Lord Chespin

Update #8: Floral Kerfuffle Well, the PULSE Tangrowth wasn't quite as bad as I expected. Ren led with Hecate, and ZEL led with the Tangrowth. The Tangrowth set up two growths, which (due to the sunny weather) caused its attack and special attack to skyrocket, and Hecate set up three screeches and a smokescreen before fainting to two mega drains. Ren sent out Werewolf next, and he set up a swagger, causing the Tangrowth to injure itself and do crazy damage to itself. He then followed it up with a bite, knocking it down to a sliver of health, then tanked a knock off and did insane damage with one last bite, ending the PULSE Tangrowth and saving the Obsidia Ward! With the ward saved, it's time to challenge Florina! The team so far:

Update #7: Pretty Boy vs. Pretty Treacherous Boy Well, Cain wasn't all that bad, but his Venonat did throw me for a loop. Ren led with Hecate, and he led with Grimer. Grimer set up a minimize while Hecate set up a screech, and she then tanked a shadow sneak while doing serious damage to Grimer with a slash. Grimer tried to do more damage with an acid spray and got healed by a potion from Cain, but Hecate managed to take it down with two more slashes! Up next came Cain's Dewott, and Ren sent out Oni. Oni set up a work up while Dewott set up a focus energy; Oni then tanked an air slash and did some damage with a karate chop. I realized that he wasn't going to last very long against Cewott, so I had Ren swap him out for Werewolf, who tanked an air slash and ended the Dewott with three bites, making Cain use up his last potion in the process! Oni came back out as Cain sent out his Nidorino, and Ren just as quickly swapped him out for Missing Link, who tanked a double kick and got off a round before fainting to a poison tail. Hecate came back out, and she set up a sceeech, tanked a horn attack, and ended the Nidorino with a slash! Cain then sent out his trickiest Pokemon: Venonat. Oni (who Ren sent out) was quickly swapped out to Werecat, and he did some damage with a pursuit and set up a smokescreen thanks to assist, but still fainted to two bug bites. Ren sent out Hecate next, and while she did do some damage with a slash, she still fainted to two bug bites. Luckily, Werewolf was able to take out Venonat with a bite, then took out Cain's Gastly with another bite! Onward to the PULSE Tangrowth! The team so far:

Update #6: Mike Tyson, the Dragonborn, Stallord, and Big Boss Walk into a Slum... Well, the Scraggy gang was surprisingly difficult, but Ren got through it eventually. On TEH URN, Ren led with his newest team member- Oni the Pancham- and Missing Link, and the gang led with Dragonborn and Stallord. Oni set up a work up, and Dragonborn did some damage to Dragonborn with a water pulse; Dragonborn retaliated with a brick break on Oni, and Stallord set up an iron defense. Oni managed to take out Dragonborn with a karate chop the next turn, but Stallord took him out with a drain punch; Missing Link managed to retaliate with a smokescreen. Ren sent out Hecate, and the Gang sent out Tyson. Tyson and Stallord got poisoned by a poison gas, and Missing Link did some damage to Stallord with a water pulse, confusing it and causing it to hurt itself while Tyson hit Hecate with a fire punch. Hecate and Missing Link did some damage to Tyson with a slash and a water pulse, and Stallord injured itself again while Tyson injured Hecate with another fire punch. Stallord finally went down to a slash and a water pulse, and Tyson went down to poison damage after getting off an ice punch on Hecate. All that remained was the gang's leader, Big Boss. Hecate poisoned him with a poison gas, and Missing link damaged him with a water pulse before getting confused from a swagger. Big Boss shrugged off the poison thanks to shed skin, though, and things got worse when Missing Link injured himself in confusion while Hecate missed a screech; Big Boss injured itself in confusion, though, so it wasn't all bad. Missing Link then landed a quick attack while Hecate got off a screech before fainting to a brick break. Ren sent out Werecat, and he damaged Big Boss with a fake out while Missing Link finished the fight with two quick attacks! With the fight over, it's time to meet Cain and Amaria in the Coral Ward! The team so far:

Update #5: Fighting Dirty Well, Victoria was a little tricky, but not quite as hard as I expected. Ren led with Missing Link, and she led with her Scraggy. Scraggy landed a sand attack, but luckily, Missing Link didn't miss while he spammed water pulse. Victoria tried using both of her potions, but Missing Link's aim was true, and he managed to take out Scraggy with a nonstop barrage of water pulses! Up next came Victoria's Kirlia, so Ren swapped out to Werecat. The poor Kilria only got off a single double team before Werecat ended it with two critical-hit pursuits! Victoria decided to stop messing around and sent out her ace: Pignite. Ren swapped out to Missing Link, who did crazy damage with a water pulse but took crazy damage in return from an arm thrust. Luckily, he lived, and managed to end Pignite with another water pulse. Victoria sent out her Makuhita after this, and Missing Link did some damage to it with a water pulse; sadly, he fell to a force palm immediately afterwards. Ren sent out Hecate, and she poisoned Makuhita, tanked two force palms, set up a screech, and ended it with a scratch! All that Victoria had left was her Poliwag, so Ren sent out Werecat. Werecat set up a howl thanks to assist, and Poliwag missed a hypnosis; Werecat then did a sizable amount of damage to Poliwag while it set up a rain dance. Unfortunately, he got hit with a hypnosis from Poliwag, allowing it to take him down with three bubblebeams. Luckily, the rain wore off by then, allowing Werewolf to take it down with a bite while tanking a bubblebeam! With Victoria defeated, it's time to enter the Slums! The team so far:

Update #4: Boom Shake Shake Shake the Room Well, Julia was a massive pain in the arse, but Ren somehow managed to get past her! On TEH URN, Ren led with Werewolf, and Julia led with Magnemite. Werewolf tanked a charge beam and managed to take out Magnemite with three bites, making Julia use up her first super potion and prompting her to send out her Emolga. Ren swapped out for Werecat, who managed to survive a charge beam and an acrobatics and end the Emolga with three pursuits! Julia sent out her Voltorb next, and Ren kept Werecat on the field. He then quickly healed Werecat with a super potion, allowing him to tank a sonicboom and do some damage with a pursuit while Voltorb set up a charge. Sadly, he fainted to a charge beam after getting off one last pursuit, so Ren sent out Missing Link next. Missing Link did some damage with a water pulse while Julia used up her last super potion, then tanked a sonicboom and slowly began to chip away at it with quick attacks. Unfortunately, the Voltorb then blew up, taking Missing Link with it. Undeterred, Ren sent out Hecate, and Julia sent out Chinchou. Chinchou got poisoned by a poison gas, and set up a charge. Hectae then set up a screech, tanked an electro ball, and got off a scratch before falling to a water gun. Ren sent out his final Pokemon, Werewolf, and he set up a howl while tanking a water gun before being healed by a chocolate ice cream. He then tanked a second water gun and did massive damage with a bite! Julia sent out her Heliolisk next, and Werewolf (who had become overleveled) decided to turn away while Heliolisk set up an eerie impulse. Luckily, he managed to tank a parabolic charge and fire off a bite, which did insane damage! Heliolisk then decided to use another eerie impulse, but Werewolf decided to disobey Ren again. Luckily, he managed to tank a hidden power and end Heliolisk with a bite! All that remained was Julia's Electrode. Werewolf got healed by a chocolate ice cream, tanked two sonic booms, and did insane damage with a bite. He then got healed again, allowing him to survive a sonic boom and a charge beam, and he did crazy damage with a second bite! Ren then healed him one last time, and he survived a sonic boom, a charge beam, and aftermath damage with just one HP to end the fight with a crunch! With Julia down, Ren receives his first badge: the Volt Badge! With that done with, it's time to save the Obsidia Ward! The team so far:

Updated! Sorry I took so long; I just kind of flaked out.

Update #3: Meteor Mash Well, the first Aster and Eclipse fight was a little hairy, but I managed to beat it. Ren led with Hecate, Fern led with Roselia, and Aster and Eclipse led with Magmar and Electabuzz. Poor Hecate fainted to a single shock wave, and Roselia took massive damage from an ember; it lived, though, and fired off... a growth. (sigh) Fern, you poor idiot. Anyway, Ren sent out Missing link, and while Roselia fainted to a shock wave, Missing Link managed to tank a feint attack and do crazy damage to Magmar with a water pulse! Aster and Eclipse tried healing it the next turn while Electabuzz hit both Missing Link and Fern's newly sent-out Lombre with a swift, but Missing Link managed to do more damage to Magmar with a water pulse while Lombre weakened both of Aster and Eclipse's Pokemon with a growl. Aster and Eclipse healed Magamr again, though, and while Missing Link did some damage with a quick attack and Lombre did some damage with a bubble, it lived, and Electabuzz took out Missing Link with a swift. Ren sent out Werewolf- now a Mightyena!- next, and while Lombre fainted to a shock wave and Magmar got off a clear smog, Electabuzz took some damage from a bite. Fern's Servine came out and tanked a low kick while Werewolf barely survived an ember, and Werewolf did more damage to Electabuzz with a bite while Servine finally took out Magmar with a tackle! Werewolf then tanked a fire punch and ended the Electabuzz with a bite, ending the fight! With that over with and the Mosswater Factory in ruins, it's time to fight Julia! ...Dear lord, I don't think I'm ready for her... The team so far:

Thanks! I'm just glad I'll be able to get Murkrow before Shelly; it should come in handy. Anyway... Update #2: Shove it up your Grasshole Well, Fern was surprisingly hard. Seriously, Ren had to evolve a good chunk of his team in order to take him out. Anyway, on TEH URN, Ren led with Missing Link, and he led with Lombre. Missing Link did some damage with two licks, but got his attack lowered by a growl and took some considerable damage from a bubble. I had him use two quick attacks next, and while he did do some serious damage and he managed to dodge an astonish, Fern just healed away the damage with an absorb and a potion. Missing Link then proceeded to faint to a bubble, but did at least get off one more quick attack. Ren sent out Werewolf the Poocheyna next, and he set up a howl, tanked two astonishes and a bubble, and ended the Lombre with a bite. Sadly, Werewolf fell to a vine whip, prompting Ren to send out Hecate the Stunky. she poisoned it with a poison gas and set up a screech, but got her defense lowered twice with a leer; not wanting to risk Servine OHKOing her, Ren swapped her out for Werecat the Purrloin, who dodged a wrap, but got her defense lowered by a leer and took massive damage from a vine whip; mercifully, she lived, and was able to KO it with two pursuits and poison damage! All that remained was Fern's Roselia, so Ren swapped out to Hecate again. She set up two screeches and tanked a poison sting while Roselia set up a growth, then tanked two mega drains and a poison sting before doing crazy damage with four scratches, ending both Roselia and the fight! With Fern defeated, it's time for Ren to infiltrate the Mosswater Factory! The team so far:

All day er'y day, SHIA. Thanks for the good luck! Update #1: Darkness is Coming... Well, Cain and Victoria were pretty easy. Missing Link managed to dodge one scratch and tank another, then took out Nidoran with three bubbles. Tepig was even easier; Missing Link tanked a tackle, and took it out with two buubles! With that done, it's time to get some new team members! The team so far:

Well, I know what you're thinking: "Another monotype run? But Chespin, you're doing two other monotype runs right now! Slow down!" First of all, don't question my live choices. Secondly, I have something about this run that might interest you: I'm playing it as Ren from Pokemon Rejuvenation! Besides, the whole reason I started doing Monotype runs in the first place was because I found a Dark-type monotype run for this very game on these very forums! I thought it would be a nice way of going full circle. Additionally, I will get back to the other two runs, I promise. Anyway, here's the team so far: Here's the Pokemon in Ren's PC: Here's the booses Ren has to fight so far: Here's the mascot for this run: And finally, this run's theme song- a remix of Pumpkin Hill by OC Remix! Wish me luck (even though beginner's luck quickly runs out)!

I imagine if/when the Redemption League gets made into a game, Excalibur's going to be the main villain. Also, he should have been named Soul Edge. Just sayin'.

Update #40: Battle of the Minds Well, Randomus took a couple tries, but ultimately, he wasn't as bad as he could have been. On TEH URN, Nim led with Starman and Draco, and he led with Exeggutor and Reuniclus. Starman and Draco teamed up to take out Exeggutor with a signal beam and a dark pulse, and Reuniclus did a surprisingly small amount of damage with a focus blast. Randomus sent out his Metagross, and (knowing that his Reuniclus wouldn't be able to do much, swapped it out for his Malamar; however, Starman took off a huge chunk of its health on the switch with a signal beam, only to get KO'd by a meteor mash from Metagross. Draco, meanwhile, did a small amount of damage to Metagross with a dark pulse. Nim sent out Dhalsim next, and while Malamar got healed, Dhalsim missed a high jump kick; it's 'kay, though, Draco made Metagross flinch with a dark pulse. Dhalsim then did some serious damage to Malamar with a high jump kick, and Draco did some more damage to Metagross with a dark pulse. Sadly, Dhalsim fell to a meteor mash, and Draco took serious damage from a dark pulse. Ebony decided to come out, and while Draco made Metagross flinch with a dark pulse, Ebony set up a calm mind and Malamar got healed again. Draco finally took out Metagross with a dark pulse, and Ebony OHKO'd the Malamar with a moonblast! Randomus sent out his Slowking and Reuniclus, and while Ebony and Draco almost KO'd Slowking with a moonblast/dark pulse combo, but it still survived, allowing it to set up a trick room while Reuniclus finally ended Draco with a psychic. Nim sent out Ron next, and he set up a light screen while tanking a scald and a focus blast; Ebony, meanwhile, took down Slowking with a moonblast. Randomus sent out his ace, Gossip Gardevoir, next, and it mega evolved before it promptly KO'd Ron with a psychic, Reuniclus, meanwhile, tried to take out Ebony with a psychic, but failed due to Ebony's raised special defenses. Harry came out to aid Ebony, and while Reuniclus missed a focus blast and got hit by a flamethrower, Ebony took out Gossip Gardevoir with a moonblast! Ebony then tanked a psychic and ended the fight with one last moonblast! With Randomus down, the lights go out, and Luna gets kidnapped by El. Onward to Seventh Street to save her! The team so far:

Wow, you guys sure like this! It fills me with DETERMINATION seeing your comments! Anyway, the second part's up, so tell me what you think!

Chapter II: Floral Kerfuffle Well, with your shiny new Volt Badge, you get what every child could ever want: access to a Ward overrun by homicidal plants and hecklers on the Opal Bridge. Now, without the HM for cut, there's not much you can do for now, but you can go to the Sweet Kiss Candy Shop and drown your exploding train PTSD in sugar: Now, there are three main things you're going to want to do here: 1) Get some Common Candies. With the stronger Pokemon in this mod (seriously, Florina's Cradily is over the level cap), you'll be gaining levels quite fast. 2) If, by some miraculous stroke of luck, the weather was sunny and you picked up a chocolate ice cream, give it to the boy by the vending machine and buy some ice cream (and a Vanillite, if you're into that kind of thing). Even if you didn't, I'd recommend using your MAGICAL WARLOCK POWERSTM (aka change time and date settings) to change the date to a sunny day. You will need all the healing items you can get. 3) Doing the Tile puzzle and getting a Swirlix. A fairy-type will seriously come in handy for the next two boss fights. Once you've come off your sugar high, drag your energy-deprived body over to the slum entrance, where you'll find Victoria. Despite the slums being the very obviously only way for you to go, she still refused to let you in because "MEH DANGEROUS". Which leads to the first major battle of the chapter... APPRENTICE CLINGY MOM VICTORIA Her Scraggy isn't all that bad, but it can be a bit on a pain, so Swirlix helps immensely with fairy wind here. Kirlia is quite frail, so a good poison-type or Klink can take it out easily with a sludge or a gear grind, respectively. Makuhita is bulky, but still kinda easy. Pignite is probably her most threatening Pokemon, especially if it sets up sunny day, so try to take it down fast with a psychic- or water-type. Her Poliwwag (which is exclusive to this mod) is probably the weakest Pokemon she has, but it can still do some damage with a rain-boosted bubble beam. Try using grass-types on it, as it knows mud shot for electric-types. After Victoria's eventual defeat, she reluctantly lets you enter the slums. Inside, you fight the ambiguously drugged-up hobos and one scientist studying Pokemon gangs, all while chasing mysteriously moving boxes. Eventually, you corner the source of the moving boxes (a Scraggy) and follow it to its leader: A Scrafty! This leads to the next boss fight: POKEMON GANG SCRAFTY (DOUBLE BATTLE) Anyway, the first Scraggy (Dragonborn) uses dragon dance and has intimidate; try to take him out first, as otherwise he'll get very big very, very fast. The next Scraggy, Stallord, knows toxic, drain punch, iron defense, and amnesia, and has shed skin to get rid of status conditions. It can also get kind of annoying, but it's kind of passive, and can't do much to fairy-types like Swirlix, flying-types, or even psychic-types like Swoobat. Next up is Tyson, who has bulk up and the elemental punches. He isn't too tough, but you might want to swap out your flying-types when he comes out; he also has moxie, so don't let him take out any weaker Pokemon. Finally, Big Boss (the Scrafty) has leftovers and a more balanced movepool, as well as intimidate (I think). He can take a lot of punch, but again, fairy-types can deal with him quite well. After that, you reach the Coral Ward, where you meet Amaria (who is totally not suicidal, why do you ask) and run into Cain again. After he rescues the Oshawott that Amaria was trying to save with his Grimer, he challenges you to a battle, bringing us to major battle #3: OSHAWOTT TAMER CAIN You might want to bench Swirlix for this fight, as it won't have much of an advantage. Anyway, Be wary of using a psychic-type against Cain's Grimer, as it knows shadow sneak; using a ground-type move from the Numel you can get on a rainy day may be a safer choice. Cain's ace, Nidorino, isn't too bad, as it has hustle, but try not to let it set up a focus energy, or else you might be in trouble. Cain's... Dewott... (seriously, did he force-feed it several rare candies before he challenged you?!) isn't too bad, but I think it knows fury cutter to cover its weakness to grass-types, so try using an electric-type, like Tynamo or Blitzle. Cain's Venonat is a pushover; any decent fire-type will be able to take it down. His Gastly, however, is a different story; it's fast and stronger than it looks. It's pretty frail, though, and has a nasty habit of using curse, so a good normal-type with dark-type moves can handle it pretty well. With that done, we finally get the HM for cut, letting us access a bigger chunk of the Obsidia Ward. Try to get a good fire-type before you do this next battle; trust me, you'll need it. I'd recommend the aforementioned Numel, or (if you're a LAZY_SHITTM), the Litleo that you get after the Klinklang battle. Anyway, after entering the park, Amaria and Florina get tangled up in vines, and we meet our next foe... MENTAL THREESOME ZEL So, this should be your first encounter with the PULSE Pokemon. If you're not familiar with them, they're essentially fan-made Mega Evolutions. The lack of a field is a bit of a double-edged sword; no field means no buff to Tangrowth's moves, but it also means no field to light on fire to damage the Tangrowth (you sick arsonist >:c). It's only one Pokemon, though, so don't get too worried. I'd recommend softening it up specially with a few acid sprays from a Trubbish or a Grimer, then a special fire-type move from your starter, Numel, or Litleo. With the Tangrowth down, some conveniently-placed vines move away letting you access the next gym. Unfortunately, because Fern is a SCRUBLORD_EXTRAORDINAIRETM, he slams the door in our face and makes us fight our way through the whole school. After making our way to Fern, he challenges us, leading to battle #5: SWEG JECKEY FERN Fern's Ludicolo is kind of tough, but a good flying-type can withstand everything it throws at you and take it down with flying-type STAB moves. Grovyle (which, again, is new to this mod) has unburden and a normal gem, giving it crazy speed after a quick attack; try to send out a bulky Pokemon that can withstand a quick attack and a STAB grass attack, like Klink. Ferroseed's a lot less scary than it looks, as you can just take it down with a single fire-type move. Servine will try to set up growths, but it doesn't actually have contrary this once, so you can use stat-lowering moves on it. Finally, Roselia's kind of a pushover, compared to to the rest of his team, at least. Just use fire-, flying-, or psychic-type moves, and you'll be fine. With Fern down, he decides to take on the gym challenge. Good luck with that, scrub. Anyway, now nothing's stopping us from taking on... DEFINITELY NOT A ROBOT FLOBOT Now, Cacturne is a bit of a pain to hit thanks to sand veil, but it's kind of frail. Basically, don't let it set up spikes, and you'll be fine. Grotle can set up stealth rocks, but it can't really do much to a flying-type, which can levitate over sand tomb and tank a seed bomb. Tropius is a royal pain in the arse thanks to its wombo combo of harvest + sitrus berry. It can even set up dragon dance and use fly and leaf blade, meaning it's not complete setup fodder. However, a good ol' Klink can resist everything it has to throw at you, and hit back with a gear grind. Try poisoning it, too; that way the constant healing will be slightly reset. Gougeist can cripple physical attackers with a will-o-wisp, and I think it knows sand tomb to hit fire-types. There's not much it can do to flying-type, though. Breloom can be a nightmare if you don't take it out fast, as it has poison heal, a toxic orb, and drain punch. A good flying-type can take it out fast, though. Finally, her ace, Cradily, is the first Pokemon in the mod to be above the level cap. It can boost its offenses and physical defenses with curse, do chip damage and boost its special defense with sandstorm, heal itself with giga drain, or do damage with rock slide. A good fighting type, like Makuhita or Pancham, is your best friend here. If you don't have one, try using special moves, and for the love of god don't use a flying- or fire-type. Anyway, with Florina defeated, we get the canopy badge and the TM for nature power! And so, with a request to check out the Jasper and Beryl Wards, we end Chapter II! As always, be sure to discuss this in the discussion thread!

So, if you didn't know (although why wouldn't you, unless you came here first), this is the discussion thread for my walkthrough of Pokemon Reborn Hardcore, which you can find here. Did I do a good job? Do I need to go into better detail? Just let me know here! NEXT UPDATE: Whenever I feel like it. And yes, I'll read all your comments. I am a merciful god.

So, I just looked at DespairSyndrome's guide to Pokemon Reborn (it's brilliant, by the way; go look at it, you can find it here), and I realized: Nobody's made a guide for Pokemon Reborn Hardcore! I figured that since I kind of popularized doing challenge runs of Hardcore, I might as well be the one to make a guide for it. So, first things first: you'll need the game first. You can find it here. Got it? No? Well, I'm not typing it again, so tough. Secondly, this guide is only for the battles; if I did every little single detail, it would be redundant thanks to Chubb and DespairSyndrome's work. If there's a major difference between Hardcore and the Vanilla version, I'll be sure to mention it. Third, I remember most of the Pokemon from my playthroughs of the game, but I don't remember the levels or the specific movesets. I'll try to let you know if there's a major move that you should watch out for, but mostly, you'll just have to prepare based on the Pokemon alone. Fourth, there will be SPOILERS. If you want to play Hardcore and not get the battles spoiled, well, go play it first. Fifth and finally ​(yay alliteration), try not to post on this thread. I'll make a discussion thread for it, which you can find here. Anyway, on we go! Chapter I: Boom, Shake Shake Shake the Room So, you got a shiny brand new ticket to the Reborn Region. It's the only shiny thing about this region, though; I mean, seriously, this place is grimy. For crying out loud, there are freaking blown-up buildings all over the Peridot Ward! Speaking of blown-up, your train blew up. With you on it. Don't worry, though; you survived. You have plot armor. Anyway, With the train in smoldering ruins, you head on out the the Opal Ward. Also, talk to this lady for a free potion. Trust me, you're gonna need it. Anyway, we got the starters. This part is unchanged from the normal game. You can pick any starter you want: Well, actually, you might want to hold off on picking up these guys right away: You can get them all later, as part of a one-time event. Also, I wouldn't pick up Chikorita. Chikorita stinks. RIP Chikorita. Anyway, now we have our first fight: Pretty Boy (I can't type that with a straight face...) Cain Well, this fight is pretty easy. It's mostly unchanged from the vanilla game, except I think his Nidoran always has hustle. Just play your cards right and you'll do fine. Next up comes... Apprentice (to Donald Trump) Victoria Now, this is where the difficulty of this mod starts to set in. Victoria's Tepig is a whole level higher than it normally is. Yeah, real scary, I know, but hey, it's tough for this point in the game. You might want to use that potion you picked up earlier, as Tepig hits rather hard. Anyway, after that, you'll notice the second new thing about this game: to the left of the Grand Hall, there's two new item balls next to Techie Johnathan. They contain an EXP Share and a Lucky Egg, so I'd highly recommend you pick them up as soon as possible. However, you have to be very, very careful not to enter Techie Johnathan's line of view. Why? HE HAS A MEGA RAYQUAZA. No, I'm not joking. He actually has one. It's a reference to a bug where he had one during Episode 14, but still. Be careful; we'll come back to it later. Anyway, the Peridot Ward's the same as always, aside from the higher trainer levels. Keep going and we'll meet our next major battle: SWAG JOCKEY FERN Now, this is where the game really gets hard. If you haven't noticed, all of his Pokemon have evolved at least once.Their levels are also much higher. Fortunately, there's still only three of them, but they can take you to 'Frisco town if you're not careful. Their movepools aren't all that good, though (Roselia only has poison sting as a poison STAB, for example), so if you have several Pokemon that are strong against grass-types (personally, I recommend Kricketune, as fury cutter wreck house), you should be relatively fine. Anyway, stuff happens, we find out Team Meteor's planning to blow up the gym, and we go to their base to blow them up first. We're stuck with Fern, but hey, at least we get to use his tougher Pokemon for us for once. Anyway, once we get to their inner sanctum (don't forget the rare candy and hidden ability capsule outside, though), we find the third-in-command of Team Meteor: Sirius. He takes on Julia and Florina, leaving his flunkies- Aster and Eclipse- to us. TEAM METEOR GRUNTS ASTER AND ECLIPSE (DOUBLE BATTLE) So, Aster and Eclipse, in case you haven't noticed, don't mess around either. Seriously, considering how often they show up and how strong they are, I'm surprised they haven't gotten promoted. Anyway, both of their Pokemon are Lv. 20, so you're probably going to be needing your whole team to take them down. I'd recommend taking out Magmar first, since Fern can't really do anything against it, but be careful of Electabuzz, since it knows fire punch, which also wreaks havoc on Fern's team. Anyway, after defeating the two of them, Sirius runs away, and Julia lights the place up with her boomies. With the base in ruins (hope you got that rare candy and that ability capsule), it's time to challenge... CHEER CAPTAIN HYPERACTIVE LUNATIC JULIA Now, if you thought Fern and Aster/Eclipse were bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet. First things first; if you started with a fire-type or a Mudkip, you should be fine against Magnemite (although be wary of its air balloon). Otherwise, you might want to pick up a Pansear from the rainy day event (if you need to grind it up to speed, I'd recommend going to the northernmost alley, giving it the lucky egg, and fighting the random encounters). Hardcore Julia's Emolga, meanwhile, is a lot tougher than regular Julia's Emolga, as it has no item, meaning it can fire off mighty acrobatics with no drawback. If you caught a Trubbish, now might be a good time to send it out and have it use toxic spikes. Her Voltorb is what you'd expect: it blows up. Funnily enough, it blowing up might be the best thing it could do, as if it sets up several charge beams, you're toast. Try sending out a weak Pokemon or death fodder for this guy. Her Chinchou's holding Eviolite, so it's probably a good idea to steal it if you have an Espurr that knows covet. Otherwise, Grass-types work well here, and make sure to heal your Pokemon if it paralyzes them, as otherwise its electro balls will get stronger. Her Heliolisk (yes, you read that right) is probably one of the hardest Pokemon to handle at this point in the game, and it's not even running an offensive set (it runs a bulky set with rain dance, parabolic charge, HP grass, and eerie impulse)! Try using fire-type moves before it sets up rain dance, and if it does set up rain dance, try poisoning it if you haven't already. As tempting as it may be, don't use water-type moves on it, as it has dry skin and will heal itself instead of take damage. Finally, her ace, Electrode, is pretty much just Voltorb, only it doesn't explode anymore. It has a meh physical defense, so try using priority moves on it, like quick attack. Anyway, with Julia down, you get the Volt Badge and the TM for Charge Beam! And with that, Chapter I comes to a close! Did I do a good job? Do I need to go more in depth? DID I WIN THE COOKIE?! Let me know in the discussion!

Y'know, for somebody named DespairSyndrome, you're really, really freaking funny. Seriously, your guide made my day.

Update #39: Puny God Well, I beat El with barely any effort. Seriously, it didn't even take me a minute (exactly 57 seconds; I counted). Anyway, I led with Ron, and El led with the pseudo-Arceus. The Ron set up dual screens and a misty terrain, but was eventually taken out by three shadow balls. I sent out Dhalsim next, and he tanked a judgement to instantly OHKO the Arceus with a high jump kick! With El down, it's time to finally fight Randomus! The team so far:

Well, I don't really know why. I guess it's because the challenges really help the game's replayability. Also, I'm not sure if you know, but you can get a Exp Share before the second gym in Rejuvenation. I'll PM you if you want to know. Anyway... Update #38: Cain's Last Stand Well, Cain took a couple tries to get past that Gengar, but he wasn't too bad. On TEH URN, Nim led with Dhalsim, and he led with his Zoroark (disguised as his Nidoking). Dhalsim tanked an extrasensory and did insane damage with a high jump kick, only failing to KO it because of its focus sash. Cain tried healing it with a moomoo milk, but Dhalsim just took it out with a second high jump kick. Up next came Cain's dreaded Gengar, so Nim sent out Ron. Ron set up a light screen, but got stuck with Gengar's choice specs thanks to trick, so Nim swapped him out for Dhalsim. Dhalsim got off a bullet punch, but fainted to a psychic and a shadow ball, prompting Nim to send out Harry. He tanked a ppsychic ad took out the Gengar with a psyshock, then took out Cain's Mega Beedrill with a second psyshock! Cain decided to stop messing around and sent out his ace: Nidoking; Nim, meanwhile, swapped out to Shepherd. Shepherd tanked a sludge wave and did massive damage with a hydro pump, leaving Nidoking with only a sliver of health! Cain tried to heal it, but it just went down to another hydro pump! Up next came Cain's Samurott, so Nim sent out Hermonie, and she tanked a superpower to set up a calm mind. She then did some damage with a charge beam, but took crazy damage from a waterfall, missed a second charge beam, and fell to another waterfall. Luckily, Shepherd was able to come out and take it down with a psychic, leading to Cain sending out his last Pokemon: Muk. Shepherd did massive damage to it with a psychic, and it tried to fight back with a dig; Shepherd just healed his health back with a recover, though, tanking the dig and ending the Muk with a psychic! With Muk down, Gardevoir gets kidnapped, so I guess we better save her from El! The team so far:

Update #37: Sweg Jackey Well, Fern wasn't too bad, although it took me a second try to not get decimated by his Krookodile. On TEH URN, Nim led with Elsa, and he led with Ludicolo. Ludicolo fell asleep to a lovely kiss, and Elsa proceeded to set up a nasty plot and do some damage with a blizzard before the Ludicolo woke up and did crazy damage with a giga drain. Fortunately, she was able to fire off a psychic, taking it down! Up next came Fern's Scizor, and Nim sent out Harry. He tanked a bullet punch and took it down with a single flamethrower, so Fern sent out his Krookodile. Dhalsim came out next, and he managed to tank a crunch with just 14 HP left and took out Krookodile with a mighty high jump kick! Fern decided to stop messing around and sent out his Serperior, so Nim sent out Ron, who tanked a giga drain and a leaf storm to set up dual screens; sadly, he fainted to a second leaf storm. Harry came back out, and miraculously, Serperior missed a leaf storm, allowing him to KO it with a flamethrower! Fern sent out his Mega Sceptile next, and Nim sent out Ebony. Amazingly, Sceptile only used focus blast, which did minimal damage and let Ebony OHKO it with a moonblast! All that remained was Fern's Roserade, which only got off a single hidden power before Harry took it down with a flamethrower! With Fern down, it's time to explore Route 1! ..If I'm not back in two days, send help. The team so far:

Update #36: Abnormal Well, Noel was a right pain in the arse, but Nim beat him eventually. On TEH URN, Nim led with Ron, and he led with Cinccino. Cinccino missed a rock blast while Ron set up dual screens, and then Ron tanked a hidden power, a tail slap, and a bullet seed to do some damage with a psychic and alter the terrain with a misty terrain. Nim then swapped him out for Ebony, who tanked a rock blast and a bullet seed to take it down with a moonblast! Up next came his Pyroar, and Nim sent out Shepherd. Rather than take out Shepherd with a hyper voice or dark pulse, Pyroar decided to use hidden power, which allowed Shepherd to KO it with a hydro pump! After this, Noel decided to send out his most problematic Pokemon for me to deal with: his powerful Staraptor. Nim sent out Harry, and he tanked a double-edge to do some damage with a flamethrower. Noel then healed Staraptor with an ultra potion, allowing Harry to burn it with a will-o-wisp. Staraptor quickly pivoted out to Porygon-Z with a u-turn, but Harry just KO'd the Porygon-Z with a flamethrower; unfortunately, when Staraptor came out, Harry fainted to a brave bird before he could finish what he started. This was compounded by the fact that Shepherd and Dhalsim both fainted to a single hit from Staraptor. The tide started to turn in Nim's favor when Hermonie came out, however, as she set up a calm mind, tanked a close combat, and did serious damage with two charge beams; this not only took out Staraptor and made Noel use up his last ultra potion, but gave Hermonie a +4 stat boost thanks to simple! Noel sent out his Mega Lopunny next, but the poor thing fell to a single psychic before it could attack. All that remained was Noel's ace, Clefable, but the poor thing only got off a moonblast before fainting to two psychics! With Noel defeated, it's time to head out to Route 1! The team so far:

I'm sorry to hear you were sick, but I'm glad to hear you're feeling better! Don't worry about Elsa and Hermonie; they'll make their returns. I guess Ebony's your typical Mary Sue: she squeezes her way into the established characters and slowly pushes them out of the spotlight. I'll try to keep her in check, though.

Update #35: Teleport Spam Well, like the Steelix, the Abra wasn't all that bad. Nim led with Shepherd, and I thought I was being smart by using a reflect type on it, allowing Shepherd to tank an energy ball; unfortunately, I was too clever by half, causing it to KO me with a dark pulse. Nim sent out Harry next, but he fell to a single dark pulse, so she sent out Ron to avenge him. Ron tanked a psychic and a shock wave, then set up dual screens and did chip damage with a psychic before falling to a second psychic. Dhalsim came out next, and while he tanked an energy ball he fired off a high jump kick, doing massive damage! He then fainted to a second energy ball, but not before he got off a bullet punch. Nim sent out Starman next, and he managed to tank an energy ball and end it with a signal beam! With that thing down, we can finally challenge Noel for real this time! The team so far:

Update #34: Gargantuan Problems Well, the Pokemon Gargantuan (AKA Mega Steelix) was a little hard, but Nim got past it on her first try. Nim led with Shepherd, but he missed a hydro pump and fell to an earthquake. Dhalsim came out next, and did significant damage with a high jump kick; sadly, he fainted to a stone edge immediately afterwards. Nim then sent out Harry, and he managed to do some serious damage with a flamethrower, but fell to a stone edge. Fortunately, this left the Steelix so weak that Starman was able to take it out with a mighty earth power! Onward to the PULSE Abra! The team so far: