[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge v8, Tera Edition

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 6 (Southern Water Routes -> Fortree Gym)

Alright, time to make the first Monotype update on the new forum software. I went down the southwest water routes near Dewford, then went back east to go up to Fortree, explored a little bit of Route 120 including the Scorched Slab, and then doubled back and beat the Fortree Gym.

No new Pokemon (though I did catch a Tropius I don't plan to use), but lots of moveset changes here. I evolved both my Grovyle and my Nuzleaf, into Sceptile and Shiftry. Sceptile also learned Rock Tomb prior to the Fortree Gym Battle since Dig was useless, Lombre learned Surf and Ice Beam, Shiftry learned Faint Attack and Sunny Day, Breloom learned Sludge Bomb and Facade, Gloom learned Sludge Bomb, Sunny Day, and Hidden Power (Ice) with a BP of 64, and Lileep learned Confuse Ray. (Gloom was the only team member to learn a useful Hidden Power type with a usable base power.) I'm still getting better moves, but good STAB Grass moves continue to elude me on everyone except Sceptile. Thankfully, the Solarbeam and Giga Drain TMs are closeby, so that'll be rectified soon.

I beat Winona pretty much as soon as I got access to Fortree Gym, on my first try, even with a type disadvantage. I led with Gloom, who 2HKOed Swablu with Hidden Power Ice, and then 3HKOed Pelipper with Sludge Bomb. I tried having Gloom Sludge Bomb Tropius, but he was outsped and fainted. I switched to Lombre and 1HKOed Tropius with an Ice Beam. Winona switched to Skarmory, so I switched from Lombre, which I was planning to save for Altaria, to Lileep, who confused it with Confuse Ray before it fainted her. I then switched to Breloom and paralyzed Skarmory, then he fainted as well. I switched to Sceptile and used Screech twice, then missed with Rock Tomb and Sceptile fainted too. I switched to Shiftry and spammed Rock Tomb, nearly 3HKOing it twice and forcing Winona to use both her Hyper Potions. (I had to use a Hyper Potion here too.) Eventually, Shiftry 3HKOed Skarmory, then she ended up KOing Altaria with a few more Rock Tombs too, and I didn't have to switch to Lombre at the end like I expected.

Team

Spoiler:

Sceptile (♀) | Grass | Level 36
Moves: Leaf Blade, Secret Power, Rock Tomb, Screech
108 HP / 78 Atk / 47 Def / 91 SpA / 68 SpD / 104 Spe
Ability: Overgrow | Nature: Hasty | Item: Miracle Seed

Lombre (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 35
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Bullet Seed, Growl
97 HP / 44 Atk / 47 Def / 53 SpA / 56 SpD / 44 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Mystic Water

Shiftry (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 36
Moves: Faint Attack, Secret Power, Rock Tomb, Sunny Day
120 HP / 89 Atk / 58 Def / 67 SpA / 55 SpD / 71 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Hard Stone

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 33
Moves: Mach Punch, Sludge Bomb, Facade, Stun Spore
88 HP / 105 Atk / 66 Def / 47 SpA / 53 SpD / 62 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Gloom (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 34
Moves: Sludge Bomb, Hidden Power (Ice 64), Sunny Day, Sleep Powder
90 HP / 52 Atk / 63 Def / 78 SpA / 64 SpD / 36 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Amulet Coin

Lileep (♀) | Rock/Grass | Level 33
Moves: Bullet Seed, Secret Power, Toxic, Confuse Ray
98 HP / 39 Atk / 59 Def / 50 SpA / 67 SpD / 23 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Hardy | Item: Smoke Ball

 

[GhostMadison7]

Hello! First just wanna say I LOVE the monotype challenge, one of the only challenge runs I do in Pokemon once I'm done with a game (aside from starter only rarely) So finding a forum all about it is amazing!
Technically, I've done about ~4 monotype runs, Water in Emerald, Normal in Red, Bug in Volt White, and Water in Crystal, there are definitely more I've done that are lost to time x) But I wanna start fresh (except my VW Bug run that's going lol) if that's ok!​

User: GhostNeko72
Type: Ice
Game(s): Pokemon Prismatic Moon [Rebalanced Mode]*
Challenge Type: The Ultimate Challenge
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard Mode

Starting this with a lovely hack of Ultra Moon by Buffel Saft, it adds every Pokemon up to gen 7 ('Catch 'Em All' hacks like these are perfect for monotypes imo!), and adds a change to the difficulty levels providing a nice challenge ^^ No Ice starter, so I'm stuck with Popplio until after the Trainer School lol
*Rebalanced mode changes many typings, stats, movepools and abilities for Pokemon, all Ice-types are unaffected type wise, but I will not be using Glalie or Beartic​

 

[Explorer of Time]

Hello! First just wanna say I LOVE the monotype challenge, one of the only challenge runs I do in Pokemon once I'm done with a game (aside from starter only rarely) So finding a forum all about it is amazing!
Technically, I've done about ~4 monotype runs, Water in Emerald, Normal in Red, Bug in Volt White, and Water in Crystal, there are definitely more I've done that are lost to time x) But I wanna start fresh (except my VW Bug run that's going lol) if that's ok!​

