Wow, this really is one hell of a sequence break.

I never realized you could do the Snowpoint Gym before going to the Canalave Library to progress the story. Does this have something to do with completing the Sinnoh Dex, or can it be done even without it?

Also, a question. Now that you have played Pearl for a while, if you were to play Platinum again directly afterwards, do you find it notably faster? Just curious. Because when I played through my project In Wonder in 2021, Platinum was surprisingly much faster when I continued with it after being done with D/P.

Overall, this challenge was a fun read and once again, congrats on making it as far as you did! It was interesting to see how your team changed with pretty much every new post and how you devised new strategies against every notable opponent. Out of all of your challenges that I have read, this one sure felt like the hardest one so far. I hope your next challenge will go better!

 

[QuentinQuonce]

This was unexpected. I really didn't think you'd fail with this challenge! I have been following it since the beginning, and while it has certainly given me the impression that it has been very tough on many occasions, I always thought and expected you to make it all the way to the end. After your impressive victory against Byron, I thought you would be able to beat any opponent. But with the high level spikes at the end, and with all your restrictions, I guess it was never going to be a guaranteed success. Nonetheless, congrats on making it as far as you did!

Thank you! Yeah I'd actually forgotten how severe the level spike toward the end of the game is, Cynthia's Garchomp caps out at level 66 which I think both of my Ice-types would have struggled to OHKO.

I was really hoping I'd make it, but tbh there did come a point about midway through where I started to wonder if it was going to be achievable. Should have used that Palkia...

While you didn't obtain any events for the challenge, using the Wi-Fi exploit to grab events is something I can highly recommend now that the challenge is over. D/P has a lot of cool events, notably several that aren't obtainable in Platinum or HG/SS...

...including a Deoxys event, which can allow you to make this dream a reality!

As well as 2 Shaymin, 4 Darkrai, 4 Manaphy, Celebi, Jirachi, Arceus... and many more.

So if you're into collecting events and/or mythicals, you should go for it!

Oh I have been! On other games, but now the challenge is over I guess I can get them all on this file. The shiny legendary beast trio are particular favourites of mine, as is the VGC Weavile and the two birthday Chimchar. But mythicals are also mucho bueno.

I haven't thought about this before, but I actually agree. The Eterna Gym in D/P was fine as it is, not particularly challenging but fun and with a nice scenery. Platinum didn't really change it for the better, it was mostly a "change just for the sake of changing things", which is unnecessary. In comparison, I think Platinum changed the Hearthome Gym for the better.

As mentioned, I'm not particularly keen on Hearthome Gym either way. I do think it's funny though that the first four gyms are redesigned (well, only very minimally for Oreburgh's) while the latter four aren't. You'd think it'd be all or nothing. Wonder if they ran out of time or something?

A bit late, and unrelated to the challenge, but congrats on this! I didn't know you wrote plays. I have been curious about this ever since I first read about it, so if you don't mind, what is the play named? Though if you don't want to reveal it for privacy reasons, that's okay and understandable.

Thanks again! Nah, happy to reveal that - it's called Can't Wait To Leave; I've actually linked to it on the "self-promotion" thread in one of the other areas of this site. Lmk if you want to know more though.

I never realized you could do the Snowpoint Gym before going to the Canalave Library to progress the story. Does this have something to do with completing the Sinnoh Dex, or can it be done even without it?

Nah, it's part of the game. I expect they didn't think to put a barrier in the way because it's fixed in Platinum: two Galactic Grunts will appear in Mt Coronet and block the way to the foggy area until you're done with Lake Verity. Platinum also adds a roadblock that prevents you from accessing Canalave City before getting the HM from Celestic Town (so you can't trade a Surf user in and skip that sequence - that's a point, I wonder if that means you can skip Celestic Town in DP? Oh lord, now I want to restart and test this...)

Also, a question. Now that you have played Pearl for a while, if you were to play Platinum again directly afterwards, do you find it notably faster? Just curious. Because when I played through my project In Wonder in 2021, Platinum was surprisingly much faster when I continued with it after being done with D/P.

Oh yeah, Platinum is much faster (and HGSS even more so). Whenever I've replayed Sinnoh, it's always been Platinum because it's simply a more "complete" experience. But I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one.

Overall, this challenge was a fun read and once again, congrats on making it as far as you did! It was interesting to see how your team changed with pretty much every new post and how you devised new strategies against every notable opponent. Out of all of your challenges that I have read, this one sure felt like the hardest one so far. I hope your next challenge will go better!

Thanks for reading along. I felt like I got a good mix of species but looking back there's still a few I wish I'd used, like Yanma, Exeggcute, and Eevee. Still. Everything's got its limits, I guess.

Which ironically will be what the next challenge will be about! Aiming to start it in the next couple of weeks depending on when I have the time. Luckily it'll be a very short time-limited one. But that's all I'll say...