[Completed] GT 2021 Pokémon Challenge: Baton Pass

[Miau]

Rules:

#1: You may not use any Pokémon that was caught in Great, Ultra, Safari or Master Balls.
#2: You may not use any Fire, Electric or Fairy type Pokémon.
#3: Your maximum team size is reduced to 4.​

Segments left:

12 → 9​

Miau's Ruby - Roxanne

Started my own save file by choosing Mudkip, figured he'd be the most useful, but ended up not using him against Roxanne and instead evolving a Breloom because I lack basic reading comprehension skills. On the plus side, there's a level 23 Breloom in the early game xD

Proceeded to wreck Roxanne obvi, then saved after the Gym battle and passed my file to Bowsori.

LINIK's Ruby - Brawly

Received the save file from Linik, boxed his Nuzleaf and Ralts, and caught and trained a Taillow, who Wing Attacked its way against Brawly's two Fighting-types. Saved after the Gym battle, then passed the save file back to Linik.

PokeGuy's Ruby - Wattson

Received this save file from Mewtwolover; immediately boxed his Ralts, then went to Granite Cave and caught Geodude, since PokeGuy's original Marshtomp was permanently boxed so he can't be used against Wattson. Trained Geodude in the Granite Cave, then on the beach near Slateport and Route 110, where I also caught Wingull aaaaand...

Modest too! I can't actually use her though, since my rules ban Electric-types, but hopefully the others will -- if Janp doesn't release her first or keep her for themselves xD

Anyway, had the rival battle on Route 110; Wingull took down rival's Wailmer and Grovyle, then promptly evolved into Pelipper, and Geodude took care of rival's Numel. Next Geodude evolved into Graveler and went on to destroy Wattson. Saved right after and swapped save files with Janp.

 

[Eleanor]

I already updated the score with PokeGuy's Ruby savefile, but not for this one! Mewtwolover nets Aecor 50 more points!

 

[Lycanthropy]

Lycan's Baton Pass Adventures - Segment 2

​

[h1][/h1]

Sophie - Pokémon Emerald - part 4/9​

Personal rules:
#1: You cannot use any items directly from the bag in battles, except PokéBalls.
#2: You may not use TMs on your Pokémon, only HMs.
#3: You cannot backtrack to any area you've already visited, unless it's for story reasons.


I opened the save feel and found myself in Mauville City with a nice team of strong Pokémon: Loomie the Grovyle, Dee Dee the Swellow, Uri Geller the Kadabra - this name is simply amazing, thanks Shahar 👌 - and Taco the Lombre. The latter was sadly claimed Shahar's personal Pokémon and couldn't get her chance to shine on my team (except as an HM slave for Rock Smash, hehe).

I looked ahead, and felt like I could use a good Pokémon to use against Flannery. Without the ability to backtrack, my options were very limited. So, as per the old saying, I decided to fight Fire with Fire... and Caldera the Numel joined the party! I am very happy someone picked up the Exp. Share because I couldn't go back to pick it up myself. Very useful!

Uri Geller is fantastic and can easily blast through anything in his path, as Kadabra do. Caldera managed to get pretty strong too, even beating two (!) Camerupt because Maxie and Flannery are freaking cheaters who don't know how evolution levels work.

I picked up the egg in Lavaridge, because... Wynaut? :') There I also challenged the Gym Leader. With a few Magnitude attacks, a couple of sacrificed Pokémon to get Torkoal's Special Attack to plummet by his own attacks, Uri Geller's Refect and then more Magnitude attacks... and a second try because FREAKING BODY SLAM PARALYSIS AAAAAAAH, the team brought down Flannery and so we obtained... the Heat Badge!

