I named myself "Mario" and my rival "Sonic" and nicknamed my Squirtle "Bowser." I regret not naming it "King Koopa" for some reason.

I caught some Pokémon for the PokéDex, and then I beat Brock and made my starter evolve right in front of him to assert dominance.

- Clair made me use all the potential of my team.
- After passing through Koga's Crobat, I was continuously destroyed by Lance.
- Scyther was strong enough to outspeed some of Lance's Pokémon, and Heracross now could tank while doing great damage so this way I defeated Lance.
- Kanto was mostly easy, I focused my training on Scyther, Heracross and Forretress.
- I had a very fun and surprising battle against Blue where I used all the abilities of my top Trio. I had to use revive once.
- I lost the E4 rematch, so I grinded a lot.
- When I was strong enough, Scyther sweeped the E4 and Heracross and Forretress took care of Lance. Fire and Flying moves still made a big damage to my team, and revives were used.
- (Schukie the Shuckle and Nat the Venomoth are the secret heroes of the team for allowing all the revive and hyper potion uses. Honored mention to Gina the Parasect)
- More grinding, exploring the two regions, looked for gym leaders, rematched Morty, tried my chance against Red, lost, more grinding.
- Finally, Red again: Fred the Forretress set up stealth rock and exploded Pikachu (Pikachu blast off!); Bob the Heracross tried to defeat Charizard, but was burned down; Billy the Scyther finished Charizard; Heracross was broought back and sweeped half of Red's team, but lost to Venusaur; Heracross was brought back again (sorry, Bob) and defeated Venusaur, bringing the victory to my team!

Clair was tough. I won at the third attempt, and only Scyther remained at the end. I used all of my team: Forretress set Spikes, Venomoth and Parasect applied statuses, and Scyther and Heracross hit really hard.

I had a couple of things to do before going to Victory Road. The first one was to defeat Ho-Oh. Heracross's Rock Tomb did a lot of damage to the Fire/Flying legendary. It took me three turns to defeat it.

I also wanted to get Swords Dance at the Game Corner. After playing the minigame a lot I gathered enough coins to buy the TM an taught it to Heracross. And then I went to the Victory Road.

I tried to defeat the Elite Four dozens of times. Will never was a problem. The first challenge I faced was Koga's Crobat, that was fast, could crush my team with Wing Attack and use Double Team to become annoingly invincible, but when I found out Scyther could defeat it with Aerial Ace, it became easy. I won from Bruno wasily. His Fighting types were countered by Scyther's Flying STAB, while his Rock types were defeated by Heracross's Fighting STAB. Karen wasn't a big deal too. You are right if you're thinking Lance was the big challenge in this run. I used a lot of revives and HP recovering items. His Gyarados was really tough, but with one Swords Dance, Scyther was ready to defeat it. Aerodactyl would be a big problem, but my Forretress was specialized in defeating him. With the defense from its Steel type it took almost no damage and it countered with Gyro Ball. With the high difference between the two Pokémon's speed, it took down Aerodactyl in two hits. His next Poké was Charizard, and Heracross did a lot of damage with Rock Tomb, but Charizard defeated it, so Scyther had to finish him. So there were only the Dragonites left and it wasn't easy to defeat them, but fortunately I have brought Parasect and Shuckle as additional slots in the team so I could revive the other pokémon. Shuckle could even tank two attacks. After getting revived, Scyther and Heracross sweeped the Dragonite with their great attack stat (and Scyther's speed). And this is how a bug catcher became the Indigo League Champion.

After winning, I went to Kanto and battled all of its Gym Leaders. I don't think there's need to describe in detail. I'll just say it was easier and faster to make only a few of my Pokémon strong. So I first trained Scyther, Heracross, Forretress and Venomoth and before battlinge Blue I decided to drop from Venomoth's training. Scyther and Heracross could deal with most Pokémon, and Forretress could deal with what the other two couldn't. I replaced Forretress's Gyro Ball with Rock Slide to deal with flying types.

Blue is really a great trainer, the battle against him was challenging. His first Pokémon was Exxegcutor and it used Trick Room, messing with my strategy for a while. Scyther defeated it easily, and then is sent Pidgeot. Fortunately, Forretress is specialized in defeating Flying Types and didn't have any problem against it. Then he sent Arcanine. For this time only, Trick Room favored me, making Forretress attack first, but Rock Slide didn't make much harm. For my surprise, he K.O.ed himself with Flare Blitz's recoil damage, but not before taking Forretress and Heracross with it. Then I sent Scyther against Rhydon, but Scyhter lost. Fortunately I have brought Venomoth, and used its turn to revive Heracross. Trick Room was no longer in battle so I could move first. Heracross shined this time, taking down Rhydon, Machamp and Gyarados with one hit on each one. Blue recognized my strength and gave me the last of Kanto's Badges.

