[Challenge] Mono-Color Challenge

Captain Gizmo · Feb 25, 2023

Username: Captain Gizmo
Color: Pink
Game: White
Ultimate: nope

TwilightBlade · Mar 26, 2023

Username: TwilightBlade
Color: Yellow
Game(s): Pokemon Gold
Ultimate: Eventually

Team Planning notes for my reference

Spoiler:

Update #1:

● information
OT: Auryn
Play Time: 1:44
Badges: 1

● journal entry on March 26th, 2023
- I started my Pokemon Gold version on the 3DS Virtual Console. I named my male Pokemon trainer Auryn, which is a Welsh/Celtic baby boy name meaning Gold.
- I selected Cyndaquil as my starter and named him Mustard. I made my way through Cherrygrove and received the Mystery Egg from Mr. Pokemon.
- I easily defeated my rival with two of my three Tackle attacks landing a critical hit. Yikes! Sucked for my rival. I named him Argento, which is an Italian baby boy name meaning Silver. At least it's easy enough to remember. I can't remember what I named most of my rivals anymore.
- Will I torture myself by trying to catch a Dunsparce in the Dark Cave? Probably. After searching for about 10 minutes, I found my Dunsparce!
- Woah, Rage in GSC is great! Dunsparce gets increased Attack each time it's hit by an oncoming attack. It ended up decimating a lot of trainer's Pokemon. Dunsparce has high HP too to soak up several hits to build up its Rage.
- After completing the Sprout Tower to receive HM05 Flash, I entered the Violet City Gym. Since Cyndaquil has evolved by now, I defeated Falkner easily... with Dunsparce! I never gave much thought to Dunsparce before Scarlet/Violet introduced its evolution. I am glad to be able to re-visit the older games and try out Pokemon I'd never before consider using!
- South of Violet City, I captured a third party member, Mareep.

● party

Mustard the Quilava - Level 14

Noodle the Dunsparce - Level 9

Mango the Mareep - Level 6

● storage
none

Devalue · Jun 2, 2023

Username: Devalue
Color: Rainbow
Game: Brilliant Diamond
Ultimate: No

Allows Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and White during the Spotlight Challenge. Will stick to one of each color. Plans Medicham (Red), Vespiquen (Yellow), Torterra (Green), Rampardos (Blue), Mismagius (Purple, trading in), and Pachirisu (White).

Devalue · Jun 6, 2023

Rainbow Challenge Update 1

Never played BDSP before. Borrowed it for a bit. (Will be catching Pokemon for Home as a bonus.) Last played Diamond about the time it came out. Knows the region decently despite that through others' playthroughs of Sinnoh.

Invokes the standard personal challenge rules:

Try to be on even level with the gym leaders.
3 trainer items per battle. No in-battle Revives. No X items.
Maximum 1 Leftovers.
Set mode.

Gym levels

Roark: 14
Gardenia: 22
Maylene: 30
Crasher Wake: 30
Fantina: 36
Byron: 39
Candice: 42
Volkner: 49
Elite Four: 63 (highest level of Lucian's team)

Pulled some random numbers. Received the female trainer with the darkest skin tone. Named her "Pavé", after a jewelry setting. Called the rival "Pyrite", also known as Fool's Gold. (Thought about Cubic Zirconia, or CZ, also known as fake diamonds.)

Chose Turtwig. Named it "Jade". Will be the Green ~~Ranger~~ Pokemon. Is not fond of the Naive (+Speed / -Special Defense) nature. Seems decent on the IV front, with 27 in Attack and average ranges on the rest.

Transferred in Amethyst the Misdreavus at level 1. Covers Purple for this rainbow run. Hatched only one egg. (Usually picks the best of 3 or 4.) Saw a Best in Speed before the transfer. Has an unfortunate Careful (+Special Defense / -Special Attack) nature as the team's primary special attacker. Walls Special-based Pokemon even better, at least.

...Why did it take 6 Pokeballs to catch a level 2 Starly? Answer: Makes a big difference what level your Pokemon is. With level 1 Misdreavus at full health: ~17%. Shoots up to ~95% at equal level and full health. Good to know now.

Knew about the Trainer School Abra beforehand. Could have been nasty. Raised Special Attack on both Charge Beams for the first one.

Walls a lot of early Pokemon with Ghost. Fought Pyrite. Could not touch Amethyst at all.

"Amethyst is loafing around", just before entering Oreburgh at level 11. Ruh roh. How long does the first badge fix this for? ...Nothing. Goes up to level 30 with two badges. Also disobeyed four straight times on the next wild Pokemon.

Six straight disobeys. Why is this super Truant? Happened again later too.

...Whited out because of Amethyst doing nothing against a Geodude. Defense Curl -> Rollout. Tried to save Amethyst. Switched Turtwig into a one-shot. (Hates Pokemon fainting. Figured Turtwig had enough Defense. Never plays Nuzlockes for this exact reason.) Sighs. Feared that outcome. Just wanted to have both of them hit level 14 around the same time.

Leveled Jade to 14 for Roark. Let Amethyst stay at 13. Grew tired of only attacking 25% of the time. Effectively owns one Pokemon right now.

Turn 1: Jade: Razor Leaf (100%) / Geodude: Fainted
Turn 2: Onix: Stealth Rock / Jade: Razor Leaf (95%)
Turn 3: Onix: Potion (heal to 75%) / Jade: Razor Leaf (the rest, critical)
Turn 4: Cranidos: Leer / Jade: Razor Leaf (90%)
Turn 5: Cranidos: Potion (heal to 60%) / Jade: Razor Leaf (the rest)

Could have won quicker with Growth, in hindsight. Whatever. 0 damage.

No, not a Double battl--oh, with Lucas. Thank goodness. Actually found something less competent than an AI partner.

New party member time: Danburite the Pachirisu. Represents White. Caught four. Disregarded the ones with Run Away. Rough IV spreads numbers for the Pickup Pachirisu options:

(HP / Atk / Def / SpAtk / SpDef / Speed)
1st: 26/30/10/4/12/4 (Relaxed)
4th: 26/17/1/17/29/4 (Calm)

Chose the first one: Pickup, Relaxed nature, and...okayish IVs. Was stuck with a slow Pachirisu one way or another. Opted for the one with better all-around defenses, versus the one with amazing Special Defense and weak Defense. Really needs good Defense. Intends it to be a heavy support Pokemon.

Fun fact: Planned to use Togekiss as the White Pokemon originally. Comes with lots of great non-attacking moves: Nasty Plot, Roost, Thunder Wave, and Charm. Wanted all of them. Squanders Togekiss's offensive coverage and overall ability, though. In that case, why not something weird like Pachirisu?