User: GhostNeko72
Type: Ice
Game(s): Pokemon Prismatic Moon [Rebalanced Mode]*
Challenge Type: The Ultimate Challenge
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard Mode

Starting this with a lovely hack of Ultra Moon by Buffel Saft, it adds every Pokemon up to gen 7 ('Catch 'Em All' hacks like these are perfect for monotypes imo!), and adds a change to the difficulty levels providing a nice challenge ^^ No Ice starter, so I'm stuck with Popplio until after the Trainer School lol
*Rebalanced mode changes many typings, stats, movepools and abilities for Pokemon, all Ice-types are unaffected type wise, but I will not be using Glalie or Beartic​

This is OK, but I'm confused as to what type of challenge you're attempting. If you want to do an Ultimate Ice challenge, you need to list a Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola game, all of which can include romhacks like Prismatic Moon. If this isn't what you wanted to do, I can just add you to the Singles challenger list.

Feel free to get started on your game, and I'll add you to the correct challengers list once I get some clarification.

 

[GhostMadison7]

This is OK, but I'm confused as to what type of challenge you're attempting. If you want to do an Ultimate Ice challenge, you need to list a Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola game, all of which can include romhacks like Prismatic Moon. If this isn't what you wanted to do, I can just add you to the Singles challenger list.

Feel free to get started on your game, and I'll add you to the correct challengers list once I get some clarification.

OH I must have misread/mistyped then so sorry ahaha, I'm doing the Type Mastery challenege x)

 

[Explorer of Time]

OH I must have misread/mistyped then so sorry ahaha, I'm doing the Type Mastery challenege x)

Thanks! I've added you to the challenger list.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Hello, GhostNeko72, welcome to the thread.

 

[GhostMadison7]

Hello, GhostNeko72, welcome to the thread.

Hello, and thank you!

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 7 (Route 121 -> Mossdeep Gym)

I made it through the rest of continental Hoenn, the Aqua and Magma Hideouts, and the Mossdeep Gym. I skipped over exploring the ocean routes east of the Aqua Hideout for now, though, since I wanted to beat Tate & Liza ASAP so I can get Dive and get the items to evolve my last two Pokemon soon.

This update has probably been my biggest moveset shakeup of the run, since I finally got both Giga Drain and Solarbeam, giving most of my team Grass-type STAB moves that weren't Bullet Seed. Sceptile and Gloom also learned Return, since I figure their friendship is definitely maxed out by now, and Sceptile learned Aerial Ace too. Lombre learned Giga Drain, and also Toxic right before the Mossdeep Gym, though I haven't actually used it and I expect to replace it with Rain Dance before ever using it. Shiftry replaced all three of her attacking moves with Solarbeam, Shadow Ball, and Aerial Ace. Breloom is mostly the same, but he replaced Mach Punch with Sky Uppercut. Cradily replaced her attack moves with Giga Drain and Amnesia, giving her a much more stall-oriented moveset. Finally, Gloom replaced Hidden Power and Sleep Powder with Solarbeam and Return. This last one bears a little explaining, but Gloom/Vileplume is intended to be kind of a counter to poison-types, a type my team is otherwise weak to, and I want him to have a move that can hit Poison for neutral damage plus his two STABs and Sunny Day, even though I'd easily keep Sleep Powder on Vileplume if he was in a non-Grass team.

I beat my rival in Lilycove very easily with Lileep, by using Toxic and Confuse Ray to deal passive damage, 3x Amnesia early on against Tropius to boost her Special Defense into the stratosphere, and Giga Drain whenever May's Pokemon were both confused and poisoned to heal up. Lileep managed to win the battle single-handedly without any healing items. I evolved her into Cradily after this, and fed her all my Rare Candies since she's harder to level up because she has a stall moveset.

Maxie's Crobat was tough and took down four of my six team members, but his other two Pokemon didn't get a chance to do much and I beat them very easily.

Tate & Liza were also quite easy to beat, but they did faint two of my Pokemon. I led with Cradily and Shiftry, had Shiftry 2HKO Xatu with Shadow Ball, and had Cradily use Toxic on Lunatone and Claydol before she fainted to Earthquake. I switched to Lombre and had Shiftry KO Lunatone using Solarbeam, which she didn't even have to set up because Xatu used Sunny Day for me, and used Solarbeam + Giga Drain on Claydol, then Solrock. Lombre fainted too before Solrock went down, so I sent out Gloom, but he didn't get a chance to attack because Shiftry KOed Solrock with a Solarbeam.

