[Challenge] The Monotype Challenge v8, Tera Edition

[StenirRPG]

Ultimate Fire Run
X / #1 / The First Four Gyms

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

Spoiler:

1.) Through the Santalune City Gym (Bug)
2.) Through the Cyllage City Gym (Rock)
3.) Through the Shalour City Gym (Fighting)
4.) Through the Coumarine City Gym (Grass)

The full read:

Spoiler:

1.) Through the Santalune City Gym
By the start of this gym, I can get four Pokemon: my starter Fennekin, a Fletchling from Route 2, a Pansear from the Forest, and a Litleo from east of Santalune. Totally forgot that route was accessible at first.

This is a fairly easy gym, because Fire is great against Bug. Most of my team were at the level of Viola's max, so it wasn't hard to quickly push through.

2.) Through the Cyllage City Gym
At this point, I can pick up the rest of the team that I will have for this post: Charmander at the lab in Lumiose, and then Eevee and Houndour on the route north of Cyllage. In preparation, before leaving Lumiose, I stop at the Stone Emporium and pick up two Fire Stones (one for immediately evolving Eevee due to the rules, but also another for Pansear once it learns Crunch).

The challenge here is that Grant's team may be small, but it hits hard. And, as I've come to learn, Fire types are like semi-glass cannons. They also hit relatively hard, but they can't take much of a hit, depending on the situation. I've come to expect the pain of "gym trainers are rough, but the gym leader is so much worse", and the Cyllage City Gym is so representative of it.

I show up with everyone except my starter, so I have a full party compared to Grant's small team of Amaura and Tyrunt. I chose to leave Fennekin (now Braixen) out due to Tyrunt having Bite. Honestly, though, I would have left Fletchinder out, due to it's 4x weakness to either of Grant's team using Rock Tomb. I teach Rock Smash to Litleo, and then use it to start with, since Amaura is 4x weak to it. Sure, it's not that powerful, but 4x is still better than anything else I have. I continue using it against Tyrunt, even though the 4x is now just a 2x. Litleo doesn't make it through the battle, but deals enough damage that a few Fire moves later and I've broken through.

3.) Through the Shalour City Gym
At this point, things accelerate. I quickly make progress with the Exp Share turned on, just knocking out trainers left and right. When I make it to Shalour, my Houndour has evolved to a Houndoom, and when I finish up the gym, my Litleo is now a Pyroar.

And the gym itself? Well, Pansear has Acrobatics and Fletchinder has Peck. Can't wait to upgrade that. But those made it so easy.

4.) Through the Coumarine City Gym
Another super easy gym, though I'm starting to have to be careful with Serena's team given her having started with Froakie. I pull Braixen back out and stick it in the back of my party, leaving Houndoom in the boxes. I then remind myself of how much fun blasting through a gym can be as I proceed to have Flareon sink Fire Fang's into everything. One or two shots later, each 'mon is knocked out. Easy.

Time to save. As a final result of the leader battle with Ramos, I manage to have Fletchinder evolve to Talonflame. Charmeleon is one level away from Charizard. Braixen is at 25, so it's got some catching up to do.

There's only four left to pick up on this generation: Slugma on Route 13, Litwick in the Lost Hotel, and then Torkoal and Heatmore on Route 18. Relatively quick progress with the new style of Exp Share.

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

 

[Explorer of Time]

Team Stats:

Spoiler:

https://i.ibb.co/jGJkWG8/pokemon-fire-6-1.png
(Not certain how to get the image to post correctly - any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks!)

Try this:

Spoiler:

Also, your last update is listed as the final gyms of your Shining Pearl run.

 

[StenirRPG]

Figures I would do that one of these days - I have a template in Notepad++ and I missed updating the top part. Thanks for the catch.

I swear I tried

around it. Not certain why it didn't work. Thanks! Much easier to just update and screengrab the data than type it all out.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Wait. My Ground type run was counted? I thought I was disqualified cuz I started it months before joining the forum. I would like to specify that the run followed all rules established, and I re-read the rules tonight to make sure before I wrote this. The only caveat is that I started the challenge before I joined the forum. Again, none of the rules were broken; I just didn't expect it to be considered valid since I started it quite a while before my account for this forum was created.

Also, I'm not sure how to do quotes, but the Hall of Fame erroneously lists my Ground type run in Pokémon Sapphire Version as Ground twice instead of listing the specific game I was playing.

So, anyway, I've started a Water Type run for FRLG. Dihydrogen monoxide is very lethal! A friend on another site suggested naming each Pokemon after a Sonic cartoon, but "Underground" is too many characters, so I'll use the name "OVA" instead. I named myself "Sonic," and I named my Rival "Mario." I will update this after I teach Brock a lesson in humility.

EDIT: Actually, um, I might take up the commitment of a Game Mastery Challenge for Ruby/Sapphire. Can I hack in any "regional Dex" Pokémon of my type for my starter? Like, even if it would make the run a lot easier? For example, Chinchou as a hacked starter is the only choice for an artificial starter [that I know of] where the first gym wouldn't be an absolute nightmare in an electric-type mono run, but there's no electric-types before the first couple of gyms, and it doesn't break any of the other rules. In other cases, can I just catch a Pokemon before the first gym and box the actual starter (outside of the water, ground, fire, fighting, and grass routes)? For example, can I just catch Zigzagoon in the Normal-type run instead of hacking it. One last thing I'll say is that I need to complete the first gym in a Flying mono type run in Sapphire before I absolutely commit myself to this challenge. (I will absolutely regret it when I challenge the Hoenn League with only two ice-type Pokémon.)

