2007 TPM D/P Monotype Challenge

[Ghost]

NOTE: All credit for the original idea goes to Razor Leaf, as he started the original one in RBY. However, seeing as Razor Leaf doesn't come on as often anymore, Crazy (Jim Crill) started up the R/S Monotype Challenge, and I got permission from him to start this, seeing as he doesnt have enough time.


Seeing as alot of people have beaten Diamond and Pearl, and may already be getting bored of it (as I have) I figure that we as well start up a new monotype challenge, however, this time on Diamond and Pearl!

The Rules are simple: (Thanks to Razor Leaf/Jim Crill once again for the rules)

* You play through Diamond/Pearl using pokemon of only one type (including Dual types who must share the chosen type)
* If your chosen starter is not of the type you picked, you are forbidden to use it(Except to catch your 1st type.)
* No matter how stuck you get you must not use any other types.
* You are allowed to use only ONE set of TMs. This includes trading between other versions.
* Trades are allowed as long as they are of that type.
* After you pass certain events or feel the need to update, you reply to the topic with details on how your progress is going, the status of your team, how hard it is, etc.
* You may have only ONE member of a family in your team. That means no duplicating a pokemon to fill your spots. No having two Pikachus to fill out your team.
* HM Slaves are allowed
* The Challenge is truly completed once you have defeated the Elite Four.

I don't think I left much out, so without further ado, let's start it up! *Cuts Rope*

As for me, I think I'm gonna have to do something easy to begin so... Electric Types?

Name:Bill
Type:Electric

Just before I go, I should ask... do you feel we should be able to trade for our starting pokemon or should we stick with just catching them in the wild? For example, I could get a Chinchou or something as my starter via a trade, or should I just catch a Shinx?

[Blademaster]

Catch a Shinx you cheap, lazy SOB. :P

[Poryhedron]

I've been planning to do a Ghost MTC on Pearl, but I need to force myself to finish my Ruby MTC first. I'm actually making progress on the EV training; I've got two team members with the Effort Ribbon now.

[DarkestLight]

YAYYY!!

I wish I had the time, I'd be down for this >>

[Mega Horny]

I already did a Ghost MTC with Diamond and completed it. And I have a large number of other monoteams in my Pearl version.

[Ghost]

Ill catch the Shinx but i'm going to get a Mareep and Chinchou eventually ffs.

This electric type is gonna be hard on the first gym ><

[Poryhedron]

Yay, I've started my next Monotype Challenge! I'll try not to let EV training bog me down this time. ^_^;;
I took a look at what pokémon are available in the relatively early game, and thus which types are feasible for this...I didn't find much. ¬_¬ Ghost looked promising, though, thanks to the fact that I'm playing Pearl Version. So here I go!

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/MortalCombat.gif

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

The name Rita is based on spirit. As for why I'm playing a girl again, there are two reasons. First, I've been tending to name my monotype trainers after the Gym Leaders in an old forum RPG, and the Ghost-type Leader was an old woman named Rita; second, I like going through the game as both a male and a female to see what the differences are like (mainly the personalities of the other-gender rivals), I was male in my first playthrough and this is only my second.
The opposite of the spirit is the body, the corporeal, from the Latin corpus...so I named by rival Corey. (And if he keeps running into me like that, I'm going to rename him Corpse. :disgust: )
I picked up Turtwig, and after much delaying and detouring, nicknamed him Army. This is something I do every so often; when I end up with three HMers on a team at once, I'll sometimes nickname them Army, Navy and Air Force; Navy is the one with the water HMs, Air Force is the one with Fly, and Army is whichever one's left over. (What about the Marines? some might say. The Marines are my battlers. Heh.)
I bought a few Pokéballs in Sandgem and caught Air Force: a Starly. Then, not long after, Lucas gave me five more Pokéballs. Yeah, whatever.
I battled my way to Jubilife and called it a night.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.png ARMY L10
Tackle, Withdraw, Absorb, —
Battler for now, soon to be HMer.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L2
Tackle, Growl, —, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

Next: My Third HMer and First Badge await in Oreburgh!

[killerpenguin]

Im going to do a normal mono

[killerpenguin]

well i just caught 2 pokemon and turned of the game i caught

Ace/Starly
bashful
likes to relax

Ray/Bidoof
relaxed
scatters things often

i cant wait till i get the happiny egg
btw wich tree has more change to get a muchlax and a aipom?.

[EngiMatikul]

I would TOTALLY do this if I didn't want to start over my game D: D: D: I had a part bug team when I beat the game the first time...?


Oh btw when it says no duplicates, does that mean I can't have the three different forms of wormadams, or would each wormadam count as a different pokemon?

[mr_pikachu]

Hi, killerpenguin. Welcome to TPM!

In the future, if you could make sure your posts have something to do with the topic, I'd appreciate it. While I know you have a Bidoof on your team, it'd be nice to know what it did rather than just seeing its name followed by a frustrated smiley.

I know you're new, so don't worry too much about it; you're not "in big trouble" or anything like that. Just wanted to let you know. ^_^ Anyway, I'll see you around!

[killerpenguin]

ok

well last night i was up intill 2 AM beating..er.. i mean traning my bidoof to lv 15 and ignored my starly. I went back to the gym and won with 4 water guns,
Ray(Bibarel) finally got a point in speed when he reached lvl 16.

Ray(Bibarel)
lvl16
relaxed
scatters things often

tackle
rollout
water gun
rock smash


Ace(starly)
lvl11
bashful
likes to relax

tackle
growl
quick attack
wing attack

play time:3:49

badges 1

[killerpenguin]

Normal mono is way to easy
im thinking of restarting and i need help chossing a mono, its psychic or bug
wich would give me a challenge?

[killerpenguin]

If anyone cares I chose bugs
Mothim
lvl29
lonely,thorughly cunning
tackle
hidden power
confusion
gust

Dustox
lvl26
relaxed,likes to thrash about
poison sting
gust
moonlight
psybeam

Vespiquen
lvl27
naive,good endurance

Beautifly
lvl29
naive,likes to fight
gust
stun spore
morning sun
mega drain

Badges; 3 (im in front of the fighting gym leader now)
play time 14:18 (kinda hard to play since i get out of school at 5)

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

I picked up the Pokétch and headed for Oreburgh. I'd forgotten, though, that Corey was waiting to battle me down that road. I was ill-prepared for this battle and ended up reverting to save. I headed up Route 204, battling the trainers there, and peeking into Ravaged Path to battle some Zubat and Geodude. When Army learned Razor Leaf, I went back, battled Corey again and won handily.
With that obstacle dealt with, I battled my way down Route 203 and entered Oreburgh Gate. I recieved the Rock Smash HM (while grumbling about how ridiculously easy to obtain HMs are these days; why on Earth NOA insists on still calling them Hidden Machines is beyond me) and taught it to Army, but couldn't use it to explore the lower area of this cave yet, so I just marched straight through to Oreburgh and battled Roark. While I was in Oreburgh Gym, Army evolved from Turtwig to Grotle!
Coal Badge in hand little case-thing, I went back to Oreburgh Gate and Rock Smashed my way to the basement. There I found and caught a Psyduck, nicknaming it Navy to complete my HMer set. I also found HM70 Flash, which I used on Navy.
I headed back to Jubilife and defeated Team Galactic goons with Lucas' help. With the TV Building and GTS Trade Center now open, I poked around everywhere trying to find the TM 10 that's supposedly to be found in this city. I finally had to use Google to find out that you get it by battling kids in the Trainer's School. :sweat: I went down there, flicked the two School Kids away with shameful ease, and picked up my TM 10.
See, I have a slight problem with this Ghost MTC. I have no access to Sableye or Spiritomb, so my entire team is going to be weak against Dark-type attacks...I'll need attacks that are strong against Dark-types to compensate, and the only ones I can reliably get are Fighting attacks with only 5 PP, that only one team member can use and only when it's reached its final evolved form. I'm going to try TM 10 on each of my party members as I catch them, and hope one has a Fighting or Bug Hidden Power with a decent base power.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/armygrot.png ARMY L20
Razor Leaf, Absorb, Tackle, Rock Smash
Battler for now, soon to be HMer.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L2
Tackle, Growl, —, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water HMs in this guy's future.

Next: The Answer Is Blowin' In The Wind!

[killerpenguin]

Well the rival fight was easy.

Starly used quick attack
Duxtox used psybeam
Duxtox used psybeam
Starly fainted
Duxtox grew to level 31!
Pkmn Trainer Juan sent out Monfererno
Go Vespiquen
VespiQuen used Power Gem
Monferno used Mach punch
Vespiquen used Power gem
Monferno fainted
Pkmn trainer sent out buizel
GO Beatifly
Beautifly used mega drain
Buizel used growl
Beautifly used gust
Buizel fainted
Pkmn trainer Juan sent out roselia
Go Mothim
Mothim used gust
Roselia used poison sting
mothim used confusion
Roselia fainted
I win :)



drifblim killed my duxtox,drifblim killed my vespi,drifblim killed mothim,driftblim got healed,drifblim must die.
Does anyone know moves that are super affective agaist ghost?

[Blademaster]

Does anyone know moves that are super affective agaist ghost?

Ice, Rock, Electric, Ghost, and Dark attacks kill Drifblim. Vespiquen's Power Gem is your best bet for taking Drif down fast.

[killerpenguin]

Well thanks now the problem is misdrevious(or how ever you spell it)
she attacked with shadow ball 3 times in a row I did not get to attack>_<


Edit:This is getting ******
foe misdrevous(or something like that) used shadow ball
Vispi used Power gem
foe misdrevous used shadow ball
foe misdrevous used shadow ball
Vespi fainted
Foe misdreavous used shadow ball
foe misdreavous used shadow ball
foe misdreavous used psybeam
buetifly fainted
and it goes like that for all my pokemon
arg!!

[Poryhedron]

As a Pure Ghost-type, Misdreavus is only weak against Ghost and Dark.

Because your posts are so sparse, I can't tell where in the game you are, but there's a Shadow Ball TM on Route 210. Someone on your team should be able to learn it in order to fight back. I don't understand how Misdreavus is getting multiple attacks in a row, though...that makes no sense at all. Are your pokémon getting paralyzed or infatuated or something?

[DarkestLight]

Or are they all ironically at the same speed? That happened to me once, I had a Pokemon squad of Pidgey, Raticate and something else, all at like 90 speed,..along with the Pokemon I fought-and the Pokemon kept getting the better deal of the tie speed card!

I doubt that's yer problem, I think that Missy is just trying to beat your butt back until you train a bit higher before tangoing up there with her.

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

I went back up Route 204, and this time Rock Smashed my way through Ravaged Path to finish the trip, battling the trainers between Ravaged Path and Floaroma Town. I was caught off-guard by the Double-Battle Twins there and wound up sending out Army and Air Force against two Pachirisu; had I actually prepared for this I would have used Navy, who was four times Air Force's level.
Both Pachirisu used Quick Attack. The first hit Air Force and nearly KOed it, but the second hit Army. Then Army used Razor Leaf and fainted both Pachirisu in one shot. Air Force grew five levels and learned a move.
I reached Floaroma, picked up some Berries, healed and headed to the Valley Windworks. I went through the bit with saving the Honey Guy, getting the Works Key and whupping Mars, and was informed that now the balloon pokémon would start visiting again.
Good for the balloon pokémon. And just my luck that I'd accomplish this on a Monday. :sweat: Well, at least I've got some time to find a good nickname for my first official battler.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/armygrot.png ARMY L22
Razor Leaf, Absorb, Bite, Rock Smash
Battler for now, soon to be HMer.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water HMs in this guy's future.

Next: TGIF!

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

Friday. I marched down to the Valley Windworks, spied the balloon pokémon floating there and approached.
Thanks to the Quick Claw, Army opened with Razor Leaf. As I'd hoped, it took off only a quarter of the Flying-type's HP. Drifloon used Stockpile, gathering energy to boost its own defenses. Then, being naturally faster than Army, it promptly used Stockpile again, boosting its defenses further. Army's second Razor Leaf dealt only a tiny dent.
Drifloon spent the third turn using Focus Energy, while Army finally got it down to half HP. Then Drifloon finally made an attack: Payback, which proved fairly weak as Drifloon was still faster.
Army used another Razor Leaf and scored a critical hit. Completely ignoring Drifloon's Defense boosts, the hit took off all of Drifloon's remaining HP. Army grew to level 23, I grumbled and reverted to save.

Friday. I marched down to the Valley Windworks, spied the balloon pokémon floating there and approached.
Thanks to the Quick Claw, Army opened with Razor Leaf. As I'd hoped, it took off only a quarter of the Flying-type's HP. Drifloon replied with a Payback, but even boosted by Razor Leaf's damage it wasn't enough to worry me.
Being naturally faster, Drifloon then used Stockpile, gathering energy to boost its own defenses. Army used another Razor Leaf and whittled a bit more off Drifloon's HP, but didn't get it all the way down to half.
Drifloon chose to attack then, this time striking with Gust. The super-effective move knocked Army down almost to half HP. Army's answering Razor Leaf, however, took Drifloon down to below half.
The Quick Claw kicked in again and Army got a second Razor Leaf in a row, taking Drifloon almost-but not quite-into the red. Drifloon responded with Payback again, but it was still less impressive than the Gust had been.
Fearing a critical hit, I tried a Pokéball now. Drifloon broke out after only one shake, and used another Stockpile. Needing to weaken it further, I decided to have Army switch to the weaker Absorb. It did so promptly, thanks to the Quick Claw, but I'd underestimated just how weak Absorb was and how high Drifloon had gotten its Special Defense. The attack took off only a pixel of damage...and then Drifloon used Payback again.
I grabbed the Super Potion in my pack and used it on Army, bringing Army almost all the way back to full health. Drifloon used its free turn to strike with Gust. Crossing my fingers and hoping for a non-critical, I ordered another Razor Leaf while the faster Drifloon used Gust a second time. Thankfully, the critical didn't happen, and Army's attack left Drifloon fairly deep in the red.
I threw a second Pokéball. This time, though, it didn't even shake. Drifloon just popped right back out of it, and elected to use Focus Energy. Realizing a critical Gust would faint Army and a single non-crit would faint each of my other party members, I threw another Pokéball, desperately hoping to end this. Drifloon broke out after one shake, but went with Stockpile, earning a sigh of relief from me. Another turn to live.
I threw one more Pokéball and it held. Cheering, I nicknamed my Drifloon Zephyr and then checked its stats. To my horror, it had the Special Ability Aftermath. I had wanted Unburden and told myself I'd reset if I got Aftermath, but having been through the battle I'd just been through, did I really want to go through it again?
I finally decided yes, having Unburden for my League Challenge would be worth the inconvenience now, and reset again.