Team

Spoiler:

Sceptile (♀) | Grass | Level 40
Moves: Leaf Blade, Return, Aerial Ace, Screech
120 HP / 88 Atk / 53 Def / 103 SpA / 75 SpD / 116 Spe
Ability: Overgrow | Nature: Hasty | Item: Miracle Seed

Lombre (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 39
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Giga Drain, Toxic
108 HP / 49 Atk / 53 Def / 61 SpA / 63 SpD / 49 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Mystic Water

Shiftry (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 40
Moves: SolarBeam, Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace, Sunny Day
134 HP / 99 Atk / 64 Def / 76 SpA / 62 SpD / 80 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Lax Incense

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 39
Moves: Sky Uppercut, Sludge Bomb, Facade, Stun Spore
104 HP / 125 Atk / 78 Def / 56 SpA / 63 SpD / 75 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Gloom (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 39
Moves: Sludge Bomb, SolarBeam, Return, Sunny Day
104 HP / 61 Atk / 72 Def / 91 SpA / 73 SpD / 41 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Silk Scarf

Cradily (♀) | Rock/Grass | Level 44
Moves: Giga Drain, Toxic, Confuse Ray, Amnesia
148 HP / 86 Atk / 96 Def / 84 SpA / 110 SpD / 49 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Hardy | Item: Pecha Berry

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

This isn't relevant to any monotype challenge I've done for this thread, but at the same time, this is the only consistently active thread in the "Challenges" forum.

Outside of Nuzlocke or Hardcore challenges, do you guys consider it cheating to add in a TM for Hidden Power in FRLG, so you don't have to waste a party slot on a Meowth. I ask because I'm doing a "no evolution" challenge in Leaf Green ...except actually, I had to catch some evolved PokeDex Fodder (not for use in battle), so Professor Oak's aides would give me the Flash HM, the Everstone, the Itemfinder, and the Amulet Coin, and eventually, the Exp. Share. My buddy who encouraged me to take the challenge said that Pokemon that retroactively got a pre-evolution after RBY (most notably Pikachu but also Clefairy and a few others like, I guess, Jigglypuff) do not count as evolved, so Pikachu and Clefairy are on my team. He did give me a 350 BST rule (because Snorlax would make the challenge too easy). I'm not sure if I will count this run in the challenges thread because the rules are kind of muddy as you can see.

I suppose this could count towards the monotype challenge, but I don't plan on doing that for my Ruby/Sapphire monotype challenges because Pickup is broken enough as it is. This is just a FRLG question for my own purposes.

 

[Explorer of Time]

This isn't relevant to any monotype challenge I've done for this thread, but at the same time, this is the only consistently active thread in the "Challenges" forum.

Outside of Nuzlocke or Hardcore challenges, do you guys consider it cheating to add in a TM for Hidden Power in FRLG, so you don't have to waste a party slot on a Meowth. I ask because I'm doing a "no evolution" challenge in Leaf Green ...except actually, I had to catch some evolved PokeDex Fodder (not for use in battle), so Professor Oak's aides would give me the Flash HM, the Everstone, the Itemfinder, and the Amulet Coin, and eventually, the Exp. Share. My buddy who encouraged me to take the challenge said that Pokemon that retroactively got a pre-evolution after RBY (most notably Pikachu but also Clefairy and a few others like, I guess, Jigglypuff) do not count as evolved, so Pikachu and Clefairy are on my team. He did give me a 350 BST rule (because Snorlax would make the challenge too easy). I'm not sure if I will count this run in the challenges thread because the rules are kind of muddy as you can see.

I suppose this could count towards the monotype challenge, but I don't plan on doing that for my Ruby/Sapphire monotype challenges because Pickup is broken enough as it is. This is just a FRLG question for my own purposes.

My personal view is that it's fine to cheat or trade in, but only once you've made it to Route 5. Getting it legitimately is risk-free but really, really tedious, since each Meowth without a held item has a 0.5% chance of getting a TM10 after each battle you win (including against wild Pokemon). However, cheating/trading in a TM10 in before you reach Route 5 would imbalance the early game and give you an unfair advantage, especially against Brock, who'd be trivialized with the right Hidden Power type.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

My personal view is that it's fine to cheat or trade in, but only once you've made it to Route 5. Getting it legitimately is risk-free but really, really tedious, since each Meowth without a held item has a 0.5% chance of getting a TM10 after each battle you win (including against wild Pokemon). However, cheating/trading in a TM10 in before you reach Route 5 would imbalance the early game and give you an unfair advantage, especially against Brock, who'd be trivialized with the right Hidden Power type.

Oh, I wouldn't do it before catching the actual Meowth; I think your rule for cheating/hacking in extra copies of a TM for this thread is very appropriate for most non-Nuzlocke challenges. I'm about to challenge Koga, so I'm well beyond the point where I caught a Meowth, and ... 0.5%? That's like finding a Viridian Forest Pikachu squared! I didn't do the math quite like that in my head since in the past, I've used four Zigzagoon at a time to farm rare candies, nuggets, etc. I'll see what I can do since my team is kind of underleveled for Koga apparently (on top of the lower base stats). I might have to slot in an extra three Meowths and be patient. (The fast forward function comes to mind also.)

