[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns

Just completed the Electric Gym, battle was a pain but with everything I had, including my HM slave, I was able to just about beat that Raichu. I also caught a Magikarp and grinded it to Gyarados, as I finally felt using the Digltt cave would give me some decent easy exp.

Level 21: Gyarados
- Splash
- Tackle
- Bite

Level 20: Shellder
- Tackle
- Withdraw
- Water Gun
- Supersonic

Level 19: Seel
- Headbutt
- Bind
- Body Slam

Level 23: Wartortle
- Tackle
- Tail Whip
- Bubble
- Water Gun

Level 22: Horsea
- Bubble
- Bubblebeam

- Beat Team Galactic at Valley Windworks. Had a pretty smooth Mars fight with Purrloin missing Fake Out thanks to Sandstorm + Sand Veil.

- Made it through Eterna Forest with Cheryl got a Soothe Bell as thanks. Gave it to Diablos to make Return more powerful in the long run.

- Diablos evolved into Gabite.

- Beat Gardenia. Had a couple of close calls with Cherrim missing with Leech Seed and Roserade nearly taking out Diablos with Grass Knot, but I persevered in the end.

- Defeated Team Galactic in their hideout. Jupiter didn't really pose any problems despite her Skuntank poisoning Diablos.

Diablos the Impish Gabite Lv. 27 @ Soothe Bell
Sand Veil
- Dragon Rage
- Sand Tomb
- Return
- Sandstorm

Thankfully, I happened to start to read a walkthrough just through Celadon City, so I got my Eveee and immediately evolved it to Vaporeon. I also evolved my Shellder into Cloyster. Finished through Erika, with was pretty easy with Seel now knowing Ice Beam.

Done Team Rocket at both Celadon and Lavender Town. After this, I immediately went to Fuschia City to pick up Surf for all my pokemon, as this would greatly help me. During this time, I evolved my Wartortle into Blastoise, Seel into Dewgong and Horsea into Seadra, to finish off all my evolutions.

Finished off Team Rocket at Silph Co, and then did both Sabrina and Koga back to back, without too much difficulty. I have gone to Seaform Islands, caught Articuno and landed at Cinnabar Island which is where I head off for tonight.

Blastoise Level 39
- Earthquake
- Mega Punch
- Submission
- Surf

Dewgong Level 36
- Aurora Beam
- Horn Drill
- Surf
- Ice Beam

Seadra Level 36
- Water Gun
- Bubblebeam
- Smokescreen
- Surf

Gyarados Level 36
- Thunderbolt
- Strength
- Surf
- Dragon Rage

Vaporeon Level 36
- Double Edge
- Quick Attack
- Surf
- Sand Attack

Cloyster Level 36
- Supersonic
- Clamp
- Surf
- Tri Attack

A bunch of things happened since last time. The most important of these are that I taught Diablos Earthquake and beat two more gyms. Next, I'll be heading towards Pastoria City to beat the gym there.

Diablos the Impish Gabite Lv. 41 @ Cleanse Tag
Sand Veil
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Return
- Shadow Claw

Honestly, the game was really easy after the 6th gym, Blaine is of course a Fire gym and Giovanni is a Ground Gym so my team was very well suited for those. Dewgong made the Power Plant easy, Blue after the 8th gym was a little difficult but I got through it ok. Victory Road and Moltres was also well suited for my team and it was off to the Elite 4.

I honestly thought I might have had to grind for a bit to finish off the Elite 4 but I tried it anyway if just to get some EXP. Well, thanks to my Gyarados having a wide range of moves, Blastoise now been taught Earthquake and Dewgong being a strong Ice Pokemon, other than Lance and Blue knocking out a couple of my Pokemon it was pretty smooth sailing from there.

Blastoise Level 42
- Earthquake
- Fissure
- Submission
- Surf

Dewgong Level 43
- Aurora Beam
- Horn Drill
- Surf
- Ice Beam

Seadra Level 40
- Water Gun
- Bubblebeam
- Smokescreen
- Surf

Gyarados Level 46
- Thunderbolt
- Strength
- Surf
- Dragon Rage

Vaporeon Level 40
- Double Edge
- Quick Attack
- Surf
- Sand Attack

Cloyster Level 40
- Blizzard
- Clamp
- Surf
- Tri Attack

I selected Treecko as my starter, and used it to defeat the wild Poochyena and Brenden. As soon as I made it to Route 103, I caught Ralts. I'd like to say that I boxed Treecko immediately, but I still used it for three more battles; once to help Ralts grow to level 4 and learn Confusion, once during the battle with the Team Magma Grunt in Petalburg Woods, as Confusion can't damage Poochyena, and once during the double battle with the twins that's completely impassable without two Pokemon on your team. So really, I boxed Treecko as soon as I made it to Rustboro City.