Defeated Mars's Purugly no problem. Expected a fight. Robbed it of Night Slash, apparently. Growled a bunch without dealing much damage.

Why is there a trainer double battle with two Abras who know Energy Ball? Undoubtedly made some Nuzlockers with Prinplup sad.

Fiddled around in the Grand Underground for a while. Highlights:

Danburite versus Onix with Block. Wanted to catch it. Only had Danburite in the party with Quick Attack as the only damaging move. Caught it in...12 Pokeballs? Started to run low.
Dug up a Skull Fossil relatively quickly. Guesses maybe the...seventh wall? Found a second fossil much later.
Ran into a strange bug. Could not interact with dig spots or initiate a Pokemon battle. Bounced off of wild Pokemon. Fixed it by making a Pokemon run into Pavé.
Never knew you could find such good experience farming here. Level 16-20 Gastrodons and Houndooms? Great.
Free Calm Mind TM. Will probably give that to Amethyst when it actually begins to listen again.

Added yet another party member: Carnelian the Meditite. (Becomes more Red later.) Caught four, as usual. Describes all of them as awful. Found two with -Attack natures. Listed the IV spread approximations for all four.

1st: 20/16/2/31/9/14 (Calm)
2nd: 3/7/16/7/10/18 (Careful)
3rd: 29/2/8/9/8/12 (Careful)
4th: 13/8/9/2/9/23 (Bold)

Went with #3 for hitpoints. Winds up with bad Attack one way or another. Stands a better chance of living to Bulk Up with those hitpoints. Probably should have considered #2 (or even #1) more. Shrugs.

Hunted for Combees in the Grand Underground too. Stumbled across way more Scythers (rare spawn) than Combees. Had decent luck on female Combees, at least. Settled with two.

1st: 18/5/30/24/29/19 (Jolly)
2nd: 1/29/30/1/25/1 (Lonely)

Named it "Citrine" as the team's Yellow Pokemon. Thought about looking for more. Felt satisfied enough with the first. Whines a little about the nature. Looks phenominal otherwise.

And because why not, Cranidos too. Ran all the way back to Oreburgh City. Resurrected both fossils. Begins at level 1, sadly.

1st: High Defense and Special Defense IVs. Timid.
2nd: High Hitpoints and Defense IVs. Serious.

Gleaned nothing else. (Spit out 0-31 for the other stats.) #2, then. Would like Speed, but not that badly. Named it "Howlite". Fills the Blue Pokemon spot as well at the final team spot. Pretty good for pre-Gym #2. Chose Pokemon with join times in mind, though. (Sorry, Mantine.)

Gained a couple levels on Howlite. Updates the spread to 31/2/24/16/31/30. Could be perfect in Speed.

Cursed this team's damage dealers with bad offenses. Estimates 2 Attack IVs on both Howlite (Cranidos) and Carnelian (Meditite). Shackled Amethyst (Misdreavus) with a -Special Attack nature. Guesses something middling for Jade (Grotle), at least.

Leveled everyone to 22 for said gym. Farmed Scythers and some bugs with Howlite mainly. Evolved Citrine into Vespiquen, also. Strategy for Gardenia: Use that big bee.

Turn 1: Citrine: Struggle Bug (100%) / Cherubi: Fainted
Turn 2: Citrine: Struggle Bug (99%, -1 Special Attack) / Turtwig: Reflect
Turn 3: Turtwig: Super Potion (heal to full) / Citrine: Bug Bite (48%)
Turn 4: Citrine: Struggle Big (the rest)
Turn 5: Roserade: Grass Knot (59/66) / Citrine: Struggle Bug (20%, -1 Special Attack)
Turn 6: Roserade: Stun Spore (miss) / Citrine: Struggle Bug (25%, -1 Special Attack)
Turn 7: Roserade: Petal Blizzard (55/66) / Citrine: Gust (30%) (Roserade's Sitrus Berry: heal to 48%)
Turn 8: Roserade: Poison Sting (51/66, poisoned) / Citrine: Gust (35%)
(Poison damage to 43/66)
Turn 9: Roserade: Super Potion (heal to full) / Citrine: Gust (33%)
(Poison damage to 35/66)
Turn 10: Roserade: Poison Sting (31/66) / Citrine: Gust (35%)
(Poison damage to 23/66)
Turn 11: Roserade: Petal Blizzard (21/66) / Citrine: Gust (the rest)

Enjoys the power spike while it lasts. Primarily values Citrine for Struggle Bug to open up opportunities for others. Might not get tons more kills. Depends whether it fills out the rest of its moveset with Toxic stall or not. Also welcomes back Amethyst (Misdreavus) through level 30.

Fought Jupiter. Went okay-ish. Badly poisoned Howlite on the switch-in. Complicated the plan. Swapped between Howlite, Danburite, and Citrine (despite knowing about Flamethrower) for Skuntank. Escaped with nothing fainting.

One interesting event: Activated Danburite's Pickup during battle. Chomped down on Skuntank's Sitrus Berry right after it was done with it.

Met Rowan's assistant. "Don't worry, though. It will obey if you have enough gym badges." Definitely worries. (Also, 1 Rare Candy for 50 Pokemon? Cheapskate.)

And also Lucas. Did not know the Vs Seeker was in the game. Handy. Kept a lot of old features of Sinnoh. Includes watering berries one at a time too, annoyingly.

Ooh. High-five to Danburite with a Dusk Stone via Pickup. Only a 3% chance for that at level 21-30 (down from 4% earlier). Hoped for it to happen but did not expect it. Could wait 5 levels for Psybeam, but nah. Grabbed five Heart Scales from the Grand Underground. Evolved Amethyst into Mismagius.

...Uh, Cyrus? Walks up to you in the middle of the cave talking about how deplorable the state of the world is or something. Comes at you from off the beaten path too. Gives off really weird vibes.

Apparently has a sixth sense for Pyrite. Suddenly thought it was a while since the last battle. Expected one just outside of Hearthome. Nope. Checked out the new contests briefly. Headed back to the berry area before stopping for the day. Bumped into Pyrite while backtracking. Won no problem, despite being unprepared.

Looked at team stats. Noticed Carnelian's Attack (27) was the second-lowest stat among everything (tied with its Special Attack). Barely beat out Howlite's Special Attack (26). Doubles that Attack via Pure Power, sure. Still feels a little sad at 54. Compares it against early evolutions and Howlite, though.

Finishes this update. Battles Maylene, Crasher Wake, and maybe more next time.

