Luck-locke challenge

[pansgaming]

So the basic premise of this challenge is to ensure that you have a constantly rotating team, and to make it a bit more difficult to progress.

The rules are as follows:

• As long as you have a free slot in your party, you may catch Pokemon as normal (i.e. you are not forced to catch the first pokemon you find).

• If you have a full party and catch an extra Pokemon, roll a d6 and replace whichever Pokemon is in the corresponding slot with the new Pokemon (For example if you roll a 1, replace the Pokemon in the first slot of your party with the new Pokemon).

• Whenever you acquire a new gym badge, roll a d6 and remove the Pokemon in the corresponding party slot from your party. If you roll a number and there is no Pokemon in the corresponding slot, roll again. If you would be forced to remove your last Pokemon, you lose the challenge. If the challenge is done in Pokemon Sun/Moon, remove a Pokemon after defeating each Totem Pokemon AND each Island Kahuna.

• Whenever a Pokemon is replaced or removed, treat it as retired. You can release it or keep it in your PC, but you cannot use it again.

Notes: This is not a nuzlocke challenge. If a Pokemon faints, you may heal it at a Pokemon centre or revive it.

Now for the fun part! If you're interested in playing please let me know in the comments what version you're playing.
There are no posting requirements for the challenge but I think it'd be cool to at least see what Pokemon people are forced to discard as they progress. If you want to post your progress in any form, feel free. I'd love to see what people's teams look like with these rules in place!

Currently Playing
PansGaming - Pokemon Soul Silver
userdamname - Pokemon Emerald
shpolaris - Pokemon Fire Red
Xander729 - Pokemon Black
Sylvie - Pokemon Omega Ruby
Lrachelr5 - Pokemon Red & Pokemon Moon

 

[userdamname]

Hey, I have a question.

Do you need to sign up for this particular challenge? If so, How do you sign up?

 

[pansgaming]

Hey, I have a question.

Do you need to sign up for this particular challenge? If so, How do you sign up?

Hey there! Sorry I didn't mention in the main post. There is no requirement to sign up for this particular challenge, but it would be fun to keep track of everyone playing and see how they play it and what Pokemon people get and are forced to replace. It'll also be interesting to see if the challenge is easier or harder in different versions of the games.
I'll be adding a section at the bottom of the original post to keep track of who's playing and how everyone is doing. If you're interested in playing just let me know on here and I'll add your name to the Currently playing list.

Cheers

 

[userdamname]

Hey there! Sorry I didn't mention in the main post. There is no requirement to sign up for this particular challenge, but it would be fun to keep track of everyone playing and see how they play it and what Pokemon people get and are forced to replace. It'll also be interesting to see if the challenge is easier or harder in different versions of the games.
I'll be adding a section at the bottom of the original post to keep track of who's playing and how everyone is doing. If you're interested in playing just let me know on here and I'll add your name to the Currently playing list.

Cheers

Thanks, and I'm in!

I'll be doing this challenge on Emerald

 

[shpolaris]

Sounds interesting! I'll try this on my fire red

Also are we allowed to keep a slot for an hm slave? Or swap it from are pc box whenever we need one

 

[pansgaming]

Sounds interesting! I'll try this on my fire red

Also are we allowed to keep a slot for an hm slave? Or swap it from are pc box whenever we need one

I've added you to the list, and I think it's in the nature of the challenge not to have an extra space for a HM slave. Try and just use your 6 party Pokemon.

Thanks, and I'm in!

I'll be doing this challenge on Emerald

Added you to the list too.

I'm looking forward to seeing how your parties evolve over the course of your games. :)

 

[Xander729]

I have a question: Is it required to catch the first pokemon in each route, because if not I feel like people could just never catch pokemon once they have a good team or just search for the best pokemon in each route. If there is no rule in place regarding having to catch the first pokemon in each route I will be playing that way

Sign Up:

Xander729
Pokemon Black

 

[pansgaming]

I have a question: Is it required to catch the first pokemon in each route, because if not I feel like people could just never catch pokemon once they have a good team or just search for the best pokemon in each route. If there is no rule in place regarding having to catch the first pokemon in each route I will be playing that way

Sign Up:

Xander729
Pokemon Black

It's not required to catch the first pokemon on each route. The fact that you have to roll out a pokemon after every gym badge will make sure the team rotates. It's up to each player how challenging they want to make the challenge for themselves. Feel free to add any self imposed rules :)

I've added you to the list.

 

[Sylvie]

This sounds interesting, I'll give it a shot with Omega ruby, and i'll post updates so i don't lose interest lol

 

[pansgaming]

This sounds interesting, I'll give it a shot with Omega ruby, and i'll post updates so i don't lose interest lol

Excellent! I've added you to the list. Looking forward to hearing your updates :)

 

[Sylvie]

So i ended up getting really into this, inventing reasons and everything as to why i had to swap out my Pokemon regularly and stuff and getting quite into the role of researcher that i had given myself. Trying not to get too attached to my team buuut its getting pretty difficult, especially will be later when i'm going to need to capture new Pokemon to balance the team out rather than just waiting until after gyms.

Update #1
Badges:

Team:

Spoiler:

Baxter lvl 18
Guts|Quirky
Brave bird|Focus Energy|Quick attack|Wing attack

Fang lvl 15
Quick Feet|Lax
Thunder fang|Howl|Odor Sleith|Bite

Ace lvl 18
Overgrow|Docile
Pursuit|Fury cutter|Mega drain|Quick attack

Fred lvl 15
Shield Dust|Naive
Tackle|Confusion|Poison Powder|Gust

Neko lvl 14
Normalize|Hardy
Attract|Tackle|Disarming voice|Sing

Butters lvl 15
Pickup|Serious
Charm|Echoed voice|Headbutt|Cut

Retired:

Spoiler:

Susie|Surskit
Swift Swim|Timid
Fell Stinger|Quick Attack|Sweet Scent

The journey:

Spoiler:

---The beginning---

Spoiler:

Hi! my name is Sylvie and today i just moved to a small town called Littleroot! My mother and i moved here to be closer
to my father, Norman, who just so happens to be a gym leader in the next town over. First impressions? Its a little quaint,
Theres a pokemon professor called Birch who lives here but other than that i get the impression that nothing much goes on
in this sleepy little town...

Speaking of the professor though, he's apparently a good friend of my father's with a son about my age called Brendan. He
seemed to be the dependable sort, interested in aiding his father's research, im sure one day he'll become a well renowned
professor in his own right. I happened to run into the professor while i was out exploring my new village (honestly
this place is far to small to justify being called a town) Birch was being attacked by a wild poochyena while out doing
field-work, so i grabbed the first pokeball i touched in his discarded bag of goodies and went into battle. It felt pretty
good, the battle that is, turns out the pokemon inside the ball was a Treecko; it was kind of cute, and the battle itself
was a rush! it wasnt difficult or anything, Treecko even listened to me like i was actually its trainer, maybe the blood
of a gym leader runs strong in me? i might have a future in the trainer business!

Anyway, it turns out the Professor had been studying a strange occurance that he had noticed in all pokemon lately: Their
lifespans seem to have reduced at various rates, meaning many poor pokemon were aging and getting sicker at a faster rate
than what was natural, and he suspected it may have something to do with a shifting inbalance in the state of the world..
Big stuff right? Anyway, as a thanks for rescuing me he allowed me to keep the Treecko i had battled with,(i named him
Ace) but warned me not too get attached - and to send it over to his lab as soon as i noticed it getting frail for future
study. He then also asked if i could help him with his research on the inbalance - nothing too crazy, just to go on an
adventure and keep track of any oddities i noticed that could help us pinpoint the cause of the problem and maybe help us
fix it. naturally i agreed. ADVENTURE AWAITS!

Birch suggested i meet up with his son on route 103 to learn the basics of battling and research, the battling part was
unnecessary as Ace wiped the floor with his Torchic, however the basics of research were interesting, he showed me the
best way to make short hand notes and we agreed that the focus of HIS research would be pokemon habitats and MINE would
be the lifespans themselves. I've already assigned myself a goal: if i had say two poochyena would the both age at the same
rate or is this phenonmenom different for each individual?

We returned to the lab after our field outing where i received a pokedex to help keep track of my findings and some pokeballs
as everyone agreed the best way to research lifespans was to constantly keep notes and have my team rotating as soon as
someone got to early retirement age.

TLDR: got a treeko, told to go research why pokemon's lifespans were becoming shorter
--- First team members---

Spoiler:

Ace and i went through various wild pokemon encounters before we found a few pokemon who we considered healthy and 'young' enough
to become members of the team, we could tell the frail ones right away as two Pound attacks from Ace would knock them out.
This discovery in itself gives me my first hypothesis: individual pokemon are affected differently by this phenomena rather
than individual species of pokemon, so no two wurmple will age at the same rate. While most would see this as a logical conclusion
regardless, it was definitely worth checking out the extent of this inbalence in life force.

So on that note i introduced to my team:
-Fang the poochyena, his coat was very shiny and eyes bright and to top it all off he even knew a pretty rare move - Thunder fang.
-Fred the wurmple, nothing much to say about Fred other than he seemed to have a good appetite
-Butters the Zigzagoon, she seems very charming and sweet though she lacks any offensive moves. like, at all
-Susie the Surskit, she was a feisty one, very lively and difficult to catch

After a small bit of training my team and i arrived at petalburg city where i met up with my father. It was good to see him and it
made me happy that he was recognizing my blossoming career as a trainer. While catching up though a frail looking boy came in
hoping to get a pokemon. Apparently he was moving away for health reasons and wanted a companion. Fair enough, it seemed that the
current phenomenon with shortened pokemon lifespans wasn't common knowledge yet and considering the circumstances i didn't want to
mention anything to the kid that could cause his own health to worsen, so at father's request i went with him to help him catch his
own pokemon. Wally (as i learnt was him name) lucked out and caught a ralts, i hope it doesn't fade away too quickly...