 

[Explorer of Time]

Wait. My Ground type run was counted? I thought I was disqualified cuz I started it months before joining the forum. I would like to specify that the run followed all rules established, and I re-read the rules tonight to make sure before I wrote this. The only caveat is that I started the challenge before I joined the forum. Again, none of the rules were broken; I just didn't expect it to be considered valid since I started it quite a while before my account for this forum was created.

Also, I'm not sure how to do quotes, but the Hall of Fame erroneously lists my Ground type run in Pokémon Sapphire Version as Ground twice instead of listing the specific game I was playing.

Yep, it's counted, since you followed the rules prior to joining the thread. The Hall of Fame's fixed now, thanks for notifying me.

So, anyway, I've started a Water Type run for FRLG. Dihydrogen monoxide is very lethal! A friend on another site suggested naming each Pokemon after a Sonic cartoon, but "Underground" is too many characters, so I'll use the name "OVA" instead. I named myself "Sonic," and I named my Rival "Mario." I will update this after I teach Brock a lesson in humility.

Before I add you to the challenger's list for this, if you decide on it, I'm going to need to know if you're playing FireRed, LeafGreen, or a romhack of either of them. For either run, I'll also need to know whether it's Standard Mode or Free Mode.

EDIT: Actually, um, I might take up the commitment of a Game Mastery Challenge for Ruby/Sapphire. Can I hack in any "regional Dex" Pokémon of my type for my starter? Like, even if it would make the run a lot easier? For example, Chinchou as a hacked starter is the only choice for an artificial starter [that I know of] where the first gym wouldn't be an absolute nightmare in an electric-type mono run, but there's no electric-types before the first couple of gyms, and it doesn't break any of the other rules.

Normally, you can only hack in a Regional Dex Pokémon as your starter if you can't find a Pokémon of your type or Pokémon that evolves into your type before the first gym (Dragon, Electric, Ice, Rock, or Steel in Ruby and Sapphire). In such a case, you could hack in any unevolved non-legendary in your Regional Dex, which would include Chinchou.

However, there's one exception where you can hack in a starter Pokémon even if you can catch one of your type before the first gym. If there's a Pokémon in your Regional Dex of your type that you can't catch until the postgame, you can hack it in at any time you want. That being said, the only Pokémon that fits this criteria in Ruby and Sapphire is Beldum, since every other non-Legendary Pokémon is obtainable before the postgame.

In other cases, can I just catch a Pokemon before the first gym and box the actual starter (outside of the water, ground, fire, fighting, and grass routes)? For example, can I just catch Zigzagoon in the Normal-type run instead of hacking it.

That's exactly what you're supposed to do, and the intended way to play.

One last thing I'll say is that I need to complete the first gym in a Flying mono type run in Sapphire before I absolutely commit myself to this challenge. (I will absolutely regret it when I challenge the Hoenn League with only two ice-type Pokémon.)

You actually can double up or triple up on some Pokemon species, if you want to. There's no rule forbidding you from catching multiple Glalie, for example. After all, it's what Glacia does. I'll make that clearer in the next revision of the rules.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

Thank you for such a thorough reply. There are a couple things I should clear up because it was very late at night when I edited that post.

The crossed out text is an edit and my way of saying "Actually, um, maybe I won't do this mono water-type run of Pokémon Leaf Green Version." The template was there (albeit without formatting) before I edited my post, but I think I'd rather save it for another time, perhaps to break up the 16 playthroughs of Ruby/Sapphire (17 counting the one that's already done).

I downloaded a program to replace one of my starter Pokémon for the challenge (leaving the rival's Pokémon unaffected), and now I kind of wish I hadn't cuz (hoo boy) Beldum only learns Takedown, and that recoil damage frightens me. If I can't just switch train it with the official starter, I guess I'll hack in a Natu and catch Ralts the old-fashioned way, right?

Actually, wait, I just re-read your post, and... um, well, this is awkward... where do I hack in the Beldum? Not "when," where? I think it'd be awkward if I made it appear from random encounters in the grass. Can I just trade over the Beldum that Champion Steven gives me in the post game of the Ground type challenge and call it a day? There's nothing special about that Beldum's IVs that would cause a problem with the rules laid out in post 1, correct? Maybe I'm forgetting something about limitations on trading post game Pokémon.

I'll officially enter (with the proper challenger info) when I complete Roxanne's gym with the flying-types and... Oh, yeah, Wingull is available before the first gym, isn't it? That would neutralize the challenge from the gym. I guess I'm really doing this, aren't I? All right, I'll boot up the ROM and start soon.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Thank you for such a thorough reply. There are a couple things I should clear up because it was very late at night when I edited that post.

The crossed out text is an edit and my way of saying "Actually, um, maybe I won't do this mono water-type run of Pokémon Leaf Green Version." The template was there (albeit without formatting) before I edited my post, but I think I'd rather save it for another time, perhaps to break up the 16 playthroughs of Ruby/Sapphire (17 counting the one that's already done).

