Hardcore Punk Rock (A Pokemon Reborn Hardcore Poison-type Monotype run)

[Lord Chespin]

Update #10: Operation Desert Storm

Well, Florina was certainly a hassle, but the jury's still out on whether or not she was more annoying than difficult. I led with Pile o' Crud, and Florina led with Cacnea. Pile o' Crud made it flinch with an acid spray, then took it down with a sludge! So far, so good... Florina then sent out her Grotle, and I sent out Snek. Snek paralyzed it with a glare, lowered its defense with a screech, and did heavy damage with a bite, but ultimately fainted from sand tomb damage. I sent out Hecate next, and she managed to finish off the Grotle with two slashes! Up next came Florina's Tropius. I kept Hecate on the field, and MY GOD STOP HARVESTING SITRUS BERRIES. (cough) Um, sorry. Anyway, with some help from tons of healing items, Hecate managed to eventually whittle the Tropius' health down to nothing with poison damage and slashes. Up next came Florina's Breloom, so I sent Pile o' Crud back out again. Sadly, he got put to sleep and taken out by leech seed damage, but he did manage to get off an acid spray, allowing Pile o' Gunk to come in, tank two mach punches, and finish off the thing with two sludges, making Florina waste her last super potion in the process! Up next came the most annoying Pokemon on her team: Ferroseed. I kept Pile o' Gunk on the field, and spammed first mud-slap until the Ferroseed's accuracy was nothing, then unleashed about seven mud bombs, ultimately doing enough damage to make it faint. Finally came Florina's ace, the first overleveled Pokemon in this entire run: Cradily. I sent out Hecate again, and despite being overleveled, she managed to get off two screeches before fainting, allowing Cain to swoop in and take it down with two double kicks! ...Kind of anticlimactic... Oh, well. And so, Hemlock earns the Canopy Badge, and makes her way to the Jasper and Beryl Wards to challenge the next gym!

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 25

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 26

Snek (Male) - Lv. 25

Pile o' Gunk (Male) - Lv. 26

Cain (Male) - Lv. 26

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 25

Edited September 9, 2015 by supermario79411

[Lord Chespin]

Update #11: The Reluctant Meteor

Well, Taka was kinda crazy powerful, but he wasn't too too bad. I led with Cain, and Taka led with Lileep. That's a first for this game... it didn't give him a Cradily at this level... anyway, Cain unleashed several focus-energy-boosted double kicks, and after a bitter struggle and two super potions on Taka's side, Cain managed to hold on with just one hit point and took the polyp down with two final critical-hit double kicks! With the Lileep down, Taka sent out his... Gligar. Well, so much for the game being relatively generous. I sent out Snek, who managed to paralyze the Gligar, tank several quick attacks (it never used acrobatics, for some reason), set up several screeches, and end the Gligar with two crunches! Taka's Chatot came out next, and it used... BOOMBURST?! Crud. Fortunately, I had switched out to Cain, who took the fall while I healed Snek. Snek came back out and paralyzed it with a glare, then unleashed a crunch before fainting. With Snek down, I sent out Hecate, who screeched at it before fainting, and Poison Oak, who took it down with a take down and a razor leaf. With Chatot KO'd, Taka finally decided to pull out his mission's keystone and unleashed the mighty PULSE Tangrowth! I sent out Pile o' Crud, and he lowered the Tangrowth's special defense to ridiculously low levels while the Tangrowth set up a growth and unleashed a... thundershock? ._. ...Am I missing something here? Anyway, Pile o' Crud fainted to a sludge bomb and a giga drain, but at least did some damage with sludge before he went down. I then sent out Randomus, and he did serious damage with a mighty psybeam, tanked a thundershock, and ended the Tangrowth with one last psybeam! And so... wait... he has a Klefki left?! But I beat the Tangrowth! The batte should be over! (sigh) Anyway, Randomus managed to paralyze it with a stun spore, but went down pretty fast afterwards. Poison Ivy came back out, though, and set up a leech seed and began spamming razor leaf. After a few turns (and some help from a chocolate ice cream), Posion Oak managed to take it down, ending the fight! Onward to the Beryl Ward!

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 28

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 26

Snek (Male) - Lv. 28

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 27

Cain (Male) - Lv. 27

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 27

Edited September 9, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

You don't know how lucky you are that Cacnea got KO'd so easily. Literally that thing is the bane of my existence when it sets up triple spikes due to bad luck. Anyways, I know Cradily is so anticlimatic. It has its old moveset, but we've all been at it so long it seems easy and we know what to expect.

As for the thundershock, iirc, that's what Pulse Tangrowth used to have. Pulse Pokemon can have irregular moves, but I didn't want to make it T-bolt because that'd be insanely OP for that fight. And...it had Boomburst? Well...that must've been fun. Just an FYI, rescue all the cops if you want to face the harder Corey as there are two completely different teams.

[Lord Chespin]

You don't know how lucky you are that Cacnea got KO'd so easily. Literally that thing is the bane of my existence when it sets up triple spikes due to bad luck. Anyways, I know Cradily is so anticlimatic. It has its old moveset, but we've all been at it so long it seems easy and we know what to expect.

As for the thundershock, iirc, that's what Pulse Tangrowth used to have. Pulse Pokemon can have irregular moves, but I didn't want to make it T-bolt because that'd be insanely OP for that fight. And...it had Boomburst? Well...that must've been fun. Just an FYI, rescue all the cops if you want to face the harder Corey as there are two completely different teams.

Oh, I did. And I've got good news and bad news.

The good news? I got Tentacool from my Mystery egg! Yay!

The bad news? I'm completely stuck on the Taka-ZEL fight. I just don't think that I have enough firepower to take on both of them and their five-Pokemon teams. Got any tips for me?

[Commander]

Actually, they both only have four this fight. Inconsistent...maybe, but it's more or less the same fight as before. My advice it to take either Taka or Zel out then 2v1 against them. Worse comes to worse you can grind to about 30-32 range to defeat them. If you have a toxic spikes user, set them up at the start and take a defensive approach.

Espeon is your biggest enemy so make sure you can take that thing down fast. Once Zel is out of the way, it shouldn't be too bad (Taka is no where near as scary as he was in the forest). Venusaur will come in handy in this fight with sleep powder as well. Literally, do whatever you can to keep him alive until one of the two are down. Also, bring a lot of Super potions.

[Lord Chespin]

Actually, they both only have four this fight. Inconsistent...maybe, but it's more or less the same fight as before. My advice it to take either Taka or Zel out then 2v1 against them. Worse comes to worse you can grind to about 30-32 range to defeat them. If you have a toxic spikes user, set them up at the start and take a defensive approach.

Espeon is your biggest enemy so make sure you can take that thing down fast. Once Zel is out of the way, it shouldn't be too bad (Taka is no where near as scary as he was in the forest). Venusaur will come in handy in this fight with sleep powder as well. Literally, do whatever you can to keep him alive until one of the two are down. Also, bring a lot of Super potions.

Thanks for the help! I actually just assumed they had five Pokemon because Taka still had his Gligar... sorry about that...

Anyway, the next update may be kind of delayed, because I'm going on Vacation from tomorrow to Sunday. I'll try to keep it updated, though!

Edited September 11, 2015 by supermario79411

[Lord Chespin]

Update #12: The Battle of Beryl Ward

Thanks for the tips Commander; once I knew what I was doing, it was a lot easier. I led with Snek and Pile o' Crud, and Taka and ZEL led with Lileep and Glaceon. Despite both of them getting confused by Lileep, Snek managed to paralyze Glaceon with a glare, lowered its defenses with a screech, and then unleashed several crunches; Pile o' Crud, meanwhile, set up two layers of toxic spikes, then unleashed a sludge bomb, ending the Glaceon! ZEL sent out their Espeon next, and I had Pile o' Crud use his last turn alive to heal Snek with a chocolate ice cream, while Snek unleashed a mighty crunch. Snek fainted the next turn from a psybeam, but Hecate (who came out next) managed to take it down with a slash! Next up came ZEL's Jolteon, and I sent out Cain to avenge Snek. Cain set up a focus energy while Hecate got off one last screech before fainting, allowing Cain to do massive damage with a horn attack. ZEL healed Jolteon with a super potion, but Randomus (who had evolved into a Venomoth) managed to take him down with Cain's help! All that remained on ZEL's team was their Umbreon, and I unleashed Hell on it with a double kick and a leech life; to my horror, however, it just shrugged off the attacks and made Cain drowsy with a yawn! Undeterred, I switched out for Poison Oak, while Randomus put Umbreon to sleep with a sleep powder. After a few leech lives and razor leaves, the goddamned damage sponge finally went down, leaving only Taka. Lileep went down fast to a razor leaf and a psybeam, so Taka sent out his Gligar. I quickly had Randomus put him to sleep with a sleep powder, and Poison Oak set up a leech seed. Taka tried healing it with a super potion, but it still went down quite fast. Taka decided to stop messing around and sent out his ace, Chatot, but I just did what I did to Gligar: outspeed it and put it to sleep with Radomus, set up a leech seed with Poison Oak, then wail on it with take downs and psybeams. All that remained was the PULSE Tangrowth, but it got confused from a psybeam by Randomus and hit itself in the face twice, allowing Poison Oak and Randomus to take it down quite fast! With the Beryl Ward returned to normal, the mysterious overseer of the PULSE Tangrowth project is caught... and shock-horror, it's Corey, the next gym leader! Time to chase him down and get my badge!

