M4RC

@DarkFighter15 Well right now, Nidoking is winning, and I can understand it! (Altough it would be a tie, had I not forgotten to vote for Gatr as well)

Chapter 6 - The great escape I return to Lapis ward where I can already see Heather and Cain arguing. He's really trying, but she doesn't care at all what he's got to say, and so, she leaves. We - Cain, Shelly and I - follow her and find her patch being blocked off by Sigmund. He keeps asking about her parents and Shelly makes the mistake of answering him since she wants to protect Heather from the burden of hearing this question over and over again and having to think about everything even more than she already does. This is enough for Sigmund, and he takes Heather in forcefully. Apparently, he has the rights to take in all orphans in Reborn below the age of 18 and without legal guardian. We're back at the gym and Shelly is blaming herself for what she did, even though it probably didn't make any difference. Suddenly, we hear a screeching scream - it's Heather! We can hear her screaming from the orphanage to the gym. That pig is probably using his "therapy" on her. That's enough, we're going to get her out of there at any cost! As I try to get in, the locked door suddenly unlocks - it's Anna, who saw my "glowiness" through the door. I love that mysterious little girl! Next up, Charlotte, the badass in person, decides to create a distraction so we can get to Sigmund easier. Just starts fighting orderlies singlehandedly over cigarettes. Nonetheless, we need to battle our way through, as other orderlies have seen us. After defeating them, Anna asks Shelly if they want to be friends even though Shelly has so many. Shelly is confused as she doesn't think that she's got many friends, but Anna talks about all the "strings" she can see around her and that there's a lot of people who deeply care for Shelly! Anyways, Cain is blocking another door as another orderly suddenly snatches Noel. Therefore, it's down to Shelly and me now. I just hope Anna is fine on her own! We make it through the facility and past the barriers the orderlies have put up with Anna helping us at times by telling us where to look to disengage the gates. We manage to free Noel, who helps us as well in progressing. It also seems that Cain has pushed the orderlies back and we can save Charlotte as well and get back everyone's Pokemon. At last, we finally reach the top floor. Everyone apart from Anna is already fighting and Charlotte lights a cigarette just to burn Sigmund with it. Sweet vengeance! He let's us go - he has no other choice considering our overwhelming power - but apparently he's already contacted the police to arrest everyone under his custody, which means we have to flee. Charlotte has an idea as to where we should go. In order to get there and avoid as much trouble as possible, we need to flee via the abandoned railnet under Opal Bridge. As we get there, we face a barrier, which is likely still connected to the old powerplant. This means I've got to talk to Shade. I make my way up to his gym, and meet an Absol right before entering. It seems familiar. There I see what seems like 4 fates. Corey jumping off Beryl Bridge is one of them.. Another person looks like Amaria - a shiver ran down my spine at this point. There's no point in overthinking this now though, and I progress towards Shade and beat him, even though his Mimikyuu gave me a bit of trouble. He opens the gate, and as soon as it opens, the kids get ambushed by Team Meteor with only Cain making it out. I rush back there. This can't be happening, not now! As I arrive, I see Victoria. She tells me I need TMX Strength to move the debris that blocks the path because of how Cain escaped. I can get Strength at Apophyll Academy, where Victoria's mentor is the gym leader. To be able to use it, I need to beat the reserve poison leader, Aya - Cain's sister. I still haven't got the key I need to get to her and Cain is already about to set off to Apophyll. I manage to catch him down at Coral Ward, but he's setting off on his own. He's determined. All of a sudden, Amaria shows up. She tells me that she's found the source of the pollution in a factory in West Peridot. We join forces to resolve the situation. We power through - Amaria is truly on another level to everyone else here and could probably take on everyone on her own. She's incredible! I reach the final room, where Lumi - zeL - recognises me first. The one who seems to be their leader introduces me to the PULSE they've set up there. It contains a Muk and is definitely draining his life force now. As I have turned my back, he tries to execute me as Amaria intervenes and saves me. She battles him, while I battle ZEL and destroy the PULSE. I manage to do it and Amaria is about to win against this absurdly powerful guy as well, as he orders his Tyranitar to attack HER with superpower which allows everyone to flee. Amaria seems fine, but she's been injured nonetheless. That being said, we've resolved the situation and Amaria decides to let me use her boat to get to Apophyll, even if it's probably gonna get destroyed by the poison. I reach Apophyll, where the gym leader - Kiki - sets me a task. She looks awfully similar to one of the people whose fates I've seen at Shade's gym. I have to reach the top of Pyrous Mountain, a volcano. There, I will find someone who I have to defeat. His name is Cal. I reach the top and beat him, and I can't help but to have a bad, a critical impression of him. He seems spineless and unsure, yet like someone who puts himself above others at times. Anywho, Kiki is ready for battle, although she's very sick. She's a strong person, but you can see her fading already. Because of that, Victoria tries to intervene once again and fights me. I beat her and remind her that I have to do this in order to save the kids. Not gonna lie, beating Kiki was very hard. That woman isn't the head of the academy for nothing, I had to give it my all! My Gengar managed to survive a Night Slash of Gallade with 4HP, which was the deciding moment for the battle. Right after the fight, Kiki suddenly breaks down - and I don't recieve my badge. She's getting weaker by the minute... She wants to be left alone for now. In the meantime, Victoria tells me that Cain hasn't shown up at all, and that he may have gotten lost on Azurine Island. I go there to look for him and find a house on there. Aster and Eclipse from Team Meteor are there. I beat them and find a secret passage. Down there, I find Cain, but Taka is there as well. After beating him, he and his underlings leave and I pick up Cain as well. We return to Pyrous Mountain since Team Meteor seems to have business there - they want to make the volcano errupt and destroy Apophyll! On the peak, I gotta fight Solaris, the one who Amaria fought back at the factory! He gets cocky though, and says that he only needs one Pokemon to beat me. I was prepared for this, though, and had prepared a tactic to face an overly powerful enemy. I manage to take out his Garchomp while Victoria battles Taka. Suddenly, Kiki shows up and orders her Medicham to destroy the PULSE Team Meteor have set up on Pyrous Mountain. She will protect this place at any cost! The pressure, the sheer determination that's emitted by this sick, dying woman is frightening! It's as if she's regained her full power in this moment. Looking back at it, it reminds me of that part of a Robin Hood book I've read before. At a point where he's already dying and so weak that he can barely sit up, he takes bow and arrow for one last time. He asks to be burried where the arrow lands. As he pulls back on the arrow, it seems like he's regained the power of his prime, but with his last shot, his mind fades away and he dies. Right now, Kiki is above her limits, even though everything happens in a mere seconds. Her Medichamp runs and as it's about to leap off, we suddenly hear Cal's voice, who summons his Magmortar, catches the Medicham, and kills it by throwing it into the lava. That damn traitor, I knew something about him was fishy. With everyone in shock, Solaris uses the opportunity and has his Garchomp attack Kiki in order to execute her. She has no chance of withstanding an attack like this and dies instantly... Through this, Cal seems to realise what he's done and he destroys the PULSE. But that doesn't matter. He talks about this being not what he wanted, but that man is dead to me. He is irredeemable. What the hell did he think was gonna happen if he betrayed Apophyll and killed Kiki's Medicham? That everyone was just gonna stand by, watch, and then leave as if nothing had happened? My first impression seems to have been right, after all. Victoria takes Kiki's place as the leader of Apophyll Academy and hands me Strength. That being said, I do not recieve the badge for defeating Kiki as she's gone now. Cain opens the gates to the wasteland for me so I can defeat his sister and use Strength, though. The Byxbysion Wasteland is truly a wasteland, with many objects reminding you of Corey's gym as well. Making it through fast is not a problem though, so I reach Aya's house in no time. As I'm arriving, Fern has just beaten her - on his second try. He lost before, and he's still as cocky as you know him. Aya herself isn't exactly happy with having to be a gym leader now and it shows. Another gym leader - Hardy - shows up as well. Fern and him seem to know each other, however, there's not a bit of sympathy between them. Fern wants to battle me once again and I wipe the floor with him, as usual. Aya gives me a fair bit of trouble in our battle and I'm lucky to have trained a few steel-types, otherwise I would have probably needed a second try as well. I get the badge and I'm able to use Strength now. After exiting the wasteland, Cal, that wasteman, talks to me. He tells me everything and the he had apparently sabotaged the machine. He asks, if I believe him. I believe what he said, but that doesn't change what he did. Even if he meant for Apophyll to not be destroyed, he still betrayed everyone, he still cold-heartedly killed Kiki's Medicham. He's spineless, even if he didn't intend for things to happen as they did. He has no right to expect to be forgiven, and I wholeheartedly hope that he won't be forgiven. Plus, it's easy to say all of this now. After that unpleasant distraction, I enter the railnet and infiltrate the Yureyu building, where Team Meteor has taken the kids. Grunts threaten to cut Shelly's throat if we come close, so we have no choice but to continue for now. Cain doesn't want to take any risks. On the next floor, we see Charlotte. It seems she has already befriended the grunts meant to restrain her. I know them as well - it's Simon and Tara. They explain that they joined Team Meteor to earn themselves a place at the top in the new world Team Meteor intends to create. We take Charlotte out of their "custody", and she goes down to the grunts who have taken Shelly as hostage. Charlotte being Charlotte and having ovaries of steel, makes it seem to the grunts as if they have no control over the situation by telling them that she doesn't care and that they should go on and kill Shelly if they want to. In that moment of slight confusion they let their guard down, Charlotte snatches Shelly and Cain and I beat them to a pulp. Really, that's exactly how you should do it! Charlotte even explains what she did afterwards, and I honestly believe that this is one of the best ways she could have handled this. That being said, you really need to have nerves of steel. I don't know if I could have managed to tell the grunts to go on and kill her if it was one of my family or close friends, for example. We continue and save Noel who tells us that Sirius and Sigmund have taken Anna and Heather to the upper floors and seem to have taken the Amethyst Pendant as well. I continue and find myself on a floor face to face with Sigmund and a silent Heather. Sigmund tries to avoid fighting. I want to crush his bones for everything he's done. I'm about to engage as something within me suddenly holds me back. All of a sudden, there's this feeling. I remember the stone doors I've seen, the four keys, and the fact that Team Meteor apparently are after them. I know they have Amethyst and likely Ruby as well. And I know that Amaria seems to have Sapphire - Amaria is strong, but the vision I saw at Shade's gym makes me worry. The main goal from Team Meteor, apart from destroying Reborn with their PULSEs, seems to be to open these doors. Does it have something to do with the "new world" Simon and Tara talked about? I cannot let them get this close to it. Is it me thinking this? Or is Anna doing something, realising what's gonna happen if I make the wrong choice here? Something feels different, but I feel focused, I feel energy flowing through me. Although it breaks my heart not to punish Sigmund right here and right now with every fiber of my body, I give in to this feeling. I allow him to avoid fighting. Please, Heather, hold on a little longer - I'm sorry for doing this! On the top floor, I face Sirius. Anna is there as well. She's in tears and wants her pendant back. Apparently, Sirius knew her father as well. Things are getting complicated, but that is of now concern to me now. I beat Sirius. Having managed to save everyone, we continue our escape through the railnet. Anna worries me - she's getting ill, more and more by the minute, although she says it's not her getting sick, but Nostra. We make it through the railnet, through Tanzan cave and reach the house of Charlotte's sisters at last. There, Charlotte mentions that every flower ring consists of 8 flowers - apparently the doing of Laura. In the house, Charlotte introduces us to the pink haired Laura. It seems that we've gotten away - for now.

Cain: 11 Florinia: 17 Shade: 9 Shelly: 25 Anna: 28 Laura: 23 ZEL: 22

Mewtwo: 20 Lugia: 31 Kyogre: 15 Groudon: 18 Rayquaza: 9 Dialga: 24 Giratina: 36 Reshiram: 28 Zekrom: 33 Kyurem: 27 Yveltal: 23 Solgaleo: 12

Kabutops: 24 Aerodactyl: 28 Cradily: 23 Armaldo: 22 Rampardos: 17 Carracosta: 17 Archeops: 13 Tyrantrum: 23 Aurorus: 17

@FromHeavens Yeah - I mean, I didn't intend to vote for it, but then I though about it - you will have Cain against you, who's poison types are very effective (to mono grass-types at least), you'll have numerous battles against Fern who should give you a bit of trouble as well. Then, looking at the early gym battles - you have Grass, Bug, Poison x2 and Ice amongst them. Those are not gonna be very easy battles.

I'm surprised grass has so little votes while ice has so many - sure, ice is a well-liked type, but I don't think it's as challenging as some others are gonna be

Cain: 16 Florinia: 21 Shade: 10 Shelly: 25 Anna: 27 Laura: 23 ZEL: 21

Mewtwo: 20 Lugia: 29 Kyogre: 15 Groudon: 18 Rayquaza: 9 Dialga: 24 Giratina: 36 Reshiram: 27 Zekrom: 31 Kyurem: 26 Yveltal: 23 Zygarde: 7 Solgaleo: 16

Omastar: 6 Kabutops: 23 Aerodactyl: 27 Cradily: 21 Armaldo: 22 Rampardos: 21 Carracosta: 17 Archeops: 13 Tyrantrum: 22 Aurorus: 17

Cain: 20 Florinia: 19 Shade: 14 Shelly: 27 Anna: 28 Laura: 24 ZEL: 20 Now it's getting difficult - Shelly, Anna & Laura have got to be the last three standing imo. Cain and Florinia should probably be the next to go even though I really like those characters.

Mewtwo: 20 Lugia: 29 Ho-Oh: 5 Kyogre: 15 Groudon: 20 Rayquaza: 9 Dialga: 24 Giratina: 34 Reshiram: 27 Zekrom: 30 Kyurem: 25 Yveltal: 23 Zygarde: 10 Solgaleo: 16

Omastar: 10 Kabutops: 23 Aerodactyl: 24 Cradily: 20 Armaldo: 22 Rampardos: 20 Carracosta: 17 Archeops: 15 Tyrantrum: 25 Aurorus: 19

#Lauradidnothingwrong Cain: 20 Aya: 7 Florinia: 22 Hardy: 3 Shade: 13 Shelly: 27 Anna: 26 Laura: 22 ZEL: 20

Mewtwo: 21 Lugia: 29 Ho-Oh: 9 Kyogre: 15 Groudon: 20 Rayquaza: 11 Dialga: 24 Giratina: 32 Reshiram: 26 Zekrom: 29 Kyurem: 25 Yveltal: 23 Zygarde: 16 Solgaleo: 15

Omastar: 16 Kabutops: 21 Aerodactyl: 24 Cradily: 20 Armaldo: 21 Rampardos: 22 Bastiodon: 8 Carracosta: 19 Archeops: 15 Tyrantrum: 23 Aurorus: 16

Nice choices! @Wolfox Cause you love dem fairies? My favorite in the early gens used to be Jolteon. Since then, I haven't really had one true favorite, but I guess Umbreon might be there design-wise. Leafeon would be interesting as well, never tried that one though As for my run, Umbreon and Sylveon would probably be the best options since I have quite some options when it comes to the other types. Looking at the IVs I got, it's probably gonna be an Umbreon, and I'll make the others once I've bred decent IV Eevees. I'm not sure about the moveset though since it might get too defensive. Curse Baton Pass Toxic Wish/Moonlight Or going with something similar to what @Azeria said (although I would probably try to go for Baton Pass instead of Protect (which would make Moonlight the better option I guess) since I really like to have that option)

Phew, that depends on what you want. Sneasel (&Weavile) is a fast, hard hitting physical attacker, but it's a lot more fragile. Lapras has better bulk and variety in regards to how you play it, but it doesn't have the raw power. You can make a point for both, really. Regarding the gym leader you'll face after Ciel It also kinda depends on the team you've got around them. I'm a big fan of Weavile myself and had it in every run I've played so far, but I'm leaning towards recommending Lapras.

This is actually a really hard one. Was close to hurting Omastar, but since it's actually a real fossil (and one of the most iconic ones), I'm not gonna do it for now Omastar: 16 Kabutops: 21 Aerodactyl: 23 Cradily: 17 Armaldo: 21 Rampardos: 21 Bastiodon: 16 Carracosta: 21 Archeops: 19 Tyrantrum: 21 Aurorus: 16

Cain: 22 Aya: 11 Florinia: 18 Hardy: 11 Samson: 1 Shade: 16 Shelly: 26 Anna: 25 Laura: 23 ZEL: 18

Mewtwo: 21 Lugia: 27 Ho-Oh: 11 Kyogre: 15 Groudon: 20 Rayquaza: 11 Palkia: 7 Dialga: 24 Giratina: 30 Reshiram: 23 Zekrom: 28 Kyurem: 23 Yveltal: 23 Zygarde: 18 Solgaleo: 17 Necrozma: 6

Alolan Sandlash might be worth a shout! In my run, I started off with Grumpig and JynxNicky Minaj to take out the Nidoqueen before it can do anything. Then I switched in my Flash Fire Typhlosion for Jynx since I expected the Flamethrower of Salazzle. You could also get a Magnemite from Shade's gym and level it up. Or, as others have mentioned - and this would have made my battle a lot easier, but I thought it was gonna get weakened as well - get Earth Power, preferable on Nidoking or Nidoqueen, since Earthquake wasn't that great for me (I used Donphan though) Edit: Nevermind, I commented without reading everything and just saw that you already beat her - my bad

Mewtwo: 21 Lugia: 27 Ho-Oh: 13 Kyogre: 15 Groudon: 20 Rayquaza: 13 Palkia: 8 Dialga: 23 Giratina: 28 Reshiram: 23 Zekrom: 27 Kyurem: 24 Yveltal: 23 Zygarde: 17 Solgaleo: 17 Lunala: 4 Necrozma: 10

Cain: 22 Aya: 10 Florinia: 20 Hardy: 14 Samson: 3 Shade: 18 Shelly: 25 Anna: 26 Laura: 25 ZEL: 19

Holy moly, how did you get 5 moves on your Sharpedo? No, for real - the best suggestions (trying to set up at the start, trying to break the field) are already there. Just to add. I believe two of Terra's Pokemon become typeless in this battle. While this means that they do lose their stab moves and resistances, it also means that they lose their weaknesses. That's why grass-knot isn't exactly ideal vs Quagsire; If you force it out for whatever reason and it gets switched back in, I believe it DOES have its normal typing