Current Team

Caldera (F), lv. 32 @ Exp. Share
Oblivious
Magnitude, Ember, Take Down, Growl

Uri Geller (M), lv. 31
Inner Focus
Psybeam, Confusion, Recover, Reflect

Loomie (F), lv. 32 @ Miracle Seed
Overgrow
Leaf Blade, Pursuit, Cut, Quick Attack

Dee Dee (F), lv. 28 @ Silk Scarf
Guts
Wing Attack, Quick Attack, Endeavor, Growl

Taco (F), lv. 18
Swift Swim
Astonish, Rock Smash, Absorb, Nature Power

Egg (?), lv. -


​

 

[Miau]

Rules:

#1: You may not use any Pokémon that was caught in Great, Ultra, Safari or Master Balls.
#2: You may not use any Fire, Electric or Fairy type Pokémon.
#3: Your maximum team size is reduced to 4.​

Segments left:

9 → 8​

Janp's Ruby - Brawly

Continued the game with Janp's current team -- the others are either boxed for my segment, or permanently. Caught I the Slakoth and Still the Wingull, and made my way to Dewford. Delivered the letter, went back to get the Exp. Share from Mr. Stone, then trained Wingull in Granite Cave for an easy win against Brawly.

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor's fifth loud sigh
Save played: Eleanor - Pokémon Black
Segments left: 8 → 7

Yes the team was underleveled. Yes I tried to wing it at first. Yes it just didn't work, losing Dewott to Bianca's Herdier. Why am I like this...

Given the situation, I busted out Tympole once again (two of them, the first died while grinding lol) and decided to evolve Pansear in Simisear (thanks Sania for the Fire Stone!) as soon as it learned Flare Burst. Good choice because that was the only way to get past Cheren on Route 4. Eventually though, after a lot of grinding, trainer battles, and more grinding, I got to Ninbasa and all the surrounding areas. Lostlorn forest proved like a nice spot to hang out in despite the eerie music, and I caught... guess what, a Swadloon in there, who still didn't want to evolve after 9 levels and a massage. Oh well...

Luckily I got my Tympole to evolve, I got my Roggy to evolve, and I got some nice items such as Eviolite! With that team, I was able to deal with Elesa relatively easily, completely annihilating the first Emolga with Boldore and finishing the rest of her team with Palpitoad... who is well on his way to become the water type of the run. Sorry Dewott, I promise I'll be more careful... :(

Not sure who will take this save file and beat Clay but whoever that is, good luck... that guy can be scary...

 

[Lycanthropy]

Lycan's Baton Pass Adventures - Segment 3

​

[h1][/h1]

Sophie - Pokémon Emerald - part 6/9​

Personal rules:
#1: You cannot use any items directly from the bag in battles, except PokéBalls.
#2: You may not use TMs on your Pokémon, only HMs.
#3: You cannot backtrack to any area you've already visited, unless it's for story reasons.


I gave Sophie's save to Shahar, who returned it - with an extra badge! - after a mere thirty minutes. What a legend! In the meantime, the egg has hatched and Caldera evolved. Had I known it was only one more level to get a Camerupt I might have grinded a little more on the previous segment, but oh well!

To get to Fortree City, one has to cross the sea. And for that, I need a Pokémon that can swim. That is, one other than Taco the Lombre, who is still claimed by Shahar's rules. I went fishing for a Goldeen, then used Goldeen to Surf and find a Marill that then replaced said Goldeen with Surf and also Rock Smash. Sorry Goldeen, you were useful for a whole minute, but no more.

Caldera and Uri Geller are amazing, and quickly learned Earthquake and Psychic respectively to make them even more amazing. We beat up Team Aqua, some Kecleon and then Winona, who wasn't as tough of a challenge as I remember. Perhaps it helped that Tropius had the brilliant idea to use Sunny Day while facing a Fire type. Perhaps it helped the sunlight was still comfortably bright when Pelipper was switched in. Perhaps it helped that Altaria managed to take to exactly 2 HP, so that she could spam Endeavor to eat up all Winona's hyper potions and then finish Altaria with a perfectly aimed Quick Attack. Either way, without trouble we obtained... the Feather Badge!

