Timber Dragon

Then again, that same NPC also claimed her hair was insured for thousands of dollars a la Mean Girls. I doubt he's a credible source of information... but then, Terra probably knows more than she lets on. That's why her hair is so colorful and big -- it's full of secrets. Like the future.

I'll be doing a canine-themed run and I was hoping to get a Riolu. I know it's a bit overpowered for the early game, but it can take a while to get max friendship to evolve it. Plus, you get it so late and there are only, what, ten other Pokemon in the whole game I can use -- I'm okay with being a little cheap early on. Nature and IVs don't matter as long as they're not awful. Thanks! Game.rxdata

I actually considered using a some of those, but I hesitated because I didn't consider them 'spell casty' enough, plus I just finished a Ghost monotype run so I wasn't sure I wanted Golurk or Cofagrigus. I'll probably use Zoroark and Lucario at least, because they're more of the 'master' than the minion doing the mage's bidding (or a zombie). Ooooh Aromatisse. My bird-themed run showed me how destructive they can potentially be, and I didn't even consider a witch brew/potion interpretation (I thought of them more like a bird/plague doctor themed creature). And yes, I'll probably use Zoroark too. You don't need to give me a full list if it's work, but if the theme was changed to magic, what sort of qualifications would you look at?

There's Klinks and Magnemites in Shade's gym, and those Magnemites can even carry Metal Coats needed to evolve Onix into Steelix (don't know what the drop rate is, though). I think those three are the only Steel-types available at that point in the game unless you picked Empoleon as your starter. Other Steel-types don't appear until you have full access to the Underground Railnet, after you beat Aya and the Yureyu Building. Ground-types are risky with Aya since the field dampens their damage a bit and she has plenty of counters, like Tentacruel and some Ice- and Water-type moves. If you're dead-set on Ground-types, though, you have a few options: -Phanpy in the grass next to Corey's gym (Bunnelby is there too but it's not that great...) -Baltoy or Golett in the cave next to Corey's gym (need to bring an Ill-Fated Doll to the totem pole, and Baltoy or Golett will chosen at random) -Trapinch if you have patience for Onyx Ward's arcade (I don't) -Wooper and Palpitoad in Azurine Island -Numel in Pyrous Mountain (not recommended due to 4x Water-type weakness, and Aya has Tentacruel and other Water-type attacks) Might be a few others, but I forgot. In any case, you don't absolutely NEED a Ground- or Steel-type to take down Aya, especially with the counters she has and the field effect, but they could help.

I would definitely appreciate it if reading the diary became optional. Reading the diary doesn't bother me in and of itself, as I'm a player with an outside perspective who consistently breaks into peoples' houses and steals stuff lying around. What bothers me is that you had no choice in the matter, and you get called out for it even though you literally cannot progress through the game without doing so. It'd be one thing if it was a gray issue, like, say, needing critical information (which is somehow spelled out in a diary...) and you just so happen to stumble across that entry, which Titania just so happens to catch you reading. But in-universe there's not even a good reason for doing it. It's a random invasion of privacy that kick-starts another giant quest for an HM and we're made to feel like we need to atone for something. This incident probably didn't help Titania's shaky reputation in the fandom (seriously, almost half the complains in that "Things you DON'T like about Reborn" thread are about the diary thing), so I'm glad the scenario will be altered. But in terms of the rest of the reputation points... ehh after all the time spent in my save files, I don't feel like restarting them just for those reputation points.

So I'm toying with the idea of doing some kind of mage-themed run. My team would consist of, well, mages, and wizards, magicians, witches, etc. The potential Pokemon to use for the run would be: -Fennekin/Braixen/Delphox (starter) -Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam -Drowzee/Hypno -Mime Jr./Mr. Mime -Smoochum/Jynx -Natu/Xatu -Misdreavus/Mismagius -Ralts/Kirlia/Gardevoir/Gallade -Meditite/Medicham -Gothita/Gothorita/Gothitelle Ambiguous: -Solosis/Duosion/Reuniclus? -Espurr/Meowstic? -Elgyem/Beheeyem? I was wondering if there are any other Pokemon that you think would be appropriate for the run, anything that makes you think of a magic user. Most of them are humanoid Psychic-types but they don't comprise the whole team, and there's gotta be something I missed. Alternatively, I could expand the theme to include magic in general. But if I do that, what qualifications would you have for just 'magic?' Magical creatures? Thoughts/suggestions would be helpful, especially if you can think of something that looks like a mage but isn't another Psychic-type... all I have is Mismagius, but Dark-types still be scary, man.

Noel is a gym I tend to cheese because he has such wide type coverage that it can be hard to counter him. I have no shame. Wigglytuff is easy to set up buffs on. Depending on the Pokemon, it can probably single-handedly sweep most of Noel's team. I love doing it with Speed Boost Blaziken. So much destruction. I also recently discovered that Sludge Wave + Venoshock strategy, though it'd probably have been easier to pull off with mons besides Toxicroak (4x Psychic weakness) or Garbodor (kind of a poor battler in general). Actually, if I'd known the Corrosive Field strategy, I could've used it with my Drapion for it, who's immune to Psychic. Though, I also forgot to get Venoshock at the time, so meh.

I usually go for the 'fight fire with fire' strategy with Charlotte, so Blaziken can be your MVP here, especially if it has Speed Boost (Charlotte's team is insanely fast, which is why it's popular to use Trick Room against her). For Blaziken, I'd say scrap Brave Bird for Flare Blitz, let the field turn into a Burning Field, and have Blaziken sweep everyone with its Fire attacks. Give it with a Charcoal or Flame Plate and set up a Bulk Up or two, and you could probably OHKO most of her team. All Blaziken would need is a proper meat shield to keep it healthy so it can do its job safely. A good tank should be able to take a hit or two and draw the attention away from Blaziken. Is the team you listed the only Pokemon you have besides your HM slave?

Haunted (Fiore) Mansion Ghosties: Three twelve-on-twelve, back-to-back double battles with partners who may or may not do useful things. My body is ready. Isn't Florinia a Grass-type trainer? What's she doing with a Hippowdon, unless she wants to annoy everyone with that sandstorm? Must be that 'Desert Rose' thing. Too bad it doesn't help when the opponents' movesets seem tailor-made specifically to counter her. So many mons have Ice-type moves or Hidden Power, and then there's Blake. To Florinia's credit, she does contribute as well as she can given how much this fight hates her. Will-O-Wisp is liberally used against some of the more dangerous mons. Otherwise, it's an offensive race to KO everyone before Florinia's whole team faints and leaves me at the mercy of getting double-teamed. And believe me, you do not want that to happen from people like Fern and Blake. Fortunately my reward for beating Solaris's Garchomp is getting Julia for a partner in the last battle (and seeing Florinia getting mauled by a Seviper, if that's your kink). Julia is a bit more useful than her KO'd sorority sister is, or at least she doesn't have any prominent weaknesses that Solaris and Orderly John can exploit for Super Effective evil. Overall, despite being such high-ranked Meteors, the battle against Solaris and Orderly Not-Cena went more smoothly than the previous battles. I guess that's the benefit of having a coffee- and explosion-obsessed cheerleader for your battle partner. Although, you do have to wonder.

