Lord Chespin

Update #7: This May Come as a Shock Well, Wattson was definitely harder than Roxie, but I managed to beat him fairly easily. On TEH URN, Jen led with Eliza, and Wattson led with Voltorb. Voltorb pulled off a hit-and-run with a volt switch, leading to Wattson's ace, Manectric, taking the force palm Eliza fired off and getting paralyzed by it. Manectric became immobilized by paralysis and was seriously injured by two more force palms; however, Eliza became paralyzed by its static, and then fainted to a thunderbolt. Amazingly, though, thanks to Manectric's life orb, it fell to recoil damage on the same turn! RIP Exp, I guess... Up next came Wattson's Plusle, and Jen sent out Dan, who was now a Hariyama! Dan did some impressive damage with a fake out, but the next turn Plusle pivoted out to Voltorb; Voltorb took some serious damage from an arm thrust, which hit four times but caused Dan to become paralyzed. Wattson used up his hyper potion on Voltorb,which was then promptly knocked down to low HP with a strength. Voltorb then pivoted out to Wattson's Magneton, but luckily Dan was able to KO it on the switch with an arm thrust! Out next came Wattson's Voltorb, for the third time. Jen swapped out to Chun-Li, who managed to tank a thunder with just 4 HP and took out Voltorb with a karate chop (although she became paralyzed in the process)! Moving on... Wattson, running out of options, sent out his Minun, and Jen sent out one of our newest team members: Zexy the Combusken (that's a TPP Emerald reference, boys and girls; kind of fitting that his first appearance was during the Wattson battle). Zexy tanked a volt switch from Minun, then hit Wattson's Plusle on the switch with a double kick. He then survived an electro ball from Plusle and ended it with another pair of double kicks! All Wattson had left was his Minun! Jen sent out Zaprong, and he promptly got paralyzed by a thunder wave, then did pitiful damage with a low kick. Minun tried pivoting out with a volt switch, but there wasn't anybody to switch out to, so Minun was stuck to get paralyzed by a thunder wave. Minun was imobilized then turn after that, and Zaprong fired off a shock wave... which only did scratch damage. Seeing that I had created a bit of a stalemate, I had Jen swap Zaprong out for Raiden, who managed to get in scott-free thanks to Minun's paralysis. Raiden did impressive damage to it with a low sweep, bt was paralyzed by a thunder wave. Luckily, he managed to survive a volt switch with 15 HP left and ended the Minun with a razor shell! With Wattson down, it's time to take on Burgh! The team so far:

Update #6: Falcon KICK! Well, Roxie wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. On TEH URN, Jen led with Eliza, and Roxie led with Trubbish. Trubbish went down to two blaze kicks, but not before setting up a layer of toxic spikes. This is pretty much going to be par for the course for this battle; Eliza put in overtime. Anyway, up next came Roxie's Koffing, and Jen sent out Inigo. Inigo did crazy damage with a psybeam, but fainted almost instantly to a venoshock. Zaprong came out next, and while Roxie used her super potion on Koffing, he got off a shock wave. He then tanked a flamethrower and ended the Koffing with two more shock waves! After Koffing came Roxie's Seviper, and it was honestly her toughest Pokemon to deal with. Jen swapped out to Chun-Li, but the poor thing fainted instantly to a venoshock. Dan came out next, and he managed to do quite a bit of damage with a fake out; sadly, he fainted to a venoshock as well. Fortunately, Eliza came out after this, and she managed to turn the battle in Jen's favor by tanking a sucker punch (which actually boosted her defense thanks to justified) and taking out Seviper with a blaze kick and a quick attack! Roxie's last three Pokemon was actually pretty anticlimactic. Her Croagunk got off a fake out, but fell to a blaze kick the next turn. Her Golbat fainted to a critical-hit blaze kick the moment it came out. Finally, her ace, Whirlipede, only got off a steamroller before fainting to a blaze kick! With Roxie defeated, it's time to get ready to set sail for Castelia City! The team so far:

Update #5: Sparring Session Well, Brawly wasn't that bad, although on my first attempt he almost swept my entire team with his Meditite; I better prepare for future psychic-type users. Anyway, on TEH URN, Jen led with Inigo, and Brawly led with Machop. The poor Machop only got off a single bulk up before fainting to two psybeams; its payapa berry did nothing! Up next came one of our newer team members- Dan the Makuhita- and Brawly led with his Scraggy. Scraggy managed to lower Dan's attack with intimidate, but Dan managed to KO it with a fake out and an arm thrust (which hit twice)! Eliza- now a Lucario!- came out next, and Brawly sent out his dreaded Meditite. Luckily, she managed to tank a drain punch and took out Meditite with a counter! All that remained was Brawly's ace: Makuhita. Jen sent out Raiden, who was now a mighty Dewott! He set up a focus energy, and fired off a razor shell while Makuhita set up two bulk ups. All that setting up didn't help it, though, as it fell to a critical-hit razor shell! With that over with, it's time to take on Roxie! The team so far:

Update #4: Normal is the New Black Well, Cheren was pretty hard, but once I leveled up my team a little and remembered that Jen could catch a Shroomish, he was a lot easier. On TEH URN, Jen led with Raiden, and Cheren led with Minccino. Mincinno set up two work ups while Raiden set up a focus energy and unleashed a critical-hit water gun; Mincinno then miraculously missed a sing, allowing Raiden to KO it with another water gun! Up next came Cheren's Lillipup, so Jen swapped out to Eliza. Eliza fired off a quick attack while Lillipup set up a work up, then tanked a tackle and did massive damage with a counter, ending the Lillipup! Cheren decided to send out his Pidove next, and honestly, it was kind of a pushover (although that may be because the hax gods were on my side). Jen swapped out to Inigo, and he managed to confuse Pidove with a confusion before it injured itself, allowing Inigo to finish it off with a critical-hit confusion! Up next came Cheren's Buneary... and honestly, it was probably his hardest Pokemon for me to deal with. Jen sent out our newest team member, Alyx the Shroomish, but the hax gods decided "Up yours, Chespin" and had Alyx miss three stun spores in a row; during this time, Buneary set up three work ups. Alyx finally landed a stun spore on Buneary on the fourth turn, but it turns out Buneary had limber, so I ultimately wasted the last four turns. Errrrrrrgh. Buneary, of course, set up another work up, follwed by a circle throw that shuffled Alyx out for Inigo (although Alyx was able to land an absorb before getting shuffled). Poor Inigo got knocked out by a double hit before he could counter-attack, but Tyson (who came out next) was able to land a fake out and two tackles while Buneary set up a fifth work up; he then fell to a single double hit. Running out of options, Jen sent out Raiden again, and he landed a water gun while Cheren had it set up a sixth work up. In case you're counting, its attack and special attack were now completely maxed out. Yay. Cheren then healed Buneary with a potion, but Raiden was able to strike back with a water gun; he then, against all of my expectations, managed to survive a water pulse from Buneary and took it out with two water guns while it prepared a circle throw! Cheren then sent out his Teddiursa... and to be fair, I think I messed up dealing with it. Jen sent out Alyx again, and she set up a stun spore to prevent its toxic orb from activating... only for it to set up a work up, get a speed boost thanks to quick feet, and KO Alyx with a metal claw. Jen then sent Eliza back out, and tried healing her with a potion; sadly, Teddiursa took her down with two covets before she could even attack. Running out of options, Jen sent out Chun-Li, and while it got immobilized by paralysis twice,Chun-Li did chip damage with a scratch and a low kick. Jen, fearing retribution, swapped out to Raiden again, and he tanked a metronome-turned-pursuit to do damage with a water gun; Teddiursa, meanwhile, got lucky with metronome and managed to set up an ingrain and a glare, paralyzing Raiden. After a turn of being immobilized, Raiden managed to tank a metronome-turned-crush grip, get lucky with Teddiursa getting immobilized by paralysis, and ended it with two mighty water guns! All that remained was Cheren's ace, Munchlax, but it was kind of a pushover. Chun-Li came back out, and while it set up a work up, Chun-Li managed to KO it with just two low kicks! With Cheren defeated, it's time to go forth and head out to Virbark City! The team so far:

Update #3: Between a Rock and a Hard Place Well, Roxanne was a lot harder than I expected. On TEH URN, Jen led with Eliza, and Roxanne led with Anorith. Eliza tanked an aerial ace with 5 HP remaining and did massive damage with a mighty counter, taking Anorith down! Up next came LADY ROOT, GODDESS OF THE CHAT Roxanne's Lileep, and Jen swapped out to Inigo. Poor Inigo only got off a confusion and a double team before fainting to a solar beam, prompting Jen to send out Chun-Li the Mankey. Chun-Li set up a focus energy while Lileep set up an ingrain, then fired off a mighty critical-hit low kick while tanking a rock tomb. She then ended Lileep with another critical-hit low kick, leading to Roxanne sending out her ace and most troubling Pokemon: her Nosepass. Nosepass surprisingly outsped Chun-Li and did massive damage with a volt switch, but Chun-Li lived and some damage with a low kick before fainting to an ice punch. Tyson the Tyrouge came out next, and he did chip damage with a fake out and a tackle before fainting to two volt switches; infuriatingly, however, Nosepass drank its berry juice, allowing it to heal itself to full health! Jen decided to stop messing around and sent out Raiden, and he tanked a bulldoze to do massive damage with a water gun. Sadly, the bulldoze made him slower than Nosepass, and as a result he got slammed hard with a volt switch; luckily, he lived, and did more damage with a water gun. Both sides then healed their Pokemon with a potion, followed by Raiden tanking another volt switch to do massive damage with a water gun. Unfortunately, even though Jen healed him with a potion the next turn, he was knocked back down to low health with another volt switch. Thinking quickly, Jen swapped him out for Eliza, who took the fall and fainted to a volt switch; this sacrifice returned Raiden's speed to normal, though, and allowed him to KO Nosepass with a water gun! Onwards to Cheren! The team so far:

Update #2: Draco Strikes Back Well, the second fight against Draco (AKA Hugh, our rival) wasn't all that bad. Jen led with one of our newest Pokemon- Inigo the Ralts- and he led with his Tailow. Tailow used a peck, a growl, and a focus energy, but Inigo survived and KO'd it with three confusions! Up next came Draco's starter- Snivy. Inigo got wrapped, and took some serious damage from a tackle, but managed to confuse Snivy with two confusions,and then got healed with a potion while Snivy injured itself. After that, Inigo tanked a tackle and a leer, and damaged Snivy with two more confusions, but sadly fainted to a vine whip. Jen sent out Eliza, our Riolu, and she tanked a wrap and a vine whip to hold on with just three HP and take out Snivy with a counter and two quick attacks! With that done with, it's time to go explore Floccessy Ranch and prepare for the battle with Roxanne! The team so far:

Update #1: Origin Story Well, the first fight against Jen's rival, Draco, wasn't too bad. Jen led with Raiden the Oshawott, and Draco led with his Snivy. Snivy went down to a few tackles (one of which was a critical hit), allowing Jen to continue on with her journey. On to Floccessy Ranch to get new teammates! The team so far:

Hey! It's been a while since I've done one of these, hasn't it? I've been getting a little burned out with Pokemon Reborn, so I decided to do a monotype run of another game: Pokemon Blaze Black 2! In case you didn't know, this game is a mod of Pokemon Black 2 that does three main things: 1) It modifies the Pokemon encounters so that all 649 Pokemon created at the time are available. 2) It buffs all the trainers (For example, on expert mode, Cheren has a full team and competitive-level strategies). 3) It changes certain Pokemon and moves to make them more useful (For example, Farfetch'd becomes a fighting/flying-type and gets a big buff to its attack and speed, but gets defeatist as its ability). Now, since the types of Pokemon have changed thanks to this mod, I'll be able to use more Pokemon than I would in, say, Pokemon Reborn. Here's all the Pokemon that I can use in this game that I couldn't otherwise: + Farfetch'd (Fighting/Flying) + Electivire line (Electric/Fighting) + Samurott line (Water/Fighting) + Beartic line (Ice/Fighting) I can't, however, use the Emboar line, which are now Fire/Ground-types. I've also set some ground rules for myself: * The mod adds the Hoenn Gym leaders back into the game; I have to beat each one before fighting the proper gym leader. * After beating the Elite 4, I have to go back and rematch every gym leader. After that, I have to defeat the Elite 4 again. * I cannot use legendaries on my team. The only exception to this rule is that, after defeating all 8 Hoenn gym leaders and all 8 Unova gym leaders, I may use one legendary (I've decided to use Terrakion), similar to the Redemption League. With all that over with, say hello to Jen Walters anybody get that reference no okay, our protagonist! Here's her team so far: Here's the Pokemon in Jen's PC: Here's the bosses we have to fight: As you can see, I've got my work cut out for me. Anyway, here's this run's theme song! Wish me luck! ...'cause I might need it.

Hey, um, is there any way I could have my card before the weekend ends? I'd like to challenge at least one gym leader with my new team before the end of the week. If it's an inconvenience, I could pay you guys some Rupees...

Well, I've hit a brick wall with Lilly, so I guess I'll start over. Here's my new team: I'd like it on the Chikorita card, and I'd like this picture for my trainer sprite:Yes, I spent all of 5 minutes recoloring it in Photoshop. EDIT: Also, everyone's shiny. Is that okay?

Chapter V-wheel: The Orphanage Raid That We Shall Barely Mention Because There Aren't any Major Bosses In It Boy, this update's been a long time coming, hasn't it? Anyway, when we last left off, we were going to tell Amethyst about Corey's death. Unfortunately, a certain evil green somebody got there first: Ganondorf Fern. He tells Ame to make sure that some girl named Aya is ready for him, then continues to act like a massive grasshole by callously calling Corey's suicide sort of like retiring and talking casually about how he beat a traumatized Shelly. Remind me why we didn't chuck him off the bridge when we had the chance? Anyway, he says he has a key to the wasteland, and makes us fight him to get him to tell us where he got it from. SWIG JICKEY FERN Ludicolo is deceptively powerful, as it has powerful moves like giga drain, scald, and ice beam; however,it's relatively slow outside of rain, so you can use this to your advantage by sending out faster Pokemon, such as Emolga, Meowstic, Manectric, or Jumpluff. Serperior has a physical set based around coil, so try to target it with special moves, like a flamethrower from Pyroar or an ice beam from Vanillish. I'm almost certain that Sceptile has a power herb and unburden, which it seeks to activate by using leaf storm, so try sending out a grass-resistant Pokemon (but not a fighting-weak one, as it knows drain punch too). Roserade is rather fast, in addition to having giga drain and leftovers, meaning that it can be a massive pain in the arse unless you take it out fast; it also has extrasensory and hidden power fire for coverage, but its physical defense is surprisingly low, so a good physical fire- or flying-type move (like Arcanine's fire fang or Emolgas acrobatics) can make short work of it. Finally, Fern's Ferrothorn is a lot easier than it looks, as it has a crippling 4x weakness to fire-type moves and thus can be wiped out by a single strong fire-type attack. After beating Fern, he says he got the key from Cain, who he describes as "freaky", thus adding homophobia to the list if reasons we should hate him. Before we go out and fight Cain, however, there are a few things we can do with Rock Smash: - Explore some more of the cave beneath the Grand Stairway, and get both a mining kit and a Solrock/Lunatone. - Check out the Railnet beneath the Obsidia Ward and get some new Pokemon. Don't bother looking for the key to the slums, though; Commander removed it because he deemed Scraggy too strong. If you really want it, you can revert back to regular Pokemon Reborn, but the event is unchanged. - Explore Amertine Mountain near the old power plant, and get a Smoochum by beating the Beartic (which I think is higher-leveled, but isn't really changed) and a Croagunk by showing it Corey's ring. - Investigate the cave near the graveyard in the Beryl Ward, and get a link stone, a Nidorina, and a few Nuzleaf (the Nuzleaf only appear on a windy day, and you have to fight a boss first; I'm not sure if the boss was changed from the vanilla game, so you guys will have to let me know. - This doesn't require Rock Smash, but if you joined the Magma/Aqua Gang, you can fight the leader of the opposite gang. BE WARNED: THEY'RE THE FIRST TRAINERS YOU CAN FIGHT WHO HAVE MEGAS. I'll briefly discuss them here: KYOGRE WRESTLER ARCHER So, Mightyena is fairly easy, but it has a focus sash and has moxie, so try not to let it KO any of your Pokemon, or you might be in trouble. Politoed isn't all that bad, but it is rather bulky and I'm pretty sure it knows ice beam, so bring the strongest electric-type you have. I'm actually not sure if he has Seaking or another Pokmeon (it's been a long time since I faced him), but if he does, try to use a good grass-type move against it, as it has lightning rod. Crobat should be familiar (you did fight Corey's Crobat, after all), but it has a more physical moveset, with moves like cross poison. Like last time, a steel-type will work wonders here. Mega Sharpedo hits like a truck especially with its Strong Jaw-boosted crunch, but luckily it's fairly frail, so try hitting it with special electric-type moves or priority moves. Finally, if the rain is still up, Blastoise can slowly heal itself with rain dish, but otherwise it's pretty easy. And on the other side, we have... NEERRRDDD MAXWELL Well, Mightyena and Crobat are more or less the same as Archer's, so I'll skip them for the sake of brevity. Ninetails set up the sun, and I'm fairly certain it has energy ball to deal with its weaknesses, so try to hit it hard with physical moves or paralyze it so that ground- and rock-types can outspeed it. Houndoom has thunder fang to deal with water-types, but it can't touch ground-types, so try using those. Mega Camerupt is a massive pain, as it has a wide range of very powerful attacks to whack you with; it's very slow, though, so if the sun's worn off, you can do massive damage to it with water-type moves. Finally, Charizard is a beat if the sun is up, but otherwise, it's fairly tame. Anyway, with all of that over with, it's time to go to Cain, who's at the Beryl Cemetery. He says that he doesn't like people meeting his family, but decides to let us have the key if we beat him (not like that, you pervert). Anyway, this leads to: EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE BI GUY Samurott has swords dance, and its aerial ace is boosted by the field; do not use a grass-type against it. Instead, use a speedy electric-type that can take it out before it sets up a swords dance, and if it uses dig swap out to a flying-type. Muk can use acid armor to patch up its weaker physical defense, and it knows poison jab, ice punch, and shadow sneak; try to use a steel-type like Klang or Mawile, as it can resist most of what it has to offer. Nidoking is a beast, with sheer power-boosted earth power and sludge wave, as well as superpower and ice beam. The field boosts icy wind, though, so if you have a Pokemon that knows icy wind, try using it. Otherwise, just send out a water-type. Venomoth has quiver dance, and the field boosts its silver wind, so I'd recommend taking it down fast with physical flying- or fire-type moves. Finally, Haunter is surprisingly tough for an unevolved Pokemon, as it has great speed and special attack. It doesn't have many options for dealing with steel- or dark-types, though, so one of those could be helpful. Anyway, just as Cain's about to give us the key to his heart, Heather appears and runs off, prompting him to follow even though it would have taken him all of two seconds AND WHY DIDN'T HE GIVE US THE KEY ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH (cough) Um, sorry. Anyway, on her way to her friend Shelly's house, she bumps into Dr. Sigmund, and since she's technically an orphan now, he confiscates her and starts pumping her full of electricity. This prompts Cain, Shelly, and us to orchestrate a prisionbreak (or, well, orphanage-break) and get her out. Unfortunately, despite being the biggest part of the episode, there aren't any major bosses fought during it, so I'll give you the td;lr version: with the help of the gym leader orphans mentioned in the previous post, we fight our way to Heather and save her, but she's gone catatonic and refuses to talk. Charlotte (the fire gym leader, who Cain calls asks to be his prince) says her sisters have a house in the Adventurine Region where they can lay low for a while, but we need to get Shade to activate the power plant for us. After traversing his gym and watching four people's deaths on the screens in the power plant (including Corey), he challenges us. FIFTY SHADES OF GHOST Well, I'm not gonna beat around the bush: Shade is BRUTAL. Seriously, even on my normal playthrough, it took me at least 15 tries! He leads with Rotom, and it knows discharge, shadow ball, confuse ray, and thunder wave; its shadow balls get boosted by the field, so try to bait it with an electric-weak Pokemon and swap out to something that can resist a discharge. You could also try using Aromatisse, which can set up calm mind, tank most hits thanks to its special bulk, and do massive damage with a moonblast. Golurk is surprisingly bulky, and can break the field with earthquake if Rotom fixed it, as well as hit water-types with thunder punch. The good news is that I don'tthink it can hit ice-types, so a good ice-type is invaluable here. Shade's Mega Gengar is a massive pain... and also named Corey... LIKE THAT GUY WHO DIED! and then I became skeleton and wrote this Anyway, Corey can do massive damage with shadow ball, thunderbolt, or dazzling gleam if the field is still up. It becomes grounded when it Mega Evolves, though, so it's particularly weak to ground-type moves and sucker punch; Camerupt works particularly well in this regard, as it can tank most of what Mega Gengar throws at it and KO it with an earth power. Aegislash is also a pain, what with being able to set up king's shield and priority in shadow sneak, plus brick break to hit dark types. It'll take a great deal of damage from a ground- or fire-type move, though, so try to hit it with those once it enters sword mode. Dusknoir is a nightmare, as it has shadow claw (a move it can't normally learn) and has earthquake to break the field in addition to being extremely bulky. It even has brick break to deal with dark-types, so try using a good fairy-type, which can tank most of what it has to throw. Finally, Shade's ace, Chandelure, is fairly tricky, as it has good STAB attacks in flamethrower and shadow ball, as well as energy ball and HP ELectric to hit water-types. It's got nothing for dark-types, though, so try using those. Anyway, after beating Shade, he reveals that he can talk (my personal headcanon is that he talks in Morgan Freeman's voice), and shows us the doors opening where our friends are... only for Sirius, the guy from back in the Mosswater Factory, to come out. Turns out he's working with Doctor Sigmund, and he kidnaps everybody except Cain. Goodie. I probably made a lot of mistakes in this one, so mock me mercilessly in the discussion thread!

hey uh, look, I'm not dead just very very busy with Terraria I'll try to update this more regularly. Sorry, guys.

Wow, that's cool. Also, pretty confusing.

Thanks! I'm not looking forward to Shelly, but if I can get past her I'll get access to tons of new Pokemon, so there's that to look forward to. Anyway... Update #15: You're Not My Mom, You Can't Tell Me What To Do! Well, Victoria took a try or two to get past, but all in all she could have been a lot worse. On TEH URN, Ren led with Hecate, and Victoria led with Scraggy. Scraggy set up a dragon dance, but Hecate managed to burn it with a flamethrower, causing it to only do chip damage the next turn with a payback while Hecate injured it again with a flamethrower. Victoria tried using her two super potions on it, but Hecate just continued attacking it with flamethrower. With only a sliver of health left and one shot to KO Hecate, Scraggy used... dragon dance. (facepalms) Bravo, Victoria, bravo. Needless to say, Scraggy fainted from burn damage the next turn. Victoria sent out her Poliwrath next, and Ren swapped out to Nymph, who set up a spiky shield, tanking a payback in the process, and decimated the Poliwrath with a mighty critical-hit needle arm! Up next came Victoria's ace, Emboar, to which Ren swapped out Missing Link, now a Greninja! Missing Link tanked a sucker punch and did some damage with a mighty water pulse, then outsped Emboar and KO'd it with a second water pulse! Victoria, running out of options at this point, sent out her trickiest Pokemon for me to deal with: her Gallade. Ren sent out Nymph again, and she did chip damage to Gallade by setting up a spiky shield, which Gallade hit with a brick break. Sadly, she then fainted to a single brick break the next turn, but Hecate (who came out next) was able to tank two shadow sneaks and a brick break and counter with a toxic and two slashes, taking Gallade down! All that remained was Victoria's Hariyama, to which Ren sent out Jubjub Bird. Jubjub Bird did crazy damage with a brave bird, but ended up fainting to a brick break; luckily, she paved the way for Missing Link to swoop in and end Hariyama with two water pulses while Victoria (once again proving her intelligence) ordered it to use fake out, ending the fight! Onward to Shelly! The team so far:

Chapter IV: Staircases, Doctors, and Bugs, Oh My! So, last chapter we ended on the somber note of Corey jumping to his death. So, with a good heaping dose of dead guy PTSD to go with our exploding train PTSD, what's the first thing we do? Why, go see the aftermath of where he landed! He landed in the Lapis Ward, and to get to it, we have to get through the now-unblocked Upper Obsidia Ward. Why is it unblocked now? Well, because somebody blew it up. I can feel my exploding train PTSD coming back. Anyway, head through the Ward to the Lapis Ward. Don't forget to join the Aqua Gang or the Magma Gang, as you'll get new Pokemon, a bicycle, and eventual access to Seventh Street! That's right, kids; gangs are good! I'd recommend joining the Aqua gang, as you can get both of the gang's mascots (Carvanha and Houndoom) earlier if you do, as well as Murkrow before Shelly. Eventually, you'll find a crowd of people around Corey's dead body, and eugh, that's a lot of blood. Seriously, was Corey some sort of vampire? (Actually, come to think of it, he did have a bat as his ace...) Regardless, Shade, our friendly neighborhood Eldritch Abomination, takes away Corey's dead body, leaving only a traumatized Shelly, Victoria, and us. Victoria overhears that Team Meteor blew up the staircase, and decides to check it out... only to get captured immediately. Now we have to rescue her. The good news is that Team Meteor didn't really send many grunts to fortify the staircase; there's just Aster Eclipse, and Solaris, who's a higher-up in Team Meteor. Solaris lectures us about the secret beneath Reborn City (during which he gets his colors mixed up; who knows, maybe he's colorblind) and leaves, leaving us and Victoria to deal with the next major boss: GRUNTS DO THE DIRTY WORK ASTER AND ECLIPSE Victoria's Pokemon: Solrock and Lunatone are surprisingly dangerous, as the Crystal Cave field allows them to boost their attack, special attack, and speed all at once with a single rock polish. The field also gives their rock slides an extra grass-, water-, fire-, or psychic-typing, so don't think your water-types or grass-types are safe. Overall, Dark-types are the best answer to them, so try to send out a strong dark-type that can take them out before they take you out (oh, and remember that Lunatone has weak physical bulk while Solrock has weak special bulk). Electabuzz and Magmar aren't quite as bad as they were during the factory, as they haven't changed much; just use non-contact moves (especially ground-type moves, as more ground-types are available to you now) and you'll be fine. Aster's Rhyhorn is a joke; it may be the highest-leveled Pokemon on the field, but it's still very, very easy to beat with a good water- or grass-type. Finally, Eclipse's Milotic can be a pain, as it has leftovers and aqua ring to heal back health, but just keep up the offensive and you'll do fine. With Victoria retrieved, we remember that we have a traumatized Shelly to look after and head back to check on her. She's okay, thank god, but Victoria thinks we should see a doctor about Shelly. Since there conveniently happens to be a psychiatrist in this very Ward, we head out there, only to bump into an 18-year-old on the way out. Inside, we meet the kids at the Orphanage, and we find out two things: 1) Many of them (namely Lauren, the girl we met outside; Charlotte, a girl with burn scars that may or my not exist; Anna, a little girl who looks at reality and says "nah, man, I'll make my own rules"; and Noel, the only sane kid here) are gym leaders, but the Doctor won't let them take challenges. If you didn't hate him enough already, then get a load of this: 2) HE TORTURES THE KIDS WITH ELECTRICITY AS PART OF HIS THERAPY. Despite this, he's still not the most heinous villain in the game! Anyway, before we can get more out of the kids, the Doctor (Dr. Sigmund Connal) comes in and sics an orderly on us to test us. This brings us to the next battle: MINI-BOSS ORDERLY JOHN So, Whiscash is fairly easy to take out; all you gotta do is hit it with a decently-powerful grass-type move and it'll go down hard. Eelektross is a bit of a different story; it has no weaknesses thanks to levitate, so you'll have to improvise. You could use smack down on it to make it vulnerable to ground-type moves, or you could use a bulky Pokemon to tank most of what it has. Magnezone looks scarier than it actually is; it goes down fast to ground-type moves, or fire-or fighting-type moves if you don't have a ground-type. Keckleon has Protean, so its type changes to match its attacks, and it always gets a STAB bonus; however, it's fairly slow, so you can take advantage of this by switching up your attacks to take advantage of its typing at the moment. Slowking is very bulky specially, but not very bulky physically, so a good physical dark-type move can do a number on it. Finally, Duosion's not that bad, but it does have pain split, so watch out. Anyway, we tell Victoria that taking Shelly to the crazy shocky guy probably isn't the best idea. She decides to let us fight Shelly, knowing that it's the only way to progress the plot, and so we enter the gy- GOD DAMNIT VICTORIA. Yes, apparently Victoria doesn't want us to fight Shelly- fair enough, she's been through some stuff- but how are we going to fight Team Meteor if we're stuck at Level 35?! Whatever, onward to the next major boss: OUR BELOVED SMOTHER VICTORIA Scraggy is probably the easiest Pokemon she has; it falls fast to any fairy-, flying-, or fighting-type moves, and although it can do some serious damage with a life-orb boosted high jump kick, the recoil from high jump kick is pretty much seals its fate. Poliwrath isn't too bad, either, as it's relatively frail and lacks many strong moves. Gallade is where things get tough: it has swords dance, shadow sneak for priority, psuycho cut, and brick break. The good news is that it's quite physically frail, so a good physical flying-type move can do a number on it (such as acrobatics from Emolga). Hariyama is tough too, as it has belly drum, which will max out its attack; it's slow, though, and can't set up belly drum if its health is too low, so keep that in mind and try to wail on it fast. Emboar is probably her most threatening Pokemon, as it has a monstrous 123 base attack and a generous base 110 HP; it even has coverage moves, too! Try to use a good flying-type on it, as it doesn't have any coverage moves for them. With Victoria finally allowing us to take on Shelly, it's time to... well, take on Shelly. That was really repetitive pls don't shoot me Regardless, there's something you might notice about Shelly's room in Pokemon Reborn Hardcore: it's raining. Yeah. No more lighting the field on fire; you gotta get past her the hard way. Commander, you sick psycho. YAY BEATING UP LITTLE GIRLS With fire-types out of the question and rock-types at risk due to the rain, flying-types and electric-types (for the bug/flying-types) are going to be your best friend here. Also, try to use mainly physical attackers, as the rampant use of struggle bug can make special attacks useless. Illumise can be a pain thanks to prankster moonlight/confuse ray, but overall it's the most passive Pokemon here. Masquerain is surprisingly powerful, with struggle bug, hydro pump, energy ball, and air slash to hit a wide range of Pokemon; try to take it out first if you're planning on setting stealth rock, as it's a pain. Armaldo is a freaking beast, with swift swim under the permanent rain, good STABs in rock slide and bug bite, aqua jet for what outspeeds it, and bulldoze to hit and slow down faster threats it can survive. The good news is that the rain makes it very susceptible to water-types, so you can use that to your advantage and have a bulky or faster water-type take it down with Rain-boosted STAB attacks. Heather, Shelly's Yanmega, can get very speedy very fast with speed boost, and has many attacking moves, including giga drain to hit water- and rock-types (it even has a big root to drain more HP!)! I'd recommend paralyzing it as soon as it comes out, and hitting it with electric-type moves in general. Vespiquen is surprisingly bulky, can heal with leftovers and heal order, and can do massive damage with attack order; it can't touch rock-types, though, which is a first for this battle, so if Masquerain, Armaldo, and Heather are dealt with, those guys are a good idea. Otherwise, electric-types are useful. Finally, Bugsy (Shelly's Volbeat) can hit like a truck if it sets up a tail glow, but its wimpy base 47 special attack stat is fairly underwhelming at first, so try to take it out fast before it can set up. And so, with Shelly down, we get our third badge for real this time: The Cocoon Badge! Shelly asks us to go report Corey's death to the police, and we head off to do so! So, how'd I do? Did I make a couple dozen mistakes, or did I only make about 7 mistakes? Let me know in the discussion thread!