Upon returning to my father he recommended i start with a gym leader called Roxanne in Rustboro city, which was fair, i had grown up
with some of the pokemon my dad used for his gym so i had a good idea of their strength, my own team would definitely need a bit of work
before we could take him on.

This also brings on another curious thought to the current problem the world was facing. Was it only newer
hatched pokemon that were experiencing this shortened lifespan? Father seemed to show now worries about his own pokemon, if they still
looked healthy when i got round to challenging him that would provide my answer.

Speaking of strong pokemon, my team and i lucked out on route 104 where we were attacked by a rather strong and aggressive taillow. It
was the strongest wild pokemon i had ever encountered at lvl 13, where as Ace, my strongest, was only lvl 9. The bird also surprised
me with its knowledge of the brave bird move, cementing my desire to have it as part of my team. It took literally everything i
had to weaken it, ending up with Fred being the last pokemon i had left to capture it with(what bad luck right?) Well thats where we got
lucky, thankfully we were able to capture it with our penultimate pokeball before Fred could be one-shot and thats how Baxter became party
member number 6. Really hope this one stays good and healthy for a long while.

TLDR: met wally and norman, caught some more pokemon one of them being a badass

---First gym battle---

Spoiler:

Fred evolved when we entered the petalburg woods, which was pretty exciting, he became a cascoon, and since i can never remember which form
becomes what or how a wurmple's split evolution works it'll be interesting to see his final form. While in the woods, after a little more training,
the team and i encountered a researcher who had been looking for shroomish on his way back to work. However it seems he had been carrying something
important and an impatient thief wearing a tasteless red outfit tried to attack him. Baxter wiped the floor with him, but i shall have to
keep my eyes out for this...team magma in the future.

Some kid gave me a TM for echoed voice when i left the forest, so i taught it to Butters, now she finally has an attack move maybe she can
actually fend for herself, for once. Oh was also given a watering can by the people who owned the flower shop. No promises on making good
use out of it, im not known for having a green thumb.

Fred evolved into a Dustox while battling trainers outside of the petalburg woods, this makes me happy and since bug pokemon are known
to grow quickly i am not worried that this has any connection with the Life-force phenomena (shall now be referred to as LP because thats
a pain to make a note of every time. Brendan was right i need to invent my own good shorthand for these research notes)

People in Rustboro city are real friendly. Just by talking to people i was given:
-the TM false swipe
-the HM Cut
-a float stone
-a premier ball
-a quick claw

TLDR: Evolution and free stuff

Team layout at the start of the gym battle:
1. Ace
2. Fred
3. Baxter
4. Butters
5. Susie
6. Fang
>>>>Battle with Roxanne<<<<

Spoiler:

- I did my research and knew Roxanne had a preference for rock types. Ace took the lead, and my opponent began with a geodude. Ace used his new
mega drain attack, however we were prevented from 1HKO the target due to it's sturdy ability. On top of that Geodude's rock tomb actually hurt quite
a bit, removing nearly half of Ace's health. I had Ace follow up with a quick attack, however once again my plans were dashed by a critically timed
potion on roxanne's behalf. No matter, quick attack did more damage than i originally would give it credit for and i opted to use the opponents
potion to my advantage by once again using mega drain and restoring Ace's hp back to nearly full.

- Nosepass was up next and i opted to let Ace stay out front. Once again i ordered a mega drain, as it was the only grass move we knew, however
the opponent was a tough one and barely seemed phased by the move, countering with a rock tomb. Thankfully Ace dodged the worst of it, only taking minor
damage. We switched tactics, opting to lower the enemies defense via a smooth leer attack. Once again nosepass threw a rock tomb at us and we took
a lot more damage than last time, thankfully though Ace was smart enough to eat it's oran berry and i ordered a follow up with yet another mega-drain.
However with the last rock tomb nosepass was now faster than us, as it seemed Ace had damaged a leg, HOWEVER he managed to get a critical hit which
knocked the gym leaders pokemon out, earning us a victory!

Roxanne handed us the Stone badge, which also gave us permission to Cut down small trees blocking our path, and she gave us the move Rock tomb aswell,
which was pretty generous of her.

Dice roll: 5 - lost susie

We returned to the pokemon center to rest up the team and celebrate Ace's hard earned gym victory, however, during examinations nurse joy informed me
that Susie was starting to look a little sick, which was pretty common for a pokemon of her age and that she recommended retiring her from her life of
battling. I was shocked to say the least. Professor Birch had warned me not to get too attached to my pokemon, but hearing about it and actually seeing
it happen before my eyes were two very different things. Susie had been a apart of the team for a mere two days and already her usually smooth damp
skin was showing signs of flaky age. I thanked Joy for her advice and immediately contacted Birch informing him about my findings and sending poor Susie
to him to be taking care of in her ailing health. Now i was even more determined than ever to find the source of this and a way to end it.

Hypothesis: battling itself does not necessarily lead to the depletion of a pokemon's quickened LP. If that had been the case surely it would have been Ace
who had suffered an early retirement, as he was my first.

---Trouble in Rustboro---

Spoiler:

Taught Butters the Cut HM, seeing as she was a normal type at least she could get a STAB out of it.

Our victory was overshadowed by our loss, even still, the next morning after a good nights rest and a check over of my other members, we left the
PC with our heads held high. We had a purpose, a mission and were determined to see it through. A replacement pokemon was now needed to fill the void left by
Susie. We had barely made it 5 steps when we stumbled upon a commotion but the Devon building. A familiar looking red outfit was fleeing the building with a
familiar looking researcher panting along behind him in protest. By all rights i should have turned away, i had my own mission to attend to, however i just couldn't
ignore someone in trouble either.

Turns out it WAS the same guy from the woods, he begged me to recover the Devon parts that the Team magma grunt had stolen. i agreed, seeing it as a good
opportunity to train and look for a new team member. It wasn't long before we found one: a young Skitty i named Neko, her playful attitude was good for
lifting our teams spirits.

We did some training along the route that the Magma grunt had escaped down (i soon learned from nearby workers that it was a dead-end so i had no fear
of the guy escaping). It was here that Ace evolved into a Grovyle. Once this was done the gang and i headed into Rusturf tunnel to retrieve the stolen
goods. The magma guy was pretty easy to beat, and it turns out he had stolen an old man's pokemon to use as a hostage on his way in. Thankfully we were
able to rescue it and return it to its owner, an old seafarer named Mr.Briney.

As a side note Peeko the wingull we saved seemed to be as old as Mr.Briney himself, and judging from some tales he told me, it seems unrelated to LP
strengthening my theory that LP is a recent problem emerging among newer hatched pokemon. Could there be something in the air? or something tapping into
their unhatched potentials using it for itself? the mystery only deepens.

After returning the parts to the Devon researcher i ended up getting dragged inside to meet the president. He thanked me for my aid, which was a little
embarrassing before asking em to deliver a letter for him as a favour. Dewford town was my next stop anyway so i agreed, and funnily enough Mr.Briney,
whom i had just helped, would be needed to cross the sea to get there, things were falling into place very nicely indeed.

TLDR: evolution, saved peeko, got parts back, asked to deliver a letter

 

[Lrachelr5]

I'm just wondering, if I wanted to do this challenge in Moon then would I switch out a pokemon after each totem pokemon, or just after the Kahuna battles or swap a pokemon out after the totem battle and then another one after the Kahuna battle?

While I wait on this answer I'm gonna play through on Red.

 

[Xander729]

Black Lucklocke Update

Badges: 0

My Team:

Snivy Lvl. 10

Panpour Lvl. 10

Patrat Lvl. 9

Lillipup Lvl. 6



Retired:

None yet

 

[pansgaming]

So i ended up getting really into this, inventing reasons and everything as to why i had to swap out my Pokemon regularly and stuff and getting quite into the role of researcher that i had given myself. Trying not to get too attached to my team buuut its getting pretty difficult, especially will be later when i'm going to need to capture new Pokemon to balance the team out rather than just waiting until after gyms.

Update #1
Badges: 1 I'm guessing i need a certain amount of posts before i can edit this thing in with pictures, i'll get round to that...
Team:

Spoiler:

Baxter|Taillow lvl 18
Guts|Quirky
Brave bird|Focus Energy|Quick attack|Wing attack

Fang|Poochyena lvl 15
Quick Feet|Lax
Thunder fang|Howl|Odor Sleith|Bite

Ace|Grovyle lvl 18
Overgrow|Docile
Pursuit|Fury cutter|Mega drain|Quick attack

Fred|Dustox lvl 15
Shield Dust|Naive
Tackle|Confusion|Poison Powder|Gust

Neko|Skitty lvl 14
Normalize|Hardy
Attract|Tackle|Disarming voice|Sing

Butters|Zigzagoon lvl 15
Pickup|Serious
Charm|Echoed voice|Headbutt|Cut

Retired:

Spoiler:

Susie|Surskit
Swift Swim|Timid
Fell Stinger|Quick Attack|Sweet Scent

The journey:

Spoiler:

---The beginning---

Spoiler:

Hi! my name is Sylvie and today i just moved to a small town called Littleroot! My mother and i moved here to be closer
to my father, Norman, who just so happens to be a gym leader in the next town over. First impressions? Its a little quaint,
Theres a pokemon professor called Birch who lives here but other than that i get the impression that nothing much goes on
in this sleepy little town...