 

[Kostucha]

I would personally consider that cheating. In similar vein what prevents you from hacking in other things that theoretically take a long time but are still possible like getting Heracross/Muchlax on your platinum team, maxing out happiness at any time or even stuff like getting your pokemon up to level 100 since you can grind it on first route or capping your wallet as soon as you get a pokemon with pay day/pickup/etc. Challenges are all about making choices of how much time are you willing to spend per run.

Another way to look at it is the runs done on emulators should be played as if they were done on (unhacked) consoles where you don't have access to any tools. Then hacking is used to simulate stuff that could be also be done on official hardware like trading in a pokemon or triggering a trade evolution, not hacking in TMs at will with no rhyme nor reason.

All in all play however you wish y'all, the most important thing is to have fun :) This is just a silly thread in a silly subforum with its own made up rules. No need to take it all super seriously.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

At this time, I haven't used a save editor to alter the save data in any way; I only checked the internal values of EVs, IVs, friendship, etc. I definitely have mixed feelings about doing what I suggested in the last post. I was trying to justify it, but I don't want to do it. I still feel kind of funny about the Flamethrower TM on Gyarados in the Flying monotype LP. Plus I don't want my friend holding it over me like "You didn't actually complete the full challenge," so I should probably refrain.

That said, I don't that way of looking at it is entirely valid, and I am mostly referring to the "fast forward" feature. If you're streaming the game, and you're grinding or trying to get a certain Pokemon for a non-speedrun challenge, most people probably don't want to see you escaping from a wild battle 50 times, and in some challenges, grinding for a specific Pokemon can be mandatory (like finding a Ralts for a Psychic monotype playthrough of RSE, which also happens at the beginning of a run, so it's not like it can be found off-stream). No one wants to find and catch a Kangaskhan in Gen I on original hardware, so the fast forward feature seems necessary, especially for streamers who are trying to entertain their audience. (I myself said non-nuzlocke gameplay, so I don't think either of us want to discuss hardcore nuzlockes whereby grinding is artificially nullified by hacked rare candies up to the current level cap. I think that's a different discussion, and I don't feel I'm qualified to speak on that particular challenge because I've not won a vanilla nuzlocke.)

Like you said, these are silly made up rules, and I don't want to shame anyone for playing with a different artificial ruleset. I know we're using words like "cheating," but I'd hate for someone to read this thread and get upset with us or themselves. Let's be reasonable about this. :)

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 8 (Route 124 -> Sootopolis Gym)

I got my final gym badge and explored everywhere in Hoenn's eastern ocean that didn't require Waterfall. The very first thing I did after beating Tate & Liza was to go dive for a Blue and Green Shard, then finally evolve Lombre and Gloom into Ludicolo and Vileplume. I then went to Sootopolis, got the Brick Break TM for Sceptile, Shiftry, and Breloom, went to the Abandoned Ship and got the Rain Dance TM for Ludicolo, and went to the Seafloor Cavern to get the Earthquake TM for Sceptile and Cradily. I then went and beat Archie before exploring the ocean surface because the weather effects would be very beneficial for half of my team, but it was a couple weeks ago and I don't remember how it went down other than that Mightyena and Sharpedo were easy and Crobat was a little difficult but not impossible to beat.

Most of Juan's Pokemon were really easy, but his Kingdra was very hard. I led with Shiftry, started with Sunny Day, and 1HKOed Luvdisc and Sealeo with SolarBeam. Juan sent out his Kingdra, which I did around 45% damage to with a SolarBeam, then it 2HKOed Shiftry with Ice Beam. I switched to Cradily, successfully used Toxic and Confuse Ray on it as it boosted its evasion with Double Team, then maxed out her Special Defence with Amnesia while Kingdra maxed its Evasion. Kingdra got close to fainting once, but used Rest and healed back to full health, and I spent several turns using Toxic and Confuse Ray to restatus it while it used Ice Beam to do a little damage and hope for a crit. It eventally got a crit right after I confused it, and I sent out Sceptile, used Aerial Ace, nearly got KOed by an Ice Beam, then used another Aerial Ace and brought it down far enough that it fainted after hurting itself in its confusion. Then Sceptile 1HKOed both Whiscash and Crawdaunt with Leaf Blade and I got my final Gym Badge.

Team

Spoiler:

Sceptile (♀) | Grass | Level 46
Moves: Leaf Blade, Earthquake, Brick Break, Aerial Ace
138 HP / 105 Atk / 61 Def / 118 SpA / 86 SpD / 135 Spe
Ability: Overgrow | Nature: Hasty | Item: Shell Bell

Ludicolo (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 45
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Giga Drain, Rain Dance
142 HP / 77 Atk / 79 Def / 99 SpA / 101 SpD / 77 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Mystic Water

Shiftry (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 46
Moves: SolarBeam, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Sunny Day
155 HP / 115 Atk / 74 Def / 87 SpA / 71 SpD / 94 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Focus Band

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 45
Moves: Brick Break, Sludge Bomb, Facade, Stun Spore
120 HP / 149 Atk / 90 Def / 65 SpA / 73 SpD / 90 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Vileplume (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 45
Moves: Sludge Bomb, SolarBeam, Return, Sunny Day
132 HP / 87 Atk / 97 Def / 119 SpA / 97 SpD / 58 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Silk Scarf

Cradily (♀) | Rock/Grass | Level 47
Moves: Earthquake, Toxic, Confuse Ray, Amnesia
158 HP / 92 Atk / 103 Def / 90 SpA / 117 SpD / 52 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Hardy | Item: Lax Incense

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 9 (Victory Road -> Pokemon League)

I went down to Meteor Falls to get the Iron Tail TM for Breloom, and then beat the Pokemon League. Clear time was around 38 hours. No moveset changes apart from Breloom learning Iron Tail to give it a better option against Ghost-types, though.

Wally went down super easily to my Ludicolo, and Breloom 1HKOed Sidney's whole team with Brick Break after it was switched in (I didn't want to lead with it because Sidney leads with Mightyena). I didn't have a chance to write down the last four trainers' battles as I was fighting them, so I'll do my best to recount them from memory. A few of the details might be wrong, though, especially in Wallace's battle since it was more complicated and I don't remember it as clearly.

I lost a battle against Phoebe of all people because of extraordinarily bad RNG, ending in a missed Iron Tail with Breloom that would've won the fight had he hit, followed by a critical Psychic from one of her Banette, but my second match went far better. I led with Shiftry, beat her first Dusclops with a few Shadow Balls and nearly KOed the other before it Ice Beamed Shiftry, and I switched to Ludicolo and Surfed Dusclops, Sableye, and her first Banette before Ludicolo fainted, and Sceptile finished the fight with a Leaf Blade.

Glacia was much easier than I expected, thankfully. I led with Sceptile and 1HKOed both her Sealeo with Leaf Blade, then brought Walrein down enough that she had to use a Full Restore after 1HKOing my Sceptile. I used Ludicolo to Giga Drain Walrein while it continually missed with Sheer Cold, and she sent out her Level 50 Glalie to KO Ludicolo. I switched to Breloom and 1HKOed both her Glalie with Brick Break and took down another E4 member.

I led with Ludicolo against Drake, KOed Shelgon with a few Ice Beams. Altaria KOed it with an Aerial Ace, so I switched to Breloom, used a Revival Herb on her as Breloom fainted to another Aerial Ace, and 1HKOed Altaria with another Ice Beam. Drake sent Kingdra out and fainted her with Body Slam after, though. I used Shiftry and Vileplume to SunnyBeam it a few times, but both fainted after some Dragon Dance-boosted Body Slams. I sent out Sceptile, which KOed it, and used a Revival Herb on Ludicolo, then used a Leaf Blade on Flygon as it 2HKOed her with Flamethrower. I sent out Ludicolo again and KOed Flygon and 1HKOed Salamence with Ice Beam.

I led with Sceptile, brought Wailord down to half HP, but it retaliated with Blizzard and fainted her. I switched to Vileplume and SunnyBeamed it after it wasted its turn on a Rain Dance that would immediately be overwritten by the sun. Tentacruel and Milotic were both very complicated to fight and I don't remember how it all went down, but I used three or four Max Revives as they used Ice Beam on my team to KO several Pokemon, and I made Wallace use his Full Restores.

The second half of Wallace's team was much easier. I had Sceptile use Aerial Ace to KO Ludicolo as it spammed Double Team in a futile attempt to evade my perfect-accuracy move, 1HKOed Whiscash with Leaf Blade, and then, after Gyarados KOed Sceptile with a Hyper Beam, switched to Cradily and used Toxic and Confuse Ray to make it KO itself.

I plan to do at least one more update for Steven and hopefully some Battle Frontier matches too.

Team

Spoiler:

Sceptile (♀) | Grass | Level 49
Moves: Leaf Blade, Earthquake, Brick Break, Aerial Ace
147 HP / 112 Atk / 64 Def / 126 SpA / 92 SpD / 144 Spe
Ability: Overgrow | Nature: Hasty | Item: Shell Bell

Ludicolo (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 49
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Giga Drain, Rain Dance
156 HP / 83 Atk / 86 Def / 108 SpA / 111 SpD / 83 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Mystic Water

Shiftry (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 49
Moves: SolarBeam, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Sunny Day
165 HP / 124 Atk / 78 Def / 93 SpA / 76 SpD / 101 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Focus Band

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 48
Moves: Brick Break, Facade, Iron Tail, Stun Spore
129 HP / 161 Atk / 96 Def / 71 SpA / 78 SpD / 96 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Vileplume (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 49
Moves: Sludge Bomb, SolarBeam, Return, Sunny Day
146 HP / 96 Atk / 105 Def / 130 SpA / 106 SpD / 63 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Silk Scarf

Cradily (♀) | Rock/Grass | Level 48
Moves: Earthquake, Toxic, Confuse Ray, Amnesia
162 HP / 94 Atk / 105 Def / 91 SpA / 119 SpD / 53 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Hardy | Item: Lax Incense

 

[MachoPony]

Surprised to see i'm still in the challengers list, it's been years lol. I'm sticking with ground but i'm going to start over, and i think i'll play FRLG instead of Red because better movesets, mechanics and i want to try the postgame end points( that is sevii islands and E4 rematch) Just to make it official.

User: MachoPony
Type: Ground
Game(s): Fire Red, HeartGold, Emerald, Platinum, White, X, Ultra Moon
Challenge Type: Ultimate
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard

 

[MachoPony]

Macho's Ground Journey Pt 1.
So as it turns out, FRLG removed the Nido twins from Route 2, so Route 3 (after brock) is your first chance to get either one of them, or geodude in Mt Moon as a legal capture. So I hacked in a NidoranM as my starter. Unfortunately Blue crit me so I lost the first fight but onwards I go!

Nidoran handled most of the trainers with ease. Peck made the bug catchers a joke, learning Double Kick helped too, at level 14 i took on brock, not wanting to over level if i could avoid it.

VS Brock

Attempt 1: Geodude went down to 3 double kicks, tackling me for a little bit. (defense curl lol) but then Onix hit bind, leered him then rock tomb finished me off.

Attempt 2: Geodude went the same, this time onix missed bind and got leered, tackled me for one double kick, bind for 2 double kick, one more tackle and a third double kick finished it off.

Boulder Badge, Get!

Progressed to route 3, tried to dodge as many trainers as i could. Caught Liz the NidoranF(1% in FR, took me so many encounters i found a shiny spearow first) then in Mt Moon caught Rock the Geodude. Trained them both, Nidoran evolved into Nidorina. NidoranM had already become Nidorino at this point. Tried to only use Geodude till i got a moon stone and evolved Charlie into Nidoking, then a 2nd just before the fossil nerd battle allowed me to evolve Liz into Nidoqueen. Out of Mt Moon i beat up the trainers in misty's gym, decided to train on nugget bridge because terrified.
VS Blue 2
Not difficult with 2 bulky dinosaurs on my squad, sure their movesets will never be great without TMs but they still have a ton of bulk and I taught Queen Mega Kick and King Mega Punch. Nidoqueen basically swept him by herself taking out Pidgeotto with a mega kick and a double kick, squirtle with 3 double kicks, abra with a single mega kick and rattatta with a single double kick.

Trained all 3 mons to level 21 though i knew Geodude wasn't going to help this fight.

VS Misty
Nidoqueen is incredibly tanky, good thing too. outspeed and Mega Kick to one shot Staryu, then survived 2 low roll Water Pulse from Starmie to hit tail whip then mega kick, she healed, another mega kick took it down again, Nidoqueen fainted and Nidoking took a water pulse and hit Peck to finish the fight, didn't want to rely on Mega Punch's less than stellar accuracy after 2 lucky low rolls in one fight.

Team:

Spoiler:

Rock LV21 Rock/Ground
Rock Throw
Magnitude
Defense Curl
Selfdestruct

Liz LV21 Poison/Ground
Mega Kick
Tail Whip
Growl
Double Kick

Charlie LV21 Poison/Ground
Mega Punch
Peck
Leer
Double Kick

Badges:

 

[StenirRPG]

Single Rock Run
Gold / FIRST AND FINAL / Johto Pain

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

Spoiler:

Stuff...because I'm too tired after 14 hours of Victory Road grinding

The full read:

Spoiler:

If you ever thought the grind in Gen 1 was slow...play Gen 2. The experience just stinks after a certain point, and I really had no choice but to spend hours grinding. And it's painful grinding.

Since this would just be a rather complainy rehash of my previous Johto Rock run, let's hit some of the highlights instead.

Chuck proved to be the first problem. By this point, I have a good size of my team - Sudowoodo, Graveler, Corsola, and Onix. I had to reach level 28 to stand a chance. And that's saying something because I beat Lance at level 50...after reaching the Elite Four barely breaking 40. Surf with Corsola was probably the best move I could hope for to start with, but when Water goes up against Water, it's an all out pray that it works. And guess what...it worked on the seventh attempt. Chuck's team just kept missing, so I was happy, though I felt like it was the ultimate cheese.

So, pushing forward, the next roadblock is actually Clair. I can't really do much to her. Maybe Rock Slide from Sudowoodo, who turns out to be a lot tankier than I honestly remember. This required a lot of painfully slow grinding to reach level 38-40. Then, hilariously, I'm crying first with tears of pain as my team goes down one by one...only to have Shuckle use Bide so many times that I ended up on 1 HP when that Kingdra finally went down. After four previous attempts all failing miserably, I took the W and moved on.

Only, moving on to the E4 sounds like it would be easy, and it will be once I get past Will. I try at 40. No go at all. I try at 43, next damage rounding threshold. No luck, but I can tell I'm getting closer. 45, next DRT. I manage to take down one and get closer to a second. Will, being Psychic type, just slaughters my "I've got so much defense but no spdef" Rock team...hence whey I keep having to grind. 48...much closer, got through Will but with only Graveler and no Revives on hand. But at 50, I have 18 Revives and 42 Hyper Potions...so I think I'm set.

And thankfully, once I am able to get past Will, it's just revive and hyper potion my way to victory. Even Lance's team just gets slaughtered in payback for the start of the Elite Four. Ground type attacks for Koga, whatever for Bruno, some Low Kicks and Surf for good measure against Karen...and then lots of Rock Slide to seal the victory.

Forty four hours. Been a while since I've felt this drained. I am so looking forward to Gen 3.

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

Switching things up - going to knock the Fire re-attempt in Sapphire out before the Rock one. Give my brain a break. BRICK BREAK...okay, I'll go take a nap.

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

 

[MachoPony]

So I was gonna do the Sevii Island quests till i rememberred how BS the lategame level curve is and the fact there's 0 good grinding spots in Fire Red, so I'm happy beating Blue and moving on to Heartgold.

The Res of the Journey

Spoiler:

Headed south through the underground pass to Vermillion. Caught Molez the Diglett, did the SS Anne but was getting close to a level cap (i know its not a rule but i don't want to beat a gym just by outlevelling it) Diglett took out the trainers

VS Surge
Diglett swept through Surge himself easily.

In the Rock tunnel i caught Snek the Onix, raised him and went to the pokemon tower

VS Blue
Between Nidoking and Diglett he didn't have much that could stand up to me. easy win.

Continued to Celadon and headed straight for the gym. Trainers were easy enough

VS Erika
Dugtrio took a chunk off Weepinbell before fainting, Nidoking finished it. Graveller one shot tangela by blowing up. Nidoqueen and Vileplume went back and forth on who can break through parahax before one final body slam finished the flower off.


Nidoqueen and Onix did most of the work against the rocket hideout
VS Giovanni
See above, after buying some Dig TMs at the dept store, Nidoqueen handled most of his team with Onix finishing Kangaskhan

Back to Lavender town caught Wack the Cubone in the pokemon tower and trained Onix on the gastly trainers. tail whip + some physical attacks took out Marowak, cleared out rockets then took both routes to Fuschia for training. The gym was easy, ground vs poison lol, only the random Hypno kept giving me trouble.

VS Koga
I almost wish i had done Red instead of Fire Red because lol screw levitate. thankfully i had screech on Onix, Marowak and Onix took out most of the team with Weezing taking 2 body slams at -2 def to faint to Nidoqueen.

Caught Dozer the Rhyhorn in the Safari Zone then onwards to Saffron, cleared every trainer in silph co for exp,

VS Blue
This is where i was very underlevelled and would stay that way till the Elite 4 basically. after taking out Pidgeot he brought in Blastoise which took both Nidoking and Queen to beat, Dugtrio and Rhyhorn handled the rest fine.

VS GIovanni
Nidoqueen And Rhyhorn basically cleaned up his team with little problems.

VS Sabrina
Apart from Slowbro which took both nidos to beat. The rest of her team is either rock weak or frail so Rhyhorn and Dugtrio once again took her down pretty handily.

Over to Cinnabar island, cleared the mansion no problem, trained more in the gym.

VS Blaine
So most of his team was swept by Rhydonand Graveller though Arcanine was a big threat and Dugtrio had to finish it.

Went with Bill to the the Sevii Islands, cleared the short quest there. Went back to Viridian city.

VS Giovanni
So to get to Cinnabar i taught Nidoking Surf. Which one shot both rhyhorns and dugtrio, rhydon took out nidoking and nidoqueen weakened his nidoqueen low enough for a surf to KO.

On to the pokemon League
VS Blue
He's getting very threatning now. Same deal as before really. Rhydon one rounds Pidgeot with Rock Blast, Nidos including Nidoking's new Shock Wave take out Blastoise and everything else is a job for Marowak and Dugtrio pretty much.

Through victory road, did a ton of grinding to get everyone up to 55
VS Glacia
Aside from her bulky ass slowbro which i had to weaken with tail whip before taking down. Everything else wasn't too bad, Cloyster died o shock wave and everything else was weak to Nidoqueen's new Superpower. Lapras took a hit and KO'd back but Nidoking took it down with a shock wave.

VS Bruno
Nidoking took out both Onix with Surf, and a war of attrition with Machamp beat it too. Had to swap for Marowak against Hitmonlee and Nidoqueen against Hitmonchan.

VS Agatha
Lol screw Levitate. Again. So glad they gave Gengar cursed body eventually, that thing isn't even levitating ffs. Anyway rhydon tanked and rock blasted through both gengar and her haunter leaving Nidoking to take out Arbok and Golbat.

VS Lance
Not difficult. Nidoking one shot Gyarados with shock wave, then the same to Aerodactyl with surf, rhydon one rounded Dragonite with rock blast and took out his first Dragonair, the 2nd got a crit outrage to knock him out but nidoqueen ended it.