We all fight dirty here Ghosties: This thing is an asshole in the best of days, but we can be assholes too. Kinda looks like the biomass living in my shower drain. Come to think of it, Titania and I are gonna need an injection or five after playing around in the sewers all day. Something about all this just doesn't feel kosher. Anyway, the first order of business is to burn it, releasing the wonderful fragrance of Swalot waste. PULSE Swalot hits like a truck and the field effect heals it faster than what we can safely dish out. Even burn isn't enough to keep up with its healing, so it's time to bring out an old friend. And since Dusknoir got fainted, it's up to our resident Curser Gengar to take the fall, who is then Discharge'd by the icky water in one of the most disgusting ways to go down. Golurk also tanks a cleanly Sludge Wave to the face and unleashes an Earthquake, which I can only hope doesn't crack through any walls and flood the city with gallons of sewage and Meteor corpses. Earthquake deals heavy damage, and burn + Curse damage takes care of the rest. Is my reward some steel wool? 'Cause I really don't wanna know how many bacterial friends I'm infected with. Somehow, Taka stayed clean this whole time Ghosties: This fight is optional, but I always choose to battle Taka here. He's a cool guy. Plus I just feel like annoying Titania. She can go ahead and attack me, I have my own Aegislash. And he's shiny! I bet she's just jealous because my Aegislash fits the bloodstained murder weapon image better than hers. (Fun fact: my Aegislash is a bit of a pacifist.) As you might've noticed from the PULSE Swalot fight, I figured I'd get some of my old team back in the game (plus one HM slave again). Welcome back, gaiz. This fight wasn't too bad, but in the video you may have noticed me pausing to heal instead of going in for a finishing hit. That's because I hadn't realized that Taka doesn't carry any healing items. You can't exactly blame me for the mistake when almost every other major battle besides, like, PULSE Abra and Avalugg had a secret stash of potions. Anyway, Taka not pausing to heal tripped me up a bit, but nothing humiliating for once. Then I got to Chatot, because of course things go to hell whenever it shows up. It's... kinda my own fault, though. I was so worried about the Chatter issue that I forgot about all the other important issues Chatot has. Good decision #1: Forgetting that Chatot is a Normal/Flying-type. Good decision #2: Forgetting that Chatot has Heat Wave despite spamming it for the last three turns. At least Aegislash gets a final hoorah. He uses his last turn to revive Dusknoir before getting immolated by the Heat Wave that I apparently kept ignoring because I was focused on defending against Chatter, instead of the freakin' HEAT BLASTS directed towards my face for multiple turns in a row. Oh that's always a good sign. Well, thankfully even after a Nasty Plot'd Heat Wave, Dusknoir manages to survive and KOs Chatot with Thunder Punch. See? Even bad decisions can work out in the end.

Poor poor dear, no one levels on randoms anymore, not when there are repeatable trainers to battle back in the Grand Hall. You may need to change the date to get trainers that you can manage, though. I'd say level Pangoro up to level 52 so it'll learn Sky Uppercut, which is a much stronger and more reliable Fighting-type move than anything up until that point. I'd also suggest putting Cut and Rock Smash on a designated HM slave to free up space, and scrapping Shadow Claw. Crunch covers most of the bases that Shadow Claw does, but does it better due to STAB. If you have Heart Scales to spare, you can go back to the Move Relearner and give it Work Up, which should give Pangoro an extra punch if you can safely set it up. Porygon-Z is fast and has a freakish special attack. It looks like team you have don't have the best special defense, but if Pangoro can tank a hit then he should be able to KO it in one or two hits, hopefully. You could always equip a Black Belt to boost Pangoro's Fighting moves. Aggron can probably handle Swellow with Rock Slide. If you don't feel safe you could set up an Iron Defense. His last two mons are Girafarig and Clefable. Clefable you can probably beat with a similarly strategy to however you beat Wigglytuff, and Girafarig is similar to Porygon-Z

I don't know the ins and outs of every change, but I know that the Swellow for the Normal-type leader had Guts + a Flame Orb, letting Facade utterly wreck you. In the unlikely event you ever got past that unholy bird, he had a Staraptor immediately after, I think with Reckless + Brave Bird, just in case Fighting-types weren't being punished enough. The inclusion of field effects changed a lot of leader's strategies, making them easier or harder depending on your team and whether you know how to use the field to your own advantage, or at least get rid of it. For me, Julia got a little harder though is still manageable, while Florinia got a lot easier, though her Cradily will still punish you without a good Fighting- or Bug-type. In fact, back in the day, Florinia was considered one of the early game's biggest roadblocks (well, she was a roadblock for me). imo Corey, Shade, and possibly Serra (Ice-type leader) are harder, or at least more annoying, than they used to be. I thought Corey was tough even back in the day, but with the field effect he's brutal. It boosts Venoshock to max without the target needing to be poisoned, and activates other positive Poison-related abilities. What's worse is that you can't fully get rid of it -- the best you can do is use Gust or whatever to turn the Corrosive Mist into just a regular Corrosion field... which still activates Venoshock and those other abilities. I don't know what Shade was like in ep 14, as I stopped playing maybe around ep 12-13 ish and came back only a few months ago, but Shade seemed much harder than I remember. In fact, after I came back to the game, he's the one who broke my winning streak -- rather, his Chandelure broke my winning streak. That thing was tough to begin with, but good grief, with that field Chandelure alone can easily sweep your team if you let it. Serra is a mixed bag. She used to have an Avalugg iir, but it was replaced with something else more manageable. Her field effect is more infuriating than challenging because it centers around accuracy and critical buffs, which are at the mercy of the RNG. At the same time, because she takes advantage of her field, her team doesn't use many Ice-type moves. Thankfully it can be easily broken and turned into a neutral field. I do it ASAP because her field is easily my least favorite in all of Reborn. Overall I think that because gym leaders have field effects to use for their strategies, their teams can afford to be a little weaker, and so got some nerfs here and there. After all, back in the day their teams had to carry all the weight, and boy did they ever. That said, I didn't appreciate the field effects at first. I thought it affected your playing style in a way that's not... legitimate for Pokemon, I guess? But after I started playing with them and got used to them -- how they impact me and how I can use them to my advantage -- I now enjoy the added edge they give to the game.

