Orasha
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Posts posted by Orasha
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Chapter 2: Ravenous Rifts
As I slowly explore East Gearen, I witness a girl get punted out of her house... Quite literally. She doesn't seem to be doing well.
Spoiler
We have to get her an Oran berry as a last wish, though something seems a little fishy. It turns out she was playing us (gasp), and that she just wanted a free berry! Drat! All the same, she seems pretty interesting, and introduces herself as Venam. With that name and that hair, she's just gotta be the Poison-type leader. She invites us to hang out with her in the sewers.... Romantic?
Outside of the sewer level, we run into Ren again, though there's no battle this time. It seems that Melia couldn't go where she wanted since the Railnet was down, so she came to the sewers to fix it. Well, this'll be fun! In the sewers, we eventually find Melia and Venam, who are trying an experiment. It seems Melia left some garbage down there to see if it would spontaneously turn into Trubbish. There's also talk that Melia attracts Shiny Pokemon at a supernatural rate, though she's quick to downplay this
Spoiler
Don't be shy, I have a few "hidden abilities" too
After some more dialgoue, the foreshadowing becomes reality as Trubbishes attack, backed up by a Shiny Garbodor!
SpoilerWe're teamed up with Ren for this one, and I have a confession to make.... I didn't really take any screens. My excuse is that I was super tired when I battled them, and my other excuse is that like... this battle isn't that long or difficult or important, it just have its own battle screen.
But basically, the garbage couldn't stand up to Heartslayer's psychic assault.
After that mini-boss, the power is restored and we also find a Coin Case, which will allow us to
waste timegrind up some coins in Chrisola Hotel's casino. There's also a nice little easteregg here:Spoiler
Awww
With that, we're able to spend hours playing Voltorb Flip in order to get a Meowstic (soft resetting to ensure its female). Depending on how things go, I might grind up coins for Hidden Power since that's a super useful TM. With a little outside help, I calculate that both Espurr (now named Kyriss) and Heartslayer's Hidden Powers are Fire. Interesting.
It's at this point that I also decide to just run around in Gearen forever to get a female Nidoran. It takes... a while. (Later, when I finally messed with my computer clock to catch a Budew, it seemed like Nidorans were more prevalent in the morning, though it might not be a real pattern). I name her Zarakynel. Hustle is kinda a meh ability, but it means that Nidoqueen will have Sheer Force, which is super good, so that's an okay trade-off.
With that out of the way, it's time to hop on the plot train
literally. We run into Tesla again, who is adamant that our mother is still alive, and buys our ticket to Goldenwood forest. We also talk to this Old Man, who hurt himself trying to rescue his granddaughter, so of course we'll find her.Spoiler
Before fully progressing with the plot, we run into a Whismur on Route 1 that we immediately pick up. THINGS WILL GET slightly louder in the future.
Once there, we run into Melia again, and get to spend the day with her! After teaming up to handle some ne'er-do-wells, we run into an odd inscription on the wall, that breaks somehow!
Spoiler
And we get to picnic with her, which is amazing
Spoiler
People usually say that about me in regards to other things~ Also jeez I think Venam is right about you attracting shinies.
Is that really all I am to you?
*Channels Terra* Just wait until tonight, bb
Awww
And because this is a Pokemon game, she wants us to battle her, since she'll be a gym leader soon.
Spoiler
Spoiler
It's a Buneary vs Buneary smack down. Despite Bun being faster, hers is stronger (and I'm pretty sure has TMs or Egg Moves -__-' ) and my Bun is KOed.
Abyssa finishes her off with Knock Off.
Eevee's Mud Slaps lower Abyssa's accuracy, so I switch out for Kyriss.
Confusion KOes.
Confusion OHKOes thanks to Stufful's typing and due to a critical.
It'll take a lot more than that to dominate me
I decide to switch to Zarakynel, who gets Yawned on the switch and hits with Poison Sting before getting Charmed and falling asleep. I switch her out for Heartslayer, who gets brought to critical by Rock Wrecker from Metronome, but two confusions are able to KO.
Melia's a little bit sad, but it's okay! And then an odd, green light washes over the screen...
Spoiler
Ominous.
Running back through the cave, we get an even worse omen:
Spoiler
Uh-oh.
So we run into Team Xen again, and this time they're after Melia! One of the grunts brings out a Meowth, but it looks... odd.
Spoiler
According to Melia, this is a Shadow Pokemon. That's pretty cool, since Shadow Pokemon were used in the Gamecube Pokemon games and don't show up anywhere else. I'm pretty sure they work the same mechanically as well, which is cool. I'm definitely a fan of this idea, hopefully the implementation is good
Melia instructs us to open the briefcase, since her father put something in there for emergencies. Before entering the correct number, I enter the number the lock was at in the forest when we had the picnic, and I'm rewarded with an ability capsule! Sweet! After entering the correct combination, we find something strange...
Spoiler
Interesting... reminds me of something esle
This glove allows us to swipe Shadow Pokemon from their owners in battle, which is pretty sweet. So we steal the Meowth and fight some more grunts. Also it's called a Snag Machine. Pretty cool name. Most of the other Shadow Pokemon don't interest me, until...
Spoiler
You are mine.
Also at some point, this happens:
Spoiler
Excellent.
Eventually we get to have a double battle against what I assume is this game's version of Aster and Eclipse, Eli and Sharon.
SpoilerSo this is another one where I didn't really screenshot cause I was tired and it was a pretty quick, straightforward battle. Oooooops.
Sharon even reminds me of Eclipse's personality.
Then the shiny Garbodor from earlier shows up and distracts the pair, allowing me to talk to the odd guy who seems like the leader. His hair is... kinda silly, to be honest. He's called Zetta, and talks some shit about our name. You have no realm to talk here. He also introduces us to something else ominous: the Rift.
Spoiler
It kinda reminds me of the X-men logo.
Zetta gives us an ultimatum: Either he beats us and takes Melia, or we beat him and he unleashes the Rift. Not really fair, but he is a villain after all. And since this is a Pokemon game, we're not going down without a fight!
Spoiler
Abyssa gets confused and takes some damage from Rollout, but fights through it and manages to KO Minior with Night Shade.
Abyssa stays in to suicide with Shadow Sneak, and gets KOed by Bite.
I bring out Heartslayer, who hits with Disarming Voice and takes a Shadow move, and Hyper Mode takes Grimer to critical. I figure I might as well Snag it, even though I probably won't use it.
I switch Heartslayer out for Luminary, since Heartslayer can't do much to Meowth.
Luminary eventually finishes it off with Fury Cutters, but is brought to critical. She suicides against Zetta's Type: Null. I bring out Zarakynel.
Double Kicks eventually take it down.
Oh boy...
True to his word, Zetta calls on the Rift.
Spoiler
We're gonna need a bigger boat....
We get sucked into Gyarados's mouth or the dimensional rift, and the rift world is... a little weird. After throwing all the Magikarp back in, and finding some data about the boss we're about to fight, we take it on. But we're not completely alone...
Spoiler
SpoilerSo uh... this is another one I don't have screens for, and that's cause it was super annoying. Rift Gyarados has much better stats and could outspeed basically anything, and as long as it spammed the dimensional rift attack I was basically toast. The only reason I won was cause I got lucky with it using its other moves. A little more annoying than PULSE Tangrowth, mostly due to speed tiers.
And with that, everything goes dark...
See you next time!
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On 9/6/2017 at 7:54 PM, Awesome_One said:
Nicely done!
Love the team so far! And yea. I usually do the somewhat easier Help Center sidequests now and then right before I go to the gym, I take care of the harder ones. Although, one of them I usually do after the gym. But if you tried doing them all already, I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about. Haha. Can't wait to read more.
One of them was WAY more difficult than it needed to be since I have no way to deal super-effective damage to Fire types yet. But yeah, I noped out of those quests after I got wrecked once and came back to them later.
15 hours ago, Mechathulhu said:Funny how the early game is actually quite giving with Pokemon that suit the theme, a very fortunate turn of events, cause if it's one thing that can soil a themed run is the availability of Pokemon pertaining to a challenge. A happy coincidence!
Yeah!
There's thankfully enough to have a good rotation at the start (though I do have some gaping holes in my type coverage currently). I'm pretty happy so far
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Chapter 1: A Sensuous Start
(well, not really)
Before we even get to character creation, there's a rather revealing intro, which sets up things that will be important later, I'm sure. Just for a quick recap:
Spoiler
I picked Adventure just because, I'm not sure if it'll effect anything later.
I'm sure this odd character that may or may not have elf ears will be important later. This implies that what's happening to Maria has happened before, which is odd.
Creepy.
Ah good, more Arceus cultists. I look forward to teaching them what a real god looks like
And just as young Maria is to be sacrificed, we wake up to character creation! Don't tease me like that!
I flip-flopped on what sprite I wanted to use a couple of times. See, Slaanesh is referred to as "he" in Warhammer lore, even though applying gender to extra-dimensional beings is sort of incoherent. Slaanesh also possesses male and female parts, and is said to be the perfection of gender and sexuality, so an agender character would work well. Unfortunately, the agender sprites don't really yell "Slaanesh" to me, which makes sense since they're androgynous (which is good in general, but not good for this particular theme).
Instead, I decide to use the pink-haired girl in the dress and hat. I think she fits the theme best out of the available sprites. It's here that I have my first main complaint about the game: I couldn't find any way to back out of character creation once a sprite was selected, apart from resetting the game. This meant that in order to check out all 6 sprites, I had to play through the tail end of Maria's intro 6 times, and that was rather annoying. Really, the intro wasn't too bad, but having to pick the difficulty setting each and every time and not being able to save after that was fairly grating (I decided to play on Normal, btw). Maybe I'm just dumb, but I tried every button I could think of and nothing worked. Also, I named my character Slaanesh since I'm
lazyunimaginativetrying to get into the mood for it.At this point, I was sort of fed up with going through non-gameplay stuff, so I skipped the extra intro on the boat. I had gotten that far with my initial playthrough so I didn't miss anything, but I didn't take any screens. I don't mind the boat scene, as it sets up character relationships and sets the villains up as a credible threat (also they use a ton of Deoxyses... Deoxysi? and I'm excited about that). I just kinda didn't want to go through it again ^^' Sorry.