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 30

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 29

Snek (Male) - Lv. 29

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 31

Cain (Male) - Lv. 29

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 29

Edited September 11, 2015 by supermario79411

[Lord Chespin]

Update #13: I Never Asked For This

Well, Corey was easier than he was on most of my previous runs, although that may have been because my mono-poison team wasn't affected by his field. I led with Poison Oak, and Corey led with Quilfish. Posion Oak got slammed with a Venoshock, but tanked it with tons of health to spare and put the Quilfish to sleep. He then set up a leech seed and began spamming razor leaf; the Quilfish woke up, but all it was able to do was fire off a bubblebeam that (despite the toxic air powering it up) barely did anything to Poison Oak, who then took it down with a critical-hit razor leaf and leech seed damage. Corey sent out his Swalot next, so I sent out Pile o' Crud. Pile o' Crud went down fast to a venoshock and two ice beams, but he did manage to fire off three acid sprays, allowing Randomus to swoop in and finish it off with a single psybeam! Corey then sent out what was arguably his trickiest Pokemon for me to counter: Skuntank. I switched out to Snek, and he paralyzed it with a glare, then tanked two night slashes while firing off three screeches before fainting to a third night slash. Hecate came out swinging with a slash, tanked a flamethrower, and finished off her evolved form with a slash (although she fainted in the process thanks to aftermath damage). Corey then sent out his Nidorina, and I sent out Poison Oak again. Poison Oak did exactly what he did to Quilfish: put it to sleep with a sleep powder, set up a leech seed, and spam razor leaf. Unfortunately, Nidoqueen woke up a turn later and fired off an icy wind... but amazingly, it missed! This bought just enough time for Poison Oak to heal up enough to survive a second icy wind and put the Nidoqueen back to sleep. By the time it woke up again, Poison Oak had already made Corey waste one of his super potions, and it only got off a bite before Poison Oak took it down. With Nidoqueen down, Corey sent out his Scolipede, and I sent Randomus back out. Randomus dodged a rock tomb, put the Scolipede to sleep, and did massive damage with a psybeam; to my horror, however, Scolipede woke up and fired off a rock tomb, which actually hit! Fortunately, though, Randomus managed to survive with 37 hit points to spare, and finished off the Scolipede with a mighty psybeam! All that remained was Corey's ace: Crobat. Here, however, Corey's desperate attempt to take me down with the corrosive mist field backfired on him spectacularly: it made his Crobat's otherwise fearsome air slash part poison-type, allowing Cain (who I switched Randomus out for) to tank it several times, heal up Randomus, and (with some help from about three chocolate ice creams) stall the PP out of Crobat's air slash and make it use its Sitrus berry before fainting. From there, Randomus was able to finish off his Crobat with one last psybeam, ending the fight! And so, Hemlock earns... a front-row seat to Corey's suicide. And Fern arrives and mocks Corey. She promptly bitchslaps him.

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 31

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 30

Snek (Male) - Lv. 30

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 33

Cain (Male) - Lv. 30

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 30

Edited September 12, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

You don't even want to know the horror stories I've had with that Scoliopede. It has swept my teams before. Believe it or not, that was on the Corossive Field, but Mega Beedrill was way too powerful for this point in the game with is why I swapped Beedrill (non-mega) for Scolipede. That thing got 2 nerfs and it still is borderline difficulty as it could just shred through a Venusaur in 3 hits.

But yeah, Corey's main gimmick is still poisoning you and slowly killing you off. If you take away the poison moves and affects, there really isn't that much left for him to do. Swalot might get Acid Armor, but that's supposedly it.

His other team contains: Trubbish, Vileplume, Haunter, Beedrill, Skuntank, and Crobat all with a more defensive maneuver. Stupid Vileplume with your Sleep Powder Giga Drain Black Sludge tactic.

Just a spoiler alert: most of the Episode 4 fights are kind of anticlimatic (Shelly is on and off) except for one. Her difficulty really took me by surprise because you wouldn't think it'd be as hard as it is.

[Lord Chespin]

You don't even want to know the horror stories I've had with that Scoliopede. It has swept my teams before. Believe it or not, that was on the Corossive Field, but Mega Beedrill was way too powerful for this point in the game with is why I swapped Beedrill (non-mega) for Scolipede. That thing got 2 nerfs and it still is borderline difficulty as it could just shred through a Venusaur in 3 hits.

But yeah, Corey's main gimmick is still poisoning you and slowly killing you off. If you take away the poison moves and affects, there really isn't that much left for him to do. Swalot might get Acid Armor, but that's supposedly it.

His other team contains: Trubbish, Vileplume, Haunter, Beedrill, Skuntank, and Crobat all with a more defensive maneuver. Stupid Vileplume with your Sleep Powder Giga Drain Black Sludge tactic.

Just a spoiler alert: most of the Episode 4 fights are kind of anticlimatic (Shelly is on and off) except for one. Her difficulty really took me by surprise because you wouldn't think it'd be as hard as it is.

Just a spoiler alert: most of the Episode 4 fights are kind of anticlimatic (Shelly is on and off) except for one. Her difficulty really took me by surprise because you wouldn't think it'd be as hard as it is.

Her

...Huh. Guess I better watch out for Victoria.

Anyway...