Spoiler: Team

Devalue · Jun 10, 2023

Rainbow Challenge Update 2

The Team
Carnelian the Meditite (Red)
Citrine the Vespiquen (Yellow)
Jade the Grotle (Green)
Howlite the Cranidos (Blue)
Amethyst the Mismagius (Purple)
Danburite the Pachirisu (White)

Picks up back in Hearthome City. Visited Amity Square. Owns two eligible Pokemon: Danburite and Jade. Poor Jade. Walks so slow. Coincidentally found a Volt Switch TM, which is okay for Danburite.

Entered a house with an elevator instead of stairs. Helps out the little Pokemon, supposedly. ...What about the big Pokemon? Hm. Would probably not fit in the front door either, in fairness.

Why is everything after Hearthome so low level? Beat Gardenia's level 22 Roserade a few routes ago. Why are you sending a horde of level 15 Bidoofs and level 18ish baby Pokemon?

First affection benefit: Lost Tower at level 27 with Danburite.

Deposited Amethyst in the middle of Lost Tower. Will be a recurring theme. Reached level 29, two levels more than anyone else. Is nowhere near either gym.

Grabbed Strength at the top of Lost Tower. Triggers new Pokemon in the Grand Underground. Already caught the whole team. Serves one purpose still: egg moves. Transfers an egg move by having two Pokemon of the same species in the daycare.

Went to the lone Dazzling Cave area open. Hunted for Meditites. Got the right move on the seventh (known) Meditite: Psycho Cut. (Pretty good luck, considering 11 egg moves.) Cannot stick it on Carnelian yet, however. Waits until Canalave City and Surf for the move deleter.

Tried to dodge trainers. Learned High Jump Kick on Carnelian and Swords Dance on Howlite, notably. Arrived at Veilstone City with most of the party at 29. (Deposited Danburite and Citrine too.) Quick bits:

A free Nasty Plot TM? How kind.
Bought the Pikachu Hoodie. Looked the best. Cost the least. Perfect.
1500 for a Swords Dance TM? 3000 for the likes of Ice Beam and Flamethrower? Practically gives it away.
Found a Wide Lens. Saves farming one in the Grand Underground. Helps Howlite's inaccurate Rock moves.

Updated moves.

Howlite: Bulldoze
Danburite: Volt Switch and Light Screen
Amethyst: Nasty Plot and Dazzling Gleam
Carnelian: Psychic

Leveled everyone up to 30. (See: Caught one wild Pokemon after solving the gym puzzle.) Wanted to evolve Howlite into Rampardos. Boasts a massive 107 Attack stat, blowing past the next closest (Jade) at 69. Strategy for Maylene: Charm Meditite with Danburite. Disrespect Maylene with Howlite setting up and sweeping. Hopes for no criticals or Flashes. Sends in Amethyst, if needed.

Turn 1: Danburite: Nuzzle (15%) / Meditite: Paralyzed
Turn 2: Danburite: Charm / Meditite: Light Screen
Turn 3: Danburite: Charm / Meditite: Bulk Up
Turn 4: Danburite: Charm / Meditite: Paralyzed
Turn 5: Danburite: Switch to Howlite / Meditite: Drain Punch (89/109, heal to full)
Turn 6: Howlite: Swords Dance / Meditite: Bulk Up
Turn 7: Howlite: Swords Dance / Meditite: Bulk Up
Turn 8: Howlite: Rock Polish / Meditite: Bulk Up
Turn 9: Howlite: Rock Polish / Meditite: Paralyzed
Turn 10: Howlite: Swords Dance / Meditite: Flash
Turn 11: Howlite: Bulldoze (100%)
Turn 12: Howlite: Bulldoze (miss) / Machoke: Low Sweep (15/109, -1 Speed)
Turn 13: Howlite: Bulldoze (100%)
Turn 14: Howlite: Bulldoze (miss) / Lucario: Metal Claw (0/109, +1 Attack)
Turn 15: Amethyst: Hex (60%) / Lucario: Metal Claw (37/85)
Turn 16: Amethysst: Hex (the rest)
(Level up.)

So frustrating. Had a 82.5% hit chance with Bulldoze at -1 Accuracy and Wide Lens. Foiled the whole plan with a single, last second Flash. Feels slightly worse than just getting criticaled. Appreciates gym trainers being harder to set up on, though. Destroyed most of Sword/Shield because of weak leads.

Could have succeeded without the last Swords Dance, probably. Missed the one-shot on one of the gym trainer Machokes at +4 (as Cranidos), though. Figured Maylene's better Machoke might too, even after the evolution.

Taught Carnelian Drain Punch right away. Also rendered Amethyst unusable with the last level-up. Remains disobedient until after the fourth gym.

Requests less garbage accuracy luck. Missed two 95% accurate Air Slashes in a single battle. Already did back-to-back 95% Rock Tomb misses before the second gym.

Reached Pastoria City at levels 31-32. Avoided most of the trainers yet again. Visited the Move Relearner for Shadow Ball and Mystical Fire on Amethyst.

Strategy for Crasher Wake: Debuff Gyarados hard with Danburite. Swap to Jade. Use Growth. Hopefully outspeeds Quagsire's Haze. Sticks Floatzel in the ground after that. Has not evolved into Torterra yet. (77 experience away.) Should be able to take an Ice Fang.

(Gyarados's Intimidate)
Turn 1: Danburite: Nuzzle (25%, paralyze) / Gyarados: Crunch (62/88)
Turn 2: Gyarados: Switch to Quagsire / Danburite: Charm
Turn 3: Danburite: Switch to Jade / Quagsire: Mud Shot (85/96, -1 Speed)
Turn 4: Jade: Razor Leaf (100%)
(Level up.)
Turn 5: Jade: Switch to Danburite / Gyarados: Ice Fang (44/90)
Turn 6: Danburite: Charm / Gyarados: Crunch (31/90)
Turn 7: Danburite: Charm / Gyarados: Brine (9/90)
Turn 8: Danburite: Switch to Jade / Gyarados: Brine (79/99)
Turn 9: (Quick Claw) Jade: Leech Seed (miss) / Gyarados: Paralyzed
Turn 10: Jade: Leech Seed / Gyarados: Ice Fang (67/99)
(Leech Seed heal to 78/99)
Turn 11: Jade: Curse / Gyarados: Ice Fang (70/99)
(Leech Seed heal to 81/99)
Turn 12: (Quick Claw) Jade: Curse / Gyarados: Ice Fang (75/99, freeze)
(Leech Seed heal to 86/99)
Turn 13: (Quick Claw) Jade: Frozen / Gyarados: Paralyzed
(Thawed via affection. Leech Seed heal to 97/99)
Turn 14: Gyarados: Super Potion (heal to 90%) / Jade: Curse
(Leech Seed heal to full.)
Turn 15: (Quick Claw) Jade: Razor Leaf (the rest)
Turn 16: Floatzel: Ice Fang (79/99) / Jade: Razor Leaf (100%)
(Level up.)