Friday. I stopped to buy more Super Potions, marched down to the Valley Windworks, spied the balloon pokémon floating there and approached.
Drifloon opened with Focus Energy, improving its chances of scoring a hard hit later. Ironically, Army's opening Razor Leaf was a critical, taking Drifloon almost-but not quite-down to half HP. Then Army's Quick Claw kicked in and it used Razor Leaf again, taking Drifloon down to some 30% of its HP.
In the face of this assault, Drifloon used Stockpile to boost its defenses. Then Army (again with the Quick Claw) used a third Razor Leaf, chipping off just enough HP to put Drifloon in the red. Drifloon used Stockpile a second time.
Since Drifloon had proven a fair hand at resisting Pokéballs while in the red before, I opted for a slow, controlled whittling to get it as low as I could, and told Army to start Absorbing. Meanwhile, the normal turn order finally reasserted itself and Drifloon got in a third Stockpile, which made Army's first Absorb downright ignorable. That was okay; I had enough Super Potions to put up with several Gusts now if I had to.
Drifloon struck with Payback, but it was weak without a Quick Claw-enhanced attack from Army first. Army continued sucking away. Drifloon switched to Gust and dealt a fair amount of damage with it. Army kept sucking. Then the Quick Claw activated, letting Army Absorb first, and Drifloon got a lucky Payback that took Army down to only 1 HP.
I used my first Super Potion of the battle. Luckily for me, Drifloon promptly wasted its free turn by trying to use Focus Energy in a battle in which it had already done so before. I set Army back to Absorbing while Drifloon tried Focus Energy again, apparently mystified as to why it hadn't worked. Then it tried another Stockpile, but it had already Stockpiled as much energy as it could hold at once. This, too, was a waste of a turn.
Drifloon had five pixels of life at this point. Deciding not to press my luck, I tried a Pokéball now. It held! Cheering, I nicknamed my Drifloon Zephyr and then checked its stats. To my relief, it had Unburden. I went back to the Pokémon Center, saved and called it a day.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifloon.png Zephyr L22
Gust, Stockpile, Payback, Focus Energy
My first Ghost-type!

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L22
Razor Leaf, Absorb, Bite, Rock Smash
Its first task over, Army is now relegated to an HMer role.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water HMs in this guy's future.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

Next: Into the Forest! My Second Battler Awaits!

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Name: Maggie
Type: Flying
Reason: I like em?
Badges: 0
Progress:

So I started out, picked Turtwig, went back home, went to Rowan, back home, obtained Runningshoes, blablabla. Received 5 pokeballs from Lucas and captured a l.4 male Starly. Trained it up to l.10 and then fought the first trainer. Battled my way up to Jublife where I obtained Poketch after I stole some coupons from three clowns, oh and TM10.

Left Jublife, defeated rival and other trainers. Starly evolved at l.14, hurray. Trained some more through Oreburgh Gate, picked up the items in Oreburgh itself and stopped before the mines. I'll search for Roark tonight.

Pokemon

http://veekun.com/dex-images/dp/frame2/397.png Staravia | l.15
Wing attack | Growl | Quick attack | Double Team
(Basic flyer, I never used it, seems like fun. Staravia is ugly though.)

HM/TM pkmn (Turtwig)
Tackle | Growl | ---- | ----
(Future HM'er)

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

With Zephyr now on my team, I made my way north to Eterna Forest. There were a couple of points where I found myself wishing I wasn't stuck with only one eligible battler with low Defense, but I perservered. The fact that Gust is now a special attack came in handy against the several Geodude I encountered.

Eterna Forest itself, with Cheryl's help, was a cakewalk, especially thanks to Zephyr's Gust. Then, after we'd made it through, I hung around the Eterna City exit until nightfall, went back in and caught myself another battler: a Misdreavus that I named Arcanum. (I'm looking forward to trying out Mismagius.)

The next place I wanted to go was back toward Jubilife, but I wanted to be able to train Arcanum on the way...so I went to Eterna City to bring Arcanum to the Pokémon Center. I avoided the lady who gives you the Happiness Checker Pokétch App; since the only way to switch apps is to cycle through them all, I save myself some frustration by skipping the Apps I know I'll never use. With Arcanum healed, I backtracked through Eterna Forest, Route 205, Floaroma Town and half of Route 204, to Ravaged Path. Here, I saved...and then taught Hidden Power to Zephyr (I should have done this before going up Route 205; I simply forgot.)

Used HIDDEN POWER on ZUBAT.
It's super effective!
Possible types: ELC ICE PSY RCK
Used HIDDEN POWER on GEODUDE.
...
...ahem.
Yeah, yeah, gimme a minute, they're here somewhere...maybe they're all asleep or something...
Used HIDDEN POWER on GEODUDE.
It dealt standard damage!
HIDDEN POWER type isolated. Your HIDDEN POWER type is PSYCHIC.

Good to know. Not what I was hoping for, but then Zephyr doesn't have the defenses to handle Dark-types anyway. I reverted to save, used the same TM 10 on Arcanum and repeated the process.

Used HIDDEN POWER on ZUBAT.
It dealt standard damage!
Possible types: DRK DRG FIR FLY GHO STL WTR
Used HIDDEN POWER on GEODUDE.
It dealt standard damage!
Possible types: DRK DRG GHO
Travelled to ROUTE 202.
Used HIDDEN POWER on BIDOOF.
The attack failed!
HIDDEN POWER type isolated. Your HIDDEN POWER type is GHOST.

Gee, thanks. That's so very useful to have on a Ghost-type. (fume.) I reverted to save again; I'll go through this one more time when I catch my third and final battler. In the meantime, it's back to Eterna to advance the plot!

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/misdreavus.png Arcanum L12
Astonish, Spite, Psywave, Growl
No idea what moveset I want yet...though Magical Leaf is a real possibility.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifloon.png Zephyr L26
Gust, Stockpile, Payback, Focus Energy
My first Ghost-type!

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L22
Razor Leaf, Absorb, Bite, Rock Smash
Its first task over, Army is now relegated to an HMer role.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water HMs in this guy's future.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

Next: My First Team Galactic Base!

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

It should work out, when somebody evolves. And I never really did get the chance to try out mismagius, I'm eager to see this continue.

[DarkestLight]

Yes, Mismagius is a joy :O. You'll have fun with it for this MTC

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

As I was returning to Eterna City, I recieved a message unexpectedly. Fellow TPMer Fai D. Flowright, who had previously discussed a new team with me, needed to raise a Mismagius for his team...and was playing Diamond. I caught a spare female Misdreavus for him, and told him it didn't really matter what he sent me since I didn't want my Gastly to be an outsider and I didn't really need any other pokémon.

He was determined to send me something useful, though, and came up with the idea of sending me a Gastly Egg so that I would be the Gastly's Original Trainer when it hatched. I conceded that this would be fine, and after wrestling with my WiFi settings a bit, the trade was complete and I found myself with what would eventually be my third and final battler, earlier than expected.

With the Gastly Egg in my possession (what exactly does an egg that hatches into a gaseous undead creature look like, anyway?) I went back to raising Arcanum before taking on Team Galactic in their Eterna City building. I very quickly found myself less than impressed with Arcanum's starting moveset, and looked up its natural moves to discover it wouldn't learn a better damaging attack until level 23. I didn't want to use up my Hidden Power TM on the off chance Gastly would have a useful Hidden Power, and none of my other TMs looked appealing, so I started to keep an eye out for any other TMs I could find.

Approaching the Team Galactic Building, I saw that it was blocked by saplings; just then, however, a *ahem* COMPLETELY NORMAL TRAINER WHO IS TYPICAL IN EVERY WAY AND CERTAINLY ISN'T THE SINNOH LEAGUE CHAMPION walked by and gifted me with the Cut HM. I promptly taught this to Army, but couldn't use it on the Saplings yet...so I made my way to Eterna Gym to earn my second Badge.

I battled mostly with Arcanum to raise it, with Zephyr's Gust as backup. Arcanum reached Level 19 by the time Gardenia's last pokémon had fainted and I had earned the Forest Badge. With that done, I stopped at the Pokémon Center and then went to the Team Galactic building. The Galactic Grunts proved little to no problem (Team Galactic has easily the weakest grunts of any game so far. It's pathetic how many of them have basic early-game Bug-types.) Commander Jupiter was another story...she had a decently high-level Skuntank, a Poison/Dark-type. With only Astonish and Psywave for damaging attacks, Misdreavus proved unable to deal meaningful damage to it, so I Confused and Spited it as much as I could. Oddly enough, it beat around the bush for several turns, leading me to wonder if it was in the same situation I was; was its main attack Normal-type? But no, after whittling with Poison Sting for a while it finally pulled out Night Slash and wiped out Arcanum with one hit. Luckily, after the damage Skuntank had dealt itself under Confuse Ray, Zephyr was able to bring it down with a couple of Gusts.

I rescued the Bike Shop owner's Clefairy and all of the other pokémon, got a free Bike for my heroics, and headed for Cycling Road.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gastly.png ??? L?
, , ,
It hasn't hatched yet.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/misdreavus.png Arcanum L21
Astonish, Confuse Ray, Psywave, Spite
No idea what moveset I want yet...though Magical Leaf is a real possibility.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifloon.png Zephyr L27
Gust, Stockpile, Payback, Spit Up
My first Ghost-type!

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L22
Razor Leaf, Absorb, Cut, Rock Smash
I'm giving this guy the next Rare Candy I find. He's almost at levelup and I'm sick of seeing his Pokéball wobble in battle.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water HMs in this guy's future.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

Next: ...I need what?

[Poryhedron]

...HAY GUIZ!

...I know I'm not the only one who was doing one of these...where's everyone else, huh?

...In any case, I finally got around to taking care of the problem holding me up. Thus, here's the update I've been sitting on nearly all this time...

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

I headed for Cycling Road...only to be stopped by a woman who was scandalized that I hadn't gotten myself the ultra-cool, unbelievably hip, no-trainer-should-be-without-one Explorer Kit. As much addictive fun as excavating can be, I really didn't see how it contributed to my aboveground gaming experience save for the occasional semi-useful Hold Item, so I wasn't really interested this time around, but apparently you're not allowed to pass it up. Grumbling, I visited the Underground Man, got the Explorer Kit and did a couple of his missions and excavated some stuff. I scored a Red Shard, a Blue Shard and a Revive. Then I went back south and continued through to Cycling Road.

I got the Exp. Share from Lucas' father, and gave it to Army. One battle later, Army's pokéball on the Battle screen finally stopped wobbling. I took back the EXP. Share; I'd be giving it to my baby Gastly next. Then, in the very next battle, Zephyr hit level 28...and evolved from Drifloon to Drifblim! After that, I decided to pedal back and forth a bit (well, really just pedal back; gravity took care of the forth for me) until my Egg hatched. I nicknamed the tyke Shadow and gave it the Exp. Share for now. Then I proceeded to defeat the rest of the Cycling Road trainers. Shadow grew six levels from its first battle and was level 13 by the time I reached the south end. Sigh...they grow up so fast...

I continued south, and ran into Lucas, who gifted me with the Vs. Seeker (eh, okay,) and the Dowsing Machine Pokétch App (yay!) Then I kept going down to Oreburgh, and turned west to go back to Jubilife. On the way through Oreburgh Gate, I recalled seeing an item ball that could only be reached with a bike, so I stopped and grabbed that. It proved to be a TM for the Fighting attack Brick Break. Too bad that, of my entire team, only Navy could use it...

I crossed west to Jubilife, then north to Ravaged Path, saved and taught Shadow Hidden Power.

Used HIDDEN POWER on ZUBAT.
It dealt standard damage!
Possible types: DRK DRG FIR FLY GHO STL WTR
Used HIDDEN POWER on GEODUDE.
It dealt standard damage!
Possible types: DRK DRG GHO
Travelled to ROUTE 202.
Used HIDDEN POWER on BIDOOF.
The attack failed!
HIDDEN POWER type isolated. Your HIDDEN POWER type is GHOST.

Oh, come on! Twice in a row I get a Ghost-type with a Ghost-type Hidden Power...hrm...maybe I'll go ahead and teach it to one of them anyway. It might be more useful than Arcanum's Astonish or Shadow's Lick.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gastly.png Shadow L14
Lick, Mean Look, Spite, Curse
Aw, what a cute little baby soul devourer.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/misdreavus.png Arcanum L22
Astonish, Confuse Ray, Psywave, Spite
No idea what moveset I want yet...though Magical Leaf is a real possibility.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L28
Gust, Stockpile, Payback, Spit Up
Would you like to riiide...in my, phantasmal, balloooon...

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Razor Leaf, Absorb, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to HMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water HMs in this guy's future.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

Next: Across the Great Divide!

[Ghost]

Yeah, unfortunately i've been really busy as of late and haven't been able to play D/P much.

I'll try and get some more progress on my game though.

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

I took a look at Arcanum's and Shadow's natural move lists, and decided to teach Hidden Power to Shadow. Then I headed down Route 207, meaning to continue on to Hearthome. The first trainer battle was quite unkind to the still-lower-level Shadow, though. I pulled out and explored Route 206 underneath Cycling Road instead, and then battled the trainers on this side of Route 211. After that, I discovered that I had left most of the Fishermen on eastern Route 205 unchallenged, so I beat them too.

After gathering that EXP, Shadow was ready for the trainers on Route 207. I cleaned them out, then entered Mt. Coronet and met some creepy guy talking about how glorious and problem-free a newly-created world is. Oh, yeah, I'll definitely be kicking his butt later.

After clearing the trainers in Route 208, I arrived in Hearthome, explored for a bit, and then randomly ran into Corey again! I was caught off guard once again, but this time I beat him handily on the first go, and Shadow evolved into Haunter!

With the path to Route 212 blocked, I shrugged and headed for Route 209. Solaceon Town had pretty much nothing of interest, so I randomly poked around the Ruins, grabbed all of the items from there, and moved on northward. I got as far as the Café before saving and calling it a night.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/haunter.png Shadow L27
Hidden Power, Confuse Ray, Shadow Punch, Night Shade
Needs trade evolution! I'm posting in the Trading Thread now.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/misdreavus.png Arcanum L28
Astonish, Confuse Ray, Psybeam, Spite
No idea what moveset I want yet...though Magical Leaf is a real possibility.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L29
Gust, Stockpile, Payback, Spit Up
Would you like to riiide...in my, phantasmal, balloooon...

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Razor Leaf, Absorb, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to HMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water HMs in this guy's future.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, —
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Will Somehow Support My Weight.

Next: Oh, shoot, I forgot Lost Tower and HM04. That, I guess.

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

With the help of another fellow TPMer, Shadow evolved again into Gengar before I accomplished anything else. I dug into my pack and happily saw that Gengar could learn Brick Break, so I taught it to Shadow then and there. Not only will Brick Break be useful against Dark-types, it'll also be useful against the Normal-types that are immune to Ghost-type attacks.
That done, I entered Lost Tower and made my way up to the top floor and HM04. I taught Strength to Army, then went back north again to continue on my merry way to Veilstone.
I defeated all of the trainers on Route 215, and then explored Veilstone City for a bit before heading to the Gym. A Ghost team made this Gym more laughable than it already was ("Hiyah, teeeeeeeaaaaaaaars!") and I scored the Cobble Badge without much fuss. It was hilarious being able to use Brick Break on Maylene's Lucario!
After that, I helped Lucas get his Pokédex back, and then picked up HM0 screw it. I picked up RM02. I'm calling them Reusable Machines from now on, because they aren't hidden. (fume.) I taught Fly to Air Force, then flew to a few out-of-the way places to explore. Navy and I picked up some items from Amity Square, I explored the Old Chateau, and I visited the Pokétch Company, where I grudgingly accepted the Memo Pad app from the president so that I could then obtain the Marking Map app.
With that done, I flew back to Hearthome and headed south toward Pastoria. I beat up many many trainers, used the Dowsing Machine app to pick up many many items, finally reached Pastoria and took on Wak-..ahem. Crasher. Wake. in his Gym. Again, I cleared out the place with little to no fuss.
After that, I stopped in the Great Marsh, picked up Defog and made two trips in order to pick up all of the items. I also caught a Croagunk for the heck of it; I tried for a Skorupi, but it ran.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L34
Gust, Stockpile, Ominous Wind, Spit Up
Would you like to riiide...in my, phantasmal, balloooon...