Update #14: Gemstone Throwdown

Aster and Eclipse were kind of tough, but once I knew what I was doing, it was a lot easier. I led with Poison Oak- now fully evolved into a mighty Venusaur!- Victoria sent out her Emboar, and Aster and Eclipse sent out their Solrock and Lunatone. Emboar did massive damage to Solrock with a sucker punch, while the Solrock used a heat wave (which, surprisingly, did little damage to Poison Oak), and Lunatone used moonblast... on Poison Oak. A Fairy-type move... on a Poison-type. (sigh) Guys, this is why you're not higher ranking. Regardless, Poison Oak did massive damage to the Lunatone with a petal dance. Unfortunately, the next turn, Emboar missed a sucker punch thanks to Aster and Eclipse healing Lunatone, while Poison Oak flinched from a rock slide. Luckily, the next turn Emboar was able to take out Solrock with a fire punch, although he got put to sleep with a hypnosis immediately afterwards. Poison Oak then managed to finish off the Lunatone with a mighty petal dance, and OHKO'd their Rhyhorn (that's a first for this game... they didn't give them an underleveled Rhydon...). He fainted two turns later from Aster and Eclipse's Electabuzz, though, which took it down with a shock wave (although Poison Oak was able to do chip damage to Magmar with a petal dance). I sent out Snek next, and he paralyzed Magmar with a glare. Emboar, meanwhile, finally woke up after getting trapped in a fire spin, and unleashed a mighty bulldoze that took down Snek, but at least also seriously injured Electabuzz and Magmar. I sent Cain out next, but Emboar wanted all the glory and used another bulldoze, wiping out everyone on the field who wasn't him. All that remained was Aster and Eclipse's Milotic, and I sent out Pile o' Crud to take it down. Emboar got off one last sucker punch before he fainted to a water pulse, and Pile o' Crud did chip damage to Milotic with an acid spray (thanks to a light screen that Electabuzz had set up earlier). Victoria sent out her Scraggy next... and it promptly got poisoned by Milotic with a toxic. Undeterred, he kept fighting with a poison jab, while Pile o' Crud tanked a water pulse and fired off two sludge bombs. From there, Scraggy was able to take out Milotic with a thunder punch, wnding the fight! Let's go see if we can get a doctor for Shelly...

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 35

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 33

Snek (Male) - Lv. 33

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 34

Cain (Male) - Lv. 32

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 33

Edited September 14, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

To be fair, I never really thought about the fight and figured it'd be a pushover because bitchtoria Victoria. Be warned that the next few rival fights are quite difficult. Victoria gave me the hardest time due to how well she used her team and that Emboar. That thing just hits so hard as you saw. However, Orderly Johnathan got a team vamp since he is in a way a mini boss.

Unlike the regular game, partners are very useful and sometimes even a necessity. I know I should do something about it, but Cain destroying Sirius is like one of the best feelings ever after having so much trouble with him in the past. Like I can't describe how beautiful a feeling it is.

[Solarance]

Inb4 her official name for reborn hardcore is bitchtoria. Can't wait to see how this next fight goes.

[Lord Chespin]

Update #15: Bitchslapping Bitchtoria

Honestly, Bitchtoria was actually easier than Orderly John (in fact, the only reason I'm not making a post about my battle with him is because he's not really a major boss). I led with Pile o' Crud, and although he fainted fainted from two paybacks, he was able to set up two layers of toxic spikes, which helped a lot later on. I then sent out Cruella the Tentacruel (who I had trained up from a mystery egg exclusively for this fight), and she tanked a payback and took it down with two bubblebeams. Victoria sent out her Gallade next, and I switched out to Snek. Snek screeched at the Gallade, but fainted from a shadow sneak and a psycho cut. Hecate came out swinging next, and unleashed a mighty slash while Gallade set up a swords dance. Victoria tried healing it with a super potion, but it was too little, too late, and Hecate managed to take it down with another slash. Victoria's mighty Poliwrath came out next, but it went down from a single petal dance from Poison Oak. Running out of options, Victoria sent out her ace, Emboar, and it took Poison Oak down with a heat crash, a brick break, and a sucker punch (although Poison Oak was able to do considerable damage to it with a petal dance). Randomus came out next, and did massive damage to Emboar with a psybeam, leaving it with only a tiny sliver of health. It then took itself down from confusion damage (Randomus had confused it from the psybeam). All Victoria had left was her Hariyama. Randomus did massive damage to it with two mighty psybeams, but fainted from two knock offs. Hecate came back out, and did a little damage to Hariyama with a flamethrower before doing massive damage to Hariyama with a slash. The Hariyama then fainted from poison damage, ending the fight! And so, with Victoria down, it's time to take on Shelly!

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 36

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 35

Snek (Male) - Lv. 34

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 35

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 34

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 35

Edited September 15, 2015 by supermario79411

[Lord Chespin]

Update #16: Shelly? More Like HELL-y! Am... Am I Fired?