VS Blue
Rhydon took out Pidgeot, Nidoqueen paralyzed Blastoise and Nidoking took it out...where have i seen this before? Nidoqueen came back in and finished off Exeggcutor, Dugtrio one shot Arcanine with Earthquake after Nidoqueen baited the intimidate and fainted. One shot Alakazam too and finally Nidoking finished Rhydon with one surf.

Thoughts on the Run:
This was actually not too bad mainly thanks to Nidoking and Nidoqueen learning such a variety of moves like Body Slam, Shock Wave, Surf and Double Kick(later Superpower for Nidoqueen) the others were kinda just there but Onix did help in the midgame, honestly i should have maybe boxed Graveller and kept Onix, or used the universal randomizer to let me evolve Graveller. most of the team were bulky, nidos were balanced and Dugtrio was a good fast mon for all those pesky alakazam.

MVP: Nidoking. It basically carried me through a lot of fights including Victory Road before i grinded the team for the elite 4
LVP: Graveller. Helped earlygame as a geodude, sort of. But didn't particularly help in any major fights, was too slow and didn't hit hard enough.

Final Team

Spoiler:

Charlie(Nidoking) LV57
Shock Wave
Surf
Dig
Double Kick

Liz(Nidoqueen)

LV56
Body Slam
Dig
Superpower
Tail Whip

Wack(Marowak)

LV55
Bonemerang
Strength
Brick Break
Leer

Molez(Dugtrio)
LV56

Earthquake
Slash
Sand Attack
Growl

Dozer(Rhydon)
LV55

Rock Blast
Dig
Double Edge
Tail Whip

Rock(Graveller)
LV55

Rock Blast
Earthquake
Explosion
Magnitude

Honorable Mention:
Snek(Onix)

LV35
Dragonbreath
Dig
Rock Tomb
Bind

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Emerald Cross (Standard Mode)
Mono-Grass - Cool Trainer Leif
Update 10 (S.S. Tidal -> Meteor Falls)

I quickly beat the Trick House and the trainers on the S.S. Tidal, and moved on to the Battle Frontier. I don't enjoy the Battle Frontier that much, since you have to win long streaks of battles to get to the Frontier Brains, so I just did a little bit of battling after getting my team to Lv. 50. I tried all the facilities, but only made it to one Frontier Brain. Somewhat embarassingly, it was Noland, the one Frontier Brain I couldn't actually fight with my own team, and I lost the fight because he 1HKOed a critical Pokemon with Horn Drill. I did get close to facing Spencer in the Battle Palace, though.

Since I'd really like to move on to the next game and I'm too impatient to grind, I just cheesed Steven with Revival Herbs to exhaust Skarmory's PP, maxed out Ludicolo's Defense, Special Attack, and Speed with twenty X items, and 1HKOed everything but Cradily with Rain Dance-boosted Surf. (Cradily was 2HKOed by Ice Beam). Sceptile now hates me more than when I first started playing, but I don't run Return on anything but Vileplume and I'm moving on to the next game anyway, so my starter's happiness is a small price to pay for saving me hours of grinding. (Steven's team and movesets are vastly better than Red's and much harder to beat with an underleveled team.)

No moveset changes; I wanted Swords Dance for Sceptile but didn't end up getting enough BP to earn it, but I got a Leftovers, which made Cradily much, much better.

Team

Spoiler:

Sceptile (♀) | Grass | Level 50
Moves: Leaf Blade, Earthquake, Brick Break, Aerial Ace
150 HP / 114 Atk / 66 Def / 128 SpA / 95 SpD / 147 Spe
Ability: Overgrow | Nature: Hasty | Item: Focus Band

Ludicolo (♀) | Water/Grass | Level 52
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Giga Drain, Rain Dance
164 HP / 89 Atk / 92 Def / 115 SpA / 118 SpD / 89 Spe
Ability: Swift Swim | Nature: Quirky | Item: Mystic Water

Shiftry (♀) | Grass/Dark | Level 50
Moves: SolarBeam, Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Sunny Day
169 HP / 126 Atk / 80 Def / 96 SpA / 78 SpD / 104 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Adamant | Item: Lax Incense

Breloom (♂) | Grass/Fighting | Level 50
Moves: Brick Break, Facade, Iron Tail, Stun Spore
134 HP / 168 Atk / 100 Def / 74 SpA / 81 SpD / 101 Spe
Ability: Effect Spore | Nature: Careful | Item: Quick Claw

Vileplume (♂) | Grass/Poison | Level 50
Moves: Sludge Bomb, SolarBeam, Return, Sunny Day
149 HP / 99 Atk / 108 Def / 134 SpA / 111 SpD / 65 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll | Nature: Quiet | Item: Shell Bell

Cradily (♀) | Rock/Grass | Level 50
Moves: Earthquake, Toxic, Confuse Ray, Amnesia
168 HP / 99 Atk / 110 Def / 95 SpA / 125 SpD / 56 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Hardy | Item: Leftovers