I downloaded a program to replace one of my starter Pokémon for the challenge (leaving the rival's Pokémon unaffected), and now I kind of wish I hadn't cuz (hoo boy) Beldum only learns Takedown, and that recoil damage frightens me. If I can't just switch train it with the official starter, I guess I'll hack in a Natu and catch Ralts the old-fashioned way, right?

Actually, wait, I just re-read your post, and... um, well, this is awkward... where do I hack in the Beldum? Not "when," where? I think it'd be awkward if I made it appear from random encounters in the grass. Can I just trade over the Beldum that Champion Steven gives me in the post game of the Ground type challenge and call it a day? There's nothing special about that Beldum's IVs that would cause a problem with the rules laid out in post 1, correct? Maybe I'm forgetting something about limitations on trading post game Pokémon.

I'll officially enter (with the proper challenger info) when I complete Roxanne's gym with the flying-types and... Oh, yeah, Wingull is available before the first gym, isn't it? That would neutralize the challenge from the gym. I guess I'm really doing this, aren't I? All right, I'll boot up the ROM and start soon.

I'm a little confused, are you playing a mono-Psychic or mono-Flying run? It doesn't really make sense to hack one into a mono-Flying run since you can't use it in trainer battles, it's useless for breeding in RS, and other Pokemon available before Metang have the same HM compatibility.

I've played a mono-Psychic run of Ruby before, and Beldum is actually decent in the early game, you just need to backtrack to Pokemon Centers more frequently in-between battles. Ralts is available very early on, and will be extremely useful in the early-game, but it needs another Pokemon to fight Dark-types in the early game, and Beldum can do that pretty well.

Trading over your Beldum from another game is fine for your mono-Psychic run, as is making it appear from random encounters or switching out your starter. When hacking, I usually use PKHex, since it's the easiest method of adding new Pokemon to your party, but cheating devices are fine for hacking in Pokemon too, they're just more complicated to use correctly. The method of hacking doesn't really matter so long as its IVs are random, it's not any stronger than another party member you have, and it doesn't have any moves it's not supposed to.

 

[Explorer of Time]

One more thing, since this discussion about RS monotypes reminded me of a few things like Ralts not being able to hit Dark types without TM moves, I've added a few new clauses into today's update of the rules to avoid stuff like that.

8.3

8.3: Moved the rule about trading or hacking unobtainable Pokemon in the regional dex to the Standard Mode rules, since Free Mode has its own separate rules on the topic.

Required that the player have reached the point where they could've caught a Pokemon in their counterpart game before trading or hacking version-exclusives. As this rule would affect in-progress challenges, runs started before 4/7/2023 are allowed to trade or hack version-exclusives at any point in time.

Made mutually-exclusive Pokémon, like some fossils, tradeable or hackable under the same restriction.

Allowed keeping Nincada unevolved until a second Ghost-type is obtained, if the player's first available Ghost-type is Shedinja.

Added a clause allowing trading or hacking in a Pokémon if the player's party is completely unable to damage a Pokémon without Struggle, or delaying the start of the challenge if players can't trade or hack.

Clarified that using multiple Pokémon of the same species is allowed.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I'm going to do them ALL eventually is why I asked. I'm doing Flying right now, but eventually, I will be doing a mono Psychic Type run. I just wanted to ask ahead of time because it's a big commitment, you see. It's going to be done over many months, maybe a couple years.

Also, I was about to have a fight or flight response cuz I remembered that in the mono Ground-type challenge, I abused Pickup as long as I could by catching four Zigzagoon. I did not use them for anything in-battle, which follows the "non-battle purposes" clause, but in the moment of realization I was like, "OMG, I used Zigzagoon for pick-up items! That doesn't count, right?!"

 

[Explorer of Time]

Also, I was about to have a fight or flight response cuz I remembered that in the mono Ground-type challenge, I abused Pickup as long as I could by catching four Zigzagoon. I did not use them for anything in-battle, which follows the "non-battle purposes" clause, but in the moment of realization I was like, "OMG, I used Zigzagoon for pick-up items! That doesn't count, right?!"

Don't worry, you're fine. So long as they aren't involved in trainer battles, it's completely OK to use Zigzagoon for pickup in any run.

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I might regret this, but I'm in! I wanna be a Big Shot in this thread and conquer the Hoenn region!

User: Reginald Cosmic

Type: All (Currently on Flying-Type)

Games: Ruby and Sapphire (on Game Boy Advance)

Challenge Type: Game Mastery Challenge

Standard Mode

This is going to be a long-term goal. Expect periods of time where I take a break from the challenge to play other games (so I don't get sick of it and quit).

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokémon Colosseum (Standard Mode)
Mono-Water - Aqua Admin Walter
Update 3 (The Under -> Shadow Pokemon Lab)

Another update, and this time covering two Cipher admins. I fought Venus very soon after Dakim, snagging Suicune and purifying it immediately with a Time Flute. Then, I did a lot of grinding for Poke Coupons to get TMs, and completed both the Pyrite and Under Colosseums for more TMs despite the level difference. Most of the Shadow Pokemon Lab was easy because I was overleveled, and though Ein's Lanturn and Raikou were scary because they had Thunder, neither actually got a chance to use it more than once. I got lucky with Ice Beam and froze Raikou, and snagged it with an Ultra Ball. Can't use it, but I need to catch and box it to fight Fein at the end of the game.

I don't really like using Legendaries all that much, but using Suicune is the only way to get a full team of six Water-types in Colosseum. I taught it Reflect and Rain Dance, giving it a couple setup moves, kept Surf, and taught it Ice Beam like most of the rest of my team. It's the only Pokemon on my team that could learn Reflect, so that gives it a useful niche that the rest of my team can't do. Aside from a possible Reshiram in the last two battles of Black, this is going to be my only legendary in my Type Mastery Challenge.

Every Pokemon save Qwilfish learned Ice Beam, a strong alternative to whatever Water-type moves my team knows. In addition, Feraligatr learned Brick Break, giving it a strong physical Fighting move, Quagsire learned Earthquake, a strong ground move that counters Electric-types very well, and usually worth the hit my other Pokemon will take, Octillery learned Psychic and Flamethrower, two strong moves in types I don't otherwise have, Mantine got a whole new moveset focused around status conditions, and Qwilfish learned Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball to better fit its role as a physical attacker. Unless my Suicune somehow gets to level 81, my whole team has its final movesets.


Team

Spoiler:

Feraligatr (♂) | Water | Level 51
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam*, Brick Break*, Rain Dance
154 HP / 119 Atk / 114 Def / 94 SpA / 109 SpD / 102 Spe
Ability: Torrent | Nature: Timid | Item: Black Belt*

Quagsire (♂) | Water/Ground | Level 50
Moves: Surf, Earthquake*, Ice Beam*, Amnesia
174 HP / 97 Atk / 96 Def / 71 SpA / 78 SpD / 56 Spe
Ability: Damp | Nature: Jolly | Item: Quick Claw

Octillery (♀) | Water | Level 50
Moves: Bubblebeam, Psychic*, Ice Beam*, Flamethrower*
152 HP / 122 Atk / 89 Def / 107 SpA / 97 SpD / 69 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Jolly | Item: Twistedspoon*

Mantine (♀) | Water/Flying | Level 50
Moves: Water Pulse*, Ice Beam*, Confuse Ray*, Attract*
145 HP / 56 Atk / 87 Def / 90 SpA / 171 SpD / 84 Spe
Ability: Water Absorb | Nature: Careful | Item: (None)*

Qwilfish (♂) | Water/Poison | Level 50
Moves: Surf, Sludge Bomb*, Shadow Ball*, Toxic
133 HP / 105 Atk / 88 Def / 73 SpA / 82 SpD / 107 Spe
Ability: Poison Point | Nature: Gentle | Item: Poison Barb*

Suicune (⚥)* | Water | Level 51
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Reflect, Rain Dance
167 HP / 85 Atk / 131 Def / 126 SpA / 134 SpD / 106 Spe
Ability: Pressure| Nature: Modest | Item: Mystic Water*

*denotes new Pokemon/moves/items

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

I guess I could've named myself Lance since I'll be a Flying-Type Champion. [Cackles like a maniac] I named myself Skye and picked Mudkip as my unofficial starter (since Grovyle is weak to the flying-type).

Spoiler:

So I'm going to fast forward through the beginning of the game. I know; I love this game too, but there's no need for me to recap all the stuff that happened before the challenge started. Okay, so after I saved Professor Birch's life (or maybe he just overreacted) and subsequently defeated his daughter in a Pokémon battle, I was given Pokéballs.

Actually, this is a bit of a gray area that may or may not be worth an asterisk in the rules. Technically, I could catch a Whurmple as my first Pokémon, but there's no way to tell if it will evolve into Silcoon and then Beautifly (a Bug/Flying type) or a Cascoon and then Dustox (a Bug/Poison type) without some external app, so I ignored the Whurmple line for a little while.

This next thing has nothing to do with the challenge, but it'll be important later (trust me). I caught four Zigzagoon and named them after Ed, Edd n Eddy and side character Nazz. (I caught a female one by accident and felt it was too much of a bother to go back, so I ended up just using all four until I caught a Silcoon). They're not really for battling, so they're just gonna hang out in the party a little while. After all, you don't have fun by saying no to fun experiences. (Big Shot Reg does not condone using this advice in regards to harmful experiences like drug abuse or hazing other people.)

So after sneaking past all but two of the Route 104 trainers, I helped Wally catch his first Pokémon, which was a ... shoot, what was it? I kind of wasn't paying attention. Eh, I'm sure it won't be a problem for me to deal with later.

So after Norman shut piehole, I was finally allowed to catch my first Pokémon. I'd hoped to run into Taillow first, but I ended up with WIngull. No offense to Wingull fans, but it feels like an tenth of the trainers in Hoenn have a member of that line (albeit, it's not as bad as Meditite). So I caught a Gentle Wingull with Keen Eye and named it Wilbur (after one of the Wright Bros.) and then I caught a Jolly Taillow (which happened to be female, thus ruining my Wright Bros. motif) with Guts, which I named Earhart (after Amelia Earhart). I trained up a bit, including going back to Route 102 to battle the trainers I missed. Then, I headed up to Petalburg Woods to show some bug-types who's boss.