Speaking of the professor though, he's apparently a good friend of my father's with a son about my age called Brendan. He
seemed to be the dependable sort, interested in aiding his father's research, im sure one day he'll become a well renowned
professor in his own right. I happened to run into the professor while i was out exploring my new village (honestly
this place is far to small to justify being called a town) Birch was being attacked by a wild poochyena while out doing
field-work, so i grabbed the first pokeball i touched in his discarded bag of goodies and went into battle. It felt pretty
good, the battle that is, turns out the pokemon inside the ball was a Treecko; it was kind of cute, and the battle itself
was a rush! it wasnt difficult or anything, Treecko even listened to me like i was actually its trainer, maybe the blood
of a gym leader runs strong in me? i might have a future in the trainer business!

Anyway, it turns out the Professor had been studying a strange occurance that he had noticed in all pokemon lately: Their
lifespans seem to have reduced at various rates, meaning many poor pokemon were aging and getting sicker at a faster rate
than what was natural, and he suspected it may have something to do with a shifting inbalance in the state of the world..
Big stuff right? Anyway, as a thanks for rescuing me he allowed me to keep the Treecko i had battled with,(i named him
Ace) but warned me not too get attached - and to send it over to his lab as soon as i noticed it getting frail for future
study. He then also asked if i could help him with his research on the inbalance - nothing too crazy, just to go on an
adventure and keep track of any oddities i noticed that could help us pinpoint the cause of the problem and maybe help us
fix it. naturally i agreed. ADVENTURE AWAITS!

Birch suggested i meet up with his son on route 103 to learn the basics of battling and research, the battling part was
unnecessary as Ace wiped the floor with his Torchic, however the basics of research were interesting, he showed me the
best way to make short hand notes and we agreed that the focus of HIS research would be pokemon habitats and MINE would
be the lifespans themselves. I've already assigned myself a goal: if i had say two poochyena would the both age at the same
rate or is this phenonmenom different for each individual?

We returned to the lab after our field outing where i received a pokedex to help keep track of my findings and some pokeballs
as everyone agreed the best way to research lifespans was to constantly keep notes and have my team rotating as soon as
someone got to early retirement age.

TLDR: got a treeko, told to go research why pokemon's lifespans were becoming shorter
--- First team members---

Spoiler:

Ace and i went through various wild pokemon encounters before we found a few pokemon who we considered healthy and 'young' enough
to become members of the team, we could tell the frail ones right away as two Pound attacks from Ace would knock them out.
This discovery in itself gives me my first hypothesis: individual pokemon are affected differently by this phenomena rather
than individual species of pokemon, so no two wurmple will age at the same rate. While most would see this as a logical conclusion
regardless, it was definitely worth checking out the extent of this inbalence in life force.

So on that note i introduced to my team:
-Fang the poochyena, his coat was very shiny and eyes bright and to top it all off he even knew a pretty rare move - Thunder fang.
-Fred the wurmple, nothing much to say about Fred other than he seemed to have a good appetite
-Butters the Zigzagoon, she seems very charming and sweet though she lacks any offensive moves. like, at all
-Susie the Surskit, she was a feisty one, very lively and difficult to catch

After a small bit of training my team and i arrived at petalburg city where i met up with my father. It was good to see him and it
made me happy that he was recognizing my blossoming career as a trainer. While catching up though a frail looking boy came in
hoping to get a pokemon. Apparently he was moving away for health reasons and wanted a companion. Fair enough, it seemed that the
current phenomenon with shortened pokemon lifespans wasn't common knowledge yet and considering the circumstances i didn't want to
mention anything to the kid that could cause his own health to worsen, so at father's request i went with him to help him catch his
own pokemon. Wally (as i learnt was him name) lucked out and caught a ralts, i hope it doesn't fade away too quickly...

Upon returning to my father he recommended i start with a gym leader called Roxanne in Rustboro city, which was fair, i had grown up
with some of the pokemon my dad used for his gym so i had a good idea of their strength, my own team would definitely need a bit of work
before we could take him on.

This also brings on another curious thought to the current problem the world was facing. Was it only newer
hatched pokemon that were experiencing this shortened lifespan? Father seemed to show now worries about his own pokemon, if they still
looked healthy when i got round to challenging him that would provide my answer.

Speaking of strong pokemon, my team and i lucked out on route 104 where we were attacked by a rather strong and aggressive taillow. It
was the strongest wild pokemon i had ever encountered at lvl 13, where as Ace, my strongest, was only lvl 9. The bird also surprised
me with its knowledge of the brave bird move, cementing my desire to have it as part of my team. It took literally everything i
had to weaken it, ending up with Fred being the last pokemon i had left to capture it with(what bad luck right?) Well thats where we got
lucky, thankfully we were able to capture it with our penultimate pokeball before Fred could be one-shot and thats how Baxter became party
member number 6. Really hope this one stays good and healthy for a long while.

TLDR: met wally and norman, caught some more pokemon one of them being a badass

---First gym battle---

Spoiler:

Fred evolved when we entered the petalburg woods, which was pretty exciting, he became a cascoon, and since i can never remember which form
becomes what or how a wurmple's split evolution works it'll be interesting to see his final form. While in the woods, after a little more training,
the team and i encountered a researcher who had been looking for shroomish on his way back to work. However it seems he had been carrying something
important and an impatient thief wearing a tasteless red outfit tried to attack him. Baxter wiped the floor with him, but i shall have to
keep my eyes out for this...team magma in the future.

Some kid gave me a TM for echoed voice when i left the forest, so i taught it to Butters, now she finally has an attack move maybe she can
actually fend for herself, for once. Oh was also given a watering can by the people who owned the flower shop. No promises on making good
use out of it, im not known for having a green thumb.

Fred evolved into a Dustox while battling trainers outside of the petalburg woods, this makes me happy and since bug pokemon are known
to grow quickly i am not worried that this has any connection with the Life-force phenomena (shall now be referred to as LP because thats
a pain to make a note of every time. Brendan was right i need to invent my own good shorthand for these research notes)

People in Rustboro city are real friendly. Just by talking to people i was given:
-the TM false swipe
-the HM Cut
-a float stone
-a premier ball
-a quick claw

TLDR: Evolution and free stuff

Team layout at the start of the gym battle:
1. Ace
2. Fred
3. Baxter
4. Butters
5. Susie
6. Fang
>>>>Battle with Roxanne<<<<

Spoiler:

- I did my research and knew Roxanne had a preference for rock types. Ace took the lead, and my opponent began with a geodude. Ace used his new
mega drain attack, however we were prevented from 1HKO the target due to it's sturdy ability. On top of that Geodude's rock tomb actually hurt quite
a bit, removing nearly half of Ace's health. I had Ace follow up with a quick attack, however once again my plans were dashed by a critically timed
potion on roxanne's behalf. No matter, quick attack did more damage than i originally would give it credit for and i opted to use the opponents
potion to my advantage by once again using mega drain and restoring Ace's hp back to nearly full.

- Nosepass was up next and i opted to let Ace stay out front. Once again i ordered a mega drain, as it was the only grass move we knew, however
the opponent was a tough one and barely seemed phased by the move, countering with a rock tomb. Thankfully Ace dodged the worst of it, only taking minor
damage. We switched tactics, opting to lower the enemies defense via a smooth leer attack. Once again nosepass threw a rock tomb at us and we took
a lot more damage than last time, thankfully though Ace was smart enough to eat it's oran berry and i ordered a follow up with yet another mega-drain.
However with the last rock tomb nosepass was now faster than us, as it seemed Ace had damaged a leg, HOWEVER he managed to get a critical hit which
knocked the gym leaders pokemon out, earning us a victory!

Roxanne handed us the Stone badge, which also gave us permission to Cut down small trees blocking our path, and she gave us the move Rock tomb aswell,
which was pretty generous of her.

Dice roll: 5 - lost susie

We returned to the pokemon center to rest up the team and celebrate Ace's hard earned gym victory, however, during examinations nurse joy informed me
that Susie was starting to look a little sick, which was pretty common for a pokemon of her age and that she recommended retiring her from her life of
battling. I was shocked to say the least. Professor Birch had warned me not to get too attached to my pokemon, but hearing about it and actually seeing
it happen before my eyes were two very different things. Susie had been a apart of the team for a mere two days and already her usually smooth damp
skin was showing signs of flaky age. I thanked Joy for her advice and immediately contacted Birch informing him about my findings and sending poor Susie
to him to be taking care of in her ailing health. Now i was even more determined than ever to find the source of this and a way to end it.

Hypothesis: battling itself does not necessarily lead to the depletion of a pokemon's quickened LP. If that had been the case surely it would have been Ace
who had suffered an early retirement, as he was my first.

---Trouble in Rustboro---

Spoiler:

Taught Butters the Cut HM, seeing as she was a normal type at least she could get a STAB out of it.

Our victory was overshadowed by our loss, even still, the next morning after a good nights rest and a check over of my other members, we left the
PC with our heads held high. We had a purpose, a mission and were determined to see it through. A replacement pokemon was now needed to fill the void left by
Susie. We had barely made it 5 steps when we stumbled upon a commotion but the Devon building. A familiar looking red outfit was fleeing the building with a
familiar looking researcher panting along behind him in protest. By all rights i should have turned away, i had my own mission to attend to, however i just couldn't
ignore someone in trouble either.

Turns out it WAS the same guy from the woods, he begged me to recover the Devon parts that the Team magma grunt had stolen. i agreed, seeing it as a good
opportunity to train and look for a new team member. It wasn't long before we found one: a young Skitty i named Neko, her playful attitude was good for
lifting our teams spirits.

