Nuzlocke Calaf's Pokemon SoulSilver Chesslocke -- Part 11: The Pokemon League

[Calaf]

Hey guys! After some technical difficulties ended my last challenge prematurely, I have risen from the ashes to start up this new challenge! Due to the quarantaine, I have a lot of free time on my hands and what better way to spend it than to come back to one of my favorite games in the franchise, Pokemon SoulSilver?

For this challenge, I decided to return to the Chesslocke, 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. Before we get into the first update, let's briefly review the rules of the Chesslocke, which we will be using for this challenge:

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. Dupes Clause: If my first encounter in an area is a Pokemon I have already caught, that encounter doesn't count. This also applies to Pokemon that belong to an evolutionary family I have already caught. This clause is used to stimulate variety and to make every Pokemon caught unique within the challenge.
5. Shiny Clause: If I encounter a shiny Pokemon, I am allowed to catch it. If this occurs, a Pokemon from the PC must be replaced with the shiny pokemon.
   
   
6. There will be a level limit for this challenge, equal to the highest level on the team of the upcoming Gym Leader or Champion.
7. I'll be imposing an item limit of 3 per battle to prevent myself from heal spamming.
8. I will be playing with the Battle Style on 'Set'
9. The starter I will choose for this challenge will be determined by the last digit of my trainer ID.

Spoiler: Chesslocke

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.

I had an absolute blast doing this challenge on Pokemon Emerald last year, so I'm very excited to start up this challenge! I hope you'll follow along for the journey!
Now, without further ado, let's get into the first update of this challenge!

___

Spoiler: Part 1: A New Game Begins

As I fire up the game, I find myself in the classic upstairs bedroom. I immediately check the PC as I've been conditioned to do, but it doesn't contain a Potion, so I just head downstairs. My mom hands me some stuff, including my Trainer Card, which means we get to see which Pokemon will be accompanying us for the entirety of the journey. Now, Cyndaquil is my all-time favorite starter, so I'm a little biased as to which starter I'd like to get, but Totodile is amazing for playing through the game as well.
I look at my trainer card and the trainer ID ends in...

'...3'

Chikorita. That's uhhh... well, just the way I like it I guess. After all, is it even a challenge if it doesn't make you suffer at least a little bit?

Actually, this may not be the worst thing in the world. Sure, he probably won't be dropping opponents left and right, but at least the Chikorita line is pretty resilient. I decide to make the best of it and name the little guy Mimosa, after a genus of flowers. Mimosas are also a beloved brunch beverage, which I thought was pretty fitting, considering his nature turns out to be Relaxed.

Long live King Mimosa the Laid-back!
​

After my new partner and I meet at prof. Elm's lab, the professor gets a call from Mr. Pokemon who claims he has made an amazing discovery and asks prof. Elm to come pick it up. The professor, however, claims to be swamped in his research and asks us to go in his stead. And so, my blooming buddy and I set out for Mr. Pokemon's House, which should be just past Cherrygrove City. Now, this may seem like an easy task, but mind you, we don't have any running shoes yet at this point in the game.

​

We finally arrive in Cherrygrove City, where a friendly old man puts us out of our misery by giving me a pair of Running Shoes at the end of his tour of the city. Fortunately, this means the second leg of our journey goes much faster and we reach Mr. Pokemon's house in no-time. Here, we pick up the mysterious Egg and we also get the Pokedex from prof. Oak, who happens to be there as well.

As we pass through Cherrygrove City again on the way back to the lab, we encounter a certain redheaded individual, who challenges us to a battle. Hah, rookie mistake. Mimosa , who is now at level 7, easily beats his level 5 Cyndaquil with Razor Leaf. We also get a quick glance at his trainer card, which comes in handy when we get back to the lab and it turns out the guy actually stole his Cyndaquil. Whoa shocker. When asked what his name is, I resist the urge to call him Buttface - now, if that doesn't make me an adult, I don't know what does - and just call him Silver instead. The cop sets off on his (spoiler alert: unsuccessful) mission to catch the thieving ten-year-old and we leave as well.

We head back onto Route 29, where I finally get some Poke Balls from my childhood friend Lyra, which means this run has officially begun. I decide there's no reason not to get my first encounter immediately, so I head into the tall grass and find a Hoothoot , because I'm playing at night so what else would I find. I think about it for a little while because I only get 16 Pokemon throughout this entire run, but then I decide to catch it anyway. After all, since I started with Chikorita, I really need something so Falkner doesn't kick our asses and I've never used a Hoothoot before, so why not use it this time. I name the little guy Aristotle, because Noctowl looks kinda wise, right?

Aristotle the Hoothoot joins the team as a Pawn!​

This seems as good a place as any to wrap things up for now. Next time, we'll head towards Violet City to take on the first gym and maybe we'll even get a Pokemon that can actually do some damage idk. See you guys next time!

___

​

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Chikorita (King)
Level: 8
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Moveset:

• Tackle​
• Growl​
• Razor Leaf​

Aristotle the Hoothoot (Pawn)
Level: 2
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Moveset:

• Tackle​
• Growl​
• Foresight​

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

None so far. :)

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)

Spoiler: Roles

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

 

[Zed]

Good luck with your challenge! Chesslocke looks like a very hard challenge but it also looks very interesting. I remember liking the idea a lot and following your Emerald Chesslocke but then I kinda stopped coming to the forums for some time and never saw how it ended so I'll have to go back and read through it now that you reminded me of it.

Chikorita will make this challenge extra hard but as you said at least it's bulky and you can use it to support the rest of your team with different status moves. I'm also glad that you caught a Hoothoot as it is one of my favorite regional birds (mostly because of nostalgia reasons) but just like with Chikorita it is more of a defensive Pokemon. I used a Noctowl in both the original Johto and the remakes and I can tell you that it can be very useful with it's very good Sp. Def/HP stats and moves like Hypnosis and even Reflect since that makes up for its lacking physical defense. Psychic attacks it gets are also a nice bonus.

 

[Gokudera]

The Chesslocke sounds really interesting!
And, like you said, Chikorita is pretty bulky, so that should help its survivability. And Noctowl is pretty decent. It has a decent move pool, and at least can learn a few decent Psychic moves.
Here's hoping Falkner isn't too bad for you.

 

[Typhlosion]

Catching a Hoothoot to take on Falkner might not be such a bad idea. I can see Aristotle being able to sweep Falkner by himself at a high enough level, so you might find yourself with a promoted Pawn quite early!

 

[Calaf]

@Zed, @Gokudera: Thank you guys for the encouraging words, I really appreciate it! I'm pretty excited to use Noctowl for the first time! Before I'll be able to evolve my Hoothoot though, it will have to win a major battle all by itself, so we're not there yet. Here's hoping he'll manage to do it!

@Typhlosion: That was my thought as well! Keep in mind though, I am playing with a level limit, so Aristotle can't be higher in level than Falkner's Pidgeotto , which is level 13, so things might get interesting. Let's see how it plays out!

___

Spoiler: Part 2: The Opening Moves

With the young philosopher owl added to the party, our journey is now finally set to truly begin! On the way to Cherrygrove City, I train Aristotle up to level 5 by switch training so he can at least hold his own. We also make a brief stop on Route 46 to the north in hopes of encountering a Geodude, but no luck: a Spearow comes out instead and since we don't need another Flying type at this point, we let it fly off.

We don't stay in Cherrygrove City for long, only taking some time to stock up on Antidotes to deal with the Weedles on the upcoming routes, before pushing on to Violet City. Along Route 30 and 31, we encounter the first trainer battles of this challenge, which go over without a hitch: Mimosa easily dispatches the Youngsters' Pokemon, while Aristotle does a decent job fighting the Bug Catchers.

Soon enough, we reach the gate leading to Violet City, but since the party is still pretty healthy, I want to take some time training first before heading into the city. I train Aristotle up to level 9 against the relatively harmless Bellsprouts and Kakunas on Route 3, at which point he learns Peck. As Aristotle now finally has the means to hit the Bellsprouts in Sprout Tower for supereffective damage and put in a lot more work, I feel like this is a good time to head into the city.

After we're briefly stopped by Lyra, who gives us the Vs. Recorder, we finally make it into Violet City, which holds the first hurdle we'll face in this challenge. Before we take on the Gym Leader however, I decide it would be best to test our mettle in the Sprout Tower: the Elder's Hoothoot should give us an idea on whether Aristotle will be able to take on Falkner all by himself.

As we scale the tower with the large, swaying pillar, Aristotle decimates the Sages' Bellsprout left and right with Peck. We reach the top of the tower in no time, with Aristotle now at level 12. We witness the Elder lecturing our rival on how to properly treat his Pokemon, advice which Silver immediately rejects as he Escape Ropes out of the tower, before we step up to the plate to challenge the wise Elder ourselves.

Elder Li's Bellsprouts quickly suffer the same fate as his subordinates' Bellsprouts had, but his Hoothoot is another story. Even though Aristotle is two levels higher than his opponent, he still needs four hits to knock out the Hoothoot. We manage to defeat the Elder without any problems, but this mediocre result worries me: I had planned for Aristotle to take on Falkner by himself, but the fact that he would need this many hits to knock out a weaker Hoothoot, doesn't bode well for when he will face a Pidgeotto of equal level, which has Roost to heal off any damage to boot.

After considering multiple strategies and weighing my options, I concede defeat in this theoretical exercise and decide we will need reinforcements for this battle. Two Pokemon available around Violet City fit the mark in my mind, so we set out to obtain either of them. I head south of the city first to search for a Mareep , but a Hoppip appears instead, so we are fresh out of luck on this front.

On to plan B it is! Now, if we don't find the Pokemon we're looking for this time, we're headed for a grand old bad time in the upcoming Gym Battle, so fingers crossed. As we head into the Dark Cave east of the city, our luck turns: we finally encounter the Geodude we were looking for earlier. I catch the Geodude and name her Beryl, after the gemstone.

Beryl joins the force as a Pawn!​

I train our newest addition from level 2 up to level 11, at which point she'll learn Rock Throw and be able to take on the Gym. Because of her excellent physical bulk, Beryl is actually able to take on the Ekans on Route 32 all by herself from the get-go, which makes training her go pretty fast. After she reaches level 11, we head into the Gym and defeat the Gym trainers with ease, indicating that Beryl is up to the task. After a quick heal, I challenge Falkner with Beryl at level 12.

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Falkner

Falkner leads with his level 9 Pidgey against my Geodude . Now, this thing has no offensive pressure whatsoever, but it's still a huge pain: it has Sand-Attack to incapacitate Beryl for her battle with Pidgeotto, so we have to take it out as soon as possible. Luckily, it only manages to get in one Sand-Attack before Beryl knocks it out in one hit with Rock Throw.

The feared Pidgeotto comes out next. Because Pidgeotto loses its Flying type for one turn upon Roosting, softening the blow of Beryl's subsequent Rock type attacks, I have her go for two Rock Polishes first so she outspeeds the big bird. She then goes for a flurry of Rock Throws and even though the first one misses, the second one hits and takes away 50% of Pidgeotto's health.
As Pidgeotto's repeated Gusts have been wearing down Beryl for about 50% of her health as well, we trade a turn healing up our Pokemon with a Potion and Roost respectively before heading back into the ring for Round 2. At first, Beryl continuously knocks Pidgeotto back into half health but fails to finish him off due to the accuracy drop, allowing it to Roost off the damage every time. Eventually though, she regains her focus and hits a hot streak of five Rock Throws in a row. Pidgeotto is now continuously healing up, but Rock Throw actually does a little over half, making Pidgeotto inch ever closer to death. Eventually, the avian just cannot keep up and bites the dust, earning us the Zephyr Badge!

Aside from earning us our first badge, defeating Falkner all by herself allows Beryl to be promoted and since she's female, I promote her into a Queen! So, even though Aristotle didn't get her chance to shine, we still managed to get a promotion this update. Our poor owl will just have to try later. Maybe he'll get his moment in the next update, when we head for Azalea Town!

I hope to see you all again then!

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Chikorita (King)
Level: 11
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Moveset:

• Tackle
• Growl
• Razor Leaf
• Poisonpowder

Aristotle the Hoothoot (Pawn)
Level: 13
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Moveset:

• Uproar
• Growl
• Peck
• Hypnosis

Beryl the Geodude (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Falkner solo)
Level: 13
Nature: Sassy (+SpDef, -Spe)
Ability: Rock Head
Moveset:

• Tackle
• Defense Curl
• Rock Polish
• Rock Throw

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

None so far. :)

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)
Route 46 - Spearow (skipped)
Route 30 - Weedle (skipped)
Route 31 - Bellsprout (skipped)
Dark Cave - Geodude (caught as a Pawn)
Sprout Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 32 - Hoppip (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

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

 

[Typhlosion]

Good job on that, even if things didn't go as planned. Rock Throw's accuracy is disgusting to begin with but you made it work! Since Beryl has two evolutions, does promotion to a Queen mean she can evolve all the way to Golem, or only into Graveler?

 

[Calaf]

@Typhlosion: Thanks! Promoting her means she can go all the way to Golem! Aside from Pawns, which can't evolve at all, no other pieces have any evolution restrictions, so it's all or nothing!

___

Spoiler: Part 3: Going Kamikaze

With our first shining badge safely tucked away in our badge case, it is time to leave Violet City behind and move on to our next destination: Azalea Town. As we pass the outskirts of the city, a man standing there hands us a Miracle Seed as a parting gift, which will be perfect for Mimosa . Speaking of the young king, he's fallen behind in levels a bit due to his poor matchup against Falkner's birds, so I decide to give him some time in the lead.

We head south down the long Route 32, battling every trainer along the way. The various Fishermen scattered along the pier just beneath the Magnet Train tracks challenge us with their fresh catches as well, but they prove no match for Mimosa, who soon sits at the top of the pack again from the resulting experience.

We take a short rest at the Pokemon Center before heading into Union Cave. Mimosa is still in the lead, as he's best equipped to deal with the Hikers and Poké Maniacs wandering the cave. As we make our way through the cave, he easily knocks out the various Rock types and occasional Slowpoke with Razor Leaf. The experience from the battles is enough to make him reach level 16, at which point he evolves into Bayleef .

Soon after this first evolution, we emerge from the cave and step into Azalea Town, where something seems afoot. When we go to ask around, local Poke Ball maker Kurt tells us Team Rocket is running an illegal Slowpoketail enterprise from the town well, so we go to check it out. Kurt soons breaks his back by dropping ten meters down the well, so it's all up to us to stop the goons.

We battle our way through a small army of weak grunts before reaching the marginally less weak Executive Proton, who says they'll only stop cutting off the Slowpoketails if we defeat him. As it turns out, that works for me. Aristotle blasts through his level 8 Zubat and level 12 Koffing alike with Uproar, expelling Team Rocket from the well and restoring peace to the town.

Now, before I headed into the well to fight Team Rocket, I figured I could see the battles against the Team Rocket Executives as 'major battles', which is the requirement for Pawns to be promoted if they manage to win the battle by themselves. However, as the battle against Proton reminded me, the level curve in Johto is... wonky, especially when it comes to Team Rocket. Therefore, it seems kinda cheap to count each of these battles against the often criminally underleveled Team Rocket Executives as 'major battles'.

As such, I'd like to set a little 'house rule' when it comes to this: battles against Team Rocket Executives do not count as 'major battles' for this challenge.

Alright, with that out of the way, back to the action! Well, more grinding than action, actually. With the fight against Bugsy coming up, we have some training to do. I take on the gym trainers with Aristotle first, before training up the entire squad to level 17, the same level as Bugsy's ace. After all, I feel like we're gonna need some backup if the strategy I have planned for Bugsy starts going south.

What is this strategy, you ask? Well, I'm going to attempt to take on Bugsy with Aristotle in attempt to promote him to a higher ranking piece. I'm not sure he'll be able to win the 1v1 against Bugsy's Scyther , but I feel like we have to try. At level 17, Aristotle learned Reflect, which should help out against Scyther's attacks. I also teach him Roost prior to the battle using the TM we got from Falkner, as I feel like this will be a battle of endurance and three healing items probably won't cut it.
With the final preparations made, I challenge Bugsy with Aristotle in the lead.

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Bugsy

In his usual fashion, Bugsy leads against Aristotle with his Scyther . I go for a bold strategy and try to put Scyther to sleep with Hypnosis immediately, but the first one misses after Scyther takes about 1/3 of Aristotle's HP with Quick Attack. Oof, that did more than I expected. Luckily, the second Hypnosis connects after another Quick Attack. Unfortunately though, Aristotle doesn't have much time to benefit from it: he only manages to heal off the damage with Roost and set up a Reflect before the dreaded mantis wakes up again. We test our luck with Hypnosis once again, but before Scyther falls asleep again, he manages to set up Focus Energy and get off one Leer. Things are getting real dangerous now. We try to get some damage off on Scyther and three subsequent Pecks leave Scyther at 60% of its health after its Sitrus Berry. At this point though, Scyther wakes up and strikes with another Quick Attack just after Reflect wears off, which leaves Aristotle at 5 HP from full health. Gulp.

...

At this point, I realize we have to cut our losses and bow down. I could heal Aristotle up with an emergency Super Potion, but a critical hit would knock him out in one blow from full health and with Scyther having a 25% chance of scoring a critical hit after Focus Energy, that's bound to happen. So, I recall Aristotle and send out Beryl to bail us out once more. Scyther hits the feared critical hit Quick Attack on the switch, but Beryl shakes it off with ease. Instead of going for U-turn, Scyther seems hellbent on going for Quick Attack and in a legendarily anticlimactic turn of events, it perishes to a single Rock Throw from Beryl. The two cocoon Pokemon are no match for Beryl's mighty Rock attacks either and are defeated in a single blow each as well. For better or for worse, we've earned the Hive Badge!

Sigh. That was way too close for comfort. As I leave the Gym building with our next Gym Badge sitting in our badge case, I realize that I could've lost my valiant Hoothoot in a heartbeat there. Despite Aristotle's great knowledge of defensive techniques, it seems he just wasn't strong enough to take on a Scyther one-on-one. I'm sorry, Aristotle, but it seems like your time to shine has yet to come.

Perhaps he will get another chance on the next update? Stay tuned to see what happens next!

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Bayleef (King)
Level: 17
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Moveset:

• Synthesis
• Reflect
• Razor Leaf
• Poisonpowder

Aristotle the Hoothoot (Pawn)
Level: 17
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Moveset:

• Roost
• Reflect
• Peck
• Hypnosis

Beryl the Geodude (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Falkner solo)
Level: 18
Nature: Sassy (+SpDef, -Spe)
Ability: Rock Head
Moveset:

• Magnitude
• Defense Curl
• Rock Polish
• Rock Throw

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

None so far. :)

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)
Route 46 - Spearow (skipped)
Route 30 - Weedle (skipped)
Route 31 - Bellsprout (skipped)
Dark Cave - Geodude (caught as a Pawn)
Sprout Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 32 - Hoppip (skipped)
Union Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 33 - Rattata (skipped)
Slowpoke Well - Zubat (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

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

 

[Zed]

Good job on winning the second badge without losing anyone, it's always scary to battle a Technician Scyther in only the second gym. To bad that Hoothoot couldn't pull it off on its own but there is always the next time.

And I do agree with you that Team Rocket are a bunch of pushovers in these games so I get why you would feel cheap counting them as important battles. Hopefully the Rival and Gym Leader battles will be enough to promote all of the Pawns that you want to promote. Maybe you could count that one time you battle Eusine as an important battle instead of Team Rocket (if you didn't already plan on counting him anyways), I remember that he can be very challenging if you aren't prepared.

 

[Calaf]

@Zed: Yeah, now that you mention it, Eusine probably fits the bill! I'm not sure I'll be able to find a Pokemon that can take him on by itself though, that Thunder Electrode is big scary lol.

___

Spoiler: Part 4: Aristotle's Redemption?

We step out of the Azalea Gym with our second badge and a sense of defeat. Last time, Bugsy's Scyther proved too strong for Aristotle and he barely managed to make it out of the close encounter. Beryl was able to save the day and earn us the badge, but this means we'll have to find another opportunity to promote Aristotle before we can evolve him. Luckily, another chance to shine is coming right up: the next battle against our rival Silver! Before we can take him on though, it would be wise to do some training first. Cue the Rocky training montage music.

After beating low-level Rattata and Ekans into a pulp for about half an hour - man, training is such a pain in this game - Aristotle reaches level 19, the level limit for the upcoming Gym battle against Whitney and one level higher than Silver's starter. I figured we could use the advantage, as Silver will have a Quilava by this point. After a quick heal at the Pokemon Center, we head into Ilex Forest, at which point we're stopped by Silver, as expected. Time for Aristotle to prove his worth once more!

Spoiler: vs. Rival Silver

Silver leads with his level 14 Gastly . I bet this thing has Curse at this point and even though Aristotle has Roost, 1/4 of his HP every turn is a lot of damage. I doubt Peck will be able to one-shot him, so I decide to put my faith in Hypnosis to incapacitate the Gastly. Luckily, Aristotle outspeeds the Gastly and hits the Hypnosis, putting the ghost to sleep. He follows up with a critical hit Peck, which takes the Gastly to a sliver of its health and even hits a second critical hit to finish it off. Off to a great start!

Zubat comes out next. It hits Aristotle with Bite, but is quickly put to sleep with Hypnosis afterwards. Aristotle chips it down to about half before the bat wakes up again. However, two missed Supersonics later, it's soundly asleep again. Considering we hit Hypnosis three times in a row this battle, we really can't complain about our luck. The Zubat doesn't get to see the light of day again, as two more Pecks finish it off.

Finally, Quilava is up. Things could still very well go south, so it will all come down to this. Quilava goes for a Leer as it hits the field before falling asleep after experiencing a taste of Aristotle's Hypnosis itself. We follow up with Peck once more, but this Quilava is a lot more resilient than its teammates: I estimate it's gonna take 6 hits to knock out. Still, we get some good luck once more and are about halfway through Quilava's health when it wakes up. Apparently, it's decided that we've had about enough luck with our accuracy and goes for a Smokescreen. I decide not push our luck any further and have Aristotle go for the final push with some more Pecks, hoping that Silver doesn't have any healing items. Despite another Smokescreen, Aristotle doesn't miss a single hit with Peck, knocking out the Quilava before it can do too much damage in return.

And so, we can promote Aristotle at last! Since his line learns a lot of support moves, I decide it would be good to promote him into a Bishop. His evolution will have to wait a little while longer though, since he's already at the level limit for the next Gym battle. Time to make our way towards Goldenrod City first!

We step into Ilex Forest, where we help a charcoal cutter's apprentice get back his Farfetch'd. To show his thanks, he gives us the HM Cut we need to proceed. Because our team options are already extremely limited, I decide to catch an HM buddy to learn it to and we soon encounter a Paras that does the trick. We cut the small tree down and continue our way through the forest.

Somewhere in the middle of the forest, we encounter the tutor for Headbutt, which I teach it to Mimosa over Poisonpowder. With this new semi-HM, we return to Azalea Town briefly to get our encounter there: it would be amazing for our battle with Whitney if we could get a Heracross there. Unfortunately though, all we find is another Spearow, so we continue our way back to Johto's largest city.

We traverse the dark forest as well as Route 34 leading up to Goldenrod City without any events. As we enter the city, the entire team is already close to the level limit, so I decide to head for the Gym immediately after obtaining the Radio Card. At this point, I actually have to avoid Gym trainers to avoid overleveling my squad. I hate to waste valuable experience, but rules are rules.
Once more, Beryl will be our safest bet for the Gym. I challenge Whitney with her at level 19.

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Whitney

Okay, the battle plan is as follows:
Step 1: Set up to +6 Defense and Speed against Whitney's Clefairy .
Step 2: Don't get destroyed by a random Metronome from said Clefairy.
Step 3: Profit.

We start setting up with Beryl while Clefairy fails to do too much against her. However, at some point, Clefairy uses Mimic to learn Defense Curl as well. I don't want Clefairy setting up itself, as I feel we might need our PP for Miltank, so this seems like a good moment to knock it out. Two Magnitudes do the trick and we head into the next phase of the battle with Beryl at +4 Speed and +2 Defense.

Miltank comes out next. For now, our strategy remains the same and I have Beryl set up to max Defense and Speed as Miltank does negligible damage with Stomp. After that though, Miltank turns out to be quite bulky herself and Beryl has trouble chipping her down. Every time we hit about half of Miltank's HP, she heals up with Milk Drink. At one point we manage to get her to half health AND get a Magnitude 10, but it still isn't enough to knock her out and she heals up again. I guess this will be a battle of endurance: we have to wait until Miltank's either out of Milk Drinks or decides to go for Rollout.

I conserve my Magnitudes for the push while Miltank uses Rollout and have Beryl chip it down with Rock Throw instead. So far, this marathon isn't really going in our favor: Miltank scores a few critical hits and as a result, I have to heal up Beryl twice already with a Super Potion. However, after what must be about 30 turns, Miltank appears to be out of PP for Stomp and starts going for Rollout. This is our chance: Beryl sets off some Magnitudes again in an attempt to knock it out. In between successive sprees of Rollout, Miltank manages to heal up with Milk Drink once more, but in the end, the bovine bites the dust.

And so, Beryl saves our collective ass once more, earning us the Plain Badge! Honestly, I don't even know where we would be in this challenge without her.

Before I end this update, I feel like there's one more thing we have to do: giving Aristotle the final level he needs. He's done a great job earning the increase in power, after all. I head into the Underground to do a last bit of training, where he soon reaches the fateful level 20 and evolves into Noctowl !

And that'll do it for this update, guys! See you all on the next one!

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Bayleef (King)
Level: 19
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Synthesis
• Reflect
• Razor Leaf
• Headbutt

Aristotle the Noctowl (Pawn > Bishop by defeating Silver solo in Azalea Town)
Level: 20
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Item: none
Moveset:

• Roost
• Reflect
• Peck
• Hypnosis

Beryl the Geodude (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Falkner solo)
Level: 20
Nature: Sassy (+SpDef, -Spe)
Ability: Rock Head
Moveset:

• Magnitude
• Defense Curl
• Rock Polish
• Rock Throw

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

None so far. :)

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)
Route 46 - Spearow (skipped)
Route 30 - Weedle (skipped)
Route 31 - Bellsprout (skipped)
Dark Cave - Geodude (caught as a Pawn)
Sprout Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 32 - Hoppip (skipped)
Union Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 33 - Rattata (skipped)
Slowpoke Well - Zubat (skipped)
Ilex Forest - Weedle (skipped)
Route 34 - Rattata (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

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

 

[Gokudera]

Beryl is putting in work! That buff rock with arms is absolutely deserving on her Queenly moniker.
And Noctowl should be great as a Bishop
But...man that Bugsy fight was scary. Glass everyone survived.
Here's hoping that good luck keeps on coming.

 

[Typhlosion]

Go Aristotle! I'm glad he got his redemption.

Geodude really is great in early Johto. The Gyms start to turn against it after this but Beryl will still keep earning her spot, I think.

 

[Calaf]

@Gokudera: Yeah, even though we only have three members right now, I'm really glad with the team I've got going so far! And you're right about that Bugsy fight, we only made it out by a hair lol. Let's hope we don't have too many of those close encounters going forward!

@Typhlosion: So am I! Aristotle could definitely use a power boost, so I'm glad he finally made it work. Here's hoping he'll continue to prove his worth! And you're right, Beryl won't have the best matchup against any more of the Johto Gym Leaders and Elite Four. Oh well, she'll still be useful for pummeling Silver's team at least. :p

___

Spoiler: Part 5: Ghostbuster!

We resurface from the Goldenrod Underground into the afternoon sun. It's about time to move on from the city, but before we do, we stop by the Flower Shop real quick to pick up a watering can, saving ourselves a trip back after bumping into a certain wiggling tree on Route 36. Afterwards, we continue our journey northward and we soon reach the National Park. As it turns out, there is a Bug Catching Contest going on today, so I decide to participate, hoping to get a Scyther or something.

Our hope soon evaporates though, as the first bug to pop out of the tall grass is a Weedle. Therefore, I ragequit the contest and continue my way towards Ecruteak City. On Route 36, we run into the expected Sudowoodo, which doesn't appreciate us watering it too much. With Beryl reigning supreme as our physical Rock type, I doubt Sudowoodo would add much to that and have Mimosa take it out with Magical Leaf. The girl from the Flower Shop standing nearby thanks us for the show and gives us the Berry Pots, which may just come in handy this update.

A little trek further northward, we arrive in Ecruteak City. Along the way, Aristotle had finally learned another attacking move in Confusion. As much as I like his array of support moves, I decided to get rid of Reflect, as it gets the least use out of all his moves.
After a brief exploration of Ecruteak City, which yields us the Dowsing MCHN and the HM for Surf, I decide to hold off on exploring the Burnt Tower for now and instead scout the nearby Routes for encounters first. On Route 38 we just find another Raticate - I've lost count how many of this line I've passed up on at this point - but on Route 39, leading up to Olivine City, we run into a Meowth . Now, I wasn't particularly planning on using Persian, but I bet this little guy could solo Morty with a little bit of training, courtesy of his Normal type. In Chesslockes, it's always a good idea to catch anything that you might be able to promote, so I add our new feline friend to the team and name him Tycoon, in reference to Meowth's fondness for money.

Tycoon is added to the team as a Pawn!
​

Our newest addition to the team turns out to have Technician, which actually gives him a surprising amount of power at this point. As such, he's quickly trained up to level 21, at which point I feel confident enough to go explore the Burnt Tower. Inside, we meet Eusine and Ecruteak's Gym Leader Morty, but also run into our rival again. Tycoon is in the lead and quickly dispatches our rival's Gastly with a single Bite, after which Beryl smashes the rest of his team to pieces . The experience earned against Silver and the Firebreathers in the tower proves enough to evolve our Queen into a Graveler!

After encountering the three legendary dogs in the basement of the tower, the Gym Leader returns to his base, allowing us to challenge him. I have Tycoon take out the Gym trainers for experience and then round off his training by getting him to level 25, at which point he learns Taunt and is up to par with Morty's ace.

Before we challenge Morty, however, there are some other preparations we need to make. Time to talk strategy!
Morty basically has four ways of dealing damage:

1. Shadow Ball. We don't have to worry about this one because of Tycoon's Normal type.​
2. Sucker Punch. This shouldn't do too much, as the Gengar line isn't too physically offensive. Besides, we can always heal off the damage for free.​
3. Curse. This can be stopped by Tycoon's Taunt.​
4. Hypnosis + Dream Eater. Taunt should work here too, except on Gengar, which will probably outspeed Tycoon. Therefore, we going to need a specific item: one Chesto Berry.​

There's only one way to get Chesto Berries in this game as far as I know: trading a Blue Shard for a set of blue berries with the Juggler in Violet City. Therefore, I grind by smashing rocks in the Ruins of Alph for a little bit, until we find the fateful Blue Shard. After trading it for the berries, we grow some more Chesto Berries in our Berry Pots so we have some spares, before we're finally ready to equip Tycoon with one and challenge the fourth Gym Leader!

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Morty

Morty sends out his Gastly first. As we already saw in the Burnt Tower, Tycoon is more than equipped to handle Gastlies and takes it out with a single Technician-boosted Bite.

One of Morty's Haunters comes in next. His attempt at lulling Tycoon to sleep is thwarted when he goes for Taunt. Haunter deals about 20% damage with Sucker Punch before Tycoon takes him down to the red with another Bite. Morty wastes a Hyper Potion, as Haunter is taken out with a few more Bites before doing any more damage.

Next up is Morty's dreaded Gengar . With our Chesto Berry to catch the first Hypnosis, I go for Taunt, but as it turns out, we don't even need our Berry: Gengar opts for Mean Look instead. Gengar deals about 40% with Sucker Punch, which is more than I expected actually, before taking 40% itself from Bite. I heal up Tycoon as Morty's Sucker Punch fails.

We spend some more turns trading damage; because of Gengar's Sitrus Berry, taking him out actually takes three more Bites. The battle actually got a little scary: because of my item limit of 3, I had to be economical with my Super Potions and let Tycoon get knocked down to 20% of his health twice before knocking out the Gengar.

Finally, Morty's last Haunter comes out, but a Taunt and my final Super Potion put Tycoon well into comfortable shape to knock it out with a few more Bites. Morty did have another Hyper Potion though, so I guess I should thank my lucky stars that he didn't use that on his Gengar. Either way, Fog Badge get!

And so, we've managed to secure another promotion! I think it would be a waste not to make use of Tycoon's Technician-boosted Fake Out and so I opt to promote him into a Knight over a Rook!

I think this'll do it for this update. Next time, we're headed for Olivine City! I hope to see you guys then!

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Bayleef (King)
Level: 25
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Synthesis
• Reflect
• Magical Leaf
• Headbutt

Aristotle the Noctowl (Pawn > Bishop by defeating Silver solo in Azalea Town)
Level: 23
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Item: none
Moveset:

• Roost
• Confusion
• Peck
• Hypnosis

Beryl the Graveler (Pawn -> Queen by defeating Falkner solo)
Level: 25
Nature: Sassy (+SpDef, -Spe)
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Shell Bell
Moveset:

• Magnitude
• Defense Curl
• Rock Polish
• Rock Blast

Tycoon the Meowth (Pawn -> Knight by defeating Morty solo)
Level: 27
Nature: Rash (+SpA, -SpDef)
Ability: Technician
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Taunt
• Fake Out
• Fury Swipes
• Bite

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

None so far. :)

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)
Route 46 - Spearow (skipped)
Route 30 - Weedle (skipped)
Route 31 - Bellsprout (skipped)
Dark Cave - Geodude (caught as a Pawn)
Sprout Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 32 - Hoppip (skipped)
Union Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 33 - Rattata (skipped)
Slowpoke Well - Zubat (skipped)
Ilex Forest - Weedle (skipped)
Route 34 - Rattata (skipped)
Route 35 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
National Park - Weedle (skipped)
Route 36 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
Route 37 - Stantler (skipped)
Burnt Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 38 - Raticate (skipped)
Route 39 - Meowth (caught as a Pawn)

Spoiler: Roles

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

 

[Gokudera]

Morty was trying to set up that nasty combo of Hypnosis/Mean Look/Dream Eater.
He just mixed up the order a little bit lol.

Good job, Tycoon! He proved his worth right wayay!
And Knight is custom made for a Technician mon.
And Rash isnt that bad, either.
Could make for a decent mixed attacker with Swift and maybe Shock Wave

 

[Typhlosion]

Like Gokey said, Technician on a Knight seems like the perfect combination. Good job, Tycoon! And good job encountering a Meowth, Calaf. From what I remember, those are darn rare.

 

[Calaf]

@Gokudera: I'm glad Morty dropped the ball lol, that battle could've been much more difficult than it actually was. And yeah, I'm really content we were able to add Tycoon to the team! Even though I'll have to work with the physical set we've got going on right now, the Meowth line has access to Nasty Plot too, so I feel like a special set would definitely be good sometime in the future!

@Typhlosion: Definitely! I had hoped for a Technician Scyther to be our first Knight, but I'll absolutely take a Technician Persian too!

___

Spoiler: Part 6: A Close Call Brawl

Woo, we're back folks! After a brief (unplanned) hiatus for this challenge, we are now ready to pick up where we left off last time, in Ecruteak City, right after we beat Morty. And what better way to celebrate the resumption of this challenge than with a new encounter?

Over the course of the run, I've missed out on more than a few of Pokemon I was hoping to add to the team: a Heracross in Azalea Town, Drowzee on Route 34, a Vulpix on Route 37 and the list goes on. This time, that won't be the case though, as this encounter is (almost) guaranteed and the place where we're gonna get it is none other than Violet City. After all, with the HM for Surf from the Ecruteak Dance Theater and the Ecruteak Gym Badge under our belt, we can finally get an encounter there. All we need at this point is a temporary HM buddy that can use Surf; we soon find a Wooper on Route 32 that fits the bill just fine.

After a brief Surf on the Violet City pond, we find the female Poliwag I was looking for. I catch her and decide to name her Olive.

Olive joins the team as a Pawn!
​

That's right, we aren't done promoting Pawns just yet! I already have a battle in mind for our newest addition to prove her worth and if it works, it's gonna be grand. However, that's still quite a bit away, so for now she'll remain the happy little tadpole she is.

Before we continue our journey towards Olivine City, I decide to extend this detour to Cherrygrove City and New Bark Town to pick up the Mystic Water and Everstone respectively. Afterwards, we can finally resume our travels towards the next Gym. We soon arrive in Olivine City, only to learn from our rival Silver that the town's Gym Leader is at the Lighthouse, caring for a sick Pokemon. Therefore, we scale the Lighthouse in order to find her.

The trainers in the Lighthouse don't prove too much of a challenge: Olive , who we caught at level 22, surprises me by being able to hold her own right from the start, even taking out a Gentleman's Noctowl of the same level all by herself. We soon reach the halfway point, where -- fun fact -- 13-year-old Calaf was stuck for about half an hour on his first playthrough of Soul Silver before I realized the path was through the window/doorway on the side of the Lighthouse.

After an uneventful second half of the Lighthouse, we find Jasmine, who asks us to fetch her some medicine from the Pharmacy in Cianwood City to cure the sick Ampharos at the top of the Lighthouse. And so, we start surfing across the sea towards the port city with (in my opinion) one of the best themes in the series.

On the way to Cianwood City, we find the TM for Pluck, which is a very welcome power-up to Aristotle's Peck. En route, Mimosa and I also sweep the sea for any Swimmer that wants to battle, leading him to easily reach the level limit at level 31. The rest of the team is now starting to fall a little behind though, so we may have to do a little training session before we take on the Gym. Before we get around to that, however, we have another battle to do. Towards the northern side of Cianwood City, we encounter Suicune again. As it races off across the waves, Eusine appears in its pursuit. He challenges us to a battle 'to earn Suicune's respect'. Not sure how that works, buddy, but let's fking go.

Spoiler: vs. Mystery Man Eusine

I lead with Tycoon against Eusine's Drowzee . I know what this guy is up to with his Drowzee, so I follow up Tycoon's Fake Out with Taunt, which shuts down the Drowzee's Hypnosis in its tracks. A Bite then finishes off the elephant man.
Electrode comes out next, so I switch in Beryl just in time to take the incoming Thunder. Two Magnitudes easily take out the spherical Pokemon, which was left to only do some chip damage to Beryl with Sonicboom.
Finally, Haunter makes his appearance, so I switch back to Tycoon . However, he gets hit by an incoming Hypnosis, so we have to make another swap for Aristotle immediately. Luckily though, he takes out the Haunter with a single Pluck after it uses Curse on the switch.

With most of the trainer battles within a 50-mile radius exhausted, I'm left training up the squad against wild Tentacool just off the coast of Cianwood City. I tend to forget how much fun grinding is in this game. Thankfully, it doesn't take too long before the squad is trained up until level 30, with the exception of Beryl , who really can't take on Bubblebeam-carrying Tentacools, and Aristotle , who still has to take on the Gym trainers later. Even though Tycoon was set to evolve into Persian at level 28, I held off on evolving him until level 30, when he learned Pay Day. haha free money machine go brrr.

Now that most of the team is trained up, we're ready to head into the gym. Our main answer to this Gym, Aristotle , should be able to take out the Gym trainers and Gym Leader alike; he's even got a nice Charti Berry equipped that our Mom bought for us to withstand those nasty Rock-type attacks. The first few Gym trainers go over without a hitch and Aristotle has only taken a little bit of damage from an opposing Machoke's Seismic Toss.

However, that's where we start to run into trouble; our next opponent is a level 27 Hitmonchan . Before Aristotle dishes out slightly over half the Hitmonchan's health in damage, it immediately strikes with Mach Punch, dealing about 40% to Aristotle, way more damage than he should. I'm starting to worry this thing may have the elemental punches, in which case we'll be in a world of trouble. I heal up Aristotle hoping that the Hitmonchan will go for Mach Punch again, but it's in vain: Hitmonchan strikes with Ice Punch, knocking out Aristotle from full health.

...

...

Well, ****. This is bad, really bad. If this Hitmonchan has one of the elemental punches, it probably has all of them. At this point, I probably should've sent out Tycoon to take the KO with Fake Out, but in a daze, I sent out Olive instead. After all, Beryl was dead in the water, and I couldn't risk losing Mimosa and losing the challenge.

Now, I'm not sure whether the Hitmonchan was taking pity on us or whether it had brain damage from all the boxing, but thankfully, it went for Fire Punch against Olive, allowing her to pick up the KO with Surf and limit the number of casualties in this battle to one. Phew.

However, even with this battle done and the path to the Gym Leader free, we're not nearly out of the woods yet. With Aristotle gone, so is our plan A for the Gym. We are left with only strategy: going for all the marbles and challenging Chuck with Mimosa . According to the rules of the Chesslocke, losing him means losing the challenge, so it all comes down to this! I equip Mimosa with our only Lum Berry and challenge the Cianwood Gym Leader.

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Chuck

Chuck leads with his Primeape against my Mimosa . We set up Reflect as Primeape goes for Double Team. Hah, you fool! Primeape sets up another Double Team in vain as Mimosa's Magical Leaf homes in on the Fighting type and hits it for about 1/3 its HP. By now, Chuck seems to realize this play isn't doing all too much for him, but instead of dealing some actual damage, he tries going for Focus Punch twice, which doesn't work all that well when my attacks are guaranteed to hit; two Magical Leaves later, Primeape bites the dust as Mimosa is still standing unscathed.
Poliwrath is up next. It immediately hits a Hypnosis, but thankfully, we came prepared: Mimosa's Lum Berry wakes him right up and he takes about 1/3 of Poliwrath's health with Magical Leaf. Please don't do that again though.
At this point, our Reflect wears off and Poliwrath makes use of this by dealing about 25% damage with Body Slam as another Magical Leaf is cancelled out by the Poliwrath's Sitrus Berry. It was at this moment, however, that Chuck began losing focus, as he kept having Poliwrath go for Focus Punch in the face of Mimosa's unyielding Magical Leaves. One Hyper Potion and four uses of Magical Leaf later, Poliwrath takes Mimosa to 50% health with one final Body Slam before being taken out. Storm Badge get!

And so, despite the tragic loss of our Aristotle in this update, we can end on a high note: it seems we get to live another day! What's more, the experience from the Gym Battle allowed Mimosa to reach level 32 and evolve into Meganium , finally becoming the king he was destined to be!

And that's where I'll leave things off for today. In the next update, we're finally bringing the SecretPotion back to Olivine City and challenging Jasmine for our sixth Gym badge. I hope to see you again then!

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Meganium (♂)
Role: King
Level: 32
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Item: none
Moveset:

• Synthesis
• Reflect
• Magical Leaf
• Petal Dance

Beryl the Graveler (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Falkner solo
Level: 27
Nature: Sassy (+SpD, -Spe)
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Shell Bell
Moveset:

• Magnitude
• Defense Curl
• Rock Polish
• Rock Blast

Tycoon the Persian (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Knight by defeating Morty solo
Level: 30
Nature: Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
Ability: Technician
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Pay Day
• Fake Out
• Fury Swipes
• Bite

Olive the Poliwag (♀)
Role: Pawn
Level: 30
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Ability: Water Absorb
Item: Everstone
Moveset:

• BubbleBeam
• Surf
• Mud Shot
• Body Slam

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 1


Aristotle the Noctowl (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Silver solo in Azalea Town
Caught: Route 29 (Level 2)
Perished: Cianwood Gym (Level 27), to an Ice Punch from a Gym trainer's Hitmonchan
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Final Moveset:

• Roost
• Confusion
• Pluck
• Hypnosis

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)
Route 46 - Spearow (skipped)
Route 30 - Weedle (skipped)
Route 31 - Bellsprout (skipped)
Dark Cave - Geodude (caught as a Pawn)
Sprout Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 32 - Hoppip (skipped)
Union Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 33 - Rattata (skipped)
Slowpoke Well - Zubat (skipped)
Ilex Forest - Weedle (skipped)
Route 34 - Rattata (skipped)
Route 35 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
National Park - Weedle (skipped)
Route 36 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
Route 37 - Stantler (skipped)
Burnt Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 38 - Raticate (skipped)
Route 39 - Meowth (caught as a Pawn)
Violet City - Poliwag (caught as a Pawn)
Route 40 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 41 - Tentacool (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

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

 

[Typhlosion]

Spoiler

NOOOO NOT ARISTOTLE

I'm curious which battle you plan to use to promote Olive. I could see her doing quite well against Pryce.

 

[Gokudera]

Spoiler

As soon as I saw the sprite for Hitnonchan Inwas worried. Knowing these games, I knew it would have a few of the ElePunches, but damn. I was not expecting Mach Punch to do that much.
RIP Aristotle. You proved your worth time and again. You were a damn good Noctowl.
As for that match up against Olive, maybe the trainer had Mach Punch, another fighting move (maybe Focus Punch?) And Fire and Ice Punch. There's no way it had Thunder Punch because it would have used it against Olive.

*Eusine fights against a 10 year old to earn the respect of a water doggo*.
Why do you assume Suicune revels in child abuse, Eusine?.

I'm just realize that a few of Gen 2's gym leaders have set strategies. Morty had Mean Look/Hypnosis/Dream Eater and Chuck has Double Team/Focus Punch. But his AI has no clue how to deal with accuracy ignoring moves like Magical Leaf. Huzzah!

 

[Calaf]

@Typhlosion: Yeah, that just about sums up my initial reaction as well..

I considered promoting Olive against Pryce, but I doubt she'd be able to break through his Rest Dewgong , so I thought of another plan instead. Let's just say it should all become clear soon.

@Gokudera: Yeah, I definitely didn't expect Aristotle to get destroyed this hard either. I'm never underestimating Hitmonchan ever again, that's for sure. RIP Aristotle, your sacrifice will not be forgotten.

The Johto Gym Leaders definitely have some nasty strategies available to them. As frustrating as they can be sometimes - looking at you, Whitney's Miltank - at least they make for fun challenge runs, I suppose. I'm glad Mimosa and his Magical Leaf where able to break through Chuck though!

___

Spoiler: Part 7: Packin' a Wacan

We step out of the Cianwood Gym into the evening sunset. Chuck's wife approaches us and hands us the HM for Fly as a grim reminder to what we've lost in this Gym. Without Aristotle , we're left to Surf back to Olivine City to deliver the cure to the sick Ampharos in the Lighthouse. We soon reach the top of the Lighthouse once more, where Jasmine heals the sick Pokemon with the SecretPotion we handed her. Relieved, she returns to the Olivine Gym. We can now head over there to challenge her for our sixth Gym badge, but before we're ready to do so, we've got some training to do.

Luckily, Safari Zone Warden Baoba calls us right as we exit the Lighthouse, saying that the new Safari Zone has finally opened. The routes leading up to it should provide us with some good experience. Therefore, we Surf across the sea to Cianwood City once more. It's a good thing Tycoon's Pay Day brings in some extra cash to support our expensive Repel habit. We enter the cave entrance in Cianwood City and soon we find ourselves on the Routes leading up to the Safari Zone.

On Route 47, we run into some trouble when Beryl and Mimosa are challenged by a Double Team (read: Cooltrainer couple) with a Magmar and an Electabuzz . Despite her type advantage, Beryl struggles to take the opponents out with an impressive streak of Magnitudes 4 and missed Rock Blasts. Thankfully though, Mimosa tanks the incoming Flamethrowers from Magmar like a champ, healing off the damage with Synthesis every time and in the end, our royal couple bests their opponents. Not gonna lie, I'm growing more and more satisfied with the starter I got at the start of the run.

After a short hike across Route 47, just past the infamous Young Couple with the Onix and the Cloyster - you gotta love these games - we encounter a patch of grass on Route 48, where we run into a male Vulpix . Like I said in the previous update, I was really pining for a Vulpix before, so I decide to catch the him in a heartbeat. As the little guy will be a Bishop, I feel like he should have an equally wise name as our late Aristotle. After some deliberation, I settle on Aurelius, after the (supposedly wise) Roman emperor. Also, 'Auris' means 'gold' in Latin, which I thought would fit well with Ninetales' golden colour.

Aurelius offers his wise council as a Bishop!
​

The newest addition to our team is already at level 22, which means he's only two levels away from learning his bread-and-butter move: Flamethrower. A brief glance at Vulpix' movepool on Serebii reveals that this is also the only worthwhile move Vulpix will learn by level-up (well, aside from Extrasensory at level 44, but no way I'm waiting that long), so we might as well evolve him immediately. Therefore, I decide to head over to the Pokeathlon Dome near Goldenrod City to earn ourselves a Fire Stone.

After a short trip on the wings of a Fearow I caught as an HM buddy in the same patch of grass - I'm sorry, I cracked - we arrive at the Pokeathlon. Now, at this point, I'm playing this on a Tuesday evening and as it turns out, they're selling the Fire Stone today. This means I can either get all the 2500 points today or wait another week to evolve Aurelius .

So, a little over an hour and six Pokeathlon competitions later, we have finally racked up enough points to buy the Fire Stone we need. After I evolve Aurelius into Ninetales , I decide that's about enough sports for a little while.

We return to the routes by the Safari Zone to resume our training. When I head into the Cliff Cave to train up Olive , we run into our encounter for the place, a female Machop . She would come in handy for the battle against Pryce, so I decide to add her to the team. She will be called Hippolyte, after the mythical queen of the Amazons; let's hope she'll live up to her name. With her Naughty Nature and No Guard for her ability though, I feel like she will!

Hippolyte joins the squad as a Pawn!​

After quite a long training session, most of the team is sitting at level 32, with the exception of Beryl , who I still haven't found a good training spot for, and Hippolyte , who I'd rather train up when I have the Exp. Share. Furthermore, Olive is now at level 35, the level limit for the upcoming Gym Leader. That's right, it's time to promote her! I equip her with a Wacan Berry so she can (hopefully) take one hit from Jasmine's Magnemites and then fly over to Olivine City to challenge her for our sixth Gym Badge. It's death or glory!

Spoiler: vs. Gym Leader Jasmine

As expected, Jasmine leads with one of her Magnemites against Olive . I have Olive lead off with Mud Shot, which should take out Magnemite in one hit. That is, if it had hit. sigh. 95% accuracy? More like a solid 50% chance to hit, amirite?
The Magnemite retaliates with Thunderbolt, as expected, which does about 70% after Olive's Wacan Berry reduces the damage. Luckily, the second Mud Shot does manage to hit and Magnemite bites the dust. The second Magnemite follows up, but soon suffers the same fate.
Finally, Steelix enters the field. Not sure how much Iron Tail will do, I think it would be wise to heal Olive up first. As it turns out, it's a good thing I did, as Steelix does about 40%. Olive's Surf hits Steelix for about 80% as it decides Sandstorm is the best move to use at this instance and a second Surf seals the deal, earning us the Mineral Badge!

Glory it is! Winning the battle allows Olive to be promoted into a Queen, as well as earning her enough experience to evolve into Poliwhirl !

I think this is as good a point as any to wrap things up for this time. On the next update, we'll head over to Mahogany Town to challenge the oddly lower-leveled next Gym Leader, Pryce! See you guys then!

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Meganium (♂)
Role: King
Level: 33
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Synthesis
• Reflect
• Magical Leaf
• Petal Dance

Beryl the Graveler (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Falkner solo
Level: 27
Nature: Sassy (+SpD, -Spe)
Ability: Rock Head
Item: Shell Bell
Moveset:

• Magnitude
• Defense Curl
• Rock Polish
• Rock Blast

Tycoon the Persian (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Knight by defeating Morty solo
Level: 32
Nature: Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
Ability: Technician
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Pay Day
• Fake Out
• Fury Swipes
• Bite

Olive the Poliwhirl (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Jasmine solo
Level: 36
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Ability: Water Absorb
Item: none
Moveset:

• BubbleBeam
• Surf
• Mud Shot
• Body Slam

Aurelius the Ninetales (♂)
Role: Bishop
Level: 32
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Ability: Flash Fire
Item: Charcoal
Moveset:

• Quick Attack
• Will-o-Wisp
• Confuse Ray
• Flamethrower

Hippolyte the Machop (♀)
Role: Pawn
Level: 20
Nature: Naughty (+Atk, -SpD)
Ability: No Guard
Item: none
Moveset:

• Focus Energy
• Karate Chop
• Foresight
• Seismic Toss

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 1


Aristotle the Noctowl (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Silver solo in Azalea Town
Caught: Route 29 (Level 2)
Perished: Cianwood Gym (Level 27), to an Ice Punch from a Gym trainer's Hitmonchan
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Final Moveset:

• Roost
• Confusion
• Pluck
• Hypnosis

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)
Route 46 - Spearow (skipped)
Route 30 - Weedle (skipped)
Route 31 - Bellsprout (skipped)
Dark Cave - Geodude (caught as a Pawn)
Sprout Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 32 - Hoppip (skipped)
Union Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 33 - Rattata (skipped)
Slowpoke Well - Zubat (skipped)
Ilex Forest - Weedle (skipped)
Route 34 - Rattata (skipped)
Route 35 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
National Park - Weedle (skipped)
Route 36 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
Route 37 - Stantler (skipped)
Burnt Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 38 - Raticate (skipped)
Route 39 - Meowth (caught as a Pawn)
Violet City - Poliwag (caught as a Pawn)
Route 40 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 41 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 48 - Vulpix (caught as a Bishop)
Cliff Cave - Machop (caught as a Pawn)

Spoiler: Roles

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

 

[Typhlosion]

Hah! I did wonder if that could be your plan: a real gutsy one. Good job!

 

[Calaf]

@Typhlosion: Thanks! It was a long shot for sure, but I'm glad it worked out!

This update, we'll be trying the same trick once more. Will it work again? Let's find out!

___

Spoiler: Part 8: Paying the Pryce

With the Mineral Badge shining brightly in my badge case, it's time to move on to Mahogany Town, where our next Gym Badge awaits! The old ninja town is just a short travel through Ecruteak City away. However, as we arrive there, it becomes clear that we have some other things to do first before we can challenge Pryce. There is talk of a mysterious radio signal being broadcast locally that has led some Gyarados at the Lake of Rage to go haywire.

We head over to the Lake of Rage to quell the rampaging red Gyarados first. I briefly consider catching it, but we already have a Water type in Olive and for some reason, I've never really liked using the red Gyarados. Therefore, I just knock it out with two rounds of Mimosa's Petal Dance after setting up a Reflect. In doing so, we obtain a Red Scale, which will come in handy later.

As we set foot on the shore of the lake again after Surfing around it to pick up the miscellaneous items lying around, among which the Choice Specs, a trainer with fiery red hair who introduces himself as Lance approaches us. He asks for our help in locating the source of the mysterious signal, which appears to be coming from Mahogany Town.

Before we go check it out though, I make a quick trip to Mr. Pokemon's house to trade the Red Scale for the Exp. Share, which should help to train up Hippolyte . We fly back to Mahogany Town and check our the suspicious souvenir shop. Inside, we find Lance, who orders his Dragonite to Hyper Beam a guy - jeez, calm down Lance - before discovering a secret stairwell leading into the Team Rocket Hideout.

We descend the stairs and check out the secret base. We fight one wave of grunts triggered by the Persian surveillance statues, which reminds me to head over to the PC with the switch to turn them off. Afterwards, we continue our search through the hideout, fighting the various severely underleveled trainers along the way for experience. Beryl , who had been falling behind, now has a field day against the various Raticates, Zubats and Koffings and is quickly caught up with the rest. On the lowest floor of the base, we find Rocket Executive Petrel, who is impersonating Giovanni. He challenges us to a battle, which doesn't even warrant a spoiler tag: each of his three Pokemon is roasted by Aurelius' Flamethrower.

The room to the signal transmitter is guarded with a voice-recognition password, so Petrel flees the scene to prevent us from getting in. However, thanks to a Murkrow present in the room who mimics Petrel's voice, we manage to open the door after all. Another Rocket Executive, Ariana, briefly impedes Lance and me with a double battle, but this one goes over just as smoothly as the one before: Beryl Earthquakes her Arbok into oblivion, after which Aurelius comes in on Gloom and burns her remaining two Pokemon to a crisp, while Lance takes care of the Grunt.

Afterwards, we take out the Electrode supplying the transmitter, effectively dismantling the base. All is well again! Well, for about 10 minutes at least. For now though, we're left to challenge Pryce. Before heading into the Gym, I make sure the entire team is trained up to level 32, including Hippolyte , who will be taking on Pryce in an attempt to be promoted. I then battle the Gym trainers with her, which leads her up to level 34, the same as Pryce's Piloswine. After a quick trip to Goldenrod City for a TM Protect, which I teach to Hippolyte over Seismic Toss, I challenge Pryce!

Spoiler: Vs. Gym Leader Pryce

Pryce leads with his Seel against Hippolyte . Humph, old cheater; Seel isn't even an Ice type yet. I lead off with a Revenge, but because Seel goes for Hail, the damage doesn't get doubled, so it only does about 50%. Seel opts for Rest next just as Hippolyte goes for Wake-Up Slap. This damage does get doubled as Seel is asleep, knocking it out from full health.

Dewgong is up next. Its Aurora Beam takes Hippolyte just below half health, but the Sitrus Berry I equipped her with brings her back up to a slightly more comfortable HP level. Hippolyte's subsequent Revenge takes Dewgong out in one hit as well.

Finally, the dreaded beast Piloswine hits the field. As a rule of thumb, all Johto Gym Leaders have some kind of set strategy and I've got a feeling Pryce's thing is Hail strats. As such, I'm willing to bet Piloswine is carrying Blizzard, which is why I equipped Hippolyte with Protect.
I take a turn to scout with Protect and sure enough, Piloswine reveals Blizzard. Between Protect and my healing items though, we should be able to outlast the PP for Blizzard. I heal up Hippolyte with a Hyper Potion right before she takes a Blizzard from Piloswine, which takes her down to 3 HP from full health. By some kind of miracle, the Hail stops, giving Hippolyte another chance at life.
I'm not sure if the AI can sense Hippolyte's No Guard, so I don't know if it will go for Hail or Blizzard. If I go for Protect and Piloswine uses Hail, Hippolyte will be dead, so I decide to play it safe and heal her up again. However, it appears to be in vain, as the next Blizzard is a critical hit, knocking our valiant Fighting-type out.

In the most anticlimactic turn ever, Aurelius comes in to avenge his teammate and scorches the Piloswine with a single Choice Specs boosted Flamethrower. Glacier Badge get, I guess.

Sigh, poor Hippolyte . I guess the risky promotion strategies were bound to go south sometime. It's a shame though, I was looking forward to using Machamp. Rest in peace.

As we step out of the Gym, we get a call from prof. Elm, who says broadcasts about Team Rocket can be heard on the radio. You know what that means: it's time to liberate the Radio Tower. After we say our goodbyes to Hippolyte, we fly over to Goldenrod City. We pick up a Team Rocket costume in the Goldenrod Tunnel and use it to sneak into the Radio Tower. As we fight our way up the tower, Olive evolves into Politoed thanks to the King's Rock I'd picked up from the Slowpoke Well right after beating Jasmine.

We also learn that the Team Rocket boss has locked himself in and that only the Director has the key to the door. Therefore, we head up to the Director's office, where we appear to have found the Director. On closer inspection however, it's Executive Petrel again. To find out where the real Director is, I challenge him with Aurelius .

Spoiler: vs. Rocket Executive Petrel (part 2)

Petrel leads with one of his five Koffings . Much like the first battle, it's torched by Aurelius' Flamethrower. Petrel sends out his Weezing next, however. I had planned to just blast through all 6 Pokemon with Aurelius, but at this point, I'm starting to get cold feet that I may not be able to knock it out in one hit and that it will have Explosion, so just to be safe, I switch to Beryl .
Weezing goes for Sludge, which means I didn't have to swap at all in hindsight. After that, it starts being real obnoxious by going for Smokescreen twice. However, despite that and the fact that Rock Blast is seriously low on PP after scaling the tower, Beryl is doing a fine job breaking though Weezing. When it starts getting low, it decides to help us a hand by blowing up with Explosion. This actually saves me the trouble of hitting one more Rock Blast and Beryl should be able to tank it just fine, I think as Beryl's HP rolls to 0. A critical hit!

You have GOT to be kidding me! This update is really starting to piss me off: that's two Pokemon now that shouldn't have been dying on me!

I send in Aurelius to play the janitor once more: he cleans up the remaining 4 Koffing with Flamethrower .

Well, I guess I don't get to use Golem either. I never thought anything would be able to crack your monstrous physical defense, Beryl. However, it's no overexaggeration to say that you've single-handedly won about half of all the important battles up until this point: we would've been lost against the first few Gyms without you. A true MVP has perished. RIP.

Upon defeating Petrel, he tells us the Director is stashed away in a warehouse deep in the Goldenrod Tunnel. However, that will have to wait for the next update; I'd better wrap up this update here before we suffer any more losses. Hopefully, the cards will be stacked more in our favour next time.

___

Spoiler: The Team!

Mimosa the Meganium (♂)
Role: King
Level: 34
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Ability: Overgrow
Item: Miracle Seed
Moveset:

• Synthesis
• Reflect
• Magical Leaf
• Petal Dance

Tycoon the Persian (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Knight by defeating Morty solo
Level: 34
Nature: Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
Ability: Technician
Item: Silk Scarf
Moveset:

• Pay Day
• Fake Out
• Fury Swipes
• Bite

Olive the Politoed (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Jasmine solo
Level: 37
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Ability: Water Absorb
Item: Mystic Water
Moveset:

• BubbleBeam
• Surf
• Mud Shot
• Bounce

Aurelius the Ninetales (♂)
Role: Bishop
Level: 35
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Ability: Flash Fire
Item: Choice Specs
Moveset:

• Quick Attack
• Will-o-Wisp
• Confuse Ray
• Flamethrower

Spoiler: PC

None yet.

Spoiler: Deaths

Number of deaths: 3


Aristotle the Noctowl (♂)
Role: Pawn -> Bishop by defeating Silver solo in Azalea Town
Caught: Route 29 (Level 2)
Perished: Cianwood Gym (Level 27), to an Ice Punch from a Gym trainer's Hitmonchan
Nature: Quirky (neutral)
Ability: Imsomnia
Final Moveset:

• Roost
• Confusion
• Pluck
• Hypnosis

Hippolyte the Machop (♀)
Role: Pawn
Caught: Cliff Cave (Level 18)
Perished: Mahogany Gym (Level 34), to a critical hit Blizzard from Pryce's Piloswine
Nature: Naughty (+Atk, -SpD)
Ability: No Guard
Final Moveset:

• Submission
• Wake-Up Slap
• Revenge
• Protect

Beryl the Graveler (♀)
Role: Pawn -> Queen by defeating Falkner solo
Caught: Dark Cave (Level 2)
Perished: Goldenrod Radio Tower (Level 35), to a critical hit Explosion from Petrel's Weezing :explosion:
Level: 35
Nature: Sassy (+SpD, -Spe)
Ability: Rock Head
Final Moveset:

• Earthquake
• Defense Curl
• Rock Polish
• Rock Blast

___

Spoiler: Encounter List

Route 29 - Hoothoot (caught as a Pawn)
Route 46 - Spearow (skipped)
Route 30 - Weedle (skipped)
Route 31 - Bellsprout (skipped)
Dark Cave - Geodude (caught as a Pawn)
Sprout Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 32 - Hoppip (skipped)
Union Cave - Zubat (skipped)
Route 33 - Rattata (skipped)
Slowpoke Well - Zubat (skipped)
Ilex Forest - Weedle (skipped)
Route 34 - Rattata (skipped)
Route 35 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
National Park - Weedle (skipped)
Route 36 - Nidoran (m) (skipped)
Route 37 - Stantler (skipped)
Burnt Tower - Rattata (skipped)
Route 38 - Raticate (skipped)
Route 39 - Meowth (caught as a Pawn)
Violet City - Poliwag (caught as a Pawn)
Route 40 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 41 - Tentacool (skipped)
Route 48 - Vulpix (caught as a Bishop)
Cliff Cave - Machop (caught as a Pawn)
Route 43 - Flaaffy (skipped)
Lake of Rage - Gyarados (skipped)
Team Rocket Hideout - Koffing (skipped)

Spoiler: Roles

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