This researcher looking stooge comes up to me talking about Shroomish, and then we both get ambushed by a jerk who says his name is Team Aqua Grunt, and I figure "Gosh, my Wingull sure could use some free experience." So instead of beating his Poochyena into submission with one Wing Attack from Earhart, I use Wingull's Supersonic (and I'm very glad that move isn't Psychic-type) and managed to beat it with a few Water Gun attacks. He retreats of course, and the researcher hands me a Great Ball. I caught a Silcoon on my way up north, but I probably won't train it until I find an old-school Experience Share.

I planted some berries and watered them with a Wailmer pail, then I skipped the double battle with the twins (which is apparently mandatory in Emerald if you have more than one Pokémon). I killed a bunch of Magikarp, and at this point, I was torn cuz I want a Gyarados with Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Earthquake, and Surf, but I'm growing attached to this Wingull. Anyway, I made it to Rustboro and made sure to collect a premier ball from the Devon workers' house, and I also grabbed the Quick Claw from the school teacher.

After defeating the trainers near Rusturf tunnel (something I normally don't do out of habit), I walked into the gym. The gym trainers weren't strong at all, so I got a little prideful in challenging Roxanne without healing up first. Her Geodude fainted from one water gun, but then I soon realized that Nosepass's status as "not f***ing Ground-type" made it more resilient than anticipated. It used Rock Tomb on me right away, leaving me with very little HP. I use Water Gun again but no luck on getting a crit. It uses tackle, and Wingull is down. I tried using a Quick Attack with Earhart, but Roxanne used a potion. What can I do...? Good thing I brought plenty of Revives and Super Potions. Yeah, babyyy, the Pickup ability from Zigzagoon is amazing in Ruby/Sapphire! So I used a revive, and Taillow tanked a Rock Tomb like a beast, and I was able to use a Super Potion on Wingull. I sent out Wingull after Taillow fainted, and I start spamming Water Gun. Roxanne was able to use one more potion before losing to me. I was in the yellow when her Nosepass finally collapsed, but I still won the gym badge fair and square! I'm looking forward to that fighting-type gym. [Does the Omega Flowey laugh]

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

This post covers from right after the first gym to right after the second gym, which in Ruby/Sapphire isn't long. It's sort of one of the only times where you do two gyms almost back to back (unlike X/Y and from what I've heard Diamond/Pearl).

Spoiler:

I don't feel like doing a full story recap, so I'll try to rush through most of this. If you want the full plot, there are plenty of better places to experience it.

So I beat the Team Aqua Grunt into submission, and I get roped into helping Devon deliver the stolen goods to Slateport... also, I gotta deliver a letter to Champion Steven in Granite Cave near Dewford.

So before I can catch my Zubat, I run into a couple of Abra and use Taillow's quick attack to knock them out because they always teleport away before I can catch them on normal playthroughs. The Hiker who gifted me HM05 is probably like, "Dude, why'd you kill that Abra?" They say how are you doing, and you have to say fine, but you're not really fine, but you just can't get into it cuz they would never understand.

So I killed a couple Zubat due to being over-leveled, and I ended up settling a female Zubat and naming it Luna. What's this? Modest Nature? Your attack is lowered, and your special attack is raised... in Gen 3... where Crobat is exclusively a physical attacker? [Starts smacking the Zubat with a rolled up newspaper] Bad Zubat! Bad!

Zubat: "Forgive me, Master!"

Me: Never!

Narrator: Some grinding later...

Me Cruising through the Fighting type gym: They see me rollin'! They hatin'! [Defeats all three gym trainers without losing a single hit point]

Brawly: Oh, gosh, it's happening! I am not mentally prepared for this.

...

Machop: [Uses Bulk-up once and immediately faints after]

Makuhita: Hi, I hope you're having a great day! Don't forget to get plenty of rest and eat a balanced breakfast.

Me: What a brave young man, but someone's got to teach him the ways of the world. I guess little old me will have to do!

Makuhita: [Survives the first Wing Attack from the now level 20 Taillow, uses Bulk Up, and receives a Super Potion healing from Brawly] Okay, maybe with my higher attack and defense I can--

Taillow: What do I do now?

Me: Hit him with Wing Attack.

Taillow: Now he's crying...

Me: Hit him with a Wing Attack AGAIN!

Gosh, I was brutal with this post... but we're not done yet. After I grabbed the Knuckle Badge out of Brawly's hands, I went fishing on Route 106 and fished up a Magikarp which will grow into a mighty Gyarados named Cloud. Let's see what nature it is. "Serious" [Drops to my knees and starts crying like I've just reunited with my best friend after 3,000 years] Serious nature Magikarp in a premier ball! The dream is real.

 

[StenirRPG]

I'm on my phone and away from my desktop (about 90 miles away) so I'm not going to have the usual update setup so I'll keep it brief. For consistency, I will post a picture of my final stats. But here's the rest of Pokemon X with Fire types.

Gym 5 - Some of my team kept getting paralyzed, but nothing real big of a problem. I am still a little leveled above the gym, but I have sort of locked in on a team of Charizard, Talonflame, Houndoom, Delphos, Flareon, and Pyroar. I decided not to get any more of the available Pokemon unless I felt there was a need.

Gym 6 - Another one of the spam hardest attacks to get through.