Well, Commander, Shelly was a lot harder than you led me to believe, probably because she kept spamming struggle bug and most of my team are special attackers. Anyway, on TEH URN, I led with Randomus and Hecate, and she led with Illumise and Masquerain. Randomus got off a gust on Masquerain, Hecate poisoned Illumise with a toxic, and both of Shelly's Pokemon spammed struggle bug. Since Hecate was already down to roughly half health, I had Randomus sacrifice his turn to heal Hecate with a berry ice cream, and after Hecate badly poisoned Masquerain he fainted from a struggle bug and an air slash. I sent out Snek, one of my few physical attackers, to replace Randomus... and he promptly got confused. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ Fortunately, he managed to land a crunch Illumise while Hecate landed a slash on the same target and Masquerain got off another struggle bug. Shelly used her first ultra potion on Illumise, while Snek whacked himself in the face from confusion, Masquerain whacked Snek with an air slash, and Hecate did serious damage to Masquerain with a slash. Shelly calmly healed Masquerain and had Illumise confuse Hecate with a confuse ray, causing her to run into a tree or something and injure herself; it wasn't all bad, however, as Snek managed to land a crunch on Illumise, doing massive damage. Surprisingly, Shelly switched out her almost-dead Illumise for her Armaldo; meanwhile Hecate injured herself again and Snek fainted from an air slash after getting off one last crunch on Masquerain. I sent out Cruella, and Shelly inexplicably swapped out Masquerain for Illumise. Cruella and Hecate did massive damage to Armaldo with a brine and an acid spray, but Armaldo did massive damage to everyone on the field with a bulldoze, taking out both Hecate and Shelly's Illumise. Keep in mind, at this point she has only one fainted Pokemon, and I have three fainted Pokemon and one injured one. Yeah. Anyway, Shelly sent out Heather the Yanmega next, and I sent out Pile o' Crud. Pile o' Crud set up a toxic on Heather, while both of my Pokemon tanked an air cutter from Heather and Cruella finished off Armaldo with a brine. The next turn, Shelly sent Masquerain back out. I quickly healed Cruella with a berry ice cream, which proved to be a good move, since Masquerain and Heather teamed up on her with a scald and an ancientpower; Pile o' Crud, meanwhile, lowered Heather's special defense with an acid spray. Shelly, who obviously couldn't make up her mind throughout the battle, swapped Masquerain out for her Vespiquen. Heather then slammed Cruella with a giga drain, but she shrugged it off and teamed up with Pile o' Crud to take Heather down with a sludge bomb and a brine. With Heather down, Shelly sent out Masquerain again. Pile o' Crud badly poisoned Vespiquen and tanked an energy ball from Masquerain while Cruella and Vespiquen both raised their defenses with a barrier and a defend order, respectively. Cruella tanked one final energy ball from Masquerain before it went down, and joined Pile o' Crud in lowering Vespiquen's defenses with an acid spray; the Vespiquen retaliated with a mighty attack order, but Pile o' Crud hung on to dear life with only 4 HP remaining! I quickly had Cruella heal Pile o' Crud with a berry ice cream, allowing Pile o' Crud to tank a dazzling gleam and an attack order and badly poison Shelly's ace: Bugsy! Bugsy fired off another dazzling gleam the next turn, but both of my Pokemon managed to shrug it off and finished off Vespiquen with a brine and a sludge bomb! Sadly, Cruella fainted the net turn from a struggle bug, but Pile o' Crud held on and did some damage with an acid spray. Poison Oak came out, and managed to set up a leech seed on Bugsy while Pile o' Crud launched a sludge bomb. The combined damage weakened Bugsy, allowing Poison Oak to squash the bug with a mighty pile driver double-edge, ending the fight and earning Hemlock the Cocoon Badge! Time to report Corey's death to the authorities!

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 35

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 35

Snek (Male) - Lv. 35

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 35

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 35

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 36

Edited September 16, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

Oh Shelly, I could see why she was tough for you. That AI for doubles is so screwed up like you wouldn't believe. I had to do a lot of manipulation to even make her function the way she did. As for the switching, it can't be helped. That was something I was considering looking into when I finally learn how to code well. The switch thing is actually more problematic in Singles then doubles truthfully.

And yes, I have lost to Shelly before in test runs so she is not a pushover. She just goofs up a lot as you've seen (and the burning field cripples her a lot). Shade I feel is a complete troll. You should be fine with that team, but man does he hit hard. You should consider yourself fortunate he doesn't have the Spiritomb anymore. I mean it's nowhere near as broken as Corey's Mega Beedrill, but that thing was scary after a Calm Mind.

[Lord Chespin]

Update #17: Cool Story Bro

Well, for a mono-poison run, Fern was harder than I expected. I led with Cruella, and Fern led with Ludicolo. Cruella began spamming acid spray, and even though the Ludicolo set up a rain dance and did some damage with a giga drain, Cruella kept pressuring it. Fern tried healing it with two super potions, but ultimately it fainted to the repeated acid sprays. Fern sent out his Sceptie next, and I switched out to Pile o' Crud, and after tanking a dragon pulse, he fired off a acid spray, accidentally activating Sceptile's white herb and activating unburden! This allowed Sceptile to do massive damage with a critical-hit leaf blade and another dragon pulse, but Pile o' Crud hung on with just four hit points and fired off an acid spray and a sludge bomb, ending the Sceptile! Then came the hardest Pokemon on Fern's whole team: his Roserade. Seriously, this thing wiped out my whole team on my first attempt at this battle! Anyway, I switched out to Randomus, and although he fainted from two extrasensorys, he was able to weaken it with a struggle bug. Snek came out next, and he paralyzed the Roserade with a glare, then hit it with two crunches before fainting to two extrasensorys. Hecate came out next, and spammed flamethrower, taking the Roserade down without getting hit! Fern sent out his Serperior next, and I kept Hecate on the field. Hecate badly poisoned the Serperior with a toxic, then unleashed flamethrower after flamethrower while the Serperior fired off a seed bomb and an aqua tail, then just gave up and coiled up in a fetal position for two turns before fainting. All that remained was Fern's Ferrothorn, and I once again kept Hecate on the field. It set up a leech seed and slammed Hecate with a gyro ball, but Hecate hung on with four hit points (apparently, four is my lucky number this run) and roasted the nut (and no, that's not a euphemism) with three flamethrowers, ending the fight! Time to go get the key from Cain!