Evolved Jade into Torterra after the fight, fittingly. Learned Earthquake too.

Turned the strategy upside-down after the Gyarados switch. Conveniently learned Leech Seed by beating Quagsire. Dropped Growth. Planned to go Curse + three attacking moves. Might do Curse + Leech Seed instead. Worked very well. Provides the chip healing it needs to take on others.

Welcomes back Amethyst for good. Obeys up to level 50 with four badges. Set the level limit at 49 for Gym #8.

Backtracked to Veilstone City for the Team Galactic stuff. Could have gotten Fly so easily before. Oh well. Prevented Jade from being a Torterra for Crasher Wake.

Stepped into the Grand Underground to check vendors for Bulk Up. Bought one of those, as well as Roost for Citrine at some point. Also stumbled across a Munchlax while down there. Engaged immediately for Leftovers. Discovered something new. Flung the Leftovers at Danburite. Activated Pickup. Held onto those Leftovers after the battle. Good save.

Suddenly, Pyrite. Faced Howlite's worst enemy: accuracy. Struggled to hit a Double Teaming Starly. Managed a solo win anyways.

Prepared for a notable fight against Team Galactic at Lake Verity. Nope. Maybe Celestic Town versus Cyrus? ...No. Might be a Platinum thing for Cyrus in Celestic.

Why does the Ghost gym have math? Why not something related to a performance?

Leveled everyone to 36 (despite being forced to battle numerous trainers en route to Celestic Town). Meant depositing Amethyst for a while, thanks to the traded experience boost. Eventually deposited Carnelian at 36 too, albeit for different reasons. Evolves at 37. Wants Psycho Cut before evolving. Would have to evolve the other Meditite too.

Strategy for Fantina: Send in Amethyst. Nasty Plot once. Hope to not get outsped. (Probably will.)

Turn 1: Amethyst: Nasty Plot / Drifblim: Strength Sap
Turn 2: Amethyst: Shadow Ball (100%)
Turn 3: Gengar: Confuse Ray / Amethyst: Hit itself (94/102)
Turn 4: Gengar: Shadow Claw (50/102) / Amethyst: (Not confused) Shadow Ball (100%)
(Level up.)
Turn 5: Mismagius: Phantom Force / Amethyst: Shadow Ball (miss)
Turn 6: Mismagius: Phantom Force (0/102)
Turn 7: Mismagius: Dazzling Gleam (71/102) / Danburite: Nuzzle (5%, paralyzed)
(Leftovers heal to 77/102)
Turn 8: Danburite: Light Screen / Mismagius: Confuse Ray
(Leftovers heal to 83/102)
Turn 9: Danburite: Switch to Howlite / Mismagius: Phantom Force
Turn 10: Howlite: Swords Dance / Mismagius: Phantom Force (miss)
Turn 11: Howlite: Rock Tomb (the rest)

Ah. Bet on Amethyst living that, based on Gengar's Shadow Claw. Was that a high roll? ...No. Kills 93.8% of the time (not including affection dodges, of course). A bad call, then. Also outsped Amethyst by literally 1 Speed (102 versus 101). Could have switched or healed too, of course. Wanted the more legitimate solo win.

Actually, wait. Not even a range on that. Equipped Mismagius with an Expert Belt. Feels so weird for enemy trainers to have items.

Surfed to Canalave City. Deleted Psychic off Carnelian. Learned Psycho Cut from the other Meditite in the nursery. Nice. Hits a little weaker, but without the miss chance of Zen Headbutt. Evolved shortly afterward to become the proper Red Pokemon.

Sighs. Pyrite again? Only leveled twice or so since the last battle. Appears a little better on Pyrite's side (+6 levels on Staravia). Was not prepared for Heracross to survive a +2 Rock Tomb from Howlite. Walked away with 2 hitpoints. Finished the job against Buizel and Monferno with Danburite and Carnelian's new Psycho Cut.

Um, "Ace" Trainers? Why do you have a Skorupi in the Steel gym? And why, after talking about focusing on one type, do you have an Azumarill? Beats the endless parade of Onixes and Steelixes, admittedly, but still.

Encountered something odd. Explored underground to catch Pokemon and level everyone to 39. Saw various levels and caught a few. (Level range 36-40 at this point.) No problems yet.

Came down to just Citrine needing one more capture. Maybe this Wingull? No, level 40. (Crashes the catch rate to be lower level than it.) Fine, that Wingull? 40. 40. Maybe somewhere else. Machoke? 40. 40. Gligar. 40s. A Ralts? 40. Ran into at least 10 Pokemon in a row, all at level 40. Is there some kind of mechanic going on? (Eventually surfaced to catch a Floatzel outside Canalave.)

Edit one day later: Pressure. Increases your odds of getting a higher level Pokemon.

Strategy for Byron: Use the newly evolved Carnelian. Bulk Up x6, then smash faces.

Turn 1: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Bronzor: Trick Room
Turn 2: Bronzor: Sandstorm / Carnelian: Bulk Up
(Leftovers + Sandstorm)
Turn 3: Bronzor: Confuse Ray (miss) / Carnelian: Bulk Up
(Leftovers + Sandstorm)
Turn 4: Bronzor: Flash Cannon (95/111) / Carnelian: Bulk Up
(Leftovers + Sandstorm)
Turn 5: Bronzor: Confuse Ray (miss) / Carnelian: Bulk Up
(Leftovers + Sandstorm. Trick Room down.)
Turn 6: Carnelian: Drain Punch (100%, heal to full)
(Sandstorm down.)
Turn 7: Carnelian: Drain Punch (99%, Sturdy) / Steelix: Earthquake (89/111)
(Leftovers heal to 95/111)
Turn 8: Steelix: Full Restore (heal to full) / Carnelian: Psycho Cut (40%)
(Leftovers heal to 101/111)
Turn 9: Carnelian: Drain Punch (the rest, heal to full)
Turn 10: Carnelian: Psycho Cut (critical, 70%) (Bastiodon's Sitrus Berry to 55%) / Bastiodon: Iron Defense
Turn 11: Carnelian: Drain Punch (critical, the rest)

Easy. Ended at full health. Criticaled a lot with affection. May have even missed a few.

Ignored Pyrite for a moment. Headed to Wayward Cave for Howlite's Earthquake TM. Outfitted Citrine with the full stall set too (Roost, Defend Order, and Toxic).

...Why does Howlite outspeed a trainer's Rapidash? Outlevels it by 6, sure. Always rags on Rampardos for being slow. Points to instances like this to justify never investing in Speed in playthroughs.