I trained at Cerulean cave and then challenged the Elite Four. Will's team had a great addition name Bronzong, but when he used Full Restore I had one extra turn, and I used the second Swords Dance, allowing Scyther to sweep his whole team easily. Koga lost because of the same strategy, two Swords Dance from Scyther and he had no chance. In Bruno's case, I used only one. Against Karen I decided to start with Heracross. It defeated her Weavile, but when she sent Honchkrow I changed to Forretress. I set three layers of spikes and defeated Honchkrow with Rock Slide. Then I called Heracross back and it took care of the rest of her team, finishing the Dark Pokémon with Close Combat after they took damage from Spikes. Spiritomb made me sweat a little, cause it's immune to Fighting moves. I used Earthquake, making its HP low, but in her turn, she used Pain Split, that did basically nothing cause Heracross's own HP was low, so I defeated Spiritomb in the next turn. So, after the Elite Four comes the Champion.

Forretress was my first Pokémon. I didn't know it would face Salamence, and of course the dragon defeated it with Flamethrower. Scyther managed to outspeed, bringing its HP to half, and I had a lot of luck, cause Scyther's King Rock made it flinch allowing me to defeated it in the next turn. The next battle was Heracross vs. Charizard and it was like: Charizard used Air Slash, but it failed; Heracross used Rock Tomb, an Charizard's HP became red, and Charizard's deffense fell; Lance use Full Restore, Heracross used Rock Tomb, Charizard's HP became red and its speed fell dwon again. Heracross moved first in the next turn, buuuut it failed. LOL! Charizard used Flamethrower. Bye bye, Heracross! Thank you, you were amazing!

I sent Scyther to finish Charizard. Lance sent in Gyarados, that used Ice Fang and it was a critical hit, making Scyther faint. I sent Schuckle and I used its turn to revive Scyther. Scyther came back to battle, but Gyarados had a nasty Thunder Wave, making Scyther paralyzed and it didn't move. Lance kept using Dragon Dance and swept the resto of my team with Waterfall.

After losing, I decided to get stronger at Mt. Silver. After a lot of grinding, I faced the E4 again. Scyther took care of the E4, and Heracross and Forretress (both level 76) defeated Lance. Immediately after that I went to Mt. Silver's top to find Red. I was a little underleveled and I lost the battle.

After some grinding, I went to battle Red again. We had similar levels, but I still sweat during the battle. I started with Forretress to set up Stealth Rock. Red's Pikachu did a lotof damage to it with Thunderbolt, so I used explosion next, bringin Pikachu down with me. As expected, his next Poké was Charizard, so I sent Heracross. Stealth Rock did a lot of damage to Charizard, but Heracross's Rock Tomb missed. Charizard defeated it, and I brought Scyther to finish him. Red sent Lapras, who defeated Scyther, so I revived Heracross, that defeated Lapras, Snorlax and Blastoise with one hit thanks to Close Combat. Venusaur was Red's last mon. I tanked my attack and made Heracross faint. I had to revive Heracross and this time I used Earthquake to guarantee the victory. I don't know if it was necessary, but I managed to take the plant beast down. So, this is it. I defeated Red. That was a long way, and I made it to the top (literally).

Bob - Heracross - Lv 54 - Mild
Held item: Black Belt
Ability: Swarm
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Rock Tomb
- Earthquake


Billy - Scyther - Lv 58 - Adamant
Held item: King's Rock
Ability: Technician
- Aerial Ace
- Swords Dance
- Night Slash
- U-Turn


Nat - Venomoth - Lv 56 - Quirky
Held item: Quick Claw
Ability: Shield Dust
- Sludge Bomb
- Psychic
- Stun Spore
- Signal Beam


Gina - Parasect - Lv 41 - Mild
Held item: none
Ability: Dry Skin
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Poison Powder
- Slash


Fred - Forretress - Lv 51 - Naughty
Held item: Amulet Coin
Ability: Sturdy
- Explosion
- Iron Defense
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes


Shuckie - Shuckle - Lv39 - Relaxed
Held item: none
Ability: Gluttony
- Wrap
- Rest
- Gastro Acid
- Safeguard

Bob - Heracross - Lv 85 - Mild
Held Item: Black Belt
HP: 240/ATK: 258/DEF:156/SpATK: 100/SpDEF: 180/Speed:186
Ability: Swarm
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Rock Tomb
- Earthquake


Billy - Scyther - Lv 87 - Adamant
Held Item: King's Rock
HP:249/ATK:259/DEF: 170/SpATK: 128/SpDEF:171/Speed: 241
Ability: Technician
- Aerial Ace
- Swords Dance
- Night Slash
- U-Turn


Fred - Forretress - Lv 83 - Naughty
Held Item: Quick Claw
Ability: Sturdy
HP:257/ATK: 187/DEF:279/SpATK: 138/SpDEF: 104/Speed: 101
- Explosion
- Iron Defense
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock


Nat - Venomoth - Lv 61 - Quirky
Held Item: Black Sludge
Ability: Shield Dust
- Sludge Bomb
- Psychic
- Swagger
- Bug Buzz


Shuckie - Shuckle - Lv40 - Relaxed
Held Item: none
Ability: Gluttony
- Bug Bite
- Rest
- Gastro Acid
- Safeguard

Rock Climber: Geodude.
In the PC: Parasect, Butterfree.
Other HM Slaves: Poliwhirl, Hoot-Hoot, Chikorita, Goldeen.

