[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge v8, Tera Edition

[Reginald Cosmic]

Ask them again. The badges for this subforum are only handed out by Eleanor and JanP, and I don't have the power to do it. They're both Europeans, so if you asked today they may have not seen it yet because of time zone stuff. Also, if you haven't, you should probably post your completed challenges here, too, so the mods can keep track easier. Especially if you've completed any challenges other than Monotypes.

I asked about it a week or two ago, but it was in a public thread as opposed to me tagging the mods. I Visitor Messaged Janp last night. I have yet to get a response.

Anyway, here's the team so far. I caught a Tentacool named Blooper, and I plan on using a Water Stone on Poliwhirl when I pick the game back up.

Spoiler:

Here's the team for Pokémon Trainer "Mario" so far:



I tried making it easy enough to read and navigate, but meaningful graphic design took a backseat as a result.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 2 (Route 116 -> Dewford Gym)

A short update, but quite an eventful one for such a short period of time. I evolved three of my four Pokemon to their middle evolutions, Nuzleaf after beating the Aqua Grunt in Rusturf Tunnel, Lombre after beating May in Rustboro, and Grovyle after beating a trainer in the Dewford Gym. Grovyle also learned Pursuit, Lombre and Nuzleaf learned Nature Power, and Shroomish kept its moveset.

The fight against Brawly was incredibly close and exciting. I led with Nuzleaf against Machop, expecting her to get KOed quickly, but she took down half its health with a pair of Bullet Seeds before getting 1HKOed. I sent out Lombre next, and brought Machop's health down more, but Brawly healed with a Super Potion and I couldn't bring it down fast enough, and Lombre fainted too. I sent out Grovyle third, and this time KOed Machop, but not before losing most of its health, too. Brawly sent out Meditite, and I expected it to set screens first, so I switched to Shroomish, but it used Focus Punch and nearly fainted Shroomish too. I had Shroomish continually use Bullet Seed to stop it from hitting with Focus Punch, and he KOed Meditite easily. Brawly sent out Makuhita as his last Pokemon, and I tried to use Stun Spore on it as Shroomish's last move. Stun Spore missed, and, in a miracle, as Shroomish got KOed, Effect Spore triggered and put Makuhita to sleep. I sent Grovyle back out and used a Super Potion, and spammed Bullet Seed while Makuhita slept. Eventually, Makuhita woke up and took off 2/3rds of Grovyle's HP with a Vital Throw. Makuhita was at enough HP that I'd need either a critical or a 5-hit Bullet Seed, so I spent what would definitely be the battle's last turn on Bullet Seed. Thankfully, the RNG came out in my favor, with five hits Bullet Seed hits, and I barely won the battle.

Team

Spoiler:

Grovyle (♀) | Grass | Level 17
Moves: Bullet Seed, Quick Attack, Pursuit, Leer
48 HP / 32 Atk / 18 Def / 37 SpA / 27 SpD / 40 Spe
Ability: Overgrow| Nature: Hasty | Item: Silk Scarf

Lombre (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 14
Moves: Bullet Seed, Nature Power, Astonish, Growl
44 HP / 20 Atk / 21 Def / 23 SpA / 25 SpD / 19 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: (None)

Nuzleaf (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 15
Moves: Bullet Seed, Nature Power, Harden, Growth
49 HP / 29 Atk / 20 Def / 21 SpA / 19 SpD / 25 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Miracle Seed

Shroomish (♂) | Grass | Level 15
Moves: Bullet Seed, Tackle, Stun Spore, Leech Seed
45 HP / 21 Atk / 26 Def / 18 SpA / 26 SpD / 18 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Okay, this post might not make sense because I'm low on sleep because of my insomnia. Silph Co. is kind of blurring all together right now.

Pokémon Leaf Green: Water Monotype update!

Spoiler:

* I'm still playing as Pokémon Trainer Mario.

* I clobbered all the Karate Guys at the Fighting Dojo.

* I defeated Team Rocket at Silph Co. plus my Rival Sonic for good measure. (Man, that guy's good at speedrunning this game.)

* I added to my team "Baron Brrr" the (female) Lapras (with Shell Armor instead of Water Absorb, the latter of which was something I really wanted to try out)

* I put Wart in PC storage because I want to still use HM move Fly to get from town to town quickly, so I can buy the cheaper Super Potions over the Hyper Potions.

* At some point, I taught Giga Drain to Blooper the Tentacruel, and once Giovanni was defeated a second time, I slapped an Exp. Share onto Lapras.

* I defeated the Psychic gym trainers (and three Channelers for some reason?) for experience

* I beat Sabrina pretty easily, but the enemy teams are catching up to my Level 46 or higher Blastoise and my level 43 or higher Gyarados now that I've got a full team. I was kind of lucky Sabrina's dreaded Alakazam flinched to Bowser/Blastoise's first "Bite" attack, so I could 2-shot it with no problems.

* I think I've about saved up enough to buy a TM for Ice Beam, though since I've waited this long, should I buy a TM for Shadow Ball for $10,000 more PokeDollars instead. I think Slowbro could make good use of Shadow Ball, and Lapras is already capable of learning Ice Beam. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Pokémon Leaf Green Water Monotype Update:

* I knocked out the swimmers south of Pallet Town and arrived in Cinnabar Island.