Beat ~~Sailor~~ Commander Saturn without taking damage. Lost Howlite on Mars's Bronzor between Levitate (leaving just Rock Tomb), Confuse Ray (hit itself hard), and Gyro Ball. Neh. (Much later note: Mold Breaker! Could have just Earthquaked the Bronzor.) Deposited Amethyst after the battle because of already being level 43.

Whoops. Thought Candice was 43, not 42. Had no good say in the matter, though. Blames that on the Experience Share. Avoided as many trainers as possible. Still reached level 43. Specifies "try" for a reason on level limits.

Strategy for Candice: Feels like doing something dumb. Begins by debuffing Snover. Sets up on it with Howlite. Needs a good, dumb win in its corner. (Cannot swing Jade, the far dumber choice. Slows down too much from Curse. Inevitably dies to Blizzard.)

(Snover's Snow Warning)
Turn 1: Danburite: Nuzzle (5%, paralyzed) / Snover: Mist
(Hail damage to 114/121)
Turn 2: Danburite: Light Screen / Snover: Paralyzed
(Hail damage to 107/121)
Turn 3: Danburite: Volt Switch (critical, 35%) (Switch to Howlite) / Snover: Avalanche (127/155)
(Hail damage to 118/155)
Turn 4: Howlite: Rock Polish / Snover: Razor Leaf (miss)
(Hail damage to 109/155)
Turn 5: Howlite: Swords Dance / Snover: Razor Leaf (59/155)
(Hail damage to 50/155)
Turn 6: Howlite: Rock Tomb (the rest)
(Shell Bell heal to 58/155. Hail damage to 49/155)
Turn 7: Howlite: Rock Tomb (100%) / Sneasel: Fainted
(Shell Bell heal to 61/155. Hail damage to 52/155)
Turn 8: Howlite: Earthquake (100%) / Medicham: Fainted
(Shell Bell heal to 65/155. Hail down.)
(Abomasnow's Snow Warning)
Turn 9: Howlite: Rock Tomb (miss) / Abombasnow: Giga Drain (1/155, affection Sturdy)
(Hail damage to 0/155)
Turn 10: Carnelian: Drain Punch (critical, 100%)

Siiiiiiighs. Every time. Forgot to fiddle with held items, admittedly. Would have picked Leftovers over Wide Lens, though. Handed the Wide Lens back to Howlite after the fight. (Stuck it on Jade for Razor Leaf before.)

Hm. Are there any other silly opportunities for Howlite in the future? Preferably not Bertha. Maybe Cynthia? Looks good enough. Sees a lot of Pokemon that a Rock type dies to quickly. Stands a chance of setting up against Spiritomb (with support). Potentially succeeds without support if Spiritomb Sucker Punches five times. Refrains from that level of guts, however.

Found the real run-killer: a Medicham for Haunter trade. No thank you.

Suffices for this update. Probably squeezes the rest of the game into the next update.

Spoiler: Team

Devalue · Jun 14, 2023

Rainbow Challenge Update 3

The Team
Carnelian the Medicham (Red)
Citrine the Vespiquen (Yellow)
Jade the Torterra (Green)
Howlite the Rampardos (Blue)
Amethyst the Mismagius (Purple)
Danburite the Pachirisu (White)

Shouts out Danburite quickly first. Picked up a Dusk Stone, Dawn Stone, and Shiny Stone over the course of the playthrough. Only needed one of those. Appreciates the good loot, regardless.

Delved underground quick to look around the new area. Opted not to explore everything. Stuck around long enough to find a Rock Slide TM for Howlite, on the plus side. Should have gotten it soon anyways, but still nice.

Kind of dislikes the amazing moves in Veilstone Department Store. Found Dazzling Gleam in Galactic Headquarters. Big whoop. Bought it for 3000, like, fifteen levels and five gym badges ago.

Prepared for an actual (blind) battle against Cyrus. What is this? Murkrow, Sneasel, and Golbat? Used Super Potions too. How did you succeed in capturing the Lake Spirits? Oh, a Master Ball.

Will Round 2 against Saturn be better? ...Level 38. Even lower than Cyrus. No. Deposited Amethyst here to stay a decent level for the Mt. Coronet and gym battles.

Missed Rock Climb last time. Wasted a little time looking for it. (Marks it on the Town Map, helpfully. Figured either there or in Mt. Coronet itself.) Battled several weak, previously skipped trainers. Wishes for an auto-resolve button at times like this.

Learned Recover on Carnelian. Should be the last new move on the team, barring a different pick for Amethyst.

Looks bad for staying under 49. Currently at mid 47 for four Pokemon and low 48 for Howlite before the Mars/Jupiter double battle at Mt Coronet.

Cyrus battle time. Would have deposited Howlite (level 49) prior to this, if able. Nope.

Turn 1: Howlite: Rock Slide (100%) / Honchkrow: Fainted
(Level up. Gyarados's Intimidate.)
Turn 2: Howlite: Switch to Danburite / Gyarados: Waterfall (79/134)
Turn 3: Danburite: Nuzzle (8%) (Gyarados's Wacan Berry) / Gyarados: Earthquake (1/134, affection Sturdy)
Turn 4: Danburite: Switch to Carnelian / Gyarados: Earthquake (83/136)
(Leftovers heal to 91/136)
Turn 5: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Gyarados: Waterfall (51/136)
(Leftovers heal to 59/136)
Turn 6: Carnelian: Recover (heal to 127/136) / Gyarados: Waterfall (87/136)
(Leftovers heal to 95/136)
Turn 7: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Gyarados: Waterfall (65/136)
(Leftovers heal to 73/136)
Turn 8: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Gyarados: Paralyzed
(Leftovers heal to 81/136)
Turn 9: Carnelian: Drain Punch (75%) (heal to 126/136) / Gyarados: Waterfall (102/136)
(Leftovers heal to 110/136)
Turn 10: Carnelian: Psycho Cut (critical, the rest)
(Leftovers heal to 118/136)
Turn 11: Crobat: Tailwind / Carnelian: Psycho Cut (100%)
(Leftovers heal to 126/136)
Turn 12: Weavile: Aerial Ace (98/136) / Carnelian: Drain Punch (100%) (Weavile's Chople Berry)

Yeah, level 50 on Howlite (alllmost 51). Stuck both Howlite and Carnelian into the PC to limit the damage. Estimates about 75% of the way to level 49 for the remaining three party members.

Frowns. Actually hit the Struggle mark for Dialga. What more do you want, game? Stalled out its PP quicker with Citrine, admittedly. Handled Dialga quite well, though. Lowered its health slowing with Struggle Bug, while also suppressing its Special Attack. Handled the Ancient Powers fine.