1.) Rest of Akala
2.) Ula'ula Island
3.) Poni Island
4.) Elite Four and Champion

1.) Rest of Akala
- The Mallow Trial was relatively easily. I start with Crabrawler, using Power-Up Punch. After surviving Solar Blade, I hit back with Brick Break, but get knocked out. The helper is Trumbeak, but I go ahead and use Drill Peck (Delibird) for the KO on Lurantis.

- There's a lot of last minute Shellder leveling in Diglett's Tunnel to reach L28 to swap Withdraw and Ice Shard. Then I buy a Water Stone and evolve Shellder. Supersonic and Spikes get swapped.

- For the Grand Trial, Cloyster uses Clamp to take out Nosepass, but goes down to Continental Crush. A double use of Power-Up Punch takes out Lycanroc, then a combo of Power-Up Punch and Brick Break takes out Boldore.

2.) Ula'ula Island
- Steel and Electric fights take two attempts cause I wasn't paying attention.

- I catch Alolan Vulpix and two Snorunt (one Male and one Female). I go back to Route 1 and catch a lot of low level Pokemon so I can use Isle Aphun. I get an Ice Stone after my first 12 hours and evolved Alolan Vulpix.

- Ghost trial sucked. Was going to use Pursuit from Crabrawler, but it knows a Fairy move that takes me out. Crabrawler, at this point, needs to evolve to stay worthwhile. But after a couple of attempts, I manage to take out Mimikyu, and then it's easy enough to deal with the helper.

- Po Town is a mad dash to Guzma and an easy battle.

- Nanu...urgh. Power Gem is horrible on the first time, then I realize that A. Ninetales is rather tanky on the special side, so I do some swap/healing to keep it alive.

- For the interlude at Aether Paradise, I didn't bring enough revives, but there are a few free heals along the way. Still waiting on the Dawn Stone.

3.) Poni Island
- Hapu's Grand Trial is one I fail at once but not twice. The second time, I start off with Crabrawler using Dynamic Punch to OHKO Dugtrio, and Crabhammer to deal some initial damage to Mudsdale. Cloyster then uses Clamp to get some of the back-up damage going, and then Icicle Spear. Flygon takes that out, and out comes Glalie (hooray leveling), using Frost Breath to crit and OHKO. Gastrodon proves to be the pain point, needing Freeze-Dry to eventually take it down. It was also about this time that I finally noticed my Cloyster had Skill Link. I thought it was weird that Icicle Spear was just going nuts with 5 hits all over the place. More on that later.

- Dragon fight very much sucked because it's Dragon/Fighting, and I lose quite a lot. I made it through because one of my Blizzard uses froze it and that was more than enough to get through the battle. I wonder how many levels I would have needed. Good thing I'll never have to deal with Fighting type trainers again...

- Nothing to mention on the story battles up to Rival Final.

- Rival Final: Hau. Glalie uses Crunch on Alolan Raichu. Cloyster uses Clamp on Flareon. Crabominable uses Close Combat on Komala. Then just throw everything at Primarina and clean up, if needed, using Freeze-Dry from Glalie for a win.

4.) Elite Four and Champion
- Urgh, do I have to...The short version is they all suck. Turns out Rock and Fighting are just as much of a pain as you might think, with Carbink (Power Gem) and Lycanroc (Stone Edge) being the pain for Rock, and almost everything in Fighting being a pain point. Oricorio is the biggest pain with Revelation Dance when it comes to Flying, while Palossand is just a little tanky for my tastes on the Ghost. It takes me a few passes, but I finally make them through going this order: Ghost -> Rock -> Fighting -> Flying. Flying is actually just a little too powerful even for my team. Just more evidence that Ice really is the Glass Cannon type.

- Kukui...oh jeez, this run was not going to end with anything but hilarity. Coming off of winning the Flying match with 1 HP on my Ninetales and all others KO'd, I end up winning with fight with some randomocity. Sure, we'll go with that. I end with no Revives left, no Full Restores, no Potions of any kind, but I eek out the victory. I used just way too many items to push through this.