* I found the Secret Key in the Mansion

* I changed Slowbro's nickname to "Hammer Bro"

* I beat up more swimmers south of Fuchsia.

Here's a team update before I walk into Blaine's gym:

Spoiler:

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

This is NOT the final update for my FRLG Water Monotype run. (Actually there might be two more updates after I write this. I don't know how quickly I'll get through Victory Road just yet.)

There's a lot of games I need to keep juggling like Earthbound and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and even last year's Pokemon Violet, so I'm not sure how quickly I'll be continuing through these monotype challenges. I don't want to do a Gen I monotype playthrough because Gen I is just FRLG with worse mechanics. I've thought about doing a monotype challenge with Gen 2 for variety, but... I don't know. Something about that feels wrong, and I can't explain why. As for games newer than Gen 3... I don't know... I'm most familiar with Gen 3, and I haven't even experienced Gen 4 outside of the Renegade Platinum ROM Hack. (Should that count as playing Gen 4?) One day, I'd like to do a Ghost monotype run of USUM if I ever beat a vanilla playthrough of USUM. (I just don't vibe with Alola I guess.)

I'm not sure how to end this. I don't know. I just miss the days when this thread was more active.

 

[GhostColossus]

User: GhostColossus
Type: Bug
Game(s): FR
Challenge Type: Single (maybe ultimate down the line?)
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard

Hello, just started a bug monotype for FR. So far i'm right before the 3rd gym, just went through SS Anne's and received HM Cut. Butterfree's Confusion was great for Brock, Paras' Bullet Seed (from a TM) was great for Misty.

Team:
Butterfree Lvl 23
Tackle/Sleep Powder/Confusion/Harden

Beedrill Lvl 23
Poison Sting/Twineedle/Fury Attack/Harden

Paras Lvl 22
Scratch/Stun Spore/Bullet Seed/Leech Life

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Pokémon Leaf Green Water Monotype Challenge Update: I got all 8 badges, and I'm on Victory Road.

Spoiler:

*Blaine burned down to nothing. Not even ashes remain. This is clearly a violation of the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy.
*Bill said I should go with him to the Sevii Islands, so I fooled around over there.
*Meowth picked up a TM10 for Hidden Power. I thought Meowth had to be like, level 40 to do that, but I'm not complaining.
*I taught Hidden Power Fighting 67 to Blastoise instead of teaching Blastoise "Hydro Cannon" (which costs an extra turn).
*I got another TM10 somehow, but I probably won't use it.
*I grabbed the PP Max near the "Hydro Cannon/Frenzy Plant/Blast Burn" move tutor. Now Blooper the Tentacruel can make good use of Giga Drain.
*I took Giovanni to the cleaners.
*My rival Sonic gave me a bit of a hard time with Venusaur. Venusaur one-shot Hammer Bro the Slowbro with Razor Leaf before it could use Psychic. I also had a hard time against his Gyarados, so I had to send out my own Gyarados Lakitu and use Thunderbolt to beat it.
*I'm currently making my way through Victory Road. I'm gonna use the rare candies when I get through since "Baron(ess) Brrr" the Lapras is really low in level.

Wish me luck against the Elite Four!

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I beat the Elite Four and Champion in the water monotype challenge of Leaf Green. I'm not sure when I'll make the last update since I'm kind of tired of writing them, but I did it.

Spoiler:

I don't know when I'll do another one of these. I'm taking a break to finally play through all of Emerald, so until that's done, I won't be doing Ruby/Sapphire. There's other stuff I plan to do (like Violet), but that's the real reason I'm not going to do the Fighting-type Ruby challenge just yet.

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Electric Run
Y / FINAL / Electro Ball FTW

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

1.) Central Kalos
2.) Coastal Kalos
3.) Mountain Kalos
4.) The League

The full read:

Spoiler:

1.) Central Kalos
So, we start out and gnab ourselves Pikachu in the Forest, and learn quickly that the best thing to do here is just start Stat Training Special Attack. On everything. Most of the moves that my team is going to end up using are in the Special category, so that's what I decide to do this time. Pikachu doesn't have much of a problem at the beginning once I've fully trained SpAtk (super easy first gym). I can't wait until I get Electro Ball, but I have to stay with Thunder Shock to start with. Nothing much of a problem here, but I don't get any other Pokemon until I pick up a Minun in a horde battle on my way out of Lumiose. Nothing much here, just some grinding along the way.

2.) Coastal Kalos
Welcome to the big portion of the run. I pick up a Helioptile on the way to my first run in with Team Flare, and that gives me a chance to do some grinding. My time slows down after picking up each new team member while I do training, but it's very helpful. I am noticing that I do hit harder, and usually can one shot most things that I run into. I'm being a little more focused on fighting every trainer along the way, and go out of my way to work on keeping my levels as equal as possible. Once I get to Route 10, I pick up an Eevee and immediately evolve it to Jolteon with the Thunder Stone on the route. This gives me a total of four Pokemon to go up against the Rock Gym (Pikachu, Minun, Helioptile, Jolteon). And, of course, my main attack was Electro Ball on Pikachu. It's very helpful because I also noticed that I have quite a bit of Speed training on Pikachu. Other than that, it's just a matter of the rest of my team doing whatever damage they could before Electro Ball goes in for the KO.

