So Victory Road is my last obstacle to the Pokemon League. I used Max Repels, so I didn't fight any wild Pokemon, and the Trainers were easy enough, as they were all under-leveled by at least 6-8 levels or so. By far the best trainer in the place was at the end of Victory Road, when Wally came sprinting from behind me, looking for a fight. Well his Pokemon were still under-leveled, if only 4-5 levels, and so I easily put them down, one by one. His Pokemon could have been better, though, as he had a Magneton and a Roselia, both of which get Gen IV evolutions. Delcatty is also kind of lame with Sing, which is horribly inaccurate. Anyway, after I crushed him, all my Pokemon were at L52, and Torres had finally learned Earthquake.
After healing up at the Pokemon Center, I had a few loose ends to tie up. The first was making sure that all my Pokemon had maximized their EVs. I flew to Slateport City and talked to the Effort Ribbon lady next to the Energy Guru, and learned that to my surprise, Torres had not yet gotten 510 EVs, while both Jagnaut and Lavy had, which is really strange, as Torres was my first Pokemon. I guess it's because I never really grinded with him. Well, I wanted to put the rest of the EVs, which I knew weren't many, into Special Attack, so I went up to Fallarbor Town and started to fight wild Spinda in the grass. After getting Torres to L55 (Torres also fought some trainers I had skipped earlier, down past Mt. Pyre) while using all of my PP, I went back to Slateport and received the Effort Ribbon.
The next line of business was to get TM02, Dragon Claw, for Jagnaut, which was deep in Meteor Falls. So I went down there and fought a couple trainers who had Pokemon at L40-42, and ended up getting Lavy and Jagnaut both to level 53.
The final thing I had to do was teach Return to both Torres and Lavy, as it was a more powerful move than Strength and Secret Power, respectively. I already had one, so I taught it to Lavy, than flew to Lilycove to forget Strength (then taught Strength to Puck just for the sake of completeness) and taught Return to Torres. I also taught Ice Beam to Torres in lieu of Protect. Now I was finally ready for the Elite Four!
First in the lineup was Sidney, the Dark Trainer. This battle was easy enough, with only Lavy fainting due to a Surf from Sharpedo. He had two Grass-types in his team, which Jagnaut was able to take care of with Fly, although I was fortunate to hit Shiftry, as it had used 6 DTs on itself, which coupled with Fly's 95% hit rate is a low margin for error. I did miss a few times, but it couldn't really hurt me, so I was able to take it out eventually and move on to the next room after healing up.
Next up was Phoebe, with her Ghost-types. I started with Jagnaut as he has Crunch, but he fell victim to one of her Bannete who pulled out an Ice Beam out of nowhere. It didn't kill me right away, but I was severely damaged and went down to a Shadow Ball from Sableye. Lavy and Torres cleaned up the rest with Earthquake and a few Surfs here and there.
The next one was the hardest challenge by far. Glacia, the Ice trainer. I led with Lavy, who KOed Glalie with Flamethrower, but not before Hail was set up. I switched to Torres when Glacia brought out Sealeo, and killed it with an Earthquake and a Return. I was damaged, though. Glacia brought out her second Sealeo and after Torres used an Earthquake, it killed her with Blizzard. I sent out Jagnaut and finished it off with Earthquake, then another Glalie was sent out. I switched to Lavy while it used Ice Beam, and then Flamethower killed it after Glalie used another Ice Beam. Walrien was sent out, Glacia's final Pokemon, and Surfed Lavy for the KO. I was down to Jagnaut, who was doubly weak to Ice, and on the first turn, I used a Revive on Torres. The first Blizzard missed, so I was able to use an Earthquake for around 50%. Blizzard missed again, and then Walrein's Sitris Berry activated, so rather than use Earthquake and cause Glacia to use a Full Restore, I told Jagnaut to go with Fly. Blizzard missed, Jagnaut used Fly for a little damage, and then Blizzard finally hit for the OHKO. I sent Torres out with half heath, and Earthquake sealed the deal. I was so glad it was over!
I healed up, then went on to face Drake, the Dragon trainer. I led with Lavy again, as he was really close to getting to L54, and then after I Earthquaked his lead, Shelgon, he switched out to Flygon, which caused me to miss with Earthquake. Lavy used Return, but Flygon had dug a hole, so it missed as well. I then switched to Jagnaut, Dig missed, and Jagnaut used Dragon Claw for about 70% damage. After a Dragonbreath that took 50% of Jagnaut's health, Flygon went down. When Shelgon came back out, he finished it off with Dragon Claw, and Lavy grew to L54. Drake then sent out Altaria, and Dragon Claw OHKOed it. His second Altaria met the same fate, and Salamance was Drake final Pokemon. Dragon Claw failed to OHKO it, and Jagnaut went down to a Dragon Claw. Torres was sent out, Ice Beam took care of Salamence, and Drake was history. This battle was pretty easy, only Jagnaut went down, and was at L54 and 2/3 of the way to L55. Torres was still at L55, and Lavy had just reached L54 as I mentioned.
Healed up, used a few Ethers for Lavy's Flamethrower and both of Jagnaut's and Torres' Earthquakes. This is when to use them :D.
Steven Stone is the Champion, but since he uses the Steel-type, he wasn't much of a challenge. I led with Lavy again, who used Flamethrower while Skarmory set up Spikes for the OHKO. Aggron was next, and I neglected to switch Lavy out, and Aggron OHKOed her with Earthquake. I sent Jagnaut out, and he Earthquaked for the OHKO. Then Metagross was sent out, to my delight, and after an Earthquake took 95% of his health, Meteor Mashed for some 30% damage. After a Full Restore, Earthquake OHKOed him this time. The next one was Claydol, to my annoyance, who set up a Light Screen after Jagnaut Crunched. Jagnaut then used Fly, and Claydol set up a Reflect, which weakened the Fly. I then switched to Torres, who Surfed for the KO, growing to L56. The next one up was Cradily, and I stupidly used a Hyper Potion on Jagnaut, forgetting that Ice Beam was super effective, and Cradily used a Giga Drain for the KO. Jagnaut was then sent out, and used a Fly and an Earthquake for KO, then Earthquaked Steven's last Pokemon, Armaldo, for the win and growing to L55 as well! The long journey was finally over for my Ground team. Torres finished at L56, Jagnaut at L55, and Lavy, who was the first Camerupt I had ever used, finished at L54.
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Defeated Steven!!!
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Time To Party!!!
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"Thank You, Thank You!"
Team Jacen (Final):
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Lavy (Camerupt, F) @ Amulet Coin - L54
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Magma Armor
Moves:
Return
Earthquake
Flamethrower
Eruption
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Torres (Swampert, F) @ Mystic Water - L56
Nature: Brave
Ability: Torrent
Moves:
Return
Surf
Earthquake
Ice Beam
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Jagnaut (Flygon, M) @ Soft Sand - L55
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Levitate
Moves:
Fly
Earthquake
Dragon Claw
Crunch
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Snatch (Zigzagoon, F) @ None - L3 (boxed for E4)
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Pickup
Moves:
Tackle
Growl
Cut
Rock Smash
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Puck (Psyduck, M) @ None - L28 (boxed for E4)
Nature: Naive
Ability: Damp
Moves:
Waterfall
Flash
Dive
Strength
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Zigzagoon, M @ None, L12 (boxed for E4)
Nature: Docile
Ability: Pickup
Moves:
Tackle
Growl
Tail Whip
Headbutt