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[Event] Secret Delibird Challenge (Complete)

Secret Delibird in Kalos (Y edition)
Base CSS by Aquacorde

|| Chapter 6 || || Proof of Journey || || Party ||
  • Chapter 6: Scary dollhouse (?)

    Just when I was going to head for Laverre, Serena ambushed me again. Same deal with last time but her Quilladin is now a Chesnaught. Corrin tested her Shadow Ball against Meowstic's Light Screen, Shez's Fury Cutter did much better on the Absol than any fighting-type moves Kris ever had, and Byleth Plucked the heck out of the Quilladin Chesnaught with the help of Robin's Toxic beforehand. And with that out of the way, Kiran was then dragged to the scary house by the rest of the gang (Serena left before Shauna and co. could drag her along).

    One dollhouse and four Furisode Girls later, Kiran met the one who'd designed the latter's outfits -- the fairy-type gym leader, Valerie. She led with a Mawile which could be hard for Robin to deal with (and Salandit line wasn't a thing until gen 7). Instead, it was Kris's Mud Shot which made a short work of the Deceiver Pokemon. The half psychic-type Mr. Mime was somewhat annoying with their Light Screen but otherwise manageable thanks to Corrin spamming Shadow Balls. And then the fairy-type Eeveelution (that is, Sylveon) was proven to be no match for Robin -- never mind that he's the only mon who hasn't evolved yet at this point.
  • Proof of Journey

    [PokeCommunity.com] Secret Delibird Challenge (Complete)
  • Current Party

    [PokeCommunity.com] Secret Delibird Challenge (Complete)


    Spoiler: Kris (Diggersby)

    Spoiler: Robin (Skrelp)

    Spoiler: Corrin (Drifblim)

    Spoiler: Byleth (Malamar)

    Spoiler: Shez (Barbaracle)

    Spoiler: Alear (Dedenne)


    PS: Names on the spoiler titles are the mons' in-game names and the namesakes' genders depend on the mons.

 
Update for Badge #6

After receiving the Balance Badge, HM03, and the Amulet Coin, I did a bunch of side quests before heading east to Route 118. This included the "New Mauville" side quest where I got the "Thunderbolt" TM for Bulma the Gardevoir and the first half of the Abandoned Ship side quest where I obtained the "Ice Beam" TM for Yamcha the Lombre. This took a bit longer than you might expect, and I didn't explore everywhere (eg, I didn't go the northwest portion of Hoenn where you can get the TM for Focus Punch).

So most of this was smooth sailing, but Bulma the Gardevoir was starting to run low on PP for Psychic and Thunderbolt by the time I arrived at the Weather Instittute. Thanks goodness for that "full party heal" in the bed at the start of that dungeon. I beat Team Aqua, and then I beat Rival May, and then I arrived at Fortree. I'm starting to really like Double Battles at this point. I traveled south to obtain the Devon Scope from Steven, which is ... honestly so weird cuz he's not champion in this game. I didn't go far south enough to where the rain stops, but I did go pretty far through the rainy weather before challenging Winona.

I finally headed into the Fortree City Gym with my entire team at Lv 33 except my Lv 36 Gardevoir. For most of the gym trainer battles, I was using Gardevoir (with the occassional Lombre and Graveler during double battles), but I said "Man, forget it" and challenged Winona without healing my party.

Bulma the Gardevoir used Calm Mind and Winona's Swablu used Mirror Move which failed. Bulma used another Calm Mind, and foe Swablu used Perish Song. So I quickly annihilated Swablu and Tropius with Psychic, then I thought, "Oh, I'm playing on Shift mode. I can recall Gardevoir right before her Perish Count reaches zero," and then, Pellipper used Protect which blocked my Thunderbolt, and I was like "F*** you! You f***ing d***! Always naysaying! Everything I create! Ya piece of--" and Bulma the Gardevoir fainted. I sent in Tenshinhan the Graveler, which was promptly one-shot by Water Gun. (I'll evolve him in Lilycove, I swear!) Pelipper isn't weak to Ice Beam, so I had to send in Krillin the Gyarados instead of Yamcha the Lombre. "Gyarados, I command you to break this thing's legs!" So Gyarados broke its legs with Return and Dragon Rage. With Skarmory, Return didn't do so well, so I started using Dragon Rage, and I had to break out the healing items for Gyarados. I wanted to prove I could do it without using a Revive. Krillin eventually brought down Skarmory with Dragon Rage, which only left Winona's illegal Lv 33 Altaria. Gyarados used Dragon Rage, and Altaria used Dragon Dance, but it wasn't enough to two-shot, so I used Return, which accidentally knocked it into the red before another Dragon Dance. "Please don't heal," I said, but thankfully, it had an Oran berry, so I finished the Altaria off with Return. Whew, that was ... a little tougher than I thought. I'm glad I haven't lost a single battle so far.

Yeah, that's six badges down. There's a lot of battles to cover in the next two updates, and then there's the Elite Four and Champion. Thank you reading. See you next time.
 
Pokemon Black
Secret Delibird - Rich Boy Noël
Update 3 (Pinwheel Forest -> Castelia Gym)

This update took longer to get to than I was hoping, since I was busy with the holidays, even though it's a comparatively short update. I made my way through Pinwheel Forest, into Castelia, also taking a detour in Route 4 to train. Staryu evolved into Starmie as soon as I got the Water Stone, and learned Grass Knot via TM. I considered leaving it be to learn Cosmic Power and Power Gem, but both moves come too late to be of use in this challenge, BW1's level curve being what it is. Staravia also learned Endeavor, and Gliscor learned Fury Cutter and Attract. Last, everyone now has a held item, though Gliscor will end up having her item removed when she eventually learns Acrobatics.

Burgh's gym battle was quite easy, given my type advantages. Staravia easily 2HKOed Whirlipede, and nearly took Dwebble down before being KOed by Smack Down. Combusken then dealt a finishing blow to Dwebble, then 2HKOed Leavanny to win me my third Gym Badge. Only five more badges to go, and I'll have more time for them in the following weeks than I did this past week.

Burgh Battle Log
Spoiler:

Team
Spoiler:
 
Secret Delibird in Kalos (Y edition)
Base CSS by Aquacorde

|| Chapter 7 || || Proof of Journey || || Party ||
  • Chapter 7: Of Factories and Psychics

    Fast forward to-- nevermind, Kiran got sidetracked, this time by more Team Flare shenanigans. Against Bryony and Celosia in the Pokeball Factory, Kris pretty much trivialized the fight against their Liepard and Manectric with Serena's help. Then in the Frost Cavern, north of Dendemille, suffice to say that Robin had a field day with Mable's Houndoom. And oh, did I say that Robin evolved while traversing the Frost Cavern, sometime before fighting blunette admin scientist?

    Once I made it to Anistar, I randomly checked out what type my mons' Hidden Power would be:
    • Kris: Electric
    • Robin: Water
    • Corrin: Electric
    • Byleth: Grass
    • Shez: Bug
    • Alear: Electric
    ...not as varying as I thought as there are three Electric-type Hidden Power in my party. Noted.

    I also took my time to see the sundial while at it. Come there between 8 and 9 PM and you'll get to see this:

    [PokeCommunity.com] Secret Delibird Challenge (Complete)


    Beautiful, right?

    Anyway, if I had a nickel for every time Serena ambushed me in front of a gym, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. In this case, we started the duel with Meowstic and Corrin, as usual. Color me surprised when her Meowstic ditched Light Screen for Shadow Ball, though the psychic kitty was still no match for Corrin's Shadow Ball crit. Then, instead of Shez's X-Scissor (or was it Fury Cutter?), Byleth's Superpower OHKO'd Serena's Absol. She then sent out her... Vaporeon? A new party member, I see? Too bad Alear's two rounds of Thunderbolt downed the Eeveelution big time. And against her starter, Robin's type change from Water to Dragon allowed him to hold nothing back with a Sludge Bomb.