It's at this point that I started to note that Gen 6 was going to be a series of upgrades. I went from Thunder Shock at the start to an era of Electro Ball / Parabolic Charge (which is so nice to have as the Electric version of Mega Drain). Then, at the end, I find that I've gone to Thunderbolt...unless it's my Pikachu which is still faster with Agility. But I digress...

The next gym that gives me trouble is the Grass Gym, but before then I pick up Dedenne on Route 11, a Mareep on Route 12, use the Fishing Rod back in Shalour City to pick up a Lanturn...and then lots of training. My team now ends up being Jolteon, Pikachu, Helioptile, Dedenne, Lanturn, and Mareep. The Gym is at early-30s, so all my team gets up to L33 just to ensure I get past a damage rounding threshold. So, Mareep is now an Ampharos (and holding an Ampharosite), Lanturn is now a Chinchou, Helioptile is now a Helioisk (you trade the Intriguing Stone for a Sun Stone in Shalour), and Pikachu is still a Pikachu...because I forgot about the other Thunder Stone on Route 11. I'll get that just after the fifth gym. But to the Grass Gym, it kinda sucks cause Grass resists Electric. So, Ampharos ends up getting me the win here - at level 35, it has Electro Ball, Cotton Spore, and Confuse Ray (and Charge, but I don't use it). Confuse Ray and Electro Ball are my weapons of choice here, because I can't use Cotton Spore since Grass types are immune to it at this point. This is one of those "it just has to be my lucky day" without grinding more.

No big issues between there and the fifth gym...and I purposely go out of my way to fight every trainer in the gym, even though it's slow to do so. I want that sweet, sweet XP.

3.) Mountain Kalos
So, now that my Pikachu is a Raichu because I went "d'oh" and went and got the Thunder Stone, my team is now complete. No more picking up new 'mons for me.

So, quick fire round because that's how it was at this point:

Ampharos beats the heck out of the sixth gym with Cotton Spore+Electro Ball. I did teach Thunderbolt to everything that was relatively slow because anything with Electro Ball and slow was not going to cut it (of course, neither would Parabolic Charge).

Seventh gym is stupid easy also. Just spamming Electro Ball or Thunderbolt as needed.

My brain just hates that spinning/teleporter maze in the Team Flare hideout. It's really not hard to get through, but I do feel like I'm just spamming the A button right now with the EB/TB moveset.

Eighth gym is also stupidly easy. I was actually surprised at how easy this was.

4.) The League
This only took me two attempts to get through. The first attempt, I managed to get through all but the Dragon League member...and I barely lost that one (one more hit and her Noivern would have gone down). Water League member is always my first stop, then Fire, then Steel. The second time, I just focused on brute forcing my way through. I feel like I want to give more info about the second half of the run and the E4, but unfortunately it's just me repeatedly using EB/TB, sometimes Mega Evolving Ampharos, sometimes not (bad idea during Dragon E4 fight due to now being /Dragon). Sometimes I choose to attempt Cotton Spore, sometimes Cotton Guard. Sometimes Raichu uses Agility to increase the power of Electro Ball, but there's no real strategy at this point. At least, it doesn't feel like it.

That's basically the case for Diantha, too. This run felt fun at the beginning, but it just felt like I had specific ways to play each Pokemon - they weren't really fitting any specific roles. I'm hoping Alola feels better, and I promise for that one I'll do more than just one posting (cause that really has a smooth break between the Aether Paradise and going to the third Island). But...I guess we'll see.

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I'm not sure if this is breaking the rules, but I wanted to say it's nice to hear from you again, StenirRPG.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I'm not sure if this is breaking the rules, but I wanted to say it's nice to hear from you again, StenirRPG.

Why would it be breaking the rules? It's absolutely fine to talk to each other about anything relating to your challenges here.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 3 (Route 109 -> Mauville Gym)

This update took me a little longer than expected since I got distracted by other games, but it's finally done. I caught an Oddish, evolved it into Gloom, and evolved my Shroomish into a Breloom, too. Everyone in the party is at their second stage now, though Gloom'll be there for quite a long time since he needs to wait until I get my seventh badge for me to get a second Leaf Stone. Breloom got almost an entirely new moveset, keeping only Stun Spore. I figured it wasn't worth waiting to evolve him until he learns Spore at Level 54 since my last Sapphire run ended before anyone reached that level at all. Nuzleaf learned Rock Tomb right after I beat Brawly and Torment as soon as I got to Slateport, and Grovyle replaced Leer with Screech. I'm not particularly happy with anyone's low-level movesets except for Breloom's, but that's early generations for you.

I lost my first fight against May at Route 110, my first loss of the run, because of bad RNG where I missed with a Stun Spore against Combusken and then suffered multiple critical hits. The second time, I went through fine, beating Combusken by Stun Spore/Leech Seeding it with Shroomish, then switching to Lombre and Growling to reduce its Peck damage to something reasonable.

Wattson went down pretty easily, in comparison. I led with Gloom, my least important Pokemon, expecting him to get hit by Voltorb's Selfdestruct. He unexpectedly survived it and did some damage to Electrike too before going down. I switched to Breloom, the actual star of this battle, and KOed Electrike with a Mach Punch, then 2HKOed Magneton with Mach Punch, then brought Manectric down to near minimum HP with some more Mach Punches before fainting. Breloom got paralyzed at some point, but I got extraordinarily lucky and he was able to move almost every turn. (Breloom could've been healed at the same time Wattson healed, but I don't like using up healing items on battles I'm sure to win anyway.) Finally, I had Lombre come in to finish off Manectric and win me my third gym badge.

