[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge v8, Tera Edition

[Reginald Cosmic]

I just got back from a trip out of town for my birthday. Garfield was really funny!
Pokemon Fire Red Flying Type (Standard Mode) update #1:

Spoiler: Too Much Information

• Name Leaf "Wendy" (Windy)
• Name Oak's grandson "Jack" because Jack in the Box
• Name Charmander "Peanut"
• I had to actually use the potion from the PC against Rival Jack in first battle
• Caught Pokemon like Rattata and Weedle for Dex fodder
• Name Pidgey "Raspberry" and never used it aside from... well, we'll get to that.
• Name Spearow "Mint"
• Name Caterpie "Yogurt" for some reason
• Beat Rival Jack in the Box again (though it wasn't really that difficult)
• Also caught a level 5 male Pikachu for the Dex along the way. I can't use him in battle, but he showed up, so I caught him (as permitted by the rules)
• Yogurt evolved into Metapod
• Yogurt evolved into Butterfree
• Destroy Brock's Geodude with Yogurt/Butterfree's confusion while it sat there using Defense Curl
• Brock's Onix swept my team.
• Reset game cuz money is tight early game.
• I think I immediately rechallenged him
• His Geodude got confused this time around, but it didn't help
• Try using Butterfree's Confusion on Onix a few times before bringing out Charmander with its Metal Claw
• I think I got really lucky that Rock Tomb missed, but I don't remember.
• Got the Boulder Badge I guess.
• I can't wait to pay the exorbidant 500 Yen for that Magikarp!

Team notes:

Spoiler: Team notes

I thought about using Pidgey instead of Spearow because Raspberry had surprisingly great IVs, but I stuck with Spearow.

 

[Smotemotem]

Pokemon Legends: Earth Plate, Pt 2

Short posts for this run. The Switch Era is so strange. The trainer battles are so rare, and that's where the real challenge of a mono-run comes in. Most of PLA is just running around, throwing Pokeballs; not worth blogging. At this point, I would not recommend playing PLA as a monotype challenge. It's just not different enough from a regular playthrough. I'm debating whether to play into the postgame just for the final Volo fight.

Spoiler: Gameplay

I made it to the Noble Liligant fight. Theatre actually learned Gust, which packed a big punch in this fight.

Other than that, I should actually be moving much faster in this game, but I keep getting distracted. I caught a Turtwig and added him to the team. I was going to try to farm up all the evo items for my team (there are lots of them that require special items to evolve, if I keep the current tram), but with little luck.

I also became obsessed with catching alphas. I've swapped out my whole starting team for alphas. It seems kind of wrong to just abandon my OG team, but it's so easy to rank up stars on this run, and it's easier in many cases to find an evolved alpha, rather than farming up the evo items by other means.

I farmed up about half the team, and went to the Noble Arcanine fight. Metalwork II was able to take down a couple of the Misfortune sisters, and Cuisine cleaned up. This Noble fight is another one where I didn't actually pull out a Pokemon, but Cuisine would have done great here.

With the new zone unlocked, I advanced to the point that I got Sneasler for climbing, and ran around some more filling out the team and farming up some grit. After I had a team I was happy with, I moved on to the Noble Electrode encounter. Architecture II made quick work of the warden's team, and Dance helped me out with the Electrode fight.

Spoiler: Coronet Highlands Team

Bonsai II - Torterra α (M) Lv. 68
- Sleep Powder
- Headlong Rush
- Wood Hammer
- Bite

Cuisine - Gastrodon α (F) Lv. 66
- Ancient Power
- Hydro Pump
- Recover
- Earth Power

Metalwork III - Steelix α (M) Lv. 64
- Rock Slide
- Iron Tail
- High Horsepower
- Stealth Rock

Literature - Garchomp α (M) Lv. 60
- Earth Power
- Outrage
- Double-Edge
- Dragon Claw

Architecture II - Rhyperior α (M) Lv. 60
- Thunder Fang
- Rock Smash
- High Horsepower
- Rock Slide

Dance - Gliscor α (M) Lv. 59
- X-Scissor
- Poison Jab
- Aerial Ace
- Earth Power

 

[Smotemotem]

Pokemon Legends: Earth Plate, Pt 3

Sorry for the double-post, but I finished this run on Legends Arceus. Having done a monotype run on the three non-remake Switch games, I would say...save your time and play the older games. I'm not 100% knocking the new games, but I had a much more engaging experience with Gens 1-7.

The MVP in this game would probably be Onix / Steelix. Granted, I replaced it twice, but that's a Pokémon that's consistently good, start to finish, and it's easy to catch higher-level versions to skip some grinding, as you gain more stars. Steelix is especially strong in this game because DPP was not designed with fairies in mind, and the inclusion of them in this game can be hard to deal with, if you don't have a strong Poison or Steel monster on your roster. Gliscor racked up a lot of kills too, but that's probably because I tend to lead with my lowest-level Pokémon, and it struggled to keep up, level-wise with the other guys. The inverse of this is Torterra, which probably would have been very strong, but was relegated to the back of my rotation from the moment I caught it. The other monsters all performed adequately, and they all had roles to play in critical battles near the end. I'm a little sad that I abandoned my Wormadam so early on, but once I had committed to all-alphas, there was no going back, and farming up an alpha Wormadam sounds like a nightmare.

Side note, I was watching Ronin with my wife, and playing this game during commercial breaks or English-heavy portions. That's a fun experience!

Spoiler: Gameplay

Went to the tundra. Chased down the warden. Explored the temple. Glided down to fight the Noble Avalugg. Went back to base. Got exiled. Fought Kamado. Fought the dragons.

Decided to take on the endgame. It ended up only taking an hour or two, past the end credits. I was right to farm up the late-game alphas, as most of the fights are in the 60s-70s range, so they're well-situated for it without a load of grinding. However, the combat is weird in this game and very swingy, right to the end. Even up to the Volo fight, there is not a ton of strategic planning in this game. It's just a matter of being within 10 levels of the thing you're fighting, and going all-out with strong STAB moves. I will not be completing the Pokedex and trying to catch Arceus on this run.

Here's how the final battle went.
Literature hit Spiritomb with Outrage. Spiritomb subbed out for Togekiss. Literature got a crit with Stone Edge, to KO Togekiss.
Garchomp came out next. Literature KO'd it with a strong Outrage.
Lucario subbed in and KO'd literature. Dance came in and KO'd Lucario with Bulldoze.
Roserade came out, and Dance picked up the OHKO with strong Aerial Ace. Arcanine came in and was worn down by repeated Bulldoze.
Spiritomb came in and outsped us to revenge kill Dance. Architecture II came in to return the favor.
Giratina was summoned. Architecture II hit with High Horsepower, but it barely made a dent.
Cuisine came in to spam Ice Beam, and Giratina couldn't stand up long against that elemental onslaught. It shifted forms, and Cuisine held out for a couple of turns. Bonsai II came in to finish it up with Outrage.

Sayonara, Hisui.

Spoiler: Coronet Highlands Team

Bonsai II - Torterra α (M) Lv. 72
- Outrage
- Headlong Rush
- Wood Hammer
- Stone Edge

Cuisine - Gastrodon α (F) Lv. 72
- Sludge Bomb
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Metalwork III - Steelix α (M) Lv. 69
- Stone Edge
- Iron Tail
- High Horsepower
- Aqua Tail

Literature - Garchomp α (M) Lv. 64
- Bulldoze
- Outrage
- Poison Jab
- Stone Edge

Architecture II - Rhyperior α (M) Lv. 65
- Megahorn
- Iron Tail
- High Horsepower
- Stone Edge

Dance - Gliscor α (M) Lv. 63
- X-Scissor
- Poison Jab
- Aerial Ace
- Bulldoze

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Platinum QOL (Standard Mode)
Mono-Steel - PI Justin
Update 3 (Galactic Eterna Building -> Hearthome Gym)

I got my third badge in Platinum. After beating Gardenia, I went and got the Thief TM first thing, got a pair of Metal Coats from the wild Bronzor, and evolved Onix into Steelix.