Aw shit look what I have IT'S VIDEOOOOS The one where Mewtwo learns that you can be cheap without relying on Gen 1's bullcrap mechanics And the one where Terra gets swept by a dead jellyfish No commentary this time so I can get used to this weird... Youtube upload thing which I've never done before because Youtube is an awful awful place for any kind of intelligent discourse. I'm also a very private and very paranoid person who apparently wants to make her content as hard to access as possible, because honestly, if I had it my way I wouldn't even be using Youtube at all -- it's just the most convenient way to host videos. The videos aren't perfect and there are some de-syncing issues with the audio that I gotta figure out how to counter. I also gotta figure out how my actual commentary will go now that I'll have videos where you actually get to see what I did rather than just have me describe it to you, bad decisions and all. In any case, this is a trial run for another direction I'll be taking with my Reborn runs from now on, now that I'm aware of this mysterious new technology called Youtube uploading.

Ooooooooooo. An online battle system where we use our good ol' Reborn-trained mons instead of instantly generated ones, and you potentially don't have to have perfect EVs/IVs or use specific mons just so you have a chance to compete, and there aren't endless items like Leftovers/Life Orb/Choice Specs/etc. everywhere unless you can buy those things in the Department Store by the time this is implemented? My attention has been caught.

Hey look progress and stuff. Spoiler'd so you guys don't suffocate from pictures. PULSE Avalugg Aster minus one Eclipse Freezer Dick

Pun accepted. I'd like to use Froslass more often, but since she doesn't excel at anything in particular but speed, and there aren't many situations coming up where I'd need an Ice-type in specific (Charlotte and Blake, for instance), it's hard for me to find times to use her when my other, stronger spookies usually get the job done. Meh, I've been meaning to bench some of my core team for a while just to shake things up for a bit... after Charlotte, I mean. But Chandelure will probably stay since I can't function without her Blake and an Ice-type dungeon is coming up. Like the phoenix, we rise from the ashes to get KO'd again Ghosties: Well, this one didn't go as smoothly as I thought it'd go. Ironically, this was the first time I ever looked forward to fighting Charlotte. Come to think of it, I wanted a Chandelure solely for the purposes of this battle. It just so happened that Lizbeth's freakish special attack and speed made her a competent battler in general, but honestly, I just wanted a strong Fire-type to use against Charlotte. And boy, did she deliver a good pounding. It's a very good thing she did, because the rest of my team had no purpose but to GET pounded. Well said, Charlotte. Before the battle, I switched Chandelure's ability to Flash Fire (and it took two Ability Capsules to get it... geez, Chandelure). This keeps her immune to the main threat as well as boosting Flame Burst, further boosted with her Charcoal and the Burning Field effect. Combine that with her insane natural special attack, and you get... well, not OHKOs, but she hit pretty damn hard. The genius strategy went as follows: -Chandelure spams Flame Burst. -Her partner takes the beatings like a good non-Fire-type punching bag. -Said punching bag inevitably faints. Punching bag #2 comes out and revives punching bag #1. -Rinse and repeat until all the revive items are used up or Chandelure gets mauled with a Rock-type Hidden Power. Or we win. Or get wrecked. Whichever comes first. Our two punching bags for the day were Dusknoir and Cofagrigus. Getting pounded and then revived again isn't anything new on this team, especially not for my lovely meat shields, but this fight probably set a personal record of mine for the faint-revive count in a single battle. It also might've made Cofagrgus and Dusknoir rethink their alliance with me, but meh, where are they gonna go? I can't imagine idling the rest of their afterlives back at Shade's gym makes for an exciting existence. At least on this team they get to sacrifice themselves for the sake of victory. Enough Flame Bursts and recoil damage from Flare Blitz knocks out Darmanitan, leading to the mon that stalled me the last time. Volcarona has a Rock-type Hidden Power (as does two of Charlotte's other mons), so learning from my mistake the last time, Volcarona goes down first. Luckily it uses Heat Wave instead, giving Chandelure a free OHKO. After a few more of my and Charlotte's mons get smacked around, I realized an unfortunate side effect of using revival items: they tend to disappear when you use them. No Cotton Candy. No Revive. Uh-oh. Welp, do the best we can, I guess. Uh-oh. It's up to you, Chandelure! You are so lucky that Hidden Power missed. That would've ended things fast, especially after that Nasty Plot. Thank you, Minimize. WHY DIDN'T YOU ATTACK ROTOM Oh, right. Nasty Plot + Hidden Power. THANK THE GODS OF RNG Playing field is level now. Heal, one last Flame Burst, aaaaand Damn straight. Already on it. Question is whether to keep doing it with Flame Burst for field effect stuff, or with my spiffy new Flamethrower TM for Even Moar Power. Hmmmm

Pfft, y'all can keep your new-fangled Mega Evowhatchamacallits. I got this far without them and I'm damn well gonna take my living ice cream cone thingy to the Elite 4. </has not played Gen 6>

I let my mons faint for a safe setup, or send them out knowing they might faint so I can heal another mon, and I sometimes feel a little bad about it. I suspect that I'd be an awful awful trainer in the real world.

Team Updates Bloody Mary is a Dusknoir now wheeeee ... Wow, now this is bittersweet. Unless I ever decide to evolve that Shuppet or Pumpkaboo, this could very well be the last Team Update in the run. I mean, besides our Dead Lord Giratina and that guy with the hoops, I now have every Ghost-type Pokemon. Not just in Reborn, I mean period. There sure aren't a lot of members in the Spooky-type club. At least we're all alone and annoying together. Noooo Eclipse! Chandelures are friends, not Ghosties: Ahh, the final Aster & Eclipse fight is a pain in the ass even in a normal run. Took me two or three tries to get it right, and even then, things might've gone better if I made less stupid decisions. This fight also established why my core team is who it is. You see the Ghosties up there? Besides Dusknoir, who filled in for Cofagrigus as the tank, those are my best players. They've been constants in my team (with some occassional switches), and it turned out there was a good reason for that. The first attempt went poorly because I tried giving some of my other mons like Jellicent and Mismagius some time to shine, got wrecked, went in with my normal team... got wrecked again, went in a THIRD time and actually succeeded. I guess it's a combination of better team synergy and overall better stats (except defense; that's always been a problem and why Cofagrigus/Dusknoir are so valuable), but the point is my team is pretty much established now. It just took getting smacked around by Aster and Eclipse for me to confirm it. But I digress! Onto the fight. Part of the luck of the draw was hoping Aya did useful things. Her team is competent enough, but Aster & Eclipse pounded us with high-powered moves on high-powered Pokemon. Unlike her brother, my team can't handle pounding well. Unless we're doing the pounding. Then it's awesome. Oh my. Anyhoo, Gengar OHKOs Solrock with Shadow Ball. Lunatone Blizzards us for decent damage, and Dragalge Hydro pumps it, though can't faint it. Golurk comes out, and this is the first of many not-too-bright decisions. Having a Golurk myself, I knew that it could wreck my ghosts if it had the chance, and I could even potentially one- or two-hit KO it with Gengar. Who did I focus on instead? Lunatone. Because its defense-boosting moves were annoying. So Eclipse heals Lunatone to full health, Gengar OHKOs it, and Golurk prepares Phantom Force, the ghost equivalent of Fly and Dig. And since Lunatone fainted, I now have two really strong mons on the field. Sensing this will end badly on multiple fronts, I switch Gengar out for Dusknoir. It ends badly when Dragalge's Hydro Pump misses it and Dusknoir is then double-teamed with a Thunderbolt from Magmortar and Golurk's Phantom Force. Dragalge Hydro Pumps Magmortar the best it can, all alone. Gengar comes back out and uses Shadow Ball. Against Magmortar. In my defense, I do KO Magmortar. Unsurprisingly, Golurk uses Phantom Force again, targeting Gengar. Since Magmortar fainted, which I assume was Dragalge's original target, its Thunderbolt hits Golurk instead for negative damage. Milotic is now out. It seems Gengar accepts his inevitable defeat and uses his turn to revive Dusknoir. Seconds later, Milotic brings him down to the reds with Scald while Golurk, enjoying overkill, finishes him off with a critical Phantom Force. And Dragalge does useful things with Thunderbolt against Milotic. Too bad they still have Hyper Potions. Aegislash comes out and uses his turn to revive Gengar, then Scalded by Milotic and targeted for a Phantom Force. Dragalge is whittling down Milotic with Thunderbolt, who then uses Recover. Aegislash uses Night Slash... and misses. And Phantom Force KOs him. Apparently FINALLY realizing that Golurk is becoming kinda sorta a big problem, I bring Chandelure out and gloriously OHKO it with Shadow Ball, which I probably could've done about three knockouts ago. Apparently not done with my bad decisions, I either forgot or ignored the Milotic-related issue still on the field. Scald nearly OHKOs her, but she hangs on with a sliver of HP. I guess someone's gotta pick up the slack. Dragalge has weakened Milotic with enough Thunderbolts, letting Chandelure finish it off. Aster sends out Rhyperior, who utterly destroys an already-near-fainted Chandelure with Rock Wrecker. Imagine taking a boulder to a cute little lamp that was already nearly broken. Poor thing, paying for my bad decisions. Dusknoir is back out, and Eclipse sends out Aromatisse. Dragalge nearly OHKOs Aromatisse with Sludge Bomb while Dusknoir lands a Will-O-Wisp on Rhyperior, who must recharge after Wrecking Rocks. Even weakened, Dusknoir survives Aromatisse's Dazzling Gleam, and I heal her. Eclipse withdraws Aromatisse for Vileplume. Dragalge nearly KOs Rhyperior with Hydro Pump and burn damage does the rest. Electivire takes Rhyperior's place. Dusknoir seems to be a magnet for pain, as they both keep wailing on her. She serves as a reluctant tank while Dragalge handles the offense. Dusknoir eventually lands a Will-O-Wisp on Electivire and Dragalge manages to faint Vilepulme. Aromatisse returns to deliver more punishment, but a combination of healing and stubbornness (on the trainer's part) keeps her on the field. A combination of burn + Life Orb damage gets Electivire's HP low enough for Dragalge to finally faint it. Teamwork! Now two-against-one, Dusknoir and Dragalge are free to gang up on Vespiqueen together. More teamwork later, and Dusknoir lands the finishing blow with Thunder Punch. Damn straight. And I really gotta give props to Dragalge, too. Aya's whole team fell on the first attempt, but this time not a single one of her mons fainted. Dragalge stayed on the field the whole time with no healing but a Black Sludge. I guess that's what happens when the opponent makes your Pokemon the designated punching bags. Teamwork! Er. That Chandelure's not mine. My Chandelure fainted. Honest.

IV boosting? Puh-lease. Back in my day we soft-resetted until we got what we wanted and WE LIKED IT.

