Challenge The Monotype Challenge Re:Returns Page 18

Started by The Undisputed Era May 28th, 2019 11:24 AM
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  • 542 replies

Duck

🦆 quack quack

he, they
Seen February 23rd, 2023
Posted February 22nd, 2023
5,750 posts
2.4 Years
Is this still up? I'd like to try it!

User: AngeltheTogekiss468
Type: Fire
Game(s): Leaf Green, Soul Silver, Omega Ruby, Platinum, White 2, Y, Sun
Single / Ultimate: Ultimate
It is up, yes. OP should be updated with your entry.

AngeltheTogekiss468

Togekiss Queen

She/Her
USA
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted March 21st, 2023
64 posts
1.1 Years
Update 2

Gyms Completed:
Brock
Misty

Current Party:
Magnus - Charmeleon
Slave - Rattata
Slave - Pikachu

The first thing I did was go through Mt. Moon and the rest of Route 4, leveling up Magnus some. After struggling to defeat Misty, I trained Magnus on the Nugget Bridge, Route 24, and Route 25, acquiring the S.S. Ticket on the way. The extra levels, plus a strategy using Smokescreen, ensured my victory against Misty. I went through Routes 5 and 6, leveling up Magnus a little more on the trainers, and reached Vermillion City, coming to a stop there.
Challenges
Mono-Fire Ultimate Challenge - Leaf Green, Soul Silver (16/16), Omega Ruby, Platinum, White 2, Y, Sun
Random Challenge - Black
Egglocke - Sapphire (LOST)
Egglocke - Ruby (LOST)
Egglocke - Emerald (LOST)
Egglocke - Leaf Green (LOST)
Egglocke - Fire Red (QUIT)

AngeltheTogekiss468

Togekiss Queen

She/Her
USA
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted March 21st, 2023
64 posts
1.1 Years
Update 3

Gyms Completed:
Brock
Misty
Lt. Surge

Current Team:
Magnus - Charizard
Slave - Rattata
Slave - Pikachu

I went into the S.S. Anne and fought the trainers there, including Kene. I acquired Cut, and thus was able to access the Electric Gym. Due to Magnus being somewhat highly leveled, I was able to beat Lt. Surge fairly easily. After beating Lt. Surge, Magnus evolved into Charizard. I then had to catch a bunch of Pokémon I will not use so I could get Flash. After doing that, I got a Bike, and went through Route 9, Route 10, and Rock Tunnel. I made my stop in Lavender Town and saved, calling it a day.
Challenges
Mono-Fire Ultimate Challenge - Leaf Green, Soul Silver (16/16), Omega Ruby, Platinum, White 2, Y, Sun
Random Challenge - Black
Egglocke - Sapphire (LOST)
Egglocke - Ruby (LOST)
Egglocke - Emerald (LOST)
Egglocke - Leaf Green (LOST)
Egglocke - Fire Red (QUIT)
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
I have had a number of personal RL setbacks, and now that I am in a place where I can truly work with them, my Diamond does NOT want to work. Sometimes, when I have it in my 3DS, it doesn't recognize it. Other times, it does, then when I load up the game, it doesn't seem to want to load up my file. I was debating on getting a new copy of it or not...but I'm going to give it one more chance and just delete the file to start over. Also, even with the "here's what you last did", it doesn't really give you enough info if you stop playing for a long enough time.

I'll be starting through the next 24 hours, and hopefully, this time, I'll not have any setbacks and can complete Gen 4. I still plan on keeping the same names and trying to only get really good 'mons.

Can't be a good trainer if I don't take care of myself. So sorry - was not intentional!
One of the Monotype Guys
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Diamond / Bug
New Run, 1st Update

Got what is turning out to be a Kricketot with mid-range HP and SDef, higher Def, but crap everything else. Picked it up at level 3 and can I reiterate how painful Bide is as a first damage move? Well, I guess better than having to Struggle.

By the time I get to Roark, I've been focusing on Starly and Shinx, as they give me Speed and Atk EVs, and that's what I'm after. I didn't do the full 252, just enough to get me to level 14 for Leech Life. This means, instead of Level 14 as I was in my previous run, I'm now level 17 when I first get into the gym. My previous tactic was spamming Fury Cutter against everything there, but this time, I find using Bide gets me through the first trainer with a loss of less than what one potion heals. A combination of Bide and Leech Life take me through the second trainer. Leech Life was actually doing a respectable amount of damage against the Onix (slightly more than 20%, it took a fifth hit to take down the like 10% remaining). Not bad. Fighting Roark definitely required me to heal up at the PC.

Geodude comes out, and I give the new path of Bide a try. Geodude hits two Rock Throws...well, I guess I easily knocked out the Geodude. Two turns and I'm down from 55 to 19 HP. Onix comes out, and hits a Rock Throw while I heal - interestingly, while Geodude would take 3 turns to knock me out, it would take about 8 for Onix. I heal up again while Onix does Screech. I'm at 47/55. I risk another Bide. Another Screech, and then a third.

Then he lands a Rock Throw after I fire off Bide and takes me down to 5 HP. Another Rock Throw and I'm out.

So, after a first attempt, I know Bide is a viable strategy, even though it feels a little cheesy to do it. However, this time around, I had been working a little on my EV from the get go, so I'm going to try the Fury Cutter version now. I get three Fury Cutters off, meanwhile being taken down to 5/55 HP, again, and then Roark pops a potion even though my next Fury Cutter knocks out the Geodude. Great...but this is a silver lining - I level up to 18 and remove Growl so I can learn Sing.

First turn against Onix was dumb - I missed Sing but got a Screech against me. Second turn, however, Sing hits and I manage to get two standard Leech Life hits and then one crit Leech Life. Roark uses a potion and Onix wakes up...and then knocks me out. Urgh.

This just shows me that the previous run might have had a better IV Kricketune, but also that the battle was by no means 100% on my side. This is going to be an uphill fight, since I haven't even made it through the second of Roark's three Pokemon. Only time will tell what level I need to make this consistent.
One of the Monotype Guys

AngeltheTogekiss468

Togekiss Queen

She/Her
USA
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted March 21st, 2023
64 posts
1.1 Years
Update 4

Gyms Completed:
Brock
Misty
Lt. Surge
Erika

Current Team:
Rusty - Flareon
Suki - Ninetales
Magnus - Charizard
Slave - Rattata
Slave - Pikachu

I went to Route 8 and managed to catch a Vulpix, who I nicknamed "Suki". After making it to Celadon City, I went to the Celadon Mansion and acquired the Eevee, nicknamed him "Rusty", evolving him into Flareon after buying two Fire Stones from the Celadon Department Store. I taught Rusty Dig and Return, and went through the tedious process of acquiring enough coins from the Rocket Game Corner to get the TM's for Flamethrower and Shadow Ball to teach to Rusty. I went and fought everyone in the Rocket Hideout, getting the Silph Scope. I trained more at the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town, and I evolved Suki with the other Fire Stone I bought from the Celadon Department Store after she learned Flamethrower and Safeguard. After getting the Pokeflute, I went back to Celadon City and fought Erika, beating her fairly easily. I went to Route 16/Cycling Road, acquired Fly, beat the Snorlax blocking my way, and went through Cycling Road. I made it to Fuchsia City, and went through the Safari Zone until I got both Surf and Strength. I saved in the Fuschia City Pokemon Center and called it a day.
Challenges
Mono-Fire Ultimate Challenge - Leaf Green, Soul Silver (16/16), Omega Ruby, Platinum, White 2, Y, Sun
Random Challenge - Black
Egglocke - Sapphire (LOST)
Egglocke - Ruby (LOST)
Egglocke - Emerald (LOST)
Egglocke - Leaf Green (LOST)
Egglocke - Fire Red (QUIT)
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Diamond / Bug
New Run, 2nd Update

Roark is horrible with his Rock Throws. Geodude does so much damage (18 on average out of my 55) but Onix does barely half of that (averaging around 8). The runs where I got only one hit of Rock Throw from Geodude meant I would make it to Cranidos, but two Rock Throws only get me to Onix. I tried a few more times just with Fury Cutter, but it always seemed to miss right at Cranidos. The attempt that I finally one was where I used Sing to put Geodude to sleep and then started up Fury Cutter - Geodude stayed asleep through two Fury Cutters, then woke up and traded Rock Throw for Fury Cutter. Then Roark likes to throw a Potion, and by that time I'm 4 Fury Cutters strong. Geodude goes down, and then it's just a matter of "can I get lucky enough to not get a miss" for both Onix and Cranidos. Both will go down to a 5th stage Fury Cutter. I, unfortunately, don't really have another option. I thought about teaching Rock Smash to Kricketune, but I realized very quickly that wouldn't be the best idea because it leaves me open for too may attacks.

I went ahead and started working on an expanded collection. Previously, before the second gym, I had picked up a Combee (which evolved to Vespiquen), two Wurmples so I had one Dustox and one Beautifly, and a Burmy that evolved to a Steel-type Wormadam. This time, I'm collecting all that, but also adding in the hunt for Heracross and a male Burmy so I can have Mothim. Here's where I currently sit after two days of honey trees shenanigans.

[X] Kricketot - [X] Kricketune
[X] Wurmple - [X] Silcoon - [X] Beautifly
[X] Wurmple - [X] Cascoon - [X] Dustox
[X] Burmy F - [ ] Wormadam
[ ] Burmy M - [ ] Mothim
[X] Combee - [X] Vespiquen
[ ] Heracross

I'm going to give it the rest of the week while I train up the others in Eterna Forest with Cheryl's help. If I don't get a Heracross by that point, I'm going to move on and just keep trying.
One of the Monotype Guys

AngeltheTogekiss468

Togekiss Queen

She/Her
USA
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted March 21st, 2023
64 posts
1.1 Years
Update 5

Gyms Completed:
Brock
Misty
Lt. Surge
Erika
Koga
Sabrina

Current Team:
Rusty - Flareon
Magnus - Charizard
Suki - Ninetales
Slave - Rattata
Slave - Pikachu
Slave - Lapras

After going through the Safari Zone and acquiring, among other things, Surf and Strength, I decided to do some training at Silph Co. in Saffron City (which I passed through at some point), acquiring a Lapras in there, which will be what I'll use for Surf. After beating Kene (the rival) and Giovanni, as well as acquiring the Master Ball, I went back to Fuchsia City, and fought Koga's gym. After beating Koga, I promptly went to Saffron City, did a little extra training in the Fighting Dojo, then fought Sabrina's gym. I beat Sabrina's gym, and saved in the Saffron City Pokemon Center, calling it a day.
Challenges
Mono-Fire Ultimate Challenge - Leaf Green, Soul Silver (16/16), Omega Ruby, Platinum, White 2, Y, Sun
Random Challenge - Black
Egglocke - Sapphire (LOST)
Egglocke - Ruby (LOST)
Egglocke - Emerald (LOST)
Egglocke - Leaf Green (LOST)
Egglocke - Fire Red (QUIT)
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Diamond / Bug
New Run, 3rd Update

After four days of searching, I managed to get a male Burmy (for Mothim) and a Heracross. Mothim came about fairly quickly, but Heracross took until this afternoon to finally show up.

With that behind me, and a nice save to ensure I didn't lose them all, it was time to train. I got everyone up to around level 20, so the Burmy's would evolve and everyone would be ready for the gym in Eterna. It's nice having Cheryl around to heal me up after every battle, but her Chansey is so dumb when it comes to fighting and, since my Burmy were both level 8 when I caught them, I needed Chansey to knock out enough Pokemon to get them to level 10 for Tackle.

I'm up to like 16 hours just with all the grinding and such.

Well, Gardenia's gym wasn't a problem at all (a bunch of simple moves knocked them out, but my Hidden Power on Burmy turned out to be super effective against them so it was even easier...but I'm still calculating that at this point), and it let me evolve my female Burmy into Trash Wormadam. Yay, Bug/Steel. At this point, I have my selection for the remainder of the game:
- Heracross
- Wormadam (Trash)
- Mothim
- Vespiquen
- Dustox
- Kricketune
- Beautifly

Decided after the last of that grinding being done and the second gym out of the way, it was time to call it a night.
One of the Monotype Guys

Morzoelin

Age 23
Male
Seen 2 Weeks Ago
Posted 3 Weeks Ago
21 posts
4.5 Years
User: Morzoelin
Type: Water
Games:
1. Leaf Green+ (Kanto)
2. Soul Silver (Johto)
3. Emerald (Hoenn)
4. Platinum (Sinnoh)
5. Black (Unova)
6. X (Kalos)
7. Ultra Sun (Alola)
8. Shield (Galar) (Optional)

Ultimate Challenge
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Good luck, Morzoelin!

Diamond / Bug
New Run, 4th Update

I'm learning very quickly that moving between towns is just a pain in the butt, but it's relatively meh.

Since I know that Bug and Fighting don't play nice with each other, and that third gym is Fighting, I go out of my way to grind a bit more. I pushed a little bit on Wormadam trying to figure out what Hidden Power it has...if I calculated it right, it should be Dragon. My Mothim also knows Hidden Power, and I believe it has a Flying type version, which should prove useful in the gym if the going gets tough. After clearing out the gym of trainers, it's time for the battle against Maylene.

Going into the battle, I have the following at my disposal.

Trash Wormadam (Verizon) - L30 - Mirror Shot / Tackle / Hidden Power Dragon / Confusion
Vespiquen (T-Mobile) - L28 - Gust / Power Gem / Sweet Scent / Heal Order
Dustox (Cellular) - L25 - Gust / Psybeam / Moonlight / Tackle
Heracross (Hera-Cox) - L25 - Aerial Ace / Horn Attack / Brick Break / Cut
Mothim (Mint) - L27 - Tackle / Gust / Hidden Power Fly / Confusion
Kricketune (Cricket) - L27 - X-Scissor / Sing / Fury Cutter / Leech Life
Beautifly (Spring) - L26 - Mega Drain / Stun Spore / Morning Sun / Gust

From this point on, it's going to be a "who is the one being left out" since I have 7 but can only take 6. Without looking at the gym leader's team, I'm focusing solely on what I know. I want Heracross in there as clean-up, since Aerial Ace is overpowered. I also want Mothim in there because I think that Hidden Power Fly will be awesome. If I trained correctly, it's got a power of 57, so it's almost 50% more powerful than Gust. I'm taking Trash Wormadam with me as a final backup. I also have chosen to take Vespiquen, for a mixture of Gust and it's Flying typing, meaning 1/4 damage from Fighting. It also has Heal Order. For the same reason, Dustox is coming along (the 1/4 damage from Fighting).

That means I'm down to choosing between Kricketune and Beautifly. On one hand, I look at Beautifly and think to myself, yeah, it's another Bug/Flying. But I don't feel like it has survivability. I feel X-Scissor is a better option from Kricketune.

So, I decide my order will be as follows: Vespiquen to start, and Kricketune second to last, with Trash Wormadam bringing up the rear. In the middle are the other three, able to be pulled out as needed. Well, here we go!

First up is Meditite. Vespiquen takes a Confusion that does barely anything, and then retaliates with Gust. It takes Meditite down far enough that next round is a Hyper Potion while Vespiquen Gust's again. Gust continues to be the choice on the third round, but it gets met with Detect. Same on the 4th round. Then I get a Drain Punch (not effective), and take it down with Gust. Finally. Just delaying the inevitable.

Next up is Machoke, and I leave Vespiquen in. Gust takes it down to like 45% health, and Vespiquen takes a little damage, but next round Machoke decides Foresight is the best move. So, Machoke goes down to a second Gust. This lets my Vespiquen go to level 29, which is nice.

Now for the fun: Lucario. I forgot the leader had this. Metal Claw is round one choice and does about 35 damage (granted, it was a crit). Ouch. I use Gust on it and probably do 15%. I know I'm not getting much more, so I tank a Force Palm and test Power Gem for the heck of it. Got Lucario to 80%. I trade another small bit of damage for another Gust, so Lucario's sitting around 65% right now. But Vespiquen is met with a final Metal Claw and goes down.

I decide to bring out Dustox. I throw Psybeam at it...triggering the berry it has. Darn. But the Metal Claw Lucario used took me down to 41/72. Back to Gust. Next turn, I get a break - Metal Claw misses. At this point, it's almost "spam Gust, good luck". Next turn, another Gust, but Lucario uses Force Palm and takes me down to 2 HP on Dustox...but then goes down to another Force Palm the next turn.

It's time to bring out Heracross. I decide to use Brick break, and it takes the remaining 40% health Lucario has out. I almost used Aerial Ace (dumb moment). Heracross lets me take the win, but Vespiquen is MVP for this battle.

Third gym badge got!

I save the game and take a break. Game clock says 29h38m. Hooray.
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
This is a day I was sort of half expecting, but half not - I started up my game this morning, and was met with a message that my save data was corrupted and has been deleted. I'm assuming it's a problem with the cart, since I already had it act up previously. Guess I get to start again! I'm debating on whether to buy another Diamond or dig for my Platinum that I'm almost certain I have somewhere. Urgh. Gen IV is starting to drive me nuts.

Or maybe, if I'm crazy, would the switch remakes still count as Gen IV, even though they are more in-line with Gen 8 mechanics?

Edit: I've decided that I'm going to figure out the best course of action for Gen 4, but for the moment I'm going to start at Gen 5 and keep going.
One of the Monotype Guys
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Started Gen 5 Bug on the 17th. Because I can't get any Bugs until Pinwheel Forest, which is after the second gym, I had to rando to switch the grass starter out. The choices in Pinwheel are Sewaddle and Venipede. I chose Sewaddle because I knew I'd be facing some Fire mons as the first gym, and Sewaddle has a 4x weakness. I knew I would not be getting another until Venipede, so first two gyms, Sewaddle was all I had.

The side benefit is that friendship should go up, so Leavanny shouldn't be hard to get, right?

Okay, so, interestingly, by the time I reached the first gym, I was about level 14 already. Mostly because I trained on Patrat and Lillipup for a bit. I actually trained more simply because the Cheren fight in the school took me a couple of attempts. Luckily, turns out Patrat and Lillipup boost attack EV, so I ran with it since I was going to be stuck using Tackle (but then again, Bug Bite uses my attack, so even more of a benefit).

Took three attempts, but I managed to win the first gym. After doing all the other stuff and getting to the next gym, I'm around level 18 at this point, and I attempt it. Fighting all of the trainers there made me nearer to 20, and that was good because I took on Lenora with a Swadloon. A bit more defense, but hey, spamming Bug Bite is nice.

Two badges down, and I'm finally able to pick up Venipede...who sucks with just Poison Sting. I went ahead and trained up until I learned Poison Tail. Much better move for sure. Then I figured I might as well take advantage and leveled it up until it evolved into Whirlipede.