Instead, we pick up after just being rescued by Telsa and their Talonflame. I'm hoping he's a bird specialist, since the real life Tesla had a
weirdSlaanesh-approved thing for pigeons.Spoiler
If something happens for a reason, its usually cause of Tzeentch, but okay.
After running around to get some items and going through customs, we're finally in Gearen city, and trainers block our path, forcing us to the Laboratory. That's not before we have this charming~ interaction:
Spoiler
Oh, I'm sure you could show me around or something... wait, you're not interested since I have no Pokemon?! How rude!
After that, we finally get to the lab, where we can choose our Pokemon! On our way into the lab, we run into this girl:
Spoiler
That hair reminds me of Maria, so I'm sure you'll be a plot critical NPC.
And get some not-so-subtle cues that the Professor is up to no good:
Spoiler
Not suspicious at all!
With all that out of the way, we can finally descend and pick out starter! We could just go ahead and pick Popplio, or we could try our luck at getting Ralts as a Jackpot starter. I decide to use the Jackpot machine, and go with whichever one of those two it spits out first.
It feels like hours, but after Reborn's psychiatrist this amount of soft-resetting means nothing to me. This even requires less effort then the therapist did. After a while, we get a Ralts! It's female, which is sort of a bummer since having a male Gardevoir would be very emblematic of this run, but oh well. I decide to name her Heartslayer, since its one of the least silly/edgy names for one of the Keepers of Secrets, Slaanesh's greater daemons. And then I get a look at it more closely:
Spoiler
AAAAAAAAAA she's shiny! Holy shit! This run has truly been blessed by the Chaos gods! The IVs are doable, and on normal mode I'm not sure if they'll be that important anyway. Impish also isn't a horrible nature for Gardevoir, though I synchronize isn't my favorite ability. If Ability Capsules exist, I'll probably change her to Trace.
As is tradition, we get to face some trainers, likely the ones who will be recurring characters or rivals. The first is Amanda:
Spoiler
You don't know the half of it
What can I really say about this? It's an intro battle. Luckily, Litten got confused and that allowed Heartslayer to take him out... barely.
Aw, I'm sure you say that to everyone~
Next up!
Spoiler
I'd like to think I'm pretty experienced.
He has Protean Froakie because of course he does, and unfortunately scores a critical in the first round, meaning Heartslayer loses. Unfortunate, but not worth replaying to be honest.
If you say so...
After getting gifted some useful items in exchange for finding and helping Melia, it's time to truly begin the adventure. It's time to grab some Pokemon!
After some running around, this is our team:
Spoiler
We "rescued" Gimpy (who I'll rename later) from one of the colored buildings at night, a worthy addition to the team.
Fomantis reminds me a bit of a Daemonette, so I name her after one of the more famous ones, the Luminary of Slaanesh. She has Leaf Guard instead of Contrary, but I can't really abuse it until I can breed Pokemon so I'm not too worried.
N'Kari is named after another Keeper of Secrets, though I don't end up using him (I eventually decided that Liepard didn't fit the run and boxed him. He won't really be missed, since he didn't have Prankster and Liepard isn't that great without it).
Bun is from a trade for a Cherubi, and we can't rename her so if I really want a thematic name I'll have to breed another Buneary. I'll probably do that eventually, but until then we're stuck with Bun.
After running around the city, I discover the Help Center and do all the sidequests I can handle. While they're all interesting, one in particular struck my eye...
So a girl's Starly gets stolen and we have to track it down. After defeating a biker, and at risk of having to face his two buddies, this happens:
Spoiler
Huh. Apparently magic is real in this universe, and can be controlled by humans thanks to the ancient civilization having taken the energy from Pokemon and put it into a book. That's... pretty terrifying actually.
Spoiler
Oh do tell me more~
I didn't write down her name (oops!), but having some form of magic that isn't the result of a Legendary Pokemon in the setting is pretty cool, if a little jarring initially. It helps add some gravitas to the Garufa, and is likely setting up some even stranger uses of magic further down the line. I'm certainly intrigued.
And with that, I think that's gonna be all for today! It's been a pleasure~
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20 hours ago, Awesome_One said:
Lol. Well you can add them if you want. They just always reminded me of a ummm... A part of a male's body. Haha. And that's awesome. Take your time. Just curious. Is your sprite gonna be like normal in game sprites or did you get custom made ones?
Haha I might add them, it depends on when Onix is available and what my selection is like at that point. No custom sprites for this one (tbh I wouldn't even know who to talk to and I'd feel kinda bad if I couldn't compensate them for it). I agonized a bit over which sprite to pick, but that'll show up in Chapter 1.
18 hours ago, Mechathulhu said:Oh man, it's finally here
I'm pleased to see there are quite a few additional Pokemon that are candidates to the challenge. It ought to make both of our challenges unique and you'll most likely have a greater type differential in which to keep you from potential insanity. You also made an interesting observation in the 100% female only side of things and marked Meowstic's female form. I think it's a fair argument, yet I am somehow torn on whether or not I would accept it when my time comes. A most pressing matter to ponder over.
If I could suggest another Pokemon for the list, I was wondering what you might think of Mienshao as a Pokemon befitting the theme. Ultimately you know the theme better than I, so if Mienshao doesn't make the cut, it's cool, I wouldn't want the theme to go too off base. It is one of my favorite Pokemon personally and I'd hope it could be included among those already confirmed. I'll be awaiting the first update, and it will be my pleasure to bare witness to the revealing of your themed run. Show it all off!
Personally I think Meowstic's female form counts. She learns different moves from the male form, have different possible abilities, and play very differently (Smogon lists them as separate, for instance). Ultimately it's up to you, but I feel like these differentiate Meowstic-F from its male counterpart enough to be included (contrast to a Pokemon like Pyroar, where the differences are only sprite deep).
I knew I forgot something! Mienshao was in my list of Pokemon in my text file (I generally write down battles and impressions there before uploading), and I didn't put it here. Oops. I'd say they definitely count
14 hours ago, Alistair said:Good to see the Slaanesh run was chosen =p
You do have an interesting array of sensuous creatures at your disposal! I'm just a bit doubtful of some B and C rank pokémons, as it's a bit of a stretch to consider them sexualized or even female-leaning, namely Victreebell, Granbull, Liepard, Exploud and Purugly.
It's entirely up to you to decide whether they're worth a spot or not, though. I'm sure it's going to be an interesting run in any case
I agree with Victreebell, Granbull, and Purugly. Liepard I'm more on the fence about, but I have better Pokemon to choose from in the beginning as well. Exploud is here largely due to the fanart, and also because Slaanesh's marines are the Noise Marines and they're hilarious. Basically they murder people with the power of Rock and Roll. At one point they literally had weaponized guitars. Exploud is basically the only Pokemon that fits the Noise Marine's catchphrases: THIS QUIET OFFENDS SLAANESH and THINGS WILL GET LOUD NOW. This is a pretty good intro to them (please don't turn your volume up you might die lol):
Spoiler7 hours ago, St0mpa said:For those 2 they don't fit the sexualised part of the run but they do fit with Slaanesh so I suggest if you use them use them only for specific circumstances where they are perticularly usefull. (e.g. if it was reborn Exploud's boom burst could be used to wreck the mirror field, or Jigglypuff for perish song BS).
I agree with the pokemon said other than Exploud (for the reasons above being it is kinda like a Noise Marine)
Exploud may stay around just to make sure things stay loud. It really depends on what Pokemon are available when (and Whismur is available before the first gym). I'll likely prioritize other Pokemon over Exploud unless its a situation where I really need to SCREAM TO BE HEARD.
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I can add them if you want
I was also thinking about Muk, due to what its name is backwards, but other then the name it doesn't really fit. I forgot to put it on the list though And thanks! Next update will hopefully be tomorrow, but idk
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"Find pleasure in every moment, indulge in every whim. Let lesser races feel the burden of their crude lives. We are beyond such concerns or worries. Every power is ours to use, every sensation ours to experience. We are truly masters of the galaxy, and all others exist only to satisfy our curiosities. We have earned our position of power. Let us forever taste the fruits of such achievement. Time itself is ours to command. We are eternal."
Hello everyone! Break out the whips and chains, cause its time for a rather ~sensuous~ challenge run.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Warhammer, Slaanesh is the Chaos God of hedonism, perfection, lust, pride,
dubstepand self indulgence. What does this mean for a Pokemon run? Well, basically I'm going to restrict myself to mons that are female only and/or sexualized. I know what you're thinking, "But Orasha, the internet will pervert anything!" And you're right! So I'm trying to limit it to Pokemon that are notorious for how weirdly sexual they are, even among people who don't really play Pokemon or have paraphilias (I'm looking at you, Mega Lopunny). Some of these are debatable, and in those cases I'll leave it up to your input to determine whether something issexy enoughappropriate for the run.This run was also inspired by this piece of fanart (No nudity, but it is suggestive and probably NSFW)
Spoiler
Aside from my limited Pokemon usage, I'll also be playing through blind, so try to limit spoilers. The only exceptions to that are Pokemon locations (just to make sure I have as many applicable Pokemon as possible), and possibly puzzle solutions if I get super stuck. This also means you'll get to hear my initial thoughts on Rejuvination
I hope I don't rustle any jimmies.
For reference, here are a list of Pokemon I'm considering using:
SpoilerFemale-only Pokemon:
Spoiler-Meowstic F
-Nidoran F
-Illumise
-Froslass
-Wormadam
-Vespiqueen
-Salazzle: Salazzle literally uses drugs to enslave the male Sandalits. Once I get her, she will be a constant member of the team.