Yup, unfortunately by the rules of a monotype run, Rotom's alternate forms are illegal. I can usually justify using a mon if a future evolution gains the proper type, but Rotom's forms lose the type. Too bad, because those alt forms seem much more useful than its base form. Team Updates And here are all the remaining ghosties available before venturing off to Agate, caught all at once in a flurry of soft resets, Heart Scales, and various creepy. Boys and girls, this is why you don't wait until the last minute to do stuff. Ability: Levitate -A wildcard of sorts. -One of my few mons with a special defense above double-digit numbers. -Haunts the girls' restroom. -Tends to moan. Ability: Levitate -My only Electric-type. -Stat-wise is unfortunately a bit of a lightweight. -Obsessed with TVs and outdated recording technology. Ability: Cursed Body -I have no idea what I'm gonna do with this thing. -Probably possessed by a demon or something. Ability: Pickup -But I already have Trevenant... -But ooh Pickup, that's useful. -Apparently I'm running out of names for ghosts so I'm using horror media in general. Ability: Wonder Guard -I'll find a specialized use for this thing, probably. -Probably should've been named Beetlejuice instead of Spiritomb, because cicadas are totally crickets. -Cries a lot. Ability: Prankster -Prankster would be useful if it naturally learned any status moves worth pranking. -I'm really running out of ghost names here. -Eats teeth. Ability: Frisk -At last, a proper tank! -May or may not replace Cofagrigus once she evolves to Dusknoir. -Whoever said Bloody Mary wasn't a bit chubby? Knock it Off, Samson Ghosties: I probably shouldn't have underestimated Samson as much as I did. Sure, we were immune to his most dangerous Fighting moves, but that just meant we had to deal with his other dangerous, non-Fighty moves. Like Dark-type moves. As if Luna wasn't enough. Isn't Dark-type, like, the antithesis of Fighting-type? Like, Fighting-types are all about hard work and honor and stuff, and Dark-types are just a bunch of ghost-hating assholes? So why would Samson's team be carrying around anti-ghost equipment? It's like he expected someone to come in with a team of ghosts that would offset his main strength, and so planned accordingly. I dunno, this is why I'm not a gym leader. You don't know the half of it. Anyway, Samson caught me by surprise and swept me with only Hariyama and Mienshao. Second attempt, I swapped out Froslass for Cofagrigus and had him lead instead of Golurk, and the second attempt was much less embarassing. Cofagrigus wound up being the MVP. In addition to having the highest natural defense, Mummy also nullified any abilities that made Samson roll consistently high High Strikers. Combine that with constant Will-O-Wisps, and Samson's team is crippled. Cofagrigus leads against Hariyama. He attempts Will-O-Wisp, but misses and is KO'd by a Smack Down and a Knock Off. Hariyama gets Mummy'd, meaning it's as vulnerable to the High Striker roulette as anyone. Haw haw. Chandelure successfully Will-O-Wisps Hariyama instead. She then uses Minimize and starts attacking, though healing frequently, as Knock Off can still do good damage even if it's no longer a OHKO (and assuming it even hits her). Samson heals, and when I have an opening, I revive Cofagrigus and finally finish Hariyama off. For Mienshao, Cofagrigus is back on the field and heals. Mienshao gets Mummy'd after Poison Jab, and nearly finishes Cofagrigus off with Acrobatics + Life Orb, but Cofagrigus hangs in there like a true champ. He lands a Will-O-Wisp and heals, though he still takes good damage with a field-boosted Acrobatics. Mienshao finally faints from Hex and burn + Life Orb damage. Golurk is sent out for Blaziken. He tanks a Blaze Kick and OHKOs it with Earthquake. Whatever you say, dude. Golurk stays for Hawlucha. Probably not my best decision this fight. Cofagrigus is tired but we known by now he's a trooper, as long as he gets his meds. He heals and barely survives two Acrobatics, but Hawlucha is now Mummy'd and burned through Will-O-Wisp. Cofagrigus alternates between healing and attacking with Hex before fainting Hawlucha. Chandelure is up against Lucario. There's no need for Will-O-Wisp in this set up, and goes straight to Flame Burst. Lucario sets up a Swords Dance, and a priority Bullet Punch knocks her down to about half HP, but another Flame Burst finishes it off. Now time for the behemoth. Chandelure stays for Conkeldurr. Courtesy of Terra, I assume. Chandelure lands a Will-O-Wisp. I later found out that Conkeldurr has Guts, and Knock Off wrecks her. Probably revenge for that Terrably distasteful joke. Cofagrigus is back, though still weakened from fighting Hawlucha. I heal, but thanks to burn + Guts, Knock Off OHKOs him. Fortunately, Conkeldurr gets Mummy'd, so burn actually does its job now. Trevenant finally gets some action, but high striker doesn't like him and Wood Hammer doesn't do impressive damage. He also gets Mummy'd too, but it doesn't matter -- Knock Off is a OHKO. So Aegislash uses his turn to revive Cofagrigus, and Conkeldurr uses Bulk Up. Hoo boy. Aegislash tries Iron Head and can only knock its HP into the reds. In Blade Forme, Knock Off is a OHKO. Err. Okay. Cofagrigus again? Never mind. Welp, after burn damage, Conkeldurr only needs one hit to go. It's not like I have many options here. With a single Shadow Ball, Gengar faints Conkeldurr and earns someone else's hard-earned exp. Besides your sanity and possibly your virginity, again courtesy of Terra. Damn straight.

Not really a single defining moment, though I can think of one or two, but in my bird-themed run I'm sure proud of how much of an asskicker Aromatisse of all things turned out to be.