Off to Castelia and time to do the Bug gym. Did the run around for the Team Plasma stuff, then it was just a matter of fighting my way through all the trainers in the gym and then taking on Burgh. Wasn't too much of a problem. Just a few heals here and there, and was rather easy. I believe I took on Burgh with my Whirlipede to start, but then I ended up having to swap to my Swadloon to finish taking out Leavanny. Whirlipede, unfortunately, took a lot of damage from Smack Down, and fainted, but the cool thing is that after winning, my own Swadloon leveled...and also evolved to Leavanny.

At this point, I know I can finally get Dwebble in the Desert Resort...but I forgot about the back to back battles of Bianca and Cheren. Bianca wasn't much of a problem at all. Cheren...on the other hand...that stupid Pignite. I lost twice because Flame Charge is dangerous to my bugs. I decided not to throw out Leavanny first because of the 4x weakness, so I knew I had to make it past Pignite with my Whirlipede. Because Pidove comes out first, I take the time to set up Iron Defense to max, hoping it would do enough to let me survive Flame Charge. And it went to doing barely 8 damage. The only fear would be a crit, which Pignite did a few times.

Well, in the end, I did end up pulling it off, and then ran straight to get my Dwebble. Then I stopped for the night and that's where I am. Might do some training today just to strengthen them all.

I let my daughter choose the naming convention (gen 4 was and still will be the phone providers when I get back to it). She choose My Little Pony names...so, here's my current team:

Spike / L27 Leavanny
Twilight / L26 Whirlipede
Applejack / L22 Dwebble

I might get them all to L30; Dwebble will be close to its final evolution, and Whirlipede will become Scolipede. But I'm thinking that I'm at 8 hours of playtime and first post, so I might stick with that. No need to "bug" everyone with every gym battle.
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
I hate posting so much, but it's been a few days and I've made quite a big of progress in my Black Bug run, and I'm sitting at 15:53 on the clock...so, time for the update over the second 8 hours.

Through Badge #4
1. I got stuck fighting Elesa, but not any other trainers in her gym. You'd think it would be relatively just a matter of wearing each other down, but she has two Emolga, and they both have Aerial Ace.
2. I figured I would level Dwebble up, and while it learned Bug Bite at 23, the biggest benefit turned out to be Rock Slide at 29. So, I got them all to 30.
3. Another attempt of Elesa let me spam Rock Slide on her Emolga to get them out of the way. It wasn't enough to knock them out in one shot, but another level or two might have done it. Still, got the badge in the end.

Side note: I also played singles in the Subway for a while to pick up the Power Bracer and Power Lens. That'll help me train a little more towards what I'm wanting. With each costing 16 bp, I needed 32, so it took a while.

Through Badge #5
1. With the next badge being relatively close, I jaunted over to Driftveil City and quickly did the next sequence of dealing with Plasma.
2. Dwebble was one level from evolving, so I went ahead and got everyone to 34.
3. I went onto Route 6 and picked up a new party member: Rarity the Karrablast, I did a little leveling, but I decided I would go ahead and switch train through the gym.
4. Since Krokorok is first and Palpitoad second, I put Leavanny out first. Bug Bite for Krokorok and Razor Leaf for Palpitoad are easy knock-outs.
5. Excadrill ended up taking out my Leavanny, but I got two good Razor Leaf hits in. Too bad neither crit. Then Applejack (Crustle) took it down.

Through Badge #6
1. Chargestone Cave just goes on and on and on, but I was able to get another party member, Joltik. Gen 5 has some interesting secondary types for their Bugs.
2. I lost a lot of my Pokemon during the trek, and ran low on Super Potions because I forgot to get some after the fifth gym battle, but at least I was smart enough to heal and save.
3. Before fighting N, I decided to teach Bulldoze to Crustle, which added a new type to my arsenal: Ground. It's not STAB, but it's a weakness covered.
4. When I fought N, I was down to Leavanny and Crustle. Leavanny was up first, although Crustle would have been a better choice. Razor Leaf for Boldore, and then Bug Bite against Ferroseed.
5. Once Leavanny was down, it was time to spam Bulldoze. Which got me the win and the ability to exit the cave.
6. With the heart scale, I decided to see what other moves I could learn for each of my bugs. Turns out, the best thing to do was take Scolipede and have it replace Bug Bite with Megahorn. MEGA...HORN.
7. Then I went ahead and followed Skyla up and rushed my way through the Celestial Tower. Lost a lot of my team before reaching the Nurse. I know after the gym, I'll need to do some more training.
8. Did the gym, focusing on getting Joltik high enough (it was 32 going in) to evolve (which happens at 36). I had one rare candy, which I used the moment I hit 35.
9. Although Electro Ball is a decent enough Special, having such a small amount of PP for it just kinda sucks. I didn't want to use Volt Switch unless it was the final Pokemon I was fighting since I didn't want to switch off.
10. Skyla wasn't too hard. Swoobat sucked, though. I did manage to take it down with Galvantula, but I wanted to play it safe so right before Swoobat fainted, I used Volt Switch to swap over to Crustle. It knows Rock Slide.
11. It turned out to be a good idea, because Crustle almost went down to repeated Air Slash from Unfezant...and I know Galvantula would have. But a final Rock slide knocked it out. I healed up Galvantula and then swapped over, using Electro Ball to do the nice 4x damage, netting me the sixth gym badge.

So, what's next? Well, I believe the remaining Pokemon I can get are Larvesta->Volcarona, Shelmet, and Durant. Once I get those three added to my team, I'll have everything I can get. But, the Celestial Tower kicked my butt while the Flying gym wasn't that bad for my bug team. Where I found myself being 3-5 levels higher than trainers, now I'm lucky to be 2-3 higher. Skyla's team was around 35. I'm thinking I should probably attempt the next gym no earlier than 40.

Current Team:
Spike / L36 Leavanny
Twilight / L34 Scolipede
Applejack / L37 Crustle
Rarity / L32 Karrablast
Fluttershy / L36 Galvantula
One of the Monotype Guys
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Here we are, my last update for Gen 5. Jeez, that took quite a while.

Badge #7 wasn't too bad, since by that point I have an Escavalier and a Crustle that can do some damage with Steel and Rock, respectively. Gym was kinda fun. I like Gens where you absolutely have to face every trainer in there.

Dragonspiral Tower was more of the same. At this point, enemies aren't hitting as hard, but since all of the trainers are Plasma, what do you expect?