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gengar.png Shadow L35
Shadow Punch, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball, Brick Break
With a FTG attack and the team's best physical Defense, this guy's my Anti-Dark personnel.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/misdreavus.png Arcanum L35
Psybeam, Confuse Ray, Astonish, Spite
No idea what moveset I want yet...though Magical Leaf is a real possibility.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Razor Leaf, Strength, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to RMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Water Sport, Scratch, Tail Whip, Flash
You don't have to be Psychic-type to see Water RMs in this guy's future.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Tackle, Defog, Quick Attack, Fly
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Somehow Supports My Weight.

Next: Someone set up Lake Valor the bomb!

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

I left the Great Marsh and set off after the Team Galactic member I'd seen earlier. I got held up by Corey along the way (not a tough battle by this point), and then stopped to battle every single trainer on Route 213, but I still managed to keep up with the Galactic goon and beat him in a painfully anticlimactic battle that ended with him reaching Lake Valor anyway. :/ Wow, that was an accomplishment...
I got the SecretPotion from Cynthia and then proceeded to clear Route 214, picking up TM28 on the way. I taught Dig to Navy, and then Flew to Solaceon to deliver the SecretPotion. After curing the Psyduck, I was given a mission by Cynthia to deliver an item to Celestic Town, so off I went. Along the way, I kept a lookout for the Shadow Ball TM I remembered reading was here; Arcanum very much needed that TM. As I was doing that, however, Arcanum hit level 37 and learned that exact move naturally! I chuckled at the irony and kept looking for the TM; if Arcanum didn't need it, Zephyr did. ...right? I quickly checked Drifblim's move list and saw that Zephyr would learn the move at level 44. Well, I was here now and no one else needed the TM, so I decided there'd be no harm in giving Zephyr the move a few levels early.
I had Air Force blow the annoying fog away, beat all of the Route 210 trainers and found the Shadow Ball TM, which I used on Zephyr. I saved Celestic Town from a spiteful moron, recieved Cynthia's old RM03 (you think I'm kidding about this, don't you? hmph!) and taught Surf to Navy. Then, after the broad hint from the town elder that I should go to Canalave next, I Flew to Hearthome to earn the ability to use Surf outside of battle.
In Hearthome Gym, I studied each of the posted questions carefully, so that I would know which door to enter last. I laughed off the two trainers who complained about me deliberately throwing the quiz for more battle EXP. I finally reached Fantina, overpowered her Ghost team with my own, and earned the Relic Badge and a TM for Shadow Claw. I compared Shadow Claw with Shadow's Shadow Punch, and decided I liked Shadow Punch better; sure, it had 10 less base power, but it had 5 more PP, and I value S.Punch's perfect accuracy more than S.Claw's critical hit rate.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L39
Shadow Ball, Ominous Wind, Gust, Stockpile
Would you like to riiide...in my, phantasmal, balloooon...

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/misdreavus.png Arcanum L39
Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Psybeam, Spite
Pretty much just generic special sweeping at this point. Magical Leaf after evolution.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gengar.png Shadow L41
Shadow Punch, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball, Brick Break
With a FTG attack and the team's best physical Defense, this guy's my Anti-Dark personnel.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Razor Leaf, Strength, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to RMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Dig, Flash, Surf, Tail Whip
One more Water RM to go.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Fly, Defog, Quick Attack, Tackle
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Somehow Supports My Weight.

Next: Someone set up Lake Valor the bomb! ...possibly for real this time!

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

The first thing I did with my Surf RM and the Relic Badge was poke around Routes 220 and 221, beating trainers and collecting items. Then I went to Canalave City, ready to earn the right to use Strength outside of Battle.
I met Corey again on the Canalave Drawbridge; we were darned lucky no ships came passing through during that battle. Actually, I was luckier that way than Corey was; I beat him handily enough that interruption via schooner would have been a reprieve. After that, I put Shadow in the lead and got ready to Brick Break the competition in Canalave Gym. The Gym trainers were quite fond of Onix and Steelix, though, and their physical Defense was strong enough that I actually got a lot more use out of Shadow Ball than Brick Break. By the time I reached Byron, Shadow was tired enough that I just finished off Byron's Steelix with Arcanum's Perish Song.
After I won the Mine Badge, Corey caught me and delivered me to the Library where Prof. Rowan gave me the mission to investigate Lake Valor. Right on cue, the Galactic Bomb went off, and I flew over to Pastoria to play damage control. I soundly whupped every Galactic Grunt in the area, then faced off against Commander Saturn and slapped him silly. After that, I flew to Twinleaf, healed at home, and investigated Lake Verity. After two double battles with Grunts, I reminded Commander Mars why she cowers at my name. With that victory came bad news, though...not only were the Legends of Lakes Valor and Verity captured, but apparently the Legend of Lake Acuity had been taken as well. And so I flew to Celestic Town to begin my search for Corey!

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L44
Shadow Ball, Ominous Wind, Gust, Stockpile
Would you like to riiide...in my, phantasmal, balloooon...

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/misdreavus.png Arcanum L44
Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Psybeam, Perish Song
Pretty much just generic special sweeping at this point. Magical Leaf after evolution.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gengar.png Shadow L45
Shadow Punch, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Brick Break
With a FTG attack and the team's best physical Defense, this guy's my Anti-Dark personnel.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Razor Leaf, Strength, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to RMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Dig, Flash, Surf, Tail Whip
One more Water RM to go.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Fly, Defog, Quick Attack, Tackle
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Somehow Supports My Weight.

Next: Geez, not even Death's Embrace is this cold...and my team would know!

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

You're really blazing through it this time, seeing that you had a 4 months hiatus between two updates before.

[DarkestLight]

Yeesh yeah I 'm like "What already through the lakes? Ok.

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

I battled my way west along Route 211 and into Mt. Coronet. Venturing into the northward passage, I stopped in the large room to collect every item ball and Dowsing Machine item that I could reach without using Surf, and then continued north and emerged into the blinding white glare of Route 216.
The parts with deep snow that slow you down quickly became annoying, but I slogged through and defeated every trainer in Route 216. Route 217 proved even more annoying because it was so widely open; I had to zigzag back and forth a lot to cover the whole place with the Dowsing Machine (and yes, there is a lot of stuff buried in the snow of that route!) but I finally got all the way through that as well, picking up...eeh...all right, I'll go ahead and call this one HM08. It's at least possible to get confused as to where it is. I taught Rock Climb to Army, rounding out my first pokémon's final moveset.
In Snowpoint City, I poked around everywhere before finally entering the Gym to earn the right to ride a tortoise with shrubbery on its back up some steep inclines. I slid around the place, broke all of the snow boulders I could, battled all of the Gym Trainers and then took on Candice. Shadow Brick Broke most of her team and Shadow Balled the one out-of-place Medicham for the Icicle Badge.
With that done, I visited Lake Acuity and saw the cut scene with Corey failing, then Surfed across the lake to pick up some items on the opposite shore. I then Flew over to Lake Verity and did the same there, then went to a bunch of places with Rock Climb slops and picked up items and fought trainers that I couldn't access before. Finally, after all of that was done, I went back to Veilstone to further the plot. I grabbed the Storage Key from the idiot Team Galactic Member (but I repeat myself), opened the door in the Warehouse and grabbed the item lying just inside: a Dusk Stone! I promptly used it on Arcanum, getting my very own Mismagius!
At this point I Flew back to Pastoria and taught Arcanum Magical Leaf; now two members of my party have never-miss moves, and Arcanum can hit a broader range of enemies with super-effective attacks. Then I flew back to Veilstone and re-entered the Warehouse, ready to clean out this place.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L49
Shadow Ball, Ominous Wind, Gust, Stockpile
I'm hoping to get a better Flying attack for this guy. Unfortunately, it can't learn Aerial Ace, and I'm iffy about Fly in-battle.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/mismagius.png Arcanum L49
Shadow Ball, Magical Leaf, Psychic, Perish Song
Pretty much just generic special sweeping. Perish Song for a trump card.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gengar.png Shadow L49
Shadow Punch, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Brick Break
With a FTG attack and the team's best physical Defense, this guy's my Anti-Dark personnel.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Rock Climb, Strength, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to RMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Dig, Flash, Surf, Tail Whip
One more Water RM to go.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Fly, Defog, Quick Attack, Tackle
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Somehow Supports My Weight.

Next: A good old-fashioned Criminal-Base-Storming!

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

Down I went into Team Galactic HQ. I navigated the route to the Galactic Key, grabbing all of the item balls and hidden items along the way and smacking around all of the Team Galactic goons. Using the key, I got into the main complex and worked my way around to Cyrus' office. Cyrus probably should have been tough, with two of his three pokémon Dark-type, but I was too high-level and too strategically move-equipped to balk at what he had to offer.
I was a little wierded out at what he had to offer after the battle. The game's ultimate bad guy just gave me the Master Ball!? Oookay...after reading the reports on Cyrus' laptop in his office, I headed down to the secret lab, ground Commander Saturn into the floor and released the three Pokémon of the Lakes.
With that place cleared out, I next Flew to Oreburgh and entered Mt. Coronet. The multiple paths going up the mountain were confusing enough that I had to write out a guide as I went, but eventually I reached Spear Pillar. Commander Jupiter's Skuntank proved a serious obstacle for me, especially with Corey playing at less than optimum. I lost both Shadow and Arcanum to it before Corey's Staraptor finally finished it. I was dreading taking on Cyrus again after that, until Corey healed my team after the battle. :) Then the three Spirit Pokémon shut down Palkia, and Cyrus and I met for a final showdown.
Cyrus opened with Honchkrow; I, unfortunately, had Zephyr in the lead. I used up a turn switching to Shadow, and Honchkrow got in a Drill Peck that almost took Shadow down to half HP. Shadow's Brick Break did about the same to Honchkrow, and then Honchkrow used Dark Pulse and fainted Shadow. I cursed and sent in Arcanum. Cyrus used a Super Potion while I struck with Shadow Ball; Honchkrow came out of that turn with only a tiny bit fewer HP. Next turn, a second Shadow Ball nearly fainted Honchkrow, while Honchkrow's answering Drill Peck took Arcanum down to half. One more Shadow Ball took down Honchkrow.
Cyrus sent out Weavile next. This would have been a great time to have Shadow conscious...in fact, I spent the turn using a Max Revive on Shadow. Weavile, strangely, opted for X-Scissor, a Bug-type move that was ineffective against Arcanum; this gave Arcanum a chance to peg Weavile with a Magical Leaf before fainting to a Night Slash. In went Shadow, and one Brick Break later, down went Weavile.
Naturally, Cyrus followed Weavile with Crobat, a great pokémon to use Arcanum against. I gritted my teeth and stuck with Shadow. A Shadow Ball took Crobat down to half health, while Crobat made the monumentally stupid choice of using Cross Poison, which did next to nothing to Shadow. A second Shadow Ball polished off Crobat.
Cyrus' final pokémon was a Gyarados. I crossed my fingers, stuck with Shadow and launched yet another Shadow Ball. A critical hit put Gyarados well in the red, while Gyarados' answering Aqua Tail took Shadow only a little past half. Cyrus used a Full Restore while Shadow Shadow Balled again. This time I didn't score a crit, leaving Gyarados with a little more than half health. The next turn, another Shadow Ball put Gyarados back in the red, and then I lucked out enormously when Gyarados opted for Ice Fang instead of another Aqua Tail. The Ice Fang hurt a lot, but barely failed to polish off Shadow. One more Shadow Ball ended the battle.
Prof. Rowan and Lucas encouraged me to face Palkia and bring it back under control. I was not in any mood to fool around by this point, so I simply chucked Cyrus' Master Ball on Turn 1, and the Master of Space and Dimensions was brought under control. I picked up the Lustrous Orb for the heck of it, and then stepped into the nearby cave mouth and used Dig to wind up back in Route 207.

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L52
Shadow Ball, Ominous Wind, Gust, Stockpile
I'm hoping to get a better Flying attack for this guy. Unfortunately, it can't learn Aerial Ace, and I'm iffy about Fly in-battle.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/mismagius.png Arcanum L53
Shadow Ball, Magical Leaf, Psychic, Perish Song
Pretty much just generic special sweeping. Perish Song for a trump card.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gengar.png Shadow L53
Shadow Punch, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Brick Break
With a FTG attack and the team's best physical Defense, this guy's my Anti-Dark personnel.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Rock Climb, Strength, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to RMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Dig, Flash, Surf, Tail Whip
One more Water RM to go.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Fly, Defog, Quick Attack, Tackle
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Somehow Supports My Weight.

Next: Nothing cheers up Gym Leaders like getting whupped, amirite!?

[DarkestLight]

Yeah, take that Palkia, you overgrown great white you.

[Blademaster]

I'm considering starting an MTC of my own. Not positive yet, but if I do, dibs on Steel.

[Blademaster]

Right, I'm in. Traded my Pearl Pokemon to Diamond, deleted my old file, and the Steel Monotype Challenge is... GO!






Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 0
Progress:



Alright, so I listened to the obligatory introductory BS, Rowan going on and on flapping his trap while I ignored him, playing with the Wii in my bedroom (Ever notice how the game's home console counterpart is featured in each game? RBY had NES's, GSC had SNES's, RSE and FrLg had GameCubes, and DP has Wiis. Subliminal advertising, anyone?).

After Rowan finally shut up, I went downstairs and was thrown outside to play by my bitch of a mother. I went over to n00blet's place, where he proceeded to rush out the door and hit me. I paid him back by punching him senseless and dragging his unconscious body down to Lake Verity, but there were two witnesses around. They booked it when they saw me trying to dump a body in the lake; they left behind a briefcase. I figured I could use it to blackmail them, when suddenly, OH NOES! DEATH FROM ABOVE!

I chucked the briefcase at my attacker, which was... a foot-tall bird. Peachy. Ten minutes into the game and I've already commited two felonies.

The briefcase popped open, and out tumbled a PokeBall that beaned n00blet in the head, then burst open and released a Turtwig. The impact and the noise woke him up; he demanded to know where he was and why he was missing a tooth. Thinking fast, I said that a wild Pokemon had attacked him and that the Turtwig had saved him. He bought it and walked away with his stolen Pokemon; I figured I'd say "Screw it." and I grabbed one, too: a Piplup.

As we left the Lake, we saw those two witnesses from earlier. Shit! Fortunately, n00blet relayed our 'adventure,' successfully covering for me. Nice job, n00blet! Maybe he's not so useless after all...

One of the witnesses - Rowan, of course - seemed suspicious, but once he saw his precious empty briefcase, he scoffed it and ran; his granddaughter or whoever she was followed him, and n00blet and I went back to Twinleaf Town.

One time lapse later, n00blet had vanished and I was at Rowan's lab one town over. He evidently hadn't noticed that two of his three Pokemon were missing from his briefcase, so I swiped a Pokedex from him, too. He didn't even notice. That girl that was with him followed my example and swiped his last PokeBall and Pokedex. Stupid old coot.

After the girl introduced herself as 'Dawn' and gave me a tour, she sent me back home. Good. I had business to attend to: I went to the Poke Mart and bought some PokeBalls and Potions and whatnot, then i returned to Lake Verity and caught the 'knocked-out' Starly that I pwned with Rowan's briefcase. Yay, me. I named the corpse Tradebait, went back to Twinleaf, and told my mom I was gonna leave home and go travel around the continent on a potentially fatal mission to battle fierce beasts and evil cults of Pokemon thieves and-

"Yes, yes, that's nice." she cut in, shoving a pair of Running Shoes in my hands. "Take these and go play in traffic."

Bitch. Whatever. I put the Shoes on and returned to Sandgem, where I traded between my DS's - my 'sleeping' Starly in Pearl for my Riolu in Diamond, where I proceeded to dump the Starly back in the wild (AKA, in a plastic bag in a dumpster behind the Hearthome Poke Mart). Disposing with evidence FTW.