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 36

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 38

Snek (Male) - Lv. 37

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 36

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 37

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 36

Edited September 17, 2015 by supermario79411

[Lord Chespin]

Update #18: Give Me the Key, Toroko!

Uhhhhrgh. Cain? More like pain... in the arse. Seriously, he was surprisingly difficult. On TEH URN, I led with Cruella, and he led with Samurott. Cruella started spamming acid spray, and Samurott unleashed two revenges and a razor shell. By then, its special defense was nil, so when Cain tried healing it Cruella was able to take it down with a mighty acid spray! Then Cain sent out his ace, the bane of so many earlier fights against him: his Nidoking, which was one level higher than the level cap! WHY?! I switched out to Randomus, and even though he fainted quickly from an earth power and a sludge wave, he managed to get off a struggle bug, allowing Poison Oak to swoop in and tank a thunderbolt. Poison Oak then unleashed a mighty petal dance, 2HKOing the Nidoking and making Cain use up his last super potion! Cain sent out his Muk next, and I sent out Pile o' Crud. He spammed acid spray and tanked a shadow sneak and an ice punch, but fainted from a second ice punch. Hecate came out swinging with two flamethrowers, ending the pile of gunk! Cain then sent out his own Venomoth, and Hecate, despite being confused by one of two signal beams, fired off two flamethrowers before I switched her out for Cruella. She took the fall for Hecate, allowing Poison Oak to come out and finish it with a double-edge! Al that remained was Cain's Haunter, and I sent out Snek. Snek tanked a shadow ball, and paralyzed it with a glare. Hax was on my side, as Haunter got immobilized by paralysis twice, allowing Snek to take it down with two crunches! And so, we get the key... or would, if Cain didn't run off after a very traumatized Heather. Couldn't he have just given me the key before he left? Sigh...

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 37

Hecate (Female) - Lv. 38

Snek (Male) - Lv. 37

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 36

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 37

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 37

Edited September 17, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

You think this Cain is bad, wait until the next Cain fight. As I said, Hardcore Cain kicks major butt (and freaking owns Sirius. I mean he just puts in work against him despite the level gap).

And if you call me out on a Nidoking being one level above the cap, you should see Rejuvenation. Rivals have insane level differences (and Ren had Leftovers on all his Pokemon before the third gym leader fight). Though I will say that every fight before the Gym leader helps prepare you for it. Cain is tough so you should expect Shade to be really tough as he's supposedly the hardest fight of that Episode.

[Lord Chespin]

You think this Cain is bad, wait until the next Cain fight. As I said, Hardcore Cain kicks major butt (and freaking owns Sirius. I mean he just puts in work against him despite the level gap).

And if you call me out on a Nidoking being one level above the cap, you should see Rejuvenation. Rivals have insane level differences (and Ren had Leftovers on all his Pokemon before the third gym leader fight). Though I will say that every fight before the Gym leader helps prepare you for it. Cain is tough so you should expect Shade to be really tough as he's supposedly the hardest fight of that Episode.

Yeah, I guess you're right; I kind of overreacted. Sorry about that.

Anyway...

Update #19: Lying In the Shade

Actually, Shade wasn't too bad; it only took me about three tries, and I actually got up to his Chandelure on the first try! Anyway, I led with Randomus, and he... she... xe... it... (seriously, what is Shade?!) led with a Gengar... named Corey... JUST LIKE THAT GUY WHO DIED! (gasp) And then I became Skeleton and wrote this Anyway, Corey used a dazzling gleam (honestly, not the smartest thing to do on a mono-poison team) and Randomus put him to sleep with a sleep powder, then wailed on him with two psybeams before Shade wised up and swapped him out for Trevenant. Even then (and with Trevenant's constant annoying harvesting of sitrus berries), Randomus managed to put a huge dent in it with serveral signal beams before fainting to a shadow claw and a drain punch. With Randomus down, I sent out our newest team member, Orion the Drapion! Shade tried healing Trevenant with an ultra potion, but Orion just shredded a huge chunk of its health off with a night slash, prompting Shade to switch out to Corey again... who then fainted from another night slash. Bravo, Shade. Bravo. Shade sent Trevenant back out, so I switched out to Pile o' Crud. Pile o' Crud badly poisoned the Trevenant with a toxic while Shade healed it with a ultra potion, then set up two layers of toxic spikes and fired off an acid spray before fainting to a shadow claw, a bulldoze, and a drain punch. Undeterred, I sent out Snek, who finished off the Trevenant with a mighty crunch! Shade sent out his Dusknoir next, and I kept Snek on the field. Snek just barely tanked a payback and a shadow punch with four hit points remaining (seriously, what is up with me and four hit points?!), set up a glare, and unleashed a two mighty crunches, ending the Dusknoir! Shade decided to send out his Banette next, so I switched out to Orion- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it mega evolved.

AND I.... -HOLY SH@T- WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU... -I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D DO THIS TO ME HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!

(cough) Um, sorry about that. Anyway, Orion actually did pretty well against it, tanking a shadow claw and a dazzling gleam and doing massive damage with two nigh slashes, taking it out. Shade then sent out his Aegislash, and I switched out to Poison Oak. Poison Oak outsped the Aegislash and put it to sleep with a sleep powder, then unleashed two mighty petal dances on the Aegislash's pointy rump. Unfortunately, he got confused and injured himself; then the Aegislash woke up, and it took him down with two iron heads. Fortunately, Snek was able to swoop in and (despite being overleveled) obeyed me long enough to finish off the Aegislash with a crunch. All that remained was Shade's ace, Chandelure... and surprisingly, it went down pretty fast! Sure, it smacked Cruella (who I switched Snek out for) with a flame burst and a hidden power electric, but she held on with 24 hit points and finished it with two brines, ending the fight! Yay! And so, Hemlock earns the Omen Badge... and all of her friends bar Cain get kidnapped. Yay.

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 40

Snek (Male) - Lv. 41

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 40

Orion (Male) - Lv. 41

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 40

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 41

Edited September 19, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

Either Jamak really screwed the AI up or you were very luck statistically on that Gengar. I suppose losing three times sounds about right as I lost to him a few times (Shadow ball is the devil on that field). I may eventually try to bring back Rotom, but not right away due to that funky Discharge thing.

Just a heads up, you might want to train another member or two as you team will be good for Kiki at around 42 (though Aya's lowest is 42...which kick my butt quite a bit even with 44s). Seriously, this is like the best point in the game to grind new Pokemon due to the very generous amount of Exp from all the fights that happen (and they're all in the low 40s).

[Lord Chespin]

Either Jamak really screwed the AI up or you were very luck statistically on that Gengar. I suppose losing three times sounds about right as I lost to him a few times (Shadow ball is the devil on that field). I may eventually try to bring back Rotom, but not right away due to that funky Discharge thing.

Just a heads up, you might want to train another member or two as you team will be good for Kiki at around 42 (though Aya's lowest is 42...which kick my butt quite a bit even with 44s). Seriously, this is like the best point in the game to grind new Pokemon due to the very generous amount of Exp from all the fights that happen (and they're all in the low 40s).

Thanks for the tip! I guess I might as well dust Cain off and bring him out for the Cal battle. I digress, however. On to the main event....

Update #20: You're Muking With Me

Well, ZEL was a little harder than I expected, but still not too hard. I led with Randomus, and they led with Glaceon. Claceon got put to sleep almost instantly, and Randomus then wailed on it with two signal beams before it woke up again and smacked him with an ice beam. Despite this, he still held on with 31 hit points to spare and managed to finish it with one more signal beam. Up next came ZEL's... Flareon... okay, that's new... anyway, I switched out to Cruella, and she did massive damage to the Flareon with a brine, only to take an unexpectedly large amount of damage (70 hit points, to be exact) from a flare blitz! Fortunately, she was faster than the Flareon, and managed t take it down with another two brines after ZEL healed it with an ultra potion. ZEL sent out their Jolteon next, and I sent out Poison Oak. Poison Oak tanked a hyper voice and a signal beam, then spammed petal dance while ZEL tried healing Jolteon with their last ultra potion; it was too little, too late, however, as Poison Oak still plowed through it. ZEL decided that it was time for them to stop messing around and sent out the PULSE Muk, so I switched out to Snek. Snek got hit with a... water pulse (shouldn't it be muddy water?), but took it in stride, paralyzed Muk with a glare, and lowered its defenses with a screech and a crunch before fainting to a discharge. The joke was on ZEL, though, as Muk's discharge caused the field to short-circuit, allowing Orion to swoop in and do massive damage with a mighty field-boosted night slash, ending the Muk! Of course, even though Muk was down and technically the battle was over, ZEL decided to try and take me down with it and sent out their Umbreon. I sent out Pile o' Crud, but he only managed to get off a single acid spray before being confused, hurting himself in confusion twice while the Umbreon set up two double teams. Fortunately, he snapped out after the second self-inflicted injury and managed to land a toxic, negating Umbreon's leftovers! Pile o' Crud then landed an acid spray and a sludge bomb, prompting ZEL to switch their Umbreon out for their Espeon. Unfortunately, this led to Espeon finishing off Pile o' Crud with a psychic, but I promptly switched out for Orion again, and he one-shot it with a mighty field-boosted night slash! All that remained was ZEL's weakened Umbreon, and it went down fast from a signal beam from Randomus! With ZEL down and one-half of the pollution PULSEs down, it's time to head on out to the Apophyll academy and take on Kiki! Well, after we train Cain, of course.

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 43

Snek (Male) - Lv. 42

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 42

Orion (Male) - Lv. 43

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 42

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 42

Edited September 20, 2015 by supermario79411

[Lord Chespin]

Update #21: OH LORD JESUS IT'S A FIRE

Well, Cal wasn't too bad. I led with Cain- now a mighty Nidoking!- and Cal led with his Infernape. It did massive damage to Cain with a fire punch, but he held on with 57 hit points and one-shot it with an earth power! Up next came Cal's Delphox. It got off two mystical fires, but Orion managed to tank it with six hit points and did massive damage with a bug bite and a night slash. Cal tried using an ultra potion on it, but Orion held on and took it down with another night slash! Up next came Cal's Charizard, and I sent out Pile o' Crud. It promptly mega evolved (Why am I even surprised by now?) and took down Pile o' Crud with a wing attack and a dragon claw, but Pile o' Crud was able to badly poison the Mega Charizard X before going down. Randomus came out next, and he got off a struggle bug and a psybeam before going down; fortunately, the Charizard fainted from poison damage (RIP experience). Next up came Cal's ace: Magmortar. Cruella came out, and Magmortar let off a mighty lava plume, lighting the field on fire; fortunately, this allowed Cruella to unleash two mighty brines while Cal used up his last ultra potion. Cal then switched out his Magmortar for his Typhlosion, but it only got off a single flamethrower (which admittedly burned Cruella) before Cruella 2HKO'd it with brine. Magmortar came back out, but Cruella outsped it and took it out with one last Brine before fainting. All that remained was Cal's Blaziken, and I sent out Poison Oak. Poor Poison Oak fainted almost instantly from a fire punch, but Orion (who came out next) was just able to heal Cain before getting KO'd with a high jump kick. Cain was seriously injured with a fire punch, but Cain did massive damage in return with an earth power... but the Blaziken's focus sash prevented me from taking it down! Just when I gave up all hope and prepared to lose, Blaziken missed a high jump kick, taking itself down! And so, with Cal defeated, it's time to take on Kiki!

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 44

Cain (Male) - Lv. 45

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 44

Orion (Male) - Lv. 44

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 44

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 44

Edited September 21, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

You almost lost with that high of levels. I didn't think Cal was too bad...actually, I thought he was pretty easy except Blast Burn Magmortar (yes, it has Blast Burn again). He was my guinea pig for Charlotte team designing. Blake...is the exact opposite. He holds the most powerful attack in the game.

[Lord Chespin]

You almost lost with that high of levels. I didn't think Cal was too bad...actually, I thought he was pretty easy except Blast Burn Magmortar (yes, it has Blast Burn again). He was my guinea pig for Charlotte team designing. Blake...is the exact opposite. He holds the most powerful attack in the game.

He has a Mega Glalie, doesn't he? Oh well. Also, sorry about almost losing. I'll try harder on the next fight. Speaking of which...

Update #22: Pyrrhic Victoria

Um, I kind of lied: Victoria was kind of tough, but mainly because of her Mega Gallade. I led with Randomus, and she led with Scrafty. Randomus put the Scrafty with a sleep powder and got off two signal beams, but the Scrafty woke up and took him down with two paybacks. Cruella swooped in and finished him off with a brine, though. Victoria sent out her ace, Emboar, next, and Cruella survived a sucker punch and doused it with three brines (making Victoria waste her chocolate ice cream in the process). Then came the nightmare: Mega Gallade. I sent out Cain, but he was only able to take off a third of its health with a shadow claw before fainting to a psycho cut. I sent out Poison Oak next, and he almost KO'd it with a petal dance before fainting from a brick break and a psycho cut. Fortunately, Pile o' Crud was able to swoop in with a sludge bomb, ending the menace! I sent out Orion next, and Victoria went out her Heracross. I had Orion unleash a toxic fang, but he fainted from a close combat and a megahorn; luckily, Cruella was able to tank a megahorn and took it down with an acid spray and a brine. Victoria decided to send out her Hariyama next, and I kept Cruella on the field. She fainted fast from a smellingsalts and a knock off, but she was able to unleash an acid spray and a brine before fainting. All that I had left was Pile o' Crud, but he was able to finish of Hariyama with a sludge bomb. All that remained was Victoria's Poliwrath. Pile o' Crud tanked an ice punch and badly poisoned Poliwrath, and then I healed him with a berry ice cream while the Poliwrath spammed waterfall. In the end, Pile o' Crud held on with just two hit points and took Poliwrath down with two sludge bombs, ending the fight! And now, time for Kiki... she's going to have a Mega Medicham, won't she...

The team so far:

Poison Oak (Male) - Lv. 44

Cain (Male) - Lv. 45

Randomus (Male) - Lv. 44

Orion (Male) - Lv. 44

Pile o' Crud (Male) - Lv. 45

Cruella (Female) - Lv. 45

Edited September 21, 2015 by supermario79411

[Commander]

My advice: Toxic Spike, Stall, and Bring Revives. She may have a Toxicroak, but you need to try and Poison Medicham while holding on for dear life. Her Medicham is very, very hard to overcome (though she's a cakewalk compared to Aya). The rest you should have no problem with though they aren't easy.