Jess

I could suggest something like what I suggested to @Satoshi a few days ago. A very hard and very challenging one. I call it the "Full Handicap run". You can catch any pokemon and use any Pokemon as long as, in the battles vs Gym leaders and trainers that specialise in one type, you use a team that consists only of mons whose type is weak against the opponent's main type. For example, you fight Julia. She specialises in Electric ones. So, you can use any pokemon you want, as long as they have Water or Flying typings. So, you can use any Flying type and any Water type, regardless of their second typing (if they have one). For Shelly, you will have to defeat her using Psychic, Dark and Grass types. Similar with non-Gym leaders that specialise on one type (like Fern (Grass)/Cain (Poison)). For trainers like Sirius, ZEL, or all casual trainers, you can use any team you want! It is quite hard, and might become tedious to grind your pokemon (since you'll need A LOT), but it is sooo rewarding! I think I will do one, as soon as I finish the runs I've got higher on my priority list PS: If you want something easier, you can always do a Monorun, or find a character from some anime you like and think what kind of pokemon he/she would train, the do a theme run (maybe with some roleplaying/fanfiction in it too). You can also ask from the people who do spriting for a custom sprite pack

Also, we meet Fern at Grand Hall when he already has the key to Byxbysion Wasteland right after defeating Shelly. Fern has just defeated Aya when we get to the Gym. In the meanwhile we raided Blacksteam Factory with Amaria (defeated ZEL), crossed Azurine lake on her yacht, attended a lecture by Kiki at Apophyll Academy, ,climbed Pyrous Mountain, defeated Cal, Victoria, Kiki, explored Azurine island, fought Aster/Eclipse, then Taka, saved Cain, returned to Apophyll Academy, climbed Pyrous mountain again, fought Garchomp (Solaris), got back to Coral Ward, fought Cain again, travelled through Byxbysion and got to Aya's Gym. So, either Fern got ROYALLY lost in Byxbysion (abducted by Misdreavus, then by Mr. Bigglesworth and then by the Squirtle which resides at some part there), or we are just walking at the speed of light. Some time balancing issues in this game are indeed WAY too obvious. The Titania waiting one on the pic you attach is just another one of those cases... Great job overall! @Orasha These 3 consecutive double battles gave me hell in my Bug monotype. I'm glad to see you handled them better than I did! Well, the first and second (Fern/Blake) were nothing, but Orderly John/Solaris is quite challenging... Good luck for Ciel!

I do... I tend to make it too hard on myself, LOL I can always cheese Garchomp and defeat it easily, but wanted to try and defeat it without stuff like Counter/Metal Burst/Destiny Bond this time... But if I see it is too troublesome, I'll just unleash my beast.

I'd love to, since I have Intimidate on Arbok too. And I could Intimidate it till it's weak enough to take down. Where can I catch Qwilfish? Edit: I think Qwilfish isn't available till later in the game....

@RedAlert Wow, that Nidoqueen is amazing! Toxic Spikes setter? Yep Now gotta see how on earth I will defeat Solaris!

Ohhh, I forgot about that!xD Will go find it. I want a shiny one too, so it'll take a while! I will also go get Corey's Nidorina. I fancy a Nidoqueen! Yes, Nidorino learns Poison Jab at 43... So, I will evolve him when he gets to 43. At 43 Nidoking learns also Earth Power. So, Nidorino will turn from a weakling into a beast in like 5 seconds. I got Ninja'ed by Amine! xD Yes, I didn't want to wait till Aya gives me Sludge Wave for Nidoking to get a proper Poison type Attack... This battle felt unexpectedly easy. This run feels unexpectedly easy so far as well! Maybe because I've done it with a much worse typing (Bug), so Poison, the second best defensive typing of the game, makes it feel like it's piece of cake. Only Florinia, Orderly John and Victoria took a second try for me to defeat! And I've just defeated Kiki now...

Yes, Magnemite line is easily countered with Fire attacks, which my Skuntanks have, Fighting attacks, which my Nidorino had, but was too weak to retaliate, or Mud Bombs by Grimer/Arbok. I had almost none of them in my squad at that moment, so, RIP me.

I think so, yes! Glad you keep following the progress! Honestly, this run feels so easy compared to the Bug Monotype. Thank you @LykosHand! Yes, indeed. At least Shield Dust of my Dustox stopped the Struggle Bug from crippling my Sp. Attack down, so it put some good work before fainting! And yes, my jellyfish is too proud to admit defeat! xD

The disadvantage of having only Pokemons that are slow as hell left, while having to face a counter. I'm advancing at the moment WAAAAY faster than the pace in which I can update my run. I just defeated Kiki...