Current Team

Caldera (F), lv. 40
Magma Armor
Earthquake, Ember, Rock Slide, Take Down

Uri Geller (M), lv. 39
Inner Focus
Psychic, Psybeam, Recover, Reflect

Loomie (F), lv. 34 @ Miracle Seed
Overgrow
Leaf Blade, Pursuit, Cut, Quick Attack

Dee Dee (F), lv. 33 @ Silk Scarf
Guts
Wing Attack, Quick Attack, Endeavor, Fly

Pikablu (M), lv. 31
Thick Fat
Surf, Rollout, Rock Smash, Double-Edge

Waaabuff (F), lv. 5
Shadow Tag
Splash, Charm, Encore
​

 

[Vendily]

Vendily's Baton Pass Segment #1

Personal Rules

1. At least one of the Pokémon you will use against your segment's Gym Leader / Trial Captain must learn Destiny Bond, Grudge, Curse, Taunt or Torment. For the rest of the segment (plus the one after that), it will have to stay in the team at all times, even if other rules make it unusable in battle. If there is no eligible Pokémon at all you can catch, you can skip this rule.
2. All of the Pokémon in your team must know a HM move, in the games where they're available.
3. While in battle, you can only select moves that correspond to your Pokémon's type.

So... Since I picked out Emerald, and Poochyena can learn taunt at level 37, I had to grind... and grind... and grind. I actually messed up a bit, and didn't realize that the Petalburg Gym was a fake gym this early in the game, so I was grinding in Route 102 for most of it. Thankfully with the speedup button but there was probably a solid 12 hours put into the save despite it. While I was at it, I grinded up some more of the party, with a focus on Treecko and Wingull, the former since it'll be my only mon for the gym, and the latter because at 25, Pelipper can learn fly and surf for later, if the file comes back to me.

Nothing of note really happened this session. No shinies, nothing funny, just grinding.
The save has been passed on to Bobandbill, who has to keep the Mightyena, but like why would you get rid of it? No grinding, no backtracking, all in gen 3
:)

---

Current Stats

Playtime: 33:10
Badges: 1
Pokemon:

• Leafie (Groovyle) Lv 19 [Absorb, Leer, Cut, Quick Attack]
• Floofie [Is what I meant to name it] (Mightyena) Lv 37 [Bite, Taunt, Take Down, Tackle]
• Nima (Ralts) Lv 10 [Confusion, Growl]
• Winnie (Wingull) Lv 18 [Wing Attack, Water Gun, Supersonic, Growl]

 

[TwentyExEx]

☘️ Name: TwentyExEx (James)
☘️ Team: Caelum
☘️ Trainer Class: Clown or some shit
☘️ Games that you can play for this challenge: Any
☘️ Game of choice: Emerald
☘️ Player name: DrJam

 

[Vendily]

Vendily's Baton Pass Segment #2

Personal Rules

1. At least one of the Pokémon you will use against your segment's Gym Leader / Trial Captain must learn Destiny Bond, Grudge, Curse, Taunt or Torment. For the rest of the segment (plus the one after that), it will have to stay in the team at all times, even if other rules make it unusable in battle. If there is no eligible Pokémon at all you can catch, you can skip this rule.
2. All of the Pokémon in your team must know a HM move, in the games where they're available.
3. While in battle, you can only select moves that correspond to your Pokémon's type.

Definitely shine much better in later game sections or when one of my required moves are already available. I played the 5th badge segment for Sania's Black file, with a dedicated three mon team, Camilla the Leavanny, Crikey the Krokorok (who knew Torment already), and Courtney the former Darumaka, now a Darmanitan. Together, the three of them cut a deadly swath through Route 5, Cold Storage, and Clay's gym (Camilla almost single handedly took out the whole gym, save for Crikey taking out Clay's Excadrill).

I grabbed up basically every item along the way, as well as a couple of trainers that were missed, specifically the Thursday Small Court and Big Stadium Trainers.

---

Current Stats

Playtime: 19:44
Badges: 5
Pokemon:

• Camilla (Leavanny) Lv 33 [Bug Bite, String Shot, Razor Leaf, Cut]
• Courtney (Darmanitan) Lv 35 [Fire Punch, Strength, Fire Fang, Flare Blitz]
• Crikey (Krokorok ) Lv 32 [Dig, Torment, Crunch, Strength]

 

[Arcaneum]

☘️ Name: Rabinov
☘️ Team: Solum
☘️ Trainer Class (optional, just aesthetic): Ace Trainer, cause I'm the elite baby!
☘️ Games that you can play for this challenge: Gens 1-5
☘️ Game of choice (you can write this bit later if you need some time to work it out with your team): DPPt or FRLG
☘️ Player name (in said game): Rabinov