    Speaking of gyms, Anistar Gym revolves around psy powers. Its leader, Olympia, had Sigilyph, Slowking, and Meowstic in her arsenal. Even though there were better alternatives, Kris practically brute-forced her way through the Sigilyph with her Super Fang and finished off with a critical Return. Alear's ever-reliable Thunderbolt did so well against Olympia's Slowking and I also had a Chesto ready on him in case of Yawn. And against her ace, I was going to have Shez alternate between Night Slash and X-Scissor, but the former was already more than enough to OHKO the Meowstic. So yeah, that's one Psychic Badge for Kiran.
  • Proof of Journey

    [PokeCommunity.com] Secret Delibird Challenge (Complete)
  • Current Party

    [PokeCommunity.com] Secret Delibird Challenge (Complete)


    Spoiler: Kris (Diggersby)

    Spoiler: Robin (Dragalge)

    Spoiler: Corrin (Drifblim)

    Spoiler: Byleth (Malamar)

    Spoiler: Shez (Barbaracle)

    Spoiler: Alear (Dedenne)


    PS: Names on the spoiler titles are the mons' in-game names and the namesakes' genders depend on the mons.

 
Update for Gym Badge No. 7:

I'm not going to do a full recap because I actually don't think much of anything challenged me until the dual Gym Leaders Tate & Liza of Mossdeep. Yes, they were tough, but before that, I was just breezing through the game. I forgot to teach Shadow Ball to my Mightyena, and I didn't even notice until after I'd finished off Tate & Liza. I did finally let Tenshinhan the Graveler evolve into Golem once I got to Lilycove. Oh, right! There were a few Wobuffet in this section, and it really bothered me that the devs gave this thing Shadow Tag and Destiny Bond.

Before I get into the gym battle, let me introduce the team:

Bulma the Gardevoir | Level 43| Ability: Trace | Held Item: Amulet Coin | Nature: Relaxed | Psychic (with 16 PP thanks to a PP Max), Thunderbolt, Calm Mind, Teleport

Shu the Mighyena | Level 40 | Ability: Intimidate | Held Item: Blackglasses | Nature: Quirky | Secret Power, Take Down, Hidden Power Poison, Bite

Yamcha the Lombre | Level 39 | Ability: Rain Dish | Held Item: Mystic Water | Nature: Quirky | Giga Drain, Ice Beam, Surf, Secret Power

Tenshinhan the Golem | Level 38 | Ability: Sturdy | Held Item: Soft Sand | Nature: Lax | Rock Tomb, Rock Throw, Secret Power, Magnitude

Krillin the Gyarados | Level 38 | Ability: Intimidate | Held Item: Silk Scarf | Nature: Serious | Return, Bite, Dragon Rage, Surf

The battle starts. Tate & Liza sent out Claydol and Xatu, and I sent out Golem & Mightyena. Mightyena's Intimidate cut Claydol's attack (and Xatu's too I guess). I decided to take care of of Xatu first since I didn't want it to set up, but alas, I failed to handle either Pokemon in this early game. Xatu survived with a few HP and healed with a Hyper Potion TWICE, and I kept having to heal from Earthquake. Xatu used a critical hit Psychic on Golem, and I had to send out Gardevoir who--Oh! Oh, thank my stars!--traced Claydol's Levitate. I finally was about to K.O. the Xatu, then Xatu set up Sunny Day just before it was knocked out, and I'm like "Oh, boy..." Bulma's Thunderbolt beat Xatu, and then Solrock got sent out. The Earthquake did some damage to Mightyena, but it wasn't too bad (possibly a low damage roll looking at the footage now), then Mightyena used Bite against Solrock knocking its HP just barely into the Yellow. I probably could've healed Mightyena (in the red) on Gardevoir's "turn" and then used Mightyena's Bite to finish the job against Solrock, but I stopped using Mightyena's bite around here. After Solrock healed with its Sitris Berry, I was really feeling the pressure put against me by the Solrock in harsh sunlight. I used a Lemonade on Mightyena's turn (which I instantly regretted when it went back to 86/116 HP instead of full health), and had Gardevoir use Calm Mind (since it was immune to the threat of Claydol's Earthquake spam). Claydol used Earthquake, and Solrock hit Mightyena hard with Solar Beam, but Mightyena tanked it. I healed Mightyena with a Hyper Potion. Gardevoir hit Solrock with Thunderbolt which ... Solrock barely survived with enough HP to continue fighting. (This is really bugging me!) Then Claydol used Earthquake, and Solrock used Flamethrower on Mightyena. I did the exact same thing again, but the Gym Leaders used a Hyper Potion on Solrock, so Solrock survived with about a third of its health, and Claydol used Earthquake. This time, Mightyena had some actual HP, so I selected Thunderbolt on Solrock, and Bite on Claydol. Bulma finally knocked out Solrock! So Lunatone was sent out because of course they coded it that way (in comparison to a real Double Battle). Claydol's Earthquake knocked out Mightyena with a critical hit this time, so I sent out Gyarados with its Intimidate. Gyarados hit Claydol with Return for 1/3 of its HP, and Gardevoir hit Lunatone with Thunderbolt which knocked it down to (I don't know) 45% of its HP. Claydol used Earthquake, and it's at this point that the A.I. realizes Earthquake isn't doing anything (since all Pokemon on the field are immune to ground-type moves.) Lunatone used Calm Mind and ate an Sitrus Berry. It's back to 3/4 HP. I use Gyarados's Dragon Rage on Claydol (guaranteed 40 HP), and finish it off with Thunderbolt. Did Claydol seriously outlive both Tate's ace and Liza's ace?! Bulma grew to Level 43, and Claydol used Light Screen. Gardevoir uses another Calm Mind, and Gyarados attacks with Return. Claydol has about 20% HP now. Claydol used Psychic on Gyarados, but it doesn't do much. Gardevoir uses Calm Mind, and Gyarados finally knocks out Tate & Liza's Claydol with Return. I was pretty stoked winning this battle first try! I'm hoping to make it to Victory Road undefeated!

Next time! Archie & Maxie starts the apocalypse (for some reason...)
 
Eleanor's Secret Delibird Challenge - Part 5

Noelle - Pokémon Platinum
Assigned team: Empoleon, Yanmega, Gallade, Rhyperior, Houndoom, Rotom

Final update incoming!

I have played the Mt. Coronet arc and got up to Sunyshore right after beating Candice, but then the Christmas holidays and the new year arrived and I spent quite a while not playing. The whole Galactic base and Mt. Coronet arc was challenging but not overly so, until I got to the last Cyrus fight in the distortion world. I really have to thank Fischl for getting through this fight and especially Cyrus's various Flying-types... and Xinyan as well for the help against the various Bronzor used by the Galactic grunts and admins.

As usual, this is the part of the game where I start to get hopelessly, irreversibly, underleveled. Volkner was still doable even with most of my team around lv. 43 - Chiori, now Rhydon, is quite comfortable surviving for many turns against Volkner's Pokémon and using Strength to counter. But that was just a matter of having a good match up. The game still lets you progress without many issues by virtue of things like items in battle (which are undeniably broken), of course, but without them I would have absolutely needed to spend some hours grinding away, surely. So... that's something to keep in mind, because it will change my playstyle a lot!

Victory Road was still manageable, there's no fight that made me particularly worried, but I would often need to revive a Pokémon or two after each trainer. Playing at a level disadvantage means that every hit you receive is that much stronger and that you likely need to go on the offensive before your opponent can accumulate too much damage on your team (or, you know, force you into using Revival Herbs over and over again).

My Rival, who I actually did nickname "Nolan" because, well, it was in the list of suggested names at the start of the game and sounded similar to Noelle, was not an issue because by the end of Victory Road my team was quite close in level to his own... and because I had a pretty good answer for every Pokémon on his team. Aaron was relatively similar, with Baizhu and Xinyan doing most of the work. Bertha got scary after a bit, because of Sandstorm powering up her Rhyperior, but Eula saved the day by barely surviving a whole bunch of Earth-type attacks and retaliating with Surf (I did use quite a few healing items though).

Flint was relatively easy as long as I was mindful of Solar Beam (on Rapidash and Magmortar) and of Sunny Day. I wasn't, actually, and paid the price in various Flare Blitz and Solar Beam KOs, but nothing I could recover from by spamming items from the bag. Chiori - who I evolved into Rhyperior at the start of the League - was the mvp in this case, and had a nice advantage over Eula (that is, the harsh sun did not halve the power of its super-effective STAB moves). Lucian was heading in a similar direction, but... I actually had to try this fight twice since the first attempt ended up in a kind of dead end situation where I could not really do much besides using items. The second try was still very hard because, like I said, the level disadvantage (which was getting very big now) made my Pokémon so frail... but I managed. Kazuha got some action, Fischl once again saved me, and Xinyan was able to help me out against the otherwise very hard to beat Bronzong (despite said Bronzong having Earthquake).

