Two more bite the dust. I thought Giovanni's Rhyhorn would be an easy kill for DaftFungi, figuring I'd kill it in a single Giga Drain... Except DaftFungi was extremely slow, and Rhyhorn got the first, second and third strike with Rock Blast.
FurySting on the other hand met his demise against Koga's Koffing, which self-destructed. Apparently I didn't learn my lesson the first time around.
As sad as it was, seeing yet more team members die, I felt a bizarre relief thinking that I wouldn't need to worry about leveling up those two again. It was getting increasingly difficult to find suitable targets for them, with them being weak against alot of things and not strong enough to 1HKO almost anything.
It was down to the core team, the guys who were able to pull their own weight. Ken-chan the Hitmonchan, SolidSnake the Onix, and Kazekami the Scyther. Soon, there was also the last guy to join the team; OOglie the Omanyte.
OOglie was a weakling when we first saw him, but I saw huge potential in his eyes. With a little bit of power-training, thanks to the VS. seeker, OOglie evolved into Omastar and soloed the entirety of fire gym without breaking a sweat.
The rest of the game goes by in a flash. Neither Sabrina nor Giovanni stand a chance against the combined force of this quadruple. Soon, I find myself on the doorstep of the fabled elite 4. I stop for a moment, feeling nervous for the first time in a long time. Once I enter, there's no turning back. I use up all of my rare candies, EV-items, PP-ups and take a deep breath before stepping in.
(as a part of the challenge, I'm not looking up the team compositions of my enemies. It'd feel like cheating)
First of the elite 4, surrounded by ice pillars... I bring Ken-chan to the front, thinking that I'd power him up with bulk up and then proceed to annihilate the entire team. But the second pokemon on Lorelei's team is Slowbro, a tank that resists Ken-chans all moves. Stubbornly I did not switch out right away, thinking beefed brick break should still do considerable damage... It's still below 25%. I switch out to Kazekami, take a surf on the way in, use sword dance once and then he hits with an ice beam. Does about 50% damage, went down to 10 hp left. Hyper potion brings Kazekami back to full health, but another ice beam brings him back down to 75/149 hp... Just barely above 50% health. Unless Kazekami finished Slowbro off in 1 aerial ace, he might die to the next ice beam.. I had to risk it. Aerial Ace hits, Slowbro's health went ticking down... but stopped at 10%. Ice beam hits, and my heart almost skips a beat... Kazekami lives with 1 hp. Thank the RNG gods. Slowbro dies to the next Aerial Ace. The rest of Lorelei's team dies to my original bulk up + brick break strategy. I barely survived the first of elite 4 without casualties... Are the rest going to be as difficult?
Rock pillars... I guess this's the fighter champion then. Confident that Kazekami could take on all fighting types, I send it first... Except that Bruno is leading with Onix. The matchup could not get any worse, I immediately swith to OOglie, who gets lucky and dodges the incoming rock tomb. Surf annihilates both of Bruno's Onixes. At the same time I'm very grateful that neither of them have ability Sturdy, as OOglie would be vulnerable to possible earthquakes. I switch back to Kazekami on Hitmonchan, and sword dance once... And gets hit by rock tomb. Thankfully, an un-STAB rock tomb does only 66% dmg, but it also lowers Kazekami's speed by 1 stage. Oh god, is she still going to be fast enough to get the first strike? I know she's very fast, she even has a speed-boosting nature but I still hesitate before clicking Aerial Ace... And Kazekami hits first. The same situation repeats on Machamp and Hitmonlee, still faster against both of them. I don't know how close I was to losing the speed fight, and it might be better that I don't find out.
Spooky music.. Definitely Ghost. Again I lead off with Kazekami, her sword dance makes her the best sweeper after all. Ghosts don't stand a chance, they get 1HKO'd, but Golbat survives one hit and retaliates with wing attack. It only does 40% dmg, but still I'd rather not take any chances so I switch to SolidSnake against Agatha's Arbok, and heal up Kazekami with a hyper potion before destroying Arbok with earthquake. The rest of the fight no-one takes damage, after another gengar missed hypnosis twice. Just one more left...
Dragon claws. So this must be the legendary Lance. I'd prepared for facing against dragon types, by teaching OOglie Blizzard and Ken-chan Ice Punch, but I still wonder if they're enough to win... The first fight is OOglie vs Gyarados. It's a slow battle, as neither have anything super effective but grinding out, with the help of some potions we win. Overall all the fights with Lance's pokemon turn out grindy, with alot of healing items spent on making sure I lose no-one on the last stretch. It's not the cool way to win, but you do what you have to in order to survive. Blizzard was not enough to 1HKO a lvl 60 Dragonite, but using healing items OOglie was able to hold on until the enemy finally hit himself in confusion and the fight was finished with another Blizzard.
And there was only one more obstacle left... Rival Gary, the snob who'd been trying to get me killed since day 1. I'd finally have my revenge on him, and strip him of his pride.
So far he'd always leaded with Pidgeot, so I position SolidSnake as my own lead. I make sure my team's got full PP's before I go face the final adversary.
Gary does lead off with Pidgeot, as predictable as always. Onix lacks firepower though, and not even 2 rock slides finish it off. And then Gary switches off to a Rhydon. Rock slide does pitiful amount of damage against it. Afraid of an earthquake, I need to get my Onix out of there... But what to switch into? OOglie would be able to finish rhydon clean, but he'd be vulnerable to the earthquake too... And Kazekami is too risky to switch to, in case he hits with rock move instead. I decide this was the time to use the death fodder I'd been bringing along, Rockefell the lvl 5 Aerodactyl, and switch to it. Luckily for her though, Gary used Earthquake just like I thought he would, and then I switch straight to OOglie while he tries to use Takedown. Just like planned, OOglie takes out Rhydon in a single Surf. Next is Venusaur. Scyther 1HKO's him after 1 sword dance. Next is gyarados, and I leave Kazekami in. With the help of healing items, Kazekami tanks hydro pumps and dragon rages until the enemy is dead. Gary changes to Arcanine, which almost dies to a surf. Gary tries in vain to full restore him twice, but OOglie is relentless. Next comes back the half-dead Pidgeot, but predicting another full restore I have SolidSnake use Screech twice before using rock slide again to get a clean 1HKO. The only thing left now is Alakazam. Knowing how fragile they are, I send in Kazekami and go straight for aerial ace. Unfortunately Alakazam survives the first hit, retaliates with a psychic but Kazekami survives with 26hp. One last aerial ace closes the deal once and for all.
The game is won, and no-one of the final team died, not even the deathfodder. I was having doubts halfway through the game, when I lost a number of teammates in a row, but here I am!