Moving quickly on to Badge #8, I go after it very quickly. Now, here's where I start to realize the problem I was anticipating is much larger than I thought. My Bugs are very much glass cannons. They can certainly deal a good amount of damage, but they take way more damage in return. I didn't have a problem getting through the gym without completely blacking out, but I did have to revive a few times.

I wanted to speed through that because, let's face it, what's considered the end-game is brutal for Bugs. I quickly got through the Elite Four, especially the Dark and Psychic battles. While I anticipated issues with the Bug and Fighting masters, I found myself very quickly running out of money trying to keep up with Revives and Potion.

It didn't help that I didn't pick up the Amulet Coin.

So, what I found is that I reached N around level 50...and couldn't make it through. Now, it's not like it was impossible. At first, I found myself trying to spam attacks. Then I switched to starting with Accelgor and using Yawn/Protect (assuming I lived to Protect). Getting through N required me getting to level 55 to even have some level of survivability. I lost to N probably 25 times before getting some level of luck. The easy spot was Zoroark - every time I saw the Klinklang come out, I'd use a Bug move just in case it was the Zoroark, and it always way. Granted, I was spamming Bug moves anyways. Carracosta was a good one to save Leavanny for, but everything else was just a crapshoot.

But Ghetsis required so much more to deal with. Since this happened about 12 hours of gameplay ago (due to lots of grinding), I am referring to my notes on the battle in which I finally beat Ghetsis. This was the basis that I told my wife (she does play, too):

"Cohagrigus knocked out my Accelgor, since I was whittling it's HP down with Giga Drain. I shot off one final Yawn before it went down. Then I managed to get it knocked out because of Galvantula. Ghetsis threw his Hydreigon at me, but I got a crit with Galvantula, so it went down in one shot. Bisharp went down to two Electro Ball, and it did Night Slash so didn't do much damage to me. Then I remember Eelektross coming out and me having to throw a couple mons at it, but it went down. I got down to Bouffalant and Seismitoad, and it ended up being a matter of spamming Leaf Blade until he finally went down."

Cofragrigus is a painful Pokemon for Bugs. Levanny knows Shadow Claw, so there was at least a little bit of possibility there to help do damage. But there were so many times that it tried to Toxic me, so my thought became throw out Accelgor, and the first three turns go Protect -> Yawn -> Protect. If lucky, I put it to sleep and can start some level of onslaught. Seismitoard and Bouffalant are meh, and Hydreigon was a weird crit with ElectroBall (which I'd be doing, although I later realized Discharge is more powerful). I got tired of the low damage of Bulldoze, even though it would let me outspeed some Pokemon, so I began looking for other options. Final count on Ghetsis? About 15 tries.

A bit later, credits have completed, and I figure I would test out going after the Elite Four again...yeah, I knew I didn't stand a chance to get through all four of them, but if it was possible to do an Elite Four Grind, I'd do that. Unfortunately, it sort of looked like this:

1. @Level 55 for team - Attempt Dark battle - knock down two mons but lose all 6
2. @Level 57 for team - Attempt Dark battle - knock down two mons but lose all 6
3. @Level 60 for team - Attempt Dark battle - get through it but have lost 5 mons and wipe on Psychic
4. @Level 65 for team - Attempt Dark battle - get through it but have lost 3 mons and wipe on Psychic

Between each of those attempts are a smattering of attempts, but every time I needed to level, I would go fight the Level 47 to 50 Audino on the right side of Opelucid City. This is why my current time on the clock is 34:36.

Over those attempts, I slowly built up money, and kept flying to Driftveil to pick up Revival Herbs. I ended up stockpiling about 50 of them, and then did the same with Hyper Potions. Around Level 66-67, I attempted and got through Dark and Psychic. When I got to Metagross with Caitlin's Psychic team, I focused 100% on having Escavalier spam Iron Defense. It helped get through the remaining Gothitelle and Bronzong when also using Hyper Potions. Musharna, at the start, was a Yawn/Protect. Caitlin's team was the worst because my Bugs have very little in the way of Special Defense.

Then I went after Ghost. The only real run killer here is Fire Blast on Chandelure, which always seemed to come out second and get 100% accuracy on Fire Blast. On the last run, Cohagrigus went down to Shadow Claws, then Chandelure came out. I Protect'd, nullifying the Fire Blast. More Shadow Claws (next Fire Blast missed). From there, I brought in Galvantula and used Volt Switch. Down goes Chandelure. I don't know if the logic will still try to bring in Golurk, but it did so when I switched to Accelgor, I was happy. I used Yawn...got hit by Earthquake and barely survived. One Protect later and I bring Leavanny back with a Revival Herb, then switch and it's time to spam Leaf Blade. Golurk goes down to it, then Drifblim comes out. I heal up Galvantula, but I know my Leavanny is going out from Acrobatics. Galvantula gets enough Discharge off to knock out Drifblim, then Froslass comes out. I mean, at this point, it's just bring Leavanny back, when I get knocked out bring out Crustle for some Rock damage. Yeah, you see where the rest of this is going.

The Fighting master of the Elite Four was stupid easy - just take the entire first couple of turns to use Iron Defense on Escavalier, then spam Iron Head. Eventually, when I got low enough, I switched to using Reversal. Escavalier is the MVP for sure for this run.

After the pain of getting here...I wanted to take a break. Get something to drink. Catch up on the post writing.

Here we are at the final battle for Black: Alder.

My team going in:
Twilight the Scolipede @ Level 67
Rarity the Escavalier @ Level 74
Fluttershy the Galvantula @ Level 70
Rainbow the Accelgor @ Level 67
Applejack the Crustle @ Level 67
Spike the Leavanny @ Level 67

Alder...hilariously...was easier. Only took me two attempts. First attempt, Accelgor just beat the crap out of my team, until it went down, then Volcarona decides to join the party.

The second attempt was a circle of Revival Herbs. I attempted to Yawn the Accelgor in order to have the chance to set up my Crustle with Shell Smash. I did manage to pull that off, and then got two Shell Smashes in before Alder's Accelgor knocks me down to like mid-20s on HP. I used Rock Wrecker to ensure it went down. Out comes Volcarona...and does Quiver Dance. Okay, cool. Have a Rock Wrecker to knock you out as well. Next is Bouffalant, and I go down to Megahorn. I use Galvantula to deal with it, and then comes Druddigon. I'm down a good portion of my health, so I Revival Herb Accelgor. I go down and switch to Accelgor, and use Yawn. I survive with a sliver of health, and my next turn is spent using Revival Herb on Crustle. When I go down, Druddigon is asleep and I switch to Escavalier. I have three uses of Iron Defense left, so I spend them all. Then, I spam Reversal. Slowly, over the next five turns, my health drops to below half, and then even more. Druddigon goes down in those five turns, and then Alder's Escavalier comes out. More reversals, with my health dropping more and more. To end the run, Vanilluxe is sent out and a Reversal knocks it down to...what has to be 1 HP. I could barely even make it out.

(As I told my wife: "That's basically exactly how the second half of Gen V has been.")

Vanilluxe used Flash Cannon and brought me down to around 28 HP...and another Reversal and I've won.

Last words:
Honestly...the things I'm learning are that I'm focusing way too much on dealing damage and not taking it. For some Pokemon where the types have a nice bulk to them, that might have helped, but Bugs are not Bulky. Accelgor can't take a physical hit (40 base defense), only Escavalier ends up having anything over 80 for special defense, and everything like Rock just hits so hard. Late game was a lot of moves like Rock and Fire to my face, which just isn't nice. What I have to ask myself is this: What would have been different if I put those 63 points from Attack or Special Attack into the defensive stats?

This run has, however, left me with the goal of doing Rock runs after I complete the Ultimate Bug. Turn the tables on the enemies.

Next up for me is Gen 6. (I'll go back and do Gen 4 after the rest are done.)

Phew. I played way too much in the last couple of days. Gen 5 is fairly straightfoward in knowing where you have to go, so it's easy to want to just keep playing and playing and playing and...

Duck

🦆 quack quack

he, they
Seen February 23rd, 2023
Posted February 22nd, 2023
5,750 posts
2.4 Years
Or maybe, if I'm crazy, would the switch remakes still count as Gen IV, even though they are more in-line with Gen 8 mechanics?
Late, but yes, they would.

We consider the region, not mechanics as the relevant criterion. So remakes, difficulty hacks, etc. all count as long as they have the proper region, gym leaders and so forth.

Also, OP should be updated with everybody so far
Male
Sweden
Seen November 25th, 2022
Posted May 29th, 2022
13 posts
3.4 Years
User: Lugiafan123
Type: Ghost
Game(s): Soulsilver
Single/Ultimate: Single

So I decided to try something a little different. After growing tired of attempting an Ultimate run I decided to try what I like to call the reverse ultimate.
Instead of running through every generation with one type, I run through a single game 17 times. One for each type. I decided on Soulsilver because it's not only my favorite game in the series, but my favorite game overall.
I'm starting the run with the ghost type for no particular reason.
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
User: Lugiafan123
Type: Ghost
Game(s): Soulsilver
Single/Ultimate: Single

So I decided to try something a little different. After growing tired of attempting an Ultimate run I decided to try what I like to call the reverse ultimate.
A while ago, I had asked if there was actually something official for that. As official as it is for this thread, at least. Glad someone is trying it! I honestly would have preferred to do each Gen, one by one. But since there wasn't something in place to track that, oh well. Maybe we petition for a third category?

Good luck on your Soulsilver "All Types" run! I'm excited to see how you apply knowledge from each run to the next one.

As for me, I wanted to have lots of options on my Gen 6 Bug, so I decided to have one of every final evolution. And then, since Gen 5 was all about training to make my team hit super hard, Gen 6 is a test of what happens when I make my team able to tank hits. I am doing super training on all of them to get 252 Def, 252 SpDef, and the remaining 6 in HP. If it wasn't a bag from those, or a reset bag, I threw it away.

So...unfortunately, there are a LOT of Bugs at the beginning. I've only just made it to Lumiose and saved at the Pokemon Center, but it took me the entire weekend to get here.

I picked up a Caterpie, Weedle, Scatterbug, and four Burmy (3 female, 1 male) before reaching the first Gym. I got them all to level 10...after probably causing myself a lot of hand cramps doing the super training. By the time I finished all of that, I was 20 hours into the game, and my party looked like this...with names from one of my favorite Let's Players who does stupid stuff, GrayStillPlays.

L10 Butterfree - FloridaMan
L10 Beedrill - Spleens
L10 Spewpa - Ellis Dee
L10 Burmy (M) - Tim Horton
L10 Burmy (F) - FULL (Will be /Ground)
L10 Burmy (F) - LIQUOR (Will be /Grass)
L10 Burmy (F) - BAR (Will be /Steel)

I chose a team of Butterfree, Beedrill, Spewpa, and a random Burmy to go after the first gym. Bug vs Bug wasn't too bad. I quickly got rid of all the trainers, and Surskit wasn't a problem when fighting Viola. However, her Vivillon was a bit of a pain. It was a bit of a slog, because it hit really hard. Spewpa and Butterfree went down before I knocked Vivillon out with my Beedrill. Wasn't too hard, and it's early game.

Now the game opens up a bit because the second gym is a bit away, but it's also the Rock gym. The amount of time before I go after that gym is gonna be even higher, but at least it'll be worth it.

Before Lumiose City, I get to pick up three more Pokemon, although everyone might be like "why that one?" The three are a Ledyba (Tonsils), a male Combee (Tom Hardy), and a female Combee (Bab Ross). Yes, they also were all trained to 252/252/6 as the others were.

So, after that, I was happy to have the Exp. Share. Now that they have all the EV training done, I don't have to worry about random EVs sneaking in. But, I'm at 25 1/2 hours, so while I'm happy to be able to train them out of the gate in the way I want to, it's also very much a pain in the butt. Gen 7...I'll probably ignore training and just play it straight.

But, gotta explore options if I want to do another ultimate run in the future.

Duck

🦆 quack quack

he, they
Seen February 23rd, 2023
Posted February 22nd, 2023
5,750 posts
2.4 Years
A while ago, I had asked if there was actually something official for that. As official as it is for this thread, at least. Glad someone is trying it! I honestly would have preferred to do each Gen, one by one. But since there wasn't something in place to track that, oh well. Maybe we petition for a third category?
We used to have something like that years and years ago, but somewhere along the way they removed it from the OP because nobody really did them.