Cynthia was... interesting. Spiritomb switched out at one point while I had Xinyan on the field, and in came Lucario. I hoped Kazuha could do something, but the level came back to bite me as he could not finish off his opponent. Fischl did, only to be surprise-killed by Mirror Coat from Milotic after a survived Thunderbolt (that was pretty annoying). That was handled by Baizhu and the revived Fischl anyways, and Togekiss was too, although that required quite a lot of turns where I used Revival Herbs and such. Garchomp was Cynthia's fifth Pokémon... but I am proud to say that going for Rotom-Frost and using Blizzard did work as I expected and let me defeat the Champion's ace in one hit. Roserade, at that point, was very easy to deal with thanks to Baizhu.

I'm not sure if this is how the game is intended to be played or what. If you only stick to beating trainers and rush through the game, your team's levels appear to be very unlikely to go above the 55 mark the moment you enter the League... but Cynthia's ace is a level 62 Garchomp! Are you meant to heal-spam your way through the League? Are you meant to grind no matter what? Are you meant to find some special kind of strategy or train your Pokémon in specific ways? What's the deal? I admit that my Pokémon's movesets were not that thought out and I did not utilize any specific strategy - I just went with more straightforward offensive sets with some utility - but hey, I can definitely tell there was a big improvement over my ten-year old self playing through this game - her first Pokémon game ever - for the very first time :)

Team after Hall of Fame:
Eula - Empoleon ♀ - lv. 48 - Torrent
Surf, Ice Beam, Earthquake, Flash Cannon
Fischl - Rotom (Frost) - lv. 51 - Levitate
Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Blizzard, Substitute
Kazuha - Gallade ♂ - lv. 47 - Steadfast
Drain Punch, Psycho Cut, Swords Dance, Night Slash
Xinyan - Houndoom ♀ - lv. 46 - Early Bird
Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Roar, Thunder Fang
Chiori - Rhyperior ♀ - lv. 49 - Lightningrod
Stone Edge, Earthquake, Hammer Arm, Stealth Rock
Baizhu - Yanmega ♂ - lv. 55 - Speed Boost
Air Slash, Silver Wind, Detect, Giga Drain



Team thoughts and scores:
:empoleon:
Eula - Empoleon - 7.5/10
Starting from the negatives... the level up moveset. Baaaad. Torterra and Infernape get some very good moves by leveling up (that lv. 32 Earthquake, just saying...) but Empoleon gets comparatively so little. The Water-type moves in her movepool are decent and there was a point in the game where Bubble Beam was the best thing ever but then even that becomes redundant because of Surf. As for moves of other types... they're physical, mostly, despite Empoleon having a better Special Attack. Another important negative, at least in my opinion, is that Empoleon, a Water-type that usually checks the large amount of Ground and Rock-type Pokémon in the game... is actually weak to Ground. And that it added a Fighting weakness in this team, too. That said... we are still talking about a reliable, dependable Pokémon, with very well-rounded stats, and that is useful since the very start (at least because the first gym in this game is Roark). And hey, I like the Piplup line <3
:rotom:
Fischl - Rotom - 8/10
This was a Pokémon I had barely used before and I have been quite happy with the choice, even if in this generation the type does not change with its form and all that. It fit quite well in the team, came in useful in many different fights (plus I like having Electric-types around!), and was often the one Pokémon in the team that could turn things around for the better. Unfortunately there is one thing to point out... a bad level up moveset once again. Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt via TM, Discharge at level 50, and really... not that many moves to begin with!
:gallade:
Kazuha - Gallade - 6.5/10
Gallade was quite good at one specific point in the game, near the seventh badge. Fully evolved before level 30, good attack, useful STAB moves... but unfortunately I have had some trouble getting the most out of this Pokémon and I felt like he was already falling off near the endgame. It was just not bulky nor fast enough to stand out. I feel like this Pokémon simply does not fit the "underleveled rush" kind of gameplay, so I'm willing to be more lenient on him and blame the trainer instead (that's me!) but... even then, if there is one Pokémon in this team that I'd have to rank last, it may as well end up being Kazuha.
:rhyperior:
Chiori - Rhyperior - 8/10
I have been babysitting this Pokémon for quite a while as Rhyhorn but even before evolving, Chiori was showing up here and there to prove her worth. Even if all she could use was Rock Blast and Stomp. And then, as a Rhydon and Rhyperior, she impressed me by dealing and taking hits that the rest of the team could not handle. I could almost describe her as the linchpin of my team, at least defensively... as long as I could get her out of trouble - that is, strong Special hits or the ubiquitous super-effective moves. I did use this Pokémon just a few months ago in Pokémon Y, with a better moveset and all, and in that case, Rhyperior was a bit more reliable, but I did see parts of that in Chiori as well. As a note, I probably played it badly by not immediately using the (readily accessible, in Platinum) Earthquake TM on Chiori and waiting until level 49 for Earthquake via level up. I usually tend to be conservative with one-use TMs and I'm not too happy if I'm using a TM on a Pokémon that could learn that same move via other methods, though...
:yanmega:
Baizhu - Yanmega - 7.5/10
Yanmega was actually one of the Pokémon I decided to use in an old Flying monotype challenge I did on Pokémon Platinum, even before joining PC. It was a very mixed bag back then and it still is now: I have had to babysit this Pokémon as well, as a Yanma, and even as Yanmega, I had the usual problem of not getting nice level up moves until extremely late. Air Slash at level 54, Bug Buzz even later, having to use Silver Wind and Giga Drain TMs... not good. The weakness to Rock got me in trouble a few times, the base 56 Special Defense was not great either. But Baizhu definitely has the potential to be very strong. And most importantly, he had an ace up his sleeve that really made the team more interesting and maybe less straightforward, that combination of Detect and Speed Boost. I have to say, Yanmega was quite the unique choice in the team and I appreciate that.
:houndoom:
Xinyan - Houndoom - 7.5/10
This is another Pokémon I had used a long time ago, but never had the chance to pick up again. I found Xinyan reliable, straightforward to utilize, and definitely helpful against the various Steel-types in the game. It was interesting to see how she could also go head to head with Cynthia's Spiritomb, as well. In this case my complaint would be that weakness to Fighting and 50 base Defense which... I should have been more careful of. I also feel like, in general, I did not end up using Xinyan that often outside of the battles where I knew she could do well.

Total points (wow, that's a boring way to give scores): 45

I'm really not sure who my Secret Delibird could be, in fact, it could be nearly anyone! I have to say the team feels somewhat safe, it includes very limited "use cases" for PKHex, it only has Pokémon I can already find in Pokémon Platinum, it has one of the starters, and it feels quite balanced even in terms of playstyle. There are some unique choices but - at least from what I know - there are no specific Pokémon that need to be played in certain ways or even being "gimmicky" (think Shuckle). I have a slight feeling this team could be Celèste1's and... well, guess I'll lock that in ♥
 
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I don't know what to post for this update. I kind of hated wandering around southeastern Hoenn because I'm expected to know where the Sky Pillar is. I beat Juan which was... not really an issue except for the Luvdisc confusing my Gardevoir on turn 1 (not that it ended up mattering) and the Kingdra, but even the Kingdra didn't put up much of a fight despite it being faster than my Level 45 Gardevoir. I used one Calm Mind and knocked Kingdra to low health with Psychic, then I used another Calm Mind on the turn where Juan healed his Kingdra, then I started spamming Psychic until it broke through the evasion-raise spam (was it Double Team?) Now I gotta go find a Bagon at Meteor Falls.
 
Pokemon Black
Secret Delibird - Rich Boy Noël
Update 4 (Castelia Gate -> Nimbasa Gym)

It's been too long since my last update, so I'm back with another Gym Badge. No new evolutions this time, but I have a lot of new moves. First off, my entire team learned Return, since it's a strong Normal-type move, even though I don't have any plans to keep it on anyone's final moveset. I also taught Dig to Combusken and Gliscor, and Thunder Wave to Starmie and Porygon2. Finally, Gliscor learned Acrobatics and Faint Attack via level up, giving her an entirely new moveset.

