I have completed this challenge!
It took me a while because I had to do a
lot of grinding before the Elite Four. I got my team up to lvl. 55 before I decided to have a go at the E4. Lorelei was actually the hardest of the lot, I had Pikachu firing off Thunderbolts and an attempted Sunny Day/Clorophyll/Solarbeam strategy planned with Exeggcute, but it all fell apart and I ended up just scraping a victory with just two Pokemon left standing.
Bruno was much easier - Exeggcute/Duduo took care of the fighters, Squirtle wiped the floor with the Onixes. Agatha took a while because her first Gengar implemented an annoying Double Team tactic, but the rest of her team went down with minimal casualties. My victory over Lance was surprisingly comfortable - Pikachu > Gyarados; Squirtle and Porygon (Ice Beam TM) > Dragonairs; Rhyhorn > Dragonite and Aerodactyl. The real challenge came in the form of Blue (as all Kanto rival must always be named).
Rhyhorn damaged Pidgeot but Blue decided to switch out to absorb a second Rock Slide with Rhydon. Two can play at that game, I thought, and switched to Exeggcute to take an Earthquake and Giga Drain his health away. Switching in Pikachu, I took off most of Gyarados' health but then fainted from Thrash. The amazingly quick Doduo finished it off with Drill Peck. Back to Rhyhorn to finish off Pidgeot, then back to Doduo to face off against Venusaur. The first Drill Peck didn't quite do it, and then some twist of luck caused Venusaur to, after using Sunny Day, somehow outspeeding Doduo and hitting a critical to knock him out. Luckily, Exeggcute outspeeds everything in sunlight, so a Psychic finished Venusaur off. I decided to keep in Exeggcute against Arcanine to take best advantage of the sunlight, and luckily got a crit with Psychic to bring it down to under half health. Flamethrower destroyed her of course, but Squirtle, managed to absorb attacks until the sunligth wore off and I could finish the dog off with Surf. Then came the final Pokemon of this challenge, Alakazam. Bill the Porygon took a Psychic and then hit with Tri Attack, which luckily froze him, leaving me to easily finish him off with a second Tri Attack. And with that, I became the new champion of Kanto, and I believe the first person to complete this challenge.
Final team:
Jerry (Squirtle)
Lvl. 56
- Surf
- Brick Break
- Bite
- Blizzard
Became somewhat less useful towards the tail-end of the challenge - his lack of speed and low HP somewhat hampering him. But he was useful, and as Squirtle is adorable and got to hold Blackglasses like Ash's used to, I was happy.
Angelus (Doduo)
Lvl. 56
- Drill Peck
- Fly
- Steel Wing
- Tri Attack
Possibly the MVP of the challenge. The lack of diversity in the moveset was annoying at times, but most of the time it didn't matter because he consistently hit so hard and so fast with his STAB moves (Drill Peck, my heart belongs to you).
Kirby (Pikachu)
Lvl. 56
- Thunderbolt
- Mega Kick
- Dig
- Thunder Wave
Kinda fell victim to the same problems as Squirtle and became less useful towards the end of the challenge outside of his main STAB move. His low Atk stat kinda hampered his ability to abuse his decent moveset. But he was invaluable at any rate, if solely for Lance/Blue's Gyarados', and Lorelei.
Eliza (Exeggcute)
Lvl. 56
- Psychic
- Sunny Day
- Solarbeam
- Giga Drain
She wasn't as useful in the E4 as I thought she might be, but she played a part nonetheless and played it well. Even in the remakes, Psychic is rather overpowered thanks to the lack of Dark-types (and only Magnemite/ton for Steel) in the regional dex, which gave her an advantage.
Bertha (Rhyhorn)
Lvl. 56
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Strength
- Scary Face
A really solid and surprisingly awesome Pokemon. Slow, but as long as you kept her far away from leaves and water, she could take several hits and dish them back out twice as hard. Couldn't have done the challenge without her. Tied for MVP with Doduo.
Bill (Porygon)
Lvl. 56
- Psybeam
- Shock Wave
- Ice Beam
- Tri Attack
Simply obtaining this Pokemon and the Ice Beam TM left me in financial ruin - I barely had two Pokedollars to rub together when it came to stocking up on healing items for the E4 - but that doesn't matter because it was worth it. Despite not having the strongest attacks in the world, he hit very hard and the type diversity was a massive help. He was surprisingly fast and could even take a couple of hits.
I enjoyed this challenge. It provides a good amount of difficulty without being at all restrictive in choosing which Pokemon you want to use. I got to use some Pokemon I'd never used before too. I might do a second challenge on Emerald or Platinum, depending on how much time I have on my hands.