- Lycanroc goes down to double use of Clamp from Cloyster. A couple of uses of Clamp on Incineroar nearly takes it out, but Cloyster goes down and Crabominable is up. A single Crabhammer takes out Incineroar. I get off an Ice Punch, but Glalie needs to use Freeze-Dry to get rid of Braviary. I brought Crabominable back to use Close Combat to take out Magnezone. Then I do a Ninetales vs. Ninetales fight, and it takes a lot of Extrasensory to take it down, but I do. Then, slowly, my team whittles down to just Cloyster for Snorlax. And I use my last X Atk to boost Icicle Spear...and just cross my fingers. Seven uses later (grr Full Restores) and I'm out of healing items, so I have to just go for it. I could only hope that I was doing enough damage. Body Slam was Snorlax's choice of move, so I was also worried about being paralyzed. But at 30 HP (yes, only 30), I Icicle Spear for the win.

Thus completes the Gen 7 of Ice. One more generation left on Ice, and I'm working on getting my Amaura breeding going for Pokemon Y.

Still waiting on that Dawn Stone, though.

I ended up saving right before Steven this time, and I'm glad I did because I lost to him three more times tonight before I defeated him.

In regards to re-challenging the Elite Four members beforehand: Glacia gave me a bit of trouble, but everyone else in the Elite Four was pretty simple tonight.

In my fifth, final, and successful attempt, Steven's Skarmory set up spikes instead of going for Steel Wing or even its usual strategy of using Toxic, so I ended up practically soloing his whole team with Ginyu the Walrein (aside from the part where his Cradilly survived Ice Beam with just a sliver of heatlh, and then I had to send in Jeice the Glalie before Jeice fainted). Yeah, Ginyu scored the KO against Skarmory, Claydol, Cradilly, Armaldo, Aggron, and even Metagross (in that order). I beat his Metagross unexpectedly with Ginyu's Surf this time. Metagross just missed Meteor Mash twice, and before I knew what was happening, Steven was admitting defeat.

Yes, Freeza has conquered the Hoenn League.

Ice Monotype Defeated Champion Steven.png

Ginyu the Walrein: Ice Beam, Body Slam, Surf, Blizzard

Recoome the Walrein: Return, Iron Tail, Rock Slide, Earthquake

Jeice the Glalie: Crunch, Shadow Ball, Light Screen, Ice Beam

Mudkip (♂) | Water | Level 12
Moves: Water Gun, Mud-Slap, Rock Tomb, Tackle
36 HP / 25 Atk / 18 Def / 17 SpA / 20 SpD / 13 Spe
Ability: Torrent | Nature: Sassy | Item: Quick Claw

Wingull (♀) | Water/Flying | Level 12
Moves: Water Gun, Growl, Supersonic, (Empty Slot)
31 HP / 13 Atk / 16 Def / 20 SpA / 15 SpD / 27 Spe
Ability: Keen Eye | Nature: Bold | Item: (None)

Lotad (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 11
Moves: Bullet Seed, Astonish, Growl, Absorb
33 HP / 13 Atk / 14 Def / 16 SpA / 16 SpD / 12 Spe
Ability: Rain Dish | Nature: Quiet | Item: (None)

1.) To The First Badge
2.) To The Second Badge
3.) The Snag and the Third Badge
4.) To The Fourth Badge
5.) To The Fifth Badge
6.) To The Sixth Badge

1.) To The First Badge
Starting with Amaura was an interesting choice. I start with an Ice move, Powder Snow, which serves to be helpful through the starting birds that come after me. But, it's also beneficial because as I make my way through the first Gym, I learn Rock Throw right before Viola. Makes that battle SUPER easy. Nothing like a STAB Rock move right from the first leader battle.

2.) To The Second Badge
As I don't have access to any other Pokemon at this point, I have to basically push through with just Amaura, so I ensure that I fight everything I can fight. There is a double battle, maybe two, that I skip because I can't fight them, but other than that, all that cash is mine (even more cash after Amulet Coin, like where does the double cash come from anyways). I do, however, pick up a Water Stone so when I can finally get Shellder, I am able to immediately evolve it.

As expected, Grant proves to be a little bit of a challenge on the first go around, but I've leveled up to 27 by this point, so I have both Aurora Beam and Ancient Power (benefits of a single mon run to this point). I also taught Return, because Amaura has Refrigerate; this at least gives me a decent physical move even though I'm not a physical attacker by any means.

The second attempts goes way better than the first, netting me the second badge.

3.) The Snag and the Third Badge
On the way into Geosenge town, I pick up my first teammate, Eevee. Can't do much with it right now, other than get it some levels.

I. Hate. Lucario. Welcome to the 3 hour nightmare. Fighting two Lucario is an utter pain. The solution? Fight at 30. Nope. 33? Nope. 35? Nope. 38? Nope. Evolved and level 41? Yes. I tried at ever one of the DARTs (what I like to call the DA-mage R-ounding T-hresholds). Ever since I've learned about those, I've been focused on retrying things when I get stuck at the next -0, -3, -5, or -8 level. It helps, because instead of trying after every level, which I could theoretically do, it gives me a goal to aim for and focus on so I don't get frustrated. Just...that battle sucks. (A Fighting/Steel combo against a Ice/Rock combo? Just loads of pain thinking about it.)