I started the segment off with a battle against Bianca, and it was quite easy. Starmie 2HKOed Herdier with Water Gun, taking damage from a Bite. I switched to Staravia against Servine, taking a Leech Seed, and 2HKOed it while it wasted its move on Growth. Staravia likewise 2HKOed Munna, being hit by a Psybeam, and nearly KOed Panpour too before fainting to Leech Seed damage and a Water Gun. Starmie finished the battle with a Grass Knot.

I accidentally started Cheren's Route 4 battle without healing Staravia and Starmie from Bianca's battle, and with Starmie in the lead again, but I still won. Starmie 2HKOed Pidove with Water Gun, taking damage from Air Cutter, and 1HKOed Pansear. Starmie then hit Liepard with a Water Gun before fainting to Pursuit. Gliscor KOed Liepards with a Rock Smash, and tried infatuating Dewott, but it ignored infatuation and 2HKOed Gliscor with Razor Shell. Porygon2 finally 2HKOed Dewott with Psybeam, the second attack being a critical.

N's battle in Nimbasa was a little harder than expected, but still quite easy. Starmie started off by 1HKOing Sandile, and wounding Scraggy before getting 1HKOed by a critical Faint Attack. Combusken KOed Scraggy with Rock Smash, then nearly 2HKOed Sigilyph with Return before being 2HKOed by Psybeam and Air Cutter. Gliscor survived a Psybeam, finished off Sigilyph with Return, and 1HKOed Darumaka with Dig.

Elesa was pretty easy, and I beat her with only two Pokemon. Porygon2 Psybeamed one of the Emolga into fainting and wounded the other before being KOed, and Gliscor managed to easily KO Zebstrika thanks to Elesa stupidly not switching to her remaining Emolga to block Dig, but her other Emolga still went down easily once it was all alone.

Elesa Battle Log
Spoiler:


Team
Spoiler:
 
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- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- MONDAY 6th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: VIRBANK CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: LOVE JUICE

Chapter 2 - We're so back​

Finally back to this, apologies everyone! Hope every had a good break! It's time to kickstart this long overdue run once more. So the plan is to get to Virbank to get our second Badge, so let's go and do that, shall we?

We arrive - and immediately exit - Floccesy Town, to see if the Hiker will move out of our way as we own a Badge now. He does... with a caveat. A battle! One very easy Riolu defeat later and we're on the road to Virid- I mean Virbank Ciiityyyyyy!!! I decide to use Siegon the Whismur here, just because it was a few levels behind everyone else. We then finally make it to Virbank City, where we're met with Roxie - the Gym Leader - having an argument with someone. Charming.

I instead make my way to the Virbank Complex, where I'm greeted with my first Audino, lovely! And with that, my first evolution of the team too - welcome Creta the Luxio everyone! Then we carry on and are tasked with "firing" up some demotivated workers, so we get straight onto that. I am trying to use Pollux the Shroomish as much as I can here for the Trainer encounters, as I know that Roxie is a Poison Type, so I can use the other Pokémon in the Gym.

So after remotivating the workers and some more training, we get everyone up to level 16 and that means another evolution - Tellusia evolves into a Wartortle! With our team sufficiently prepped, it's time to take on the next Gym.

​

And what a pushover it is. I didn't even need any of my evolved Pokémon, as Siegon just walked all over everything thanks to Silk Scarf (found earlier on in Virbank City) and Rattled making all the Assurance users speed it up. Time for our Badge now please Roxie, thank you!

​

Now time for the real fun - Pokéstar Studios!!!!! It's time for Riolu-Girl to make her debut, yayyyyyyyy...

...I guess I am on a bit of a time constraint so I won't do too much here... after making the one film you have to make it's back to the main story! We run into Team Plasma by the docks and beat them in battle, getting HM01 from Roxie for our efforts. We then chase them to Route 20 and back to Virbank City, before finding out they have likely escaped to Castelia City via ship, which means it's time for our cruise to Castelia, yay!

We'll end the chapter here, but stay tuned for our adventure to Castelia and beyond next time!

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Spoiler:

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Spoiler:
 
- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- MONDAY 6th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: CASTELIA CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: SUNSET

Chapter 3 - Queen of this Castelia​
After a quick cruise on the sea, we end up at the glorious and large Castelia City! After a quick tour of all the docks (and accidentally going to Liberty Island), beating Game Freak employees in battle and a game of Hide and Seek with the Harlequins, it was time to take on the Gym! Or so I thought...

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Guess I better go see what this problem is and if I can help! Mainly so I can get my next badge!!!! A 'helpful' Iris comes up to us and says that she thinks she knows where the trouble could be... and then immediately runs off. So off to the piers we go, in which we determine that we have to go into the sewers... yuck. After navigating the maze (I kept AFKing between battles and therefore forgetting where I had gone lmao), we finally get to the end and beat the Plasma Grunts there. We are then greeted by Burgh the Gym Leader, who goes back to the Gym, and another mysterious figure. Now I should have gone straight back but... tunnel in front me... couldn't resist... so I enter the Relic Passage.

After the first Trainer battle inside, Siegon evolves into a Loudred. Yay! We finish the other battles, pick up the items and then Escape Rope back to the much cleaner Castelia City, where it's Gym time!

Admittedly I have been getting quite tired doing this segment of the run, so I have been getting impatient as a result and went into this Gym somewhat underlevelled which I don't normally do. That said, it wasn't TOO bad to be honest. The normal battles are fine - Siegon getting the boost from its evolution meant it somewhat cleans up pretty nicely and the Dwebble battles meant Tellusia gets some nice experience too. The real challenge is when I get to Burgh himself...

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The battle starts off really well. Siegon defeats Swadloon really easily and Tellusia takes out Dwebble with ease, also making Burgh using his Hyper Potion. Leavanny however is a bit of a pain. Its Razor Leaf packs quite a punch and as a result Siegon can't quite do enough damage to defeat it before Leavanny defeats Siegon. So after a Revive and an X Defend, Siegon manages to tank Leavanny a bit better and finally take it down, meaning we beat Burgh and get our third Badge: the Insect Badge!

​

And that closes the Castelia segment (just so I don't have an entire essay for an update)! Next stop is Nimbasa City aka my favourite location in the game!

Side note: one thing I am noticing is it's quite hard to deal with Grass and Steel types somewhat easily right now, hopefully that will change soon...

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Spoiler:

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Spoiler:
 
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- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- MONDAY 6th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: NIMBASA CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: KOMM, SUESSER TOD

Chapter 4 - Nimbaja Blast​

We've defeated Burgh, so it's time to waltz on over to Nimbasa City and take in the sights! Before we've even left Castelia City however, we've bumped into the mysterious man from earlier... who turns out to be Colress. A scientist who is researching about whether humans draw out the potential in Pokémon, he asks us if we want to battle. Naturally I say yes, to which he says he'll be waiting for us on Route 4. Naturally, I scurry there as fast as I can!

However before I get to Colress himself, I hang around the entrance to the Desert Resort area and trained up a little bit, most importantly getting Pollux to evolve into a Breloom. Finally an answer to the pesky Steel Types! After that I go and battle Colress, who is more than easy enough. After he takes off, Crustle in tow, it's time to properly detour to the Desert Resort and Relic Castle areas. After a lot of training, I circle back around to Nimbasa City.

Ahhhhh, I love this place so much! The music is great, the vibes are great and the Gym Leader is amazing too! Thankfully this Gym should be- ugh why is it closed AGAIN?! This time I have to go find the leader in some stupid rollercoaster grumble grumble...

After taking a ride and getting to the end, it turns out that of COURSE Elesa just HAPPENS to have left as I got there, arghhhhhhhhh. Back to the Gym I go. Thankfully this was nowhere near as annoying. Walk down the runway, strut my stuff, beat the trainers and challenge Elesa for that Badge.