Anyway, after backtracking and beating all the trainers I could with Ralts, I decided to take on Roxanne. It actually wasn't too hard at all. I was worried that Rock Tomb would spell doom for Ralts, but I guess the X Defense worked.

After defeating Roxanne, I headed to Rusturf Tunnel where I defeated the Team Magma Grunt and obtained the Devon parts. I spoke to President Stone and then made my way to Dewford. By this point, my Ralts had quite a few levels under his belt, so I decided to just challenge Brawley immediately. He was a lot easier to beat than Roxanne - actually, none of his Pokemon even manage to land a single hit. :)

Grace (Ralts) ♂ Lv. 15
Lonely, Likes to relax
Trace
-Confusion
-Echoed Voice
-Disarming Voice
-Double Team

A couple of things have happened since last time. The most important one is that I've got my second (and last) party member! I've started the process of getting him up to Diablos level. As a Swablu he was pretty much a sitting duck for the most part, but as an Altaria he has already impressed me with his sheer bulk. I also beat Cyrus in Celestia Town and obtained HM03 Surf.

Diablos the Impish Gabite Lv. 46 @ Dragon Fang
Sand Veil
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Return
- Shadow Claw


Forrest the Docile Altaria Lv. 40 @ Exp Share
Natural Cure
- Aerial Ace
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Breath
- Sing

-Chose Squirtle as my starter but ditched it for a lv 5 Rattata.
-Grinded my Rat in the forrest until lv 14 and it learned Hyper Fang.
-Beat Brock thanks to Hyper Fang (and spamming Tail Whip when Onix used Bide)
-Taught Rat the Water Gun TM and it evolved on the way through Mt. Moon
-Caught a Clefairy in Mt. Moon, grinded it until it learned Sing, taught it Mega Punch and evolved it with a Moon Stone
-Beat the Rival and Nugget bridge trainers easily (both my guys were level 20+ at this point)
-Got the SS Ticket and Escape Roped back to Cerulean (which works in RB but not Y)
-Beat Misty by using Sing then switching to Raticate and using Tail Whip until they woke up and Ko'ing with Hyper Fang
-Taught Raticate Dig and Bubble Beam
-Picked up the Body Slam TM for later
-Beat Surge with Dig (got the Cans where it is the top left can both times)
-Taught Clefable Thunderbolt

Current Team
Raticate lv 26
Moves: Hyper Fang, Dig, Bubble Beam, Quick Attack

Clefable lv 24
Moves: Mega Punch, Thunderbolt, Sing, Pound

Since last time I went to Canalave City to beat the gym there. Between Forrest's Flamethrower and Diablos Earthquake it wasn't much of an issue. After that I bumped into Team Galactic at Lake Valor and Lake Verity before heading towards Snowpoint City. The trek there was a bit slow due to the snow, but eventually I got there. Now, Snowpoint City gym was one that I had been concerned about since the beginning due to both of my party members having a 4x weakness to ice. Fortunately, while Forrest did go down Diablos managed to pull through thanks to his impressive Defence.

After obtaining the badge I infiltrated Team Galactic's headquarters in Veilstone City. They didn't put up much of a fight. After that I stocked up on super repels and headed to Mt. Coronet. Like Snowpoint City, the trip to the peak took a while, but eventually I got there. The Distortion world was also a bit confusing. Had a bit of a nail biter against Cyrus due to Forrest going down to Gyarados and Diablos almost succumbing to Crobat's poison. I managed to pull through though and escape the Distortion world after using my Master Ball on Giratina (don't worry, he'll never leave the PC).

Diablos the Impish Garchomp Lv. 58 @ Dragon Fang
Sand Veil
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Crunch


Forrest the Docile Altaria Lv. 58 @ Wise Glasses
Natural Cure
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Aerial Ace

Main quest complete! I've decided I wanted to try to complete the optional goals as much as possible so this is not the end of my journey. However, I have now defeated the Pokémon League for the first time. Some notes about my progress:

Sunyshore city gym
Not much to say here. Diablos pretty much dominated this gym with Earthquake.

Victory Road
Wasn't much of a problem either thanks to all the super repels I bought. The only concern I had was running out of PP before the end but that didn't happen.

Rival
This might be the first time I have a solid answer to his Staraptor in The form of Ice Beam. Otherwise not much to say.

Aaron
He was pretty easy. Most of his pokémon went down to a single Flamethrower or Aerial Ace from Forrest. The only one who didn't, Drapion, was quickly dispatched by Diablos. Not even an Ice Fang from said Drapion did much to faze him.

Bertha
She was trickier than the previous fight. I was unable to OHKO her Whiscash which allowed it to set up a sandstorm. This made it a bit more difficult to take down her rock-types since I had planned to use Ice Beam on them. On top of that, a majority of her pokémon knows at least one ice-type move. Despite all this I managed to pull through, courtesy of Diablos hitting like a truck.

Flint
Diablos + Earthquake. Enough said.

Lucien
The only time his pokémon ever got a turn they used Calm Mind.

Cynthia
I was pretty nervous before this fight. I expected to have trouble with her Garchomp and/or Milotic due to them having good coverage vs my team. Luckily though Diablos saves the day again due to his raw strength. Honestly Togekiss gave me more trouble than anything else due to him being pretty bulky on the physical side. When all was said and done though, we emerged victorious.

Diablos the Impish Garchomp Lv. 67 @ Razor Claw
Sand Veil
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Crunch


Forrest the Docile Altaria Lv. 67 @ Wise Glasses
Natural Cure
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Aerial Ace

The Platinum run is now officially complete! I've beaten the Stark mountain miniquest and the Elite Four once more. The team I entered the Pokémon League with was basically the same but higher leveled and with Diablos learning Outrage over Dragon Claw. Here are the cliff notes of the Elite Four:

Aaron
He was a little bit tougher this time around since Forrest could no longer oneshot his Yanmega, which allowed it to set up a Double Team with Speed Boost. Otherwise it was pretty much the same as last time, even down to the part where Diablos tanked an Ice Fang from Drapion before knocking it out with Earthquake.

Bertha
Probably the toughest fight in the entire league. Once again I had no really good answers to her Whiscash and Hippowdon other than raw strength. Her Gliscor was especially problematic since I couldn't safely switch in Forrest to her Ice Fang. This is where Outrage started to pay of since it handled Gliscor quite well. After that it became a bit easier and I managed to finish it off.

Flint
Earthquake still rocks.

Lucien
Diablos almost swept his team quite cleanly, except for his Gallade who somehow survived an Outrage and managed to get a small hit on Diablos. It couldn't take the second hit though and went down as well.

Cynthia
I actually had less trouble with her than last time. A lot of that can be attributed to Outrage and the fact that her Garchomp missed with Dragon Rush.

That's it for Sinnoh. Next up I'll start my journey through Johto in Soul Silver.

Diablos the Impish Garchomp Lv. 82 @ Persim berry (consumed in final fight)
Sand Veil
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Crunch


Forrest the Docile Altaria Lv. 80 @ Wise Glasses
Natural Cure
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam
- Aerial Ace

Started my Soul Silver playthrough by trading in a Dratini as my first party member. Had to grind a bit against wild pokémon since Dratini's early moveset is... not that great. Eventually I got to a point where she could hold her own and then proceeded to beat the first gym.

Belius the Bashful Dratini Lv. 15 @ Nothing
Shed Skin
- Twister
- Dragon Rage
- Thunder Wave
- Wrap

Blastoise lv64 @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Torrent
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Bite
- Rest

Gyarados lv63
Ability: Intimidate
- Hidden Power
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge
- Dragon Dance

Vaporeon lv65 @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Bite
- Haze

Poliwrath lv61
Ability: Water Absorb
- Brick Break
- Body Slam
- Hypnosis
- Bulk Up

Starmie lv67 @ Mystic Water
Ability: Natural Cure
- Psychic
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Lapras lv66 @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Toxic

HM slaves: Meowth/Krabby/Pidgey

A lot of progress has been made since last time. I've defeated three gyms and defeated my rival twice. Not much to say about the gym fights since Dragon Rage made them pretty simple. I wiped once against the rival in Burnt Tower though due to Belius getting cursed by Gastly and confused by Zubat. Second time I beat him despite being confused by Gastly due to having the best confusion luck I've ever seen. Belius was confused for a total of five turns and not once did she hit herself in confusion. Morty was pretty simple since Belius evolved right before the fight.

Next up, I'm actually gonna try to beat Mahogany gym early so I can get Horsea quicker. It's an Ice type gym though so we'll see how it goes.

Belius the Bashful Dragonair Lv. 31 @ Shell Bell
Shed Skin
- Twister
- Dragon Rage
- Thunder Wave
- Headbutt