The Rainbow Challenge

-got
-caught the Hastyon Route 202
-caught the Modestat Lake Verity
-got Poketch
-caught the Braveon Route 203
-evolved at Oreburgh Gate
-defeated with
-caught the Hardyon Route 204 North
-defeated Galactic at Valley Windworks
-caught the Naiveat Valley Windworks
-evolved in Eterna Forest
-caught the Quiet
-grinding at Eterna Forest
-evolved at Eterna Forest
-evolved at Eterna Forest
-defeated with
-taughtCut
-done Galactic Hideout at Eterna City
-got the Egg
-done Cycling Road

Toad Sage/Venusaur
Level 33/Hasty/Male/Overgrow
Razor Leaf/Secret Power/Sleep Powder/Leech Seed

Ella/Hypno
Level 27/Sassy/Female/Insomnia
Confusion/Headbutt/Brick Break/Disable

Toad Sage/Venusaur
Level 40/Hasty/Male/Overgrow
Razor Leaf/Secret Power/Sleep Powder/Leech Seed

Ella/Hypno
Level 40/Sassy/Female/Insomnia
Psychic/Headbutt/Brick Break/Shadow Ball

Toad Sage/Venusaur
Level 45/Hasty/Male/Overgrow
Razor Leaf/Return/Sleep Powder/Leech Seed

Ella/Hypno
Level 45/Sassy/Female/Insomnia
Psychic/Headbutt/Brick Break/Shadow Ball

Bullwinkle/Tauros
Level 41/Careful/Male/Intimidate
Strength/Rock Tomb/Pursuit/Swagger

Yeah, I got Adachi (named after the detective in Persona 4 because... uh... cabbage?) up to Ivysaur before I fought Brock. What about it?



Third time I fought Humbar. (named after Christian Humbar Reloaded because... I dunno. I needed a name I loathe.) I totally forgot that you fight him here, so I was taken totally off guard. His Charmander got lucky with a burn and critical hit the first time I fought him, so this is actually a mulligan.



And then two turns later.... *drumroll please*



WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA suck on that childhood rage at being unable to beat this... uhm... nice character.



I forgot to nab an in-battle win quote for Surge, so I just screencapped him saying what he does after you beat him. I used Ninetales almost exclusively for this one.



I actually felt kinda bad about this one, like I was cheating somehow... I mean, this is supposed to be a challenge and I'm sorta slaughtering everything...



I'm not even mad that I can't change ZYNX's stupid nickname, this thing kicks so much ass. Not shown: the Venomoth that was absolutely useless as a Venonat being even more awesome than ZYNX.



Caught a real low level Tentacool and trained it almost exclusively in Silph Tower, this was her crowning achievement. And I know what you're thinking, why on earth would I use a dismally underleveled Tentacool against Giovanni? 'CAUSE THAT'S HOW I ROLL, MUTHA!



I take back what I said about this challenge being two easy. With three poison types, a fighting type and NO viable Psychic counters, this match sucked so hard. I can only hope that I can get my act together in time for Humbar's Alakazam in the final battle.



This was actually a bit harder than I anticipated, but it was nonetheless a refreshing breather from the nightmare that was squeaking out a win against Sabrina. Flash Fire FTW.



I don't think Giovanni fully recovered from being beaten by an underleveled Tentacool named after some cute looking jellyfish monster girl I saw on a DVD cover once. A combination of Adachi's new Frenzy Plant and Venomoth's Psybeam wrecked his team here.



This was actually a little hard... which is scary. I've never had a problem with this battle before. Charizard was a beast, but Ponyo managed to tank it and take it down.



Second easiest Elite Four member, by far. Not shown: Adachi being more useful than Fifi the Ninetales. Seriously, you Ninetales fans need to reconsider your stance on just how useful it is.



EASIEST. ELITE FOUR MEMBER. EVER Bruno went down like a chump, Adachi and ZYNX wrecked his Onix, and ZYNX and Speckles the Venomoth ruined most of his fighting types. Not shown: Venomoth being the greatest troll ever by taking Machamp down solo with sleep and confusion not letting it get a single hit in (well, against me... hehehehe). And Dudley OHKOing Hitmonlee to end the match.



HARDEST. ELITE FOUR MEMBER. EVER Agatha's first Gengar almost had me dead to rights with its copious use of Double Team and Confuse Ray. I actually had to whittle the little bastard down with Ninetale's Will'o Wisp TWICE because for some reason that was the only move I could squeeze in. Ironically, her higher level Gengar went down MUCH easier.



Lance was hard, but not as hard as Agatha. His Dragonite's Outrage could've had me, but thankfully the confusion it was put into when it was done practically did all the work in taking it down for me. Not shown: Dudley 2HKOing Gyrados with Rock Tomb.

Before we go any further, let's take a good hard look at our contestants, shall we? I do this now because this was the point where I took caps of everyone's stats and moves.





If anyone ever offers to trade you a Jynx for a Poliwhirl, for the love of god, DO IT! This was the pokemon that pleasantly surprised me the most except for perhaps Venomoth. The fact that it got boosted EXP certainly helped, but damn did this girl pack a punch. Literally. Ice Punch is dope.



I was worried for a while there. For the longest time I'd try to use Dudley in a serious fight only for him to go down with a single hit. Almost all of his stats are higher than his HP... After fighting Giovanni for the last time, I used him almost exclusively through Victory Road, hoping to toughen him up. Well, I think I got paid back for my investment in spades about halfway through, because he suddenly started sweeping teams like nobody's business. It got to the point where I had to switch him out because all of his moves were used up! He was definitely a strong asset during the Elite Four challenge.



Yeah, it looks unimpressive. Its stats are groan inducing, and many people would wonder why I used it at all, mandatory part of the challenge or no. But holy cow did Venomoth really kick ass. This thing carried me through more battles than any other member of my team I think. Its two powders were incredibly useful and Psybeam was amazing at dealing out confusion and keeping it there. Most pokemon that fought Speckles hardly even had the chance to swat it. Speckles FTW.



After curb stomping everything in sight for the early leg of my journey all on his lonesome, Adachi went on a very long hiatus. When he came back, however, he came back with a freaking vengence. Leech Seed was a major factor to winning against Lance, and Frenzy Plant killed just about anything I used it against. Venusaur, I salute you.



Ugh. Just.... just.... ugh. Ninetales had a great start, but a stagnant movepool and a lack of decent TMs to give it just... ugh. I wound up keeping more opponents confused with Venomoth's Psybeam, and its Flamethrower found very few uses in the Elite Four challenge save for Lorelei's Jynx. Its only crowning moments are whittling down Agatha's Gengar with Will'o Wisp and sweeping Erika's team. That's it. I don't think I'll be using Ninetales again.



Ponyo was pretty good, but she was a shield when I was hoping for a sword. The battles I won with her were generally long and drawn out affairs. Nonetheless, she held her own with her impressive bulk and brought down quite a few tough enemies, even if it took her a while longer to do so than some of my other pokemon.



A particularly fitting capstone to this challenge, Humbar was perhaps the single biggest test of my abilities in this entire challenge. His Pidgeot almost sweeped my entire team, for frak's sake. Almost every single one of his mons put up one hell of a fight, and the impressive stock of medicine I had saved up for the Elite Four Challenge was all but gone when the fight was over. Ironically, Charizard and Alakazam, the two pokemon I was most worried about, went down relatively early and relatively easily compared to the rest. Rhydon was perhaps the single easiest matchup in the whole battle. Frenzy Plant and it was down. But then, I've never really ever seen anything impressive from Blue/Gary/Humbar's Rhydon. Exeggutor was the last pokemon to go down. Ponyo actually did most of the work, believe it or not. ZYNX just stepped in to finish it off.



Damn right I'm welcome to the Hall of Fame! I have to say, this challenge was incredibly fun and, well, incredibly challenging. Especially with the level handicap I had put myself at by being lazy and impatient not training up my team to a decent enough level. Well, enough of that. Onto Pokemon Emerald!