OK now this fight has shown me two things: I'm REALLY getting a bit behind on levels and I REALLY am struggling with Electric Pokémon now. Emolga was annoying - as much as it wasn't dealing huge damage to me, I couldn't deal huge damage to it with Creta AND Static was just causing me grief. I decide to make use of the situation by using some X items and healing up before then beating Emolga. Flaaffy was then even more annoying - Take Down was dealing some pretty hefty damage and again Static meant it was so detrimental attacking it. Thankfully whenever I healed, Elesa just spammed Take Down so I just kept healing until Flaaffy died. Zebstrika was not too bad, but just too tanky because it was quite higher than me in levels - I decide to Swagger it as my last attack and then switched to Siegon to see if the Silk Scarf Uproar would help. And it did! Zebstrika hit itself in confusion and Uproar finished it off, meaning after a bit of a struggle we get two things: Creta evolving into a Luxray and our Bolt Badge!



A thankfully short segment now as I am getting quite tired and I have now been playing on and off for quite a few hours! I think we'll call it here today. Until next time!

Oh I'm also positive I know who my secret Delibird is etc. but we'll see if I'm right!

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Chapter 1 - Aspertations!
Chapter 2 - We're so back
Chapter 3 - Queen of this Castle

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Pollux the Breloom - Level 28
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Leech Seed/Mach Punch/Headbutt/Mega Drain
Item: Amulet Coin


Siegon the Loudred - Level 27
Nature: Quiet
Moveset: Pound/Uproar/Bite/Howl
Item: Silk Scarf


Creta the Luxray - Level 30
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Swagger/Bite/Charge/Spark
Item: Leftovers


Tellusia the Wartortle - Level 26
Nature: Modest
Moveset: Tackle/Rapid Spin/Water Gun/Bite
Item: Mystic Water
 
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I don't quite have enough time to fight Clay tonight, but while hunting for a Deerling with the right ability and a non-detrimental nature, I caught a full-odds Shiny Foongus. This is the first time I've found a legit non-static shiny in over fifteen years! I'm so happy!

Unfortunately, I can't use him in-battle this challenge, but you can bet I'll use him after the credits roll.
 
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- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- TUESDAY 7th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: DRIFTVEIL CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: THE GIRL IN BYAKKOYA

Chapter 5 - Along the Charizard Bridge​

As we go to exit Nimbasa City for our next destination, we see our Rival confronting Team Plasma... yet again. Now I get these guys have done something to you but this is getting crazy. After yet some more battles where I do everything and he does nothing, Team Plasma leaves and we get the EMOTIONal backstory as to why our Rival hates them so much. Touching. With that done, it's swiftly on to Route 5!

Once I've beaten all the Trainers here, I go ahead and break the heart of non other than Heartbreaker Charles. He tries to bamboozle us with a new battle type - Rotation Battles - but it turns out that leading with Creta just means I destroy the whole team without needing to use the mechanic at all. Nice. With that, we cross over the Charizard Bridge and enter our next destination - Driftveil City!

After intentionally doing nothing so I can listen to the banger theme for a bit, we bump into Team Plasma and our Rival AGAIN. Seriously dude, pick your fights!

We take in the sights of the city - hanging around the Market, terrorising the residents by barging into their homes, finding the Gym only to find that once again it's not open and lastly going to the house on the hill where we are greeted by the ex-Team Plasma member we saw on the bridge and an old man named Rood. He foolishly challenges us to a battle, naturally loses and invites us in. But not without our Rival once again charging in!

And even worse, once we're inside he once again just gets super mad! This is getting beyond a joke and I am considering joining Team Plasma just so I can get rid of him myself!!! Once we talk about the two sides of Team Plasma now present, it was time to do probably one of the most important things I've done in a while this run - catch my next Pokémon to use! We bumble along Route 6 until we finally get our lovely 5% encounter (seriously Delibird what the hell), Karrablast. Adamant Nature btw first try, and thank god!

As there's nothing to gain from not evolving this right away, I go ahead and get that set up before heading into Chargestone Cave. Not much really going on here other than the somewhat annoying encounters (Electric/Bug types and moves that keep paralysing me arghhhh) and we can't go very far before being told by Bianca that access is halted and I need to go back to Driftveil City.

Oh yay, the Gym is open! Let's see how this goes. In theory this should be quite easy, as Tellusia has been getting quite a lot of levels at the moment AND this Gym is Ground Type. So I start off with Tellusia until it hits level 36 and evolves into a Blastoise. Then I chance my arm and see how Craton the Escavalier gets on. And it does amazingly well, as most of the encounters are actually weak to Bug anyway and don't do any damage! So once we navigate the Gym and beat all the Trainers, it's time to take on Clay himself.

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As expected, quite an easy battle! Even with the Krokorok Intimidate, Craton makes short work of it. I then swap to Pollux for the Excadrill which results in a OHKO with Force Palm, before swapping back to Craton to defeat Sandslash and get our fifth Badge, the Quake Badge!

​

As always, as much as I will be continuing the run, I will end at this point as we've got the Badge. Next update soon (hopefully)!

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Chapter 1 - Aspertations!
Chapter 2 - We're so back
Chapter 3 - Queen of this Castle
Chapter 4 - Nimbaja Blast

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Pollux the Breloom - Level 30
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Leech Seed/Mach Punch/Headbutt/Mega Drain
Item: Amulet Coin


Siegon the Loudred - Level 30
Nature: Quiet
Moveset: Stomp/Uproar/Bite/Howl
Item: Silk Scarf


Creta the Luxray - Level 32
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Swagger/Bite/Charge/Spark
Item: Leftovers


Tellusia the Blastoise - Level 36
Nature: Modest
Moveset: Tackle/Rapid Spin/Water Pulse/Bite
Item: Mystic Water


Craton the Escavalier - Level 32
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Bug Buzz/Fury Cutter/Headbutt/Slash
Item: Shell Bell
 
- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- TUESDAY 7th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: MISTRALTON CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: EMBER

Chapter 6 - Taking to the Skies​

We leave Driftveil Gym and have a little chat with our Rival and Clay, who tries to help get the idea into our Rival's somewhat stupid head that perhaps it might be worth taking a different approach to Team Plasma. Anyway, Clay says about an exciting World Tournament and heads south. I follow, but am distracted by a certain cave entrance I can see just before the PWT... surely it could not be...

It is! We are back in the Relic Passage. It's here that I finally have to cave (HAHA GET IT) and find myself something to use Strength, so I catch a Boldore and use that. Once we've navigated through and got all the Items/Trainers, we ended up at the Castelia side... and then I Escape Roped and forgot how the item worked and ended up at Driftveil. Lol!

It's an 8-man bracket and our first opponent is none other than your stinky Rival. Obviously they get decimated, they didn't stand a chance against Siegon's Mega Uproar. Next up is Cheren who goes down even quicker. Will I need my other Pokémon? I guess we'll find out in our final battle against Colress! Well that immediately ruined the streak - he leads with a Magneton which I can't do anything about with Siegon, so time to switch to Pollux... which gets paralysed and then confused. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Thankfully we luck out and kill the Magneton anyway and the rest is history. We won the Driftveil Tournament yay!

So we leave to continue our whimsical adventure and... oh my god is that a Team Plasma grunt? In front of your rival? Oh brother. Inevitably our Rival runs after them whilst screaming about Purrloins.

Right into an entire ship full of Team Plasma. Excellent, well done idiot. A ship however we've noticed is... rather chilly.

Some simple battles later and Zinzolin, one of the Seven Sages, appears. He waffles on about some Dragon Pokémon that's going to help them take over the world, before the Shadow Triad literally take us out and we find ourselves in Driftveil again, the ship disappeared. Our Rival runs off, whilst Cheren says he is going to do some investigating of his own and heads off to Route 6. We follow him to the Season Research Lab, where he tells us that a few locations have just reported temperature plummets of up to -58F. Brrrrrrrr. As he "can't deal with cold places" that naturally means we're being sent off to investigate, but at least he gives us HM03 Surf for our troubles. Woo, a real Water attack for Tellusia!

I decide to go back to Chargestone Cave as surely the blockade has now gone - and it has! After some painful navigation, I make it out the other side to Mistralton City!

We finally meet Professor Juniper after so long as well as the City's Gym Leader, Skyla. They have a quick chat and Professor Juniper heads off to the Celestial Tower. Skyla gives us two options: go and challenge her Gym or follow Professor Juniper and train a little. I think we know what the answer is going to be at this point! It's straight off the Gym.

Creta is a little low on the level front and this is the perfect spot to train it and get it back up to speed. Everything in here fell to Spark with ease. The wind mechanic in the Gym was a bit tedious, but not long until we're facing Skyla herself!

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Swoobat is taken out by Bite, Swanna by Spark and Skarmory also by Spark. And that was all she wrote. It was nice to have an easier Gym battle for a change! With that steamrolling finished, we get the Jet Badge - Badge #6!

​

Now it's time for something cool - a ride in Skyla's plane! But first we have to go and get Professor Juniper... which we'll leave for the next segment. Until next time!

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Chapter 1 - Aspertations!
Chapter 2 - We're so back
Chapter 3 - Queen of this Castle
Chapter 4 - Nimbaja Blast
Chapter 5 - Along the Charizard Bridge

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Pollux the Breloom - Level 35
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Leech Seed/Mach Punch/Force Palm/Mega Drain
Item: Amulet Coin


Siegon the Loudred - Level 37
Nature: Quiet
Moveset: Stomp/Uproar/Bite/Howl
Item: Silk Scarf


Creta the Luxray - Level 40
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Swagger/Bite/Charge/Spark
Item: Leftovers


Tellusia the Blastoise - Level 37
Nature: Modest
Moveset: Flash Cannon/Rapid Spin/Surf/Bite
Item: Mystic Water


Craton the Escavalier - Level 37
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Bug Buzz/Fury Cutter/Iron Head/Slash
Item: Shell Bell
 
- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- WEDNESDAY 8th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: OPELUCID CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: EMBER

Chapter 7 - Where Dragons Rule​

So one thing I am going to say before I start this segment is: I feel the game has been a little lacking on the engagement side of things. What I mostly mean is that like... I've not had to use any HM for 'story' purposes, the plot currently hasn't REALLY taken off in any particular direction and some of the mechanics have felt a bit forced. And we're now coming up to Gym 7 out of 8! Also Triple and Rotation Battles are bad and the AI make them even more boring.

We make our way to the Celestial Tower, via Route 7. I have decided I want an Exploud at some point this segment (as Siegon is falling off a tiny bit compared to everyone else), so I am using Route 7 and future encounters if need be to do that. We don't quite get there with the Trainer battles, shame! I end up at Twist Mountain, which despite only being told about 90 minutes ago it's closed I tried to go into anyway, but am stopped by Marshall. Oops. Back to Celestial Tower I go then!

We meet Professor Juniper here, who on realising we beat Skyla goes back to Mistralton (after giving us a LUCKY EGG OMG), but we have more important things to do here. After a few more battles, we finally get what we wanted...

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Yay! We get Crunch right off the bat too, which as much as we're an -Atk nature, it's a better version of Bite so I'll take it. After reaching the top and striking the bell, it's back down and back to Mistralton, where we finally get to fly in the plane! We're off to Lentimas Town!

Once the entourage lands and goes off doing their thing, we make our way to Reversal Mountain. The random encounters here really kinda stepped it up a bit! Poor Pollux has been having a nightmare... I'm sure I'll find somewhere to train it up properly soon. I decide to visit the Strange House, not much to say other than that lol. Then I venture into the mountain itself, with my good bud Bianca! After the usual clearout of items and trainers (and finding the Heatran room), it's time to say goodbye and enter Undella Town.

The music is great... but otherwise not much here at the moment! So I move to Route 14 below, do everything I can and then make my way to Route 13. Here I can finally catch the last member of my team - Lunatone! Why did I get given a Pokémon so far into the game compared to everyone else ahhhh!!!! Anyway thankfully this is a much easier encounter; everyone say hi to Toluna the Lunatone! It's a Bold Nature, which is more than fine.

We finally end up in Lacunosa Town, where we finally get a bit of a reveal about Kyurem, oooo scary... we better get to Drayden fast!

It's time to visit another one of Unova's many bridges, the Village Bridge. It's more battles and more items and more secrets and then just as we are about to enter Opelucid... Virizion appears! As I have no reason to catch this, it's a nice chunk of experience for Craton and THEN we go into the city. We bump into Iris who says we should goto Route 9 first, which is exactly what I do. Apart from the usual Trainers/Items, there's nothing here! The mall even sucks compared to previous ones! ARGGHHHHHH. We beeline for Opelucid Gym so we can do something of worth this segment!

First thing I realise before even starting is that I don't have an 'easy' (supereffective) way of dealing with Dragons. I decide to put Craton at the helm and fight fire with fire, using Steel to resist most of the damage and hopefully hit hard enough to win. The normal battles are fine (apart from the Rotation/Triple ones, CRINGE), so now it's time for the Gym Leader, Drayden!

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This battle was incredibly easy. Druddigon went down with 0 fight at all. I swap to Pollux for Flygon (just for exp tbh) and again that goes down easily. Drayden gets super greedy with Haxorus, using Dragon Dance twice and then falling after said two turns, meaning we get the seventh Badge - the Legend Badge!

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As this has been a LONG segment, we'll end it right here! Next stop - the final Badge!

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Chapter 1 - Aspertations!
Chapter 2 - We're so back
Chapter 3 - Queen of this Castle
Chapter 4 - Nimbaja Blast
Chapter 5 - Along the Charizard Bridge
Chapter 6 - Taking to the Skies

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Pollux the Breloom - Level 47
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Leech Seed/Mach Punch/Force Palm/Seed Bomb
Item: Amulet Coin
Siegon the Exploud - Level 46
Nature: Quiet
Moveset: Surf/Uproar/Crunch/Howl
Item: Silk Scarf
Creta the Luxray - Level 45
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Swagger/Crunch/Charge/Spark
Item: Leftovers
Tellusia the Blastoise - Level 46
Nature: Modest
Moveset: Flash Cannon/Rapid Spin/Surf/Bite
Item: Shell Bell
Craton the Escavalier - Level 50
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Reversal/X-Scissor/Iron Head/Slash
Item: Lucky Egg
Toluna the Lunatone - Level 45
Nature: Bold
Moveset: Charge Beam/Psychic/Cosmic Power/Stone Edge
Item: Twistedspoon
 
- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- WEDNESDAY 8th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: HUMILAU CITY
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: PURPLE DREAM

Chapter 8 - Ice, Ice, Baby​

Now things finally start to get interesting! Firstly Drayden decides to finally reveal the main part of this game's plot - that there is a third, and conveniently COLD, legendary Dragon Pokémon. Kyurem! Before we can do much with this information however, evil strikes! A large ship flies over Opelucid City, engulfing it in ice. We try to escape but can't, and we're graced by the presence of Zinzolin once more. We start the gauntlet of beating Team Plasma grunts whilst trying to navigate the now icy floor.

The last grunt is defeated and they say about needing to comb the Gym, so we head there and oh my god this Zinzolin is like a virus. He never goes away!!! We destroy him once more and he scurries off once again. Drayden takes the opportunity to check that the DNA Splicers are safe... and someone else takes THAT opportunity to take them! The Shadow Triad appear once more, somewhat revealing their underlying goal and naturally we give chase to get those splicers back! We manage to find one of them and defeat them, but it seems that was only a decoy!

We get a call from Cheren and The Annoying Rival - Cheren believes Humilau City is the best place to try and get onto the Team Plasma ship, so back we go alllllll the way to Undella Town! We go through the Marine Tube and then we're at the wonderful Humilau City. The one time I assume the Gym is inaccessible and decide to just progress first, the Rival actually MAKES me go and do the Gym first????? Don't mind if I do! NEVERMIND TROLLED AGAIN. The Gym Leader is "swimming" somewhere, so guess it's time to go find them...

I make the mistake of going to the Seaside Cave, thinking they would be there. It is some great training for Pollux however, so not too worried there! After clearing everything out, I then comb the rest of the City - finding Marlon the Gym Leader on the way - and then make my way to the Gym.

Being a Water Type Gym, this is the perfect spot to train up Pollux and Creta! Between them they decimate the Trainers and then it's finally time to face Marlon himself.

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Such an easy fight, Marlon never stood a chance! Seconds later, we're bequeathed with the Wave Badge. Our last Badge, hooray!

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Now time to close up the story and finish the game, until next time everyone!

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Chapter 1 - Aspertations!
Chapter 2 - We're so back
Chapter 3 - Queen of this Castle
Chapter 4 - Nimbaja Blast
Chapter 5 - Along the Charizard Bridge
Chapter 6 - Taking to the Skies
Chapter 7 - Where Dragons Rule

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Pollux the Breloom - Level 53
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Leech Seed/Mach Punch/Force Palm/Seed Bomb
Item: Amulet Coin
Siegon the Exploud - Level 49
Nature: Quiet
Moveset: Surf/Uproar/Crunch/Strength
Item: Silk Scarf
Creta the Luxray - Level 52
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Facade/Crunch/Charge/Spark
Item: Leftovers
Tellusia the Blastoise - Level 50
Nature: Modest
Moveset: Flash Cannon/Rapid Spin/Surf/Bite
Item: Lucky Egg
Craton the Escavalier - Level 51
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Reversal/X-Scissor/Iron Head/Slash
Item: Lucky Egg
Toluna the Lunatone - Level 51
Nature: Bold
Moveset: Charge Beam/Psychic/Cosmic Power/Stone Edge
Item: Amulet Coin
 
- ARC THE ARCANEUM
- WEDNESDAY 8th JANUARY 2025
- STATUS: EXCITED
- CURRENT DESTINATION: CHAMPION OF UNOVA
- TODAY ON ARC RADIO: VICTORY IS NEAR

Chapter 9 - The Might of Unova​

With all the Gyms out of the way, it's time to defeat Team Plasma and finish the game! Firstly we're going to Route 22 to see if we can find anything to do with Team Plasma. We run into Terrakion, which again we take out as we don't need it, but not before a scene with Colress where he gives us the machine he used to remove the Crustle allllll the way back in Route 4. He also says about maybe checking out Seaside Cave to use the machine...

We proceed to the Giant Chasm, where we see Team Plasma who mentions about something on Route 21. Off we go! I go through the Seaside Cave again and lo and behold, we see a Crustle in the way of an exit. We use the machine (which breaks) and then we are outside again, in front of a familiar ship...

Our Rival catches up with you (noooooo) and then the gangplank is lowered, with none other than Marlon walking off it. It seems he has decided to help out, however unhelpfully he's made enough noise to alert everyone but then decides to just go back to Humliau City. Thank you!!!!! We step onto the ship, immediately accosted by Team Plasma grunts. We delve further in and solve the rather simple warp puzzle, which removes some barriers and then we're in the heart of the ship. Where we see Zinzolin once more and also finally get to see Kyurem. Another lame battle with Zinzolin happens and then once again the Shadow Triad have us thrown off the ship, whilst they make their escape. Cheren catches up to us and says that he thinks Team Plasma are making their way to the Giant Chasm (omg I was literally just there!!!!!!!), so back we go.

This time we manage to make it to a new exit, where we see Rood trying to talk sense into his ex-Plasma mates. They're not having any of it, so our Rival once more does some angry shouting and runs off. we catch up and realise he's ran straight onto the ship again - don't you learn?! We follow him and we're looking for the Shadow Triad this time. Last time there was an entrance blocked by a sleeping guard which is now accessible, so I go in here. I'm greeted with the second puzzle on this ship - navigate the pipes and find the four digits of the password to unlock the gates. After I do this, we're in the chamber that holds Kyurem and ONCE AGAIN Zinzolin tries to beat us in a battle and ONCE AGAIN loses terribly.

I then enter the right warp of this room and get sent to a room with... Colress? It turns out that Colress has been pulling the strings all along! After this revelation, he decides to prove our mettle blah blah anime villain moment and challenges us to a battle. An easy battle of course as Pollux destroys his entire team. I return to the Kyurem chamber and then use the left warp, where come fact-to-face with Ghetsis. Ewwwwww. After his outburst towards Colress, we are left to deal with all three members of the Shadow Triad - including the one that stole the Purrloin our Rival is so obsessed with.

We beat them all in combat and they leave, leaving the now Liepard with our Rival. Apparently this completely short-circuits him and now he is considering supporting Team Plasma? What a loser! I don't have time for this and leave the ship and make way after Ghetsis, entering the heart of the Giant Chasm. We face Ghetsis once more, everything seemingly lost as he summons Kyurem and uses Glaciate on us, when suddenly...

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A Zekrom comes crashing through the air and N is here to save us! Or so we think. As much as we didn't get frozen, it seems this is what Ghetsis wanted all along. Now that Zekrom is here to deal with the ice, Ghetsis uses a DNA Splicer to merge Zekrom and Kyurem into Kyurem-Black! In infinite villain wisdom, instead of just crushing us there and then Ghetsis decides to test his new Pokémon on us. Unfortunately for him, Kyu-B dies in one hit to Pollux lol, so much for that bravado. In a fit of rage, Ghetsis decides to battle us himself.

This fight was annoying and mostly because most of the time I was close to one-shotting and then he would get a crit and take out my Pokémon instead, but we manage to beat him with not very many casualties.

​

And with that, Ghetsis loses his mind and Team Plasma... just disband? Very anti-climatic ending for sure! With that out of the way though, I can finally make my way to the Pokémon League and finish the run. Firstly it's time to navigate Route 23 and Victory Road!

There's nothing really of note here until we bump into our rival into Victory Road for the standard battle in almost every Pokemon game.

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Again, not much of a challenge! This team is really, REALLY solid! We beat Kioran who gives us Thunderbolt (yesssssssssssss) and then we're at the Pokémon League. Now I'm not going to bore you with all the steps, but now it is time to get everyone set up. Moves all sorted, stats sorted as best as I can, etc etc. So we'll do a little Rocky style montage, speed up time a little and then we're ready to go to the E4! Here is how our team is looking as we enter the gauntlet:

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First up is the Ghost E4 Shauntal, and man I forgot how GOOD the E4 theme is. With our acquisition of Shadow Ball, Siegon starts off impressively. However I get a bit greedy and don't heal, taking a Fire Blast to the face. No matter, surely Tellusia can clean up with Surf. Or so I thought, had Chandelure not OHKO'd it with a crit. One thing I was getting a bit annoyed about at this point, as the game seemed to have a habit of dishing out a LOT of crits! No matter, Earth Power on Toluna thankfully dealt with it and then Creta defeated Drifblim, securing our first victory!

Next we go against Fighting E4 Marshal. Thankfully this went a bit smoother - Toluna dealt with everything apart from Sawk (as it took a Hi Jump Kick to the face), but Creta easily dealt with Sawk. Onto the next battle!

Our next battle is against the Psychic E4 Caitlin. I managed to proc Luxray's Toxic Orb in the last fight, so I lead with Luxray and manage to deal with Musharna, Reuniclus and almost Sigilyph before falling to poison. Craton comes in to clear up, wiping out the rest of Caitlin's team with ease. Time for the last Elite Four!

The final match is against Dark E4 Grimsley. This is probably the easiest fight of them all. Craton gets to set up a Swords Dance on Liepard and the only real threat being posed is the fact Liepard used Attract on it. Attract fails the first time and then Liepard is history, along with the rest of his team. Time to take on the Champion, who is none other than Iris that we have met throughout the game!

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This is an interesting fight! Tellusia just can't quite OHKO Hydreigon with Ice Beam, but we manage to clutch it out in the end. Iris sends out Lapras, which somewhat walls Tellusia but again, we persevere and manage to win thanks to some SpDef drops from Flash Cannon. Druddigon comes out and we use the opportunity to heal, but then get phazed out with Druddigon's Dragon Tail. Toluna then defeats Druddigon with Psychic, and a counterswitch to Pollux then makes easy work of Iris' Aggron. It's now Tellusia vs. Archeops and Surf takes out Archeops. We're now down to Iris' ace, Haxorus. Now I know this has Dragon Dance and Focus Sash, so I get greedy again and see if she decides to boost. Unfortunately the AI is a little smart/bloodthirsty and instead knocks out Tellusia. So instead I bring out Pollux and finish it off with a Focus Palm + Mach Punch combo.

With Haxorus down, it can only mean one thing - we've beaten the Champion and therefore the League itself!!!