I then went and beat Jupiter with mostly the same movesets I had against Gardenia. Probopass 2HKOed her Zubat with Rock Throw (taking damage from two Giga Drains), then I switched Wormadam out into a Smokescreen and Thiefed her Skuntank's Sitrus Berry. I swapped around a lot while Jupiter spammed Smokescreen and Screech, waiting for her to pick Night Slash, which she finally did on Probopass. I then used Rock Smash to bring Skuntank's Defence down three stages, then switched out right as Probopass was about to faint. Wormadam then KOed Skuntank with two Bug Bites.

On my way to Fantina, I got a bunch of new held items, and taught Earthquake to Steelix, Bronzor, and Probopass, Secret Power to Steelix and Probopass, Confusion to Wormadam, and Extrasensory to Bronzor.

Since Hearthome is Shieldon's last gym, I also replaced his normal and ground type moves with Attract and Double Team, but he never actually saw battle. I'm going to replace him with Scizor as soon as I make it to Solaceon Town, and don't plan on using him in any of the Route 209 battles. All in all, I barely used him.

Fantina's battle went better than I was expecting, since half my team is still relying on normal or ground moves for damage dealing and her entire team is made up of Ghost-types with Levitate. Prinplup started off by 3HKOing Duskull with Bubblebeam, getting burned and hit by Shadow Sneak.

Fantina switched to Mismagius, fainted her with Magical Leaf, and confused the Wormadam I sent out afterwards. Wormadam hurt herself in her confusion once, but 4HKOed Mismagius with Thief and tanked a lot of Shadow Balls, including one crit for both my Pokemon and Fantina's.

Haunter then put Wormadam to sleep and nearly KOed her with a few Shadow Claws, but she woke up the turn before she fainted and brought it down to slightly above half HP with Confusion. After Wormadam went down, I switched to Bronzor, tanked a Shadow Claw, and nearly KOed Haunter with Extrasensory. Fantina healed, then Bronzor hit with another Extrasensory, then its Quick Claw activated and it KOed with a third, winning me a third badge.

Team

Spoiler:

Prinplup (♀) | Water | Level 24
Moves: Bubble Beam, Metal Claw, Pluck, Grass Knot
Stats: 53 HP / 31 Atk / 35 Def / 35 SpA / 37 SpD / 28 Spe
Ability: Torrent | Nature: Careful | Item: Amulet Coin

Steelix (♂) | Steel/Ground | Level 22
Moves: Earthquake, Secret Power, Rock Throw, Screech
Stats: 66 HP / 48 Atk / 95 Def / 29 SpA / 34 SpD / 23 Spe
Ability: Rock Head | Nature: Quirky | Item: Shell Bell

Wormadam (♀) | Bug/Steel | Level 24
Moves: Bug Bite, Hidden Power (Water 54 BP), Confusion, Thief
Stats: 68 HP / 37 Atk / 53 Def / 40 SpA / 60 SpD / 30 Spe
Ability: Anticipation | Nature: Calm | Item: None

Shieldon (♂) | Rock/Steel | Level 21
Moves: Rock Tomb, Attract, Double Team, Iron Defense
Stats: 46 HP / 24 Atk / 61 Def / 26 SpA / 41 SpD / 23 Spe
Ability: Sturdy | Nature: Lax | Item: Hard Stone

Bronzor | Steel/Psychic | Level 25
Moves: Extrasensory, Earthquake, Grass Knot, Confuse Ray
Stats: 65 HP / 18 Atk / 51 Def / 23 SpA / 53 SpD / 18 Spe
Ability: Levitate | Nature: Modest | Item: Quick Claw

Probopass (♂) | Rock/Steel | Level 22
Moves: Earthquake, Rock Throw, Secret Power, Rock Smash
Stats: 64 HP / 35 Atk / 65 Def / 47 SpA / 75 SpD / 28 Spe
Ability: Sturdy | Nature: Mild | Item: Hard Stone

 

[GhostMadison7]

Happy belated birthday Reginald Cosmic! And congrats on the completed run Smotemotem, I eventually planned on doing a Ghost run in PLA so I'll have to see how that goes as that game does indeed focus on catching more than anything. And ExplorerofTime, that QOL hack letting you finally use trade evos and Steelix is soo good, I plan to use one in my Renegade Platinum mono-Ground run, rip Shieldon, Bastiodon really needs a boost.

---

It's been a bit, sadly the past few weeks have not been the greatest, I'm really low on energy most of the time so sorry for lack of updates. Volt White mono-Bug is now up to Castelia city about to fight Burgh. Chili wasen't easy BUT man did I underestimate these bugs, specifically Flutterjam who has Compound Eyes and Struggle Bug, by lowering all the opponents sp.atk so much their fire moves did nothing. Then, I just swept with DeviledEggler and a little Clear Smog from Mothza to stop work up.

Lenora is still as scary as ever, except this hack gave Ledian the miracle it needed, Iron Fist and all 3 elemental punches +Drain Punch before the gym was no joke. My Strabby, alongside the other fighting MVP Bunger the Heracross (who took me 3 days to get cause it's a 2% chance 😭), just destroyed this gym and now I have a newfound love for Ledian, it's pretty cute ngl.

Finally Pinwheel forest gave me a couple good encounters, gen 5 made some killer bug types, including my fave Scolipede. Now time to fight my fellow Bug user, Burgh.

Team:

Spoiler: Party

• Mothza
  • Female Dustox, Bug/Poison
  • Lvl 23
  • Shield Dust
  • Moves:
    • Struggle Bug
    • Clear Smog
    • Confusion
    • Reflect
• Deviled Eggler
  • Female Beedrill, Bug/Poison
  • Lvl 23
  • Poison Touch
  • Moves:
    • X-Scissor
    • Cross Poison
    • Pursuit
    • Focus Energy
• Flutterjam
  • Female Butterfree, Bug/Flying
  • Lvl 25
  • Tinted Lens
  • Moves:
    • Struggle Bug
    • Air Cutter
    • Psybeam
    • Stun Spore
• Bunger
  • Female Heracross, Bug/Fighting
  • Lvl 24
  • Guts
  • Moves:
    • Bug Bite
    • Brick Break
    • Aerial Ace
    • Work Up
• Ribblepede
  • Female Whirlipede, Bug/Poison
  • Lvl 25
  • Battle Armor
  • Moves:
    • Poison Tail
    • Bug Bite
    • Pursuit
    • Iron Defense
• Strabby
  • Female Ledian, Bug/Flying
  • Lvl 26
  • Iron Fist
  • Moves:
    • Drain Punch
    • Thunder Punch
    • Fire Punch
    • Safeguard

Spoiler: PC

• Minimaki, Snivy
• Panpour
• Lollive, Venonat
• Cellystix, Leavanny
• Banopper, Kricketune

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Grass Run
BD / FIRST AND FINAL / Frankly, My Dear, I Don't Give a Wormadam

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

Spoiler:

1.) Planning Ahead
2.) Gyms 1 and 2
3.) Gyms 3 and 4
4.) Gyms 5 and 6
5.) Gyms 7 and 8
6.) Elite Four
7.) Champion

The full read:

Spoiler:

1.) Planning Ahead
I didn't have much planning this gen - I only had six Pokémon to grab. Fairly straightforward. Things I knew I need to watch out for: Gym 7 is Ice, Flint in E4 is Fire, and a lot of Pokémon like using Poison moves at times. So, let's get into it.

2.) Gyms 1 and 2
I head a little north of Jubilife and pick up a Budew, but I'll be replacing it before Gym 2 in the Grand Underground. Still, for the time being, it's helpful against the first gym. Being Rock, it's obviously not a big pain.

By the time of the second Gym, I've gone into the Grand Underground and picked up a Cherubi and a Roselia (sorry Budew). I also traded for a Burmy on Home, and moved it in. Leveled it up so it became a Wormadam while getting Turtwig into a Grotle. What stinks about the second gym is the Roserade using even something like Poison Sting. Really hurts. I had to level a bit more than I was originally hoping, getting Roselia and Grotle up to 23 just to make it through.

3.) Gyms 3 and 4
The third gym is actually pretty easy when you give Wormadam Psychic and pair it with Quiver Dance. The trainers in the gym weren't hard with Psychic, but the battle for the badge did require me to stack up Quiver Dance before OHKOing everything with Psychic. Glad I'll never have to do that again, right?