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor's sixth loop round and round
Save played: Sheep - Pokémon Emerald
Segments left: 7 → 6

Half way point of the challenge for me, which sounds right in time given the other events / GT burnout / other things I have to take care of...
I started the segment by getting an Electrike and then training it up on all the water routes that Surf had just unlocked for me. So basically that was very easy, admittedly! I also got a TM13 for Rollie from the abandoned shipwreck.
With the team that I already had from previous segments, plus a powerful Manectric, it was quite easy to reach Fortree and then even Lilycove! Yes, I cleared all those routes and did the whole loop with Route 123 so so many times... I even got up to Mount Pyre (without clearing the inside though) and had a look at the Safari Zone, getting myself some... underwhelming Pokémon, in hindsight. Oops!
The important thing though, is that I was able to get some of the members of my team up to level 40 - 42, which is basically on par with Tate and Liza. It should be relatively easy for the next person (I still don't know who) to take this save and train up more Pokémon relatively easily, I hope! Needless to say, that made it very very easy to beat Winona as well... netting Solum 50 more points!

 

[Eleanor]

Discord update - Winona down on PokeGuy's Ruby! 50 more points for Aecor!

 

[Janp]

Yet another cursed segment
Savefiles played: PokeGuy and Mewtwolover - Ruby
Segments left: 11 → 9

PokeGuy's save started with 3 badges and team of Pelipper and Graveler, meaning I have already pretty good team against Flannery and Team Magma. I did pick shiny Electrike, since it is named after me, put it on the team and gave it Exp. Share to hold.

Then I quickly swept everything with already overleveled Pelipper and Graveler and was done with this part. I chose Graveler as my sworn warrior, so no one else can use it.

I gave the save to Mewtwolover and got their save in return. It also had 3 badges, but a lot worse team. There was only Kirlia and Grovyle, which wasn't great team for Flannery. Plus I had no one to teach Rock Smash aside from Grovyle. I backtracked all the way to Route 101 in an attempt to catch Zigzagoon, but I found none. Is this the curse of Ja*p? But I encountered Surskit and caught it, so that's good.

I had to give Rock Smash to Grovyle and caught Geodude just outside Mauville City. Since I could only catch first encounter in each area, I decided to catch few Pokémon and got Grimer, Numel and Swablu.

I grinded my new team a little bit and lost Grovyle to some random Team Magma Grunt. Sorry, Mewtwolover.

In the end, I've used the very same strategy to fight against Flannery and picked once again Graveler as my sworn warrior.

 

[Eleanor]

And Mewtwolover delivered, Janp~ Third badge here as well for 50 more points for Aecor :)

 

[Tigearthzap]

☘️ Name: Tigearthzap
☘️ Team:Aceor
☘️ Trainer Class: Gym Leader
☘️ Games that you can play for this challenge: Ruby, FRLG, HGSS, DPP.
☘️ Game of choice: Ruby
☘️ Player name: Troy

 

[Eleanor]

Saniachan's save reached 6 badges, courtesy of Solum's Shachar700! Thank you for your dedication, that's 50 more points for Solum that you're bringing home <3

 

[bobandbill]

bobandbill's brave beginnings

Rules:
#1: Your maximum team size is reduced to 4.
#2: You cannot backtrack to any area you've already visited, unless it's for story reasons.
#3: You may only use Pokémon from the generation that the region you're currently playing in is from.

-----------------------------

MAN. He must struggle to get through the world to defeat Society, which is hell bent on kicking him while he is down, and smelling him later. So begun my adventures with FireRed, where I was doomed to only be able to use Kanto Pokemon, in the game that only allows you to use Kanto Pokemon until postgame and actively prevents evolutions like Crobat! OH NO

I struggled through that oppressive restriction. With Bitey the Bulbasaur, ANGERY the Mankey, and the Spearow that was accidentally unnamed, I had to do some clever swapping about to get some sort of grinding done in early routes before leaving them, given the no backtracking rule. Leech Seed helped with swapping and keeping health up. I beat up Society, the rival, while doing that, and then moved onto Viridian Forest. Peck was great for levelling up Spearow. I also caught Mascot the Pikachu during that, as it is a rare spawn I suppose.