Whether it's hilarious or not, I have 0 trouble with the actual Fighting gym. 'Nuff said and moving on.

4.) To The Fourth Gym
I pick up the Lapras, as I'm sure we all did, teach it Surf, and welcome it to the party. Then I make my way into Coumarine City, pick up the Good Rod, and backtrack all the way to Route 8. There, I fish for a Shellder, gnab one, and immediately evolve it. Welcome to the team. This team (Aurorus, Eevee, Lapras, and Cloyster) will be my team until I make it to the Frost Cavern.

As you can expect, Lapras basically solo'd the fourth gym, given that it's Grass. Fun time and lots of lovely levels.

5.) To The Fifth Gym
The Power Plant wasn't much of a challenge. Sure, sometimes Cloyster or Lapras would faint, but I have almost too much disposable income so I'm able to splurge a little on Super/Hyper Potions and Revives. This is similar to how I approach the fifth gym, where I fight every trainer I can, even though I feel like they all must have been like "either he's an idiot to not know these answers, or he's just after monies". Well, I may be an idiot, but there's one thing that I'm not, sir, and that, sir, is an idiot.

6.) To The Sixth Gym
This is such a quick hop over to Laverre City and the sixth gym. Lots of Lapras action here, punctuated every so often with Cloyster. Still loving that Icicle Spear/Skill Link fun. No problems here, even though I can tell I need to do some simple grinding (c'mon game, give me more Trainers). My levels on my team are passable, but still, need more.

I believe next up is making my way towards Frost Cavern, so I'll be picking up more team members and getting Glaceon. Sweet.

1.) The Seventh and Eighth Badges
2.) The Elite Four
3.) The Champion

1.) The Seventh and Eighth Badges
Well, got Eevee to Glaceon, caught a bunch of Pokemon (Bergmite, Pilowsine, Beartic, Jynx, and Vanillite) in Frost Cavern, evolved Bergmite to Avalugg, traded a Heart Scale to learn Ancient Power on Pilowsine, then a rare candy to evolve that to Mamoswine. I picked up a Snover also on my way to Anistar...when then evolves in the middle of the gym. Nice. At the end of the day, Mamoswine's the OP one with Earthquake.

As for the eighth gym, I got enough Rock moves where I can just smash my way through. In and out in under 15 minutes.

2.) The Elite Four
First, I head for Drasna given she's Dragon. The pain point here was a minute spent dealing with Druddigon. I assumed Lapras would be good, but it went down. Beartic took over and won against the rest.

Second was water. Clawitzer down toe Lapras using Thunderbolt. Barbarcle down to Earthquake. Starmie does a back and forth with Abomasnow's Wood Hammer and Full Restores, but Hail eventually gets the job done. Gyarados takes a few hits from Beartic before it goes down. I try Aurorus to Hyper Beam (using the ability Refrigerate), but it's too slow. Max Revive on Lapras in the hopes of using Thunderbolt after tanking an Earthquake. And boom.

Now it's a toss up between Fire and Steel. Fire turned out to be easier - Surf on Pyroar = OHKO. Torkoal same. Talonflame same. Chandelure is last and tries Confuse Ray, which causes Lapras to knock itself out when combined with Flamethrower. Beartic is too slow. Aurorus uses a few Ancient Powers for making a winner is me. Not too bad.

Finally, Steel. Double Hydro Pump on Klefki. Take this opportunity to switch to Mamoswine for Earthquake, but Iron Head starts to tik me off. Switch to Aurorus. Hyper Beam for the KO. Back to Beartic for Scizor. More Iron Head stupidity. Lapras for Hydro Pump for KO. Then Probopass is last and goes down to Hydro Pump/Surf.

3.) The Champion
Here's the quick run down, because this was fast:
- Hawlucha goes down to one Lapras Ice Beam
- Turantrum goes down to one Lapras Ice Beam
- Goodra tries to Focus Blast but misses half of them while Ice Beam nearly takes it out. Beartic has to come in to Icicle Crash.
- Aurorus down to Earthquake
- Gourgeist down to Ice Fang
- Gardevoir down to whatever I can throw at it until Aurorus, my starter, gets the KO with Refrigerated Hyper Beam.

Thus, I have completed the Ice Ultimate. That makes four. Wow, that was actually more fun than I anticipated. Time for the next one! I'm sort of even looking forward to going back and getting the five reruns I'll have to make to get in alignment to complete both Ultimates and Game Masteries. Though, 126 runs in total is...phew.