I think it's a cool concept though, so I'm not opposed to listing it in the OP if y'all want it.
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Ultimate Bug Monotype
Pokemon X, 2nd Entry

There are so many Bug type Pokemon. And I've trained every one to 6 HP, 252 Def, 252 SpDef. It feels so slow, until I made it to the point I have a few Pokemon with Sweet Scent, and I looked up some Hordes. This post covers all the way through the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gyms, so I'm able to have a Horde of Hoppip on Route 7 to boost Special Defense, and then once I make it to Reflection Cave, I can cap out both Defense and Special Defense from Hordes (Roggenrola and Mime Jr., respectively). It feels like it's super slow, which it is until I remembered about Hordes, but it did work in my favor.

Leaving from Lumiose City, I'm off towards the Rock Gym, but along the way, I do the stuff at the Parfum Palace, but to get there, I pick up a Nincada and a Venipede on Route 6. After getting the Snorlax out of the way, I can go through Route 7 which allows me to pick up both Volbeat and Illumise. I remember having lots of fun with these in Gen 3. At this point, I hoped they would still be somewhat viable.

I do the whole thing at Glittering Cave, then remembered I could get Rock Smash backed in Ambrette Town. Went ahead and went back to the cave and got Dwebble.

At Cyllage City, it's a quick run up to the gym. I focused solely on my Vespiquen, and the one thing that renewed my faith desire to keep doing the 6/252/252 EV training happened: I managed to quickly get rid of Amaura, but Tyrunt knocked me down to 2 HP from Rock Tomb before I took it down. I was fully expecting to be knocked out, but I'm very certain the extra defense training saved it. Sure, I had five others in backup, but it's always nice to see something like that work out in my favor.

In Route 10, I triggered a Horde battle and caught a Yanma. On to Geosenge, where I used my now-Whirlipede and Defense Curl/Rollout to defeat both of Korrina's Lucario. Reflection Cave was relatively easy, but there is one trainer that stinks for bug types: Hedvig has a Hawlucha that took out my entire team (so I skipped her on the third way through).

At Shalour City, the gym isn't too hard since a lot of my available Pokemon are mid-20s and have Gust. I basically took a random selection of my Bug/Flying out and just went in with that. There were two exceptions: Shedinja and Whirlipede. I let my Nincada evolve and took the Shedinja in there, figuring that most of the trainers wouldn't be able to touch it. Most didn't. I went ahead and put it away for the leader battle. Cue a few Bug Bite and Gust, and Mienfoo is down and Machoke knocks out some of my team due to Rock Tomb. (I hate that move...) So, to end the battle, I pull out Whirlipede and do a Defense Curl and set off Rollout. It gets close, but I do manage to knock out Machoke with a single hit, and then Hawlucha in a couple of hits.

From there, Route 12 lets me pick up a Pinsir...a Bug-type who knows...lots of Fighting moves. Okay, so I don't get Heracross this time, but I guess I can deal with Pinsir. A quick training session and time to move on. I pick up the Lapras, teach it Surf, Strength, and Rock Smash. Quickly push through the rest of the route, and I'm out to Coumarine City, where I get the next badge, which should be easy for me because it's Grass. I was training Dwebble and Pinsir, so I put Dwebble in front for the Serena fight, and it doesn't last long. Bug Bite on Meowstic and Absol, and then I switch over to Pinsir for Braixen. Pinsir knows Dig, and one Dig knocks it out (it was either one or barely needing two). I like calculating my IVs and I'm almost certain it's a 19 ATK IV.

Shedinja back out to go as far as possible through the Grass Gym, but it goes down to the Simisage from the first trainer...because it knows Lick. Of course, it took a while to get hit with Lick, since it spent four turns using Leer on a Pokemon with 1 HP. Well, the rest of the gym was nothing but Volbeat sweeping everything. Two uses of Tail Glow means I'm doing 400% damage with Signal Beam. Nothing survives that. Until I get to the leader. Jumpluff two-shots Volbeat due to Acrobatics, even though I was attempting to set up Double Team. I pulled out Dwebble and used Rock Slide a couple times to knock out Jumpluff, then just spammed Bug Bite until I knocked out Weepinbell. I switched one final time to Shedinja for Gogoat...and it was hilarious. Gogoat couldn't hit me. So, I spammed Leech Life. Got near the end, and then Ramos used a Hyper Potion. Okay, so now I need to use Fury Swipes. Get close and...Hyper Potion. So, I check and notice I have a single X Attack. Use that, and then go back to Fury Swipes and...finally win. Sheesh.

Well, the next thing to do is train up my Pokemon some more. Get some more levels on them so we're ready for the Lumiose Gym. I'm aiming to get them to 34, since that's what level Dwebble becomes Crustle, and that's the last one I currently have that can evolve. I currently have 18 available to me, so I have quite the choice...though many are Bug/Flying.

As of right now, I've got:
Ninjask, Vespiquen, 3 Wormadam (one of each Cloak), Illumise, Scolipede, Volbeat, Yanma, Sedinja, Vivillon, Butterfree, Dwebble, Beedrill, Mothim, Combee (M), Ledian, and Pinsir.
HM Slave: Lapras
Next ones I'll be able to pick up are Karrablast, Shelmet, and Skorupi on Route 14...after Lumiose. There are only 6 more Bugs to get!
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Ultimate Bug Monotype
Pokemon X, 3rd Entry

Picked up two new badges!

Took me two attempts on Lumiose. First attempt, I start off with Pinsir, up against Emolga. Feels like Gen 5 all over again with Aerial Ace, which takes out about half of Pinsir's HP. I swap to Crustle. Aerial Ace does a bit, but then Emolga Volt Switches out to Magneton. I decide to switch out to Trash Wormadam. Unfortunately, no matter what I do, Thunderbolt is overpowered against my team. It takes my Trash Wormadam down to 9, then I switch for Beedrill...who drops to 20ish from Thunderbolt...and then faints. Pinsir comes out to deal some damage with Brick Break, but it still goes down. Thunderbolt basically continues to take my team down one at a time, but they were only around level 35.

The second attempt, I come back around level 38. Things go a bit different this time. Same start of Pinsir v Emolga. Pinsir uses X-Scissor, though takes a slightly less damaging Aerial Ace this time. I then choose Storm Throw which does more damage, but another Aerial Ace brings me down to 1/5 health. I swap over to Trash Wormadam, and let Emolga Volt Switch to Magneton. I used Hidden Power, which as it turns out is 46 power Fighting. It ends up fainting, but I can bring out Crustle to knock out Magneton. Heliolisk comes out and knocks out Crustle. I bring out Yanmega who drops easily. I have Beedrill do some Poison Jab, which takes out Heliolisk, but I'm really low on health. Emolga is only at 50% hp, but Beedrill gets knocked out with Aerial Ace. I throw out Illumise, use a Charge Beam, and proceed to just spam alternating Charge Beam and Super Potions, which ends up winning me the battle over time as my Special Attack reaches the point where it knocks it out from about 40% health.