Same goes for Gym 4, but I pick up a Carnivine off Home, and take the opportunity to hatch my own Burmy and Carnivine in Solaceon Town before continuing. Then, time to grind them up in the Gym. Which, being Water, is rather easy.

4.) Gyms 5 and 6
I'm trying to figure out what I can really say here, but I let Carnivine practice destroying things using Bite. Hooray Ghost Gym. Another of those "catch up on XP if needed" by getting all the math problems wrong. Torterra is a good backup, also having Bite.

Canalave is a free for all for Torterra with Earthquake. Mega Drain when EQ not needed.

5.) Gyms 7 and 8
Gym 8 is back to EQ'ing everything, but for Gym 7, it was a mixture of Rollout from Cherrim and Ice Punch from Abomasnow. That took some doing to level it up so Snover would evolve, but I finally have my full team for the game. By this point, I'm coming up on an average level of 50, so I'm feeling good for the E4...lol

6.) Elite Four
This took me way less time than I was anticipating. If you look at my splits, I complete the elite four in just under five hours (which also accounts for the run through Victory Road, and all my attempts). Not bad considering some runs have been 10-15 hours just trying to get through. So, let's simplify it:

Aaron - Bug guy goes down to a mix of Rollout and Ice Punch.

Bertha - Ground type. Very simple with Grass teams.

Flint - the pain point. EQ to take out Ponyta. The real pain point is if Driflim can get up Minimize enough and then Baton Pass. I had to try this battle three times, but I was able to find out that a single EQ will knock out Infernape. So, if I can knock out Drifblim before it uses Baton Pass, I will be good to go. The third time attempting Flint, I got a break when I was able to use Rollout enough to take out Drifblim, even through a second Minimize. That allowed me to complete the battle.

Lucian - pretty simple - Quiver Dance x3 while Mr. Mime tries to set up and then Bug Buzz my way through the entire battle. Uh...so that was a thing.

7.) Champion
I figured I would try, as a joke, Quiver Dance x3 again. Looking at her first Pokémon, Quiver Dance is good to set up while Spiritomb is out, so I give it the ol' college try. I Hyper Potion'd once, then went down the list: 1x Bug Buzz on Spiritomb, 1x Psychic on Roserade, 2x Psychic on Gastrodon, 2x Psychic on Milotic (where I actually thought for a few minutes on whether to use Leaf Storm, only to decide not to so I'd ensure I could knock out Lucario), 1x Psychic on Lucario...and then I finally decide to just give in and be mean to the Garchomp using Leaf Storm (for a OHKO).

Only one thing to say to that:

On to Pokémon Y!

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Pokemon Fire Red Flying Type (Standard Mode) update #2:

Spoiler: The TLDR Version

*I bought the Mt. Moon Magikarp named Flapjack
*I beat Rival Jack in a Pokemon battle.
*I rescued Bill from the circus freak show
*I defeated Misty but barely. Dang, that Starmie.

Spoiler: The 'Full' Read

I'm just gonna give highlights here.

As I said in the discussion thread, I kept resetting to check Magikarp's stats, and I settled on one that will have 70 BP Hidden Power Flying. I named it Flapjack.

I moved onto Cerulean City, and Jack wanted to battle. Butterfree's Sleep Powder wasn't so useful against the Pidgeotto since it woke up so quickly, but it was pretty useful against Squirtle. Then I used Butterfree's Poison Powder on Abra, and switched into Magikarp and spammed Splash as the Abra's health was slowly whittled down to zero. Then Mint the Spearow beat his Rattata with 1 HP left. That was close (kind of).

So I rescued Bill, and then I wasn't sure how to beat Misty. I was under the impression Mint the Spearow's "Pursuit" was ghost-type which is physical (probably mistaking it for Zubat's Astonish), so I tried a strategy of making Misty waste her Super Potion on a sleeping Staryu and then using sleep powder again on Starmie and then lowering its physical defense with Spearow's leer and then using Pursuit. I had to try this three separate times to land Pursuit before Spearow fainted. Then I slowly realized it was a dark-type move, which is special which means Starmie wouldn't take hardly any damage from it. It also didn't take much damage from Confusion, so I ended up using Butterfree's Tackle (for some reason). Gosh, that was an intense battle! That said, I'm pretty sure the crowd would've booed me out of the stadium if they were watching.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Platinum QOL (Standard Mode)
Mono-Steel - PI Justin
Update 4 (Hearthome East Gate -> Pastoria Gym)

This update has taken a little while since I decided to go skip Maylene and go explore southeastern Sinnoh through Route 212 first. Once I beat Maylene, who was easily swept by Technician Scizor, I only had two trainers left to fight before Pastoria's gym so I just combined these two gyms into one update.

First off, I fought my rival just east of Hearthome. I forgot he had a battle there and didn't record it, but it wasn't very hard and I easily beat him first try, but a couple of my Pokemon did faint. Then, I boxed Shieldon and caught a Scyther just north of Solaceon Town, and evolved him into Scizor immediately. Then I rushed to the Game Corner, hacked in some coins, and got the Swords Dance, Hidden Power, and Gyro Ball TMs, plus a couple temporary held items. (I do have the reaction time to do the DPPt slots semi-reliably, unlike the Gen 3 slots, but it's irritating to match up things with my control scheme because the steam deck uses the Xbox button layout instead of the Nintendo button layout. Plus it's kinda tedious.) I also taught Steelix Payback along the way.

I went down to Pastoria, taught Thunder Fang to Steelix to giv him an answer to Fighting-types, and Aerial Ace to be a slightly better Wing Attack for Scizor, who is keeping this moveset for the rest of the run. I also evolved Bronzor into Bronzong on Route 212, shortly before I challenged the Veilstone Gym. Speaking of Scizor and the Veilstone Gym, he singlehandedly wiped out Maylene's team, 1HKOing Meditite and Machoke with Aerial Ace and 2HKOing Lucario with Brick Break. He took some damage from Fake Out and two Force Palms from Lucario, but not enough to put him in the red, even.


Against Barry in Pastoria, I led with Prinplup and used Bubblebeam to put Staravia in the yellow. Staravia used Double Team, dodged another Bubblebeam, and hit her with Wing Attack. Then, Barry switched Grotle into a Bubblebeam, and lost speed. I tried a Hidden Power (Fire), which put Grotle in the yellow with Hidden Power, but it still fainted my starter with a critical Razor Leaf. I switched to Scizor and KOed Grotle with Aerial Ace.

Barry brought out Ponyta, at this point, so I switched in Probopass into an Ember. Probopass then had its attack lowered by Growl, but still fainted Ponyta with a critical Earthquake. Barry switched to Buizel, then used Pursuit and got paralyzed by my Probopass's Thunder Wave. Probopass then survived two Aqua Jets from Buizel and 4HKOed Buizel with Earthquake as it lost two moves to Paralysis. Barry brought Staravia back and used Double Team, but I paralyzed it, switched Scizor into a Wing Attack, and won with an Aerial Ace.


Finally, for Crasher Wake, I led with Bronzong to soak up Intimidate, and it survived a Waterfall and confused Gyarados.
I switched Steelix into a Waterfall, losing slightly over half its HP, and missed a Thunder Fang while Gyarados hurt itself. Thankfully, the next time, Gyarados hurt itself again and Steelix nearly KOed it with a Thunder Fang. Wake used a Hyper Potion and Steelix brought it back down to the yellow, then Wake actually attacked and fainted Steelix with Brine. I then switched to Bronzong, got hit and knocked down to the red with a Waterfall, and KOed Gyarados with an Extrasensory.

Wake brought out Floatzel next and immediately KOed Bronzong with an Aqua Jet, so I switched to Wormadam, expecting that she'd eat the Sitrus Berry with Bug Bite and then faint quickly. However, Wormadam got really lucky with a critical Confusion for its second attack that also confused Floatzel, and led to it repeatedly hurting itself. Wake had to use his other Hyper Potion and still ended up with Floatzel back in the yellow as Wormadam kept slowly chipping away with Bug Bite, and she even survived an Aqua Jet with a couple HP left before fainting to a Brine. After Wormadam finally went down, I switched to Prinplup, got hit by a Crunch that lowered her Special Defense, and KOed Floatzel with a Grass Knot.