Raticate (♂) | Normal | Level 57
Moves: Return, Shadow Ball, Super Fang, Thunder Wave
152 HP / 117 Atk / 108 Def / 87 SpA / 80 SpD / 137 Spe
Ability: Run Away | Nature: Lax | Item: Lax Incense

Wigglytuff (♀) | Normal | Level 57
Moves: Body Slam, Brick Break, Ice Beam, Psychic
239 HP / 99 Atk / 76 Def / 113 SpA / 74 SpD / 83 Spe
Ability: Cute Charm | Nature: Docile | Item: Quick Claw

Clefable (♀) | Normal | Level 61
Moves: Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Reflect, Cosmic Power
200 HP / 106 Atk / 112 Def / 136 SpA / 122 SpD / 103 Spe
Ability: Cute Charm | Nature: Hardy | Item: Leftovers

Snorlax (♂) | Normal | Level 58
Moves: Body Slam, Shadow Ball, Earthquake, Belly Drum
274 HP / 150 Atk / 110 Def / 92 SpA / 150 SpD / 54 Spe
Ability: Immunity| Nature: Relaxed | Item: Leftovers

Kangaskhan (♀) | Normal | Level 56
Moves: Body Slam, Brick Break, Shadow Ball, Attract
187 HP / 134 Atk / 110 Def / 63 SpA / 105 SpD / 124 Spe
Ability: Early Bird| Nature: Naughty | Item: King's Rock

Tauros (♂) | Normal | Level 57
Moves: Body Slam, Earthquake, Iron Tail, Toxic
162 HP / 151 Atk / 134 Def / 72 SpA / 99 SpD / 149 Spe
Ability: Intimidate| Nature: Serious | Item: Silk Scarf

1.) Pokemon Listing
2.) First Half
3.) Second Half

1.) Pokemon Listing
Since Gen 1 is what Gen 1 is, and it's very straightforward, I'm simplifying this. I mean, I am putting the entire game in one posting. This time, I only get five Pokemon: Pikachu->Raichu, Eevee->Jolteon, Voltorb->Electrode, Magnemite->Magneton, and Electabuzz. I start with Pikachu since it's the earliest one you can get. I can pick up Voltorb just before Rock Tunnel, the Eevee in Celadon, and then the remaining two require Surf, so that's five gyms in (theoretically if playing it right; I mean, it could really be three gyms in, but I digress).

2.) First Half
- Pikachu going up against Brock is lots of Quick Attack
- Pikachu spamming Thundershock on Misty
- Pikachu spamming Thundershock on the Rival
- Catch Spearow and trade for Farfetch'd for Fly/Cut HM Buddy
- Lt. Surge losing due to Swift
- Get Voltorb, use Thunderbolt on it otherwise it won't get a STAB move
- Get Eevee, immediately evolve it
- Train Voltorb and Eevee so they get some levels (Eevee needs Thundershock for STAB)
- Switch train a little in Eirika's gym, but Swift is still the best move
- Rocket Hideout is just letting Jolteon go a bit wild

3.) Second Half
- Took east path down to Fuschia since I forgot the bike.
- Thunderbolt and Thunder for the win against Koga
- Get Surf/Strength.
- Fish up a Krabby using Super Rod and teach Surf/Strength for other HM Buddy
- Go to Power Plant and get Magnemite and Electabuzz
- Train everybody up to L40, or just above
- Go to Cinnabar Island and defeat Blaine with lots of Electric move spamming
- Do Silph Co run, using it to get some easy levels
- Do Psychic gym and cry because it's still a bit of a challenge
- Head to Vermillion and do final gym...which is easy trainers other than when they use a Dugtrio...at which point I cry against
- Easy final Rival style fight
- Easy Victory Road when you run from everything
- Lorelei - spam Electric moves
- Bruno - lots of Double Kick from Jolteon
- Agatha - more Electric spam
- Lance - lots of Screech to lessen Defense and then spam normal moves
- Champion - Wasn't too hard - Venusaur was a bit of a tank...makes me think about doing a Grass run relatively soon
- Start looking up locations for Gold lol

I now have a Level 26 Gyarados named Lakitu, and my Level 32 Wartortle knows Water Pulse, Dig, and Bite. I have the first three gym badges.

*I Traversed Mt. Moon with just my starter Wartortle "Bowser" and the 500 Yen Magikarp "Lakitu".

*I've been catching some Pokemon I can't actually use for the Pokedex (eg, the Exp Share for a PokeDex of 50 caught) throughout this adventure.

*I went north of Cerulean to fight Rival Sonic. At this point, Bowser is really over-leveled.

*I did some switch training on the way to see Bill.

*I caught an Abra (for Teleport) with some trial and error.

*I beat Misty's Staryu and Starmie with Bowser's BIte.

*I taught Bowser TM moves Water Pulse and Dig (keeping Bite in his arsenal).

*I traveled south of Cerulean and caught a Meowth for Pickup (even though the ability is not bonkers like it is in Ruby/Sapphire).

*I left a Bellsprout in the Day Care, so it can evolve into Weepinbell for another Pokedex entry. I wish I could leave another one in his care, but oh well.

