Ultimate Rock
Johto/HeartGold #2 / FINAL
Going after the Rocket Hideout in Mahogany Town was the next best thing to do. As with all Rocket Hideout events, it's not hard and gives you quite a number of battles to train up. I decided to set off every alarm so I could fight the two back-to-back trainers repeatedly to get some extra fights in. Once that was done, it was on to the Ice Gym, which I thought was going to be a breeze. Well, it was until I got to the battle with Pryce. His Seel and Dewgong are easy enough to get by, but the Pilowsine was a beast to get through. The accuracy drops seem to happen much more than they should, but it's enough that it's a STAB Ground move that it quickly overwhelms my party. It takes until my third attempt to just give in and start trying to spam my best non-Rock type moves. True, I thought I could sneak some damage by since it would be against an Ice/Ground, so at least Rock would be 1x Effective, but the thing with Rock moves is they are powerful at the cost of accuracy...and Mud Bomb is just making a mess of that. Eventually, I break through and succeed.
I take the opportunity to head back and take down Jasmine. Slugma is just over level 32 at this point, so I'm still stuck with Ember (Lava Plume doesn't come until 38). That would be a great help. However, I do manage to work my way through with Shuckle's help. I'm not certain I realized how many use cases this Pokemon actually has, and how many times it has saved a battle. I still have it with Rest/Bide/Constrict/Wrap, but it does work quite well, especially if paired with a couple of X Defends to ensure I'm not getting 3HKO. That's the magic number for Bide, I've realized. Either I OHKO a Pokemon using Bide, or I'm running the risk of a knockout with three hits (2 for Bide, and 1 following my actual attack from Bide). It's become a sort of last resort, and it worked well enough against Jasmine's Steelix.
At this point, I've got my final team: Pupitar, Shuckle, Corsola, Sudowoodo, Graveler, and Slugma. I will let Graveler become Golem when Pupitar becomes Tyranitar, which won't happen until much later. Slugma evolves moving through Ice Path on my way to Blackthorn. I quickly make it to the other side, but then I decide Ice Path is the perfect place to level up. I go ahead and level everything up to 38, because that's when Slugma evolves. It also learns Lava Plume. How nice, but it came a little late. Anyways, as with all gyms, I make quick work of the trainers, but just like a few recent gyms, Claire seems to be a pain. I was close the first time, but I went ahead and just tried it a second time and made it through. X Items to the rescue, eh?
From here, I can't just go straight to the Elite Four, but have to do the whole Ho-oh thing...and OMG do I hate the Kimono girls. Why? VAPOREON! I keep losing, but I have to pass this so I'm stuck...until I realize they are giving me lots of cash from each battle. Makes me wonder if this was done on purpose to get you ready for the trek to the Elite Four...so I spend a little time farming up money and stocking up on Hyper Potions, Revives, and LOTS of X Items. The experience is also nice.
When I can finally travel to the Elite Four, it's fairly easy-going...until Silver shows up. Silver is the final roadblock, and it becomes "The Shuckle Battle" (not because it was the only thing not KO'd, just because I threw it out and let it keep fighting until it would lose). And it wins. So, I'm onto the Elite Four.
Will is kind of a pain, but I have Pupitar, so Dark-type moves are the best here. The first Xatu stinks because of Me First. It keeps hitting me with moves before I can. Then Confuse Ray comes in to make things worse. Once I make it past that Xatu, it's relatively smooth sailing.
Koga is, as I figured, boring because of his Pokemon. They are either easily taken down by a Rock move or a Ground move.
Bruno was always going to be the problem, because of his Fighting-type focus. I'm worried about Pupitar, because of it's Dark/Rock typing, so it becomes my last resort, even after Shuckle. It turns into a battle of spamming my most powerful attacks that aren't Rock, and I eek out a victory on the fourth attempt.
Karen was an interesting battle. Umbreon was easy enough with Sudowoodo since it has Rock Smash to help take it down. Vileplume takes out Sudowoodo, so I throw out Magcargo which takes it out in return with a single Lava Plume. Houndoom comes out and I get a single Ancient Power through before being taken down by a critical Dark Pulse. From there, I use Graveler to use Magnitude and that takes out the Houndoom; Rollout takes out the Murkrow, and then Graveler drops to Gengar, but Corsola finishes the battle with Rock Blast.
Lance becomes a challenge that takes me about 20 attempts to pull off. I need things to not crit :/
The attempt that I won started with Sudowoodo, and using 4 X Defend, 4 X SpDef, 4 X Attacks. I use them in that order, and then start with the Rock barrage. Gyarados? Simple, The three Dragonites? Easy. The Aerodactyl? Gets a good hit in and nearly OHKOs me, but then I knock it out. Now, the funny part occurs - I use a Hyper Potion to heal myself up to full when Charizard comes out. It misses Fire Blast, because, why wouldn't it at this point for dumb luck. Then I realize I'm out of everything except Rock Smash (which I'm worried won't knock it out) and Faint Attack. So, I throw caution to the wind and use Faint Attack. It takes it down to 1/3 HP. Then Charizard lands Fire Blast, and I think it'll be time to switch, but nope - Sudowoodo survives with 1...single...HP. I use Faint Attack again...and take the victory.
Thus I have achieved Hall of Fame status.
This morning, I gave Lt. Surge a quick whooping, and attempted Sabrina, but I quickly lost Pupitar (it's now level 53 so it's close to evolving, at least). I don't have to keep going, since I've already seen credits, but I may come back to it from time to time just for the fun.
JOHTO/HEARTGOLD COMPLETE!
Now, I'm onto Omega Ruby. However, the first Rock-type I can get isn't until Granite Cave. The two options there are a 5% Geodude or a 30% Aron. So, I asked my wife to make an Aron egg in her OR/AS game, as it's more likely to get that and it changes up the "Geodude being the first" mentality that I'm getting tired of) and as soon as possible, I will trade it over and hatch it. I will end up picking up Mudkip just to have a good HM slave. From there, we'll see what becomes available!
One of the Monotype Guys