Prinplup then 2HKOed Quagsire with Grass Knot, but was nearly KOed first as she had her speed lowered by Rock Tomb and then was nearly KOed by a Mud Shot. She ended the battle with only 2HP left.


If you've been reading ahead and looking at my team, you may have noticed that Probopass and Wormadam are underleveled compared to the other four. That is intentional. I'm going to box both of them before the Canalave Gym; Probopass pretty much as soon as I get the HM and can make it to Fuego Ironworks to catch a Magnemite (who will be at most three levels away from evolving into Magnezone), and Wormadam after I get the Riolu egg at Iron Island. Wormadam was amazing in the early game (Probopass less so), but the time has come where both are ceasing to be as useful as they used to be. Wormadam's base stats and movepool are not that good even with a great type combo, and Probopass is slow while his two 4x weaknesses are just going to get more and more common from here on out.

Team

Spoiler:

Prinplup (♀) | Water | Level 33
Moves: Brine, Metal Claw, Grass Knot, Hidden Power (Fire 70 BP)
Stats: 89 HP / 54 Atk / 61 Def / 61 SpA / 64 SpD / 49 Spe
Ability: Torrent | Nature: Careful | Item: Flame Plate

Steelix (♂) | Steel/Ground | Level 32
Moves: Earthquake, Thunder Fang, Payback, Screech
Stats: 93 HP / 69 Atk / 137 Def / 41 SpA / 48 SpD / 33 Spe
Ability: Rock Head | Nature: Quirky | Item: Metronome

Wormadam (♀) | Bug/Steel | Level 27
Moves: Bug Bite, Hidden Power (Water 54 BP), Confusion, Thief
Stats: 75 HP / 42 Atk / 59 Def / 45 SpA / 67 SpD / 33 Spe
Ability: Anticipation | Nature: Calm | Item: Mind Plate

Bronzong | Steel/Psychic | Level 33
Moves: Extrasensory, Earthquake, Gyro Ball, Confuse Ray
Stats: 89 HP / 63 Atk / 86 Def / 68 SpA / 88 SpD / 30 Spe
Ability: Levitate | Nature: Modest | Item: Quick Claw

Probopass (♂) | Rock/Steel | Level 28
Moves: Earthquake, Rock Throw, Secret Power, Rock Smash
Stats: 79 HP / 44 Atk / 82 Def / 59 SpA / 94 SpD / 36 Spe
Ability: Sturdy | Nature: Mild | Item: Wide Lens

Scizor (♂) | Bug/Steel | Level 34
Moves: Bullet Punch, Aerial Ace, Brick Break, Swords Dance
Stats: 93 HP / 99 Atk / 76 Def / 46 SpA / 67 SpD / 57 Spe
Ability: Technician | Nature: Docile | Item: Razor Fang

 

[Cinnabar Rhubarb]

🍃 A LeafGreen Grass Monotype 🍃
Or: How I Learned to Stop Strategizing and Love Sleep Powder
Part 5!?! ​

I've finally gotten back around to this, huh?

Ok, it's been over a year since I posted writeups for this, but for context, I framed my writeups in-character with some silly prose to vaguely connect the events of Leafgreen to the playthrough, some diet fanfic if you will. I'll try linking the other parts below if that sounds interesting to read through.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

It was kinda cringey but fun to write, but it was also time-consuming, so I fell out of it. I've come into some time as of late, though, and I would like to finish at least one playthrough of a game here, so I'll give my best shot at drawing this to completion. This will probably be written a lot more... Rushed than the rest, to make sure I actually get it done, but I hope it's still at least a little fun.

To set the scene, we had just beaten Fuchsia Gym and relaxed together in the Safari Zone. Our team is as follows:

Basil (Venusaur) - Level 39
Rue (Parasect) - Level 38
Turmeric (Victreebel) - Level 38
Fennel (Vileplume) - Level 38
Caraway (Exeggcute) - Level 40​

As a reminder, this is not a nuzlocke, but I'm doing my best to get through battles with as few Pokemon fainting as possible, I'm trying to stay below the levels of each gym leader, and I'm not using items in battle. Let's get Sleep Powdering!

Spoiler:

I awaken not to the sun peeking over the horizon or the pecking of a cruel flock of Spearow, but to the drill-sergeant esque cries of Caraway. Seems they run a tight ship.

Basil in particular does not take kindly to the rude awakening, ready to lob some nearby rocks with his Strength, but Caraway is quick to remind Basil that Psychic beats Poison, and he backs down. At least, that's what I assume happened. Caraway can't talk, but their faces are so expressive it's as if they can.

"Okay okay I'm up, but this had better be important. What is it?"

Caraway jabs a stick they're holding (how??) at the loamy soil beneath us. They've been drawing - it's a frighteningly detailed map of the entire Kanto region. The whole thing is marked up with unthinkable precision: every challenge, every item, every strategy described without any room for error. Since catching them, I've had a feeling Caraway was smart, but it appears we've got a genius on our hands. As if I wasn't impressed enough, they smugly gesture towards the edge of the map at a sketch of a sad, broken, beaten down Blue, his eyes replaced with crude Xs.

"M'kay, I can work with this~"

~ 🍃 ~​

The first order of business regards the remaining Leaf Stone I have. I've learned my lesson with Fennel and Turmeric, so I know Caraway can evolve with this, but I'd been holding off because I just assumed I could get some good moves if I did. Solarbeam at 43 is the last move they learn, though, so we're free to evolve up. Caraway seems oddly melancholic about evolving, but they insisted on going through with it. Standing in formation, Caraway takes on the Leaf Stone with pride, growing into the powerful tree they were destined to become.

Judging by the dopey faces perpetually painted on the eggs that remain, I'm not sure Caraway is quite as intelligent as he used to be. The six eggs together worked with frightening efficiency, but as one they seem to have lost all drive. Perhaps Caraway knew this was their fate all along, determined to make the most of the time they had scheming. Even so, we'll do our best to enact their plan in full.

The next stop is Silph Company...

~ 🍃 ~​

"Uhhhh... Do you guys know where I could find a bathroom?"

The room full of Rocket Grunts is unamused. Carroway had a whole plan with scripts and maps and everything to break in discretely, but honestly I can't even remember half of it. Oh well, the gang is due to smash in a few more Raticates and Golbats.

"Oh my! The Silph Co. building is under attack and you come in here to take advantage? You opportunistic little parasite, you."

...And Charizards.

I don't have time for this, especially not after what he pulled last time. Before Blue can toss out another quip I toss out Fennel's Poke ball. She does some solid work, getting a lucky long Sleep Powder on Pidgeot and whittling it down with Acid. Fennel takes on Exeggcute and Alakazam too, cutting off any of Blue's goads with an Acid. Unfortunately, I don't see a way to win this fight without someone getting knocked out. Fennel is prepared - we work together to time her defeating Alakazam with Future Sight landing. This way, we get a free switch after Alakazam faints. Thank you for your service, Fennel.

Turmeric is clearly pissed that her partner has gone down like this, so she comes in swinging, getting a long Sleep Powder of her own and managing to Acid the incoming Charizard to death in spite of its firebomb of Smokescreens. Blue's remaining Gyarados could be scary if it learned any moves.

And that's that. I don't give Blue time to fire back before stepping on a warp tile, and I delight in how pissed he looks about it.

But if there's one thing I can say about Blue, it's that he's at least more of a threat than Giovanni. He gives me the same speech as last time almost verbatim, and I'm totally quaking in my boots when he sends in his Nidorino. Caraway is easily able to dispatch her and Nidoqueen with his monstrous special attack, but they do get off enough Tail Whips that staying in against the incoming Kangaskhan isn't super safe. Turmeric picks up the slack, getting a relatively free switch into a Fake Out. Kangaskhan has Early Bird so putting her to sleep isn't super worthwhile, but between Turmeric and Rue we have plenty of firepower to chip it down. Rue gets a little Rhyhorn to Bullet Seed, as a treat. The billionaire cowering in the corner at our battle even gives us a cute purple Poke Ball, which means...

~ 🍃 ~​

Gotcha! TANGELA was caught!

~ 🍃 ~​

None of our Grass-types are really great at surfing on the water, but one of the hostages at Silph Co gave us a Lapras that we could use to get here. I'm not gonna fight with Lapras, but I gave her a Miracle Seed so she could feel included.

We could've waited a bit longer to do this since Tarragon the Tangela has abysmal special defense and will likely not contribute at all against Saffron Gym, but we may as well. Her Modest nature puts her special attack almost on par with Caraway's, and believe it or not, her capstone move Tickle isn't too bad at times. With her capture, we've officially owned every Grass-type Pokemon native to Kanto and are as strong as we'll ever be, save for a couple level-up moves and TMs.

Rather than continuing down below Pallet Town, we return to Saffron and take on Sabrina after wading through the sea of teleporters surrounding us. We actually lead with Rue - her Slash is reasonably strong compared to everything else, and she has a hard time switching in otherwise. She takes on Kadabra and then Spores Venomoth to score a free switch out to Caraway, who can smash the opposition with a Psychic. Mr. Mime is next. She(?) sets up a Calm Mind while Caraway Leech Seeds. This into Strength is consistently enough to bring Mr. Mime into the red, goading Sabrina into wasting all her Hyper Potions here and now while also restoring most of Caraway's health. This way, Caraway is able to just barely defeat Alakazam alone, and we win this fight without fainting!

Caraway's advice is quickly fading from my mind, so there's no time to waste. It's off to Cinnabar Island. The tropical climate is a boon to some and a bane to others - Tarragon seems pretty used to the warm weather, but Rue spends most of our time here hiding in her shell. I'll spend a little time in the Seafoam Islands to cool her down, not that I need anything from there.

For now, though, to beat the heat we enter a drafty mansion on the island. I can't tell if this is some sort of historical/tourist site or if it's really just abandoned. There are some people here, so I guess they had the same idea as we did, but all of them seem to act surprised when they see me.

Oooooooh is that a button on a creepy statue I spy?? What's the worst that could happen? Rue seems to take interest in tapping away at the buttons, but Fennel takes shelter behind Turmeric whenever one of us presses one.

At the very top of the mansion, I find a very conspicuous key on the table. Presumably this is the key to the gym considering it was locked, but then...

Did the gym leader put this here just for me to find? Is the gym always locked, and he makes all gym challengers go through this silly sidequest? Is he going to make another copy of this key and leave it here for the next gym challenger to happen across it?

Blaine needs to get a life.

Either way, he's not getting this key back no matter what. The gym itself is filled with quiz questions. As someone who has encyclopedic knowledge of Grass-type Pokemon and absolutely nothing else, we have to fight quite a few trainers. I let Caraway try a few questions, but he wasn't any better than I was. We still love you, buddy. The trainers aren't so bad anyways, since it seems most Fire Pokemon from Kanto barely even learn any Fire moves naturally.

Hey, we know this last question, though. Rue uses Dig all the time!

Blaine himself is a totally different story, though. His entire team is packing Fire Blast, so this will probably take a few tries. He better not make me find the stupid key again if I lose.

I lead with Turmeric into Growlithe, but with Intimidate there's little she can do. She switches to Fennel who can take at least one Fire Blast, but it misses anyways. She then dodges another Fire Blast, so Fennel takes down Growlithe without taking any damage. Ponyta probably outspeeds us, so I sack Tarragon to him - her special defense and speed are bad enough to where this is probably the most use I could expect from her in this fight, unfortunately enough. Turmeric comes in and gets a OHKO with a critical hit acid, though! This is going pretty well so far.

We outspeed Rapidash and score a Sleep Powder, meaning I've seriously been underestimating Turmeric's speed. I guess badge boosts really are OP. Blaine just full heals our Sleep Powder, but that at least bought us a turn. We wail on Rapidash with Acids and even tank a Fire Blast, but it gets a Burn which ticks Turmeric down to 0. I can't really complain about the RNG much all things considered. Basil is faster than Turmeric so I can ensure we outspeed, but Blaine heals Rapidash once, then twice. He doesn't miss anymore Fire Blasts, so we need to bring in Fennel to pick up the kill. Now only Arcanine remains. Fennel dodges a THIRD Fire Blast and hits a Sleep Powder, and that sleep lasts long enough for Caraway to come in and nail Arcanine with two Psychics, finishing the fight with only 3 Pokemon fainting!

This was obviously super good luck, but I won't complain. I think Fennel is really feeling more sure of herself, too. It's a good thing to see.

Sidestepping away from Bill who is awkwardly waiting outside the gym for something, we begin the final leg of our journey.

Again, I know this is sloppier than whatever I wrote before to the three or so people who read it then, but I hope it was still a little bit fun :)

Next update, I'll probably finish up this run at last.

 

[Cinnabar Rhubarb]

🍃 A LeafGreen Grass Monotype 🍃
Or: How I Learned to Stop Strategizing and Love Sleep Powder
Part 6 (Final!)​

It's time to finish things.
It appears I'm doing a bit of double-posting so I won't bother linking the last parts, you can just scroll up a bit. I'll run down the team one last time - I forgot to mark down their levels here but they should be around level 45.
Basil (Venusaur)
Rue (Parasect)
Turmeric (Victreebel)
Fennel (Vileplume)
Caraway (Exeggutor)
Tarragon (Tangela)

Spoiler:

Escaping the heat of Cinnabar Island allows the team to return to the more familiar climate of the contiguous Kanto. Rue and Basil especially prefer the cooler waters of Viridian City. Everyone will need to savor the comforts they can, as we have little but the toughest of battles remaining to face.

To reach the Indigo Plateau, in fact, we have only one obstacle left in our way. Viridian gym, the toughest gym in Kanto. I'm sure it'll be a fierce challenge for everyone, a chance to show how strong we've all grown throughout this journey. Even the trainers strewn throughout are pretty tough - their Pokemon are mostly fully evolved and are hitting pretty hard (though not as hard as we can). Finally, the end is in sight, the final battle with the gym leader nears, and...

"Pfft, it's YOU?! Oh. My. God. This is just too hilarious. Really?"

His eyes are first locked on the purple ball at my waist, but after a bit the insults seem to hit him.

"And who do you think you're speaking to? The fiercest gym leader in all the Kanto region, it is I, Giovanni! Tremble before the might of my quaking earth!"

Awww, he's got the whole gym leader routine figured out with his type and everything. Isn't it adorable?

Judging by his sputtering red face I must've said that aloud. Good. I toss out the purple ball and get to work.

~ 🍃 ~​

"Tarragon, use Growth!"

"Tarragon, hit em with a Growth!"

"One more Growth, Tarragon!"

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?? T-that's... That's cheating!"

​

"If you want me to stop then quit using Scary Face and attack me already~"

"Hnnngh... Deep breaths Giovanni. Think of your affirmations... Yes... She just doesn't understand your masterful strategy, yet. Ufufufu..."

​

"Go for another Growth, Tarragon!"


Five Mega Drains later, the battle is won.

~ 🍃 ~​

He truly is the world's saddest little boy, now. I'll have to high-five whichever grunt must have told him that making Rhyhorn hold an Everstone made it stronger. He hands me the badge with the same hand he used to wipe his sniveling with, so we're not touching that for awhile.
Now that we're done with that, we can actually take a bit of a break. Basil hasn't truly been so close to home in awhile, and it's funny to see him interact with things now that he's so much bigger. He seems a lot calmer, a lot more at ease, and I feel much the same. Which means...
"Oh my god, is that Leaf? You must be heading to the league, huh? Y'know, I hear the bouncer there is pretty good, so I hope you spent a lot on your fakes!" Blue seems to be emphasizing syllables at random, each word tumbling out in a disjointed cadence, as if he dropped them on the floor and reordered them as he spoke. It seems he didn't take the silent treatment too well last time.
"You can't honestly act proud to have won those badges, can you? None of them even used a full team."
"Well now, there were some tough challenges even still. Like Blaine's quizzes... I hear Caterpie is a pretty complicated Pokemon to know about, anyone could've messed that question up."
"What the hell is a Cater... How do you even know about that?!? Uggh, at least I actually evolve my Pokemon. Let's just get this over with."
We lead Rue into Pidgeot. This maybe seems like a pretty bad idea but I have the big brain strategy prepared of... Hoping that her Quick Claw activates. We would live a Wing Attack anyways to get off a Spore... If it didn't crit. Not a great start. I just send in Caraway to get rid of this thing, who then gets knocked out by Charizard. I thought we could live a single Flamethrower, but I guess not. Fennel lives and scores a Sleep Powder followed by three acids, but it isn't enough to take Charizard down before he knocks out Fennel and the rest of our team.
This fight actually takes four attempts. I use Turmeric to defeat Pidgeot, which baits Alakazam. I get a relatively free switch to Caraway as such. Using, Leech Seed and Strength, I can time a switch to Basil as Leech Seed kills Alakazam, which brings out Charizard next. Basil reliably lives a Flamethrower and hits with a Sleep Powder (see title), and I really need to just hope this lasts long enough to bring Caraway back in and land two Psychics. It does. The rest is easy, despite Fennel getting full parad three times in a row against Exeggcute. We actually win without anyone fainting, but it of course required luck in return.
"Man, after four tries you finally got lucky enough with Sleep Powder to beat me? Aren't you such a strategist?"
I scoff. "It's a little tough to win against a big scary fire dragon when you're just using Grass-types."
"Ever heard of type diversity?"
"Ever heard of a lobotomy?"
As he flies away on his fainted Pidgeot, I have to admit to myself that he's right. We need to do better if we want our Grass-types to take on the Pokemon League.
Victory Road was uneventful. It's the last time we'll see a cave for a while, so Rue's sure to enjoy it. You'd think the so-called "Victory Road" would at least be cleaned up for us, but it was covered in boulders for Basil to shove around. Whatever, it's over now. All that stands between us and that sweet sweet HALL OF FAME is four trainers.
We waste no time. The team is level 60 as we enter.
Lorelai is pretty. Easy. Fennel takes down Dewgong but is confused by Petal Dance, so we switch to Caraway to beat Slowbro. Turmeric is able to take down the rest. I try to conserve Giga Drain PP (ethers are weirdly scarce in Kanto?) by setting up some Growths, but a double protect from Cloyster renders that mostly moot.
Bruno is barely harder. Tarragon sets up a couple Growths on Onix, but it has Roar so I can't really afford to set up any more. Onix also nabs a Defense and Speed drop with Iron Tail and Rock Tomb, so Taragon's sweeping capabilities are limited. We get through Onix, Hitmonchan, and Hitmonlee, but a crit Mega Kick slams into Taragon... and she holds out with only 1 HP! I appreciate the hard work, but we should still switch out to Caraway, who cleans up with Psychic and Solarbeam.
Agatha seems impressed that I've ignored Oak's pleas to fill out the Pokedex, but the Poison-type trainer won't take it easy on us regardless. Caraway takes out Gengar, Arbok, and... Another Gengar, but he's down to just 9 HP. It's at this point I remember I dropped Basil's Secret Power for Earthquake (bad choice, it barely hits anything left in the game), which means I don't have much that can switch in on Golbat and hit it hard anymore. I decide to switch in Tarragon, who hits a Stun Spore and then faints to give a free switch for Caraway who can outspeed and kill with Psychic. The remaining Haunter is deftly slashed to nothing by Rue's Aerial Ace.
And Lance. We lead with Rue to Spore his big stupid water dragon. Tarragon switches in, sets upu Growths, and Mega Drains Gyarados and Aerodactyl to death before falling to Dragonite's Outrage. I hoped to live long enough to give Dragonite a lil Tickle, but oh well. Rue Spores Dragonite and swaps to Caraway. It looks like two Psychics will leave a sliver of health, so I use Leech Seed to stop Lance from Full Restoring. The remaining two Dragonairs go down pretty slowly to an Acid Assault from the teamwork of Fennel and Turmeric.
I pay no mind to Lance's congratulations and subsequent "but." Caraway knew this would happen, knew someone would be there to steal the show at the final moment. Basil, Rue, Turmeric, Fennel, Caraway, and Tarragon are all battered and bruised, but determined all the same, as am I. We are going to wipe that smug grin off his stupid, sad face.
With the resolve one can only find by trying to wipe a smug grin off someone's face, I peel back the curtain of the final room.
"Okay, let's get this over with."
Blue startles and turns around quickly. It seems he was practicing his posing for the HALL OF FAME photo. His look of surprise quickly morphs to that same smirk as always.
"I see how it is. You just couldn't resist following in my footsteps. You felt like scavenging up a win against the trainers I weakened because you couldn't beat them yourself. You and your Grass Pokemon. And now I bet you think you can do the same to me. That's no way to win. You're second place. Left behind. No match for me. Am I wrong?"
Caraway predicted that, too. "That's your problem, Blue. You think everyone is always scheming, always out to stab you in the back, because that's all you can ever think to do. You're strong, but you can't understand my motives. I'm not snatching the championship from you because that's the only way to get ahead. I'm doing it because you're insufferable and you suck. That's your greatest weakness - you suck so bad that people will go all out to take you down even the slightest of pegs. And what better way to tear you down than to beat you with the type you always harp about being the worst?"
You can almost see the boy internalize a word that I said or two, but he has a one track mind. "Fine, I'll bite. Give me your Grass-types. Throw me one. Six. A hundred. A million! It doesn't matter, I'll shred them to nothing. Y'know why? Because I have a goddamn fire breathing dragon, and I'm the strongest trainer in the world!!!!!!!!!!"
Sadly, he's more right than he yet knows. My speech is undercut a bit by my five consecutive losses. There's a lot of reasons, many of them my fault. For one, I gave my single Sunny Day TM to Fennel, who wasn't really the best choice for the job (no offense buddy). Moreover, the strategy I tried at first involved baiting out certain Pokemon at certain times by keeping track of which of my Pokemon were weak to the moves of others. Unfortunately, I managed to check the doc for Blue's last fight rather than this one, so all the moves were wrong and none of it worked for awhile. But I'm fast, and I'm persistent. As we faint, I run back in and try again. By the sixth attempt I'm ragged, I'm out of breath, and Blue's smirk has only grown wider, but I don't care about my dignity. I need to guide everyone to victory, and to guide Blue to slight embarrassment.
I lead with Tarragon. We Tickle Pidgeot twice, switch to Basil, Sleep Powder into Leech Seed. I then swap back into Tarragon for two more Tickles, then to Fennel. I time Pidgeot dying to my switch to Caraway, making sure the sun is up when it happens. This brings Gyarados out, and a Miracle Seed lets his Solarbeams take down Gyarados with one turn of Sun remaining for when Charizard comes out. I plan to use my Chlorophyl turn to set up Light Screen, which I do, but then Charizard misses Fire Blast. And then misses another! Psychic is doing way more damage than I thought it would, too. Blue heals into another Psychic but is then able to kill Caraway with Fire Blast. I bring in Basil.... Who just barely misses the kill with Strength. He must've been prepared for this, as he dodges right out of yet another Fire Blast! Another takes him out after all, but Basil's sacrifice was worthy, and now no more Fire Blast PP remains. Rue picks up the kill and Giga Drains the Rhydon switch, healing to pretty much full. Now comes Alakazam, who just Reflects before getting Spored. Alakazam is pretty scary without Caraway, so this isn't over yet. I try to keep Sporing Alakazam until Reflect runs out so I can kill with Rue, but the sleep lasts long enough that it wears off exactly when he wakes up. No matter, the second cycle it works, and a crit Aerial Ace that didn't even matter clears things up. Blue's own Exeggutor is all that remains. Rue gets Sleep Powdered themself for once, but because Exeggutor isn't packing any Psychic moves, I'm not worried. I send in Tarragon again to get a couple Tickles, then it's out to Turmeric. Despite suffering a max-length sleep, a critical hit Egg bomb, and two Full Restores, Turmeric is able to defeat Exeggutor with Acids with only 9 HP remaining. We've won! Finally!
And Blue's unfazed. "Psh. Ok, sure. You can take the champion title for now, I'll just win it back in a day or two. It took you... Six tries? I'm sure it'll only take my one, and you'll never win out overall. Face it, your little garden is no match for me."
And maybe not. "But he is."
"Congratulations, Leaf! I came as soon as I heard the news!"
Blue's' enthusiasm drops a measure. "W-what is he doing here."
"I see you've truly come of age, Leaf!"
"Gramps, no, y-you better not-"
"Blue! Do you understand why you lost?"
"No, Leaf, you can't do this! Getting me lectured, you can't-"
"You have forgotten to treat your Pokemon with love and trust. Without them, you will never become a champ again!"
"I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!!!!" Blue bolts out of the hall, tears streaking behind him.
I'm embarrassed this had to be a part of Caraway's plan, I should've seen it myself. Boy so obviously has daddy issues, and I don't feel bad exploiting it one bit. The witch is dead, and there's only one place left to go now.
The HALL OF FAME is ours.
The picture comes and goes quickly. Basil is clingy as always, trying to lie atop me as he did when he was a Bulbasaur. Rue is much less clearly enthused, but the tremors in her claws have subsided, and she gazes calmly at the lens. Fennel and Turmeric stand tall, front and center, never leaving each other's side. Caraway winks at the camera, clearly satisfied even if he's not sure what for. And Tarragon hops in the air to make sure she's included in the picture, as she should be.
I wonder if the league makes postcards with these. This is going straight to Blue's mailbox.

I know this was a rush job, but I still had a lot of fun with it regardless. The final fight was very taxing with just how few options we really had (gen 3 grass movepools are just atrocious), but we did actually end up using pretty much everyone's unique talents along the way (even Tickle!).

I think I'll be continuing with some Grass-type monotype runs, though probably not with the fanfic format going forward (not that I don't have ideas, it's just a lot to write them out haha). So with that, we say farewell to Kanto...

 

[Cinnabar Rhubarb]

User: Cinnabar Rhubarb (Formerly Phoenix_Left)
Type: Grass
Game(s): Crystal, Alpha Sapphire, Platinum, White 2, X, Ultra Moon (Already completed Leaf Green, the rest could be subject to change)
Challenge Type: Ultimate, Standard

...And hello to the rest of the world!

(Sorry to triple post, but I figured it would be better to split this into a separate post).

 

[Cinnabar Rhubarb]

⋆˙⟡ A Crystal Grass Monotype ⟡ ⋆˙
I don't really have a funny subtitle here but expect a lot of Sleep Powder regardless
Part 1

​

The natural question would be "why are you doing Crystal instead of HGSS?" That's like 98% because I've actually done a Heartgold mono-Grass run before (though before embarking on this challenge, so I imagine it doesn't count). I do genuinely really enjoy the gen 2 games, though, especially all their colors.

The main drawback to Crystal is that the movepools are far more barren, and most of the new Johto mons save Meganium are probably worse than anything we used in Kanto whereas in HGSS they had some means of carving a niche. I'll still do my best to get some use out of Sunflora, Jumpluff, and Bellossom, as I'm sure they won't get the chance in the other games.

Just like in my Leaf Green playthrough, I will be attempting to stay under the level of most gym leaders and I won't be using items in battle. The levels thing I won't be terribly strict with so long as I'm not actively grinding, though, since I'm sure everyone knows how wack the level curves here are.

Another thing, unlike in Leaf Green, we actually have access to breeding! Per the rules on this forum, I can hack an egg move onto a Pokemon so long as I have legitimately gotten that egg move on a member of its evolutionary line, gen 8 style, so that way we don't have to lose out on all our accrued stat XP every time we want a fancy move. This will probably make our movepools generally better than in Leaf Green, but some of the egg moves aren't available until quite late. I will be catching off-type Pokemon to get egg moves, but I will not be overlevelling them to get OP egg moves early (sorry Parasect, you'll have to wait to get Psybeam until it's basically useless).

That's probably all the rambling needed for context, so we'll begin.

Spoiler:

We set the alarm clock, we get explained how the phone we already own works, we pick up our starter. Pretty much par for the course of old gen Pokemon. We name our Chikorita Pear, who immediately comes out swinging with two crit Tackles against some unsuspecting Caterpie. That's enough for me to place my trust in him.

I never noticed how... Unsettling his gen 2 backsprite is, though.

​

They definitely needed to add color to those eyes.

We run our errands, we fight our sadboy, and we give a fake name to the cops because we're not a snitch. Apparently there's no numbers in the name select for gen 2, so we'll tell off the cops with roman numerals.

​

We quickly catch Apricot the Hoppip as a 5% encounter, but it takes 15 encounters to get our 20% Bellsprout named Mulberry.

We pretty much immediately breach level cap as Pear hits level 10, but again, not too concerned about it as long as I'm playing in good faith. To beat Faulkner we'll need to end up leveling Apricot up to 10 as well.

The bird keeper with the Spearow is already rough, and constantly gets crits on us somehow before we can pull through after a few tries. Faulkner is even more of a problem. Mulberry can take on his Pidget alone, good since she can't really accomplish anything else this fight, but Pidgeotto is strong enough that we basically just have to do this fight over until Pear crits a Tackle. At least Apricot is able to get off a single Tail Whip before fainting.

Now that that's over we can at least get a Miracle Seed.

At level 10, Apricot is now able to tear through Sprout Tower with the devastating combo of Tail Whip and Tackle, and can even encroach on OP territory with Poison Powder once we reach the Hoothoots.

On the following routes we actually start to get some levels and moves, so Slowpoke Well is a breeze, especially now that Pear has evolved into Bayleef.

Bugsy is much easier than Faulkner and MUCH easier than HGSS Bugsy. Mulberry sets up Growths over Metapod and Vine Whips through it and Kakuna. She can't solo Scyther, but Scyther will use the weak Fury Cutter over Quick Attack unless Quick Attack would kill, which we can take advantage of with Sleep Powder. Apricot finishes the job, no Bayleef needed and no Ilex forest encounters either.

Right after this we evolve Apricot up to Skiploom and prepare for the next rival fight.

The Team So Far:

• Pear (Bayleef) - Level 16
• Apricot (Skiploom) - Level 18
• Mulberry (Bellsprout) - Level 16

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I'm gonna break up this chain of double-posting (not that I think it broke the rules, just so we're clear) because I want to offer a small update. I'll try to keep this quick.

I've been putting off Pokemon challenges because in the other thread for the "No Evolution" challenge, I need to challenge Victory Road and the Elite Four and Champion, but I gotta grind a bunch cuz "no duh" it's a no evolution challenge. The day care is an option, but I've been kind of putting off Victory Road. I don't know. I just feel kind of bad that I started that thread and haven't posted an update yet.

Another thing is that I feel bad wasting beautiful sunny days inside playing Pokemon, but I usually play on an emulator on my laptop, and I can't really position it in such a way that I can see the screen through the sunshine without directly facing the sun in the west in the afternoon. My vitamin D is low (not deficient, but my doctor did put me on a supplement for it), so I really should go outside more often this summer.

(Quick tangent: I really need to start recording audio for my YouTube videos, so since I got the footage already recorded for the first few videos, that's gonna take some time away from me actually playing the games. I'm always scared to bring up the YouTube channel cuz it is related to these challenges, but I don't wanna self-promote too much on this forum, so I won't link it.)

I'm really hoping I can finish my current "no evolution" challenge very soon.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Understood. I've been busy with other stuff myself and haven't had much time for either of my challenges, so I completely understand.

 

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Grass Run
Y / FIRST AND FINAL / Feeling Smoked

I'm deviating a little from my usual format of posts this time, as it's been a rough couple of weeks. Got diagnosed with sciatica, arthritis, and psoriasis all in one shot. High possibility of psoriatic arthritis, and on the watch for a few other things. It hasn't been a fun couple of weeks, so I haven't been keeping as good of notes as I tend to do. I did do the usual tracking, but I couldn't play for more than an hour or so at a time. I'm on meds now, and it's been helping somewhat. So, if I slow down a little, at least everyone knows. Kinda sucks - was getting into a rhythm before the flare up.

So, let's kinda try to salvage what I can of all my notes before I try to get a start on Gen 7.

My son and I sat down and discuss Pokemon selection, because I've found it's actually smarter to look at the team composition ahead of time, and not constantly swap team members around as you go, so you have experience where you need it only. There are obviously cases where you might want to swap out a team member at certain points, so there is that argument, of course.

In the end, the decision was Chespin, Bulbasaur, Ferroseed, Lotad, and Snover. There was a point where it was discussed having Pumpkaboo or Phantump, but both were trade evos, so I eventually scrapped them and focused on the final set of five.

Chespin at the start wasn't bad for Gym 1, because of Rollout.

By the time I get to Cyllage, I have Quilladin, Ivysaur, and Ferroseed. Take your pick, the Rocks are either going down to Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, or Metal Claw. Though, at this point, I started to wonder if I should track my average team level compared to the gym level. Maybe something for me to add at a later point, eh? Like, Cyllage's Grant has a team of 25. I was at 23. So, that's a -2 score for me (we're going golfing, I guess, with lower scores better). Gym 1 was an average of 11 and I was 15, so I went from 4 to -2.

Shalour through Laverre is the same team, because I can't get Lotad or Snover until after I get to that point. Shalour is Fighting, so I tried to keep Ferroseed out as much as possible, which is why Chesnaught and Venusaur ended up taking the brunt of the experience there. I did use Ferroseed a bit in the cave leading to Shalour.

Coumarine and Lumiose were fairly straightforward as well.

Laverre was basically a chance for Ferrothorn, newly evolved, to shine. Metal Claws all around.

Anistar Gym is the first gym where I brought in Lombre and Snover, and I even tried to use Pumpkaboo, but I realized I was using Ferrothorn as a Curse/<move choice here>...and that only gets more of that through the rest of the run. I tried to use Lombre and Snover as much as possible to get them leveled up. Lombre does, but Snover doesn't really. I should have been more diligent about keeping the levels similar.

After all of the fun with Team Flare...which at times was just painful due to certain Fire types knocking me out left and right...I finally make it to Snowbelle, and that was fairly quick and easy, once again with Ferrothorn.

As for Elite Four, that took a few attempts. Water was easy enough. Fire required Ludicolo using Surf, even though the Talonflame kinda hurt. Chesnaught was helpful against Steel (though I still had to get some help from Ferrothorn). The biggest pain was Diantha, until I just Curse/Iron Head with Ferrothorn. Around here, I looked over the team composition for Gen 7, and I was so happy to see more variety. When 40% of my moveset is Grass, it's just really hard to push through it. I'm looking forward to the variety.

Diantha, honestly, was relatively easy, once I got past Hawlucha, which I used Venusaur for as it's a tank. Gardevoir was a single Iron Head after a few Curses to get through Goodra. Grass is sort of weird at times. The standard moveset in Grass type is not the best, I feel. But Gen 6 might just be souring my view. I guess we'll see Gen 7, eh?

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Am I reading this right, Stenir? You got diagnosed with sciatica, arthritis, and psoriasis at the same time? I know this is off-topic on my part, but good lord, that sounds awful! (I don't know exactly what sciatica is, but I've heard that psoriasis is super scary to look up on Google.) Hang in there, man.

I don't have any progress to share on the Monotype challenge because I'm trying to grind up my team in the "No Evolution" challenge, so I can finally update that thread. I just felt really bad for Stenir here, and I felt I should probably say something.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I feel bad for you too, Stenir. A family member of mine has had lifelong arthritis and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Also been busy with real life stuff, moderator-stuff, and other games, but I should have a new update for Platinum before the Get-Together starts on Sunday.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokemon Platinum QOL (Standard Mode)
Mono-Steel - PI Justin
Update 5 (Route 210 North -> Canalave Gym)

It's been a whole month since my last update. Partly because it was time to train up two new team members, which is always a little time-consuming, but more importantly because of real life stuff that's been keeping me busy. First off, I evolved my starter into Empoleon as soon as possible, and boxed my Wormadam and Probopass for Magnezone, which was caught immediately after Cyrus, and Lucario, which was hatched and evolved as soon as I could get to Iron Island after that. I then went down all the optional routes, with Lucario holding the Exp. Share up until he hit level 30, then had him as the party lead for the rest of the segment. Neither Wormadam nor Probopass took part in any trainer battles since Crasher Wake.

For my moveset changes, apart from the new members' movesets (Magnezone as a special attacker and Lucario as a Swords Dance sweeper), I taught Curse to Steelix and Surf and Flash Cannon to Empoleon. More importantly, I got the Choice Specs and gave them to Empoleon. The Sinnoh games give you a single choice item before the postgame, which is amazing if you know how to use it right. I often run three different choice item users in my competitive teams so you can imagine how excited I am to get to use one in regular gameplay.

None of the three boss battles this segment were very hard. Scizor maxed its attack against Cyrus, surviving four Ice Punches from Sneasel, and 1HKOed all his Pokemon. Lucario swept through Byron with Swords Dance as well, using it once against Magneton (getting hit by a Metal Sound), and 1HKOed it, barely survived an Earthquake and 2HKOed Steelix, and 1HKOed Bastiodon, all with Brick Break.

Barry was a little harder, and actually managed to KO one of my Pokemon. Magnezone 1HKOed his Staraptor, and 2HKOed his Rapidash with Thunderbolt, but got its defense reduced by Tail Whip from the latter, and weakened a bit by Take Down. It got KOed by Heracross's Brick Break the next turn. I switched to Scizor, survived a Brick Break, and 1HKOed Heracross with Aerial Ace, and 2HKOed Floatzel and Torterra with it too. Floatzel nearly KOed Scizor with a critical Aqua Jet, but their other moves were both near-useless Dark-type moves.


Team

Spoiler:

Empoleon (♀) | Water/Steel | Level 38
Moves: Surf, Grass Knot, Hidden Power (Fire 70 BP), Flash Cannon
Stats: 117 HP / 78 Atk / 86 Def / 90 SpA / 94 SpD / 64 Spe
Ability: Torrent | Nature: Careful | Item: Choice Specs

Steelix (♂) | Steel/Ground | Level 38
Moves: Earthquake, Thunder Fang, Payback, Curse
Stats: 110 HP / 83 Atk / 162 Def / 49 SpA / 57 SpD / 39 Spe
Ability: Rock Head | Nature: Quirky | Item: Metronome

Bronzong | Steel/Psychic | Level 38
Moves: Extrasensory, Earthquake, Gyro Ball, Confuse Ray
Stats: 102 HP / 72 Atk / 100 Def / 78 SpA / 101 SpD / 34 Spe
Ability: Levitate | Nature: Modest | Item: Quick Claw

Scizor (♂) | Bug/Steel | Level 38
Moves: Bullet Punch, Aerial Ace, Brick Break, Swords Dance
Stats: 103 HP / 111 Atk / 84 Def / 52 SpA / 74 SpD / 65 Spe
Ability: Technician | Nature: Docile | Item: Razor Fang

Magnezone | Electric/Steel | Level 39
Moves: Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Tri Attack, Thunder Wave
Stats: 116 HP / 58 Atk / 104 Def / 128 SpA / 85 SpD / 59 Spe
Ability: Magnet Pull | Nature: Modest | Item: Wise Glasses

Lucario (♂) | Fighting/Steel | Level 37
Moves: Brick Break, Shadow Claw, Quick Attack, Swords Dance
Stats: 109 HP / 105 Atk / 70 Def / 98 SpA / 58 SpD / 88 Spe
Ability: Inner Focus | Nature: Naughty | Item: King's Rock

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

[Cleaning off my desk with cleaning solution]

[Notices "Explorer of Time" out the corner of my eye]

[Continues cleaning the desk]

[Looks up]

You look different today. Did you get a haircut?

 

[Explorer of Time]

You look different today. Did you get a haircut?

It's just a temporary avatar and post flair change to fit the theme we're doing for this year's get-together. We're doing an "evil team olympics" this year and I was put in Team Aqua.