Gym 7 - Spam Dark moves. Win. Defeat all trainers...as usual.

Gym 8 - Fire moves are overpowered here. Easy.

Team Flare being between Gyms 7 and 8 is a nice boost to experience.

As for Elite Four...Steel is easy. Fire is relatively easy to push through. Dragon was fun once I had Flareon start using Last Resort.

Water was a pain. I taught Grass Knot for use against Barbie. Wing Attack, Fly, Acrobatics as much as possible. The Gyarados was horrible. I had to outlast Waterfall with Revives but eventually (after a few hours of trying things) I just used endless Revives until I got a few clear shots to take down Gyarados.

The champion battle was fairly easy. Aurorus gave me a chance to bring everyone back after it was hit with a few Mystical Fires. Still using a lot of Flying moves to deal damage. This was definitely much easier than dealing with Water.

Final pre-credits battle with Az was straightforward.

I'll say this felt much easier, probably due to how the XP share works. Looking forward to the next gen. I'll post stats as soon as I can when I return home.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Pokémon Colosseum (Standard Mode)
Mono-Water - Aqua Admin Walter
Update 4 (Realgam Tower -> Realgam Colosseum)

A short update today, covering Realgam Tower and Realgam Colosseum! None of the admins gave me much trouble except for Ein, whose Thunder/Rain Dance combination was mildly difficult. However, Gonzap's Hariyama was unexpectedly hard and fainted half my team. The first four Realgam Colosseum trainers didn't give me too much trouble. Sten fainted a couple Pokemon, but they got healed up before fighting Nascour. Nascour himself was kinda difficult, but sadly I didn't have a chance to record the fight.

I ended up using my Master Ball on Metagross to win the battle, since I remembered that I could just refight Evice without going through the rest of the Colosseum if he beat me the first time. Which he did. I did snag Tyranitar before going down, though. The second time, he led with Slowking and Slaking, immediately using Skill Swap to take away Truant from Slaking and give it to Slowking. Slaking fainted several of my Pokemon, but once I brought it down, I could just focus on one of his Pokemon since Slowking still had Truant from Skill Swap and for some reason never used it on one of my Pokemon, and Suicune, Mantine, and Octillery worked together to beat the rest of his team.

I may have beaten Colosseum, but since it's a shorter game, I still have to go through nearly the entire postgame to have it count for my Type Mastery challenge. Expect one more update for this challenge run.


Team

Spoiler:

Feraligatr (♂) | Water | Level 53
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Brick Break, Rain Dance
162 HP / 125 Atk / 119 Def / 98 SpA / 114 SpD / 107 Spe
Ability: Torrent | Nature: Timid | Item: Black Belt

Quagsire (♂) | Water/Ground | Level 54
Moves: Surf, Earthquake, Ice Beam, Amnesia
189 HP / 107 Atk / 104 Def / 78 SpA / 86 SpD / 61 Spe
Ability: Damp | Nature: Jolly | Item: Quick Claw

Octillery (♀) | Water | Level 52
Moves: Bubblebeam, Psychic, Ice Beam, Flamethrower
158 HP / 128 Atk / 94 Def / 111 SpA / 102 SpD / 72 Spe
Ability: Suction Cups | Nature: Jolly | Item: Twistedspoon

Mantine (♀) | Water/Flying | Level 53
Moves: Water Pulse, Ice Beam, Confuse Ray, Attract
154 HP / 62 Atk / 93 Def / 97 SpA / 183 SpD / 90 Spe
Ability: Water Absorb | Nature: Careful | Item: NeverMeltIce*

Qwilfish (♂) | Water/Poison | Level 52
Moves: Surf, Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Toxic
138 HP / 110 Atk / 92 Def / 76 SpA / 86 SpD / 112 Spe
Ability: Poison Point | Nature: Gentle | Item: Poison Barb

Suicune (⚥) | Water | Level 53
Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Reflect, Rain Dance
176 HP / 90 Atk / 137 Def / 132 SpA / 140 SpD / 111 Spe
Ability: Pressure| Nature: Modest | Item: Mystic Water

*denotes new Pokemon/moves/items

 

[Infer12]

I'm going to try to do a monotype run of XD. Never played the game before but it looks like such a fun way to play through a pokemon game and use some of my favourite mons!

User: Infer12
Type: Dark
Game(s): XD: Gale of Darkness
Challenge Type: Single Challenge
Standard Mode / Free Mode: Standard Mode

 

[Infer12]

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (Standard Mode)
Mono-Dark
Update 1 (Pokémon HQ Lab -> Cipher Lab)

This will be my first monotype run ever so I hope it'll go well. Hopefully won't run into too strong fighting & bug types!

Started the game and named myself Dusk. I did all the early game stuff: searched for my sister, got the snag machine, saw the professor get kidnapped and went to Gateon Port
to get the machine part. I also caught the Teddiursa from Spy Naps for Pickup and to use it until I get 2 dark types. At Gateon Port, I evolved my Eevee into Umbreon and caught
Poochyena at the top of the lighthouse. I now have 2 dark types so let the monotype run officially begin! The trainers at Gateon Port were pretty easy so before long I headed to
Agate Village to use the Relic Stone there to purify my pokemon.