We did some training along the route that the Magma grunt had escaped down (i soon learned from nearby workers that it was a dead-end so i had no fear
of the guy escaping). It was here that Ace evolved into a Grovyle. Once this was done the gang and i headed into Rusturf tunnel to retrieve the stolen
goods. The magma guy was pretty easy to beat, and it turns out he had stolen an old man's pokemon to use as a hostage on his way in. Thankfully we were
able to rescue it and return it to its owner, an old seafarer named Mr.Briney.

As a side note Peeko the wingull we saved seemed to be as old as Mr.Briney himself, and judging from some tales he told me, it seems unrelated to LP
strengthening my theory that LP is a recent problem emerging among newer hatched pokemon. Could there be something in the air? or something tapping into
their unhatched potentials using it for itself? the mystery only deepens.

After returning the parts to the Devon researcher i ended up getting dragged inside to meet the president. He thanked me for my aid, which was a little
embarrassing before asking em to deliver a letter for him as a favour. Dewford town was my next stop anyway so i agreed, and funnily enough Mr.Briney,
whom i had just helped, would be needed to cross the sea to get there, things were falling into place very nicely indeed.

TLDR: evolution, saved peeko, got parts back, asked to deliver a letter

Wow excellent post! I'm loving the story and the inventive reasoning behind having to swap out your pokemon! I really enjoyed reading your story, and I'm already looking forward to your next update! :D
Hope you're enjoying the challenge!

I'm just wondering, if I wanted to do this challenge in Moon then would I switch out a pokemon after each totem pokemon, or just after the Kahuna battles or swap a pokemon out after the totem battle and then another one after the Kahuna battle?

While I wait on this answer I'm gonna play through on Red.

I think if you're doing it in Sun/Moon there should be a swap after each Totem Pokemon AND after each Island Kahuna, which would mean there would be a total of 11 mandatory swaps in Sun/Moon instead of 8.
I'll add you to the list of people playing and put your game as Pokemon Red.
Cheers :)

 

[Sylvie]

Really enjoying this challenge so far, and im surprised with Dustox as a pokemon, i rarely use bugs but hes turning out to be a very decent addition to the team.
Badges:

Spoiler:

Ace lvl 32
Overgrow|Docile
Leaf Blade|Rock Smash|Mega Drain|Cut

Neko lvl 31
Normalize|Hardy
Attract|Tackle|Double Slap|Assist

Baxter lvl 32
Guts|Quirky
Brave Bird|Quick Guard|Quick Attack|Aerial Ace

Fred lvl 29
Shield Dust|Naive
Silver Wind|Psybeam|Poison Powder|Venoshock

Erin lvl 18
Levitate|Sassy
Sludge|Smokescreen|Assurance|Clear Smog

Prince lvl 5
Swift Swim|Adamant
Peck|Tail Whip|Water Sport|Supersonic

Retired:

Spoiler:

- Susie|Surskit lvl 11
- Butters|Zigzagoon lvl 16
- Flash|Electrike lvl 23
- Fang|Mightyena lvl 29

The journey:

Spoiler:

---Dewford Town---

Spoiler:

It was just a short trip across the sea to Dewford, took no more than an hour. upon landing i scouted the town but found it to be as quaint as Littleroot. Instantly
i started asking around for Steven, but when all i received were blank stares, instead i was directed to the local granite cave which is usually the hotspot for
tourists. Curious i went to investigate; inside i met a friendly hiker gave me the Flash TM and warned me about the darkness of the depths. However i was unable
to progress further in my hunt for Steven, as there was a queue of all things blocking the main entrance into the rest of the cave! Frustrated i left the cave and
turned my attention to some nearby trainers before settling on resting at the PC for the evening and challenging the gym. Perhaps i would have better luck finding
Stephen tomorrow.

I was surprised to learn that Brawly used fighting types though, i had honestly expected him to be a water type trainer you know, being surrounded by the ocean, on
the other hand it gave Ace a nice break and would allow Fred and Baxter time in the spotlight.

Team layout before Brawly:
1.Fred
2.Baxter
3.Ace
4.Fang
5.Butters
6.Neko
>>>>Battle with Brawly<<<<

Spoiler:

- I chose Fred as my lead, whereas Brawly led with a Machop. This should be relatively easy, since Fred knows both flying and psychic type moves. I start off with
a confusion attack, while super effective, it was nowhere near a 1HKO...maybe i should consider actually grinding? Regardless,Fred barely felt Machop's karate chop
and followed through with a gust attack, which KO'd the opponent.
- I allowed Fred to stay lead for Brawly's next pokemon: Makuhita, figuring he could use the exp more than his stronger comrade Baxter. This time i started with
poison powder, hoping to be tactical, but makuhita dodged the dangerous powder and bulked himself up for the fight. Abandoning said tactics i ordered another gust
attack, but makuhita was stronger than machop and it didnt even knock the sumo pokemon down half, Fred received sand in the face for his efforts, he struck out
blindly with a confusion attack and thankfully landed a devastating blow, earning us a victory!

We received the knuckle badge from brawley and the bulk up TM. that was nice of him. He also casually mentioned Steven visiting the Granite cave that there had
been a queue for yesterday. perhaps now i would have the opportunity to enter?

Dice roll: 5 (again?! D: ) lost Butters

Stopped by the PC to rest up the gang, when once again i was beckoned over by the nurse, once again i was offered sympathies from Joy as she noted that Butters
seemed to be developing arthritis in her front paws. I had noticed her limp earlier today but had clearly been in denial about what it could have meant. Once again
i sent off a report and my friend to Birch.

Note: There seemed to be no sure way to tell which pokemon would age the fastest out of a group. it seemed to be luck (or misfortune) of the draw.

With Butters gone and now no way to cut down small trees, i planned to teaching Neko the Cut HM atleast she could STAB with it. At least that had been my hopes,
however Neko wasn't very adept at learning the move, the only one who showed interest was Ace, so i decided to save re-teaching the move to someone until i needed
it We made our way to Granite cave, i had received an old fishing rod earlier and contemplated using it, but i'd heard many tales that most old rods were only
strong enough to reel in weak pokemon like magikarp, very rarely was it sturdy enough to haul anything off. Perhaps granite cave would have my replacement.

The way was clear this time and I found Steven, turns out those people had been queuing to see this mural of a raging ancient pokemon. As an apology for being
hard to find, Steven gave me the Steel wing Tm in return for the letter i had to deliver and told me a bit about the mural.

Perhaps LP is related somehow? no definite proof yet but its as valid as any other theory

I wasnt' too satisfied with the pokemon i found inside of Granite cave, and opted to find my 6th team member elsewhere. With my duty done, i returned to find Mr.Briney still faithfully waiting for me at the port. Though it turns out he had just received a message from me. Surprise surprise the Devon Boss wanted another favor from me. You give in once and people feel they can just walk all over you. He asked me to help take the Devon parts i rescued to Capt.Stern in Slateport, and feeling like i had little choice i agreed to go, after all i suppose i DID need to travel all over to discover the secrets of LP.

TLDR: beat brawly, lost butters, met Steven, asked to go to slateport

---Slateport City---

Spoiler:

There were a tonne of trainers looking to battle on slateport beach, including a few inside a shack. During this training session Fang evolved into a mightyena
which was pretty badass. On top of that as a reward for beating all of his customers, the shop owner gave me a handful of Soda pops. After exploring the
city, i headed straight out onto the next route to find another team member, where Baxter evolved into a Swellow, and i caught an electrike which i named Flash, lets
hope he turns into something promising!

Satisfied with my training and catch i finally head to Captain Stern's place, only to learn he wasn't home. His aide asked me to track him down at the museum and
deliver the parts to him in person. Honestly, the trouble i go through for people...to make matters worse, the receptionist has the nerve to charge me for entering.
I have to pay a whole 50 pokedollars to go make a delivery......

...Why was team magma here? This team isn't very subtle, like at all, their garish red suits are littering the lobby area, even the guy i beat back in Rustboro was
here though he threw a Thief TM at me in fear and fled upon seeing me. This doesnt bode well, i had to find Stern fast. I found him upstairs and thankfully it doesn't seem like Magma had made it up here yet. I made my delivery, but before i could warn the old man about Team magma, some of the grunts cornered us. They made great training for my team though their use of fire types like Numel reminded me i needed to find some water or ground type pokemon, or at the very least some TM's to help me counteract them.Typically, after beating the weaklings, someone who appeared to be their boss appeared. He introduced himself as Maxie with some backwards sort of compliment. I was starting to drift off through his long winded speech when something about increasing landmass grabbed my attention. Shortly after issuing a warning, Maxie and his grunts left.

Note: Was team magma trying to upset the natural balance of the world somehow? Could they somehow be the cause of LP? Requires further investigation

My task complete,I gave in and taught Ace the Cut HM before continuing on my adventure, training my team along route 110 as we went, where i encountered Brenden
again, we compared research notes and he informed me about his losses, his starter pokemon seemed to be looking good though. Perhaps rarer pokemon immune systems are made of stronger stuff? once done he gave me a dowsing machine and we went our separate ways.

TLDR: lots of evolution, caught electrike named flash, beat up team magma, made another delivery

---Mauville City---

Spoiler:

It was very strange entering a 'city' that had a roof. I also spotted Wally as i entered, well i guess Verdanturf isn't too far from here, his entire demeanor had
changed though, still pale looking but he seemed to have a lot more confidence than when i met him before, i overheard him talking about challenging the Mauville gym
too. Guessing his Ralts was doing okay too then. I got my bearings, and found my way to Rydell's cycle shop, if i could invest in a bike that could seriously
speed up my research. Rydell turned out to be a really generous guy though. A man with a real keen critical eye, as soon as i entered his store i felt his gaze on me.
He noted the state of my shoes (which i am embarrassed to admit were well-worn and filthy from the miles i had traveled and general lack of care.) and instantly
offered me a bike for free. I was baffled and humbly accepted a mach bike.

