To warn you right from the beginning: This is my last GSC-Update on my Psychic Monoteam Challenge! Why? Well, because I finish it! (The GSC-part, not the Challenge, of course...)
Let us start with the beginning: I took the M.S. Aqua to reach Kanto the first time. Of course I showed the trainers on board who´s best, but I think everyone do the same… or not? ^^
Well, after arriving Kanto I made a decision: I will travel through the whole country without fighting against the gym leaders in the first time. So don´t wonder yourself…
-After I arrived in Vermilion City I walked on Route 5 to Saffron City; I got TM29 there and taught it to Laehydre (Xatu). Then I went straight to Cerulean City, fought my way along Route 24 and 25 to reach Bills Mansion – where I finally got a Water Stone from Bills Grandpa!
-Nurvent evolved into Starmie and finally became a Psychic Pokemon, too!
-I went back to Saffron City to reach Celadon City (I found some Leftovers there…) and then I travelled along Routes 16,17 and 18. Notice that I only used Nurvent to give it the chance to reach the same level the rest of the team has. After arriving in Fuchsia City… I immediately left the town and went on Routes 15, 14, 13, 12 and 11, reaching Lavandia, and then fighting against the two guys on Route 10 too.
-Sindri reached Lv.43, learned Solar Beam, and evolved with the help of Grandpas Leaf Stone. Nurvent is on Lv.42 now. (When it evolved, it was on Lv.28!!!)
-I visited the Power Plant, then flow to Cerulean City, defeated the Rocket and grabbed the missing part. I brought it back to the Power Plant. As a reward I got the radio from Lavandia Radio Tower, which allows me to woke up Snorlax.
- I captured Snorlax and took his leftovers.
-I went through Digletts Cave to Viridian City. There I got TM Dreameater and teached it to Exeggcutor. Then I went to Pallet Town and surfed to Cinnabar Island.
-I DIDN´T talk to Blue – I wanted to save me that for the final.
-After surfing to Seafoam Island and back to Fuchsia, my sightseeing tour through Kanto was nearly finished. I went to Pewter City and entered Mount Moon. There I defeated Silver the last time. Now back to Cerulean City and to Saffron City.
-I managed it to get the doll back for the little girl and got the ticket for the Magnet train. I took a training session on Victory Road then.
All my Pokemon are on Lv.48 now, except Laehydre (Xatu) and Sethur (Hypno) – both are Lv.46.
Now I challenged – and defeated – quite quickly all eight gym leaders, everyone with one or two Pokemon only.
-Brock with Laehydre
-Misty with Maleval
-Lt. Surge with Sethur
-Erika with Laehydre
-Janina with Slowking
-Blaine with Nurvent (before challenging him, I talked to Blue on Cinnabar Island)
-Sabrina, my mistress, with Maleval and Xatu
-Blue with Sindri (defeating Exeggcutor, Gyarados, Rhydon), Nurvent (defeating Arcanine), Sethur (defeating Alakazam) and Kasura (defeating Pidgeot)
So I got all eight Badges of Kanto now. I visited Prof. Oak and travelled to Mt. Silver.
There I faced Red. My team was about Lv.49-50 now.
His Pikachu KOed Sethur. So I sent out Sindri, who used Sleep Powder and Dreameater to win.
His Charizard was confused by Nurvent, hurt himself and suffered by Surf.
Espeon was also confused, but then it badly hit Nurvent, so I decided to change it against Sindri again. Sindri set it to sleep, Leech-Seeded it and used Solar Beam to win.
Snorlax was sent out – definitely his most dangerous Pokemon. It used Amnesia and Bodyslam which gave Kasura the chance to set up Curse five times in a row (with some potion support, of course) and she even dealed some damage, but fainted after a Critical Hit Snore. I tried Laehydre, but another Critical Hit – bodyslam this time – defeated it immediately. So I choosed Sindri again. With Leech Seed, Sleep Powder and dream Eater I finally managed to win.
He sent out Venusaur, and Maleval used Psychic. Venusaur tried Solar Beam, but of course the second Psychic finished him before he could use the solar energy.
His last Pokemon – Blastoise! It was Sindri again. She used the well-known strategy of Sleep Powder and Leech Seed and was really lucky that Blastoise managed it to use three Blizzards – which all missed. After that much Criticals Red gets, it was quite fair I guessed. After Solar Beaming Blastoise, I won.