Team

Spoiler:

Grovyle (♀) | Grass | Level 23
Moves: Bullet Seed, Quick Attack, Pursuit, Screech
62 HP / 42 Atk / 22 Def / 49 SpA / 35 SpD / 55 Spe
Ability: Overgrow| Nature: Hasty | Item: Blackglasses

Lombre (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 23
Moves: Bullet Seed, Nature Power, Astonish, Growl
67 HP / 30 Atk / 32 Def / 35 SpA / 38 SpD / 29 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Soothe Bell

Nuzleaf (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 23
Moves: Bullet Seed, Nature Power, Rock Tomb, Torment
70 HP / 42 Atk / 28 Def / 30 SpA / 27 SpD / 37 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Miracle Seed

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 24
Moves: Mach Punch, Headbutt, Mega Drain, Stun Spore
66 HP / 75 Atk / 48 Def / 35 SpA / 39 SpD / 45 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Gloom (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 22
Moves: Bullet Seed, Cut, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore
61 HP / 35 Atk / 41 Def / 51 SpA / 42 SpD / 23 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Silk Scarf

 

[GhostColossus]

User: GhostColossus
Type: Bug
Game(s): FR
Challenge Type: Single (maybe ultimate down the line?)
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard

Hello, just started a bug monotype for FR. So far i'm right before the 3rd gym, just went through SS Anne's and received HM Cut. Butterfree's Confusion was great for Brock, Paras' Bullet Seed (from a TM) was great for Misty.

Team:
Butterfree Lvl 23
Tackle/Sleep Powder/Confusion/Harden

Beedrill Lvl 23
Poison Sting/Twineedle/Fury Attack/Harden

Paras Lvl 22
Scratch/Stun Spore/Bullet Seed/Leech Life

Update, i'm against the Cinnabar gym leader, so i'm over halfway to the first E4. I originally did this type in FR because I knew how much of a challenge it could be esp in FR.. and so far it has indeed been a challenge. I still have a lot of important moves to acquire and maybe EV train before I'd even walk into the E4 room.
Current Team:
Lvl 39 Pinsir - Brick Break/Dig/Revenge/Focus Energy
Lvl 40 Butterfree - Psybeam/Sleep Powder/Gust/Tackle
Lvl 38 Parasect - Giga Drain/Slash/Spore/Leech Life
Still training: Lvl 28 Venonat, Lvl 23 Scyther
Beedrill Lvl RIP ??? (Explanation below)
---
GOAL TEAM (In order of importance)
Pinsir - Focus Punch/Earthquake/Hyper Beam/Bulk Up
Venonat - Psychic/SleepPowder/StunSpore/GigaDrain/
Parasect - GigaDrain or Solarbeam/BodySlam/Spore/StunSpore/Slash or Dig
Butterfree - Psychic/ShadowBall/Thief/AerialAce
Scyther - SteelWing/Hyperbeam/Pursuit/SwordDance
(Optional) Beedrill - Sludge Bomb/Twineedle/HyperBeam/BrickBreak
---
Caught Butterfree/Beedrill at Viridian Forest. Butterfree's Sleep/Confusion helped with most gym fights. Paras caught at Mt. Moon. Venonat, Scyther, and Pinsir were caught in or around Fuscia city. Pinsir is the best on the team, and I didn't realize he was a Leafgreen exclusive until I got to the safari zone to catch him and didn't find one. Abiding by rules (I think) 9 & 10 of the standard mode rules, I cheated him in while at the Safari Zone. Somehow, though, my Beedrill disappeared after the cheat, and I think it's because I made some sort of mistake while cheating Pinsir in. I don't mind he's gone though because he's been pretty useless, and would probably stay /mostly/ useless the entire run.

Pinsir's the allstar because of his monster Atk stat and access to a couple great moves. He's slow though, and i'll probably EV train HP/Def/SpDef so he can take blows. And with bulk up, I think he'd be a great bulky sweeper. Venomoth has good special sweeper stats, and access to psychic and two status effects. He'd make a great lead/setup. Parasect's grass typing is very appreciated due to lack of type coverage, and STAB gigadrain/solarbeam. Beefy Atk/Def too. Scyther's stats are stellar, but his movepool is trash. So i'm giving him the most decent physical attacks as possible w/ sword dance to make a good physical sweeper. Butterfree's copy and paste Venomoth but just not as fast. Butterfree does have shadow ball though and will hopefully help against Psychic Pkmn. Beedrill's outclassed by everyone else on the team. I might add him in if a poison STAB move or Twineedle Bug STAB is needed, but besides that, he's alright.

Picture proof of everything down the line. Good luck to me!

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pinsir is the best on the team, and I didn't realize he was a Leafgreen exclusive until I got to the safari zone to catch him and didn't find one. Abiding by rules (I think) 9 & 10 of the standard mode rules, I cheated him in while at the Safari Zone. Somehow, though, my Beedrill disappeared after the cheat, and I think it's because I made some sort of mistake while cheating Pinsir in.

If you used PKHeX, you should still have an automatic backup in PKHeX's "\bak" folder from right before you first edited your save, and what probably happened is you overwrote Beedrill's party slot or edited your Beedrill by turning it into a Pinsir. You can get it back by loading your backup into a separate emulator/GBA and trading it back to yourself. If you used an Action Replay, you're probably out of luck and I don't know how to get it back, though.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I prefer my head canon that Beedrill is out getting some R&R like Ash's Pidgeotto in The Electric Tale of Pikachu. It's not wrong. It's just my headcanon.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 4 (Route 111 -> Lavaridge Gym)

Another update today. I went up through Route 111, explored most of Northwestern Hoenn, and defeated Maxie and Flannery. Maxie only had three Pokemon and went down quite easily, even though two of his three Pokemon had type advantages against basically my whole team. Flannery was much tougher. I lost my first fight against her because I didn't remember how Torment worked and got my last Pokemon 1HKOed by a second consecutive Overheat from Torkoal that I wasn't expecting.

Second time around, I don't quite remember exactly what happened since it was a complicated battle and I'm not quite sure which events were from which battle, but I'll do my best to recount it. My Lombre beat Numel fairly easily, though I had to use a Soda Pop when Flannery used a Hyper Potion, and she fainted against Slugma. Breloom beat Slugma and fainted to Camerupt, and Gloom put Camerupt to sleep repeatedly and nearly fainted it, even though he got hit by Attract towards the end of the battle, and Flannery used her other Hyper Potion on it. Either Grovyle or Nuzleaf finished it off, then Flannery sent out Torkoal, and I had to use two Revives to wear out her Overheats, and I eventually paralyzed Torkoal with a Secret Power and wore it down with Nuzleaf's Rock Tomb, and finished it off with a Dig from Grovyle.

No new Pokemon this time, but everyone got at least one new move. Grovyle got Secret Power and Dig, replacing Pursuit and Quick Attack. Lombre learned Secret Power and Attract, forgetting Nature Power and the near-useless Astonish, Nuzleaf swapped Nature Power for Secret Power, Breloom also learned Secret Power, replacing Headbutt, and Gloom replaced Cut and Stun Spore with Secret Power and Acid.

Team

Spoiler:

Grovyle (♀) | Grass | Level 28
Moves: Bullet Seed, Secret Power, Dig, Screech
74 HP / 50 Atk / 27 Def / 59 SpA / 42 SpD / 66 Spe
Ability: Overgrow| Nature: Hasty | Item: Soft Sand

Lombre (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 28
Moves: Bullet Seed, Secret Power, Attract, Growl
80 HP / 36 Atk / 39 Def / 43 SpA / 45 SpD / 35 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Silk Scarf

Nuzleaf (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 27
Moves: Bullet Seed, Secret Power, Rock Tomb, Torment
81 HP / 49 Atk / 33 Def / 36 SpA / 31 SpD / 43 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Miracle Seed

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 28
Moves: Mach Punch, Secret Power, Mega Drain, Stun Spore
76 HP / 87 Atk / 56 Def / 40 SpA / 46 SpD / 51 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Gloom (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 27
Moves: Bullet Seed, Acid, Secret Power, Sleep Powder
73 HP / 42 Atk / 50 Def / 62 SpA / 51 SpD / 28 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Soothe Bell

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Electric Run
Sun / FIRST AND FINAL / The End of Another Journey

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

1.) Melemele Island
2.) Akala Island
3.) Ula'ula Island
4.) Poni Island
5.) Elite Four and Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

1.) Melemele Island

Although I choose Popplio at the beginning, it's going to quickly get benched. Route 1 grants me two starting Electric types: Grubbin and Pichu. I'll get two more later (Magnemite at the Trainer's School and Oricorio in the Meadows), but having two at the start is a nice way to kick off the final game in this Ultimate run. The thing that really bugs me about Grubbin (no pun intended about its type) is that its first two evolutions are physical attackers, but Vikavolt is more of a special attacker. Nothing I can really do about that. The other bad thing is that both the Charjabug -> Vikavolt and Magneton -> Magnezone evolutions require leveling up in Vast Poni Canyon...which is a long way away.

Another nice thing is that I don't have to worry about leveling up too much throughout this game, and this is shown right at the beginning because Oricorio has flying moves to start off (it learns Air Cutter at level 13 which is perfect as it's also a special attacker). That gives me an easy victory over Hala.

One thing I started to pick up on was rotating who is at the front of my party based on one of two objectives - 1) traveling around means whoever is the lowest level with the most experience needed to level (which helps close the level gaps), and 2) plot based which means that I'm trying to start out with my strongest in the first slot. Helpful to keep things around the same level.

2.) Akala Island
Before the Water Trial, I pick up an Eevee but manage to avoid using it. That's to be expected given the trial's type. I continue on throug the game until I get to the Fire Trial, where I am VERY close to Route 8. Route 8 is important because of two things: a Thunder Stone, and my bestie Chinchou. But I have to push through the Fire Trial, which ends with me finally having Pichu become Pikachu (because I picked up the Soothe Bell and then forgot to add it on for a bit). Once through the Fire Trial, I do pick up the Chinchou (a 20% chance trying to fish in splashing water, which I have to keep running out and back to have it respawn). The Thunder Stone is closer to the Grass Trial, but I do use the Thunder Stone on Eevee to get a Jolteon. On one hand, Pikachu is already Electric, but I really want Pikachu to get Thunderbolt, which it'll learn at level 42.

Grass, once again, is the bane of being an Electric user - it's almost worse than going up against Ground. At least with Ground, you just can't hit it. Here, I have to do the Trial battle twice before winning. It wasn't really anything I was doing wrong - it's just ranges, especially with trying to still use Air Cutter. I get better ranges the second time, thankfully.

At Olivia's shop, I pick up another Thunder Stone and then head out for the Grand Trial. No big problem there - having Chinchou is super nice at this point, because it gives me coverage for Ground and Rock (saying that will come back to bite me...) and coverage is always great to have.

3.) Ula'ula Island
Nothing to report on any struggles with Electric and Steel battles at the Observatory. Once I start heading south towards the Ghost trial, I get allowed to use Mudsdale and then I can get to the grass patches, where I pick up an Elekid and Alolan Geodude. Yay. Even more coverage now with Alolan Geodude. It quickly becomes an Alolan Graveler, and unfortunately, it'll stay at that for the rest of the game (mainly so I could see if I could push it all the way through to the end without needing to do any evolutions that needed another game).

Looking back, at this point, I really should have set myself to the final team I was going to use. I ended up keeping Elekid and Jolteon in my party, but I didn't think I was going to end up keeping them. I end up paying for it with a few hours of grinding before fighting the Ground Trial on the final island, so in future runs I am thinking that I need to make that decision around this point and not try to level everything. Might be a few reasons to go against that if a Pokemon is better at a certain point than just the end of the game.

The rest of the island is fairly straightforward, and even Nanu's Grand Trial was easy. I've got Signal Beam with Lanturn and X-Scissor with Charjabug.

The battles in Aether Paradise are a little rough, in that I have to go back a few times to heal up along the way.

4.) Poni Island
I progress far enough to gain access to Vast Poni Canyon, use a single Rare Candy each on Charjabug and Magneton to evolve them to Vikavolt and Magnezone. Unfortunately, they were boxed for a while so I work on training them up. I end up having my team between 45-48 to take down Hapu, and that's just barely enough to eek out a victory. Then I go through the Canyon, and kept facepalming because every point I would heal up my team, I would try to progress and Lillie would be all "let me heal your team". Waste of money.

At this time, I lock in my final party and they are not going to be switched out: Vikavolt, Magnezone, Alolan Raichu, Alolan Graveler, Lanturn, and Oricorio. I complete everything up to gaining access to the Pokemon League, no problems whatsoever. At this point, my team is now up to 55ish for the league. I felt that was a good first attempt level.

5.) Elite Four and Champion
Order I fought was Flying -> Rock -> Fighting -> Ghost -> Champion.

Flying type is easy. Spam Thunderbolts and Discharges.

Rock type requires a little back and forth using Scald where I can, and then Flash Cannon. Magnezone with Metal Sound/Flash Cannon is super helpful to have at this point.

Fighting...well, I was hoping to use Psychic, but the Hariyama easily can knock out A.Raichu, so I decide to try a different tactic and spam Hurricane from Oricorio. Luckily, it hits and knocks it out, so I decide to just fire off Hurricane like there's no tomorrow. It sort of works, but then I just use my strongest moves to get through.

Ghost...just spam moves again.

Champion. This was actually fun. I used my last Rare Candy on Lanturn and gave it the Mystic Water. Then, battle start. Lycanroc is sent out, and it tries to use Stone Edge and misses (I very much remember it getting stones in the air most of the time, so this was a nice start), and then Scald OHKOs. I think that was a range and I just got lucky. Snorlax is next, and I spam Hyper Potions to outlast High Horsepower, and that runs out. I was going to switch to A.Raichu and do Nasty Plot setup for Thunderbolt/Psychic, but Snorlax uses Crunch so I rethink and just switch to Magnezone. Hyper Potion spam plus Metal Sound and then a use of Flash Cannon takes out Snorlax. A.Ninetales is brought out, so another use of Flash Cannon takes that out. Decidueye is next, so I switch over Oricorio and use Air Slash twice to knock it out. Next is Magnezone, and back to my Magnezone to just use more Metal Sound until it gets knocked out, at which point A.Raichu can take it out with Psychic. Finally, Braviary...need I say more?

Well, this bring the Ultimate Electric run to a close. I need to decide what's next. I know my next Ultimate will be Fairy, but in order to keep with Game Mastery rules, I need to go back and do the following: Rock on RB (I did it on FRLG), Rock on GS (I did on HGSS), Rock on RS (I did on ORAS), Rock on BW (I did on B2W2), and then Fire on RS (I did on Emerald). That'll get me back in order for RB/GS/RS/BDSP/BW/XY/SM as I've done for the most part. Most likely, I'll do the five I need to do to get back in order, because I'm still going through the Fairy type conversions from pre-Gen6 to Gen6. I know at least that I'll be having Jigglypuff/Clefairy/MrMime in Gen 1, but I want to identify the rest before I get a start. So, look for a set of back to back singles!

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Stenir, are you actually doing the Ultimate Run for all types? I'll be dang impressed if you get that accomplished!

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 5 (Route 111 Desert -> Petalburg Gym)

I got my fifth gym badge, and my final party member, Lileep! Most of my team is pretty much just as it was last update, since there were only two new areas to explore (the Desert and the new Trick House room), and I spent most of them leveling Lileep up to the level of the rest of my team. I set Lileep up with Toxic and Attract since her attack stats and moves aren't great and Norman has an all-male team of Normal-types. That being said, Grovyle did learn Leaf Blade right after I beat Norman, though she hasn't gotten a chance to actually use it just yet.

Norman went down pretty much exactly how I expected him to. I led with Breloom, and he nearly 1HKOed Spinda with a Mach Punch, but took around a third of his HP in damage from a SE Psybeam. Norman used a Hyper Potion, but Breloom used another Mach Punch to bring Spinda's HP back down and then KOed it next turn.

Norman sent out Vigoroth next, and Breloom 2HKOed it with Mach Punch, again losing a third of its HP, this time to a Facade. Norman sent out his Linoone third and wasted his turn on a failed Belly Drum as Breloom 2HKOed it.

Finally, Norman sent out Slaking. I had Breloom Mach Punch it one more time before it fainted, then sent out Lileep. I spent Slaking's Truant turn infatuating it and used Toxic on its active turn, which it was able to act on and used Yawn. Lileep used Bullet Seed once before falling asleep and once right after waking up, and Slaking 2HKOed it with Facade right before it fainted to Toxic. I sent out Grovyle to get the XP so she could learn Leaf Blade but she never actually did anything this battle.

Team

Spoiler:

Grovyle (♀) | Grass | Level 29
Moves: Leaf Blade, Secret Power, Dig, Screech
77 HP / 52 Atk / 27 Def / 61 SpA / 43 SpD / 68 Spe
Ability: Overgrow| Nature: Hasty | Item: Soft Sand

Lombre (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 28
Moves: Bullet Seed, Secret Power, Attract, Growl
80 HP / 36 Atk / 39 Def / 43 SpA / 45 SpD / 35 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Silk Scarf

Nuzleaf (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 28
Moves: Bullet Seed, Secret Power, Rock Tomb, Torment
84 HP / 50 Atk / 34 Def / 37 SpA / 32 SpD / 44 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Hard Stone

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 29
Moves: Mach Punch, Secret Power, Mega Drain, Stun Spore
79 HP / 92 Atk / 58 Def / 42 SpA / 47 SpD / 54 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Gloom (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 28
Moves: Bullet Seed, Acid, Secret Power, Sleep Powder
76 HP / 43 Atk / 52 Def / 64 SpA / 52 SpD / 29 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Soothe Bell

Lileep (♀) | Rock/Grass | Level 28
Moves: Bullet Seed, Secret Power, Toxic, Attract
83 HP / 33 Atk / 48 Def / 43 SpA / 56 SpD / 19 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Hardy | Item: Miracle Seed

 

[StenirRPG]

I'm not sure if this is breaking the rules, but I wanted to say it's nice to hear from you again, StenirRPG.

Stenir, are you actually doing the Ultimate Run for all types? I'll be dang impressed if you get that accomplished!

That's the plan, but doing these re-runs, mostly for Rock, are to ensure that when I hopefully finish all of the Ultimate runs, I'll also snag the Game and Type masteries as bonuses. I mean, 18 types x 7 gens is already 126 runs, and I've got to do 5 on top of that to make up for not sticking to the same games, so that's 131. There's a joke going on in my house that I've basically run out of good ideas for names after the 30th individual game runs, since I've already complete 35. It also gets tiring at some point, and I have to take a break.

After I finish the first seven gens in all of the types, I plan on switch from types to game runs. Do SwSh with all the types one by one, then do SV the same.

One of the things that I've gone back and forth on is how much I look ahead. Certainly, I always look to see the soonest that I can pick up each of the available mons in a game to help me decide on routing or when I need to sidestep game progression to go pick up a new mon. I do copy down their movesets into a notebook so I have them available, but that's only their learnset by level. I sort of don't pay much attention to TMs and HMs unless I run into a wall, then I'll go look it up and try to figure out what I can do to get over the hurdle. I feel like I'd spend a lot of time trying to plan everything out to the smallest degree if I didn't just do the bare minimum and then kinda treat it as a blind playthrough past that point.

But, let's get the first of the reruns out of the way. My goal is to push through these in one big burst for each of them, so it'll keep with the trend of one entry per. Once I get caught up and jump back into Fairy, I might switch back.

Sign-Up:
User: StenirRPG
Type: Rock
Game(s): Red
Challenge Type: Single
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard


Single Rock Run
Red / FIRST AND FINAL / The Rare, Red Rock

In this post (i.e., TL;DR)

Spoiler:

1. Through Brock and Misty
2. Through Surge and Erika
3. Through Koga and Blaine
4. Through Sabrina and Giovanni
5. The Elite Four and Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

1. Through Brock and Misty
Starting us off with the redos, here's Geodude to start us off with. I don't have much trouble since much of the start of the game is just trading Normal attacks back and forth. I do try to ensure that I'm going to have enough HP to make it through Brock, because I didn't want to wait until level 16 to learn Rock Throw. I enter the gym at level 13, and make it through the trainer with no problem. The battle with Brock kinda sucks, and I probably should have just grinded to make it through, but I spent all my money on Potions so I was certain I'd be okay. Unfortunately, that Geodude at the start took all but 1 PP of Tackle, so Struggle tactics it is against Onix. Yay, burning through Potions.