Poochyena's Heart Gauge was completely empty from the trainer battles leading up to the Relic Stone so I could immediately purify it. (that Pikachu almost wiped me out though
with thunderbolt but Umbreon pulled through). Then I went to Mt. Battle to talk to Vander who pointed me to Cipher Lab in the middle of the desert.

At the Cipher Lab, I battled the Hexagon Brothers from who I caught 2 dark(-ish) types: Houndour from Resix and Seedot from Greesix (who will get dark type upon evolving). I used
Houndour in the battles against the other brothers (again not too difficult) and used 5 vivid scents on Seedot so I was able to purify both of them. I continued my infiltration into
Cipher Lab and my Seedot evolved into Nuzleaf. Cipher Peon Digor gave me some trouble as he had a Machop & a Makuhita. He managed to knock out Houndour & Umbreon with
low kick and arm thrust but Nuzleaf's giga drain saved the day! After the battle Poochyena evolved into Mightyena. I then got to the room with the healing machine where I fully healed
my team.

My Team:

Spoiler:

Umbreon LV 18
Tackle/Pursuit/Bite/Sand Attack

Mightyena LV 18
Dig/Heal Bell/Poison Fang/Bite

Houndour LV 18
Faint Attack/Ember/Charm/Roar

Nuzleaf LV 18
Giga Drain/Refresh/Bullet Seed/Nature Power

 

[Reginald Cosmic]

This post will have two "spoiler" boxes (assuming this all fits in one post). I think a lot of you know why. I knew Wattson would be a challenge, but I didn't expect it to be as grueling as it was.

Everything between Gym Leader Brawly and Gym Leader Wattson

Spoiler:

It's been a few days, so hopefully I'm able to remember this well enough without leaving out key details.

After catching Cloud the Serious-nature Magikarp, I realized that I didn't have any Pokémon that could learn HM move Flash, so I had to sail back to Mr. Briney's cottage. I settled on a Lotad to serve as an HM Pokémon. After returning to Dewford, I went through Granite Cave, and ... I don't think much of anything happened. I delivered the letter to Steven, and he was kind enough to give me a TM for Steel Wing. (I haven't actually used it yet because I'm afraid of wasting it.) I think one of my party members fainted at one point during this trek through the dungeon, but it wasn't too difficult.

However, before venturing onward to Slateport, I returned to the Devon office and picked up an old-school version of the Exp. Share from Mr. Stone. I gave it to Luna the Zubat right away, but I used it on Cloud the Magikarp later.

I started battling all the trainers on the beach south of Slateport, which included the trainers at the Soda Pop store. A toddler handed me a Soft Sand. I'm not sure at this time if I'll end up using it in a Flying-type run, but it would be pretty boss to hand it to Cloud when he becomes a Gyarados with Earthquake.

Oh, right, I am going to box Wilbur the Wingull at some point. I'll wait until (probably) Cloud learns Surf as a Gyarados. While I'm talking about the team, Silcoon probably isn't going to evolve into a Beautifly any time soon. I will tell you now that I've already boxed it at present. What did I nickname them again? [Checks notes] Oh, right, I named them "Haga" after Insector Haga from the (English translated) Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist manga.

I go to the museum in Slateport, and I beat up some Team Aqua Grunts, and the leader comes out, tells me I'm standing in the way of greatness, refuses to elaborate, and leaves. I then give the Devon goods to the Captain. (Side note: I think this was my first time seeing the road block that prevents you from leaving Slateport without meeting Aqua Leader Archie.)

I head north of Slateport and challenge trainers along the way. I did the first challenge from the Trick Master, but this one wasn't much of a puzzle. I just used my Zigzagoon's "Cut" move in the over world multiple times. It took a long time to defeat the double battle against a Plusle and Minun, but it wasn't exactly hard. It just took a while.

I got somewhat paranoid about challenging Rival May, so I thought I'd do some grinding in Granite Cave, but then Earhart the Taillow evolved into a Swellow. I ended up beating Rival May pretty efficiently.

So, I know this is an anti-climax, but when my previous post gave a comedic set-up for Wally having a Gardevoir, it slipped my mind that the player originally battles Wally in front of the Mauville gym. Whoops. Yeah, I one-shotted Wally's Ralts without an ounce of remorse. Then I ended up traveling west of Mauville to Verdanturf to visit Wally and also get some experience for the electric-type gym. I also got just a little bit of experience on the route just east of Mauville.

So I head into the Mauville Gym, take care of the trainers... and realize quickly I'm not ready to defeat Leader Wattson. I went back to Cycling Road with the newly acquired Acro Bike, and it's at this point that I realize Magnemite and Magneton are 4x resistant to Flying-type attacks. Wing Attack has consistently been my strongest move up to this point, so I am in trouble. Even after Cloud evolved, it wouldn't help given Gyarados's early game learnset of Tackle and Bite (Magnemite resists dark-type moves in Gen III). I end up having to use strategy to beat Wattson.

Gym Leader Wattson:

Spoiler:

Okay, so Wattson has three Pokémon: a level 22 Magnemite with Thunder Wave, Thunder Shock, Sonic Boom, and Supersonic; a level 20 Voltorb (which I didn't know had self-destruct until after starting this post); and a level 23 Magneton with FREAKING SHOCKWAVE which never misses. This must have felt cathartic to the dude after all the times I've annihilated his team with a Marshtomp.

It was hard enough getting past Magnemite once, but when I saw Magneton's Shockwave, I knew I had to get ruthless. I ended up doing something I've never done before: buying X Attacks in the hopes of using them in bulk against a formidable foe. I also bought three dire hits (not knowing that only one of them can be used at a time).

The plan was to use Double Team at least twice (probably three times) to get Magnemite to miss, so I could use all six X Attack items and one dire hit on my level 25 Swellow (which would level up before fighting the evolved Magneton). The plan is for me to one-shot every member of his team thanks to a critical hit on Magneton. This became much more complicated though.

1) Magnemite will always go for Thunder Wave immediately and make multiple attempts if the move misses due to my Pokémon's raised evasion, which is useful for the "Double Team" setup.

2) Sometimes Magnemite will continuously use Thundershock (which has a lot of power points by the way), which... is less encouraging because one use of Thundershock depletes more than half of Swellow's HP, and X Special was not available at the Mart in Mauville.

3) Sonic Boom deals exactly 20 hit points of damage every time (a half Dragon Rage if you will), but I didn't know that until I'd done like 20 attempts at Wattson. Sonic Boom is the damaging move I'd want to see in this fight because I won't need to heal until I see two of them.

4) The 4 Full Restores from the Zigzagoon's "Pickup" ability really came in handy. I was able to wait until Swellow was at low HP before I had to heal even after Swellow suffered paralysis. That said, the 20 or so Super Potions were nice to have as well.

All right, so I did all the setup, which was quite nerve-wracking because it felt like this fight was gonna have to go perfect for me to win. I use Quick Attack on Magnemite, and ... it survives with barely any HP? What? That didn't happen before. Wattson heals, and the same thing happens with Quick Attack again. Then I used one more Quick Attack and finally defeated the Magnemite. (Note that I'd only done this four or five times before this attempt because I usually lost to the Magnemite trying to do all this setup.) I defeated the Voltorb in one hit. Then, Magnemite suffers a critical hit from my Swellow's Quick Attack, and ... it hangs on with about 1 HP? What? Then it happened: the miracle. Swellow survived Shockwave with 1 HP out of 74 HP! Yeah! Wattson used his second Super Potion, but I again knock Magneton down to about 1 HP with two more uses of Quick Attack before Swellow gets KOed from Shockwave. I'm really nervous about which Water/Flying-type to send out at this point. I need to out-speed this guy. Cloud the Gyarados flexes its Intimidate ability before defeating the Magneton with a simple Tackle. I'd won! I'd overcome adversary, and I was so proud! Dang, that was hard, but it was satisfying to overcome!

(I realize now this message wasn't really that long, but it felt like it in my head as I was typing it.)

 

[Infer12]

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness (Standard Mode)
Mono-Dark
Update 2 (Cipher Lab -> Pyrite Town)

I continued my way through Cipher Lab and caught Carvanha from Cipher Peon Cabol. After getting the ID card to access the elevator, I battled Naps to free the professor. The battle wasn't too hard but Rhyhorn did deal a lot of damage and took my Carvanha out. Dig from Mightyena came in handy before it knocked out another mon. I also found a leaf stone to evolve Nuzleaf after it learns fainth attack at LV 31. Cipher Admin Lovrina was kind of a pushover, Nuzleaf and Houndour sweeped her with giga drain and ember. I picked the Data Rom
up that Lovrina dropped and brought the professor back to the lab. Once there, I purified Carvanha in the now completed Purify Chamber.

I then went to Pyrite Town so Nett at ONBS could decode the Data Rom. I battled the trainers in town and defeated the first 4 trainers at Pyrite Colosseum to get the TM for Brick Break that I taught to Nuzleaf. With that done, I delivered the Data Rom to Nett and went to the Rock Poké Spot to look for Duking. I fought Mirror B at the Cave Poké Spot and demolished him
with Mightyena's poison fang. Luck was also with me as my first encounter there was Wooper but you'll see later why I caught him.

Returning to Pyrite Town, ONBS was overrun by team Cipher who were looking for the Data Rom. As I made my through the building Houndour evolved into Houndoom. At the top
I battled Cipher Cmdr Exol. Loudred and Mawile fell easily to ember and brick break but Girafarig and Raichu posed a problem. I didn't expect Girafarig to have shock wave so it immediately took down my Carvanha. Raichu just hit like a truck but dig saved me again.

Before I went to Phenac City I traded Wooper for Duking's Larvitar. Did you guys know it comes with DRAGON DANCE and OUTRAGE at LV 20!? Crazy! Anyway, that does give me a full
team of dark types (or will be). I also cleared area 1 and 2 of Mt. Battle.

My Team:

Spoiler:

Umbreon LV 24
Quick Attack/Pursuit/Bite/Sand Attack

Mightyena LV 24
Dig/Heal Bell/Poison Fang/Bite

Houndoom LV 24
Faint Attack/Ember/Charm/Roar

Nuzleaf LV 26
Giga Drain/Refresh/Bullet Seed/Brick Break

Carvanha LV 24
Water Pulse/Refresh/Crunch/Scary Face

Larvitar LV 20
Dragon Dance/Outrage/Sandstorm/Bite