The sixth gym is relatively nearby, but I do pick up a Shelmet, Karrablast, and Skorupi. I give Skorupi the Eviolite, and evolve Shelmet and Karrablast by trading them via my wife's game. For the moment, I'm holding off from using them - if I decide I want to, I will. However, the gym goes rather easily. 6 turns and it was over.

First up is Mawile, so Pinsir's out. One Bulldoze knocks Mawile down to half, but I get a Crunsh to take me to 80%. Second turn Bulldoze has Mawile faint. Mr. Mime comes out instead. I use X-Scissor, knocking Mr. Mime down to 30%. Getting a Psychic to the face brings Pinsir down to 30%. Fourth turn X-Scissor knocks out Mr. Mime, and out comes Sylveon. A Bulldoze only does about 10% damage, and one Dazzling Gleam to the face knocks out Pinsir. I bring out Beedrill, which throws a single Poison Jab and takes out the rest of Sylveon's health. Relatively short and sweet.

I've made my way since then to Dendemille Town, but haven't got far in the Frost Cavern. That's for next time.
One of the Monotype Guys
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Ultimate Bug Monotype
Pokemon X, 4th Entry

Frost Cavern sucked because there are a few trainers that kept hitting me with some very powerful moves near the entrance. Even though I've maxed out my team's Def and SpDef effort values, Bugs are still super squishy.

It doesn't take me long to reach the seventh gym, but I sort of quickly went through it since it was the Psychic gym. However, there are a few Psychic types out there that can easily do a lot of damage to me...namely Sigilyph. Any time I fight one, I generally started to lose team members left and right due to Flying moves. What I ended up having to do for those is do as much damage as I can, then switch in Illumise, as it knows Charge Beam. I only managed to get out of the battle with Olivia with just my Scolipede, but I did survive the first attempt.

Doing the Team Flare hideout can be relatively easy for Bug Types, since many of them learn Psychic-type moves. That allowed me to push through fairly quickly since their teams generally consisted of Liepard (weak to Bug) and Golbat (weak to Psychic). Sometimes, there was a Houndoom, which I could take down in a couple of turns from using a Ground move with Scolipede.

The final gym wasn't that hard either. Boost up my defenses a bit with some status items at the beginning with Scolipede, and then Rollout. And then more Rollout. Relatively easy.

The one battle I had trouble with getting up to the Elite Four was Serena. My levels were around hers (mine average around 60), which is usually a bad thing, and that sort of proved itself to be an accurate statement here. I lost a lot of my Pokemon very early on, and found myself in a cycle of Revive/Hyper Potion to somewhat stay alive. I finished the fight with my Butterfree, who fired off a Sleep Powder/Quiver Dance combo to get powerful enough to outlast the rest of her team. While there were a few more fights to reach the end of Victory Road, they weren't anywhere near as bad as Serena's fight.

The one thing I don't like about Gen 6 is that you can have a string of battles without having the chance to save in between, but then you can also have a battle that pops up out of nowhere and you don't have the chance to save or heal before fighting.

I did make it to the Elite Four, and attempted the one I figured wouldn't be bad just as a test run: Siebold (Water). I got through Clawitzer...but then I lost every one of my team to Barbaracle's repeated use of Stone Edge. It looks like the Elite Four are around 65, while my current team is L61 Scolipede, L59 Mothim, L58 Illumise, L64 Vivillon, L64 Butterfree, and L60 Beedrill.

I need to do some training and then come back when my lowest is 65, and see what happens then.
One of the Monotype Guys
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted 16 Hours Ago
116 posts
3.8 Years
Ultimate Bug Monotype
X / Final Entry

I gave another attempt at defeating the Water Elite member, and got a little closer. I beat it on the third attempt using Butterfree and a combination of Sleep Powder, Quiver Dance, and Bug Buzz. A combo you'll hear repeatedly.

For Steel, I had Scolipede use Dig to knock out Klefki. I managed, somehow to knock out Probopass with Hurricane after putting it to sleep. Most battles against the Elite Four are going to be just like this, where I use Sleep Powder, then switch to do damage. The rest of the battle was the same.

For Dragon, Dig took out Dragalge then it was back to Butterfree for Sleep Powder, Quiver Dance, Bug Buzz.

Fire was a cheap method, because I was certain I would have to be ways overleveled. Dig takes out the first two easily enough, but Talonflame is a matter of letting it knock itself out from Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. Getting Poison Point from Scolipede helps as well. I tried to keep my Scolipede up as much as possible for that and Chandelure. I won because I was constantly reviving myself as every Fire or Flying move was a one shot. In a few turns, Talonflame knocked itself off. Chandelier eventually used up all Flamethrower uses and then I could put it to sleep and finish it off.

Diantha lost her Hawlucha to a few Poison Jabs from Beedrill, then Pin Missile did a bunch of damage to Tyrantrum before going down. Scolipede finished it off before Aurorus knocked it out. Mothim also fainted to Aurorus.

I wanted to push as far as I could so, back to Butterfree doing the Sleep/Quiver/Buzz again. That took out Aurorus, though it ate a Blizzard in the process. Goodra went down to a couple of Bug Buzz, but a Fire Blast did a bit of damage. One Bug Buzz for Gourgeist and two for Gardevoir, and I am now the champion.

Final team was 63 Beedrill, 62 Mothim, 63 Scolipede, 60 Illumise, 66 Vivillon, and 68 Butterfree.

The Looker Sidequest is long and boring, but in order to get there, I had to win against Serena and her Delphox. To do so, I did a few runs at the 3* restaurant to gain some levels. Everything was now 66 or higher, and I managed to win but that was still brutal.

The battles against Essentia where.you have to fight four back to back were a bit of a pain. The first two fights both left me with a downed Mothim and Scolipede, but I had enough Revives and Hyper Potions to bring them back. The sidequest is just so much running around, and just sort of...ends. I'd never done it before, but I don't really feel like I was missing much.

On to gen 7.