So, with two Pokemon in hand, I headed north, where Dawn was waiting to teach me how to catch Pokemon... WHICH I ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO. Stuck-up bitch, she followed my example and swiped her PokeBall AFTER I got mine, and then she's gonna lecture me on half-assed Pokemon-catching?

I was ready to give her a black eye, but she gave me some free Poke Balls, so I let her head off on her merry way. Good for her. Me on the other hand, I hung around and beat the shit out of the Route 202 Trainers, leveled my team up, and finally headed north to Jubilife City and, after more Dawnservice (I'm gonna belt that bitch sooner or later, I promise you.), saved for the night.



Pokemon

Pennington, LV7 Piplup (M)
-Pound
-Growl
-???
-???
Future anti-Fire and anti-Ground personnel, he needs a good amount of work before he'll be able to hold his own in battle.


Koopinator, LV8 Riolu (M)
-Quick Attack
-Foresight
-Endure
-Counter
I've always wanted to try out Lucario; since he's gonna be the last Pokemon I'd naturally get, I traded for him early. So far, he's the stronger of the team.






Coming up next: ...Stuff. Stay tuned.

~Blade

[Shuppet Master]

I may try a Steel Monotype challenge here, unless someone else did one. I mean, now that we've got Water/Steel and Fighting/Steel, this looks cool.

[Blademaster]

OY! I'M DOING ONE, AND IT'S RIGHT ABOVE YOUR POST! QUIT MOOCHING OFFA MY IDEAS, DAMMIT!

[DarkestLight]

Steel Monotype. Hrm. Cool beans so far :o. But uhh...don't you encounter wild Steelix AFTER you get the Riolu egg from that guy? Or does he show up after you finish Iron cave or whatever the hell its called?

Oh wait no, he goes with you through the cave. Never mind. :O And no that wouldn't be your last Steel encounter. Skarmory :o.

>> Or umm...

Hrm. Maggy and Nosey aren't there...and uhh Aron...no...<< >> The legends? xD Maybe it is. Carry on carry on.

[Blademaster]

I already know what kinda team I want. And as weird as it may sound, Skarmory isn't gonna be part of the team. My final team is gonna be 4 Steel Pokemon that... well... They're not exactly the most balanced bunch, let's put it that way.

[Shuppet Master]

I'm sorry, man, I didn't mean to take your idea... but I've read the MTC threads and I don't think there's a law saying we can't do a type which has been done before. I just didn't realize that someone else was doing a steel MTC.

I probably won't bother anyways, I'm not good at MTCs because I lose interest. :(

[mr_pikachu]

I don't see any rule on that either; there's no reason why two people can't do a monotype challenge of the same type. In fact, if you wanted, you could make things more interesting by turning it into a race.

...Just saying. It's cool if you want to do Steel as well, Shuppet.

[Blademaster]

You wanna do a Steel MTC? Fine. Mine probably ain't gonna be done for weeks and weeks, anyway.

[Blademaster]

Update, bitches.



Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 1
Progress:



OK, so I did the mandatory crap in Jubilife - namely, beating up three faggy clowns so I could get a PokeGear PokeNav Poketch. Yay.

After that, I stormed off, beat up a bunch of people and their Pokemon, and made my way to Oreburgh City, where I proceeded to the coal mine to beat up the lazy teamsters pretending to be working. Slackers.

In the mine, I encountered an Onix. Since Geodude are too wimpy to withstand Pennington's Bubble, I caught the huge Pokemon and taught her Rock Smash with the RM some fat guy gave me. I also met some chick named Roark (Weird name for a chick, huh?); she showcased her amazing ability to break a rock, then left.

Wait, what? Oh, Hell no! I chased the bitch down - turns out she was the Gym Leader. Gasp!

Oh, wait. She uses Rock Pokemon. Lol, Rock Pokemon. Force Palm, Bubble, Force Palm, Bubble, Bubble, Force Palm, Bubble, Force Palm, Badge. Yay.

With my first Badge in possession, I noticed Koopinator was starting to act like a real arrogant little shit. I'm gonna have to kill fix that...

After returning to Jubilife City, I made my way north, when - guess who showed up again? That's right... MORE DAWNSERVICE!!!!!111!11

And Rowan was there too, being his usual ignorant self. Two green-haired loonies were talking some shit to him, threatening to kill Dawn, yadayadayada... Whatever. That wasn't important. What WAS important was that these fruit loops were IN MY WAY!!!

Time for a battle. My over-leveled Pokemon (along with some stupid monkey) thoroughly pwned the duo, who called themselves 'Team Galactic' and escaped in a spaceship before I could finish them off. Damn it...

After a few words with the old coot, another fat guy came and gave me some case thing. Man, fat people are really generous in this game...

At the TV Station, some musician challenged me to a battle; my Piplup whooped his ass and then evolved. Hooray!

I left Jubilife and saved just before the first Trainer on Route 204.



Pokemon

Pennington, LV16 Prinplup (M)
-Pound
-Peck
-Bubble
-Metal Claw
Future anti-Fire and anti-Ground personnel, he's currently the team cornerstone, seeing how he's the only RELIABLE battler I have right now. :sweat:


Koopinator, LV17 Riolu (M)
-Quick Attack
-Foresight
-Endure
-Force Palm
Great fighter, greater pain in the ass.


Kinklink, LV9 Onix (F)
-Harden
-Rock Smash
-Screech
-Rock Throw
RM-er #1.



Coming up next: ...More stuff. Stay tuned.

~Blade

[Poryhedron]

I LIIIVVE!!

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

I Surfed up Route 222, battling all of the trainers as usual, and finally climbed up the waterfall to Victory Road.This time around, I didn't need to write a guide for myself, because I had already written one in my last runthrough (seriously, I do this sort of thing. I like data; what's it to ya!?) Some of the bike ramp puzzles were seriously annoying, especially when I needed to keep up speed in Mach gear and wild pokémon kept interrupting me. Along the way, I also became fed up with Zephyr's weak moveset and broke out my TM case; teaching it Return over Ominous Wind didn't seem to help all that much, though, especially against the occasional Staraptor who are immune to Ghost attacks and hose my Attack stat when they enter combat.
Finally, I made it through the place, having battled every trainer and collected every item. I entered the Pokémon League building and putzed around for a bit, selling stuff I didn't need and buying stuff I did need. Unfortunately, however, I was once again caught off guard by Corey marching in to challenge me, and hadn't yet bothered to heal my team when he did so! ...not that this in any way stopped me from trouncing him handily, even though a surprising number of his pokémon happened to have Dark-type attacks. After that, I healed, thought some more about Zephyr's moveset, and flew to Veilstone to get a Thunderbolt TM for her. (For once I actually won the majority of the coins for something by playing slots! The Clefairy bonus rounds aren't hard to score big on.)

Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L59
Shadow Ball, Return, Thunderbolt, Stockpile
We'll see how well this new moveset fares.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/mismagius.png Arcanum L61
Shadow Ball, Magical Leaf, Psychic, Perish Song
Pretty much just generic special sweeping. Perish Song for a trump card.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gengar.png Shadow L61
Shadow Punch, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Brick Break
With a FTG attack and the team's best physical Defense, this guy's my Anti-Dark personnel.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Rock Climb, Strength, Cut, Rock Smash
A one-time battler, now retired to RMer status.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Dig, Flash, Surf, Waterfall
It's a good thing these guys can use so many RMs, as they're not much in combat.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Fly, Defog, Quick Attack, Tackle
The obligatory Miniscule Bird That Somehow Supports My Weight.

Next: Time to try my luck against the Elite Four!

[Poryhedron]

...oh hell, I never posted the part where I beat Volkner and got Waterfall! Dangit...it's already deleted now...oh well. :( :emo:

[Blademaster]

Another update, bitches.



Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 2
Progress:



After whooping ass on every Trainer between Floraroma and Eterna Forest, I... Well... I entered the Forest. :sweat: Upon entering, I was ambushed by some clingy bitch named Cheryl. She and her useless Chansey proceeded to tail me through the forest, offering a shield against dual wild Pokemon attacks. My Prinplup and Riolu gained a good shunk of EXP. apiece, and by the time we reached the end of the forest, both my Pokemon were well past hitting the LV20 mark.

Having mysteriously lost Cheryl (Heh heh.), I left the Forest and entered Eterna City, where I immediately beelined for the south gate, got an EXP. Share from some dork, and immediately attached it to Pennington. The sooner he became a Steel-type, the better, and besides, this would ensure Koopinator stayed at a lower (and more obedient) level for the time being.

After that, I entered the Gym and opened a few cans of whoop-ass on the hide-and-seeking Gym Trainers. They were easy, but Gardenia herself was a tough nut to crack, considering I only had one reliable battler, and he was at a type disadvantage. It took several resets before I finally caught a lucky break: After disposing of Cherubi and the Withdraw-whoring Turtwig, Gardenia's merciless Roserade used a few ill-timed Poison Stings instead of its typical Grass attacks, allowing Pennington to Peck it down. Badge for me, as well as obedience from my Riolu. Finally, things were starting to look up...

After leaving the Gym, I scouted the city, KO'ing a few surrounding Trainers and trading in my near-useless Onix for a far more versatile Bidoof, before finally stumbling upon... the Underground Man's house...

:idea:

After 'receiving' an Underground Kit, I immediately bolted. Screw that old codger and his inane quests - I got what I wanted. I descended into the Underground and began digging, finding nothing but Spheres for awhile until I stumbled upon an Armor Fossil.

Jackpot! I went back to the surface, having my new Bidoof Cut my way around Eterna Forest, Floraroma, and Jubilife before finally reaching Oreburgh again. I took my Armor Fossil to the Coal Mining Museum and had the local mad scientist revive it into a Shieldon (M), who I named Reznor. Being able to take a fossil of ANYTHING to a local museum of any variety - whether it be a volcanic research facility or a museum for COAL (How exciting!) - and have a crazy hyperactive man with an accent bring it back to life in five minutes, absolutely free of charge... Man, the world of Pokemon is a pretty fucked-up place.

So, my team 3/4's complete, I cleared out any remaining Trainers and picked up any Items I may have missed on my way back through Jubilife, Floraroma, and Eterna Forest (disregarding the Old Chateau for the time being). I rolled up my sleeves and barged into Team Galactic's base, ready to fight.



Pokemon

Pennington, LV25 Prinplup (M)
-Pound
-Peck
-BubbleBeam
-Metal Claw
Future anti-Fire and anti-Ground personnel. His essentiality is beginning to dwindle now that my team is filling out a bit.


Koopinator, LV24 Riolu (M)
-Quick Attack
-Reversal
-Rock Tomb
-Force Palm
Currently the foremost attacker. He should be ready to evolve soon.


Reznor, LV20 Shieldon (M)
-Stealth Rock
-Metal Sound
-Take Down
-Iron Defense
The to-be defensive wall of the team - Iron Defense+Metal Burst is gonna make him absolutely EVIL once he evolves.


Biver, LV12 Bidoof (F)
-Tackle
-Rock Smash
-Defense Curl
-Cut
RELIABLE RM-er #1.



Coming up next: ...Even more stuff.

Stay tuned.


~Blade

[DarkestLight]

o.O? Totally forgot abut Shieldon, lol. Reznor, hawhaw..O how I hate them so much.

[Poryhedron]

Name: Rita
Type: Ghost

—ELITE FOUR CHALLENGE—
Average party level: 60
—FIGHT!—

You are challenged by Elite Four Aaron!
Elite Four Aaron sent out DUSTOX!
Go! Arcanum!
Arcanum used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The foe's DUSTOX appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's DUSTOX used Double Team!
The foe's DUSTOX's evasiveness rose!
RITA: "Well, maybe it's weak enough for my guaranteed-hit
move to finish even though it's doubly weak..."
Elite Four Aaron used one Full Restore!
The foe's DUSTOX is at 100% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's not very effective...
The foe's DUSTOX appears to be at 95% HP!
RITA: "...d'oh."
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's DUSTOX appears to be at 25% HP!
The foe's DUSTOX used Light Screen!
The foe's Light Screen raised its team's Special Defense!
Arcanum used Psychic!
Arcanum's attack missed!
The foe's DUSTOX used Double Team!
The foe's DUSTOX's evasiveness rose!
Arcanum used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The foe's DUSTOX fainted!

Elite Four Aaron sent out BEAUTIFLY!
Go! Zephyr!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
It's super effective!
The foe's BEAUTIFLY appears to be at 25% HP!
The foe's BEAUTIFLY is paralyzed! It may be unable to move!
The foe's BEAUTIFLY used Energy Ball!
It's not very effective...
Zephyr is at 90% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
It's super effective!
The foe's BEAUTIFLY fainted!
The foe's team's Light Screen wore off!

Elite Four Aaron sent out DRAPION!
Go! Shadow!
Shadow used Brick Break!
The foe's DRAPION appears to be at 85% HP!
The foe's DRAPION used Cross Poison!
It's not very effective...
Shadow is at 94% HP!
Return, Shadow! Go! Zephyr! (This pokémon is at 90% HP)
The foe's DRAPION used Cross Poison!
It's not very effective...
Zephyr is at 78% HP!
The foe's DRAPION used Aerial Ace!
Zephyr is at 64% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's DRAPION appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's DRAPION restored its health using its Sitrus Berry!
The foe's DRAPION appears to be at 75% HP!
The foe's DRAPION used Aerial Ace!
Zephyr is at 51% HP!
Zephyr used RETURN!
The foe's DRAPION appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's DRAPION used Ice Fang!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 17% HP!
Zephyr restored its health using its Sitrus Berry!
Zephyr is at 42% HP!
UNBURDENing Zephyr raised its Speed!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's DRAPION appears to be at 10% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's DRAPION fainted!

Elite Four Aaron sent out VESPIQUEN!
Go! Arcanum!
The foe's VESPIQUEN is exerting its Pressure!
Arcanum used Psychic!
The foe's VESPIQUEN appears to be at 60% HP!
The foe's VESPIQUEN used Defend Order!
The foe's VESPIQUEN's Defense rose!
The foe's VESPIQUEN's Sp. Def rose!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's VESPIQUEN appears to be at 20% HP!
The foe's VESPIQUEN's Sp. Def fell!
The foe's VESPIQUEN used Power Gem!
Arcanum is at 88% HP!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's VESPIQUEN fainted!

Elite Four Aaron sent out HERACROSS!
Arcanum used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The foe's HERACROSS appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's HERACROSS's Sp. Def fell!
The foe's HERACROSS used Stone Edge!
Arcanum is at 46% HP!
Elite Four Aaron used one Full Restore!
The foe's HERACROSS is at 100% HP!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's HERACROSS appears to be at 15% HP!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's HERACROSS fainted!
Arcanum grew to level 62!

Player defeated Elite Four Aaron!

—
I used my last Lemonade on Arcanum, and the first of many Hyper Potions on Zephyr. I also gave Zephyr another Sitrus Berry.
—

You are challenged by Elite Four Bertha!
Elite Four Bertha sent out QUAGSIRE!
Go! Arcanum! (This pokémon is at 95% HP)
The foe's QUAGSIRE used Protect!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
The foe's QUAGSIRE protected itself.
The foe's QUAGSIRE used Protect!
...but it failed!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's QUAGSIRE fainted!

Elite Four Bertha sent out SUDOWOODO!
Go! Shadow! (This pokémon is at 94% HP)
The foe's SUDOWOODO used Sucker Punch!
It's super effective!
Shadow is at 40% HP!
Shadow used Brick Break!
It's super effective!
The foe's SUDOWOODO appears to be at 55% HP!
Shadow used Brick Break!
It's super effective!
The foe's SUDOWOODO appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's SUDOWOODO used Sandstorm!
A sandstorm brewed!
Shadow is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Shadow is at 34% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Shadow is at 100% HP!
Elite Four Bertha used one Full Restore!
The foe's SUDOWOODO is at 100% HP!
Shadow is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Shadow is at 94% HP!
The foe's SUDOWOODO used Sucker Punch!
It's super effective!
Shadow is at 37% HP!
Shadow used Brick Break!
It's super effective!
The foe's SUDOWOODO appears to be at 55% HP!
Shadow is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Shadow is at 31% HP!
The foe's SUDOWOODO used Sucker Punch!
It's super effective!
Shadow fainted!
Go! Arcanum! (This pokémon is at 95% HP)
The foe's SUDOWOODO used Sucker Punch!
It's super effective!
Arcanum is at 40% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's SUDOWOODO appears to be at 10% HP!
The sandstorm subsided.
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Arcanum is at 100% HP!
The foe's SUDOWOODO used Sandstorm!
A sandstorm brewed!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 94% HP!
The foe's SUDOWOODO used Sucker Punch!
It's super effective!
Arcanum is at 43% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's SUDOWOODO fainted!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 37% HP!

Elite Four Bertha sent out HIPPOWDON!
HIPPOWDON's SAND STREAM whipped up a sandstorm!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's HIPPOWDON appears to be at 55% HP!
The foe's HIPPOWDON used Curse!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Speed fell!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Attack rose!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Defense rose!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 31% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Arcanum is at 100% HP!
The foe's HIPPOWDON used Curse!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Speed fell!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Attack rose!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Defense rose!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 94% HP!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's HIPPOWDON appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's HIPPOWDON restored its health using its Sitrus Berry!
The foe's HIPPOWDON appears to be at 30% HP!
The foe's HIPPOWDON used Curse!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Speed fell!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Attack rose!
The foe's HIPPOWDON's Defense rose!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 88% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's HIPPOWDON fainted!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 82% HP!

Elite Four Bertha sent out WHISCASH!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's WHISCASH fainted!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 76% HP!

Elite Four Bertha sent out GOLEM!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's GOLEM appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's GOLEM used Gyro Ball!
Arcanum is at 48% HP!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 42% HP!
Elite Four Bertha used one Full Restore!
The foe's GOLEM is at 100% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's GOLEM appears to be at 5% HP!
Arcanum is buffeted by the sandstorm!
Arcanum is at 36% HP!
Arcanum used Psychic!
The foe's GOLEM fainted!
Arcanum grew to level 63!

Player defeated Elite Four Bertha!

—
I used a Revive on Shadow, and then a Hyper Potion each on him and Arcanum.
—

You are challenged by Elite Four Flint!
Elite Four Flint sent out RAPIDASH!
Go! Zephyr!
The foe's RAPIDASH used Sunny Day!
The sunlight turned harsh.
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's RAPIDASH appears to be at 65% HP!
The sunlight is strong.
The foe's RAPIDASH sprang up!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
Zephyr's attack missed!
The sunlight is strong.
The foe's RAPIDASH used Bounce!
Zephyr is at 72% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's RAPIDASH appears to be at 5% HP!
The sunlight is strong.
Elite Four Flint used one Full Restore!
The foe's RAPIDASH is at 100% HP!
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's RAPIDASH appears to be at 70% HP!
The sunlight is strong.
Elite Four Flint withdrew RAPIDASH!

Elite Four Flint sent out DRIFBLIM!
Zephyr used Stockpile!
Zephyr stockpiled 1!
Zephyr's Defense rose!
Zephyr's Sp. Def rose!
The sunlight faded.
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
The foe's DRIFBLIM appears to be at 25% HP!
The foe's DRIFBLIM used Will-O-Wisp!
Zephyr was burned!
Zephyr is hurt by its burn!
Zephyr is at 59% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
The foe's DRIFBLIM fainted!
Zephyr is hurt by its burn!
Zephyr is at 53% HP!
Zephyr recovered with its SITRUS BERRY!
Zephyr is at 72% HP!
Unburdening Zephyr raised its Speed!

Elite Four Flint sent out STEELIX!
Return, Zephyr! Go! Shadow!
The foe's STEELIX used Sunny Day!
The sunlight turned harsh.
The sunlight is strong.
Shadow used Shadow Ball!
It's not very effective...
The foe's STEELIX appears to be at 70% HP!
The foe's STEELIX used Fire Fang!
Shadow is at 44% HP!
Shadow used Brick break!
It's super effective!
The foe's STEELIX appears to be at 40% HP!
The foe's STEELIX used Rock Tomb!
Shadow's Speed fell!
The sunlight is strong.
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Shadow is at 100% HP!
The foe's STEELIX used Fire Fang!
A critical hit!
Shadow is at 40% HP!
Shadow used Shadow Ball!
It's not very effective...
The foe's STEELIX appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's STEELIX used Fire Fang!
Shadow is at 14% HP!
The sunlight faded.
Shadow used Dark Pulse!
The foe's STEELIX fainted!

Elite Four Flint sent out RAPIDASH! (This POKémon appears to be at 70% HP)
Go! Arcanum!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's RAPIDASH appears to be at 1% HP!
The foe's RAPIDASH's Sp. Def fell!
The foe's RAPIDASH used Flare Blitz!
A critical Hit!
Arcanum fainted!
The foe's RAPIDASH was hit with recoil!
The foe's RAPIDASH fainted!

Go! Zephyr!
Elite Four Flint sent out INFERNAPE!
The foe's INFERNAPE used Flare Blitz!
Zephyr is at 5% HP!
The foe's INFERNAPE is hit with recoil!
The foe's INFERNAPE appears to be at 70% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's INFERNAPE appears to be at 35% HP!
The foe's INFERNAPE restored its health using its Sitrus Berry!
The foe's INFERNAPE appears to be at 65% HP!
Zephyr is hurt by its burn!
Zephyr fainted!
Go! Shadow! (This pokémon is at 14% HP)
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Shadow is at 100% HP!
The foe's INFERNAPE used ThunderPunch!
Shadow is at 68% HP!
Shadow used Shadow Ball!
The foe's INFERNAPE appears to be at 15% HP!
The foe's INFERNAPE used ThunderPunch!
Shadow is at 40% HP!
Elite Four Flint used one Full Restore!
The foe's INFERNAPE is at 100% HP!
Shadow used Shadow Ball!
The foe's INFERNAPE appears to be at 55% HP!
RITA used one Max Revive on Arcanum!
Arcanum is at 100% HP!
The foe's INFERNAPE used Flare Blitz!
Shadow fainted!
The foe's INFERNAPE is hit with recoil!
The foe's INFERNAPE appears to be at 40% HP!
Go! Arcanum!
Arcanum used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The foe's INFERNAPE fainted!

Elite Four Flint sent out LOPUNNY!
Arcanum used Psychic!
The foe's LOPUNNY appears to be at 55% HP!
The foe's LOPUNNY used Fire Punch!
Arcanum is at 80% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
The foe's LOPUNNY appears to be at 30% HP!
The foe's LOPUNNY used Sunny Day!
The sunlight turned harsh!
The sunlight is strong.
Arcanum used Psychic!
The foe's LOPUNNY fainted!

Player defeated Elite Four Flint!

—
Revives for Zephyr and Shadow, and then Hyper Potions all around (yes, even on the 80% Arcanum. Fourth Elite Four member, I'm not screwing around.) Also gave Arcanum an Elixir, and Zephyr got my last Sitrus Berry to hold.
—

You are challenged by Elite Four Lucian!
Elite Four Lucian sent out MR. MIME!
Go! Zephyr!
The foe's MR. MIME used Thunderbolt!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 45% HP!
Zephyr restored its health using its Sitrus Berry!
Zephyr is at 69% HP!
Unburdening Zephyr raised its Speed!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
The foe's MR. MIME appears to be at 30% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
The foe's MR. MIME fainted!

Elite Four Lucian sent out GIRAFARIG!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's GIRAFARIG appears to be at 65% HP!
The foe's GIRAFARIG used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 24% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 99% HP!
The foe's GIRAFARIG used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 57% HP!
Zephyr's Sp. Def fell!
Zephyr used Stockpile!
Zephyr stockpiled 1!
Zephyr's Defense rose!
Zephyr's Sp. Def rose!
The foe's GIRAFARIG used Crunch!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 29% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's GIRAFARIG used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 56% HP!
Zephyr used Stockpile!
Zephyr stockpiled 2!
Zephyr's Defense rose!
Zephyr's Sp. Def rose!
The foe's GIRAFARIG used Crunch!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 36% HP!
Zephyr's Defense fell!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
RITA: "Kekekeke!"
The foe's GIRAFARIG used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 68% HP!
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GIRAFARIG appears to be at 20% HP!
The foe's GIRAFARIG used PSYCHIC!
Zephyr is at 43% HP!
Elite Four Lucian used one Full Restore!
The foe's GIRAFARIG is at 100% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's GIRAFARIG appears to be at 65% HP!
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GIRAFARIG appears to be at 25% HP!
The foe's GIRAFARIG used Crunch!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 15% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's GIRAFARIG fainted!

Elite Four Lucian sent out MEDICHAM!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 90% HP!
The foe's MEDICHAM used ThunderPunch!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 45% HP!
Zephyr is paralyzed! It may be unable to move!
RITA used one Full Restore!
Zephyr is at 100% HP and no longer paralyzed!
The foe's MEDICHAM used ThunderPunch!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 57% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
The foe's MEDICHAM appears to be at 20% HP!
The foe's MEDICHAM used Ice Punch!
It's super effective!
Zephyr is at 12% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
The foe's MEDICHAM fainted!
Zephyr grew to level 60!

Elite Four Lucian sent out ALAKAZAM!
RITA used one Max Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's ALAKAZAM used Energy Ball!
It's not very effective...
Zephyr is at 90% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
The foe's ALAKAZAM fainted!

Elite Four Lucian sent out BRONZONG!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 80% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Gyro Ball!
Zephyr is at 63% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG restored its health using its Sitrus Berry!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 80% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Psychic!
Zephyr is at 39% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Gyro Ball!
Zephyr is at 70% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Calm Mind!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Atk rose!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Def rose!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 30% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Calm Mind!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Atk rose!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Def rose!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 15% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Def fell!
The foe's BRONZONG used Psychic!
Zephyr is at 26% HP!
Zephyr's Sp. Def fell!
Elite Four Lucian used one Full Restore!
The foe's BRONZONG is at 100% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 85% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 99% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Psychic!
Zephyr is at 28% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 70% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Calm Mind!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Atk rose!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Def rose!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 60% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Gyro Ball!
Zephyr fainted!
Go! Arcanum!
Arcanum used Perish Song!
All pokémon hearing the song will faint in three turns!
The foe's BRONZONG used Psychic!
A critical hit!
Arcanum fainted!
Go! Shadow!
RITA used one Revive on Zephyr!
Zephyr is at 50% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Calm Mind!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Atk rose!
The foe's BRONZONG's Sp. Def rose!
The foe's BRONZONG's perish count fell to 2!
Shadow used Dark Pulse!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Gyro Ball!
Shadow is at 59% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG's perish count fell to 1!
Shadow used Dark Pulse!
The foe's BRONZONG appears to be at 35% HP!
The foe's BRONZONG used Psychic!
It's super effective!
Shadow fainted!
The foe's BRONZONG's perish count fell to 0!
The foe's BRONZONG fainted!

Player defeated Elite Four Lucian!

—
Two Revives, Three Hyper Potions, a Max Elixir on Zephyr, and a partridge in a pear tree. Oh, and since Zephyr is Brave, I gave it a Figy Berry to hold.
—

You are challenged by Champion Cynthia!
Champion Cynthia sent out SPIRITOMB!
Go! Zephyr!
The foe's SPIRITOMB is exerting its Pressure!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's SPIRITOMB appears to be at 65% HP!
The foe's SPIRITOMB used Embargo!
Zephyr can't use items anymore!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's SPIRITOMB appears to be at 30% HP!
The foe's SPIRITOMB's Sp. Def fell!
The foe's SPIRITOMB used Silver Wind!
It's not very effective...
Zephyr is at 96% HP!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's SPIRITOMB fainted!

Champion Cynthia sent out MILOTIC!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
It's super effective!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 70% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC used Surf!
A critical Hit!
Zephyr is at 7% HP!
Return, Zephyr! Go! Arcanum!
The foe's MILOTIC used Mirror Coat!
But it failed!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC used Mirror Coat!
Arcanum is at 34% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Arcanum is at 100% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC used Mirror Coat!
But it failed!
Arcanum used Psychic!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 25% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC used Aqua Ring!
Aqua Ring restored the foe's MILOTIC's HP!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 30% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 1% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC used Ice Beam!
Arcanum is at 75% HP!
Aqua Ring restored the foe's MILOTIC's HP!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 5% HP!
Champion Cynthia used one Full Restore!
The foe's MILOTIC is at 100% HP!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 75% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC's Sp. Def fell!
Aqua Ring restored the foe's MILOTIC's HP!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 80% HP!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 30% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC used Ice Beam!
Arcanum is at 49% HP!
Aqua Ring restored the foe's MILOTIC's HP!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 40% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 1% HP!
The foe's MILOTIC used Surf!
Arcanum is at 12% HP!
Aqua Ring restored the foe's MILOTIC's HP!
The foe's MILOTIC appears to be at 5% HP!
Arcanum used Shadow Ball!
The foe's MILOTIC fainted!

Champion Cynthia sent out ROSERADE!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Arcanum is at 100% HP!
The foe's ROSERADE used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
Arcanum is at 49% HP!
Arcanum used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The foe's ROSERADE appears to be at 15% HP!
The foe's ROSERADE used Extrasensory!
Arcanum is at 25% HP!
Champion Cynthia used one Full Restore!
The foe's ROSERADE is at 100% HP!
Arcanum used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The foe's ROSERADE appears to be at 15% HP!
Arcanum used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The foe's ROSERADE fainted!
Arcanum grew to level 64!

Champion Cynthia sent out GASTRODON!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Arcanum is at 100% HP!
The foe's GASTRODON used Sludge Bomb!
It's not very effective...
Arcanum is at 89% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's GASTRODON appears to be at 30% HP!
The foe's GASTRODON used Muddy Water!
Arcanum is at 57% HP!
Arcanum used Magical Leaf!
It's super effective!
The foe's GASTRODON fainted!

Champion Cynthia sent out GARCHOMP!
Go! Shadow!
Shadow used Shadow Ball!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 75% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Shadow is at 19% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Shadow is at 100% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
A critical hit!
Shadow fainted!
Go! Zephyr! (This pokémon is at 7% HP)
Zephyr restored its health using its Figy Berry!
Zephyr is at 20% HP!
Unburdening Zephyr raised its Speed!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 93% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Zephyr is at 26% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 99% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Zephyr is at 42% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Zephyr is at 41% HP!
RITA: "Grmbl...so this is what 75% Accuracy looks like?"
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
The attack of the foe's GARCHOMP missed!
Zephyr used Shadow Ball!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP restored its health using its Sitrus Berry!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 70% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Zephyr is at 35% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Zephyr is at 34% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
RITA: "Not the most honorable strategy out there, but whatever works!"
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Zephyr is at 40% HP!
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Dragon Rush!
Zephyr is at 39% HP!
RITA: "Lessee...eight, nine, ten...is that it?"
RITA used one Hyper Potion!
Zephyr is at 100% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Giga Impact!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
RITA: "...
...
...lapse in judgement, or badly chosen moveset?"
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 50% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Giga Impact!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
RITA: "...wow, badly chosen moveset it is."
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 30% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Giga Impact!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Giga Impact!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
Champion Cynthia used one Full Restore!
The foe's GARCHOMP is at 100% HP!
RITA: "Be my guest, I'm not using these Return PP for anything else..."
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 85% HP!
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 65% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Earthquake!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
RITA: "BAAAHAHAHAHA! Oh MAN that's rich!"
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 45% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Giga Impact!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
RITA: "Ah, getting CLEVER in your uselessness."
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 25% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Brick Break!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
RITA: "Okay, I concede, that's not a badly chosen moveset.
You're just stupendously unlucky to face three battlers
that are all immune to Normal, Fighting AND Ground, is all!"
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP appears to be at 5% HP!
The foe's GARCHOMP used Earthquake!
It doesn't affect Zephyr...
Zephyr used Return!
The foe's GARCHOMP fainted!

Champion Cynthia sent out LUCARIO!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's LUCARIO appears to be at 75% HP!
The foe's LUCARIO used Psychic!
Zephyr is at 66% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
A critical hit!
The foe's LUCARIO appears to be at 10% HP!
The foe's LUCARIO used Psychic!
Zephyr is at 31% HP!
Zephyr used Thunderbolt!
The foe's LUCARIO fainted!
Zephyr grew to level 62!

Player defeated Champion Cynthia!


http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/MortalCombat.gif

CLEARED!


Final Team:

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/drifblim.png Zephyr L61
Shadow Ball, Return, Thunderbolt, Stockpile
Had its moments, but overall was a bit of a deadweight. Ironic for a balloon...Idunno, maybe I just don't know how to handle Drifblim right.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/gengar.png Shadow L61
Shadow Punch, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Brick Break
A decent fighter overall.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/mismagius.png Arcanum L64
Shadow Ball, Magical Leaf, Psychic, Perish Song
As you may have noticed from that E4 challenge, Arcanum was definitely a major player in this runthough.


http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/army.gif ARMY L23
Rock Climb, Strength, Cut, Rock Smash
Served well in both of its roles.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/navy.gif NAVY L8
Dig, Flash, Surf, Waterfall
It's a good thing these guys can use so many RMs, as they're not much in combat.

http://www.pokemology.com/hosting/Rita/airforce.gif AIR FORCE L7
Fly, Defog, Quick Attack, Tackle
(insert joke about overladen birds here)

Next: /crackling static/

[Blademaster]

Next: /crackling static/

Yeah! Do it! Do it, do it, do it!



In the meantime... You know what's coming...



Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 3
Progress:



OK, so I dusted Team Galactic pretty much with no problems, saved a few Pokemon, and some guy gave me a Bicycle as thanks. Sweet. After that, I cleared out every Trainer east of Eterna, as well as n00blet at the southern gate of Eterna or something, and then headed south through the Cycling Road, playing drive-by baseball on the screwtarded Cyclists who think conducting battles on Bicycle's while going down a mile-long 45-degree incline is a good idea.

From there, I headed east through Mt. Coronet briefly, where some blue-haired freak approached me, said something about... something... and then he left. Right. Whatever. Probably some demented pedophile anyway. I got out of Coronet and cleared a path to Hearthome City, where I saved a Buneary, saw my mom (Bitch.), went to some cult church... I did pretty much everything there EXCEPT have a Gym Battle, because the stupid Gym Leader was on her high horse and said she wouldn't battle me until I got stronger. Another bitch.

I tried leaving the city, but some old coot gave me an Egg before I could leave. So now I'm carrying an Egg around. Great. I'd have boiled it, but Route 209 was SWARMING with Trainers that needed ass-whoopings first. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work, and lo and behold, the first Trainer I beat was enough to make Koopinator evolve into a Lucario! Yay!

After clearing out Route 209, I explored Hicktown (AKA, Solaceon), where I found and sold a SHITLOAD of stuff from the Solaceon Ruins. Yay for money! So I checked my Map, which seemed to point straight north. I abided, beating the Trainers down until I reached a Cabin with a path behind it... BUT THE PATH WAS BLOCKED BY FUCKING PSYDUCKS!

Great, just great. No matter how many times I beat those little shits up, they're too dumb to feel the pain and move. So, after taking my frustration out on the cabin proprieters, I decided to go east, clearing a VERY rainy path to Veilstone City, home of Maylene's Fighting Pokemon Gym... I thought I was in trouble, but during the last Route 215 battle I had with two Trainers, Reznor evolved into a walking fortress called a Bastiodon.

I was stoked. I marched into Veilstone City, got the necessities I needed from the Game Corner and the Department Store, and healed at the Pokemon Center. From there, I headed to the Gym, had a pointless interlude with Dawn. That's it, I'm sick of her.

WHAM!

One punch across the face later, and she was down for the count, allowing me access to the Gym. This is where things started to get tricky.

First off, the whole Gym is full of these damn sliding doors that make it like a maze. It takes like five minutes to navigate, and along the way, these four Ryu-from-Street-Fighter rejects are interrupting my concentration and throwing me off, and I have to send out my Lucario and Prinplup to dust their endless parades of Machoke. Bastiodon is hella sturdy, but not against a Machoke of near-equal level that's spamming Vital Throw and Mach Punch on every fucking turn! I had to clear most of the Gym the lame way by spamming BubbleBeam and Force Palm and letting Reznor fall behind in level and health. By the time those four retards had fallen, Koopinator was unconscious, Reznor was at about 2% health, and Pennington was half-KO-ed. So I had to go buy some Revives, heal at the Pokemon Center, and come back and REDO THE DAMN MAZE PUZZLE AGAIN before I FINALLY reached Maylene.

And, of course, after the annoying five-minute maze configuration and the generic underpaid goons, Maylene was a breeze: She's a clueless little dipshit with a very unimpressive team. Her cliche Machoke fell to a Karate Chop my Lucario stole from it, and her other Fighter... I forget, I think it was a Meditite... It was beaten senseless by Payback before it could even launch an attack to BE paid back! Even when it was down to Lucario VS. Lucario, it was a washout: She Drain Punched, got zero health; I used Force Palm and got a one-hit KO. Cobble Badge for me.

After receiving my winnings, I left the Gym... And found that Dawn had come to. She started crying to me that she lost her Pokedex. Damn, I musta knocked it flying when... er, I mean... Team Galactic must have done it!

Being the hero I am, I took her to the Galactic Warehouse, where her Clefairy and kadabra and my Bastiodon and Lucario pwned the two guards there. They ran away, allowing me to 'reclaim' Dawn's Pokedex as well as a Fly RM for me. Sweet. Now I needed a Flyer...

My work done for the time being, I headed south, clearing the path to Lake Valor of Trainers, finding some bimbo's house key, and my forgotten Egg hatched into a Happiny, which I'm stuck with until I can dump her off in a Pokemon Center. Oh, and Koopinator started being a disobedient fuck again. Sigh... Oh, well. I just gave him the EXP. Share and let him take a back seat to Pen and Rez, who are ready to kick some Seven Stars Restaurant ass at the Valor Lakefront...



Pokemon

Pennington, LV33 Prinplup (M)
-Hidden Power (E)
-Peck
-BubbleBeam
-Brine
Pretty much doing what I need him to, but he needs an Ice attack, and fast.


Koopinator, LV34 Lucario (M)
-Me First
-Payback
-Drain Punch
-Force Palm
Unpredictable, yet highly deadly. Once I get Crasher Wake's Badge and a few more TM's, he'll be unstoppable.


Reznor, LV33 Bastiodon (M)
-Ancientpower
-Swagger
-Return
-Iron Defense
Not much for attacking yet, but he's still the most durable member of the team. He needs Metal Burst and Stone Edge something serious.


Fautso, LV18 Bibarel (F)
-Cut
-Rock Smash
-Water Gun
-Strength
Forget Bidoof - THIS is a reliable RM-er.


Shelly, LV1 Happiny (F)
-Pound
-Charm
-?????
-?????
Useless little creampuff I'm stuck carting around until I can dump it off in Pastoria, this one is. Thanks, Egg guy. Dick.



Coming up next: Probably beating the Hell out of Crasher Wake, hopefully completing my team, and... who knows what else.

Stay tuned.


~Blade

[Blademaster]

Oh, by the way, Darkly, I'm with you: Reznor's were the most annoying fucking bosses in Super Mario World. I'm glad they amped up the 'mini-boss' level of challenge from Boom-Boom in SMB3, but as a kid, killing fire-breathing quartets of rhinos spinning around a wheel above a collapsing floor above a lake of lava!? Nintendo's got some sadistic bastards working for them. ><



Anyway, time for an update.



Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 5
Progress:



Well, the rich shmucks at Lake Valor's restaurant were pretty easy to whoop; I racked up a good chunk of cash in the process, then left and cleared the path of Trainers until I reached Pastoria City.

From Pastoria City, I was considering heading straight to the Gym, but I heard someone say an RM was in the Great Marsh Safari Zone. So, I paid $500 to get in, got the RM and a bunch of other Items, and sold them and made my $500 back with interest. Good deal. I also got to dump off that useless Happiny in the Pokemon Center, too. Good riddance, pipsqueak.

So, from THERE, I went to the Pastoria Gym, which was rigged with that annoying fucking water puzzle. I had to pound about ten Trainers before I cleared it, but thankfully I had enough supplies by the time I reached the Gym Leader that I didn't have to go back to the Pokemon Center and, thus, redo the stupid water maze.

So... Crasher Wake... Crasher Wake, Crasher Wake, Crasher Wake... Well, what can I say? He was piss-easy. Pennington's Electric Hidden Power fried his Gyarados and Floatzel, and his Quagsire fell to BubbleBeam and then Brine. Badge for me, and at the end of the battle, Pennington evolved into an Empoleon! Hell yeah!

So, yeah, I blew through Route 212 after that, caught a Staravia to use my Flying RM's, and returned to Hearthome, healed, stocked up, and went to challenge Fantina at her Gym...

...She still hadn't returned. FUCK!

OK, OK... Time to backtrack... I circled back around to Solaceon, then Veilstone, then back to Pastoria, where I finally found what I needed to do: Approach the Team Galactic nutjob and threaten to beat him up. He pissed himself and ran, and I chased after him, but thanks to that fucktard n00blet, I lost a good deal of ground. Whatever. I handed n00blet's ass to him on a plate, he talked some shit, I punched him in the face and ran. Back through Route 213, back to Valor Lakefront... I beat his wussy Glameow to Hell and back, he said 'Fuck this.' and bailed, and Cynthia gave me a flamethrower. Yay!

Back to Solaceon, back north, back to the Psyducks and FWOOOOM! Roast duck for everyone! :D

Bypassing that little obstacle, Cynthia came (How the FUCK did she get there so fast!?) and congrtulated me... She's becoming the new Dawn. Ugh...

Whatever. She gave me some stupid trinket and sent me north to Celestic Town; I essentially raped every Trainer and Pokemon on the way there, and finally arrived and found the old woman I had to give Cynthia's stupid lucky charm to. But she was busy yelling at that Galactic fucktard, who was trying to blow up Celestic Town and start the Pokemon 9/11, so I had to beat down all his Pokemon and bust his fucking head. Hooray, I'm a hero!

After that, that creepy blue-haired self-absorbed pedophile from Mt. Coronet showed up, talked some shit, and identified himself as Cyrus. He told me to tell him if I found any children poweful Pokemon, and then he left. Without giving me even a damn phone number or address, so if I DID find anything, where would I bring it? Idiot. So, anyway, I delivered the stupid Charm and got a Surf RM as a reward. Sweetness. That replaced Pennington's near-useless Brine quite well. RM in hand, I had work to do.

I flew back to Hearthome and FINALLY tackled Fantina's Gym. Koopinator's Payback made short work of the Gastly and Misdreavus lines I ran into, and Pennington's Electric Hidden Power brought down all the Drifloon's and Drifblim's. Beating Fantina was so easy, she's not even worth making French jokes at. Badge for me, and Surfing power for me.

From there, I had my Staravia Fly me back to Floaroma, and then I Surfed upstream from there to Fuego Ironworks. Shortly upon entering there, I obtained the fourth and final member of my team: a feisty little Magnemite, who of course had the Magnet Pull Ability.

Sigh...

One Breeding later, a baby Magnemite who better suited my needs was on my team and its papa got the boot. I named the hatchling Topman and slapped my EXP. Share on it, then returned and cleared out the Ironworks, levelling the little guy up and getting a Flamethrower TM. W00t.

After that, I left for Floaroma Meadows, found a shitload of Items, sold and stocked up accordingly, and then healed my team. I returned to Pastoria to Surf and the Oreburgh Pass for a Brick Break TM, and then I flew back to Celestic Town and headed for the west exit. Next stop, Route 211.



Pokemon

Pennington, LV39 Empoleon (M)
-Hidden Power (E)
-Aerial Ace
-Steel Wing
-Surf
A brutal beatstick and a near-impenetrable defensive type combo. He may not even need an Ice attack now.


Koopinator, LV39 Lucario (M)
-Bone Rush
-Shadow Claw
-Drain Punch
-Aura Sphere
A Swiss army knife. Nearly complete, he just needs Earthquake and maybe re-teach Dark Pulse in place of Shadow Claw, and he'll be REALLY ready to dish out the pain.


Reznor, LV41 Bastiodon (M)
-Ancientpower
-Dig
-Toxic
-Iron Defense
Still a sucktastic offense, but his defenses coupled with Toxic make for a slow yet painful death for near all opponents.


Topman, LV15 Magnemite (N)
-Metal Sound
-Supersonic
-SonicBoom
-Thundershock
Sucky moves, but this little guy ain't ready to battle yet, so I don't care.


Fautso, LV18 Bibarel (F)
-Cut
-Rock Smash
-Water Gun
-Strength
Reliable RM-er #2#1.


Swooper, LV17 Staravia (F)
-Fly
-Defog
-Wing Attack
-Double Team



Coming up next: More training, hopefully evolving Topman, another Gym Badge, and... the library. Urgh...

Stay tuned.


~Blade

[Blademaster]

Pretty big update on the way...



Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 7
Progress:



OK, I cleared out what few Trainers I'd missed on Route 211 and then flew back to Jubilife City, picking up some Poketch apps and then heading west. With Pennington's Surfing power, I cleared Route 218 and headed to Canalava City. I had three things to do here; thinking methodically, I went to the harbor first, where a Sailor offered to give me a lift to Iron Island. Kickass, free boat ride. Maybe the gen pop of Sinnoh isn't so bad after all...

...Maybe...

I entered the Iron Island cavern and cleared out the Campers and Picnickers, and just as I finished, Topman evolved into a Magneton. Kick-ass! One Escape Rope and one flight later, I was back at Mt Coronet, where a Rare Candy advanced Topman another level, evolving it into a MAGNEZONE. SICK! I renamed the bizarre new Pokemon 'Topmaniac' and, after briefly depositing Reznor in the Pokemon Center in Canalave, returned to Iron Island, teaming up with some guy in a fedora and kicking the shit out of more Trainers, including a pair of Team Galactic grunts. Richer and more powerful than ever, Riley (the fedora guy) gave me an Egg and bid me farewell.

After returning to Canalave, hatching the Egg, and tossing the hatched Riolu in favor of old Reznor, I stormed the Canalave Gym. Every Trainer fell to Topmaniac's Spark and Pennington's Surf, along with the token random Pokemon that Koopinator had to beat up, before I reached the Gym Leader, Byron. He told me he was the father of the chick that gave me my first Badge. Sweet, another easy win.

Anyway, what Pokemon did this guy have...? Steelix... Surf took him down pretty easily. I think Koopinator's Aura Sphere took out his Lucario or whatever other Steel Pokemon he had, but then he sent out his finisher: a Bastiodon. This was fun - I sent out MY Bastiodon and managed to make his faint by Struggling itself into submission. Badge for me!

After leaving the Gym, I went to the Library, where n00blet, Rowan, and Dawn were waiting for me. Before they could annoy me too much, an earthquake hit. Oh noes!

I flew to Lake Valor, the epicenter, and found Team Galactic was busy slaughtering Magikarp. I kicked their asses, then entered the cave and beat up their leader. Valley Windworks... Veilstone... now Lake Valor... I beat up all three Galactic Commanders, yay me! Then I flew to Lake Verity and beat up the first one again. I ROCK!

Then... I got assigned to go trudge through a snowstorm to save n00blet's sorry ass... Fucking Rowan. I shoulda kicked him into the lake... Anyway, back to Celestic, back through Mt. Coronet, and up through the blizzards of Routes 216 and 217. I got a shitload of EXP., money, and Items, though, so it wasn't that bad...

Finally, I made it to Snowpoint City, where I had to clear the annoying fucking slippery Gym. This Gym is where Reznor truly proved his merit. He's been questionable for awhile, but his Flamethrower absolutely WRECKED this Gym. Even the Gym Leader's weird team fell to a few Flamethrowers. Score. Badge.

From there, I left Snowpoint City, went to Lake Acuity, and saw n00blet thoroughly get his ass handed to him by the second Galactic Commander. N00blet went all emo after that and left while I flew back to Veilstone and infiltrated Galactic HQ. Thanks to the bad guys never keeping their damn mouths shut, I got through their warehouse and then their ugly spike-covered building easily, finally confronting Cyrus. Unsurprisingly, I kicked his ass. His reaction was surprising: He didn't even care! He seemed impressed and disgusted by my motives at the same time, and then, out of recognition of my strength or maybe as a bribe to get me to leave him alone, he gave me a MASTER BALL. WTF????

After that, he lead me to the Galactics' laboratory, where the third Commander, Saturn, fought me again, got his ass beaten, and surrendered the three Lake Pokemon they'd captured. They escaped, but I had to follow Cyrus. Back to Mt. Coronet, which was long, boring, and fricking ANNOYING.

Fast-forward to the summit, AKA the Spear Pillar. The first two Commanders, Mars and Jupiter, were waiting for me, as was Cyrus, who, using the energy he'd obtained from Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, summoned Palkia!!!!!!!!!!111!11!1 ZOMFG!!!!!!!!11

At this point, I was starting to take heavy damage, and Mars AND Saturn teamed up on me. This could've been a problem...

But wait! At the last moment, n00blet appeared! He was back, and he was PISSED. He sent out his Munchlax, Staraptor, and Ponyta, alongside my own Magnezone, Empoleon, and Bastiodon. With our Pokemon teamed up, we blew away both Commanders' Bronzors and Golbats, as well as Mars' Purugly. Jupiter's Skuntank, though... Its Flamethrower was a royal pain in the ass. After some healing + rotating, Pennington and Ponyta finally landed a head-on Flamethrower-Avalanche combo that brought it down.

But I wasn't done yet. Cyrus sic'ed Palkia on us, owning n00blet something bad. Poor kid... Oh, shit, Palkia set its sights on me next! But before it could strike, the three Lake Pokemon appeared and kicked its ass. Cyrus blew a fucking gasket when that happened and challenged me to one final battle... It was honestly a joke. Honchkrow, Gyarados, and Crobat... Um... Can we say 'Discharge,' folks? His Weavile fell to Koopinator's Close Combat soon after.

It was over. Cyrus was shaken up something bad, but he vowed he'd be back one day. Yeah, right... Wait, what? Pokemon Platinum? Oh... Damn it...

By this point, Dawn and Rowan had shown up and Palkia was going fucking apeshit, so I whipped out my Master Ball and caught it. The creator of space, huh...? I named him 'Shigeru.'

After some congratulations BS from Dawn and Rowan, I descended the mountain again, did some scouring around the map, and then flew back to Veilstone and biked down through Route 213 to Route 222. I cleared out all the trainers there, gained more EXP., and arrived in Sunyshore City, where Carrot Top approached me and asked me to give the Gym Leader a good battle.

Can do, Carrot Top... Can do...



Pokemon

Pennington, LV49 Empoleon (M)
-Blizzard
-Aerial Ace
-Steel Wing
-Surf
A brutal beatstick with a near-impenetrable defensive type combo, he's the second-toughest member of the team.


Koopinator, LV49 Lucario (M)
-Bone Rush
-Shadow Claw
-Close Combat
-Dragon Pulse
The head of the team. All he needs now is Earthquake in place of Bone Rush, and his moveset will be complete.


Reznor, LV48 Bastiodon (M)
-Fire Blast
-Metal Burst
-Rock Slide
-Iron Defense
This guy can learn more TM's than I expected...! His moveset is kinda screwy, but he's the ideal shield should I come to any tight spots.


Topmaniac, LV48 Magnezone (N)
-Flash Cannon
-Discharge
-SonicBoom
-Shock Wave
Anti-Water and anti-Flying personnel. Is also going to serve as the team's answer to Ground attacks once it levels up and learns Magnet Rise.


Fautso, LV18 Bibarel (F)
-Cut
-Rock Smash
-Rock Climb
-Strength
The first half of the perfect 4th-generation RM duo.


Swooper, LV17 Staravia (F)
-Fly
-Defog
-Wing Attack
-Double Team
The second half of the perfect 4th-generation RM duo.



Coming up next: The final Gym and Victory Road... And maybe more...

Stay tuned.


~Blade

[Blademaster]

It's time...



Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 8
Progress:



Sunyshore Gym.

8PM Eastern Standard Time.

I entered the front door and lead the charge with Topmaniac, whose Discharge short-circuited every non-Electric Pokemon in my path while Koopinator's Bone Rush brought down every Electric-type before I reached Volkner.

Bone Rushed Luxray and Pachirisu, Surfed the others that I can't remember. Beacon Badge for me, as well as the knowledge that I'd sparked Volkner to stay in his Gym and beat the shit out of Trainers again. Yay.

I headed north from Sunyshore, where I ran into the stuttering Olivine Gym Leader from GSC, Jasmine. She gave me the Waterfall RM, which I taught to Pennington. From there, we Surfed north, pounding Trainers and clearing the path to Victory Road. We healed at the Pokemon Center outside Victory Road, then continued inside...

Putting the ten Max Repels I'd bought in Sunyshore to good use, I scouted Victory Road, destroying every Trainer and collecting every item, leveling up my team and using the Rare Candies I'd collected to bring Reznor and Koopinator up to level with the rest of the team.

By the end of Victory Road, the team was at an average Level of 52; I healed and sold every spare Item in my bag... Then I stopped and had Staravia Fly me back to Jubilife. I had some last-minute prep work to do:

First, I went to Jubilife's Poketch Company and got the last few apps I'd missed over the past few Gyms.

Then, I flew to Eterna and biked south and around to Wayward Path. Not for that lost kid - screw her. Instead, I used my last Max Repels to clear the hidden entrance of wild Pokemon, taught Topmaniac Flash, and navigated my way to my long-awaited Earthquake TM, just when my last Max Repel wore out. Oh, well. Escape Rope FTW.

Lastly, I trekked to Veilstone City one more time and, in typical MTC fashion, wasted the about P$400,000 I'd hoarded throughout the game to buy enough Coins to buy an Ice Beam TM and a Thunderbolt TM.

From there, I flew back to the Pokemon League, healed, and taught Koopinator, Pennington, and Topmaniac Earthquake, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt (respectively). I spent the last of my money on 20 Revives, 20 Hyper Potions, 10 Full Restores, and 10 Full Heals. I was ready... I saved and ente-

"WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Don't fucking tell me that that's who I think it is...

Yes. N00blet was back for one final battle... Fine. Topmaniac's Thunderbolt took out his Floatzel and Staraptor, while Pennington's Ice Beam, Surf, and newly-learned Drill Peck brought down his Torterra, Rapidash, and Heracross (again, respectively). Koopinator's Close Combat brought down his Snorlax, clinching my victory.

Yet again, n00blet pitched a fit and swore he'd get back at me one of these days. Blah, blah, whatever. One more round of healing, and I attached the last Items in my Bag to my team: the Quick Claw to Koopinator, the Shell Bell to Reznor, the Razor Claw to Topmaniac (who has no claws or even limbs to begin with o_o'), and... Shit, I ran out of Items. Oh, well, I guess a Sitrus Berry for Pennington will suffice...

With that, I spoke to the guard; after confirming all 8 of my Badges, I entered the Pokemon League. The final battle was about to begin...



Pokemon

Pennington, LV53 Empoleon (M)
-Ice Beam
-Drill Peck
-Waterfall
-Surf
One of my team's top fighters, his moveset is finally complete.


Koopinator, LV53 Lucario (M)
-Earthquake
-Shadow Claw
-Close Combat
-Dragon Pulse
The other top fighter of the team, his moveset is primed and he's ready to go.


Reznor, LV55 Bastiodon (M)
-Fire Blast
-Iron Head
-Rock Slide
-Iron Defense
Metal Burst either does too little damage due to resistances, or it doesn't get a chance to go off because of killer Ground and Fighting attacks. I shoulda kept Flamethrower on him...


Topmaniac, LV52 Magnezone (N)
-Flash Cannon
-Thunderbolt
-Magnet Rise
-Shock Wave
Anti-Water and anti-Flying personnel. I wish I'd gotten Magneton to learn Tri Attack in place of Shock Wave... Oh, well. This guy's still a solid fighter.


Fautso, LV18 Bibarel (F)
-Cut
-Rock Smash
-Rock Climb
-Strength
The first half of the perfect 4th-generation RM duo.


Swooper, LV17 Staravia (F)
-Fly
-Defog
-Wing Attack
-Double Team
The second half of the perfect 4th-generation RM duo.



Coming up next: The Elite Four, the Champion, and the last quest...

Stay tuned for the finale.


~Blade

[Blademaster]

I was bored. so, a bit earlier than expected, the finale is here...



Name: Blade
Type: Steel
Reason: Take a guess, retard.
Rival's Name: n00blet
Reason: Again, take a guess. Retard.
Badges: 8
Progress:



I entered the Pokemon League. ...Yeah. That's all. No big intro, nothing like that - I did that in the last update. So, without, further delay... Here we go...


Aaron


Aaron's Dustox fell quickly thanks to Reznor's Rock Slide. His Heracross KO'ed Rez, and it almost nailed Penningto, too. But thanks to a 4x effective, Drill Peck, I brought the Bug down.


Beautifly came next, obviously ready to Grass attack me into submission, but switching in Topmaniac shorted that plan out. Shock Wave and Thunderbolt brought down Beautifly and then Vespiquen, who got in a painful Attack Order before falling.


Drapion was last, and thanks to Koopinator's Earthquake, it was soon beaten, as well.


After the battle, I Revived Reznor and healed him and Pennington, then proceeded onto the next room. One down, three to go.



Bertha


Quagsire was first in line here. Lacking a Grass-type attack was annoying, but thanks to its Ground weakness, Quagsire was washed away by Surf before too long.


Next up was Golem. Surfed away in one hit. Sudowoodo followed and managinged to KO Pennington with a well-aimed Low Kick. I switched in Koopinator and Earthquaked the fake tree Pokemon down, which was replaced by Whiscash. I Revived Pennington, thinking that Whiscash would be harmless against Koopinator.


Then... It used Fissure. The move missed, but I realized then that I needed to take it out ASAP. Pennington went back onto the field and Waterfalled the catfish into submission, leaving me facing off against a brute called Hippowdon. This thing looked scary... Then a Surf attack KO-ed it. Whoops.


After the battle, I Revived Pennington and healed him, Koopinator, and Reznor before proceeding. Two down, two to go...


Carrot Top


Well, if it isn't my old buddy from Sunyshore! OK, let's see what kinda Pokemon you ha-


...Fire... Pokemon... And I have a Steel team...


(gulp)


Befittingly enough, this fight was Hell. It seemed easy at first, with Carrot Top's Rapidash Stomping Pennington while I whaled on it with Waterfall and made him use a Full Restore, but then, out of nowhere, WHAM! Flare Blitz across the face, Pennington's unconscious in one hit and Rapidash is back at near-max health.


I quickly sent in Koopinator, whose Quick Claw enabled him to land an Earthquake and KO the bastard before it could really hurt me. OK... OK, next contender... Infernape.


This is where the battle started spiraling out of control. Before I could land an Earthquake, Infernape blew Koopinator clear out of the battle... WITH A MACH PUNCH.


OK, fine... I sent in Topmaniac to stall while I Revived Pennington. A Mach Punch from Infernape brought the Magnezone into the red - just enough time to Hyper Potion Pennington back to max. So, Topmaniac fell, and Pennington was up. Time to drown this bi- (THUNDERPUNCH'D)


...


This, my friends, is where the standard Elite Four 'twenty-rotations-of-stalling-and-healing came into play. I finally DID bring down the Infernape with Koopinator's Quick Claw, but GOD DAMN!


Next was Steelix... An Earthquake weakened it, but Koopinator fell before it did. I sent in a weakened Pennington to Surf it down, and then when Drifblim came out, I swapped in Topmaniac and Thunderbolted it out of the sky, but not before a Will-O-Wisp Burned my Pokemon. Ugh...


Finally, Carrot Top sent out a Lopunny. I Revived Koopinator and Close Combatted it down in one shot, but that in turn took the last of Koopinator's Close Combat PP.


After defeating Carrot Top, I realized that the last member of the Elite Four was gonna be trouble if the third one was this bad, so I fully revived and healed everyone and put Koopinator at the head of the party before proceeding. Three down, just one more to go...


Lucian


OK, this bookworm was all that stood between me and Championship... Let's do this...


First up was Mr Mime, who set up a Light Screen before Shadow Claw took him down. Then came Medicham, who met my Shadow Claw with a Fire Punch and had enough life left for a Full Restore. I followed suit and tried again, and this time I managed to bring the Arabian warrior-psychic down with a little help from Topmaniac's Flash Cannon. Lucian recalled Medicham and sent out Alakazam...


Now, I wanna stop with the jokes and such here for a moment and be serious: When I started this Steel MTC, I figured that the Elite Four would be pretty easy, due to Steel Pokemon having such high resistances to Pokemon like Bugs and Psychics...


Guess what.


I was WRONG. WELCOME TO OBLIVION.


Alakazam was the evillest Pokemon I've fought in a long, LONG time. I honestly don't think a single Pokemon has given me this much trouble since the early days of Ruby, when I first learned the true power of Metagross. This Psychic nightmare launched a Psychic attack at a full-health Magnezone with a type resistance and KO-ed it in one hit. Koopinator quickly met a similar fate when I tried to Shadow Claw the evil Psychic down, and in a desperate attempt to stall and heal, I sent Reznor in... Oh, Reznor... Poor thing... Alakazam ripped him apart with a FOCUS BLAST.


I was scared for awhile here. Psychic after Psychic, Revive after Revive... By the time Alakazam ran out of Focus Blasts, I was down to a measly THREE Revives and no more than a dozen Restores/Hypers. In what I could best describe as a MIRACLE, Alakazam fired an Energy Ball at Koopinator at one point instead of a Psychic; in that moment of opportunity, I landed a critical Shadow Claw and slew the beast.


But my trouble wasn't over yet - next came Bronzong, which squared off against Reznor for the title of 'Best Shield in Sinnoh.' I fired Thunderbolt after Fire Blast after Shadow Claw at this beast and barely got it into the lower yellow, where a lucky Surf from Pennington brought it down. I'd lost Topmaniac along the way to a rogue Gyro Ball, though...


Finally, I was left to battle Girafarig with Koopinator, who had a PP-less Close Combat and an effect-less Shadow Claw. My other Pokemon were too weak to risk sending in, so I had to wittle down Girafarig's health with Dragon Pulse until I could KO it with an Earthquake.