While looking for a PC i accidentally stumbled across Wally outside the gym, where he challenged me to a battle, i felt a bit bad about beating him but he still had
pretty far to go as a trainer before he was ready to take on a gym. Call it a learning curve. His ralts seemed to be very healthy though that was good. His uncle gave
me the Rock Smash TM as a thank you for being the kid's friend, score!

Before i actually challenged the gym though i trained and explored around the neighboring routes. Looks like i was going to need to consider getting myself a water
type pokemon soon, a lot of the way forward would require the use of surf...

Team layout before Wattson:
1.Neko
2.Ace
3.Flash
4.Fang
5.Baxter
6.Fred

Wattson was a master of electric types, it was probably going to take a lot of brute strength to take him down, since i lacked any ground or rock types - a hindsight
on my part really. I had faith in my team, though there was the niggling fear in the back of my mind. It HAD been a couple of days since our last loss and i was
noticing a trend over the last two gyms: even if the pokemon doesn't battle itself, the stress and excitement of a big league gym battle seemed to accelerate (or
possibly reveal - as i'm sure my party has the capacity to hide things from me) how far along with LP an individual really is.

>>>>Battle with Wattson<<<<

Spoiler:

- Wattson began with Magnemite, which instantly put a dent in my plan, as i had sent Neko to the front lines, hoping to make use of her attract abilities. Not to
worry though, a developing research assistant would need the knowledge and cunning to adapt to any situation. Magnemite was part steel type. steel had many weaknesses. I could use that. I ordered Neko to use a newly acquired Wake-up slap attack, it wasn't as effective as i had hoped (i had forgotten to factor in Neko's normalize ability) but it did decent damage.(it was also at this point i realized that my party was vastly over-leveled in comparison to Wattson's). Magnemite countered
with a thunderwave which effective paralyzed my hyper kitty. I attempted to follow up with a double slap however magnemite pulled out a volt switch.

- Voltorb took its place, also taking the double slap hit which did decent damage considering it lack any steel typing. I decided at this point Neko could use a
break, paralysis couldn't have been very pleasant. Fang took her place; unfortunately taking a volt switch hit too, which funnily enough brought magnemite back
into the frey. One quick bite finished it off, thankfully Fang was proud of its speed. I allowed him to remain in battle against the returning voltorb. One well placed
Assurance also made quick work of it. I allowed Fang a break and chose my next pokemon carefully for the final battle.

- It boiled down to Ace against Magneton and opened with Ace's strongest attack - leaf blade. It didn't do as much damage as i had hoped, and magneton smoothly hit
us with a supersonic. Gritting my teeth i ordered a fury cutter attack and crossed my fingers. Thankfully the attack connected but barely seemed the phase the
opponent, but on the other hand its magnet bomb barely hardly tickled Ace. my next command fell on deaf ears and Ace ended up seriously harming himself in his
confusion. I swapped Ace out, he was more harmful to himself than the opponent was. Fred took the stage, he flew out into a magnet bomb (seemed to be a favorite)
but the guy toughed it out. Fred turned out to be a good choice, his silver wind attack finished magneton off in one hit. I was growing prouder of my party with
every growing battle.

Wattson gave us the Dynamo badge, which also granted us permission to smash small rocks blocking our path. We also recieved the TM Volt switch, it had been a useful move back in the battle and i contemplated teaching it to Flash.

Dice roll: 3 Lost Flash (well there goes that plan)

I didn't even make it to the PC this time when i noticed something was wrong. I had allowed my team out of their pokeballs for the walk, partially to check on them
(casually of course though i think they were aware of what i was doing) and partially because they had all originally been wild and free and always being inside of a pokeball couldn't be good for ones health. Flash's breathing had become unsteady as he fell behind the group. I scooped up my newest team member worried, and burst into a run towards the PC. Of course i already knew it was LP. While i had the rest of my team checked over by the nurse i took poor flash over to the communication and transfer device. Another call to Birch was made, he too expressed concern over both my theories and the scary pace at which Flash had deteriorated. Birch and i agreed it was best to follow up my potential lead with Team magma. Perhaps they were planning on using one of the ancient pokemon to increase the landmass of the planet. In which case could the stirring of a super powerful pokemon be causing the in-balance? Was the Ancient beast perhaps draining the life force in order to revive itself? No now i was jumping to conclusions. This required an open mind and more research.

TLDR: went to mauville, beat wally got rock smash, beat wattson, lost Flash

---Team changes---

Spoiler:

I taught Fang the Rock Smash HM figuring i could make use of the license. I didn't have the heart to go back to find another electric type, i had to move forward in my search for constantly rotating replacements. First things first, i headed over to Verdanturf town to visit Wally (he was gone of course) and to use my new rock smash skill to help dig the tunnel to Rustburo. I had a vague memory of saving peeko on the other side of this tunnel, it didn't look like there was much digging left to do, so perhaps a pokemon...

Fang shattered the remaining rocks blocking the way, much to the relief of the star crossed lovers on either side of it. As thanks i received a mysterious stone.
I felt a strange aura from it, but could not yet figure out its purpose. I'd like to say i did the deed out of the kindness of my heart,but unfortunately it was
entirely selfish. A shortcut between Rustboro and Verdanturf would be extremely beneficial. Should my research provide any conclusive results time would most likely
be of the essence. With the shortcut created i headed back through Mauville town on my way to the next gym. They weren't completely unrelated to my research:
The gym challenge encouraged traveling, as certain badges came with licenses and merits that allowed lawful use of specified pokemon moves outside of a battle( which
obviously allowed me to advance through various terrain,) and on my journey i could keep my ear to the ground for rumors and clues, as well as study the younger
generation of pokemon: For now i was convinced it was the newer generation of pokemon that was being affected by LP.

I snuck past the trainers on route 112, i didn't have the heart to face them right now. LP was starting to grow on me, my focus right now was to find yet another 6th
team member, there was a high chance that should i find a suitable member, those trainers would be valuable experience for the newbie. I did bump into Brenden though, he gifted me with the Strength HM before we silently gazed up at the approaching volcano, Mt.Chimney. It looked...hot, but passing it would be necessary to reach the next town, not to mention i couldn't afford to NOT investigate any area. My assignment was too important, i had already experienced the pain of three losses,
there were surely many more trainers who were unfortunately starting to notice LP on every passing day, surely soon it would become a widespread worry.

I found a lead to follow while here. Team magma was disrupting the use of the lift that allowed one to ascend the volcano with ease. In my experience the gang were
never up to any good, i had to find a way to get up there and discover their plans. I headed into a cave in the side of Mt.chimney, perhaps there was an alternative
albeit more dangerous route up.

Note: it was inside here i found team member 6, a koffing i named Erin. My choice seemed illogical, i would have been better off preparing for the trials ahead,
however i was really starting to enjoy my role as researcher and i wondered if her poison typing made any difference towards LP. Fred was doing fine, so was it
to do with the typing? afterall poison itself can be deadly did it counteract anything at all? were young pokemon inhibited by something physical like say a virus
weakening them? was it something in the air? I know i have already voiced my suspicions but i wanted to know HOW. Was it indeed the manipulations of an unseen force in the world, or was it achieved more physically? something the human mind was better at comprehending.

After returning to mauville city for healing however, i really had it in my head that i wanted a water type pokemon for the trial ahead, especially knowing team
magma would be involved. Also lavaridge town my destination was situated next to a volcano, surely the gym leader there had to use fire types! I headed up to route 111 where i fished a baby goldeen, which i caught and named Prince. Unfortunately he was automatically sent to Birch's research lab as i already had 6
pokemon. i needed to go contact him before he thought Prince was my next LP victim!

Dice roll: 3 Lost Fang :( (aaw..Fang was one of my favorites... :( )

I explained the situation to Birch, he was happy to send me Prince back, but i was going to have to give him a member of my existing team. Torn i bit my lip and looked
over my party members, it was a big decision and they all had the right to be in on it, after all each and every one of them was my beloved partners, and with LP
around, trading in the wrong one could mean never seeing them again. Fang stepped forward, nudging me gently with his nuzzle when my heart broke into tiny little
pieces. He was volunteering. I spotted the faint graying on his snout, their was still that same spark in his eyes from when he was just a poochyena, but it had begun
to dull a little. Fang was volunteering because he felt LP taking effect, he was making the hard choice for me. I hugged my old friend for a very long time before
making the transfer. The gang and i felt the weight of LP for a long time once the trade had been made, and i realized i was going to need to teach someone else
Rock smash. Once again, only Ace was capable of mastering the move and i felt awful that i was limiting his moveset with my human incompetence.

TLDR: Made a shortcut,got Strength, caught Erin a koffing, caught Prince a goldeen, lost Fang.