-Happiny
-Kangaskhan
-Smoochum
-Miltank
-Petilil
-Vullaby
-Flabebe
-Bounsweet
S-Rank (Highly sexualized design, recognized even by non-fans)
Spoiler-Gardevoir: Both Gardevoir and Kirlia are arguably the most sexualized Pokemon of all time. Personally, I'm hoping for a male Ralts, and I'll never evolve him into Gallade.
-Lopunny: Lopunny was already weirdly sexual enough, bringing to mind a literal "Playboy Bunny." But then Gamefreak made it even more explicit in its Mega form. This playthrough would not be complete without one.
-Cloyster: Cloyster's rather close resemblance to a certain part of female anatomy makes it a shoe-in for this run. (Cloyster could arguably be A-rank, but oh well)
-Primarina: Primarina literally looks like a mermaid. That is all.
-Gothitelle: Its line is at least partially based on Lolis.
A-Rank (Suggestive design, but generally only known to Pokemon fans)
Spoiler-Fomantis: Its evolution looks like its wearing pants. But Fomantis definitely gets in because pretty things with big ol' claws for hands are some of Slaanesh's favorite demons.
-Ditto: Ditto is mostly relegated to breeding, and there's some really weird implications there. The implications get even weirder when you consider that Ditto can turn into people...
-Tangrowth: The epitome of "I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going"
-Bellossom: Looks like a Hula dancer.
-Mawile: Doesn't necessarily have a suggestive design, but is based on a female Yokai and that counts enough for this I think.
-Gorebyss: It has a shell bra for Arceus' sake.
B-Rank (Generally humanoid or pretty, but not necessarily sexualized, debatable whether or not they'll be used)
Spoiler-Roselia and Roserade: I think Roserade's opera-mask-looking face seals the deal for me.
-Milotic: Originally evolved when it became Beautiful enough.
-Victreebell: Kinda sorta resembles female naughty bits if you squint hard enough.
-Diggersby: The traditionally masculine equivalent to Lopunny, but not nearly as fabulous.
-Delphox: Sorta resembles a furry. Debatable.
-Granbull: I just like the idea of a female Granbull, since a Pokemon not looking like its gender (like male Gardevoirs and Primarinas) are very appealing to Slaanesh.
-Liepard: Maybe resembles a furry. Super debatable.
-Lickitung: Not humanoid or pretty, but does have a super long tongue which I'm sure is popular in awful parts of the internet.
-Banette: The zipper reminds me of a gimp mask just a tad.
C-Rank (Not really sexualized at all, and while I could sort of see them included, they don't really scream Slaanesh to me)
Spoiler-Alolan Ninetails: Super pretty, but is it sexy enough for this theme?
-Sylveon: Again, fabulous, but I'm not really sure if it fits?
-Jigglypuff: Jigglypuff uses Sound moves, and sound is the trademark of Slaanesh's faithful Space Marines: the Noise Marines.
-Exploud: Again, here due to Sound moves, though its more of a shoe-in thanks to the artwork I posted above. Also mildly resembles a Fiend of Slaanesh (mostly cause it's purple).
-Maractus: Sort of feminine but also kinda not that great so I dunno if I'll be using it
-Clefairy: Mostly female, but that's basically it.
-Delcatty and Purugly: The other cat Pokemon are just kinda meh, though I could see how some would want them included.
These tiers are speculative at best, but oh well.
As you can see, there's a fairly large amount of Pokemon to choose from. Feel free to suggest any that I may have overlooked!
I'm not sure how much roleplaying I'll be doing during this run, as I don't have as much time as I did during the summer (and even then, I never really RP'd my two Reborn runs). At best, you can expect some weird prose about sensory pleasures. At worst, it'll just be a lot of sex jokes. I'll try to be more like Cain and less like T3RR4, but we'll see (both are probably Heralds of Slaanesh anyway). Prepare yourself.
Anyways, that's all for now! I'll be seeing you soon~
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1 hour ago, Mechathulhu said:
Oh sweet! A run to closely resemble the Ladylocke! Given that it's a Rejuvination playthrough I have practically no knowledge of this game, but I shall follow it all the same. I'm sure there will be many more Pokemon available with this theme as well. I found myself surprised that a fair bit of the more ladylike Pokemon had essentially been victims of circumstance in being an exception to the 100% Female rule that might as well could have been. I'm looking forward to experiencing Rejuvination completely for the first time with this. Best of luck@Orasha!
I don't really have knowledge of the game either, so it'll be fun for both of us
There are a surprising amount of oddly sexualized Pokemon that can be both genders, and I'm kinda hoping to get a male Buneary and Ralts (I don't think I'll use Gallade, but it would still be fun), among other things. That's up to the RNGesus though. And thanks! I'll probably need it
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Alright so it looks like there's a tie, but I'm antsy and want to start playing, so I guess I'll go with the Slaanesh theme because Alistair talked about it in the comments and no one really commented about the Ninja theme. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'll see everyone a bit later! I'm not sure how I'm going to structure the playthrough yet but rest assured it'll be here eventually
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I'm not sure where you're from, but a lot of universities require general education courses that are usually around a years work of credits overall. If you're not sure what you want, and your university has general education stuff, you could try and get those out of the way first, and maybe take an intro writing, accounting, and engineering course as part of those courses. Since those fields are all so different, taking intro classes might be useful in figuring out which one appeals the most to you.
If they all appeal equally, you could try and double major in two or minor in one of them. It would be a lot of work, to be sure, but if you really can't decide then that might be a good plan.
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4 hours ago, Neco said:
Congratulations for finishing this run. I really enjoyed reading it and am glad to see that Rock seems to be possible to do. At first I was sceptical because of its many weaknesses, but in the end it is probably similar as in my Grass run: you simply need to put more thought into it.
Finally, I cannot wait to see how you will handle both Titania and Amaria
Yeah, figuring out the best selection of coverage moves was basically the only way to go. And finding good defensive Pokemon, since Rock has a lot of weaknesses. Cradily is the MVP in that regard
It'll certainly be an interesting time. I expect a lot of trial and error as I discover their Pokemon and movesets
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6 hours ago, Alistair said:
so pretty much every pokémon ever? the internet is a scary placeJokes aside I think a Slaanesh run could be fun based on how you describe it. The others just sound like modified Poison runs.
If you go in that direction I'll make sure to follow your adventures
I suppose going by rule 34 that any Pokemon is available
You totally got me on the modified Poison run thing. It's my favorite type but I'm a little burned out on monotypes for now ^^'
4 hours ago, DreamblitzX said:Guess Salazzle will be good for any of the 3 runs?
Salazzle is probably ninja-y enough, but she's probably too sensuous for Nurgle. Salazzle definitely fits Slaanesh though
I guess describing Nurgle as "poison with add-ons" is a little too broad, cause Salazzle doesn't really fit his theme. Oops.
5 hours ago, St0mpa said:Khorne and Tzeentch are my 2 favorite gods but as they don't make very good teams Nurgle is the next best.
It's a shame Khorne's portfolio is so broad, since a lot of Pokemon focus on fighting honorably and being powered by rage
And unfortunately Tzeentch would mostly just like... psychic types. And some bird Pokemon
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So after playing through Reborn a couple times, I decided I should check out other fan games, and that it would make sense to start with Rejuvination. I mean, it's right here! And as I started playing, I quickly became overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Pokemon available at the start. That's... a problem I have in most Pokemon games, really. I get so caught up in what Pokemon I want to use and trying to catch things that I kinda stress myself out. It's weird. So I figured, what better way to alleviate that stress then by doing some sort of themed run?
That's where you come in. I have ideas. Lots of ideas. Altogether too many ideas of some interesting themes. Not all of them are super viable or could even get a full team for a while, so I narrowed it down to three options:
- Slaanesh Theme: The Chaos God of hedonism and excess, a Slaanesh theme would basically be similar to @Mechathulhu's Ladylocke theme for Reborn but with extra steps. Any Pokemon that is vaguely feminine or could be weirdly sexualized (especially by the internet) is fair game here. Aside from all female species, Gardevoir and Lopunny are shoe-ins.
- Nurgle Theme: Nurgle is the Chaos God of decay, disease, and sloth. He's also surprisingly nice, like Santa if every day was Christmas and all your presents were plagues. Basically a Poison Monotype with add-ons like Slaking, Snorlax, Slowbro, Parasect, Shiinotic, and many others.
- Ninja Theme: You might have expected Khorne or Tzeentch here, but I don't think they'd offer as interesting and varied a selection of Pokemon. Instead, the Ninja theme is largely a Poison run, with some restrictions and a little bit more leeway. Basically, if Janine, Koga, or the Ninja Boy trainer class ever used it, or if its ninja-y enough, its in.
And that's basically it. I had a few other ideas (a corrosive field run, a desert run, some sort of chess theme, a halloween theme, extraterrestrial pokemon, etc.), but none of them could really give me a full team by the time I got to Venam. It goes without saying that I'll be documenting this run (likely with screenshots and stuff), and it'll be pretty blind so you'll have to excuse me
But I'm looking forward to it
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28 minutes ago, Mechathulhu said:
Good work on this monotype @Orasha. I haven't read a lot of them on the forums but you paid me a courtesy, and the least I can do is return it and it was a pleasure to witness your run as it was still ongoing. As hard as I imagined monotypes could be, I'm still pleasantly surprised that a type like Rock made it through fairly well despite it's many weaknesses compared to the other types. Whatever challenges you plan on involving yourself in as you go forward, I'll be waiting and watching.
Thanks!
I was surprised at how few problems I had, too! I expected Rock to be a lot, well, rockier to use. I've definitely gained a bigger appreciation for the type. I can't wait for Episode 17, in no small part due to your upcoming Ladlylocke challenge! I really love theme runs and that one looks like it'll be both challenging and interesting
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34 minutes ago, St0mpa said:
First off congrats on finishing E16.
Well it gets aura sphere so thats kinda something... I guess.
Fairy types have 1.5X (I think. Might be 2X) Special defence on that field.
Edit: If your aggron's EV's are anything like what I suggested it isn't going to outspeed many things unfortunatly.
My headcannon is that maybe Togepi was a gift from Kiki? But Kiki is also a fighting specialist so I dunno. Yeah, the special defense boost + defeatist meant it didn't do much. To be honest, I wanted to suicide Plume Knight there so I would have a safe switch.
Aggron is a bit slow, but he's doing pretty good so far. I might tweak his EVs a little bit, cause yes there are similar to what you suggested. Maybe I'll invest more in speed... I dunno. I don't really have to worry about that for a loooooong time.
22 minutes ago, Zander said:I've just started reading this from this chapter but I would like to tell you a few things:-
1) That iron head from aggron should have completely koed the glaceon. Aggron has huge attack plus the supper effective should have definitely finished it, why did it not do so?
KIND OF SPOILERS FOR TITANIA GYM BATTLE BUT READ IF YOU FORGOT
2) Titania has Fairy tale feild meaning all fire type moves are dragon type. So fire punch is useless.
3) Try enjoying new reborn city, you'll feel really good and there are some decent quests to do.
4) Just because of defeatist I would say that Aerodactyl is better than Archeops.
Crunch, Rock slide, fly and another move are very good coverage especially since Aerodactyl can outspeed lot of psychic and ghost types.
That's all
1) He could have rolled low? I'm not sure, really. ^^'
2) Ah, well... Superpower or Earthquake should still be okay. I'm not really looking forward to her, truth be told, as both my runs are weak to Steel
But I'm sure I'll be able to handle it.
3) Oh yeah definitely, I fully explored all the side content on my Fairy run. The jobs quest, the fortune teller/spy quest, the Kecleon thing, underwater... I did as much of it as I could. Like I said, I'm having a fair amount of burnout so I might not do them all with my Rock boys until Episode 17.
4) That's true... Hm. Idk, I might train one up and put him in rotation. Nuking with Acrobatics is just so fun though
16 minutes ago, Awesome_One said:Congrats on finishing this. I loved reading through this. ^_ ^ If you're gonna do other Pokemon fan made games and post them on here, I have some suggestions. Prob heard of most of them but ohh well.
Insurgence, Desolation, Alabaster, Full Moon, Paradox, Infinite Fusion, Legends Of The Arena
Aw thanks!
I think I'm going to start off with Rejuvination, but in the future I'll look into those! And if I decide to do any weird challenge or theme runs I'll be sure to put them here. To be honest, I kind of prefer doing challenge runs, since I get overwhelmed by just how many Pokemon there are to choose from having a set monotype or theme makes it a lot easier to choose who to use, and to make sure they do the best they can.
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Chapter 17:
With Ciel defeated and Fly in hand, we can return to the city. And boy, is it great. I always purposefully enter through the Grand Gate, just to take in the full spectacle of it all. It's such an amazing feeling to see how Reborn has changed. There is a TON of side content here, and I'm not going to go through all of it because I'd be here forever. Instead, let's look at the stuff pertinent to Rock.
We finally have access to Aerodactyl, but honestly, he's not that great. I mean, compared to Archeops, that is. Aerodactyl lacks a strong Flying STAB, though he is super fast. Maybe if/when Megas get implemented I'll be more interested, but even then I doubt it, since Mega Aggron is unarguable the best non-legendary Mega for Rock (and there's an argument to be made that it's better than Mega-Diancie as well).
We can also get Probopass at this point, but the most interesting sets all require TM moves we don't have yet, like Volt Switch. I can't see him having a place on my team, as weird as he is (and I do love weird Pokemon).
Thanks to the move tutor, Shell Squire can finally learn Stealth Rock, which means I'm retiring the Boulder. I also decide to do some breeding to get a truly ferocious Aggron. Eventually I breed Head Smash and Superpower onto an Aron and grind it up (I would prefer Earthquake instead of Superpower, but Earthquake isn't an available TM yet, much to my eternal dismay). After deliberating on what Elemental Punch to add to round out the moveset, I decide on Ice Punch, since it provides greater coverage. Maybe for Titania I'll change it to Fire Punch. We'll see. Anyways, here he is:
Spoiler
I decided to name him Iron Scissor, after the superstition that leaving a pair of iron scissors where a child slept would prevent the fairies from stealing it. A fitting name, since we'll be going up against Adrienn soon and he will be essential.
After some deliberation, I go and collect Arclight, Adrienn, and Victoria to start the Devon Corp. raid. Things go... poorly, as I'm sure you know, and we're put between a rock and a hard place. We have to battle our friends, starting with Victoria.
Spoiler
Oh you can count on it
why is it so easy to be TerraVS VICTORIA
Spoiler
Mienshao strikes first with Fake Out, but does more damage to itself (proportionally) thanks to Life Orb recoil. Silly Victoria. Mienshao then Knocks Off Shell Squire's Leftovers, allowing her to set Sticky Web with no problem. Had I known she would use Knock Off, I would have Encored, but oh well. The Mienshao misses with High Jump Kick, so Shell Squire sets up Stealth Rock as well. Mienshao spams High Jump Kick again and is Encored, and by now its Life Orb has brought it to critical HP. Another HJK brings Shell Squire to 2 HP, and Knock Off takes Mienshao to super low HP but doesn't KO. And then... Mienshao crashes again! KOing itself. I almost feel bad and want to restart. Almost. This is too funny to not keep though.
Of course, even with -1 speed Scrafty is faster then Shuckle, and KOs with Drain Punch. You put up a valiant effort, Shell Squire.
Acrobatics is an easy OHKO.
Lucario is scary. Since its a great mixed attacker, I never know whether it'll use physical or special attacks. I could use Earth Power on it, but it would probably sacrifice Plume Knight, and I don't want to do that. Instead, I U-turn out to Rhyperior, who is immediately OHKOed by something (I think Flash Cannon?). I guess Root Jr. would have been the better option. I rectify my mistake and send him in.
Aura Sphere gets a critical and takes Root Jr. to red, but Mirror Coat easily KOs Lucario.
I switch to Kusanagi, who eats a Close Combat on the switch.
Another Close Combat KOs Kusanagi, who is slower then Gallade at -1. Welp. I send out Plume Knight to nuke again.
Acrobatics is another OHKO.
Rock Slide KOs thanks to Stealth Rock damage.
Emboar can't stand up to the Acrobatics, and is OHKOed.
And I forgot to screencap Victoria's ending dialogue. Oops.
Not really happy with how that one went. I basically wasted Rhyperior on nothing, though there's not much he could have done. Plume Knight swept pretty easily, which is to be expected since Acrobatics is great and Victoria specializes in fighting (well, except Togekiss, she never really explained that one).
Victoria gets zapped, and we head upstairs to confront another puzzle. Eventually we're in another arena, face to face with Reborn's
onlypremier DJ, Arclight! He tells us that Adrienn refused to fight, and so was punished. Welp. Lin comes in to mock us some more, and then it's battle time! In prepping for this bad boy, I switched Kusanagi out for Nero.VS ARCLIGHT
Spoiler
Shell Squire tanks a Superpower to set up Sticky Web, and then Encores Luxray into using Superpowers. That allows Shell Squire to set Stealth Rocks and Knock Off Luxray's Amplifield Rock. Luxray's encore ends and it electrifies the field, and so I switch Shell Squire out for Rhino Knight.
Luxray Crunches Rhino Knight, and then is taken out by Earthquake.
Rhino Knight misses with Hammer Arm, and Exploud tries to Surf. Fortunately for me, it picks up Electricity due to the field, and ends up not effecting Rhino Knight. Next turn, he hits with Hammer Arm and KOs.
Raichu hits with Hidden Power and is taken out by another Earthquake. I suspect that will be a pattern here.
Jolteon gets a critical Hidden Power, bringing Rhino Knight to red before being KOed by Earthquake. Arclight brings out Noivern.
Instead of suiciding, I switch Rhino Knight out for Dame Helix, who takes a Dragon Pulse on the switch.
Unfortunately for me, Noivern is fast as heck and KOs with another Dragon Pulse. I probably should have just let Rhyperior faint.
Plume Knight outspeeds, thankfully, and manages to KO with Rock Slide.
Arclight brings out Ampharos, so Plume Knight U-turns into Nero. Ampharos misses with Zap Cannon, so the tyrant lizard has a safe switch.
Nero strikes first and KOs with Dragon Claw.
Other than that one stupid switch with Dame Helix, that went really well. I didn't really expect to have trouble with that one, though.
Ascending through more puzzles, we arrive to witness Ame being killed by Lin. Of course, this is the first thing I think of:
Spoiler
Drat!
Lemme tell you, I am worried about PULSE Magnezone. Levitate is gonna make that battle a huge pain. I suppose I still have Aggron's Super Power, Rhino Knight's Hammer Arm, and Root Jr.'s Mirror Coat, but that's all assuming it doesn't outspeed them. I am not very hopeful.
So more puzzles, and we encounter ZEL again. They're not having a good day. Lin told them to move everything out, but they can't move Magnezone out, and on top of it:
Spoiler
I still maintain that this is Terra.
After some pleasantries, it's time for another battle!
VS ZEL
SpoilerI lead with Shell Squire, of course, who tanks an Ice Beam to set up Sticky Web. Another Beam, and she knocks off Aurorus' Focus Sash, but Flash Cannon KOs before she can use Stealth Rock. That's okay, though.
Iron Scissor manages to be faster, and KOs with Iron Head.
I switch into Root Jr., who takes a Shadow Ball on the switch.
Alakazam uses Charge Beam and is hit with Mirror Coat, but both don't do much. Another Charge Beam still isn't effective, and Root Jr. uses Giga Drain. Predicting a potion, Root Jr. Toxic's, but Alakazam uses Shadow Ball instead. Huh. ZEL potions as Root Jr. recovers, which hey, that's not too bad. Then he strikes with Shadow Ball, and Mirror Coat finally KOs.
Predicting an Ice move, I switch to Aggron, who takes a Blizzard. Even though its not very effective, the high BP and a critical mean that Aggron is in the red.
He moves first to bring Glaceon to critical with Iron Head, and is KOed by another Blizzard. Welp.
ZEL potions and Rock Slide brings Glaceon right back down to critical. Another Rock Slide KOs.
I take a chance and use Acrobatics, which, powered up by a Flying Gem, OHKOs! Phew.
ZEL brings out Umbreon, who I didn't get a screenshot of. Huh. Acrobatics only does about a third of Umbreon's HP, and he strikes back hard with a critical Foul Play. Plume Knight is in Defeatist, so he U-turns out to Dame Helix, scoring a Critical.
Foul Play on the switch doesn't do much thanks to Dame Helix's low attack, and she Shell Smashes next turn, predicting another Foul Play. Another Foul Play takes Dame Helix to basically half HP, and Surf KOs.
Magnezone actually gets caught in the Sticky Web, since it doesn't have Levitate until the PULSE activates. Awesome. Dame Helix stays in to suicide, taking Magnezone to a little less than half HP with Surf, and being KOed by Discharge.
Rhino Knight actually moves faster then Magnezone thanks to Sticky Web, which I didn't expect at all. Hammer Arm, powered up by a Fighting Gem, KOs! Fuck yes!
I'm almost sad to see them go :/
All in all, less difficult than I anticipated. That only took one try, which I think is pretty incredible. Sticky Web is pretty good; I can understand why its used in competitive
Magnezone explodes, and when ZEL wakes up things are... different.
Spoiler
So he is ZEL no longer. Getting rid of Magnezone seems to have exorcised the spirits of Eve and Lumi from his brain. I guess that's another character death... well, sort of, anyway. He runs off to Agate. Meanwhile, we rescure Victoria, Arclight, and Adrienn. Adrienn seems to be fine, thanks to their Pokemon, which is a little odd, and Arclight... well... they took his eye. There's some nice character moments for Victoria, and I'm real happy about the changes and growth she's had.
We can now face Adrienn, but first we need to find them volunteers, which isn't too hard. Adrienn really wants for us to be Champion, which is fine, since this is a Pokemon game and becoming Champion is kinda the unspoken goal. It's finally time to take on the last boss of the game so far...
VS ADRIENN
Spoiler
Plume Knight strikes first with a gem-boosted Acrobatics, OHKOing Gardevoir (a necessity, as it knows Focus Blast and can mess up my whole team). Knock off gets rid of Granbull's Assault Vest, but he brings Plume Knight to critical with Play Rough. Adrienn brings out Mawile. Oh boy. I remember the first time I faced him, assuming that Mega Mawile would be his ace, and being super freaked out when it wasn't. I'm still pretty freaked out.
I didn't get a screen (I had faced Adrienn a few times by this point and was kinda heated), but Plume Knight uses Earth Power on Mawile but doesn't do much, while Kusanagi strikes Granbull with Cross Poison, bringing the bulldog to low yellow. Mawile KOs Plume Knight and Granbull strikes with Rock Slide, bringing Kusanagi to yellow. I send out Iron Scissor.
Adrienn Potions Granbull, which is a little odd, and Kusanagi Cross Poisons it again. Iron Scissor brings Mawile to low yellow with Superpower, and Mawile takes out Kusanagi with Iron Head. I bring out Rhino Knight.
Iron Scissor takes out Granbull with Iron Head, Mawile brings Rhino Knight to critical with an Iron Head of its own, and Rhino Knight KOs the monstrous Mawile with Hammer Arm.
Whimsicott Tailwinds, changing the field and boosting their speed. Togekiss KOs Rhino Knight with Aura Sphere, but Iron Scissor gets revenge by OHKOing Togekiss with Headsmash.
Whimsicott uses Dazzling Gleam, and then Florges KOs Iron Scissor. King Cold hits hard with Blizzard, OHKOing Whimsicott but not doing much damage to Florges. This is what I get for being heated and not grinding King Cold up to 78 like everyone else.
Welp, its a 2 on 1 now. Florges hits King Cold with Hidden Power, taking him to low yellow. King Cold replies with Frost Breath, but it doesn't do much, and Root Jr. fails a Mirror Coat. Then Florges KOs King Cold while Root Jr. Toxic's her.
Florges uses Dazzling Gleam, which is boosted by the field and does high damage. Luckily for me, this allows Mirror Coat to KO, no problem.
Damn right.
That battle... was a pain. Probably the hardest one in a while. Gardevoir's Focus Blast and Togekiss' Aura Sphere were both almost guaranteed OHKOs. Mega Mawile was as terrifying as ever, and it certainly didn't help to be weak to its main Steel STAB. It took a few tries to figure out a good team (Shuckle just isn't good in Doubles and was basically dead weight), and a few more to actually win. King Cold was instrumental here, as his Ice moves hit Whimsicott (and potentially Togekiss, if it was still around) hard, allowing Root Jr. to stall out Florges. Overall, I'm fairly happy with the end result, even if it required plenty of trial and error and even though everyone was KOed except Root Jr.
And that ends Episode 16! Sure, there's still some side content to do, but that isn't necessary to show off here. Honestly, this will probably be my last playthrough of Reborn for a while. During this playthrough I experienced some heavy burnout. I mean, Route 1 was always bad, but I even put off facing Ciel and taking on the Devon Corp. raid for as long as possible. Part of it is definitely stuff happening irl (which is part of the reason why my uploads have become less and less wordy), but I think a lot of it is that I've played this game a lot over the past 6 months... and I need a break.
I still love Pokemon though, so I think I'll end up playing some other fan games. You might see me in the Rejuvination forums in a bit, or maybe back here with a playthrough of a different fan game. I'm not really sure. Rest assured that when Episode 17 drops, I'll be back to finish it with both this run and my Fairy run
I've had a great time playing through this game, and I hope you've had a great time reading it
So I guess that's goodbye for now~
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Oh shit yeah you're right, Anorith has Rapid Spin. Idk if I ever used hazards against Shelly or whether she used Rapid Spin, but its cool to know that she has the ability to.
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I did a (mostly) fairy monotype, where I used mons from the Fairy Egg Group as well just to make the early game easier to handle. Even with Primarina as a starter, you won't have much in the very beginning. I recommend always having at least 1 Pokemon with Misty Terrain on your team, since it's great in Reborn. It boosts Pixilate's power, making Sylveon even more ridiculous, increases the power of many different Fairy attacks, boosts all Fairies' sp def, and increases Wish recovery.
I also liked having a fairy bulky Wish Passer, who typically had a status curing move and Misty Terrain as well. Aromatisse filled this job very well until I had access to Florges, which is just better. I think I eventually phased Florges out for Sylveon, but that's cause I went for a tankier Sylveon set since mine didn't have a useful Hidden Power and because moves like Shadow Ball aren't available in the game yet.
Other options that people haven't already mentioned include:
Mr. Mime. Does a good job until you get Gardevoir. Filter and Technician are both good abilities, and Mr. Mime was really helpful against Aya. He also has access to Wide Guard through the Move Tutor, and as Jess has shown, Charlotte can't stand Wide Guard and it helps out a lot in other Doubles circumstances.
Whimsicott is also a cool Pokemon, though I would take Azumarill as your mystery egg mon (assuming the choices stay the same in Episode 17). Whimsicott is an amazing stall Pokemon with plenty of options for Prankster. Subseed is my favorite, but Whimsicott can also learn Stun Spore and can be bred to have Memento.
Mawile is okay, but the main reason I'm putting it here is because it's one of your only options to do super effective damage in mirror match ups. If/when the Mega Ring is introduced, Mega Mawile is pretty friggin awesome as well.
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14 minutes ago, Mechathulhu said:
I actually have just discovered the majesty of sandbox mode myself, gonna make hours of work turn to dust in the wind.
It's pretty amazing
10/10 would recommend.
13 minutes ago, St0mpa said:But it is one of the best SR users.
That's true, but I'm gonna use Shuckle as my lead for the foreseeable future, so I don't need to double up on Stealth Rocks (the AI never seems to get rid of entry hazards anyway).
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On 8/27/2017 at 3:21 AM, St0mpa said:
I hope its in there as well. I am OK with it being hard to get just as long as it isn't anoyingly difficult to get.
Tyranitar @ Smooth RockAbility: Sand StreamEVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpDSassy Nature- Stealth Rock- Stone Edge- Pursuit- Ice Beam
That is my favorite set to run of T-tar. So tanky.
I'll probably put something there other than Stealth Rock, since I'm pretty sure every Pokemon I have can learn it
But yeah, bulky T-tar is just great.
On 8/27/2017 at 1:37 PM, Mechathulhu said:You know, I spent a lot of time before E16 came out EV training for my first time, I didn't care much back then for my IV's being too crazy high or anything, I just did a lot of breeding for shinies to pass the time. But the fact that Reborn had a counter for EV training made the headache of keeping the math in check non-existant. Either way, I believe it may have made my time in E16 much easier, despite it being as short as it was.
I think Reborn makes EV training easier, but without Sandbox Mode I just don't have the patience for it (even with items). Even on sped up mode, running around the tall grass for hours and hours is just something that I can't do. During my regular runs, I had a hard enough time grinding everyone to be level equivalent during the Circus arc. But that's more of an attention problem on my part haha
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6 hours ago, Mechathulhu said:
Somehow I thought Ciel would have been simpler than a down to the wire kind of battle with all Rock Pokemon, but in retrospect it did only take one battle so that definitely dropped me down many pegs
I might have been able to beat her cleanly if I put an Air Balloon on Root Jr., so he could bounce back her Hyper Voice. Noivern being faster than Archeops didn't help either, and it would have probably been better to save King Cold for Altaria (though an Air Balloon would have helped him out too). And don't be too hard on yourself! At least you got through it
The first time I played Episode 16, Charlotte wrecked me so bad I ended that run
I think part of the reason I'm doing so well is because I EV trained everyone (the first time I've done that in a game ever, thanks to Sandbox Mode), and that makes this part of the game much more manageable.
3 minutes ago, St0mpa said:Same.
I'm hoping it'll be in Episode 17, since one of its abilities is Sand Stream and the desert plays such a huge role... It'll probably be super difficult to get regardless, if Beldum is any indication. With Tyranitar, I'd finally have the best defensive core for Rock.
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Chapter 16: Splash Mountain
With Terra defeated, we can finally descend the massive waterfall. It seems like someone familiar notices us on the way down, too:
Spoiler
Titania was never a nice person, but you would think she might be a little grateful we even came after her at all. Also, she kills people. A lot of people. Jeez. Guess Hardy was right, huh? After making our way through the sewer level and its puzzles (with some barely disguised help from Taka), we uncover the source of the pollution: A PULSE Swalot hidden right under everyone's noses! Not that their noses would be able to tell, given how much the place must stink, but still. You know what that means!
VS PULSE SWALOT
SpoilerSo, funny story, this was actually one of the hardest battles I've had in the later portion of the game. Water Absorb and the boosts from the Murkwater field make Swalot super difficult to battle. I couldn't even Mirror Coat Sludge Wave, since the field gives it a partial water typing! (I guess I could have used an ability capsule, but oh well). After scrounging around in the sewer, I finally found the field readout for the Murkwater field, and learned it could be changed by either Blizzard or Whirlpool. I don't think I have anyone that can learn Whirlpool, but King Cold learns Blizzard at level 74, so I went back up the waterfall to grind a bit.
I lead with King Cold, who strikes first with a Gem-boosted Blizzard, which doesn't do much damage but does freeze the field over, turning it icy instead. Swalot retaliates with a Discharge, and after some exchanges of Hidden Powers and Discharge (and I think an Infestation), Swalot KOs King Cold.
Rhino Knight tanks a Sludge Wave to KO with Earthquake, which is lucky, since that breaks the ice and turns the field murky again. Phew.
Get outta here you joker.
With Swalot out of the way, we can cleanse the water and surf around. Awesome! So much changes in Reborn City while we're away, but it's nice that we actually helped change some of it too (I'd like to think our actions in the Water Treatment Center are why Azurine lake is azure again).
Back at the plot, Titania takes Amaria and leaves, but not before berating Taka for being a coward. Nevermind that without Taka's covert assistance, Beryl would be more overrun and the operation and Apophyll would have been successful. In order to make it look like he put up a fight, Taka begs us to fight him, and I agree. Screw Titania's absolutism; Taka is most valuable at his father's side.
VS TAKA
Spoiler
Klefki sets spikes, but is OHKOed by Rhino Knight's Earthquake.
I figure Huntail will strike with a water move, so I switch to Root Jr., who absorbs an Aqua Tail.
Huntail boosts with Shell Smash and would have been KOed by Giga Drain if not for its Focus Sash. Then, Huntail Baton Passes Shell Smash to Aerodactyl, who is brought to critical by another Giga Drain.
Rock Slide causes Root Jr. to flinch, so I recover after a second Rock Slide. After taking yet another Rock Slide, Root Jr. KOs the fossil (that I'll be able to get my hands on soon!) with yet another Giga Drain.
Huntail hits with Crunch thanks to its speed, before being KOed with Ancient Power.
Its a mirror match! But it's not going to stay that way for long. I switch into Rhino Knight (still kinda unsure why I did that, tbh), who takes a Seed Bomb.
Rhino Knight brings Cradily to critical with Hammer Arm and eats a second Seed Bomb. Another Seed Bomb KOs, so its up to Kusanagi.
Probably should have brought him out first. I forget what I used to revenge kill, probably X-scissor.
Gliscor hits hard with Earthquake, and Kusanagi whiffs a Rock Blast. You had one job!
I'm not entirely sure what happened next, but I'm assuming Kusanagi was KOed so that I could bring out King Cold.
King Cold KOs with something, probably Blizzard.
You should be used to getting rocked by now, bb
Again, didn't write down what moves I used, but Chatot isn't scary at this point in the game and King Cold definitely OHKOed with an Ice move.
No problem, buddy!
After taking his whipping like a good boy, Taka tells us that Team Meteor will likely just attack the mansion instead, and that we should get going. Man, he is just he most helpful person. But before we can leave, Shade shows up to remind us that the images he showed us before were lies (well, at least 2 of them were).
Spoiler
Ah, you have an affectation for alliteration.
We saw Corey's death and remains with our own eyes, and Kiki didn't come back from the dead either (unless that Misdreavus counts), so I'm assuming that means Lin isn't going to die. Or, at least, won't die in the way Shade predicted. Unless, of course, there's some twist involving Shade having taken Corey's body (I know there's a considerable debate over whether "Corey," Shade's Gengar, is actually Corey's spirit or just the Haunter he used, though Sun and Moon's Pokedex entry for Gengar would seem to support the former, though that entry wasn't around when that plot point was developed so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).
After a nice rest and a ton of plot, we team up with Florinia to take on the douchebag duo themselves, Fern and Blake!
VS FERN AND BLAKE
Spoiler
Haxorus hits Hippowdon with Poison Jab, and Walrein hits hard with Blizzard, KOing Hippowdon. Rhino Knight OHKOs Walrein in return (with Stone Edge or Hammer Arm, I'm assuming). Flo sends out Torterra and Blake sends out Jynx.
Jynx brings Rhino Knight to a magic pixel with energy ball, Haxorus hits Torterra with Poison Jab, and Torterra OHKOs Jynx with Crunch. Rhino Knight KOs Haxorus with a Stone Edge meant for Jynx. Fern sends out Serperior and Blake brings out Mamoswine.
I don't want to risk a switch, so Rhino Knight prepares to die. He gets KOed by Leaf Storm, and Mamoswine KOs Torterra. I bring out Kusanagi, and Flo brings out Tropius (super dumb move there, AI).
Serperior hits Kusanagi with Giga Drain and Mamoswine OHKOs Tropius with Icicle Crash. Luckily, Kusanagi gets a little bit of revenge by KOing Serperior with X-scissor. Flo sends out Ferrothorn, while Fern sends out Krookodile.
Krookodile and Mamoswine team up to take out Kusanagi, and Ferrothorn hits Mamoswine hard with Gyro Ball. I bring out Root Jr.
Krookodile attacks Ferrothorn with Power Whip while Mamoswine sets Stealth Rocks (weird choice). This allows Root Jr. to KO Mamoswine with Giga Drain, and Ferrothorn OHKOs Krookodile with Power Whip. Fern brings out Scizor and Blake brings out Weavile.
Weavile hits Ferrothorn with Knock Off, bringing it to critical, and Scizor KOs the barbed plant with Superpower. Root Jr. hits Weavile with Ancient Power and Flo sends out Breloom.
Weavile hits Breloom with Ice Shard
And Breloom responds by KOing Weavile with Drain Punch. Scizor's Bug Bite brings Breloom to critical, and Root Jr. hits Scizor with Ancient Power. Blake sends out Rotom.
Rotom hits first with Blizzard, KOing Breloom and taking Root Jr. to half, and Scizor brings Root Jr. to critical with Bug Bite. Root Jr. reflects Rotom's Blizzard back at it with Mirror Coat, OHKOing it. Blake sends out Froslass and Flo brings out Cradily.
Double Cradily squad! Froslass is super speedy and KOs Root Jr. immediately with Ice Beam. Scizor strikes Cradily with Superpower, and Cradily hits back with Rock Slide. I decide to bring out Plume Knight.
Plume Knight outspeeds Froslass, and Rock Slide KOs both. Froslass's Cursed Body disables Rock Slide, however. Fern brings out Rhyperior, but its a 2 on 1.
Honestly there isn't much to this last part of the battle except for Nero doing work. Eventually Roserade goes down.
Fern's feelings are like ceramic: tough but brittle. All these losses are eroding his sanity.
Fern gives his sister a "reason you suck" speech and leaves, and it seems to have had a profound effect on her. This moment of weakness allows Sirius to strike her with Seviper. Not to fear! Julia is here! And we get to team up with her against the true antagonist of the game: Orderly John.
VS ORDERLY JOHN AND HIS HENCHMAN SOLARIS
SpoilerElectrode uses Foul Play on Scizor
and Scizor responds by U-turning out into Gyarados. Whiscash hits Rhino Knight with Waterfall, and the brave rock warrior OHKOs Gyarados with Stone Edge. Solaris brings out Tyranitar. Mmm... Tyranitar... How I long for you to be on my team...
Electrode hits Whiscash with Foul Play and is KOed by Tyranitar's Superpower, though Solaris' Pokemon is caught in the Aftermath and takes damage. Whiscash hits with Waterfall again, and Rhino Knight KOs Tyranitar with Hammer Arm. Julia brings out Eelektross while Solaris sends in Scizor again.
I switch Rhino Knight out for Root Jr., who takes a Superpower from Scizor and Absorbs a Waterfall from Whiscash. Eelektross KOs Scizor with Flamethrower, so Solaris brings out
EXCAKILLExcadrill.Excadrill hits hard with X-scissor, taking Root Jr. to critical, while Whiscash wastes another Waterfall on him. Eelektross brings Excadrill to critical with Flamethrower, and Root Jr. KOs Whiscash with Giga Drain. Johnny boy brings out Kecleon. Excadrill then hits Root Jr. with X-scissor again, but faints from Life Orb damage, while Eelektross hits Kecleon with Flamethrower and ends up burning it. Subsequently, Kecleon's Rock Slide doesn't do much, but it does flinch Root Jr. Solaris sends out Mandibuzz.
I switch Root Jr. out for Nero, who takes a Foul Play on the switch, and Eelektross hits Kecleon with Giga Drain. Kecleon uses Rock Slide again, but Nero dodges it.
Nero OHKOs Mandibuzz with Head Smash, and Eelektross finishes Kecleon off with Giga Drain. Solaris brings out Garchomp, and John sends out Slowbro.
Nero outspeeds Garchomp, hitting hard with Dragon Claw and bringing Kiki's killer to low yellow. Unfortunately, Nero is then KOed by Dragon Rush. Eelektross hits Slowbro with Volt Switch, and Julia sends out Rotom-Fan, who is burned by Slowbro's Flamethrower. I send out Plume Knight.
Plume Knight finishes Garchomp off with Acrobatics, while Rotom hits Slowbro with a not very effective Hidden Power (possibly meant for Garchomp), and Slowbro hits Plume Knight with Scald, bringing him into defeatist range.
Plume Knight U-turns into Root Jr., while Julia finishes Slowbro off with Volt Switch and brings out Bronzong. John sends out Magnezone.
After an embarrasing about of turns, we finally take out Magnezone and Eelektross, and the day is saved. I didn't even get screens of this, cause double teams aren't that fun to watch.
Orderly John just wants a gold sticker.
Put some respeck on my name.
Those battles were more annoying then actually difficult. My plan to focus down Blake and 2v1 Fern kinda didn't work, but it turned out okay in the end. Focusing on Solaris' Pokemon was far easier, though that battle was MUCH longer. Capturing and writing summaries for these double battles are so tiring, since generally at least one Pokemon faints per turn. Sheesh.
Anyway, with his boss defeated, Sirius brings out Chandelure to burn the house down. Team Meteor are a bunch of sore losers. He also says that this wasn't the first house he's burned down to get one of the keys, so I'm assuming he's responsible for the death of the elder Belroses and not Charlotte.
We also learn a little bit more about why Florinia acts like a robot, though its not very clear. Apparently Titania betrayed Florinia or something.
Spoiler
I hope we learn more about this in future episodes (or at least get more hints).
Amaria wakes up and has lost her memory, pushing Titania even further to the edge. In order to protect the Sapphire bracelet and not deal with Amaria's amnesia, Titania flies off to her gym, which is in the desert.
With all that plot out of the way, we can finally head back to the circus and take on the last member of the Triumvirate: Ciel. This will be my team:
Spoiler
Everything is pretty self-explanatory. Golem's berry is there to keep Togekiss from paralyzing him with Thunder Wave.
VS CIEL
Spoiler
Togekiss hits with Air Slash, which doesn't do much, allowing the Boulder to set up Stealth Rocks. Due to the insane Flinch chance Togekiss has, I decide to just Explode. Unfortunately, the Boulder is KOed by Aura Sphere first. Darn.
After doing some math, I decide that neutral Acrobatics will be better here than super effective Rock Slide, thanks to the boost from the field. Acrobatics brings Togekiss to critical HP, and Togekiss responds with another Aura Sphere, which brings Archeops like 5 points away from half health. Dodged a bullet with that one. Ciel heals and I KO with another Acrobatics.
It's another mirror match! Plume Knight strikes first! And KOs the opposing fossil with Rock Slide.
I pick Rock Slide again, but Noivern outspeeds Plume Knight and KOs with Dragon Pulse. I bring out King Cold in response.
Noivern attacks with Heat Wave, but it doesn't do much. Blizzard is an easy OHKO.
Gliscor is outsped and OHKOed by Blizzard.
Nothing feels better than half damage from Stealth Rocks. Ciel potions the Stealth Rock damage away, but another Blizzard brings Talonflame to half health again. Talonflame retaliates with Flare Blitz, bringing both King Cold and itself to critical thanks to the recoil. Blizzard KOs.
Unless its me and you in position 52, I'm not interested. I'm a more down to earth person than you are.
Altaria moves first and Mega Evolves, KOing King Cold with Earthquake. Welp.
Altaria outspeeds Rhino Knight and OHKOs with a field-boosted pixilated Hyper Voice. Huh.
Dame Helix is outsped and brought to critical by another Earthquake. She responds with Aurora Beam, strengthened by the Ice Gem, which brings Altaria to critical. Figuring Ciel will heal, I Shell Smash (and even if Ciel doesn't heal, Dame Helix will get KOed either way). Luckily, I predict correctly and Ciel potions. Now at +3 speed thanks to Weak Armor and Shell Smash, Dame Helix outspeeds and brings Altaria back down to critical with Aurora Beam. Unfortunately, another Earthquake KOs.
Its up to Root Jr. to finish it off. Earthquake doesn't do much to my wall, but then again, neither does Root Jr.'s Ancient Power. Another Earthquake, another Ancient Power, and Altaria si KOed.
A bit down to the wire at the end there, but thankfully I was able to make a comeback. If I had lost, I would probably have switched Dame Helix for Kusanagi and given some of my Pokemon Air Balloons. Over all, not too difficult. Everything except Mega Altaria went down super easy.
Alright everyone, that's it for now! Our next chapter will be our last (well, at least until Episode 17 drops). See you then!
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Chapter 15: Putting Terra in the Dirt
With Charlotte defeated, we can proceed to Ametrine! Exploring under the ice leads to an unsurprising discovery: The ice wall is the result of a PULSE machine hooked up to a rather sad Avalugg. Sorry buddy, but we gotta end your suffering.
VS PULSE AVALUGG
Spoiler
Plume Knight hits with something but gets absolutely rekt by a OHKO. I bring out Nero, who hits with a Head Smash but is taking down by Freeze Dry.
I decide to send out Rhino Knight, who hits with Earthquake, breaking the ice and thus weakening a lot of Avalugg's moves.
More Earthquakes do good damage, and Rhino Knight lives 2 more Freeze Dries. He is KOed before he can take down the monster, however.
I bring out Kusanagi, who finishes it off with Rock Blast.
With that out of the way, we can make the ascent to Ametrine City. There's a lotta plot up here. Shelly and I team up again, and we learn ZEL's tragic backstory. We also run into an asshole, who introduces himself like this:
Spoiler
What a cunning and convincing nickname.
This is Blake, the guy who adopted Heather. Blake is basically the same person as Fern, except we don't see his fall to the dark side. After refusing to give him the ring, Blake steals it and runs away. With nothing else to do, Shelly and I head outside, only to run into Cal. He's undergone some major changes offscreen, including changing his hair:
Spoiler
Gotta admit, that line's cool as heck.
After possibly the best puzzle in the entire game, we find a secret passageway that leads to a shed. With help from Heather the Yanmega and Heather the person, the door is ripped off and Shelly reunites with her best friend. Of course, the reunion has to be cut short, since the Meteors are coming to pick Blake up at the top of the mountain, and we can't let him get away with that ring!
We team up with Cal for the first round of double battles, and then get partnered with Shelly later on. Shelly's nicknamed more of her Pokemon, including Cain the Scolipede, Anna the Venomoth, and Noel the Vivillon. I absolutely adore that detail and all the character development Shelly gets in this part. It's great. Anyways, we head into the mountain only to be stopped by Aster, who has come to fight us for the Waterfall machine. Guess we don't have a choice, then.
VS ASTER
SpoilerI lead with Dame Helix, who OHKOs Solrock right out the gate with Surf. Aster sends out Golurk.
Dame Helix brings the golem to critical HP with Surf, but is hit hard and confused by Dynamic Punch. Figuring Aster will heal, I switch to Root Jr.
After much confusion, another Potion from Aster, and a lot of Giga Drain spam, Golurk finally goes down. Aster brings out Magmortar.
I decide to switch out as Magmortar uses Heat Wave, dealing little damage to Rhino Knight but changing the field to a watery one.
Unfortunately for me, Magmortar outspeeds and KOs Rhino Knight with Focus Blast. I bring out Dame Helix.
Dame Helix outspeeds to KO with a field-boosted Surf.
Rhyperior is slow as heck and is easily OHKOed by Surf. Aster sends in Electivire.
My plan was to leave Dame Helix in to suicide, giving someone else a safe switch. To my surprise, she went first and OHKOed Electivire with Surf. Huh. Didn't expect that. Aster brings out Milotic.
Dame Helix attacks with Hidden Power Grass, but it doesn't do much damage, and she's KOed by Scald. I send out Root Jr.
Unfortunately, he's outsped and KOed. Welp.
It's all on Plume Knight now, who is able to KO with a blisteringly fast Acrobatics.
With that, Aster gives us Waterfall:
Spoiler
Now we get to head up the mountain to face Blake. This was my team:
Spoiler
Pretty standard items, but oh well.
With that, let's take this douchebag on!
VS BLAKE
Spoiler
Plume Knight starts off the battle with Rock Slide, boosted by both the field and his Rock Gem, which OHKOs Rotom and Jynx. Blake brings out Weavile and Vanilluxe.
I apparently missed a screenshot of that, but oh well. Weavile's priority Ice Shard is a OHKO on Plume Knight, and Vanilluxe hits Rhino Knight with Freeze Dry. Despite the type berry, it still does good damage. Rhino Knight's Earthquake brings Vanilluxe to low yellow and Weavile to red, and I bring out Kusanagi.
Blake Hyper Potions both his Pokemon, but Kusanagi is able to OHKO Weavile with X-scissor, while Rhino Knight OHKOs Vanilluxe with Stone Edge. Blake sends out his last two, Walrein and Froslass.
Frolass is speedy and hits first with Blizzard, KOing Rhino Knight and doing heavy damage to Kusanagi. Kusanagi strikes with another X-scissor, but its a misplay since I forgot Bug wasn't very effective against Ghost, and Walrein KOs Kusanagi with Avalanche. I bring out King Cold and Root Jr.
Froslass hits King Cold with Thunderbolt, while King Cold strikes Walrein with Freeze Dry for neutral damage. Walrein decides to Stockpile, so Root Jr.'s Mirror Coat fails. Froslass continues to hit King Cold with Thunderbolt, and Freeze-Dry brings Walrein to critical HP. Avalanche brings King Cold to low yellow, and Root Jr. fails another Mirror Coat since I suck. Then Froslass brings King Cold to a magic pixel of health with Shadow ball, allowing the sauropod to finally KO Walrein with Freeze Dry, and Root Jr. brings Froslass to critical with Ancient Power.
Froslass finishes King Cold
but is KOed in turn by another Ancient Power.
It's nice to know you speak only in outdated memes.
Blake decides not to give us the ring, because, as Shelly discovers, bad guys lie, cheat, and don't have to follow any unspoken rule about that. Luckily, Heather and Cal are able to keep Blake off the helicopter, and Cal takes the ring and gives it back to Heather. Well, at least that was good. Also, there's no PULSE machine at the top of the mountain, meaning that Terra lied to us about the signal's location....
After a quick trip to the Pokecenter, we head back to the Circus and confront her. She is... possibly the worst spy in existence:
Spoiler
I guess I... appreciate your honesty???
She also manages to hack herself into the computer, and Samson can send us in. This part of the game almost makes up for how annoying Terra is. Almost.
So we make our way through the digital world, and finally encounter a big bad boss MissingNo.
VS MEWTWO
SpoilerAt this point, you know the deal. I lead with Root Jr., who eats an overpowered Psystrike to KO with Mirror Coat.
Get rekt.
Terra is gonna be interesting, so take a look at my team:
Spoiler
AIR BALLOONS FOR EVERYONE! Sticky Web should make speedy threats like Excadrill and Garchomp more manageable, and hopefully King Cold's Snow Warning can be used to counter Hippowdon's Sandstorm (though it raises my Special Def., so sand might be a good thing).
Without further ado, it's time to take on the Queen o' B00ty herself!
VS T3RR4
Spoiler
GIOVANNI hits Shell Squire with Flamethrower, and is Encored. Another Flamethrower pop's her Sitrus berry, and she sets Sticky Web. Shell Squire hits with a critical Knock Off, getting rid of GIOVANNI's Life Orb, and finishes by Biding, bringing GIOVANNI to critical HP before she is KOed. You did good, kid. I bring out Dame Helix.
Dame Helix Shell Smashes, since I figure Terra will heal. My prediction is correct, and Dame Helix OHKOs GIOVANNI with Surf.
None of these can stand up to Surf's power.
Unaware SWAGSIRE kinda scares me, so I switch out for Root Jr. I guess I could have hit with Hidden Power Grass, but I'm not sure how strong that would've been.
Root Jr. eats a Scald on the switch. Next turn, Giga Drain is a OHKO. Maybe Hidden Power Grass would have been enough...
Terra plz.
RAWRCHOMP hits with Flamethrower, popping Root Jr.'s Air Balloon. Root Jr. hits with Giga Drain, but it does basically no damage. Welp. I use Mirror Coat next, and Rawrchomp uses Flamethrower again, and it does pretty good damage. Terra uses a potion, and then Draco Meteor's next turn. It only brings Root Jr. to red (!!!), allowing him to KO RAWRCHOMP with another Mirror Coat.
And with that, the nightmare is finally over...
Whew. That was fairly intense towards the end (at least when I was playing it). Shell Squire was the absolute MVP, making sure her Nidoking wasn't as powerful and bringing him to critical, allowing Dame Helix to boost. I may have been able to sweep with Surf even without the boost, but it certainly helped. Maybe I could have kept Dame Helix in against Quagsire and used Hidden Power Grass, but it was risk I wasn't willing to take. All in all, I beat her on my first try and am pretty pleased with that outcome.
Until next time!!
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On 8/22/2017 at 4:33 PM, Neco said:
I knew from my last run it would be easy for you. My Archeops and Gigalith destroyed most of her Team even though I did not EV train them ^^
I think I'm still scarred from my one regular run when Charlotte just completely walled me, so I expect her to be The Worst every time I face her
On 8/23/2017 at 0:25 AM, Mechathulhu said:Finally caught up with everything in this monotype so far, great work @Orasha I always thought a Rock Monotype would actually be not as difficult as anticipated. I honestly can't wait to see how you do against Terra. I have my own ideas as for what to expect, but I hope it goes as well as I think it might. With the leaders that are left in the episode I can't say I fear many of their types due to a fair number of useful Pokemon in your team rotation. I'll continue to read as you continue to update. Best of luck
Aw thanks
Terra is coming, this next installment is gonna be a long one I think the main battle I'm worried about for the future is PULSE Magnezone (and maybe Adrienn, cause Mega Mawile is stronk). I guess Victoria's team might be bothersome as well, but I have good fighting checks. I'm surprised how well this turned out, tbh. Due to a lack of legendaries like Terrakion or Diancie, and megas like Mega Aggron, I thought this would be a lot harder.
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On 8/20/2017 at 10:47 PM, St0mpa said:
Maybe.
Your secret's safe with me
On 8/21/2017 at 5:04 AM, HongaarseBeer said:Woah, that Charlotte fight though
Every time I beat her easily I'm shocked
On 8/21/2017 at 5:50 AM, Neco said:Rock Slide completely destroys Charlotte. Especially if you have a fast and hard hitter like Archeops and Stealth Rock support^^
I was really surprised tbh. I thought one of them would outspeed me and everything would be more difficult from there.
Myriad Excesses: A Slaanesh Themed Run of Rejuvination
in Pokemon Rejuvenation
Posted
Chapter 3: A Whole Lot of Talking
After defeating the Rift monstrosity, everything fades to black... and not in a fun way. It seems as though we might be dead, until a voice pierces the darkness.
It's Melia, who has rescued us
thanks to plot convenience. She decides to try something risky: having her Togepi use Metronome and hoping that it teleports us outta here.Maybe one day you'll say that to me
Togepi manages to teleport us into Gearen Laboratory, where we get to eavesdrop on Dr. Jenner and the woman he was talking to him on the monitor, Madelis. A lot of plot happens, so I'll just sum it up below:
It turns out we were right and they were up to no good. Who coulda thought. Who is Madame X though? Maybe I'll be able to turn her into Madame XXX
I blame T3RR4 for that oneOh snap!
Melia bursts in and things go... about as well as you'd expect.
Melia spills the beans that we defeated Team Xen in the forest
I mean he did pretty good and that Gyarados made me squirm but yes. Madelis decides to fight, but Melia teleports both herself and the Team Xen woman away, leaving me with Jenner. Apparently the Snag Machine was made specifically for Melia as a way to protect herself against Team Xen's shenanigans. Sorry I kinda took it. Oops.
And then that super ominous Gothitelle shows up... and it talks! I want one...
Okay apparently its her owner speaking through her or something. Psychic Pokemon are weird. She offers us some foreshadowing:
And then goes on her way. I'm not gonna let some mildly attractive Pokemon's psychic telephone powers tell me what to do!
With all that out of the way, we can finally take on Venam, our first gym leader! The first time I face her it... doesn't go well. I decide to do some side content (like finding out her secret gym graveyard, though the only thing there is a Seviper egg and that's not really useful to me). Since she gave me so much trouble, I decide to grind Euphoria and Heartslayer up to level 20 so they evolve, and then common candy them back down to 18. Hopefully the increased stats will be good enough against her.
And so, this ended up being my team for our rematch:
Everyone holds a Pecha berry except Zarakynel, who has an Oran Berry. That will hopefully mean less poison for us.
Ah yessss, Slaanesh vs Poison, the favored type of one of my enemies, Nurgle. This should be interesting.
Psybeam is a OHKO. Take that, you Nurglite scum!
There's nothing Kyriss can do against Alolan Grimer, so I switch her out for Zarakynel, who takes a Fire Punch on the switch.
Zarakynel takes plenty of Fire Punches and retaliates with Double Kicks until Grimer is defeated, and Venam used a potion on it as well. She brings out Stunky.
I leave Zara in, and Stunky is a bit annoying to take down since it uses Taunt. Zara gets Venam to use another Potion, and ends up taking Stunky out as well, eventually.
If only you had Toxapex... Anyways, I switch back to Kyriss since Zarakynel can't really do anything vs Mareanie. She takes a Scald on the switch.
Psybeam is a OHKO.
Whirlipede is hit hard by Psybeam, and brings Kyriss to low yellow with Bug Bite. Luckily, Kyriss outspeeds and KOs with another Psybeam.
Oh I'll do more then just push~
Psybeam does pretty good damage, but thanks to Seviper's Berry its back up to about half health. Venam's kiss ends Kyriss's sweep.
The goal here was to KO with Confusion, but Seviper is faster and OHKOs Heartslayer.
I bring out Bun, who eventually defeats the snake with Quick Attacks
Shouldn't I be saying that to you...?
After getting the badge, Venam wants to go look for Melia, but that requires Rock Smash... which she doesn't have. Apparently one of the gang leaders has it. Wonderful. Venam is also a little distrustful of our... intentions concerning Melia.
...both?
After leaving the gym, we encounter the mad Dr Jenkel, who can return us to our dreams. It looks like we can replay the lead up to any further Rift sections through this mechanic, presumably to grind EXP off the meteor grunts or to catch Shadow Pokemon we didn't get the first time? I'm honestly not sure what the point of this is, though it'll probably be important later.
I focus on bedroom intricacies that happen before you sleep, old man.
We also get roped into collecting Zygarde cells for a sidequest, though I'm not sure how diligent I'll be about finding them. Are there any rewards other than Zygarde? Because that's not a Pokemon I can use.
I also stop by Venam's house and hang out with her mom.
This gets us a Poison Barb and a Rejuvination-exclusive TM: Poison Sweep! It immediately goes on Zarakynel.
So we defeat the gang leader, Karrina, and get inducted into their super-secret hideout (where they spy on people and beat up those who break the rules? They feel more like an underground police force then anything else). They tell us they're doing an operation at Amethyst cave, which is pretty convenient since that's where Melia probably is. It's time to hop on the train and head to Route 2...