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And our actual HoF entry just to be official:

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And with that, the challenge is over! Thank you for tuning in everyone and sorry that it's all been somewhat crazy mode over the past few days! Ratings etc. to come in the next post :)

- PREVIOUS LOGS
Chapter 1 - Aspertations!
Chapter 2 - We're so back
Chapter 3 - Queen of this Castle
Chapter 4 - Nimbaja Blast
Chapter 5 - Along the Charizard Bridge
Chapter 6 - Taking to the Skies
Chapter 7 - Where Dragons Rule
Chapter 8 - Ice, Ice, Baby

- POKÉMON PARTNERS
Pollux the Breloom - Level 59
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Rock Slide/Mach Punch/Force Palm/Seed Bomb
Item: Quick Claw
Siegon the Exploud - Level 58
Nature: Quiet
Moveset: Surf/Hyper Voice/Flamethrower/Shadow Ball
Item: Leftovers
Creta the Luxray - Level 58
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Facade/Crunch/Superpower/Spark
Item: Toxic Orb
Tellusia the Blastoise - Level 59
Nature: Modest
Moveset: Flash Cannon/Ice Beam/Surf/Bite
Item: Mystic Water
Craton the Escavalier - Level 60
Nature: Adamant
Moveset: Reversal/X-Scissor/Iron Head/Slash
Item: Expert Belt
Toluna the Lunatone - Level 62
Nature: Bold
Moveset: Signal Beam/Psychic/Cosmic Power/Earth Power
Item: Soft Sand
 

Ratings etc.


First I'd like to thank everyone involved in getting this challenge set up and running it, this was really fun! I haven't played Black 2 in a long while, so it was nice to be able to revisit it. Now obviously there were some gripes, like the plot being a little thing and kinda all thrown at you at the end of the game, but overall it's pretty solid.

Now moving onto the team and my ratings.

General overview

The team as a whole was very solid. A good range of Types and learnsets, and most importantly a nice mix of obvious powerhouses and some underrated gems. Escavalier and Lunatone come to mind as examples of each! My favourite part however was the challenges created by the combination of Types, learnsets and Pokémon themselves. As much as I didn't necessarily struggle massively with any content in the game, I think this came down more to me being able to play around the issues rather than the team just being too good.

The early game I had massive trouble with Steel, Electric and Grass Pokémon as I did not have a solid way to deal damage to them or resist them too well without relying on one Pokémon specifically or overwhelming an opponent with higher numbers. Later on I learned that Bug and Steel Pokémon were becoming bigger issues, with Dragon Pokémon suddenly posing a threat. And then the team nicely rounded out towards the end. It was a really nice curve overall, most Pokémon I feel shined in their own way at some point and made the playthrough super enjoyable as a result.

I think that's why I love the team overall - whoever put this together really did manage to come up with a wonderfully balanced team. My only complaint is the fact I had to wait so long until my 5th and 6th Pokémon!!! Now I'll rate the Pokémon separately.

Pollux - Breloom - 8.5/10

Pollux was a formidable force once I managed to get it evolved. Prior to that... it was definitely a challenge! It had basically zero offence and also the early areas/Gyms did not do it any favours really, I was super happy once I got it to evolve. Once it did, it proved to be REALLY good pretty much throughout the rest of the game. Firstly it helped with Steel types which were otherwise a huge wall for my team that had no access to Ground/Fire/Fighting moves of note for a long time. I was always using it to help clear up areas and battles, thanks to its really good moveset (especially Mach Punch, the priority saved me quite a bit). It shone especially in the late game, pairing up really well with Creta to clear out the Surf areas and such.

Siegon - Exploud - 9/10

Siegon was very strong throughout basically the entire game. There was a little hiccup somewhere along the run, but otherwise it was incredibly reliable and carried quite a bit. Access to early Uproar and Silk Scarf allowed it to tear through a lot of the game and it evolved at just the right moments to not be falling behind for too long. Also Exploud's really nice base stats and huge catalogue of moves meant it could fit into a plethora of roles.

Tellusia - Blastoise - 4/10

Honestly, Tellusia struggled for most of the game. It wasn't exactly unusable but... it just didn't really contribute a whole lot to the run other than be my Surf user until Exploud could use it. By the time it learnt a Water move of worth (Water Pulse), it wasn't far off time for Surf anyway. It was quite a mission throughout to keep it around the same level as the other Pokémon and the one time I thought it could do well versus my other team members (Iris fight) it didn't perform as anticipated.

Creta - Luxray - 6/10

Creta honestly was mostly here to give that Electric coverage and be an early game physical sweeper. Evolving as early as it does helped and access to Spark/Crunch gave it a nice niche that helped out. Otherwise overall it wasn't hugely impressive. It started getting mostly outclassed by Pollux and Craton nearer the later parts of the game.

Craton - Escavalier - 10/10

The only issue here is how late I got Craton, but that's nothing on the Pokémon. From the get-go this thing was insane. Being a Steel type helped with SO many encounters because of how naturally good it is as a defensive Type. It hit really hard and tanked really well; early access to Iron Head helped massively and it got better and better as I got X-Scissor and Swords Dance. Outside of a few specific Pokémon with Fire moves I think I could've probably finished the rest of the run with just this on its own, it was incredible.

Toluna - Lunatone - 7.5/10

Again, I got this SUPER late so it didn't have time to make that much of an impact. But it again fit a REALLY nice niche as a Psychic type and special attacker. Lots of Pokémon near the end were Fighting or Poison Types and it also held its own against a member of the E4. Very strong member.

Who was my Scrambler?

My guess is Eleanor, mainly for the following reasons:
  1. If I recall, Eleanor really loves Gen 5 and I happen to be playing a Gen 5 game.
  2. Eleanor LOVES Breloom and I have a Breloom in the team.
  3. The team I can tell had a lot of thought put into it, something I know Eleanor would definitely have done when looking at this.
  4. She was liking a load of my posts throughout the challenge.
 
Pokemon Black
Secret Delibird - Rich Boy Noël
Update 5 (Route 5 -> Driftveil Gym)

I technically finished this gym yesterday, but didn't have time to write an update until now, but I have my fifth gym badge! Three more to go!

Immediately after the Driftveil Gym, I battled Cheren at Route 5, and his battle was on the easier side this time. Liepard started off with a Fake Out, then Tormented Combusken, who 2HKOed it with Rock Smash then Return. Cheren switched to Dewott, and I switched in Starmie into a Razor Shell. Starmie survived a Focus Energy-boosted crit Razor Shell and 3HKOed Dewott with Grass Knot, then 1HKOed Pansear with Water Gun. Starmie then Paralyzed Tranquill before finally fainting to two Quick Attacks. I sent out Staravia, and she survived an Air Cutter and 2HKOed Tranquill with Return.

Afterwards, I went to Route 6, caught my Deerling (and a shiny Foongus!), and explored it and Cold Storage before going down to fight Clay. A lot of my Pokemon learned new moves along the way, but no evolutions this time. Combusken learned Bulk Up via level-up, which is very nice to have since I can't get the TM until the postgame. Staravia learned Aerial Ace to replace Wing Attack which isn't much of a change, while Porygon2 dropped the unreliable Conversion2 for Signal Beam, a second special attack. Starmie learned two new moves: Scald for a decent STAB water move to replace the obsolete Water Gun, and Confuse Ray to give it a different status effect from Porygon2 and Deerling.

Speaking of Deerling, it isn't too strong yet. I'm still leveling his friendship to get Return strong enough, and his other attack moves are the powerful-but-risky Jump Kick, and the always-accurate, but weak, Faint Attack. He also knows Thunder Wave as a status move, but he'll still be on the weak side until he evolves in an update or two. He'll eventually get the Rocky Helmet that Combusken is currently holding once I no longer need him holding the Soothe Bell, and I'll give Combusken the Expert Belt to replace it.

Clay, comparatively to Cheren, was a total pushover. Starmie 1HKOed Krokorok with Scald, 1HKOed Excadrill with Scald, and nearly 1HKOed Palpitoad with Grass Knot. Palpitoad hit back with a critical Bulldoze, knocking Starmie down to 37/76 HP and lowering its speed, but it was still faster and 2HKOed Palpitoad after Clay ran out of healing items.

Team
Spoiler:
 
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