Ah! Figured out the issue with all those level 40s in the Grand Underground last update. Had Citrine in front with Pressure. Increases the odds of encountering a higher level Pokemon. Knew it could not just be random chance.

(Back to catching Dialga) ...Struggle. Again. Seriously? Switched to Jade earlier this time. Still ran out of PP. Calculated about a 7.5% chance of catching with an Ultra Ball. Burned through over 25 on the second attempt, plus a few other randoms. Results in a ~14% chance of not catching it.

There. Finally. Spent 16 Ultra Balls (and one disrespect Quick Ball). Probably took over 30 minutes and 50 Ultra Balls between all three attempts. (.925^50) = 2%, roughly. Exposed Rowan's lie about Dialga wanting to be stopped. Cannot wait for Howlite's 1% Rock Slide miss against Cynthia, also. (Oh, and level 49 for the whole party now.)

Skirted around as many trainers as possible. Made it to Sunyshore with some at 49 still. Remembered Amethyst still in the box. Allowed Amethyst to solo all the gym trainers in the way. Leveled from 47 to 51. Kept everyone else (but Howlite) still at 49. Redeposited Amethyst to save on levels during the actual gym battle.

Strategy: Made a biiig deal about giving Volkner an exciting gym battle. Will do the exact opposite and in a dumb way (hopefully). Leads with Light Screen from Danburite with Light Clay. Unleashes the Citrine stall on everything else. Can a bee defeat the Electric gym? If not...Jade.

Volkner: "I hope you're the trainer who'll make me remember how fun it is to battle!" Oh you poor child.

Spoilers this for length. Declines to record enemy Toxic damage except for enough to faint.

Spoiler: Volkner Battle

Short version: Defeated Ambipom, Octillery, and Luxray with Citrine. Fell to Raichu's Volt Switch critical.

...Knew this would happen right at the end. Accepts the critical. Ate a lot of enemy attacks. Was bound to crit on one. Hurts to do it so close to the end. (Still had another turn or two, though.)

Calculated the damage on that critical Volt Switch. Hit for 104-126 damage. Could have survived at higher health. Cannot remember if the next move was Toxic or Roost. Might have gone for Toxic for fewer chances to crit.

Was honestly a pretty decent showing for Citrine. Faced super-effective attacks the whole way with only a Light Screen for support. (Well, in theory, the whole way. Did not expect Ambipom to go for Last Resort.)

Volkner: "I even felt thrilled during our match." (Later) "That was the most fun I've had in a battle since...I don't know when!" Found someone for Pokemon Showdown singles. Heard about stall being favored there.

Ran through Victory Road. Felt nice to actually fight trainers for once.

Tackled Barry (blind) at the end. Went pretty poorly. Only did a little setup because of the riskiness of Shadow Claw criticals. Led to three Pokemon fainting. (Two versus a +2 Heracross and another to a critical Brine. Could have avoided one of those.) Barely missed three knockouts against Heracross, Staraptor, and Floatzel (all sub 5%). Reinforced the need to train.

...Who decided you cannot use the Vs Seeker inside a cave? Planned to farm a trainer with a Blissey. (Yielded over 6000 experience for the lead Pokemon last time.) Fine. Back to the Grand Underground.

Went on a big catch-a-thon in the Grand Underground. Beat Barry with the team finishing at level 56-57 (+ Amethyst at 59). Grinded up to 63, the level of Lucian's Bronzong.

Notes during catch-a-thon:

Feels like they reverted confusion back to 50%. Has seen a lot of Pokemon hitting themselves (on both sides).
Disapproves of wild Pokemon leading battles with two Nasty Plots. Happened with Aipom and Girafarig. (Wound up not mattering for either.)
Caught everything but Snorunt and Glalie.
Grabbed a Lucky Egg. Read what section it was in and which cave type, but not where the cave in that section was. Happened to be in the very last unexplored cave of the section. Go figure.

Earned relatively little experience catching the remaining Pokemon. Farmed most of the rest at a Fountainspring Cave. Houses three fully evolved Water/Ground Pokemon there (Whiscash, Gastrodon, and Quagsire).

General Elite Four strategy: Devised a plan to give everyone one more chance in the limelight. Paired up each Pokemon with one trainer.

Aaron: Amethyst
Bertha: Carnelian
Flint: Jade
Lucian: Citrine
Cynthia: Howlite

Relies on Danburite in all or most of these battles, also. Follows a general plan of Nuzzle + Light Screen/Charm. Sets up with the chosen Pokemon. Could go pretty poorly, beyond just criticals. Tricked out all of the Elite Four Pokemon. Throws the team against some iffy matchups. Switched Pokemon unexpected during previous gym battles too.

First up: Aaron. Deems this the most likely to go wrong, specifically at Drapion. Might get outsped and one-shot. Could also fail to kill with Dazzling Gleam. Equipped Amethyst with Leftovers. Considered a Pecha Berry. Opts for either affection or a Full Restore to fix that. Handed Danburite a Light Clay too.

Turn 1: Danburite: Nuzzle (5%) / Dustox: Light Screen
(Dustox's Black Sludge. Will not bother mentioning this further.)
Turn 2: Danburite: Light Screen / Dustox: Toxic
(Toxic damage to 163/173)
Turn 3: Danburite: Volt Switch (8%) (Switch to Amethyst) / Dustox: Bug Buzz (168/174)
(Amethyst's Leftovers to full.)
Turn 4: Amethyst: Nasty Plot / Dustox: Bug Buzz (168/174)
(Amethyst's Leftovers to full.)
Turn 5: Amethyst: Nasty Plot / Dustox: Bug Buzz (169/174)
(Amethyst's Leftovers to full. Enemy Light Screen down.)
Turn 6: Amethyst: Nasty Plot / Dustox: Light Screen
Turn 7: Amethyst: Nasty Plot (no effect) / Dustox: Bug Buzz (168/174)
(Amethyst's Leftovers to full.)
Turn 8: Amethyst: Nasty Plot (no effect) / Dustox: Bug Buzz (168/174)
(Amethyst's Leftovers to full.)
Turn 9: Amethyst: Nasty Plot (no effect) / Dustox: Toxic
(Amethyst's Leftovers to full. Toxic damage to 164/174. Danburite's Light Screen down.)
Turn 10: Amethyst: Pecha Berry / Dustox: Bug Buzz (152/174)
(Leftovers heal to 162/174. Enemy Light Screen down.)
Turn 11: Amethyst: Mystical Fire (100%)
(Leftovers heal to 172/174)
Turn 12: Amethyst: Mystical Fire (100%) / Beautifly: Fainted
(Leftovers heal to full.)
Turn 13: Amethyst: Dazzling Gleam (100%) / Heracross: Fainted
(Level up.)
Turn 14: Amethyst: Mystical Fire (100%) / Vespiquen: Fainted
Turn 15: Amethyst: Dazzling Gleam (100%) / Drapion: Fainted

A clean win for Amethyst. Stalled for time against Dustox's Light Screen. Appreciates Dustox favoring Bug Buzz, at least.