So this is it. I challenged the Elite Four a second time after winning against Red, mostly because I want revenge on Karen for being so hard to beat the first time. xD
Last Team Update:
- …l Laehydre l… (Xatu (m); Lv.51) Teleport, Fly, Giga Drain, Psychic @Amulet Coin
- …l Sethur l… (Hypno (m); Lv.51) Flash, Hypnosis, Headbutt, Psychic
- …l Nurvent l… (Starmie; Lv.51) Recover, Confuse Ray, Icy Wind, Surf @Leftovers
- …l Kasura l… (Slowking (f); Lv.51) Curse, Ice Punch, Headbutt, Psychic @Nevermeltice
- …l Sindri l… (Exeggcutor (f); Lv.51) Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, Dreameater, Solar Beam @Leftovers
- …l Maleval l… (Alakazam (m); Lv.52) Recover, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Psychic @Magnet
So, that is it. Or not? Something is missing – the final conclusion! Ok, here you are.
It was not as easy as in R/B. With the Dark type, Steel and Ghosts too, there are some decent enemies of Psychic with powerful attacks (for example that damn Houndoom and his crunch attack…). Also the new TM list has benefits (for example for Alakazam) and curses (for example for Starmie). No evolution stones but the few ones on Ceruelan City quite on the end of the game are really bad too… However, Psychic Pokemon are as powerful as always. They suffer a bit from the split of Special, of course. Mainly Exeggcutor, who has now a huge Special Attack and a very low Special Defence, but Alakazam has the same problem, too. Well, they aren´t made for stalling. They have a giant movepool which covers many attacks from different types (Fire- or Electric Pokemon only learn Fire/Electric attacks mainly) – I can choose of Psychic, Fire, Electric, Ice, Water, Plant, Fly and Normal.
Let me look on my Protagonists now and reflect the accomplishments of them.
1. Sethur (Hypno). Well, this one was worse than in R/B. Odd, because it has the ability of using the elemental punches. But my Hypno sadly has a very low Sp. Attack stat – which makes it hardly usable. He had his moments, but in fact I am sure I would have completed the Challenge without him as well.
2. Laehydre (Xatu). This one was a surprise for me. Psychic, Giga Drain, Fly… powerful Attack and Special Attack as well. Flying carriage and natural Teleport made it take the place Maleval used to have in R/B and gave Maleval the chance to evolve. Xatu is very cool. He was easy to train as well. Ok, to be honest, he was not too brilliant in battle. In my second run through the Elite Four he wrecked Koga without help, but against Red or in the First Challenge, he didn´t really get a chance to shine. At least he defeated Brock and Erika nearly without help.
3. Nurvent (Starmie). Poor one. It is terribly turned down by the lack of a Water stone and good TMs. No Thunder Bolt, no Ice Beam – and its wonderful type coverage had gone. Icy Wind is a more than poor alternative to Ice Beam, and Confuse Ray could not be named "alternative"… But after evolving, it reached 14 levels in a short time and took down Blaine´s Pokemon, Blue´s Arcanine and Red´s Charizard. With a better movepool, it would be as great as in R/B and I really look forward to see how it will be in R/S/E.
4. Kasura (Slowking). As I had mentioned, I never had a Slowking before, but always wished to have one. I was surprised of her. She never let me down, was of great help against so many enemies… Kai, Sandra, Karen, Lance and Janina are only some the victories she gave me. She was my first true Psychic Pokemon (leaving out the Unowns) and… and… well, I don´t have enough words to say how worthy she was for my team.
5. Sindri (Exeggcutor). She was better than in R/B, if this is even possible. Training her up from Level 10 was hard, no doubt. Before she learned Leech Seed, she hardly won a battle. But after that, she had this dangerous Sleep – LS-Combo. It became even better with learning Dreameater – more powerful than Psychic and quite effective, because Sleep Powder is more accurate than Hypnosis. Her movepool was without a doubt much better than in R/B, and that resulted in taking down enemies like nothing… half of Red´s Team can affirm that. This one was very, very, very good. Really.
6. Maleval (Alakazam). My dear Captain, again. And, this time, an Alakazam instead of a Kadabra (because now I had Xatu to use Teleport). And his movepool was amazing! The elemental Punches turned him into a weapon of mass destruction. Sadly his poor defenses let him faint quite often. So on the battlefield he wasn´t as effective as Sindri or Kasura. But nevertheless he was tough, strong, cool and he has the highest Special Attack, combined with the best movepool of all my Pokemon.
So… this was it, finally. I have completed the second part of the Challenge. May you add me to Hoenn, Alakazam17?