Misty was likely to be a painpoint, but I had decided to hold off on Geodude evolving to Graveler until after learning Earthquake at level 31. I have two Rare Candies, so I need to get to level 29 first, so I go ahead and do the entire route to Bill's first. This gets me to L28 after defeating the Dig TM thief. I debated about teaching this to Graveler, but decided to instead teach it to Onix so it had a good STAB move. So, I take out the gym trainers and that gets me to L29, then I pop the two Rare Candies, get to Level 31, learn Earthquake, and evolve to Graveler. I'm now able to survive and OHKO both of Misty's mons with a single Earthquake. Noice.

2. Through Surge and Erika
It's at this point, things accelerate. I fight all the trainers in the S.S. Anne, then grab a Spearow and trade for Farfetch'd. I teach it Cut, head into the Electric Gym and take on Lt. Surge. One guess how well Earthquake worked.

At Rock Tunnel, I pick up a low level Onix, teach it Dig, and head back out. I spend a couple of hours getting it up to about L25 (which is nothing compared to Graveler now being L39). I figure this is enough and go through the Rock Tunnel with little problem. It's nice doing this (again) because I remember the way through this time. Hooray muscle memory. I take on all the trainers heading west from Lavender Town on the way to Celadon City, and then I do the entire Team Rock plotline in the town before moving on to face Erika. After taking down all of the trainers in the gym, Graveler is now L41 (Rock Throw, Mega Punch, Tackle, and EQ) and Onix is L35 (Rock Throw, Slam, Dig, and Rage). I let Onix do as much Digging as possible, and then when it goes down, I switch to EQ with Graveler. Easy enough.

3. Through Koga and Blaine
I do the Pokemon Tower stuff, and then head south since I'm lazy and didn't pick up the bike. Longer route, but more XP available. I decide to hold off on fighting many trainers until after I pick up my next mon in Fuschia. Well, more correctly, the Safari Zone. There, I get a Rhyhorn, and spend some time leveling it up so it can evolve. This allows me to get it a moveset of Stomp, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Surf. Of course, Koga is just Dig and EQ. It's about this time I wish I had been catching Pokemon the whole game to get 50 for the Exp All item.

I fly back to Pewter, pick up the Old Amber, and then just over to Pallet Town and surf down to Cinnibar. I take my Helix Fossil and the Old Amber to be brought back to life, and I now have my entire team. I spend a little bit of time moving my way through the little dungeon there as I head for the Secret Key, eventually having Omanyte evolve to Omastar and Aerodactyl getting a few levels. Graveler's at 44, Onix L41, Rhydon L43, Aerodactly L32, and Omastar L42. Decent levels to take down Blaine.

4. Through Sabrina and Giovanni
So much XP in this part, and Aerodactyl gets a lot of it. I let it grind through the Fighting Dojo, then I get lots of levels and finish up the Rocket Plotline. From there, it's on to Sabrina, and this is probably just a little bit of frustration. Some of her team have low defense, but they hit hard because my team has low Special. Except for Omastar, but I didn't want to have to put that one in play unless I had to. Still, got through it on the first attempt, so can't argue with progress.

Some of the trainers in Giovanni's gym have fighting types, so I let Aerodactyl take the lead. Also helps to be a Flying type as well in a Ground gym. It does get knocked out during the gym leader fight, so I just switch over to Omastar since it has Bubblebeam and that's nice enough to take down the rest of the team.

5. Elite Four and Champion
For Lorelei, I start with Omastar and use Withdraw, boosting my stats. Then I use Spike Cannon to do some nice damage. Obviously, it keeps trigging Rest on Dewgong, so I instead switch over to using Hydro Pump, and that's enough to break the chain and I progress on. The rest of the team isn't much to worry about, other than Lapras, but that's just cause it's tanky. A couple of Thunderbolts from Rhydon (especially one that paralyzes and one that crits) take it down.

For Bruno, Aerodactly and Omastar all the way.

For Agatha, I sort of have to deal with the the constant switching as best I can. I'd like to use Dig or Earthquake, but if the Ghosts are going to be swapped out for a Fly-er, I don't want to go that route. I decide to just spam Rock Slide (Rhydon), which is actually a pretty powerful. But, it is Rock, so it's like "super power, rare hit chance".

Lance is the only one that I have to adjust strategy for. True, I have Ice Beam on my Rhydon, but there's something in the way - the Gyarados. So, Omastar first, and do whatever I can to take down the Gyarados, then I just let whatever goes down go down. The Dragonair on his team go down fairly easily, and the Dragonite goes down to a couple of Ice Beam uses from Rhydon.

As for the Champion, well, Aerodactyl to start, then when it goes down, Omastar. From there, it's just Onix, and Rhydon, and finally, it comes down to my Graveler against a Blastoise. It tries to use Hydro Pump, and misses...giving me the chance to use EQ to knock it out for the win.

Wasn't too bad of a run, but the grind is slow.

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

Here's the Gen 2 Rock signup. Sorry for not signing up before this one and just clumping it all together. Finished and wanted to get it written down.

Sign-Up:
User: StenirRPG
Type: Rock
Game(s): Gold
Challenge Type: Single
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard