Nuzlocke Calaf's Pokemon Emerald Chesslocke - FINALE

[Calaf]

Hey guys! Welcome to this Chesslocke challenge! I've been wanting to try out this challenge ever since @Moxie did one on White 2 and I've finally gotten around to it! I figured I'd play this on Emerald, as I played that game more than any other Pokemon game (by a landslide) and this should be an exciting new way to play through it.

The Chesslocke is a Nuzlocke variant based on the classic board game of Chess. It's got a very specialized set of rules which forces players to plan ahead and use much more strategy than one would in a regular Nuzlocke. Without further ado, here are the rules:

Spoiler: Nuzlocke rules

Classic Nuzlocke rules

1. You can only catch the first Pokemon you encounter per route.
2. If a Pokemon faints, it is considered dead.
3. You must nickname each Pokemon that is caught.
   
   Additional rules:
4. There will be a level limit for this challenge, equal to the highest level on the team of the upcoming Gym Leader or Champion.
5. I'll be imposing an item limit of 5 per battle to prevent myself from heal spamming.

Spoiler: Chesslocke rules

Chesslocke Rules

1. There is a catch limitation of 15 Pokemon (excluding the starter), giving a total of 16 Pokemon throughout the entire locke.
2. Throughout the run you may only have 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Bishop, 2 Knights, 2 Rooks and 8 Pawns. Due to the limited number of Pokemon you are able to catch, you may choose to skip any encounter, but there's no second chance on a route.
3. Each Pokemon must be given their role before they can be used in battle.

Spoiler: Roles

Roles

King: Your Starter is the King. The King cannot be boxed under any circumstances and must always be on your team. If the King dies, it's game over.

Queen: Only female Pokemon may be the Queen.

Bishop: May only have two damaging moves at any time.

Knight: May not use moves which have a base power greater than 60 (Without calculating STAB).

Rook: May not use moves with secondary effects on the enemy. They can use non damaging moves however (for example, the Rook can use Tackle and Stun Spore, but not Ember because it has the added effect of potentially burning).

Pawn: May not evolve ever. It also cannot be a Pokemon that is already evolved upon capture or has no evolution. If a Pawn manages to win a major battle (Rival, Gym Leader, E4, etc.) by itself then it can become a Knight, Bishop, Rook or a Queen, although the last only applies to female Pawns.

Alright, this'll be all for now, but I'll post the first update soon! I'm curious to see if we can survive this challenge and I hope you'll tag along for the ride!

 

[Moxie]

Yeeees! Good luck Calaf! I had a really fun time with the chesslocke so I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Calaf]

@Moxie: Thank you very much! I've already been having a lot of fun with this first update as well, so I have high hopes for this challenge!

Alright, I've started up the challenge, so here's the first update!
___

As I start up the game, I find myself in the back of the familiar moving truck. It stops, so I hop out into our new home, Littleroot Town. We're not going to be spending much time here though, as we need to get this challenge on the road. After I unpack my stuff and meet out soon-to-be rival May, I hear a scream coming from Route 101, so I decide to check it out. As I arrive, I see prof. Birch being chased by a Zigzagoon, who urges us to pick a Pokemon from his bag to fight it off. I check my Trainer Card and see my ID ends with an 8, so I go ahead and pick Mudkip . My new buddy easily fights off the puny level 2 Zigzagoon . Not sure why you even needed my help there, Birch, but oh well. He's very grateful, so he lets me keep the little Mudkip. I decide to name him Lahar, after a type of landslide. And so, we now have the centerpiece of our team for this game.

Long live King Lahar, the first of his name!​

Birch sends us on an epic quest to find his daughter May, so my new pal and I head on to Oldale Town. I train Lahar up to level 7 en route, so when we find May on Route 103, we easily beat her Treecko , which hasn't earned a single level even though she has supposedly been a trainer for a while. After the battle, we go back to the lab, where we get the Pokedex and some Poke Balls from the professor. The run has really begun now!

So, we hit the road. Our first encounters are just a Poochyena and a Wurmple, both of which I decide to skip, but as we reach Route 102, we encounter a female Lotad . I catch her and name her Tequila. I see some potential for promoting her, so I make her a Pawn.

Tequila joins the ranks of the Pawns!
​

After getting our first catch, we head into Petalburg City. I have an awkward encounter at the Gym, where my Dad spends more time on some random kid than on me. And we have to help him catch a Pokemon too? Ugh. At least he succeeds on the first try, so it's over relatively quickly. After we make it back to the Gym, I decide to leave. Screw you Dad, I'll make it on my own.

After dodging another Poochyena on Route 104, we arrive in Petalburg Forest. Here, we find a male Shroomish. I contemplate whether I should catch the little guy, as Breloom is pretty good. However, I don't see how I could promote him as a Pawn and I don't particularly want to catch my first Knight just yet, so I leave him be. We also run into an Aqua Grunt, who wanted to rob some poor Silph Co. Big Hoenn Corporation That I've Forgotten The Name Of employee but gets defeated instead.

As we come out of the forest, I teach Tequila an incredible STAB move in Bullet Seed. That solid 10 BP per hit. Oh well, at least it's better than Absorb. We reach Rustboro City, but leave it be for now and move on to the next Route instead. I had hoped to find a Taillow here, but I get lucky and find another Poochyena instead. Therefore, I decide to take a chance on my encounter in Rusturf Tunnel, a female Whismur . I catch her and name her Decibelle. I make her a Pawn, hoping I'll be able to promote her at some point.

Decibelle is added to the team as a Pawn!
​

Afterwards, I train up the team to level 14 and equip them all with Oran Berries before taking on Roxanne.

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Roxanne

I lead with Tequila against Roxanne. She sends out Geodude first, but it falls to three hits of Bullet Seed. Tequila levels up, so the next Geodude is taken out in two hits. Finally, Nosepass comes out. Tequila has some trouble with it at first, with some two-hit Bullet Seeds having trouble to break through its solid defenses, Oran Berry and Roxanne's Potion. However, Rock Tomb only does slightly less than half and Nosepass misses once, so she's hanging in there. Finally, a five-hit Bullet Seed with a crit at the end takes out Nosepass from full, earning us the Stone Badge.

What's more, defeating Roxanne all by herself allows Tequila to promote into a Queen! She even evolves into Lombre immediately to boot.

I'll end things off here for now. As we exited the Gym, we were witness to a robbery at the Big Hoenn Corporation, so we'll check that out in the next update! Thanks for reading!
___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Mudkip (King)
Level: 14
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Moveset:

• Tackle
• Growl
• Mud Slap
• Water Gun

Tequila the Lombre (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo)
Level: 16
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Moveset:

• Astonish
• Nature Power
• Absorb
• Bullet Seed

Decibelle the Pawn
Level: 14
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Moveset:

• Pound
• Uproar
• Astonish

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

None so far. :)

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

 

[ElysiumRachael]

This is such an interesting concept for a run. I look forward to seeing more of your updates! I love the mechanics of each of the pieces, and how the catch limit also creates a sense of urgency. Keep it up!

 

[Calaf]

@ElysiumRachael: Thanks for the encouraging words! The rules definitely force you to think ahead on which Pokemon you'll need and how to use them properly. So far it's been going well though, considering I've only really been dealing with the King and Pawns. Let's hope the lucky streak continues! :p

___

Last time, we had just beat Roxanne as we witnessed a robbery at the Devon Corporation (that's right, I looked it up like the true professional I am). As we go to check it out, we find out the crook had kidnapped Peeko the Wingull too and that just ain't right, so I pursue him into the Rusturf Tunnel and take him out. Afterwards, I train up Decibelle to level 18 in anticipation for an important battle. I also train Lahar to level 16, evolving him into Marshtomp .

As we make it back through Rustboro City, we find May waiting for us at the entrance to the city, just as expected. I lead with Decibelle in the battle against her, who swiftly takes out both her Wingull and Treecko with Uproar, allowing her to be promoted into a Queen! This run is starting to look like Game of Thrones with all this royalty in our ranks.

We head south to Mr. Briney's cottage, who is still grateful from us saving Peeko, so he ferries us across the ocean towards Dewford Town. Here, we first go to explore Granite Cave, where we find our newest team member, a male Aron . Aggron has always reminded me of a gladiator with its plate armor and characteristic helmet, so I name the little guy Spartacus.

Spartacus joins the Pawns' order!
​

Spartacus wasn't the only one we found in Granite Cave: we also met Steven and gave him the letter from his father. In return, he gives us the TM for Steel Wing. After exiting the cave, I go back to the Devon Corporation in Rustboro City to pick up the Exp. Share from the Devon president, which I give to Spartacus.

When I get back to Dewford Town, I go to the gym and take out the Gym trainers, after which Lahar and Tequila are at level 18 and 17. I contemplate whether I should challenge Brawly at this point, whose ace is at level 19. Brawly however - how do I say this delicately? - scares the bejezus out of me. Therefore, I decide to leave Brawly be now and go to get a little sneak preview of Slateport City. Here, I pick up the Soft Sand, which I give to Lahar . I figure I might as well get my encounter on Route 110 at this point, so I go over there and meet a male Electrike . I catch him as a Pawn and name him Blitz.

Blitz is added to the Pawn line-up!
​

Before we head back, we deliver the Devon Parts to Cpt. Stern. We do have to defend them against some Team Aqua Grunts, but Decibelle easily defeats them. After this battle and some training, the first three members of my team are at level 19. So I head back to challenge Brawly in Dewford Town before we go over the level limit. Before I do though, I teach the TM for Thief, which we obtained from a Team Aqua Grunt, to Tequila .

Spoiler: Vs. Gym Leader Brawly

I lead with Lahar against Brawly's Machop . I heavily weaken it with Mud Shot as Machop sets up a Bulk Up. Even though Mud Shot could take it out, I go for Mud-Slap first to force Brawly to burn one of his Super Potions. Machop scores a critical hit with Karate Chop, so I have to heal up Lahar as well. The next two Mud Shots take Machop out as he does a bit of damage with Karate Chop.

Next up is Meditite . I know its only attacking move is Focus Punch, so I send out Decibelle . She easily dispatches of Meditite with subsequent Astonishes, while Meditite keeps losing its focus and doesn't do any damage. Brawly burns his last Super Potion in the process.

Finally, Brawly's ace, Makuhita , comes out. It's this guy that I fear the most. I send out Tequila against him and get some chip damage with Fake Out. Afterwards, I steal Makuhita's Sitrus Berry with Thief as it sets up Bulk Up. Tequila deals mediocre damage with two hits of Bullet Seed, as Makuhita does just over half with Vital Throw. However, the Sitrus Berry heals Tequila back up to full. The next Bullet Seed goes on for a whopping five hits, putting Makuhita in knock-out range. However, Makuhita now goes for Reversal and I watch in fear as Tequila's health bar drops to just above zero. Finally, Tequila knocks it out with Bullet Seed.

And so, after a very tense battle, we've earned the Knuckle Badge without any casualties. Next time, we'll head up from Slateport to Mauville City to earn our next badge!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --
​

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Marshtomp (King)
Level: 19
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Moveset:

• Tackle
• Mud Shot
• Mud Slap
• Water Gun

Tequila the Lombre (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo)
Level: 19
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Moveset:

• Thief
• Nature Power
• Fake Out
• Bullet Seed

Decibelle the Whismur (Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo)
Level: 19
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Moveset:

• Pound
• Uproar
• Astonish
• Howl

Spartacus the Aron (Pawn)
Level: 16
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rock Head
Moveset:

• Metal Claw
• Iron Defense
• Mud-Slap
• Headbutt

Blitz the Electrike (Pawn)
Level: 15
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Leer
• Howl

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

None so far. :)

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

 

[Moxie]

This is actually making me go through my chesslocke and comparing our teams lol. You should really consider some rooks! but to be fair you don't really have many options yet. Any idea what you're going to try getting?

 

[Zed]

Congratz on getting past Brawly without any deaths. I 100% agree with you that Gen 3 Brawly and his Bulk Up Makuhita are super scary especially if you don't have a Pokemon with type advantage. Using Thief was a great idea tho, that Sitrus Berry was clutch. At least the next Gym battle should be less stressful with Marshtomp on your team.

 

[Wolf]

I hope you continue this soon! Loved reading it so far

 

[Calaf]

@Moxie: Since promoting pawns becomes pretty difficult later on, I figured I'd try to promote as many pawns as I could early in the game. I'm definitely gonna start catching some of the major pieces soon though! We've been having quite a bit of trouble with Grass types, so I'm gonna try to get a Pokemon to deal with those first. I've mainly been pondering between a Bishop Torkoal or a Rook Camerupt . Otherwise, I think Skarmory would make a great Rook too, but it's pretty rare, so I hope I can get it!

@Zed: Thanks! Yeah, Brawly is really scary in gen 3. I'm just glad his Meditite didn't set up screens, otherwise that gym battle may have ended completely different. Anyway, we're still standing and I've got a feeling that the next gym battle will be a whole lot easier as well.

@Wolf: Thank you for the encouraging words! I'm glad you've enjoyed reading along so far! ^^

___

Welcome back to part 3 of this challenge! Last time, we had left off in Dewford Town right after we had defeated Brawly. To start off this update, we head back to Slateport City, where we defeated Team Aqua earlier at the museum. After a short stop in the port city, we head north towards Mauville City, where our next gym badge awaits. After defeating the trainers on Route 103 and in the Trick House, we go onto Route 110, where we caught Blitz in the previous update. Here, we encounter May, who challenges us to a battle.

Spoiler: Vs. Rival May

I lead against May with our proud king , who annihilates her Slugma with a single Mud Shot. Next, May sends out Grovyle , which is taken out by two Uproars from Decibelle . Finally, Wingull comes out, which poses a bit more trouble, but is ultimately taken out by Lahar's Tackles.

After another short trek, we arrive in Mauville City. I do a bit of training on the surrounding routes and when we return, we notice our semi-rival Wally standing in front of the Gym. He challenges us to a battle and I gladly oblige. Blitz takes out his Ralts in one fell swoop with Spark, allowing the little guy to promote in a Bishop!

We take out the trainers inside the Gym, but the resulting experience isn't really enough to get the team in a good enough shape to take on Wattson. Therefore, I head back out to do some more training.

I realize we haven't defeated the Winstrates yet, so I head out to take them on. I lead with Blitz , who takes out the first three members easily with a little help from his teammates. Finally, Winstrate Vicky is up. Blitz goes for Spark against her Meditite , which does half of its health. Meanwhile, Meditite sets up Meditate, raising its Attack. As I expect the next Spark to take out Meditite, it scores a low roll, just barely failing to knock it out. No problem, I think to myself. What move could it possibly have?

"The foe Meditite uses Hi Jump Kick."

HI JUMP KICK?! It's a level 18 Meditite! How on earth does it have Hi Jump Kick?! I swear, generation 3 just has no chill.
The blow takes out Blitz, of course. With +1 Attack and Pure Power, a STAB Hi Jump Kick would've probably been enough to knock him out three times. And so, we have to say goodbye to our little buddy, so soon after promoting and so soon before he would've evolved into Manectric. Sigh

Seriously bummed about this unfortunate death, I train up the rest of the squad to level 23/24 and challenge Wattson, the Mauville Gym Leader.

Spoiler: Vs. Gym Leader Wattson

I lead with Lahar against Wattson's Voltorb . I don't intend to have Lahar fight his Voltorb, as one Selfdestruct could end my run. Instead, I sent out Lahar so his Voltorb wouldn't go for an Electric move. Immediately as the battle starts, I switch to Spartacus as his Voltorb goes for Rollout. Now that he's locked into Rollout, which doesn't do any real damage to Spartacus, I can safely take it out. Spartacus' first Headbutt does half of Voltorb's health, but it misses Rollout, which sets it free. I think about switching back to Lahar, but I figure he might use Selfdestruct at this point, so I keep Spartacus in. Fortunately, he does go for Selfdestruct, which only does 20% after a critical hit. I'm very glad I didn't switch to Lahar now!

With Voltorb taken out, Lahar can come back in and safely take on the rest of the team. He swiftly takes out Electrike , Magneton and Manectric with three Mud Shots, earning us the Dynamo Badge!

And so, we've defeated another Gym Leader, but not without a cost. I was really looking forward to using Manectric, so I'm still kinda sad that I lost Blitz . I guess that's what hubris gets you in a challenge run. At least it's a good reminder to stay on your toes in a challenge run. RIP buddy.

Anyway, we'll head even farther north on the next update, towards Fallarbor Town. How will the team fare? Let's find out on the next update!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --
​

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Marshtomp (King)
Level: 25
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Item: Soft Sand
Moveset:

• Tackle
• Mud Shot
• Mud Slap
• Water Gun

Tequila the Lombre (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo)
Level: 23
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Thief
• Nature Power
• Fake Out
• Bullet Seed

Decibelle the Loudred (Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo)
Level: 24
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Item: none
Moveset:

• Pound
• Uproar
• Astonish
• Howl

Spartacus the Aron (Pawn)
Level: 24
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rock Head
Item: none
Moveset:

• Metal Claw
• Iron Defense
• Roar
• Headbutt

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

Blitz the Electrike (Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Wally solo)
Caught: Route 110 (Level 13)
Perished: Route 111 (Level 22), to a Hi Jump Kick from Winstrate Vicky's Meditite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Final Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Spark
• Howl

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)
Route 117 - Illumise (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

​

 

[Wolf]

Spoiler

So sorry for your first death.
But great work with the leader

 

[Quoake]

Sad to see what happened to Blitz. That Hi Jump Kick is soooo mean : (
I'm glad it worked out with Wattson, especially with that selfdestructing Voltorb phew! I hope you get a good Pokémon to counter grass coming up!

 

[Calaf]

@Wolf: Thanks!

@Quoake: Yeah, it definitely caught me off guard. We're still standing though, so we'll just make the best of it! At least we won't be bothered by Grass types for a while, as you'll see in this update. ^^

___

Alright, welcome back one and all! Last time, we left off right after we pulled off an easy victory against Wattson. Unfortunately, we also lost Blitz to a brutal early-game Hi Jump Kick. However, we can’t give up just yet, so we’ll head on towards the next Gym Leader!

We head up Route 111, past the cursed Winstrate house and break through the boulders that previously blocked our path. By the way, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I caught a Zigzagoon early on to learn the necessary HMs. I figured since the roster and movesets are already very limited, catching an HM buddy would be wise. As an added side benefit, he gets me free stuff sometimes, so he’s a useful little fella.

On Route 112, I encounter a female Numel . As I mentioned earlier, I really need a way to deal with Grass types, so I catch her as a Rook. I name her Faithful, after the famous geyser in Yellowstone Park.

Faithful is recruited to the party as a Rook!​

Unfortunately, she can’t use any Fire moves yet (Ember isn’t eligible for a Rook, due to the added burn chance), but we should be able to fix that in time. For now, I give her the Exp. Share and have her tag along with the rest of the party.

I wanted to go to Lavaridge Town to fight the next Gym Leader, but two goons in red outfits block the access to the cable car, so we take a little detour first. We go on through Fiery Path, pick up the TM for Secret Power and then traverse Route 113 to reach Fallarbor Town. Here, we learn the local professor Cozmo has gone to Meteor Falls with some people from Team Magma, so we decide to go check it out.

Before we reach Meteor Falls, we go through Route 114 first, where we get our encounter. I fully expect to have to be running from a Swablu, but to my surprise, I encounter a male Seviper instead. I don’t have any specific plan for using Seviper at the moment, but it’s pretty powerful and it’s a pretty rare opportunity in a locke, so I decide to catch him anyway. Because his Pokedex entry says his tail is sharp as a sword, I name him Stiletto, after a type of blade. I make him a Bishop, as this best allows me to make use of Seviper’s numerous coverage options.

Stiletto is added to the team as a Bishop!​

Now that we have added two new recruits in a pretty short time span, I decide it’s best to catch our breath for a second and train the entire team up for a bit. After the team reaches around level 25, I head on to Meteor Falls, where we witness a run-in between Team Magma, who steal the poor prof. Cozmo’s Meteorite, and Team Aqua.

After leaving Meteor Falls and taking out the trainers on Route 115, we pursue Team Magma to Mt. Chimney, to prevent them from causing an eruption that destroys the entire region. After taking out some grunts and the admin Tabitha on the top of Mt. Chimney, we reach Team Magma’s leader, Maxie.

Spoiler: Vs. Magma Leader Maxie

I lead with Stiletto against Maxie’s Mightyena . I go for Screech first to mitigate the effects of Intimidate. Mightyena gets some damage in with Bite, but Stiletto takes him out in one hit on the next turn with a critical hit Poison Tail. Next up is Camerupt , which is easily taken out by two Water Guns from Lahar . Maxie’s Zubat can’t touch Spartacus and is easily dispatched as well, allowing us to prevent a major disaster.

Maxie retreats and all is well for now, so we can finally head on down Jagged Pass to Lavaridge Town. Before we reach our destination though, we encounter another addition to the team, a female Spoink .

Raspberry the Spoink tags along as a Bishop!​

I leave Raspberry boxed for now, as I don’t particularly want to use her while she’s still a Spoink since she's pretty frail. After reaching Lavaridge Town, I take out the trainers in the Gym with Lahar and Faithful . Then, I train up the main players for the Gym to level 29 and the rest to level 27, except for Spartacus , which I can’t really train up in Jagged Pass and therefore remains at level 25. Finally, we challenge the Lavaridge Gym Leader, Flannery.

Spoiler: Vs. Gym Leader Flannery

I lead with Lahar against Flannery’s Numel , which is easily taken out with a single Water Gun. Slugma is up next, but falls to a single Mud Shot. Then, Flannery sends out Camerupt and Lahar scores a lucky critical hit with Water Gun, taking it out in one shot as well.
And then, the trouble begins when Flannery sends out her Torkoal . I take a while to think about how I want to go about this.

Spoiler: Mid-battle thoughts

Well, gen 3 is at it again. They won’t give Lombre a Water move by level-up, but they’ll give Flannery's Torkoal an absolutely destructive move set. Who needs balancing, amirite?
Here’s the deal: Sunny Day + Overheat = the power of a nuclear blast. What’s more, those sly *******s at Gamefreak gave Torkoal a White Herb, meaning it can unleash it twice over. I would take it on with Lahar , but I’ve got a feeling a fully powered Overheat just might take him out and that would mean game over. Therefore, I fear another Pokemon will have to bite the bullet. After weighing the potential usefulness of every Pokemon after this battle and how much damage they can do right now, I decide who to lead with against Flannery’s Torkoal . I hope I can limit the number of casualties to one or two.

I lead with Tequila against Torkoal . After doing some chip with Fake Out, I steal Torkoal’s White Herb with Thief as a sort of damage control strategy. Thankfully, Torkoal goes for Body Slam instead of Overheat, which takes about 70% of her health. I switch to Faithful , expecting Overheat at this point. I predict her correctly and Overheat takes about 60% of Faithful’s health. I heal her up with a Soda Pop, but Body Slam does half to her as well, meaning I can’t fire off a Magnitude and live. Therefore, I have to switch to Lahar earlier than I planned.

Lahar goes head to head with Torkoal, but gets taken down time and time again with repeated Body Slams as I use my remaining four Soda Pops to keep healing him up. Three critical hits from Torkoal, paralysis and Attract only allow Lahar to take Torkoal down to red health once, at which point it’s promptly healed by Flannery. Finally, I have to concede with Lahar at 36 HP.

Well, what do I do now? Having to improvise, I switch to Spartacus to take the oncoming Body Slam. It barely does any damage, but it does paralyze him. On the next turn, I predict Torkoal to go for Overheat, so I switch again, this time to Faithful . I switch back and forth over the next few turns to make use of the AI, with repeated Overheats taking Faithful and Lahar to red health and Decibelle to about 60% health, while Spartacus eats Torkoal’s Body Slams. I stall a little with Decibelle, as Pound doesn’t do much damage and Torkoal sets up Sunny Day. I hope Decibelle can take one more charged Overheat, as Torkoal’s SpA is now at its lowest. Torkoal does go for Overheat and takes Decibelle down to 5 HP. I find myself letting out a sigh of relief.

With all of Torkoal's Overheats spent and Body Slam remaining as its only attacking move, I can safely switch to Aron. Slowly but surely, despite Spartacus being afflicted with paralysis and Attract, we try to take Torkoal out with Headbutt. However, it's taking so long that Torkoal eventually runs out of PP and helps us out with Struggle. However, Struggle is actually doing a non-negligible amount of damage, and because I'm all out of healing items, I do have to switch Spartacus out to Stiletto at some point. Flannery does still have a Hyper Potion though, so Stiletto barely manages to take it out with Poison Tail, with Torkoal's final Struggle leaving him at 1 HP.

And so, we've defeated Flannery, even though the team took a major beating:

Spoiler

With blood, sweat and tears, we've conquered the Heat Badge without any casualties! I’m sorry if the battle description ran a little long, but it was really tense and I wanted to reflect that. Well, I definitely need a breather after this one. Next time though, we’ll head on to defeat the next Gym Leader, Norman! I hope you’ll tune in again!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --​

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Marshtomp (King)
Level: 30
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Item: Soft Sand
Moveset:

• Tackle
• Mud Shot
• Mud Slap
• Water Gun

Tequila the Lombre (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo)
Level: 29
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Thief
• Nature Power
• Fake Out
• Bullet Seed

Decibelle the Loudred (Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo)
Level: 27
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Item: none
Moveset:

• Pound
• Uproar
• Astonish
• Howl

Spartacus the Aron (Pawn)
Level: 26
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rock Head
Item: none
Moveset:

• Metal Claw
• Iron Defense
• Roar
• Headbutt

Faithful the Numel (Rook)
Level: 29
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Oblivious
Item: Cheri Berry
Moveset:

• Growl
• Take Down
• Focus Energy
• Magnitude

Stiletto the Seviper (Bishop)
Level: 27
Nature: Hardy
Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Blackglasses
Moveset:

• Glare
• Screech
• Bite
• Poison Tail

Spoiler: PC

Raspberry the Spoink (Bishop)
Level: 20
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Thick Fat
Item: none
Moveset:

• Psywave
• Odor Sleuth
• Psybeam
• Psych Up

Spoiler: Deaths

Blitz the Electrike (Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Wally solo)
Caught: Route 110 (Level 13)
Perished: Route 111 (Level 22), to a Hi Jump Kick from Winstrate Vicky's Meditite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Final Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Spark
• Howl

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)
Route 117 - Illumise (skipped)
Route 112 - Numel (caught as a Rook)
Fiery Path - Machop (skipped)
Route 113 - Spinda (skipped)
Route 114 - Seviper (caught as a Bishop)
Meteor Falls - Zubat (skipped)
Jagged Pass - Spoink (caught as a Bishop)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

 

[Quoake]

Wow! That last battle was super tense indeed! Nice work in predicting the AI's moves. Defeating Flannery like this without a single casualty is an amazing feat, so congrats!

 

[Wolf]

Flannery is tough and nearly ended my OR nuzlocke. Believe it or not i was left with a gloom after the rest of my team was wiped. Gloom managed to pull it off.
But that spoink catch is amazing! I loved grumpig in my nuzlocke, it joined my team after the Flannery fight.

 

[Calaf]

@Quoake: Thanks! It was definitely very tense, but now we've had a little time to recover, we're back on our feet and ready to tackle the next Gym Leader in this update!

@Wolf: Wow, that's amazing, seeing as how Gloom has an even less favorable matchup against Flannery than Lairon does. One thing I love most about lockes is how Pokemon you'd never expect it from can become such unlikely heroes.
And yeah, I'm really happy to have caught Spoink! Grumpig is amazing, especially in gen 3. I look forward to seeing how well Raspberry will do!

___

Alright folks, welcome back to the next installment of this challenge! We finished off the previous update right after we had the narrowest win I have personally experienced in any challenge ever. In this update, we'll go on to challenge the next Gym Leader, which should go a lot more easily than Flannery!

Before we do, however, we have a little preparing to do. As I exit the Lavaridge Gym to heal my heavily damaged team, we run into May, who gives us the Go-Goggles. This gets me pretty excited, as the goggles pave the way to our next encounter, so I rush over to the desert after healing up my Pokemon. Once we get there, I enter the Mirage Tower and thanks to some rad tricks with my Mach Bike, I reach the top of the tower pretty quickly. I don't need much time to choose which fossil I want to take and quickly go for the Claw Fossil. I've got some plans in store for the little guy. After I take the fossil, the tower crumbles at my feet and I find myself in the desert again. I head over to the Devon Corporation's R&D department, where I find the scientist that can revive an Anorith from the fossil. Inspired by the Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which I replayed recently, I name the newest addition to our team Byrne and recruit him as a Knight.

Byrne is added to the Knights' Order!​

After adding the newest member to the team, I set out to do some grinding. I train up the team to level 30, with the exception of Spartacus , which I intend to use against the Gym trainers. I train Byrne up to level 31, as he learns Protect at this level. I also teach him Fury Cutter at the move tutor in Verdanturf Town, as these two moves combined will give him the perfect moveset to take out Norman's Slaking. After all, Fury Cutter doesn't reset in gen 3 when another move is used, so I can alternate it with Protect to take Slaking out safely.

However, Byrne will initially be our backup against Slaking instead of the main player, as this is Spartacus' time to shine! I challenge Norman with Spartacus at level 29 as I attempt to finally promote him by having him defeat Norman solo.

Spoiler: Vs. Gym Leader Norman

Norman brings out Spinda first against Spartacus . I attempt to set up three Iron Defenses while Spinda first goes for Teeter Dance and then for repeated Psybeams. We succeed in setting up, but Spinda damages us to about half health with confusion and Psybeam, so I heal Spartacus up before taking Spinda out in two Iron Tails.

Next up is Norman's ace, Slaking . Spartacus chips away at Slaking with Iron Tail as he tries to deal some damage with Faint Attack. This doesn't damage Spartacus too much, so Norman goes for a different strategy and reveals Counter, thankfully on a turn when Spartacus hits himself in confusion. After this, I go for Iron Defense on the turns Slaking attempts to Counter, while chipping away at it with Iron Tail on the Truant turns, which allows us to take out Slaking.

Neither Vigoroth nor Linoone can really hurt Spartacus and eventually, they are taken down too.

And so, we've earned the Balance Badge! What's more, defeating Norman allows Spartacus to be promoted! I decide to make him a Bishop as his new role. After the battle, we also obtain the HM for Surf, which was long overdue, as both Lahar and Tequila desperately needed a (stronger) Water move. While I'm at it, I also teach Overheat to Faithful and Shock Wave to Raspberry to give both a little move firepower.

Now that we have Surf, I decide to explore some previously inaccessible areas before moving on towards Fortree City. First, we Surf up to the northernmost area of Route 115, where I encounter a female Taillow . I have really fond memories of using Swellow and it's actually one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, so I catch her without any hesitation. I name her Sierra and decide to make her a Pawn.

Sierra joins the team!​

Next, we return to Slateport City, where we Surf across the sea towards the Abandoned Ship, as I recall a Water Stone being there. However, after exploring the shipwreck, I realize I'm gonna need Dive to find it, meaning Tequila will be a Lombre for two more Gyms. Sigh. Oh well, we'll just make it work. I do find a TM for Ice Beam, which will really come in handy against Winona's Altaria .

... or it would have, if I hadn't just bought a TM Ice Beam for that exact same reason when I passed through Mauville City, literally a few minutes earlier. Welp, I guess we have two now. ^^'

Our little expedition across the sea between Slateport and Dewford wasn't a complete waste though, as the swimmers down there were perfect for training Raspberry , who fought enough battles to evolve into Grumpig!
While I was back in Dewford Town, I also picked up the TM for Sludge Bomb, which I teach to Stiletto over the much weaker Poison Tail.

After these brief detours, we cross the water near Mauville City and head on towards Fortree City. On the long, winding route towards Fortree City, we find yet another encounter that will be added to the team: a female Oddish who I name Honolulu. I designate her to be our final Rook.

Honolulu joins the squad as a Rook!​

While this may seem like a random catch, as I already have a Grass type, I have a very specific purpose in mind for her, which will become clear in time. For now though, she'll be chilling in the box with Sierra for a while.
As we continue along Route 119, Faithful destroys Bug Catchers, Aroma Ladies and Rangers left and right with her newly learned Overheat and finally gains enough experience to evolve into Camerupt . What's more, Spartacus evolves into Lairon as well!

Finally, we reach the Weather Institute, where we find Team Aqua occupying the building. As any ten-year old would do, we decide to fight the thugs and take out the grunts and Admin Shelly without any trouble.
And that's where we'll wrap things up for this update! On the next update, we'll fight another rival battle and take on the next Gym Leader, both of which I have some preparing to do for. I'll see you all next time!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --​

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Marshtomp (♂)
Role: King
Level: 32
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Item: Soft Sand
Moveset:

• Secret Power
• Mud Shot
• Mud Slap
• Surf

Spartacus the Lairon (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Norman solo
Level: 32
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Quick Claw
Moveset:

• Iron Tail
• Iron Defense
• Roar
• Headbutt

Faithful the Camerupt (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 33
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Oblivious
Item: none
Moveset:

• Overheat
• Take Down
• Amnesia
• Magnitude

Stiletto the Seviper (♂)
Role: Bishop
Level: 30
Nature: Hardy
Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Blackglasses
Moveset:

• Glare
• Screech
• Crunch
• Sludge Bomb

Raspberry the Grumpig (♀)
Role: Bishop
Level: 32
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Thick Fat
Item: none
Moveset:

• Shock Wave
• Confuse Ray
• Psybeam
• Psych Up

Byrne the Anorith (♂)
Role: Knight
Level: 31
Nature: Modest
Ability: Battle Armor
Item: none
Moveset:

• Fury Cutter
• Metal Claw
• Water Gun
• Protect

Spoiler: PC

Tequila the Lombre (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo
Level: 30
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Surf
• Nature Power
• Fake Out
• Bullet Seed

Decibelle the Loudred (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 31
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Strength
• Uproar
• Astonish
• Howl

Sierra the Taillow (♀)
Role: Pawn
Level: 25
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Guts
Item: none
Moveset:

• Focus Energy
• Quick Attack
• Wing Attack
• Double Team

Honolulu the Oddish (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 26
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Chlorophyll
Item: none
Moveset:

• Acid
• Poisonpowder
• Sleep Powder
• Stun Spore

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 1


Blitz the Electrike (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Wally solo
Caught: Route 110 (Level 13)
Perished: Route 111 (Level 22), to a Hi Jump Kick from Winstrate Vicky's Meditite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Final Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Spark
• Howl

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)
Route 117 - Illumise (skipped)
Route 112 - Numel (caught as a Rook)
Fiery Path - Machop (skipped)
Route 113 - Spinda (skipped)
Route 114 - Seviper (caught as a Bishop)
Meteor Falls - Zubat (skipped)
Jagged Pass - Spoink (caught as a Bishop)
Route 111 - Sandshrew (skipped)
Mirage Tower - Trapinch (skipped)
Rustboro City - Anorith (recruited as a Knight)
Route 115 - Taillow (recruited as a Pawn)
Route 109 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 108 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 118 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 119 - Oddish (caught as a Rook)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

 

[Calaf]

Part 6: Guts and Gusto
Hey guys, welcome back to the next update! Last time, we left things off at the Weather Institute after we'd defeated Team Aqua. In this episode, we'll pursue Team Magma and Aqua's posses headed for Mt. Pyre, after defeated Winona on the way!

First, we have another rival battle coming up though, right after we cross the bridge over the river on Route 119. Before I continue, we have to make some preparations. I'm gonna try to promote Sierra against May by making use of the very deadly combination of Guts and Facade. Therefore, I teach Sierra Facade with the TM we got from Norman, equip her with the Everstone and train her right up to the level limit, which is at level 33. Then, I travel back to Petalburg Woods, where I spam Focus Energy against a level 5 Wurmple until it poisons Sierra with Poison Sting.

Unfortunately for poor Sierra, we don't have access to Fly yet, so we have to walk her back to Route 119 while she's poisoned. A considerable hike and six Soda Pops later, we've arrived on Route 119 and crossed the bridge, at which point we run into May, who challenges us to a battle.

Spoiler: vs. Rival May

May sends out Slugma against Sierra and it's immediately OHKOed with Facade. Next up is Lombre , which does manage to get some considerable chip damage with Fake Out but is taken out afterwards as well. Finally, Grovyle comes out, but since Sierra's Hasty nature boosts her Speed, I think she'll be able to outspeed it even though Grovyle has slightly higher base Speed. Thankfully, Sierra does outspeed Grovyle and takes it out in one hit.
And so, Sierra is promoted into the Queen she is, having endured such an awful trek.

The experience from the battle also allows her to reach level 34, which means I can finally evolve her into Swellow . This does mean I have to deposit her for a while once I reach Fortree City though, as she's passed the level limit. However, we should be fine against Winona without her sheer power. For now, we can't enter her Gym though, as an object is blocking out path. Therefore, we continue to the next route, where we encounter Steven. He gives us the Silph Scope, which allows us to expose though sneaky Kecleons and clear the path to the Gym.

Once we're inside, we battle our way past the gym trainers and solve what I've always found a fun little puzzle to reach Winona. I challenge her with my team around level 32.

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Winona

I lead with Decibelle against Winona's Swablu . I taught Decibelle Ice Beam just before the Gym and it really pays off, almost taking out Swablu. Winona is triggered to heal Swablu up to full health, but it still falls in two Ice Beams, having dealt only a little damage in return with a mirrored Ice Beam.
The AI goes for the tactical move of the year by sending in Tropius next. To my surprise though, it lives through an Ice Beam, showcasing Tropius' solid defensive stats. Unfortunately for Winona though, Tropius locks itself into Solarbeam, allowing Decibelle to safely take it out.
Winona sends out Pelipper next, so I switch to Raspberry , who knocks out Pelipper in one hit.
Skarmory then comes out, so I switch to Faithful . Skarmory attempt to blind her with Sand Attack, but gets obliterated with Overheat nonetheless.
Finally, Altaria enters, so I switch back to Decibelle . Altaria paralyzes her with Dragonbreath, but it isn't enough to prevent Decibelle from taking it out in two Ice Beams. Feather Badge get!

After the battle, we continue on to Route 120 and then to Route 121. After an uneventful journey, we reach Mt. Pyre. First, we clear out the inside of the mountain in order to get TM Shadow Ball at the top. I haven't planned which Pokemon should learn it, but it's good to have options. The experience from trainers in Mt. Pyre and on the preceding routes finally allow the king to reach his final form: Lahar evolves into Swampert !

After reaching the upper inner floor, we ascend the outside of the mountain to its true top. It seems we just missed Team Magma, but Team Aqua is still around. We witness them stealing the Red Orb, to the horror of the elders safeguarding the orbs. I guess it's a good thing Maxie and Archie stole the wrong orbs; I doubt the gen 3 graphics could've managed Primal Reversion.
The elders urge us to retrieve the orbs and give us the Magma Emblem, which has been left behind by a Magma grunt. We head back to Mt. Chimney, where we discover a secret passage into Team Magma's hideout.

We battle our way through a legion of grunts, after which we reach the inner pit of Team Magma's excavation operation. Here, Admin Tabitha attempts to stop us, but he only manages to win some time, as we defeat him easily. We reach Magma Leader Maxie, who uses the Blue Orb on Groudon. The legendary Pokemon awakens and rushes out of the cavern. Maxie thinks we pulled some shenanigans and challenges us to a rematch.

Spoiler: Vs. Magma Leader Maxie

I lead with Tequila against Maxie's Mightyena . Tequila manages to take it out in three Surfs, despite Maxie using a Super Potion and after breaking through confusion from Mightyena's Swagger twice in a row.
Crobat is up next, so I send in Spartacus . Crobat doesn't do much damage with Bite and is taken out eventually by Spartacus' Iron Tail.
Finally, Maxie's ace Camerupt is sent out, but it's immediately taken out by a mighty wave unleashed by Lahar .

After we defeated him, Maxie realizes his mistake. Who would've thought the Blue Orb wasn't the right one to use on the obviously red Groudon? Either way, Team Magma departs from their hideout.
This seems like a good point to leave things off for now. On the next update, we'll have a bone to pick with Hoenn's other evil team. We'll head on to Mossdeep City as well to take on the next Gym Leaders. I hope to see you all next time!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --​

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Swampert (♂)
Role: King
Level: 37
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Item: Soft Sand
Moveset:

• Secret Power
• Mud Shot
• Mud Slap
• Surf

Tequila the Lombre (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo
Level: 37
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Surf
• Nature Power
• Fake Out
• Giga Drain

Decibelle the Loudred (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 35
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Strength
• Stomp
• Ice Beam
• Howl

Spartacus the Lairon (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Norman solo
Level: 35
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Quick Claw
Moveset:

• Iron Tail
• Iron Defense
• Roar
• Headbutt

Faithful the Camerupt (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 36
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Oblivious
Item: Charcoal
Moveset:

• Overheat
• Take Down
• Amnesia
• Magnitude

Sierra the Swellow (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 36
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Guts
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Fly
• Quick Attack
• Wing Attack
• Facade

Spoiler: PC

Stiletto the Seviper (♂)
Role: Bishop
Level: 32
Nature: Hardy
Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Blackglasses
Moveset:

• Glare
• Screech
• Crunch
• Sludge Bomb

Raspberry the Grumpig (♀)
Role: Bishop
Level: 36
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Thick Fat
Item: none
Moveset:

• Shock Wave
• Confuse Ray
• Psybeam
• Psych Up

Byrne the Anorith (♂)
Role: Knight
Level: 31
Nature: Modest
Ability: Battle Armor
Item: none
Moveset:

• Fury Cutter
• Metal Claw
• Water Gun
• Protect

Honolulu the Oddish (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 26
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Chlorophyll
Item: none
Moveset:

• Acid
• Poisonpowder
• Sleep Powder
• Stun Spore

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 1


Blitz the Electrike (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Wally solo
Caught: Route 110 (Level 13)
Perished: Route 111 (Level 22), to a Hi Jump Kick from Winstrate Vicky's Meditite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Final Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Spark
• Howl

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)
Route 117 - Illumise (skipped)
Route 112 - Numel (caught as a Rook)
Fiery Path - Machop (skipped)
Route 113 - Spinda (skipped)
Route 114 - Seviper (caught as a Bishop)
Meteor Falls - Zubat (skipped)
Jagged Pass - Spoink (caught as a Bishop)
Route 111 - Sandshrew (skipped)
Mirage Tower - Trapinch (skipped)
Rustboro City - Anorith (recruited as a Knight)
Route 115 - Taillow (recruited as a Pawn)
Route 109 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 108 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 118 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 119 - Oddish (caught as a Rook)
Route 120 - Kecleon (skipped)
Route 121 - Poochyena (skipped)
Route 122 - Tentacool (skipped)
Mt. Pyre - Shuppet (skipped)
Route 123 - Shuppet (skipped)
Magma Hideout - Geodude (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

 

[Calaf]

Part 7: Double Trouble
Hey guys! Welcome back to the next update of this challenge! Last time, we left off in a boiling hot cavern, right after Groudon shot out of Mt. Chimney like a rocket and we defeated Magma Leader Maxie. We start off this installment by picking a fight with Hoenn's other evil team, Team Aqua.
We go to Team Aqua's super secret hideout in Lilycove City, but two grunts block our path. It's been a while since I last played this game, so I forgot we need to witness Team Aqua stealing Captain Stern's submarine first. The two grunts blocking our path inform us of this fact though, so we hurry to Slateport City where Team Aqua does indeed steal the submarine. We head back to the hideout where the grunts have now disappeared.

Overall, I love gen 3, as it's the generation I grew up with, but allow me to give a little criticism. Why on earth can't I run in Team Aqua's hideout? We're in the lair of a semi-terrorist organisation so you'd think we wouldn't care about running in there, but noooo, we have to be polite and walk slowly. Maybe if we actually stepped up our pace, we'd still be able to catch Team Aqua before they slip off in their submarine. Because, spoiler alert, Team Aqua narrowly escapes with their submarine, even though we defeat the grunts and Admin Matt without any trouble. Therefore, we have no choice but to let them be for now and just continue on to Mossdeep City for the next Gym.

While we were in the hideout, I also picked up some items, including the Master Ball. I figured the two Electrodes guarding the items would give good experience, so I tried taking them out. However, the first almost took out Decibelle from full health with Selfdestruct, so I counted my blessings and let the second one be.

After a short surfing trip, I made it to Mossdeep City, after which the next order of business was to challenge the Gym Leaders, Liza and Tate. I have a plan in mind on how I want to defeat the twins:

Spoiler: Strategy for the Gym

At first, I figured I'd just lead with Lahar and Tequila and double Surf everything into oblivion, as three out of four Pokemon in the Gym are weak to Water-type attacks. However, if I recall correctly, both Solrock and Xatu carry Sunny Day, so I'm not sure I'll be able to outspeed and knock out both before they set it up. If sun were to get up, Surf might not be enough to knock out their Pokemon and Solrock could retaliate immediately with Solarbeam, knocking out Lahar and ending the challenge. I would go for Rain Dance, but unfortunately, it's only available in the Abandoned Ship after the Gym.

Therefore, I decided on another strategy. If we can't fight against the sun, we'll use it ourselves. I figure a Chlorophyll + Solarbeam strategy would work best. You've guessed it: this where Honolulu the Oddish , who we caught on Route 119 for this exact purpose, comes in. As for her partner in battle, I think Raspberry will be our best bet. After all, I think Claydol has dual screens, which may allow Solrock to live a Solarbeam and retaliate with a lethal Flamethrower. Raspberry can learn Taunt to prevent that and also has Shock Wave to take out Xatu, which is the last piece of the puzzle.
Byrne will be our backup: he can take out Xatu as well and he can give support against Lunatone and Solrock with Metal Claw.

Because Honolulu currently only has Acid for an attacking move, I use a Rare Candy to evolve her into Gloom . I also pick up the Sun Stone in the Space Center to evolve her into Bellossom immediately. I chose Bellossom over Vileplume because it isn't weak to Psychic. After evolving her, I taught her Magical Leaf at the move tutor in Fallarbor Town in exchange for a Heart Scale. I also teach her both Sunny Day and Solarbeam. I train the team up to level 40, at which point Decibelle evolves into Exploud and Byrne evolves into Armaldo . Then, we challenge Liza and Tate. Because these double battles can get hectic to describe, I'm gonna borrow the style Deva used to report his battles in his challenges for a little bit.

Spoiler: Vs. Gym Leaders Liza & Tate

Turn 1: Calm Mind (+1 SpA, +1 SpD) / Taunt against / Earthquake (15% to ; 50% to ) / Sunny Day
Turn 2: Switch / Solarbeam (100% to ); out / Psychic (70% to ; Sitrus Berry heal to 40%)
Turn 3: Soda Pop on (on 's turn) / Psychic (70% to ) / Psychic (rest to ); out
Turn 4: Solarbeam (100% to ; out / Confuse Ray on / Iron Tail (100% to )
Turn 5: Full Heal on (on 's turn) / Solarbeam (100% to )

And so, we've got the Mind Badge! Overall, the sun strategy worked like a charm to defeat Liza and Tate, but it did come at a cost: we lost our valiant Knight Byrne . In hindsight, I should've just let Honolulu keep firing off Solarbeams at the Pokemon weak to Grass while keeping Byrne alive by healing him on his own turn and stalling with Protect. Instead, I healed Byrne on Honolulu's turn while attempting to take out Xatu with Ancientpower, but I didn't anticipate that Xatu and Lunatone both might target Byrne and take him out in one turn. It sucks to lose a Pokemon due to such a miscalculation, especially after investing quite a bit of time into training him without ever using him for a major battle, but I guess that's just the way it goes in a Locke. RIP Byrne.

After the Gym battle, we head on to the Space Center to follow up on a threat which Team Magma sent earlier. As we arrive, we find Team Magma is invading the center to steal their rocket fuel in order to jettison it into Mt. Chimney and cause an eruption. After beating the grunts present without any trouble, we reach Maxie and Tabitha and also find Steven on the scene, who is trying to stop them. He asks us to help him out, so we take on the Magma executives 2v2. I take Lahar, Tequila and Spartacus into battle.

Spoiler: vs. Magma Leader Maxie & Magma Admin Tabitha

Turn 1: Intimidate and Swagger ( +1 Att and confused) / Surf (100% to ; 40% to ); Tabitha's out, Intimidate ( +-0 Att) / Metal Claw (30% to Maxie's )
Turn 2: Switch / Maxie's Switch / (10% ; +1 Att) / Tabitha's Scary Face ( -2 Spd)
Turn 3: Switch / Psychic (40% ) / Swagger ( +2 Att, confused) / Earthquake (40% to ; 80% to ; 90% to )
Turn 4: Full Restore on / Metal Claw (rest to ); out/ Earthquake (40% to ; rest to ); out
Turn 5: Bite (chip to ) / Surf (rest to ; 30% to ); out, Intimidate ( +1 Att; -1 Att / flinched
Turn 6: Switch / Confuse Ray / Take Down (chip to ) / hit itself in confusion
Turn 7: Bite (chip to ) / Swagger ( +2 Att; confused) / hit itself / Iron Defense (+2 Def)
Turn 8: Bite (chip to ) / Take Down (chip to ) / snapped out of confusion, Thunder (rest to ); out / Iron Defense (+4 Def)
Turn 9: Confuse Ray / Bite (chip on ) / hit itself in confusion / Iron Tail (critical hit; 100% )
Turn 10: Bite (chip to ) / Thunder (miss) / flinched
Turn 11: Bite (chip to ) / hit itself in confusion / hit itself in confusion
Turn 12: Bite (chip to ) / hit itself in confusion / snapped out of confusion, Iron Tail (rest to )

After we prevented a not-so-natural natural disaster, Maxie seems to realize that he took it just a little too far this time and that he really needs to chill at this point. He suddenly leaves with his entourage, saying he has important matters to attend to. And so, Steven and I leave as well. Steven invites us to his house, where he gives us the HM for Dive.
And that's where we'll leave things off for now. I could use a little break after those tense double battles. On the next update, we'll scour the underwater trenches around Mossdeep City to search for Captain Stern's submarine and Team Aqua. See you guys then!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --​

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Swampert (♂)
Role: King
Level: 40
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Item: Soft Sand
Moveset:

• Secret Power
• Mud Shot
• Muddy Water
• Surf

Tequila the Lombre (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo
Level: 40
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Mystic Water
Moveset:

• Surf
• Nature Power
• Fake Out
• Giga Drain

Decibelle the Exploud (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 40
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Strength
• Hyper Beam
• Ice Beam
• Howl

Spartacus the Lairon (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Norman solo
Level: 39
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Quick Claw
Moveset:

• Iron Tail
• Iron Defense
• Roar
• Headbutt

Raspberry the Grumpig (♀)
Role: Bishop
Level: 40
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Thick Fat
Item: none
Moveset:

• Shock Wave
• Confuse Ray
• Psychic
• Taunt

Honolulu the Bellossom (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 40
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Chlorophyll
Item: none
Moveset:

• Magical Leaf
• Solarbeam
• Sunny Day
• Sleep Powder

Spoiler: PC

Faithful the Camerupt (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 36
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Oblivious
Item: Charcoal
Moveset:

• Overheat
• Take Down
• Amnesia
• Magnitude

Stiletto the Seviper (♂)
Role: Bishop
Level: 32
Nature: Hardy
Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Blackglasses
Moveset:

• Glare
• Screech
• Crunch
• Sludge Bomb

Sierra the Swellow (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 36
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Guts
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Fly
• Quick Attack
• Wing Attack
• Facade

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 2


Blitz the Electrike (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Wally solo
Caught: Route 110 (Level 13)
Perished: Route 111 (Level 22), to a Hi Jump Kick from Winstrate Vicky's Meditite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Final Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Spark
• Howl

Byrne the Armaldo (♂)
Role: Knight
Revived: Rustboro City (Level 20)
Perished: Mossdeep Gym (level 40), to two Psychics from Liza and Tate's Xatu and Lunatone
Nature: Modest
Ability: Battle Armor
Final Moveset:

• Fury Cutter
• Metal Claw
• Ancientpower
• Protect

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)
Route 117 - Illumise (skipped)
Route 112 - Numel (caught as a Rook)
Fiery Path - Machop (skipped)
Route 113 - Spinda (skipped)
Route 114 - Seviper (caught as a Bishop)
Meteor Falls - Zubat (skipped)
Jagged Pass - Spoink (caught as a Bishop)
Route 111 - Sandshrew (skipped)
Mirage Tower - Trapinch (skipped)
Rustboro City - Anorith (recruited as a Knight)
Route 115 - Taillow (recruited as a Pawn)
Route 109 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 108 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 118 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 119 - Oddish (caught as a Rook)
Route 120 - Kecleon (skipped)
Route 121 - Poochyena (skipped)
Route 122 - Tentacool (skipped)
Mt. Pyre - Shuppet (skipped)
Route 123 - Shuppet (skipped)
Magma Hideout - Geodude (skipped)
Aqua Hideout - Electrode (skipped)
Mossdeep City - Wailmer (skipped)
Shoal Cave - Zubat (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

 

[Calaf]

Part 8 - Basically a Dutch summer
Welcome one and all to the next update in this challenge! We're getting closer and closer to the end of the game, so let's keep it up for a little more and bring this challenge home! Last update, we beat Liza and Tate to obtain the Mind Badge and definitively defeated Team Magma in the Space Center. As a reward for the latter, Steven gave us the HM for Dive, so in this update, we'll give chase to Team Aqua, who took off in their stolen submarine.

Before we do that, however, I'm gonna do something that's so long overdue. That's right, it's time for Trip to the Abandoned Ship 2: Electric Boogaloo. After flying to Dewford Town on Sierra's wings, we Surf over to the Abandoned Ship and traverse the submerged corridor of the ship using Dive, which I have temporarily taught to Lahar . Here, we finally find the Water Stone, which I use to evolve Tequila into Ludicolo at last. We also find the TM for Rain Dance, which may come in handy at some point.

Afterwards, we fly back to Mossdeep City and Surf southward to explore the underwater trenches on Route 128. Here, we find a small cavern where the stolen submarine is parked and when we go up, we find a hidden cavern. After entering the cave, we battle our way past several Team Aqua grunts and Admin Shelly, who don't pose too much of a problem. The experience from these battles causes Spartacus to evolve into Aggron . And so, the team is finally fully evolved!
We find our way through the Seafloor Cavern towards the deepest chamber, where we find the TM for Earthquake, as well as a sleeping Kyogre. Archie quickly catches up to us and challenges us to a battle.

Spoiler: Vs. Aqua Leader Archie

I lead with Raspberry to take Mightyena's Intimidate and immediately switch to Spartacus . Archie uses Scary Face on the switch and then Swagger. Spartacus misses with Iron Tail, but takes Mightyena out on the next turn with Headbutt. Next up is Crobat , which manages to flinch Spartacus a few times with Bite, but eventually falls to a Swagger-boosted Headbutt as well. Finally, Archie sends out Sharpedo , which is OHKOed by Tequila's Giga Drain.

Archie plans on using the Red Orb anyway after being defeated, but the orb interrupts him in his speech and flashes by itself, awakening Kyogre. Kyogre rushes out of the cavern as Groudon had done earlier and Maxie enters with a few grunts. He informs us that the weather has turned to alternating bouts of scorching droughts and heavy downpours, which we see for ourselves when we get outside. You know, it just looks like a typical summer here in the Netherlands to me. Barely two weeks ago, it was about 40 degrees Celsius for an entire week and then suddenly, the weather turned around and we've pretty much only had rain ever since. But I digress. Everyone seems to be worried about the weather, so I suppose we'll just check it out.

The focus of the weather appears to be in Sootopolis City, so we head over there to investigate. Here, we witness Kyogre and Groudon caught up in a battle. We meet up with Steven, who takes us to the Cave of Origin, where we meet Wallace, the former Gym Leader of Sootopolis. He tells us of the existence of Rayquaza, which should be able to calm the ancient adversaries. Therefore, we head over to the Sky Pillar near Pacifidlog Town. After Wallace unlocks the door to the tower, we ascend it towards the summit, where Rayquaza sleeps. As we approach it, the ancient dragon awakens and shoots up into the sky, speeding towards Sootopolis City. We quickly give chase and fly back there as well.

Once we get there, Rayquaza descends from the sky. With one mighty roar, it calms both Groudon and Kyogre, and both retreat to their caverns for another deep slumber. With peace restored, Rayquaza returns to the Sky Pillar and Maxie and Archie leave as well, apparently heading to Mt. Pyre to return the orbs. Now that all is right, we can also challenge the Sootopolis Gym. After taking out the various Gym trainers to gain some experience, I challenge the Sootopolis Gym Leader, Wallace's former mentor Juan, with my Pokemon at level 45, except for Raspberry , who is at level 46.

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Juan

I lead with Honolulu against Juan's Luvdisc . Luvdisc goes for Sweet Kiss, but I anticipated this and gave Honolulu a Persim Berry to hold, which swiftly cures her confusion and allows her to set up Sunny Day. On the next turn, Luvdisc is obliterated by Solarbeam. Juan sends out Sealeo next, but it's taken out by one Solarbeam as well.

And then, the trouble begins: Kingdra comes out, which calls for a change in strategy, so I send out Raspberry . Kingdra starts with Ice Beam, but thanks to Raspberry's Thick Fat, it only does 20% on a critical hit. I go for Taunt to prevent Kingdra from setting up Double Team and using Rest. Then, Raspberry sets up Light Screen to dampen Kingdra's damage output even further, with one Water Pulse only doing about 10%. Then, Kingdra uses Double Team on the next turn, much to my surprise. After consulting Bulbapedia, I learn that Taunt only lasts two turns in generation III, which does kinda invalidate my strategy. Raspberry manages to land one Psychic for 50% of Kingdra's health, but misses the next and Kingdra heals up with Rest. Over the next few turns, Kingdra sets up a few more Double Teams as I go for Shock Wave, which does about 20% every time. However, Shock Wave doesn't really do enough and Kingdra keeps healing up with Rest, while chipping away at Raspberry with Water Pulse on the remaining turns. I attempt to prevent Kingdra from using Rest with Taunt, but apparently, Taunt is affected by accuracy just as much as attacking moves, so my strategy is completely out of the window now. At one point, a critical hit Shock Wave takes Kingdra to a sliver of health, but Juan uses a Hyper Potion to heal it up again. Argh!
Meanwhile, I'm being forced to use quite a few healing items myself, thanks to Kingdra getting multiple critical hits and also confusing Grumpig about 5 times in total with Water Pulse. After a while, I decide this isn't working, as I've used all of my five Hyper Potions and I'm running out of PP on Shock Wave. Therefore, I resort to a Hail Mary strategy. I wait until Kingdra uses Rest once more and then I try to do some heavy damage with Psychic. Miraculously, Psychic breaks through Kingdra's Double Team twice in a row, taking it to a sliver of health once more. Thankfully, it doesn't wake up just yet and I can take it out with one final Shock Wave.

Crawdaunt is sent out next, so I send in Tequila to bring this battle home. After using Fake Out, Tequila swiftly takes it out with Giga Drain. Finally, only Whiscash remains, which is OHKO'ed by Giga Drain as well.

Fighting Kingdra was definitely way too close for comfort, but Raspberry managed to pull through and defeat it in the end, earning us the Rain Badge after all! And with that, we've collected all the Gym badges of Hoenn, which means that the time has come for us to head on to the highest authority in Hoenn. That's right, it's time for us to head on to Evergrande City and challenge the Pokemon League! However, we'll do that on the next update. I'll see you guys soon for that!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --​

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Lahar the Swampert (♂)
Role: King
Level: 45
Nature: Impish
Ability: Torrent
Item: Soft Sand
Moveset:

• Strength
• Mud Shot
• Dive
• Surf

Tequila the Ludicolo (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo
Level: 45
Nature: Impish
Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Surf
• Nature Power
• Fake Out
• Giga Drain

Decibelle the Exploud (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 45
Nature: Lax
Ability: Soundproof
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Return
• Hyper Beam
• Ice Beam
• Shadow Ball

Spartacus the Aggron (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Norman solo
Level: 45
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Quick Claw
Moveset:

• Iron Tail
• Iron Defense
• Roar
• Double-Edge

Raspberry the Grumpig (♀)
Role: Bishop
Level: 46
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Thick Fat
Item: Magnet
Moveset:

• Shock Wave
• Light Screen
• Psychic
• Taunt

Honolulu the Bellossom (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 45
Nature: Quiet
Ability: Chlorophyll
Item: none
Moveset:

• Magical Leaf
• Solarbeam
• Sunny Day
• Sleep Powder

Spoiler: PC

Faithful the Camerupt (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 36
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Oblivious
Item: Charcoal
Moveset:

• Overheat
• Take Down
• Amnesia
• Magnitude

Stiletto the Seviper (♂)
Role: Bishop
Level: 32
Nature: Hardy
Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Blackglasses
Moveset:

• Glare
• Screech
• Crunch
• Sludge Bomb

Sierra the Swellow (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 36
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Guts
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Fly
• Quick Attack
• Wing Attack
• Facade

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 2


Blitz the Electrike (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Wally solo
Caught: Route 110 (Level 13)
Perished: Route 111 (Level 22), to a Hi Jump Kick from Winstrate Vicky's Meditite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Final Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Spark
• Howl

Byrne the Armaldo (♂)
Role: Knight
Revived: Rustboro City (Level 20)
Perished: Mossdeep Gym (level 40), to two Psychics from Liza and Tate's Xatu and Lunatone
Nature: Modest
Ability: Battle Armor
Final Moveset:

• Fury Cutter
• Metal Claw
• Ancientpower
• Protect

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)
Route 117 - Illumise (skipped)
Route 112 - Numel (caught as a Rook)
Fiery Path - Machop (skipped)
Route 113 - Spinda (skipped)
Route 114 - Seviper (caught as a Bishop)
Meteor Falls - Zubat (skipped)
Jagged Pass - Spoink (caught as a Bishop)
Route 111 - Sandshrew (skipped)
Mirage Tower - Trapinch (skipped)
Rustboro City - Anorith (recruited as a Knight)
Route 115 - Taillow (recruited as a Pawn)
Route 109 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 108 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 118 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 119 - Oddish (caught as a Rook)
Route 120 - Kecleon (skipped)
Route 121 - Poochyena (skipped)
Route 122 - Tentacool (skipped)
Mt. Pyre - Shuppet (skipped)
Route 123 - Shuppet (skipped)
Magma Hideout - Geodude (skipped)
Aqua Hideout - Electrode (skipped)
Mossdeep City - Wailmer (skipped)
Shoal Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 127 - Tentacool (skipped)
Seafloor Cavern - Zubat (skipped)
Pacifidlog Town - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 133 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 134 - Tentacool (skipped)
Sky Pillar - Sableye (skipped)
Cave of Origin - Zubat (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.

 

[Kaori]

I really need to catch up on this run, yet I knew perfectly which part of the game you are on just by reading the title.

Congratulations on getting this far with just two deaths! The team's looking quite nice as well, including some Pokemon you don't see very often like Bellossom and Grumpig.

Best of luck with the Elite Four and Champion!

 

[Calaf]

@Kaori: Haha, I figured you would catch my drift

Thank you very much! I've really grown to like every one of my team members, so I'm glad they've all pulled through unscathed so far, despite a few close encounters. Let's hope they make it through the Pokemon League as well!

___

Part 9 - The Home Stretch
Welcome back, everyone! Last time, we defeated Juan after a very tense showdown between his Kingdra and our Raspberry . In this update, we will overcome the final obstacle before the Pokemon League and make our preparations for the most important battles in this challenge. This update will probably be a little shorter than usual, but I'd like to give the Pokemon League battles their own update.

After we defeated Juan, I replace Lahar's Dive with Waterfall in Lilycove City, allowing us to scale the large waterfall and reach Evergrande City, where the entrance to Victory Road awaits. Before we enter, I temporarily replace Light Screen on Raspberry with Flash to allow us to traverse the cave more easily. A little bit into the cave, I also decide to teach Lahar Earthquake by TM instead of waiting six more levels after a sketchy situation where he failed to OHKO a Muk with Mud Shot and it started setting up Minimizes.

After we cross the wooden bridge in Victory Road, Wally catches up to us. He says he has been training since the last time we met in Mauville City and challenges us to a battle.

Spoiler: vs. Rival Wally

Wally sends out his Altaria first. Tequila is leading the party at the moment, but I don't particularly like this matchup, so I switch to Spartacus . Altaria sets up a total of three Dragon Dances as Iron Tail misses once, but hits the next time, knocking Altaria into the red portion of its health bar and lowering its Defense. Wally heals Altaria up with a Full Restore, but a critical hit Double-Edge knocks it out.
Next up is Roselia , so I switch to Raspberry , who swiftly dispatches of it with Psychic. Then, Delcatty comes out, so I switch back to Spartacus . Delcatty's Assist turns into Dragonbreath, which paralyzes Spartacus, but he retaliates with Iron Tail, almost knocking Delcatty out. Despite Delcatty's Charm and one turn of paralysis, Spartacus knocks it out with Double-Edge. Wally's Magneton is OHKOed by Lahar's Earthquake.
Finally, Gardevoir is sent out, so I send out Decibelle . Gardevoir goes for Future Sight, allowing Decibelle to knock it out in two hits with Shadow Ball.

After defeating Wally, we continue through Victory Road, fighting all the trainers inside for the experience. Aside from a close encounter in a double battle against two trainers which both had a Slaking, we manage to defeat the trainers without too much trouble and make it through Victory Road unharmed.

And so, we finally reach the Pokemon League! However, we're nowhere near ready to challenge them at this point, as my Pokemon are currently between level 46 and 48 and Wallace's ace is at level 59. Therefore, I train the entire team up to level 56 in Match Call rematches and against Gabby & Ty, which is the main reason why the last update was almost two weeks ago. I also use a few TMs to make some changes in the team members' movesets.

Before we end this update, let's have a look at the final team and strategy!

Spoiler: Team & Strategy

(a '+' behind a move indicates that a PP Up has been spent on that move)


Lahar the Swampert (♂)
Role: King
Level: 56
Nature: Impish
194/157/125/115/113/89
Ability: Torrent
Item: Soft Sand
Moveset:

• Earthquake (3+)
• Surf
• Brick Break
• Ice Beam

Earthquake and Surf, being powerful and reliable STAB, form the core of our King's moveset and should allow him to break through a variety of Pokemon. Earthquake's PP had been maxed out so Lahar can fire them off pretty much infinitely in any battle. Brick Break and Ice Beam round off his moveset to provide some more coverage, with Brick Break being supereffective against Sidney's and Glacia's Pokemon and Ice Beam destroying most of Drake's team. However, despite Lahar's power, he won't be our primary fighter in any of the battles, as losing the King still means losing the challenge. Still, his moveset allows him to be a very potent back-up option.



Tequila the Ludicolo (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Roxanne solo
Level: 56
Nature: Impish
181/106/107/114/138/114
Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Surf
• Giga Drain (3+)
• Toxic (+)
• Protect

Tequila's moveset still consists of dual STAB in Surf and Giga Drain, which had its meager 5 PP boosted to 8. With the Pokemon League being indoors, Nature Power has become useless, so it has been replaced with Toxic. Together with Protect, it should help to stall out the bulky Water types in the League, such as Glacia's Walrein , Drake's Kingdra and Wallace's Milotic .




Decibelle the Exploud (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 56
Nature: Lax
206/138/106/123/80/108
Ability: Soundproof
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Return
• Hyper Beam (+)
• Ice Beam
• Shadow Ball

Decibelle has two powerful STAB moves at her disposal: Return is the most reliable, but Hyper Beam offers an edge when that little bit of extra power is required. Aside from these STAB moves, she has great coverage in Ice Beam, which destroys Drake, and Shadow Ball, which should allow her to dispatch of Phoebe's Pokemon.



Spartacus the Aggron (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Norman solo
Level: 56
Nature: Adamant
155/168/231/84/86/77
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Quick Claw
Moveset:

• Iron Tail
• Iron Defense
• Roar
• Double-Edge

Spartacus' moveset has remained unchanged, with Iron Tail being his most powerful move and Double-Edge being a reliable backup. Iron Defense, when coupled with his insane Defense stat, allows Spartacus to wall about half the League, such as most of Phoebe's and Glacia's teams and some of Drake's team. Roar is still there just in case, knock on wood, something starts setting up stat boosts.




Raspberry the Grumpig (♀)
Role: Bishop
Level: 56
Nature: Quiet
185/78/83/146/141/103
Ability: Thick Fat
Item: Magnet
Moveset:

• Shock Wave
• Psychic (3+)
• Reflect
• Calm Mind

I was gonna go for a dual screens setup on Raspberry, but then I figured Calm Mind was better than Light Screen, as the SpD buff is more lasting and Calm Mind provides an offensive boost as well. Aside from these status moves, she still has Psychic as a STAB move and Shock Wave for coverage and absolute accuracy.



Honolulu the Bellossom (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 56
Nature: Timid (fun fact: I think I've mistakenly reported her Nature to be Quiet the entire run. Oops.)
180/99/112/128/120/89
Ability: Chlorophyll
Item: none
Moveset:

• Magical Leaf
• Solarbeam
• Sunny Day
• Stun Spore

Okay, I dun goofed with Honolulu's moveset. I temporarily taught her Protect to be able to fire off Earthquakes with Lahar against Gabby & Ty without hurting Honolulu, thinking I could reteach Sleep Powder at the Heart Scale move tutor in Fallarbor Town. As it turns out, however, I can't, so I had to settle for Stun Spore. Aside from that minor change, Honolulu's moveset is unchanged. She's just gonna do what she has done best: set up Sunny Day and obliterate Water types with Solarbeam. As such, she'll most likely be our primary answer for Wallace.

Alright, that's where we'll wrap up this update! I'll see you guys next time, when we take on the Elite Four!

-- TO BE CONTINUED --
​

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Spoiler: PC

Faithful the Camerupt (♀)
Role: Rook
Level: 36
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Oblivious
Item: Charcoal
Moveset:

• Overheat
• Take Down
• Amnesia
• Magnitude

Stiletto the Seviper (♂)
Role: Bishop
Level: 32
Nature: Hardy
Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Blackglasses
Moveset:

• Glare
• Screech
• Crunch
• Sludge Bomb

Sierra the Swellow (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating May solo
Level: 36
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Guts
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Fly
• Quick Attack
• Wing Attack
• Facade

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 2


Blitz the Electrike (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Wally solo
Caught: Route 110 (Level 13)
Perished: Route 111 (Level 22), to a Hi Jump Kick from Winstrate Vicky's Meditite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Static
Final Moveset:

• Tackle
• Thunder Wave
• Spark
• Howl

Byrne the Armaldo (♂)
Role: Knight
Revived: Rustboro City (Level 20)
Perished: Mossdeep Gym (level 40), to two Psychics from Liza and Tate's Xatu and Lunatone
Nature: Modest
Ability: Battle Armor
Final Moveset:

• Fury Cutter
• Metal Claw
• Ancientpower
• Protect

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Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 101 – Wurmple (skipped)
Route 102 – Lotad (caught as a Pawn)
Route 103 – Poochyena (skipped)
Route 104 – Poochyena (skipped)
Petalburg Woods – Shroomish (skipped)
Route 105 – Poochyena (skipped)
Rusturf Tunnel – Whismur (caught as a Pawn)
Granite Cave - Aron (caught as a Pawn)
Route 110 - Electrike (caught as a Pawn)
Route 117 - Illumise (skipped)
Route 112 - Numel (caught as a Rook)
Fiery Path - Machop (skipped)
Route 113 - Spinda (skipped)
Route 114 - Seviper (caught as a Bishop)
Meteor Falls - Zubat (skipped)
Jagged Pass - Spoink (caught as a Bishop)
Route 111 - Sandshrew (skipped)
Mirage Tower - Trapinch (skipped)
Rustboro City - Anorith (recruited as a Knight)
Route 115 - Taillow (recruited as a Pawn)
Route 109 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 108 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 118 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 119 - Oddish (caught as a Rook)
Route 120 - Kecleon (skipped)
Route 121 - Poochyena (skipped)
Route 122 - Tentacool (skipped)
Mt. Pyre - Shuppet (skipped)
Route 123 - Shuppet (skipped)
Magma Hideout - Geodude (skipped)
Aqua Hideout - Electrode (skipped)
Mossdeep City - Wailmer (skipped)
Shoal Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 127 - Tentacool (skipped)
Seafloor Cavern - Zubat (skipped)
Pacifidlog Town - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 133 - Wingull (skipped)
Route 134 - Tentacool (skipped)
Sky Pillar - Sableye (skipped)
Cave of Origin - Zubat (skipped)
Victory Road - Golbat (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

King, Queen, Bishop, Bishop, Knight, Knight, Rook, Rook, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn, Pawn.