Calculated stuff after the battle. Outsped with 180 Speed to Drapion's 176 (Jolly nature with EVs). Benefitted hard from the seven level advantage. Was at 177 Speed at the start of the fight. Thanks that lone "Best" IV in Speed, also.

Easily one-shot Drapion (127.7% minimum). Died in the event of a Night Slash critical (132.4% minimum). Had good odds with a Scope Lens.

Elite Four #2: Bertha. Chose Carnelian for this because of Jade dying to Whiscash's Ice Beam, probably. Will use Citrine here, in addition to Danburite, for a Struggle Bug debuff on Surf. Passed the Leftovers to Carnelian. Intends to Bulk Up x6, then sweep.

Turn 1: Danburite: Charm / Quagsire: Earthquake (111/173)
Turn 2: Danburite: Charm / Quagsire: Earthquale (73/173)
Turn 3: Danburite: Charm / Quagsire: Toxic (miss)
Turn 4: Danburite: Light Screen / Quagsire: Surf (miss)
Turn 5: Danburite: Switch to Citrine / Quagsire: Earthquake (immune)
Turn 6: Citrine: Struggle Bug (30%, -1 Special Attack) / Quagsire: Toxic (miss)
(Quagsire's Leftovers. Will not mention it further.)
Turn 7: Citrine: Struggle Bug (30%, -1 Special Attack) / Quagsire: Toxic
(Toxic damage to 169/180)
Turn 8: Citrine: Swap to Carnelian / Quagsire: Surf (167/176)
(Leftovers heal to full.)
Turn 9: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Quagsire: Recover (heal to full)
Turn 10: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Quagsire: Toxic
(Toxic damage to 165/176)
Turn 11: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Quagsire: Surf (156/176)
(Leftovers heal to 167/176. Toxic damage to 145/176. Light Screen down.)
Turn 12: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Quagsire: Surf (126/176)
(Cured Toxic via affection. Leftovers heal to 137/176)
Turn 13: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Quagsire: Surf (118/176)
(Leftovers heal to 129/176)
Turn 14: Carnelian: Bulk Up / Quagsire: Surf (critical, 72/176)
(Leftovers heal to 83/176)
Turn 15: Carnelian: Drain Punch (critical, 100%, heal to 175/176)
(Leftovers heal to full.)
Turn 16: Carnelian: Drain Punch (100%) / Sudowoodo: Fainted
Turn 17: Carnelian: Psycho Cut (100%) / Whiscash: Fainted
Turn 18: Carnelian: Psycho Cut (99%, Golem's Sturdy) / Golem: Earthquake (149/176)
(Leftovers heal to 160/176)
Turn 19: Golem: Full Restore (heal to full) / Carnelian: Drain Punch (99%, Golem's Sturdy, heal to full)
Turn 20: Golem: Full Restore (heal to full) / Carnelian: Psycho Cut (99%, Golem's Sturdy)
Turn 21: Carnelian: Psycho Cut (the rest)
(Level up. Hippowdon's Sand Stream.)
Turn 22: Carnelian: Psycho Cut (100%) / Hippowdon: Fainted

As planned. Took the last-second Surf critical fine too.

Elite Four #3: Flint. Sends the tree turtle up against the kinda Fire trainer. Perfect idea, right? Passed the Leftovers onto Jade. Swapped out Danburite's Light Clay for a Chesto Berry.

Spoilered this behemoth log for length. Gave Flint the Volkner treatment, but worse.

Spoiler: Flint Battle

Short version: Made it to Curse x6. Swept everything until Drifblim. Wasted tons of time between Minimize, Strength Sap, burn, and relying on Razor Leaf. Baton Passed +6 evasion to Infernape. Salvaged it, however. Sapped a little health off Infernape via Leech Seed, deactivating its Focus Sash. Landed a big Earthquake just after that.

Insisted on finishing the fight with Jade. Ended with 0 Razor Leafs. Won with Leech Seed.

Flint: "I wasn't looking down on you, but I didn't think for a second that I'd lose!" Really? Not even when you only had a Drifblim with no offensive moves on Turn 24 of 47?

Feels so bad for Rapidash. Dealt with four straight turns of paralysis, an affection miss, and then another paralysis turn.

Restored Jade's PP with Leppa Berries. Gave one to Citrine too. Why?

Strategy for Lucian: A loooong fight with Citrine. Will probably not use Toxic much. (Does nothing versus Alakazam and Bronzong.) Foresees a long, dull slog versus Bronzong. Maxed Struggle Bug's PP to 32. Passed off the Leftovers to Citrine and the Light Clay to Danburite.

Spoilered this battle for length also.

Spoiler: Lucian Battle

Short version: A successful Citrine sweep. Used a total of 23 Struggle Bugs. Suffered back-to-back Payback criticals. Occurred against Bronzong, fortunately, the least scary of Lucian's team.

Wrote some odd Struggle Bug damage. Was never an exact number. Bounced around more than usual. Might have missed criticals or something? No clue.

Arrives at the final battle. Enters with the team at 65, plus Amethyst at 67. Aimed to be roughly on Garchomp's level by the end. Good enough.

Strategy for Cynthia: Citrine into Danburite into Howlite. (Had this fight in mind when choosing Vespiquen. Wanted that Special Attack drop badly.) Leads with some Struggle Bugs (2?). Swaps to Danburite for the usual. Finishes with Howlite. Demands the full +6 Attack / +6 Speed. Fears Cynthia's heavy Speed investment a lot.

Selected Leftovers over Wide Lens for Howlite. Hits a little less with Earthquake, but always neutrally, so why risk the 1% Rock Slide miss? Ought to be enough with a 234 Attack stat. Benefits way more from the Leftovers.