 

[pansgaming]

Really enjoying this challenge so far, and im surprised with Dustox as a pokemon, i rarely use bugs but hes turning out to be a very decent addition to the team.
Badges: 3
Team:

Spoiler:

Ace|Grovyle lvl 32
Overgrow|Docile
Leaf Blade|Rock Smash|Mega Drain|Cut

Neko|Skitty lvl 31
Normalize|Hardy
Attract|Tackle|Double Slap|Assist

Baxter|Swellow lvl 32
Guts|Quirky
Brave Bird|Quick Guard|Quick Attack|Aerial Ace

Fred|Dustox lvl 29
Shield Dust|Naive
Silver Wind|Psybeam|Poison Powder|Venoshock

Erin|Koffing lvl 18
Levitate|Sassy
Sludge|Smokescreen|Assurance|Clear Smog

Prince|Goldeen lvl 5
Swift Swim|Adamant
Peck|Tail Whip|Water Sport|Supersonic

Retired:

Spoiler:

- Susie|Surskit lvl 11
- Butters|Zigzagoon lvl 16
- Flash|Electrike lvl 23
- Fang|Mightyena lvl 29

The journey:

Spoiler:

---Dewford Town---

Spoiler:

It was just a short trip across the sea to Dewford, took no more than an hour. upon landing i scouted the town but found it to be as quaint as Littleroot. Instantly
i started asking around for Steven, but when all i received were blank stares, instead i was directed to the local granite cave which is usually the hotspot for
tourists. Curious i went to investigate; inside i met a friendly hiker gave me the Flash TM and warned me about the darkness of the depths. However i was unable
to progress further in my hunt for Steven, as there was a queue of all things blocking the main entrance into the rest of the cave! Frustrated i left the cave and
turned my attention to some nearby trainers before settling on resting at the PC for the evening and challenging the gym. Perhaps i would have better luck finding
Stephen tomorrow.

I was surprised to learn that Brawly used fighting types though, i had honestly expected him to be a water type trainer you know, being surrounded by the ocean, on
the other hand it gave Ace a nice break and would allow Fred and Baxter time in the spotlight.

Team layout before Brawly:
1.Fred
2.Baxter
3.Ace
4.Fang
5.Butters
6.Neko
>>>>Battle with Brawly<<<<

Spoiler:

- I chose Fred as my lead, whereas Brawly led with a Machop. This should be relatively easy, since Fred knows both flying and psychic type moves. I start off with
a confusion attack, while super effective, it was nowhere near a 1HKO...maybe i should consider actually grinding? Regardless,Fred barely felt Machop's karate chop
and followed through with a gust attack, which KO'd the opponent.
- I allowed Fred to stay lead for Brawly's next pokemon: Makuhita, figuring he could use the exp more than his stronger comrade Baxter. This time i started with
poison powder, hoping to be tactical, but makuhita dodged the dangerous powder and bulked himself up for the fight. Abandoning said tactics i ordered another gust
attack, but makuhita was stronger than machop and it didnt even knock the sumo pokemon down half, Fred received sand in the face for his efforts, he struck out
blindly with a confusion attack and thankfully landed a devastating blow, earning us a victory!

We received the knuckle badge from brawley and the bulk up TM. that was nice of him. He also casually mentioned Steven visiting the Granite cave that there had
been a queue for yesterday. perhaps now i would have the opportunity to enter?

Dice roll: 5 (again?! D: ) lost Butters

Stopped by the PC to rest up the gang, when once again i was beckoned over by the nurse, once again i was offered sympathies from Joy as she noted that Butters
seemed to be developing arthritis in her front paws. I had noticed her limp earlier today but had clearly been in denial about what it could have meant. Once again
i sent off a report and my friend to Birch.

Note: There seemed to be no sure way to tell which pokemon would age the fastest out of a group. it seemed to be luck (or misfortune) of the draw.

With Butters gone and now no way to cut down small trees, i planned to teaching Neko the Cut HM atleast she could STAB with it. At least that had been my hopes,
however Neko wasn't very adept at learning the move, the only one who showed interest was Ace, so i decided to save re-teaching the move to someone until i needed
it We made our way to Granite cave, i had received an old fishing rod earlier and contemplated using it, but i'd heard many tales that most old rods were only
strong enough to reel in weak pokemon like magikarp, very rarely was it sturdy enough to haul anything off. Perhaps granite cave would have my replacement.

The way was clear this time and I found Steven, turns out those people had been queuing to see this mural of a raging ancient pokemon. As an apology for being
hard to find, Steven gave me the Steel wing Tm in return for the letter i had to deliver and told me a bit about the mural.

Perhaps LP is related somehow? no definite proof yet but its as valid as any other theory

I wasnt' too satisfied with the pokemon i found inside of Granite cave, and opted to find my 6th team member elsewhere. With my duty done, i returned to find Mr.Briney still faithfully waiting for me at the port. Though it turns out he had just received a message from me. Surprise surprise the Devon Boss wanted another favor from me. You give in once and people feel they can just walk all over you. He asked me to help take the Devon parts i rescued to Capt.Stern in Slateport, and feeling like i had little choice i agreed to go, after all i suppose i DID need to travel all over to discover the secrets of LP.

TLDR: beat brawly, lost butters, met Steven, asked to go to slateport

---Slateport City---

Spoiler:

There were a tonne of trainers looking to battle on slateport beach, including a few inside a shack. During this training session Fang evolved into a mightyena
which was pretty badass. On top of that as a reward for beating all of his customers, the shop owner gave me a handful of Soda pops. After exploring the
city, i headed straight out onto the next route to find another team member, where Baxter evolved into a Swellow, and i caught an electrike which i named Flash, lets
hope he turns into something promising!

Satisfied with my training and catch i finally head to Captain Stern's place, only to learn he wasn't home. His aide asked me to track him down at the museum and
deliver the parts to him in person. Honestly, the trouble i go through for people...to make matters worse, the receptionist has the nerve to charge me for entering.
I have to pay a whole 50 pokedollars to go make a delivery......

...Why was team magma here? This team isn't very subtle, like at all, their garish red suits are littering the lobby area, even the guy i beat back in Rustboro was
here though he threw a Thief TM at me in fear and fled upon seeing me. This doesnt bode well, i had to find Stern fast. I found him upstairs and thankfully it doesn't seem like Magma had made it up here yet. I made my delivery, but before i could warn the old man about Team magma, some of the grunts cornered us. They made great training for my team though their use of fire types like Numel reminded me i needed to find some water or ground type pokemon, or at the very least some TM's to help me counteract them.Typically, after beating the weaklings, someone who appeared to be their boss appeared. He introduced himself as Maxie with some backwards sort of compliment. I was starting to drift off through his long winded speech when something about increasing landmass grabbed my attention. Shortly after issuing a warning, Maxie and his grunts left.

Note: Was team magma trying to upset the natural balance of the world somehow? Could they somehow be the cause of LP? Requires further investigation

My task complete,I gave in and taught Ace the Cut HM before continuing on my adventure, training my team along route 110 as we went, where i encountered Brenden
again, we compared research notes and he informed me about his losses, his starter pokemon seemed to be looking good though. Perhaps rarer pokemon immune systems are made of stronger stuff? once done he gave me a dowsing machine and we went our separate ways.

TLDR: lots of evolution, caught electrike named flash, beat up team magma, made another delivery

---Mauville City---

Spoiler:

It was very strange entering a 'city' that had a roof. I also spotted Wally as i entered, well i guess Verdanturf isn't too far from here, his entire demeanor had
changed though, still pale looking but he seemed to have a lot more confidence than when i met him before, i overheard him talking about challenging the Mauville gym
too. Guessing his Ralts was doing okay too then. I got my bearings, and found my way to Rydell's cycle shop, if i could invest in a bike that could seriously
speed up my research. Rydell turned out to be a really generous guy though. A man with a real keen critical eye, as soon as i entered his store i felt his gaze on me.
He noted the state of my shoes (which i am embarrassed to admit were well-worn and filthy from the miles i had traveled and general lack of care.) and instantly
offered me a bike for free. I was baffled and humbly accepted a mach bike.

While looking for a PC i accidentally stumbled across Wally outside the gym, where he challenged me to a battle, i felt a bit bad about beating him but he still had
pretty far to go as a trainer before he was ready to take on a gym. Call it a learning curve. His ralts seemed to be very healthy though that was good. His uncle gave
me the Rock Smash TM as a thank you for being the kid's friend, score!

Before i actually challenged the gym though i trained and explored around the neighboring routes. Looks like i was going to need to consider getting myself a water
type pokemon soon, a lot of the way forward would require the use of surf...

Team layout before Wattson:
1.Neko
2.Ace
3.Flash
4.Fang
5.Baxter
6.Fred

Wattson was a master of electric types, it was probably going to take a lot of brute strength to take him down, since i lacked any ground or rock types - a hindsight
on my part really. I had faith in my team, though there was the niggling fear in the back of my mind. It HAD been a couple of days since our last loss and i was
noticing a trend over the last two gyms: even if the pokemon doesn't battle itself, the stress and excitement of a big league gym battle seemed to accelerate (or
possibly reveal - as i'm sure my party has the capacity to hide things from me) how far along with LP an individual really is.

>>>>Battle with Wattson<<<<

Spoiler:

- Wattson began with Magnemite, which instantly put a dent in my plan, as i had sent Neko to the front lines, hoping to make use of her attract abilities. Not to
worry though, a developing research assistant would need the knowledge and cunning to adapt to any situation. Magnemite was part steel type. steel had many weaknesses. I could use that. I ordered Neko to use a newly acquired Wake-up slap attack, it wasn't as effective as i had hoped (i had forgotten to factor in Neko's normalize ability) but it did decent damage.(it was also at this point i realized that my party was vastly over-leveled in comparison to Wattson's). Magnemite countered
with a thunderwave which effective paralyzed my hyper kitty. I attempted to follow up with a double slap however magnemite pulled out a volt switch.

- Voltorb took its place, also taking the double slap hit which did decent damage considering it lack any steel typing. I decided at this point Neko could use a
break, paralysis couldn't have been very pleasant. Fang took her place; unfortunately taking a volt switch hit too, which funnily enough brought magnemite back
into the frey. One quick bite finished it off, thankfully Fang was proud of its speed. I allowed him to remain in battle against the returning voltorb. One well placed
Assurance also made quick work of it. I allowed Fang a break and chose my next pokemon carefully for the final battle.