I thought I'd won, but Lucian reminded me I still had one last battle ahead of me...


The Champion...


I Revived Topmaniac and healed all my Pokemon to the max, giving Pennington my last Sitrus Berry to hold and saving, before entering the Champion's chamber...


Cynthia


Yes... Dawn's older, sexier fanservice replacement was my final challenge in the Elite Four, and I'll be honest - I had to reset twice before I could beat her.


Her first line of defense was a doozy of a Pokemon called Spiritomb. Koopinator and it exchanged blows, his Shadow Claw matching its Dark Pulse until it needed a Full Restore, and after that, I unloaded on it - Koopinator's last Shadow Claws along with a Dragon Pulse or two packed the punch to put this Ghost to rest.


Next in line was the gross-yet-effective Gastrodon. I switched in Pennington to handle this critter, and his Surf managed to overcome its high HP enough to beat it down.


Then came Garchomp, the obligatory uuber-Dragon of the Elite Four. Pennington stood his ground against this theropodean terror and launched an Ice Beam to counter its Dragon Rush. One Full Restore later, and the sand shark was back in business, but a second Ice Beam and an ill-timed Giga Impact were enough to seal the Dragon's fate. One Waterfall was enough to defeat the Elite Four's ultimate weapon.


But the battle was far from over: Next in line was a Pokemon that I both cherished and dreaded: Lucario. Its Earthquake brought down Pennington, whom I replaced with my own Lucario. Earthquake met Psychic, and both Pokemon were left in ragged shape. But Koopinator had no moves left - just his final Dragon Pulse, which was too slow to go off before an Aura Sphere defeated him. I swapped in Topmaniac and, in an act of pure luck, managed to get in a Magnet Rise just before Lucario sent another Earthquake my way. From there, a Thunderbolt brought the Aura Pokemon down.


Milotic was my next opponent; I had to use quite a few Hyper Potions and Full Restores in response to its Surf before I got enough of an opening to Revive Pennington and Koopinator. Even then, I had to rely on Shock Waves for the majority of the battle because I was out of Revives and those cheap Mirror Coats kept blasting chunks of Topmaniac's health. Eventually, I blasted Milotic down to about 1HP, but a Mirror Coat counterstrike blasted Topmaniac, bringing it down. I sent in Koopinator and used my final Dragon Pulse to seal another win.


This was it. Cynthia's final Pokemon: a Roserade. I used Koopinator as a sponge while I gave a Hyper Potion to Pennington. Koopinator fell, and I sent in Reznor, trying to give him his chance to shine before the game ended. He landed a single Fire Blast, knocking Roserade into the yellow, and the countering Energy Ball did the same to Reznor. I tried another Fire Blast; it missed, and the resultant Energy Ball was enough to bring Reznor down.


My final Pokemon was Pennington. How ironic, right? The first Roserade in the game was Gardenia's, and Pennington had to overcome overwhelming odds to defeat it. And now... Now the last Roserade in the game is up to bat, and the only thing separating victory and defeat is Pennington once again...


And once again, a Peck - a DRILL Peck - to be precise is my move of choice. Roserade's Energy Ball blasted a good chunk of Pennington's health off. The Drill Punch hit... Roserade's HP fell to red...


...


...


...


...


SPAM!


...


...


...AND THEN TO BLACK! ROSERADE HAD FALLEN! I BEAT CYNTHIA! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!! :D


(insert credits here)


But wait! I'm not done yet. Oh, nononono... My Pokedex isn't complete yet... I'm missing 4 Pokemon...


I Biked up to Lake Verity and entered the cave there. I met Mesprit, who stayed long enough for me to get an entry and then fled. Thank you, Mesprit.


From there, I flew to Celestic Town and talked to the Elder. She gave me Dialga's Pokedex entry.


After that, I flew to Snowpoint City. I remembered my mother telling me to get on a boat here, but she's still a bitch, so no. No boat. I walked to Lake Acuity instead and battled Uxie, getting its entry and bagging some EXP. for Topmaniac, too.


Finally, I flew to Veilstone and Biked down to Lake Valor, which had refilled... somehow... Anyway, I approached an battled Azelf, leveling up Topmaniac and getting my final Pokedex entry. Nice.


From there, I flew to Sandgem Town and healed at the Pokemon Center, then went and talked to Rowan one last time. He congratulated me and then some other old dude gave me a bigger Pokedex to fill...


...I hate this game...


I left and chucked the Pokedex. Let Dawn worry about that. I had one absolute last task at hand...


In Fire Red, I ended my MTC's by defeating not the E4, but by defeating and capturing Mewtwo...


In Ruby, I ended my MTC's by defeating not the E4, but by defeating and capturing Rayquaza...


I flew back to Veilstone for the final time and Biked south, coming to an unlocked new area called Sendoff Spring... There, I entered a cave and navigated a labyrinth of strange rooms, before finally discovering a great entity... a six-legged dragonian not of this world...


I saved my game and challenged the beast...


And the rest... as they say...


...is history...





Pokemon

Pennington, LV56 Empoleon (M)
-Ice Beam
-Drill Peck
-Waterfall
-Surf
He did a damn fine, job, he did... This MTC wouldn't have ever happened if not for him.


Koopinator, LV56 Lucario (M)
-Earthquake
-Shadow Claw
-Close Combat
-Dragon Pulse
Awesome Pokemon, this guy... He made me proud so many times. I could've never completed this MTC without him.


Reznor, LV56 Bastiodon (M)
-Fire Blast
-Iron Head
-Rock Slide
-Iron Defense
He didn't do much fighting, but he was a blast to raise and to learn about. I'm really eager to try out his 'brethren' Rampardos now.


Topmaniac, LV55 Magnezone (N)
-Flash Cannon
-Thunderbolt
-Magnet Rise
-Shock Wave
A bit of a late arrival, but this enigmatic Electric-type was fun as Hell to raise and got me out of many tight spots. I guess some good came out of Mt. Coronet after all.


Fautso, LV18 Bibarel (F)
-Cut
-Rock Smash
-Rock Climb
-Strength
The first half of the perfect 4th-generation RM duo. I'd have never beaten the game without her help.


Swooper, LV17 Staravia (F)
-Fly
-Defog
-Wing Attack
-Double Team
The second half of the perfect 4th-generation RM duo. Not an absolutely necessary Pokemon like Fautso, but she made the game SO much easier, and for that, I'm thankful.



Well, that's it for this MTC...

I hope at least somebody read all this crap and got something from it. :sweat:

Anyway, I'm done here... Time to trade these guys over to Diamond and clear some room. This challenge has ended, but another is about to begin...

Bundle up.

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Can't wait for the next installement.

[DarkestLight]

That was funny.

Yes, who thinks of having children slam their heads onto rotating planks with triceratops spitting fireballs at them while the falls breaks? Every Foretress in every world in SMW I skipped until I reached Bowser, then I ran back and slammed through them all (cause I realized that one of them prohibited me from getting to the Star road -.-). I figured if I could fly through and continually practice the same strategy, it would be easy,

Hellz no.

>> Man, I'll do a MTC when Platinum comes out. I'll need to figure out a good team though.

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

I wish I had D/P.

[Blademaster]

An ill wind is blowing... It may be scorching hot outside, but the temperature is about to drop.

Big time.



Name: Artie
Type: Ice
Reason: It's a play on 'Artic,' the often-used pronunciation (and spelling) of 'Arctic.'
Rival's Name: Jake
Reason: Named after our resident pyrokinetic (or pyromaniac, maybe), starjake.
Badges: 0
Progress:



Hey, folks. Blade here, and I've started a new MTC, this time centering around another lethal Pokemon-type that's weak against Fire. I speak, of course, of Ice Pokemon.

I began the game in a different way than usual: Instead of joking around and acting like a faux badass, I immediately rushed to Jake's house and, after sidestepping his impromptu body slam, followed him inside, and then up Route 201 to Lake Verity. That's where we met Dawn and Professor Rowan, who seemed to be looking for something... A Legendary Pokemon, perhaps? Nah...

They left, but before I could follow them, Jake dragged me into the tall grass to rifle through their briefcase, which had been left behind. Sweet. Finders keepers...

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!! KILLER BIRD ATTACK!!!!!!!!!11111111!!!!!!11

I grabbed and chucked a Pokeball, and out popped a Piplup, who proceeded to beat the killer birds to a pulp and send them packing.

Now, in case you're wondering, I just wanna point out that, yes, Piplup is a penguin, and penguins live in icy territories, but the real reason that I chose this starter is so Jake would get stuck with not a Fire Pokemon, but rather, a Turtwig. And since Grass Pokemon don't like Ice much... X3

Go ahead. Call me a cheater. All's fair in love, war, and Monotype Challenges. :cawg:

After returning to Twinleaf Town, briefly talking to Rowan about his briefcase and Pokemon, and going home for a bit and getting a pair of Running Shoes, I headed to Rowan's laboratory in Sandgem and got a Pokedex, as well as a tour around the city from Rowan's fine-ass assistant, Dawn. She pointed out buildings and stuff to me; I was more focused on watching her ass than the scenery. Hubba-hubba... You're only 10 years old, Dawn? Not with a figure like that, baby. Speaking of which, do you like popsicles...?

Huh? What? Oh! Training, yeah... Er-HEM!

ANYWAY, I headed back home and told my mom I was sick of living with her and that I was leaving home, then I booked it back to Sandgem before she could protest. Yay, me! Freedom!

Back in Sandgem, I approached Dawn again, and she taught me how to catch Pokemon. Oh, Dawn... The way you hold those Pokeballs just sends shivers up my spine...

What? Those are for me? Oh, cool. Five free Pokeballs. W00t! :D

Before I had a chance to properly 'thank' her, though, she left for Jubilife City. But... But...

Oh, shit! Another killer Starly! Piplup, beat its ass! Hooray, I caught the useless bird, yay.

I returned to Sandgem's Pokemon Center, then headed up to the Union Room and traded between my DS's: My Piplup and Starly in Pearl for a recently-hatched Snorunt and an Egg in Diamond. I left after that and ran around Sandgem in circles for about ten minutes, until finally the Egg hatched into a Swinub. Yay!

Then, though, I realized I now had two Level ONE Pokemon as my entire team. Luckily, they'd both inherited a few moves from their parents: a fully-grown Glalie, and a custom-bred Swinub I never got to evolve that Mega Horny gave me (THANKS, man. You really saved my ass. :sweat2:). So, beating down the local Starly, Bidoof, and Shinx wasn't too much trouble, and I was soon at LV3 - high enough to take on the Route 203 Trainers. Bam, bam, bam. All gone.

Right about that time, I reached Jubilife City, where I saw Dawn for a fleeting moment before she bid me farewell. God, this chick's a tease...

Oh, well... I healed my Pokemon at the Jubilife Pokemon Center and, since my battery was running low, I headed to the Trainer's School, delivered a Town Map to Jake, and was rewarded with one of my own. Jake ran off after that, leaving me in the Trainer's School, with two rookie Trainers I could face off against...

Not a bad idea...



Pokemon

Crystal, LV5 Snorunt (F)
-Double Team
-Hail
-Ice Beam
-Protect
Short for 'Water Crystal,' in case you're wondering why I broke away from the Mario-themed nicknames. This scrappy little snow cap is gonna be my first Froslass someday.


Pigarithm, LV6 Swinub (M)
-Tackle
-Odor Sleuth
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
A burly little butterball. This physical little bacon bit is gonna be the first Mamoswine AND Piloswine of my Diamond Pokedex.



Coming up next: Getting a Poketch and getting a Badge.

Stay tuned.


~Blade

[DarkestLight]

oooh all the ice puns are hurting my head.

[Blademaster]

You want an ice pack for that?

(snerk)

[DarkestLight]

..LOL. Jackass

[Blademaster]

It's what I do...

UPDATE!



Name: Artie
Type: Ice
Reason: It's a play on 'Artic,' the often-used pronunciation (and spelling) of 'Arctic.'
Rival's Name: Jake
Reason: Named after our resident pyrokinetic (or pyromaniac, maybe), starjake.
Badges: 1
Progress:



Needless to say, I thoroughly pwned the two Trainer School Trainers and received a Hidden Power TM. After that, I left and got the bare-bones work done in Jubilife: I got a Poketch, stocked up at the Pokemon Center and the Poke Mart, and headed east, clearing the path to Oreburgh and through Oreburgh Tunnel, until I reached Oreburgh City. Yayz.

As soon as I got to the city, some random bypasser told me where the Gym was; Jake was out there, trying to light the place on fire. I caught him in the act and he told me it was OK because the Gym Leader wasn't around. I told him to give me an hour to find the guy before he torched the place; he reluctantly agreed.

So, after that, I took my sweet time exploring the city, getting free stuff, and checking out the southern edge of Route 207. That's when I decided to try out my Hidden Power TM. I gave it to Crystal and tested it out... Neutral to everything, ineffective against Starly and Bidoof... OK, Ghost-type Hidden Power.

You're next, Pigarithm. OK... Strong against Geodude... Weak against Starly and Zubat... Neutral against Bidoof... Grass-type Hidden Power?

This was tough... Crystal would get more type coverage, plus STAB after evolving... But Pigarithm's Ground-type resistance coupled with Grass HP would make the Rock Gym a LOT easier...

I decided to wait and I headed to the Oreburgh Mine, where I cleaned house, leveled up, and... Crystal started ignoring my orders. :sweat: Bitch. No Hidden Power for you!

Anyway, I cleared out the mine and found the transvestite Gym Leader, Roark. I followed her him back to the Gym... which was on fire. DAMMIT, JAKE! IT'S ONLY BEEN 45 MINUTES!

OK, a few Powder Snows and Mud Slap's later, the Gym was out, and I could challenge the Gym Trainers, and then Roark. Hidden Power and Ice Beam against the Ground-types, and Earthquake against Cranidos. Coal Badge for me.

First Badge in-hand, I left Oreburgh and caught a Bidoof, who I taught Rock Smash; I used that to get a Flash TM out of Oreburgh Tunnel. Then I returned to Jubilife and found... Dawn in trouble?!? Being threatened by blue-haired astronauts!?!?

ARTIE SMASH!!!! :mad:

One Team Galactic raping later, Dawn was saved and I was... Wait, who the fuck is this fat guy? No, I don't want your stupid gay Fashion Case! No, I- Dawn? DAWN, WAIT! NO, DON'T LEAVE- ARGHH!!!!

PUNCH!

Frustrated and de-libido-ized (and possibly a fugitive for hit-and-running that fat bastard), I went to the TV Station, got a few freebies, and pounded the Hell out of the overleveled Trainer on the first floor. From there, I left, healed at the Pokemon Center, and headed north to Route 204. Next stop: Floaroma Town!



Pokemon

Crystal, LV13 Snorunt (F)
-Bite
-Hail
-Ice Beam
-Protect
The resident disobedient fucker. Good thing her moveset sucks ATM...


Pigarithm, LV12 Swinub (M)
-Hidden Power (Grass)
-Odor Sleuth
-Powder Snow
-Earthquake
Versatile and strong, I'm probably gonna be relying a lot on this guy until I get my Forest Badge.



Gnawty, LV4 Bidoof (M)
-Tackle
-Rock Smash
-?????
-?????
RM-er #1. Named after a Donkey Kong character instead of a Mario character for a change (That, and because there's no beavers in the Marioverse. -.-')



Coming up next: Beating up Team Galactic, navigating the cliche early-in-game forest, and obtaining the second Badge.

Stay tuned.


~Blade

(Starjake is gonna have my ass for this... XD)

[Mega Horny]

...
finally used that swinub.