Turn 1: Citrine: Struggle Bug (15%, -1 Special Attack) / Spiritomb: Dark Pulse (136/185)
Turn 2: Citrine: Struggle Bug (15%, -1 Special Attack) / Spiritomb: Dark Pulse (102/185)
Turn 3: Spiritomb: Sucker Punch (failed) / Citrine: Roost (heal to full)
Turn 4: Citrine: Swap to Danburite / Spiritomb: Sucker Punch (failed)
Turn 5: Spiritomb: Sucker Punch (122/179) / Danburite: Nuzzle (5%, paralyzed)
Turn 6: Spiritomb: Paralyzed / Danburite: Light Screen
Turn 7: Danburite: Switch to Howlite / Spiritomb: Paralyzed
Turn 8: Spiritomb: Sucker Punch (failed) / Howlite: Swords Dance
Turn 9: Howlite: Rock Polish / Spiritomb: Shadow Ball (201/230)
(Leftovers heal to 215/230)
Turn 10: Howlite: Swords Dance / Spiritomb: Psychic (192/230)
(Leftovers heal to 206/230)
Turn 11: Howlite: Rock Polish / Spiritomb: Psychic (183/230)
(Leftovers heal to 197/230)
Turn 12: Howlite: Swords Dance / Spiritomb: Paralyzed
(Leftovers heal to 211/230)
Turn 13: Howlite: Rock Polish / Spiritomb: Paralyzed
(Leftovers heal to 225/230. Danburite's Light Screen down.)
Turn 14: Howlite: Earthquake (the rest)
(Level up. Leftovers heal to full.)
Turn 15: Howlite: Earthquake (100%) / Gastrodon: Fainted
Turn 16: Howlite: Earthquake (100%) / Roserade: Fainted
Turn 17: Howlite: Earthquake (100%) / Lucario: Fainted
(Level up.)
Turn 18: Howlite: Earthquake (100%) / Milotic: Fainted
Turn 19: Howlite: Earthquake (100%) / Garchomp: Fainted
(Level up.)

Yesssss. Denied the sweeps so many times. Aced the entire Elite Four and Cynthia. Fully expected one to fail. Only used one in-battle item too (the Pecha Berry on Amethyst). Barely used any the whole playthrough, actually. Helped to have good self-heals (Roost, Leech Seed, Drain Punch, Recover).

Brilliant Diamond Rainbow Monocolor Hall of Fame.png

Ran up the clock by catching Pokemon and running around the Grand Underground. Caught 83 Pokemon and saw 137. Never evolved any Pokemon besides the team.

Team thoughts:

Carnelian (Medicham): Took a while to get going. Lived with an iffy Force Palm and Confusion for too long. Stays pretty healthy with all the pieces in place, though, between beefy Drain Punches and Recover. Still not the best sweeper with its defenses and Speed, but serviceable.
Citrine (Vespiquen): Felt pretty bulky ever since evolving at 21 (as it should). Managed to be better than just a Struggle Bug bot, if a bit slow at winning. (Good thing too. Barely needed the Struggle Bugs.)
Jade (Torterra): More or less consistently just okay. Feared Ice attacks a lot, which hampered its opportunities. Disliked being stuck with Razor Leaf.
Howlite (Rampardos): Really liked using Rampardos. Picks up key moves early enough. (Thank goodness for Rock Tomb from Roark.) Struggled with some bad misses. Expected Howlite to be hindered more by Speed. Managed just fine.
Amethyst (Mismagius): Never got enough time with Amethyst. Acted uppity in the first half of the game. Hit the level cap first consistently later on, despite being in battles infrequently. Moral of the story: beware trading a Pokemon in.
Danburite (Pachirisu): Ridiculously good. Does not regret choosing Pachirisu over Togekiss at all. Had a hand in nearly every major battle. Stole Citrine's job as the Special Attack debuffer. Enabled the bruisers above to get stuff done.

Challenge thoughts: Fine, although probably different than a normal monocolor. Describes it like six randomized "choose your starter" selections. Chose between Rapidash, Vespiquen, and Mothim for Yellow, for example. Had a few more selection for other colors, but similar thinking.

Spoiler: Final Team Stats

Chevitile · Oct 17, 2023

I decided to start a mono purple run of Ultra Sun. Here's the first update:

I started up the game and suffered through countless cutscenes before I could actually start my adventure properly. I did so by catching an Ekans on Route 2 that I named Asclepius.

Soon thereafter, I went to Verdant Cavern for my first island trial. The fight against Totem Gumshoos was actually pretty challenging due to its ally Yungoos using Leer on Asclepius.
I eventually prevailed though, largely thanks to gradual poison damage and Bite flinches.

With the trial over, I was able to catch my second team member in Verdant Cavern, a Noibat that I named Apollo. I also encountered a shiny Zubat! I won't use it on my team, but I'll let it hang around for a bit. Could come in handy as death fodder, lol.

Next up was my battle against Hala. I figured my type advantages would make this a cake walk, but his Machop's Focus Energy resulted in some nasty critical hits. Some Gusts and Intimidate cycling took care of his team though.

Akala Island was my next destination, where I was almost immediately demolished by Dexio's Espeon. Loving the hospitality! Luckily I didn't have to rebattle him, so I just made my way up to Route 5, battling Gladion and Hau along the way. Challenging? Yes. I never really realized how weak Ekans and Noibat are defensively. But you gotta lose big before you win big, and right now, we're losing big.

Asclepius evolved right before the battle against Totem Araquanid. I thought Intimidate would be useful here, but apparently it's a special attacker. Glare and Screech proved handy though, but Araquanid took down both Asclepius and Apollo with Bubble and Aurora Beam. Good thing I have that spare Zubat! I revived Apollo and went to town with Wing Attack, earning me the victory.

Right before the fire trial, I caught a Cubone that I named Erebus. I also taught it Thief so I could steal Totem Marowak's Thick Club. Not only does this reduce its damage output, but it also gives me an incredibly useful item for my own Pokémon. Even so, the battle was quite difficult and required a lot of healing and relying on paralysis from Glare.

I swiftly made my way to Lush Jungle for the next trial. Asclepius resisted all of Totem Lurantis' attacks, but Synthesis and confusion from the ally Kecleon's Dizzy Punch made the battle last much longer than it needed to. Once it was over, I caught a Steenee that I named Athena.

Currently saved on Route 8.

Screens:

Spoiler:

Team:

Asclepius the Arbok ♂ - Lv 27 @Poison Barb
Mild / Intimidate
Glare, Screech, Poison Sting, Crunch

Apollo the Noibat ♂ - Lv 26 @Sharp Beak
Bashful / Infiltrator
Agility, Bite, Absorb, Air Cutter

Erebus the Cubone ♂ - Lv 26 @Thick Club
Adamant / Lightning Rod
Bonemerang, Headbutt, Brick Break, Thief

Athena the Steenee ♀ - Lv 20
Naive / Oblivious
Play Nice, Rapid Spin, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent

Golbat ♀ - Lv 23
Hasty / Inner Focus
Absorb, Wing Attack, Confuse Ray, Bite

[Challenge] Mono-Color Challenge

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