Yes, Tentacruel rocks. I defeated Shelly quite easily, stalled out the rain without an issue, took advantage of it with Tentacruel, then directly set her field on fire with Skuntank. Everything went according to plan! Also, fuck that Kirlia and his Psychic... And fuck Orderly John and his Mirror Shots... xD

You could replace Endeavor with Metal Burst on Aggron. It's better to OHKO an enemy that you know for sure that is going to use a4x effective move on you, than get him to 1 HP with Endeavor. Plus, Aggron will outspeed nothing, so after getting the enemy down to 1HP, it is done for. Also on Aggron, replace Iron Tail with Rock Slide. You have Heavy Slam, you don't need Iron Tail too. Also, Greninja could make better use of Dark Pulse instead of Night Slash and Grass Knot instead of Water Shuriken. This way, you'd be able to OHKO troublesome mons (ahem, looking at you, Whiscash...) Swampert could really use Rock Slide and Hammer Arm too. You don't need to Surf/Dive anymore at this point, so keep only Waterfall and use Heart Scales to relearn the other 2 moves fromAgate Circus' move relearner. Same with Charizard. 3 Fire attacks... Replace Inferno which is unreliable as hell with a Flying type move (preferably Air Slash). Same with Haxorus. 3 Dragon type attacks. Give it Iron Tail and Bulldoze/Brick Break and of course Dragon Dance. It's a Physical attacker, Dragon Pulse will be very weak. Replace Ampharos' Thunder for Cotton Guard, and set up to tank Physical Attacks like a champ too. You don't need Thunder, 70% accuracy is too bad to be honest and Discharge works better in Double Battles. That's a few things that come to mind on first sight

Be careful though, because most sites delete pics on their own after some time... That's why I prefer recording my run

Pics are uploaded on imgur, then the link is posted (hence using zero space from the attachment max. available space). However, the pic appears normally

CHAPTER 5: Gym Leaders are easy... What about the others though?! Ah... A great start for a new installment. Grimdark scenery at its finest, Corey is quite dead and the Grand Staircase got blown up. Magnificent. We head to Lapis Ward, explore around and do stuff... By the way, does anyone know how the fucking brain of people in Lapis Ward works? They are shocked by witnessing a live suicide. "Oh God, I'm shocked, I will battle you!". How on Earth this makes ANY sense? Whatever though, I like destroying snotty rich people, so I do so. And then I see Victoriaa consoling Shelly out of the latter's Gym. Shade picks up Corey's body (and the blood stains as well, Shade must've been a cleaner in some previous life of his), Aster derps, Eclipse gets mad, and we keep consoling Shelly! Oh, by the way, we get our Growlithe, breed it and offer an egg to the police officer who lost his! So, we claim the Mystery Egg. Which means that now, we can use Charybdis, my Tentacool, since it is possible to get Tentacool by the Mystery Egg too! (I think mine is a Frillish, but I don't really care xD). I also discovered a couple more shiny Poison in my other save files. A Venonat and a Foongus. I trained up Venonat, EV and level and now it is a shiny Venomoth with a perfectly useless moveset! But I can't use Foongus till I get to Azurine Island... Anyways, I introduce them to you! Anyways, here are our (boring) adventures of exploring the Lapis Ward! After the boring stuff, the interesting stuff started! But then Victoria derps and wants to check out Meteor business at Grand Staircase. You know the drill. Abducted, We save her, blah blah... Then we return to Lapis Ward Gym, but Victoria now sends us to find a Psychiatrist to help Shelly, who suffers from PTSD. We go to the Orphanage/Psychiatric Clinic/Electricity provider of Reborn and meet Anna, Noel and Charlotte! And (sadly) Dr. Sigmund Connal, who sends Orderly John to test our skills, before denying us Gym battles with his patients. Back to Shelly's Gym it is, and I start to look like a tennis ball, bouncing back and forth like an idiot (thanks to Victoria, ahem...). Shelly becomes again fully functional thanks to Anna's advice (thank fuck the Lord) and Victoria once again "tries" to prevent us from doing what we have to! She succeeds? Or fails? Well, watch the video! VS NEW WORLD ORDERLY JOHN/VICTORIA (watch them both, you'll be entertained xD) Oh, you are back? My viewers already watched it? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT MORE?! Fuck off, I can't be a$$ed right now, I'm too busy with being all curled up in a corner (the specific one where Corey died) and crying, give me a break.... Ahem, so, let's try this again, Vicky... Please, mercy!!! VS VICTORIA (TAKE #2) Victory vs Victoria! Christ, this must've been the toughest fight of the history of mankind. Combined with the humiliation by Orderly John. Yeah. Not my day! But anyways, after all this degradation by random ass trainers and rivals, all that separated me from my third badge was Shelly! And the abominable library puzzle (and some random Bug trainers, but they were relatively easy to defeat). I swear I'd prefer to STUDY all of those books that do this puzzle on my own. But I did it, on my own, for the first time! Good job Jess Venam! (By the way, A LOT of grinding and EV training took place before fighting Shelly. I had enough humiliation, I want revenge from this game, and I want it now!) So, Shelly, here we come... GOT MY LEAF STONE TOO! Weepinbell is sooooo becoming a Victreebel, as soon as she learns Razor Leaf! But without further ado... VS SHELLY The team I used vs Shelly was: I won't torture you any longer with my babbling! Enjoy the battle! Also, feel free to hate this horrid puzzle... So, we got our third badge (the Cocoon badge), level cap up to 40 (probably, as Shelly says), and TM for Struggle Bug! And now, we gotta head back to Grand Hall and inform Ame about Corey's suicide, to face (eventually, at some point, in the -not so near- future) the Poison reserve leader... But this will happen in the next chapter of this pooooiiiiisonous run! Till then, enjoy everyone!

Sometimes the odds are against you, other times they are in your favour. But I swear that couple days ago I yelled "Can I stop getting critical hit by EVERYTHING?"

If you use Flame Burst in Corrosive Mist Field, then the Mist explodes (similarly to how Flame Burst sets Grassy Terrain on fire), KO'ing all pokemon that are on field. I knew Skuntank would be a pain, so I traded Stunky for Skuntank. What happens is that Stunky first tanks Incinerate/Acid Spray (1st and 2nd video respectively), and then loses all its remaining HP to the Mist explosion caused by the Flame Burst. And so does Skuntank too. In "noob" fight I needed 2 parahax turns versus Crobat, because I wasted turns (and team members) trying to outspeed it without Glare, like an idiot. So, in my eyes, this was a huge misplay. Well, it is just luck. Minimize works wonders sometimes, but does nothing others. +6 in Evasion (3 Minimizes) means that attacks of the enemy have their accuracy multiplied by 33% (1/3). So, Bubble practically becomes Fissure xD. It is unlikely to hit, but 1/3 will hit. That's why evasiveness is removed from competitive battling, because it adds luck to a great degree. Also, the all-stat boost has a chance of 10% happening. So, 1/10 Silver Winds averagely will give you a boost. PP is 5. So, 0.5/5 will give you a boost. Chances are in favour of it NOT happening, but sometimes it does. (well, it happened yesterday in one of my next Gym battles weirdly! Stay tuned to find out... ) On a different note, I was trying so hard to get a fucking +1 in all stats with Silver Wind in both battles vs Corey and got 0/9 tries. I guess the 1 would be the tenth. Or not. Cause statistics is fair xD *nods* That's what we are hooked into though...

Dear @Cool Girl, I don't personally know you, but I've heard great words about you from people I know in here. So, I'll just talk based on my own life experiences. Big revelations might come, so, anyone not interested can skip my post... I know what it feels like. My father's father (aka grandpa) never liked me. And I really wanted him to like me. My father was the fourth child of his family and he was kinda cut off from them. But I wanted his parents to like me. And then, he died. And I never got to get his approval, a proof he liked me. Since my other grandpa died when I was 3, the next day of my birthday, I haven't actually felt how it is to have a grandpa. And I had lost my confidence that I can make someone appreciate me. Same when I broke up from my first long-term relationship after highschool. It is not bad to bury things that hurt you. Bury them deep, don't talk about them, and the time will come when you'll be able to face them. Going through it again is painful, but it makes the next time less painful. Nobody will rush you into things. And if they do, frankly, toss a ripe tomato in their face I won a scholarship for a PhD abroad (England) last year. Went there, was getting 1500 pounds per month and got a depression. The reasons are too long, but I quit. And felt like I'm failing my parents, my life, everything. I got a PhD in Athens now. I don't know if I will succeed. I don't know anything. But I keep trying. Just day by day. Never look too far, just aim for every day to accomplish a tiny thing. Then, at the end of the day, when at bed, think about it. As hard as you can. Till it fills you. Till this tiny success becomes you. The next day, do same. Then, in a year, look back. See what all those tiny successes accumulated themselves into. Keep doing this. Live. For yourself, and for all of us who are silently suffering or have suffered the same. Motivate yourself! College. You "have to go". But, as you go, you can have an ice cream cone! The nice one, from the machine, pull the handle, pour the cream, get a brainfreeze! Do something similar every day. Wake up early and have a shower. Or a long bath. Soak in. Empty your head. Mine is half-empty all the time, so I skip this part. But when I feel as a failure I think that, I'm already a failure... As bad as it can be, right? So, no pressure! If I fail again, no biggie. If I don't, wow! An unexpected success. Like when Greece won European Championship at football on 2004! I feel anger, despair and sadness a lot sometimes. Hell, I'd be Junko Enoshima's IRL clone sometimes. So, what I do? Punch things! Punch a pillow. Knock it at bed. Perform every WWE Smackdown move you know on it. Till you laugh. Then think of your favourite food and cook it yourself! See, it tastes good. Thing when you feel like this is that you can't actually "feel". I know what it is like, it isn't actually pain or sadness, it's numbness. So, you need to counter it, by feeling stuff. I'm not an expert, I just state stuff I do. This was true for me for about half my school years because of bullying. Really bad one. To the point of getting your face glued on a wall for the entire duration of breaks between classes. And, sometimes, nightmares hit me. Have a small light as you sleep at a socket near you. I still have a Nestle blue bear shaped one that I plug in. When I jump up, it's the first thing I see. And I talk to it sometimes. Yes, I am weird, yes, I am 26 years old, but I know I'm messed up and immature sometimes. And if my immaturity helps me stay sane, I will remain immature till my last breath! Finally, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn't want to play smart. But I am not the person who will just console the other and say how sorry I feel. Because: 1) It doesn't help. Advice is important, sharing our pains is, just stating how sorry we are changes nothing, even though compassion is nice to feel. 2) There is nothing to feel sorry about, when I read your letter. You will emerge victorious and much stronger, because you will embrace it and it will forge your soul. You know, the way that the Sword of Gryffindor only absorbed stuff that made it stronger. Your hardships are the Basilisc's blood. And you'll eventually be able to use them to destroy your own fears. I make no sense, I know, but I hope you will remember this in a few years and smile, because it will have become reality. Apologies for the long, tiring letter. and my nerdy and awkward references to movies, sports or my life. Best wishes, Jess

You're welcome! And yes, exactly what @Awesome_One said. Never do something you don't find amusing just because someone else finds it fun. And don't worry, be happy

Don't apologise, it is perfectly understandable. I would've commented, but with the overload of new runs, my run and my work, I didn't have enough time lately... Do it for yourself if you enjoy it, it is equally good As far as I helped you have fun with at least a couple of my ideas, I'm happy too! Honestly, new runs are just popping up every day on the forums now. When I started my Bug mono, the only active one was @Gentleman Jaggi's Ground mono and maybe one more. All the others were finished. And then, POOF! xD

you picked the most errrr.... promiscuous name! xD I am happy anyways!

@Revan As always, great job! By the way, when you're on pm me to send you my shiny Electrike. It also has Flame Burst, so it will be helpful to you soon!

Awwww, this is sad... I loved the idea, and really wanted to see it in action... First @Awesome_One puts his monos on hiatus, then the country run gets cancelled... But do what pleases you guys! After all, it's about you having fun first and foremost!

I think it will depend on the Vivillon pattern into which it will evolve... Can't find something befitting otherwise... Edit: @FactoryofSadness Regardless, since it is Male, you can name it Monarch, or Emperor, or Satyr, for some of the rarest butterfly species that exist nowadays. Edit #2: If you don't use it, I'm unfollowing you

@RedAlert Wow, good job! I didn't think you'd defeat Corey THAT easily! Good strategy to take advantage of weak Skrelp and setup Growths! Also, I had no idea that Sucker Punch connects when an enemy is asleep. I guess it only has to do with the move it selects to use, regardless of whether it manages to use it! Learn something every day! Congrats for your badge oh, wait a second and keep going!

Yes, I noticed those issues too... For some reason they make you starve for money, and the gaps between raising the level cap is too big, while your team is limited to 3 members at a time. This creates type coverage issues, and gives a feeling of battling for the sake of battling, since your mons earn nothing (no Exp., no new moves, maybe just a couple EVs). But I did like the concept of parallel worlds and how they remove the badge way of thinking, without hurting the story! Finally, of course I will continue my Poison monorun, and got a couple more challenges I want to start.. When summer holidays begin and I get more free time from PhD responsibilities, I will probably start doing more about these things!