*I did a bunch of switch training east of Vermillion to get Magikarp up some levels.

*I did some more switch training with the VS Seeker on Route 25.

*Lakitu finally evolves into Gyarados which (of course) learned Bite but unfortunately not Thrash (for some reason).

*Went to a party on the S.S. Anne, turned into the Disco Duck, no big deal...

*Killed the Rival's Raticate with Wartortle.

*Turned back into the Disco Duck and got the HM for Cut, which I taught to Meowth

*I went through Diglett Cave to collect the HM for Flash and the Old Amber

*I defeated Lt. Surge's Vpltorb with Lakitu's Bite and his Pikachu with Wartortle's Water Pulse and Raichu with Wartortle's Dig

That's where I am now. I really wish I could catch a Water Pokemon with Fly in this Water Monotype challenge.

1.) The Reign of Sheep
2.) The Rest of the Party
3.) The Last Push
4.) Elite Four and Champion

1.) The Reign of Sheep
Let's be honest - we all are here for the Sheep Mareep. It doesn't require much to get it off the ground. Thundershock is at level 9, so by the time I actually make it to Violet City, I'm ready to fry some birds. A relatively quick battle later, and I'm one gym down. I was worried about Union Cave, but if I just run from wild encounters and fight what I can, I can either use Thundershock to knock stuff out or have to stick to Tackle strats. By the time I make it to Bugsy, I'm already at Flaaffy (benefits of a L15 evolvution). Bugsy isn't a pain point either - two of his team just sit there and the last one goes down to a couple Thundershock. Whitney, however, requires me to be smart and use Thunder Wave to get more consistency. Then just spam Thundershock even more.

2.) The Rest of the Party
At this point, the game opens up a little. But only just a little. I get to pick up the last three members of my party. I get Magnemite just west of Ecruteak. Then, once I get to Olivine, I pick up the Good Rod and fish for both a Krabby and a Chinchou. Chinchou gets Surf, and Krabby gets traded for my final member, Voltorb. I train everyone up to 25 and then take on Morty, then go ahead and level up to 30 for Chuck. The only reason I spent so much time getting ready for Chuck was because my team is fast, but not super-bulky. Chuck's team can take them out faster than I could take them out, so I mix in Thunder Wave and Surf to make things faster. Jasmine wasn't a hard follow-up, but I went ahead to 33 before taking her on. Gotta stick to that Damage Rounding Threshold levels to make life more fun.

3.) The Last Push
The Rocket Storyline is Happy Happy Experience Fun. Lots of experience and leveling my team as evenly as possible. Other than Voltorb, that is. It's getting the experience boost from being a traded Pokemon, so it's me trying to keep up with that one. Unfortunately, as you'll see with the final stats, I don't keep up. After the Rocket Storyline is done, I go after all the trainers (as usual) with Pryce, and then go after Clair. Clair...well, is really the only hard spot in the run. I needed to get up to 40 on average to make it through. Did require some luck and Thunder Wave. But it was a funny battle because I kept experiencing these turns of both me and Clair missing. It reminds me of those turns we know exist in Wheel of Fortune where everyone gets Bankrupt and, upon broadcast, they skip all of that.

4.) Elite Four and Champion
Tried this a few times and didn't make it through, but then finally had a good run at L43...only to end at Lance. So, up another Threshold, to level 45, and we get a very good run going. A bunch of Spark and Thunder Punch get us through Will. Koga is also Thunder Punch, but in hindsight I think Fire Punch could have been learned by now-Ampharos and could have made life even easier. But I make it through Koga with little problem, then it's on to Bruno...which is just Surf-spam. Karen is one of those trainers that I like to call "middle of the road for me" - it's not a battle that has a lot of challenge to it, but it's also not one where I need to focus on a certain strategy to get through. It's just "use most powerful attack and get through". Other than the Houndoom - where Surf is nice. Lance, at the end of the run, gives now-Lanturn a chance to shine. It can easily make it to Aerodactyl, at which point it was on its last legs so I hope for Surf to go off. I know Aerodactyl is fast, but Hyper Beam misses so I get Surf off and take it out. Charizard is down to Surf as well, and the last Dragonite takes a few turns, but it goes down in the end.

Not bad. Felt better than Kanto. I'm starting to track with a chart three statistics for each run (how much fun I had, how much strategy I needed, and how hard it felt to get through), and then averaging them across the entire Ultimate. I went back and had a long think about each of them while rereading all of my posts. I'm going to start adding those ratings here after each run is complete. Each is out of 5.

- Fun: 4/5. This was fun, but having to deal with the challenge jumping from Pryce to Clair was a bit of a pain. That, and the last minute grind for the Elite Four were the only reasons I'm not giving it 5/5. It was, basically, only just starting to not get fun.
- Ease: 4/5. For the same reason as fun - it was easy, but I don't like having to brute force sections. Still an early gen though, so I'm a little forgiving.
- Thought: 2/5. I didn't really have to think for most of it, but I did have to think about whether I wanted to use this TM on that Pokemon. Or if I wanted to use it at all. There were a few points that I thought for ten or fifteen seconds when learning new moves, but fairly simple thoughts.

For Gen 1, in case you were wondering, I gave 3/4/2 for the scores. Higher is better on Fun and Ease, while lower is better on Thought. The chart I'm building has Fun and Ease on X/Y Axis, and bubble size being based on average thought score.

Well, next time, Electrike gets me started in Sapphire.

I traversed Rock Tunnel and ended up in Lavender Town. I took on my rival mourning his Raticate I killed and made him watch my Wartortle evolve right in front of his eyes. I took on the Rocket Hideout in Celadon and then defeated Gym Leader Erika. Since Gyarados was paralyzed, I had to send in Blastoise for her Vileplume, so I ended up stalling out until it ran out of "Giga Drain" PP (Yes, I cheesed it).

I went back to Lavender Town to rescue Dr. Fuj--Err, I mean, Mr. Fuji. I woke up the Route 12 Snorlax and caught it for the PokéDex.

Also, I taught my Gyarados Thunderbolt after cashing in an exorbitant amount of money at the Rocket Game Corner prize center. Quite frankly, life in exile is too good for Boss Rocket.

I finally caught a second team member: a Poliwhirl named Wart (the villain of Super Mario Bros. 2 USA).

EDIT: I forgot to mention that when I got to Celadon, I kind of stole an Eevee and evolved it into a Vaporeon, which I only really used to whittle down HP of Pokemon I wanted to catch (like Poliwhirl and PokéDex fodder).

1.) Gyms 1 and 2
2.) Gyms 3 and 4
3.) Gyms 5 and 6
4.) Gym 7

1.) Gyms 1 and 2
Starting out with Electrike this time, since it's more likely to be found than either Plusle or Minun. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean much. I feel like I'm going to have five of the same Pokemon when you think about learnsets...but with vastly different base stats. My full team will be Manectric, Plusle, Minun, Electrode, and Magneton. Oh boy. I don't learn any Electric move until level 20, when I learn Spark.

Unfortunately, this means that the battle with Roxanne is nothing more than using a bunch of X Defense and hoping for no crits, and then using Leer and then Quick Attack to deal damage. I didn't make it through until level 19, but I guess that's enough.

Going to deliver the Letter to Steven allows me to get to level 20 and learn Spark, which turned out to be helpful in the second gym. Should call this the Spark run. Everything learns Spark.

2.) Gyms 3 and 4
I pick up Plusle and Minun, but can't get the rest of the team until I get Surf. I don't know which is sadder - that I get to use Plusle and Minun or that I had to give up two Zigzagoons to let them join. Pickup is so nice because it's got me a bunch of Nuggets and Rare Candies, which I decide to just go ahead and use to get my team up to 25. Wattson isn't that much of a problem, but I remembered Flannery sucking because of her Numel...only to remember that she only has two Slugma and one Torkoal in Sapphire. So, a bunch of Sparks later, and I've got four badges.

3.) Gyms 5 and 6
Okay, let's be honest, Gym 5 wasn't a pain in the butt. Another round of Sparking. Gym 6's trainers weren't either, but by this time I have my full team. Had to Surf to get here anyways, might as well get the remaining two from the underground of Mauville. The real kicker is that I had to level my team up to 33 to beat Winona. Why, you may ask? I'm Electric this run and she's Flying, so I should have no trouble, right? Her Altaria knows Earthquake. It's the hardest thing to work around. I had to get lucky with Thunder Wave to pull it off. Obviously, I tried my best to keep Magneton out of the battle until after Altaria was down. This was the hardest battle to win - took about ten attempts to get the luck necessary. If I had something better than Spark, I might have been able to take it down faster, but Spark was going to be a 3HKO on Altaria, while Earthquake is either a OHKO or a close enough that it was a certain 2HKO.

4.) Gym 7
This is where I'm calling it for this entry, because I'm going to be out of town for a bit and away from my computer. I'll keep playing so the next entry will probably be the final entry for Sapphire, and I'll have already started on BD. Let's talk about Tate and Liza for about three sentences: "They suck. They suck. They suck." The level jump from Gym 6 (30-33) to Gym 7 (42) when you only have a very small portion of game is just ridiculous. I was level 36 when I attempted it, and although I won, it took seven attempts. I got very lucky with them not hitting Electrode so it could run off Rollout and do some damage. Thunder Wave helped, but Spark just doesn't do enough. I plan on just replacing every entry of Spark with Thunder from the Dept Store. It's not a fun fight. I don't want to have to grind to their levels in the future, but Psychic just hits way too hard. Not a fun battle.

Onto the rest of the Aqua line. And then Gym 8 and endgame...