- It boiled down to Ace against Magneton and opened with Ace's strongest attack - leaf blade. It didn't do as much damage as i had hoped, and magneton smoothly hit
us with a supersonic. Gritting my teeth i ordered a fury cutter attack and crossed my fingers. Thankfully the attack connected but barely seemed the phase the
opponent, but on the other hand its magnet bomb barely hardly tickled Ace. my next command fell on deaf ears and Ace ended up seriously harming himself in his
confusion. I swapped Ace out, he was more harmful to himself than the opponent was. Fred took the stage, he flew out into a magnet bomb (seemed to be a favorite)
but the guy toughed it out. Fred turned out to be a good choice, his silver wind attack finished magneton off in one hit. I was growing prouder of my party with
every growing battle.

Wattson gave us the Dynamo badge, which also granted us permission to smash small rocks blocking our path. We also recieved the TM Volt switch, it had been a useful move back in the battle and i contemplated teaching it to Flash.

Dice roll: 3 Lost Flash (well there goes that plan)

I didn't even make it to the PC this time when i noticed something was wrong. I had allowed my team out of their pokeballs for the walk, partially to check on them
(casually of course though i think they were aware of what i was doing) and partially because they had all originally been wild and free and always being inside of a pokeball couldn't be good for ones health. Flash's breathing had become unsteady as he fell behind the group. I scooped up my newest team member worried, and burst into a run towards the PC. Of course i already knew it was LP. While i had the rest of my team checked over by the nurse i took poor flash over to the communication and transfer device. Another call to Birch was made, he too expressed concern over both my theories and the scary pace at which Flash had deteriorated. Birch and i agreed it was best to follow up my potential lead with Team magma. Perhaps they were planning on using one of the ancient pokemon to increase the landmass of the planet. In which case could the stirring of a super powerful pokemon be causing the in-balance? Was the Ancient beast perhaps draining the life force in order to revive itself? No now i was jumping to conclusions. This required an open mind and more research.

TLDR: went to mauville, beat wally got rock smash, beat wattson, lost Flash

---Team changes---

Spoiler:

I taught Fang the Rock Smash HM figuring i could make use of the license. I didn't have the heart to go back to find another electric type, i had to move forward in my search for constantly rotating replacements. First things first, i headed over to Verdanturf town to visit Wally (he was gone of course) and to use my new rock smash skill to help dig the tunnel to Rustburo. I had a vague memory of saving peeko on the other side of this tunnel, it didn't look like there was much digging left to do, so perhaps a pokemon...

Fang shattered the remaining rocks blocking the way, much to the relief of the star crossed lovers on either side of it. As thanks i received a mysterious stone.
I felt a strange aura from it, but could not yet figure out its purpose. I'd like to say i did the deed out of the kindness of my heart,but unfortunately it was
entirely selfish. A shortcut between Rustboro and Verdanturf would be extremely beneficial. Should my research provide any conclusive results time would most likely
be of the essence. With the shortcut created i headed back through Mauville town on my way to the next gym. They weren't completely unrelated to my research:
The gym challenge encouraged traveling, as certain badges came with licenses and merits that allowed lawful use of specified pokemon moves outside of a battle( which
obviously allowed me to advance through various terrain,) and on my journey i could keep my ear to the ground for rumors and clues, as well as study the younger
generation of pokemon: For now i was convinced it was the newer generation of pokemon that was being affected by LP.

I snuck past the trainers on route 112, i didn't have the heart to face them right now. LP was starting to grow on me, my focus right now was to find yet another 6th
team member, there was a high chance that should i find a suitable member, those trainers would be valuable experience for the newbie. I did bump into Brenden though, he gifted me with the Strength HM before we silently gazed up at the approaching volcano, Mt.Chimney. It looked...hot, but passing it would be necessary to reach the next town, not to mention i couldn't afford to NOT investigate any area. My assignment was too important, i had already experienced the pain of three losses,
there were surely many more trainers who were unfortunately starting to notice LP on every passing day, surely soon it would become a widespread worry.

I found a lead to follow while here. Team magma was disrupting the use of the lift that allowed one to ascend the volcano with ease. In my experience the gang were
never up to any good, i had to find a way to get up there and discover their plans. I headed into a cave in the side of Mt.chimney, perhaps there was an alternative
albeit more dangerous route up.

Note: it was inside here i found team member 6, a koffing i named Erin. My choice seemed illogical, i would have been better off preparing for the trials ahead,
however i was really starting to enjoy my role as researcher and i wondered if her poison typing made any difference towards LP. Fred was doing fine, so was it
to do with the typing? afterall poison itself can be deadly did it counteract anything at all? were young pokemon inhibited by something physical like say a virus
weakening them? was it something in the air? I know i have already voiced my suspicions but i wanted to know HOW. Was it indeed the manipulations of an unseen force in the world, or was it achieved more physically? something the human mind was better at comprehending.

After returning to mauville city for healing however, i really had it in my head that i wanted a water type pokemon for the trial ahead, especially knowing team
magma would be involved. Also lavaridge town my destination was situated next to a volcano, surely the gym leader there had to use fire types! I headed up to route 111 where i fished a baby goldeen, which i caught and named Prince. Unfortunately he was automatically sent to Birch's research lab as i already had 6
pokemon. i needed to go contact him before he thought Prince was my next LP victim!

Dice roll: 3 Lost Fang :( (aaw..Fang was one of my favorites... :( )

I explained the situation to Birch, he was happy to send me Prince back, but i was going to have to give him a member of my existing team. Torn i bit my lip and looked
over my party members, it was a big decision and they all had the right to be in on it, after all each and every one of them was my beloved partners, and with LP
around, trading in the wrong one could mean never seeing them again. Fang stepped forward, nudging me gently with his nuzzle when my heart broke into tiny little
pieces. He was volunteering. I spotted the faint graying on his snout, their was still that same spark in his eyes from when he was just a poochyena, but it had begun
to dull a little. Fang was volunteering because he felt LP taking effect, he was making the hard choice for me. I hugged my old friend for a very long time before
making the transfer. The gang and i felt the weight of LP for a long time once the trade had been made, and i realized i was going to need to teach someone else
Rock smash. Once again, only Ace was capable of mastering the move and i felt awful that i was limiting his moveset with my human incompetence.

TLDR: Made a shortcut,got Strength, caught Erin a koffing, caught Prince a goldeen, lost Fang.

I am loving the theory and the lore that you're adding to make the challenge more realistic. I'm really enjoying the story that you're building up, and I can't wait for the next update! :D

 

[Lrachelr5]

I think if you're doing it in Sun/Moon there should be a swap after each Totem Pokemon AND after each Island Kahuna, which would mean there would be a total of 11 mandatory swaps in Sun/Moon instead of 8.
I'll add you to the list of people playing and put your game as Pokemon Red.
Cheers :)

Okay in that case then can you add moon to my sign up?

 

[pansgaming]

Okay in that case then can you add moon to my sign up?

So you want to do Pokemon Red and Pokemon Moon?

 

[Lrachelr5]

So you want to do Pokemon Red and Pokemon Moon?

Yes

 

[Sylvie]

Shorter update this time (well, for me anyway)

#3
Badges:

Team:

Spoiler:

Ace lvl 38
Overgrow|Docile
Leaf Blade|Rock Smash|Dual Chop|Cut

Baxter lvl 39
Guts|Quirky
Brave Bird|Agility|Quick Attack|Aerial Ace

Fred lvl 36
Shield Dust|Naive
Bug Buzz|Psybeam|Toxic|Venoshock

Prince lvl 30
Swift Swim|Adamant
Peck|Horn Attack|Water Pulse|Aqua Ring

Mira lvl 31
Sand veil|Timid
Strength|Rollout|Slash|Magnitude

???
Recieved at Lavaridge town
It seems like it'll take a long time to hatch....

Retired:

Spoiler:

- Susie|Surskit lvl 11
- Butters|Zigzagoon lvl 16
- Flash|Electrike lvl 23
- Fang|Mightyena lvl 29
- Erin|Koffing lvl 23
- Neko|Skitty lvl 39

The Journey:

Spoiler:

---The Rescue---

Spoiler:

****Training montage.****

I wasn't going to get one. Honestly i wasn't, but just as i was leaving the ashen route of 113 a rarer sandshrew jumped out of the bushes. It looked much
stronger than the others i had seen on the route, at lvl 25 rather than 16, and also knew the rock climb move. How peculiar. i couldn't help myself, i engaged it in a
battle with Erin and caught myself Mira the sandshrew. And then had to return to town to retrieve it from professor Birch.

Dice roll: 1 Lost Erin

I didn't actually have as much difficulty decided on who to swap out this time, as i had been keeping a close eye on my new poison type and had noticed something...odd. A lot of the time she seemed to act as if... poisoned. I don't think she was aware of the cause, she just seemed confused (and i dont think she fully trusted me yet) but the occasional slowness she showed and paling of the skin suggested to me that she was in fact being attacked by her own toxins. Perhaps deadly poison would not protect against LP after all. Regardless, she would need to be seen by professionals, it was easy to forget i was still a child, Birch may be able to know more to help her, or at least enlist the aide of poison experts.

I stumbled into the hardy town of Fallarbor, completely flummoxed as i had forgotten it was here. turns out the path i had taken was not actually one to get me
up the volcano on foot, guess magma's plans would have to wait. Mira had evolved into a sandslash during our first trainer battle along the way which was exciting,
but she could do with a better move set, during her time in the wilds it seems she had forgotten some of her best moves, as i had fought weaker sandshrew than her who knew moves such as rollout and magnitude. I had a vague recollection of seeing an advertisement for a move tutor in mauville town and pulled out my map. These things always had some sort of guide section on them, and sure enough i soon found the move tutor listen under fallarbor town along with one professor Cozmo. Interesting,i think Brenden had been interested in some of that guys meteor research...

I headed off to find the move tutor: who strangely called himself a 'move maniac' but happily took two heart scales off of my hands to help Mira remember the two
aforementioned moves.Then i decided to pay professor Cozmo a visit since i was in town. His house was harder to find however, but i soon spotted Brenden in town, who began dragging me towards a house with very little explanation other than 'It's awful.' Turns out professor cozmo had just recently been kidnapped by team magma. Well now, that wouldn't do at all. Brendan and i set off in pursuit immediately, though Brendan was a lot faster than i and was soon miles a head. I didn't have great stamina or love for running...but i did have a bike. On the way i got jumped by some clueless trainer who couldn't see i was in a hurry, Ace and i swiftly dealt with
him which caused Ace to evolve into a Sceptile. I momentarily forgot i was in the middle of a chase to marvel at him, I never thought i'd see this moment, since
finding out about the Life-force Phenomena and being warned about not getting attached i had assumed i would have lost Ace a long time ago.

I finally made it to Meteor falls, where Brendan was already confronting two people from Team Magma. A man behind them who i assumed was professor Cozmo. Brendan and i teamed up to battle, though i can't say it went smoothly, we had only battled each other twice before and we didn't exactly spend a lot of time together so it was hard to battle as an effective team. Regardless we got the job done. However at the moment of defeat, when An admin named Tabitha was spilling the beans on the plan (something to do with the meteorite and energy combining from Mt.Chimney's volcano) we were interrupted by...pirates? Tabitha called them Team Aqua, stole the meteorite from Cozmo and fled the scene. The boss of the blue team, Archie apparently, warned me not to get in his way. His goal apparently was to stop team magma (so they were our allies?)and they aimed to create a pristine world for everyone survival (i think he said something along those lines but i had absolutely no idea what he meant). It was probably safer to consider both teams enemies for now.

---Mt.Chimney---

Spoiler:

After seeing Cozmo safely back to his home, Brendan and i decided to head down towards Mauville city together. Apparently he wanted to get the gym badge there.
I personally just wanted to head up to Mt.Chimney, clearly something nefarious was in the works up there and i had to get to the bottom of it. We parted ways
at the base of the mountain and i turned my attention to the cable car. there was no sign of magma, so whatever they were doing, it must be in effect.

When i finally reached the top (the car didn't travel all that fast,suppose it was meant to be scenic) i arrived to a battle ground. Aqua and Magma littered the top of
the volcano locked in battle. No one seemed to notice me, so i casually made my way over to the crater where i could see Maxie tinkering with a machine. My clothes
clung to my skin in an uncomfortably sticky fashion, how anyone else could stand the heat up here was beyond me.

Tabitha was the only one to block my path as i approached, but i beat them down as easily as we had back at meteor falls (i feel bad but i honestly cannot tell that
persons gender) It was not long before i was face to face with Maxie once more. He seemed impressed with me, but once again his compliments sounded backwards.
Regardless the 'education' he provided me was enlightening. There was indeed a super ancient pokemon trapped in a deep slumber. This pokemon had the power to
create landmass. Team magma was working towards waking it up 'for the good of everyone'. Idiots. Wasn't he aware of the effect his actions were having on the
delicate balance of the world? Had he not noticed the suffering that the pokemon around him were going through?No it couldn't be his fault, not directly. And no of
course Maxie had no clue because his head was so full of his own ideals he had become blind to the reality around him. Somehow that super ancient pokemon was aware that people were working towards waking it from its slumber. Somehow it was manipulating forces to help that happen through LP. This is the only conclusion i can reach, for other than the act of meddling with energies that he cannot possibly comprehend i do not see how Maxie himself could cause it.

We battled when i told him how stupid he was. Other than his camerupt being strong enough to nearly one shot Prince with a ground move, he wasn't all that tough.
Shortly after the battle however he received a phone call before happily handing me the meteorite as an apology!? I was baffled to say the least, was he just giving
up? That didn't seem to be the case, as Archie finally arrived after Maxie had left, cursing himself at his poor timing and letting it slip about some orbs that were
the 'real deal.' My mind raced, Maxie had mentioned Mt.Pyre, was that the location he was heading next? as for the orbs, had the meteorite just been a substitute he
was trying to create since he didn't know the location of the real items? What exactly could these orbs do and how were they connected to the ancient pokemon. I felt
dizzy, perhaps it was the heat. I should continue down to lavaridge town and rest at the PC, i could contemplate all this later.

---Lavaridge gym---

Spoiler:

Needless to say there was actually very little in lavaridge town, just a couple of houses, a PC, mart, hot spring and a gym, so after a good nights rest and a quick
summary of the information i had dug up from Mt.Chimney i headed off to fight Flannery, who was indeed a fire type trainer. Though she seriously needed a lesson in
being natural. She was stiff, loud and confused, clearly trying to be someone she wasn't.

Team layout for Flannery:
1. Prince
2. Baxter
3. Fred
4. Mira
5. Ace
6. Neko

>>>Flannery battle<<<
- Flannery began with Slugma, while i went for the obvious choice of Prince, afterall i had lost Fang for him. However i went for the safe choice and started with
aqua ring. Slugma had the same idea because it began with Sunny Day. slightly problematic as my next move water pulse barely did as much damage as it should have.
Infact Slugma's overheat dealt as much damage as i had, and considering the typings at play here, that was pretty worrying. I followed with a horn attack for a damage
comparison and found it to nearly knock Slugma down, interesting, though the physical contact did result in Prince recieving a nasty burn to the face. Still,
Flannery was now on the defensive, ordering a light screen before administering a hyper potion. Thanks to its burn and the sunny weather Prince might as well have
been watering the grass with its next water pulse. It was time to switch tactics.

- I sent Mira in, unfortunately she took the hit of an overheat before her feet had touched the battleground floor. Thankfully however, she brushed it off with only
minor damage and the offending sunlight disappeared also. Mira turned the battle around in an instant. The magnitude move that i had her remember worked wonders,
knocking Slugma out for the count instantly.

- Torkoal was our next opponant, and i decided to keep Mira in play, opting for a slash attack as i didn't want to be a one-trick ponyta. Unfortunately Mira's claws
slid harmlessly off of torkoal's tough shell and the enemy once again summoned forth a blinding sunlight. Fine, magnitude it was. It seems Mira was as frustrated
by the failed slash as i was, as the enxt magnitude she pulled out was the strongest one i had ever felt. Torkoal was crippled in an instant.

- I let Mira take a break, and allowed Baxter to take the field, which was a good thing too as we were up against a numel, they could leanr a good variety of
ground type moves and you didnt have to be weak to it to feel its devastation. The sun was still shining, and i hoped it wouldnt dazzle Baxter too much.I wanted to
hit hard and fast, so i ordered a Brave bird. It did the job, Baxter being skilled enough to have sussed out the best way to reduce the recoil. He seemed proud of
himself when numel toppled over behind him, and Flannery hung her head in defeat.

It seems Flannery realised the error of her ways through the battle. Good for her. We recieved the Heat badge and with it the License that allowed the use of
Strength outside of battle. Guess i should get on with teaching that HM to Mira. She also gifted us with Overheat, but since i lacked a fire-type there wasnt
much i could do with it.

Dice roll: 6 Lost Neko (honestly panicked a little because i couldnt remember if Ace was 5 or 6, obviously i love my little kitty but losing the starter will be a
sad day)

I knew what to expect, the PC was just opposite from the gym and i went there straight away to have my team examined.The nurse looked a little tired, possibly from
the weight of bad news, and i had an inkling she'd been giving out a lot of it these last few days. It didn't surprise me at all that the pokemon nurses were one of
the first to notice the phenomena. It was Neko this time, and i was surprised by the lack of surprise i felt at the revelation. I suspected if Fang were still with me,
it would have been him who i'd be sending to Birch now. Thinking back over the past four gym battles, the team that i had lost had all been members who hadn't
actually partaken in the battle itself, perhaps battling was a way to counter LP? Halting the theft of life as you greedily snatch up all your energy for yourself
to perform your very best, there was no way to ever know the answer to that one. I contemplated telling Nurse joy the truth about what was going on bit quickly
decided against it. The information wasn't mine to share, maybe if i gave Birch the compilation of all my findings so far he could hold a press conference or
something.

Brendan Entered the PC just as i had finished sending Neko to Birch, he spotted me straight away as he approached and looked concerned but didn't ask any questions, i guess i couldn't hide my down expression fast enough. Instead he lightheartedly asked what i got up to after we separated, expressing both worry and surprise over learning that i had gone off to fight Team magma after he left. After spotting my new badge he gave me a pair of goggles, stating that the desert
nearby was a good place to catch new pokemon. After he casually asked if i was going to Petalburg to challenge my dad, and if i was, would we like to go together?
Good kid that Brendan, trying to help me out in his own way. Challenging my dad though, that wouldn't be such a bad idea.

I briefly contemplated visiting the desert, though i reckoned it would mostly be full of ground and rock types, not that it was a bad thing, but already had a ground
type in my party and i didn't want to unbalance the team. While contemplating where to find my next party member i was approached by an elderly woman who asked if i would care for an egg she had found. Apparently she had hoped the hot spring mud baths would be appropriate enough to hatch it, but turns out it wasnt the case. She suspected it would need the touch of a loving trainer and her party. I looked down at the egg in her hands and contemplated for a while. I had just lost Neko to LP,
her life would be ending soon surely, but in its place, a brand new life would spring. Despite LP the world kept trying, and perhaps i could study the baby from the
get go, see how it's affected. After a short deliberation i accepted the egg, whatever was inside, it would become member 6.