Went and curbstomped Brock with Bulbasaur, and that was the end of the opening segment.

-----------------------------

Next up was taking over Sheep's file, for badge number 5 in Emerald. After a slight detour to the previous unexplored Cycling area which gave... frankly little experience, and staring at the Trick House, I made my way to Norman's Gym and used my team of four Hoenn pokes: A Swampert, Swellow, Breloom, and Torkoal.

Well, Breloom had Mach Punch, so that was easy, and Torkoal was pretty bulky too. I beat all the gym trainers before going up to Norman. Breloom just Mach Punched the first three Pokemon, and then when Slaking was sent out, I used Torkoal, and used this incredibly deep strategy:

Protect, Flamethrower, rinse and repeat.

-----------------------------

Lastly, I took over Vendily's Emerald file. I ignore the levEL THIRTY SEVEN MIGHTYENA AFTER GYM ONE because that would be too easy, and instead levelled up the Ralts some, up to 17 as I rescued Peeko and some devon product, walked through a forest, sat on a ship, and ran through a poorly lit cave to give a letter to the hobo standing there staring at and licking rocks. What a weirdo.

The fighting gym was pretty easy - Ralts and the level 18 (eventually 20) Wingull teamed up and made quick work of everyone, including Brawly.

 

[Eleanor]

Eleanor's seventh prepping
Save played: Shahar - Pokémon Heart Gold
Segments left: 6 → 5

Entering the second half of my Challenge experience uh? Well...
I received this save with just two usable Pokémon that Sheep caught for me: Sudowoodo and Miltank. But I had a lot of new areas available to explore and get new teammates from, and so I caught a bunch of Pokémon. Notable ones include a Growlithe (well two, one died while grinding because of course it had to), a Headbutt Mantine, a Gloom, a bunch of Safari Zone Pokémon... but also a Zubat and a Chinchou, who are by far the best Pokémon on the game save by now.

Sudowoodo died, unfortunately, while on the road to Safari Zone, which I obviously wanted to explore for the potential Larvitar but also for the nice wild Pokémon (at a decent level) not too far. Once I got my team together and started leveling up though, Lanturn (now evolved) became essentially unstoppable. A very good Pokémon I can rely on even with the rules I have...
and the same could be said for Golbat, who finally evolved into Crobat at level 38. :eleanorangry:

I decided to go and catch the Red Gyarados, which also granted me an Exp. Share to use on my Pokémon, but I didn't do anything with the Rocket Hideout and left it available for the next players to handle, alongside the usual Team Rocket plot. The idea is that other players can take advantage of that item while dealing with those quests...

Near the end of the segment, though, right before beating Chuck with Lanturn alone (very easy given the leveling), I got myself a new Cyndaquil egg! This way, I could use the starter myself even though neither me or Janna actually caught the original one. Being a Modest Cyndaquil who has already leveled up past the original Quilava's level... Johto is in for a wild ride :)

Best of luck to bobandbill, who will take over and hopefully beat Jasmine very easily with a Lanturn solo run sweep thingy <3

 

[Eleanor]

And minutes later... just as I planned <3

Good job Bobandbill, that's 50 more points for Solum!

 

[professor plum]

💧 Professor Plum

Tyler - Pokémon Sapphire [1.1]
Rules:
#1: You may only evolve one Pokémon per segment. Choose wisely!
#2: You cannot use any Yellow Pokémon in battle (check here!)
#3: At least one of the Pokémon you will use against your segment's Gym Leader / Trial Captain must learn Destiny Bond, Grudge, Curse, Taunt or Torment. For the rest of the segment (and the one after yours), it will have to stay in the team at all times, even if other rules make it unusable in battle. If there is no eligible Pokémon at all you can catch, you can skip this rule.

Segment 1

I started off with a Torchic named Chase. :D

It took a thousand years and me venting nonstop but I finally got my Poochyena to level 37 and taught it Taunt.

My one evolved Pokémon for this segment was Bill [Lotad -> Lombre]

Once I taught Poochyena Taunt and got everyone else to around 13/14, I took on Roxanne.

My current party ~ Helga's just there to pickup items and use HM01
Excited for a 2nd segment