Wedlocke Catch The Rainbow - Chapter 5 [Omega Ruby Rainbow Wedlocke]

[ElysiumRachael]

Why hello there! I'm pretty new to the forum, presence wise. I've been meaning to do something like this for a while, but as you'll read further on, you'll see that it took me a while to gain the motivation to try this once more. Most of the information of this run and why I'm doing it can be found in the Preface tab. I will warn you though, it is a little wordy. Actually a lot of this is going to be wordy. It is my first time documenting something like this, so please bear with me as I try to find the right mix of content and tangents. I'll try my best to break up large walls of text with spoiler tags or spaces.

Spoiler: Preface

Around February, I wanted to do a Rainbow Wedlocke run of Ultra Sun. I liked seeing people post their runs on the forum and I got inspired to try my hand at the challenge. I had managed to do a nuzlocke of X with a friend of mine prior to this, so I had a good mindset going into the challenge. However, what happened afterwards shot my spirits. I hadn’t played the game in a while, so I had forgotten most of the beginning portion. I was scrounging by when I got to the first battle with Dexio. His Espeon proceeded to wipe out my entire party in a flash. Part of it was that I had forgotten to catch several Pokémon on some routes and that it was difficult to train specific Pokémon since they had no pairs. The fact that one of my strongest pairs was eliminated by Hau’s Pikachu (The pair was Zubat and Wingull) was devastating. No one survived the battle with Dexio, and that signaled the end of my run.

Following my failure at the run, I grew a bit frustrated with myself and wanted to try my hand at a different game. I thought of Platinum, but ultimately got cold feet. My motivation was at an all time low. I thought I would try out Omega Ruby since it was one of my favorites. The thought lingered for a while, and after one attempt where I just gave up from laziness, I got hit with inspiration. I am a fan of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and so while I was watching a fan-made video for the stands in Part 7, I got to hear the song Catch The Rainbow by Rainbow for the first time. I’m not sure what it was about the song that just resonated with me well, but it was enough to get me back on the saddle to try out the challenge again. It only occurred to me after starting the run that the song could be a thematic connection to the run. I had to do a double take because I didn’t notice it immediately. Regardless of what lit the spark in me, I will do my best to fulfill the challenge at hand.

TL;DR: I don’t like Dexio in Ultra Sun and started this because of Catch The Rainbow. I also really like to write a lot since it gets the creative juices flowing.

With that all out of the way, the rules for the challenge are stated here:

Spoiler: Rules

Death: Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead. It can either be released or boxed permanently.

Nuzlocke: I can only catch the first Pokémon encountered in each area. Whether it flees or faints, I am only given one shot. If it is in a double battle, I may catch whichever of the two I want. DexNav can be used to find Pokémon in tall grass any number of times, but is only allowed to catch the first battled Pokémon. When using the Eon Flute, the sky is considered one area. Underwater is also considered one area.

Rainbow Wedlocke: Pokémon are paired up in teams of two based on gender and nature. Natures determine what a Pokémon's preference. The natures that determine this have been shuffled and listed below.

"Opposite Attracted" means a Pokémon must be paired with a compatible Pokémon of the opposite gender.

"Male Attracted" means that a Pokémon must be paired up with a compatible male Pokémon.

"Female Attracted" means that a Pokémon must be paired up with a compatible female Pokémon.

"Any" means that the Pokémon can be paired up with any compatible Pokémon, including genderless.

"Ace" means that a Pokémon can only be paired up with compatible Genderless Pokémon or other Aces.​

If a Pokémon is killed, their partner must come in to the battle and fight to their last breath.

Ace Clause: Pokémon that are paired can switch to an Ace Pokémon, but the Ace Pokémon may not switch out of their pair. This includes trying to switch out to another Ace Pair.

Genderless Clause: In the case that a Genderless Pokémon is given an "Opposite Attracted" nature, consider this "Any"

Dupes Clause: I must ignore encounters of Pokémon whom I've already caught before. This means I can't catch duplicates at any point. This extends to their evolutionary line, where I can't catch a Pokémon if I have caught something that is within their evolution line. This takes effect at all times and I can continue searching for a first encounter, so long as I continue to encounter dupes.

Pairing Clause: In order to make pairs for the Wedlocke, I will ignore a first encounter if their gender means they can not be paired up immediately with a Pokémon. eg. If I have a Pokémon that is Female and is Female Attracted, I ignore all male first encounters. However, the moment I find a female first encounter(Assuming they are not a Dupe), that is considered my first encounter and is treated as any other nuzlocke encounter.

PC:The PC can not be used to deposit Pokémon. It can only be used to take/swap HM Slaves, picking up gift Pokémon, or placing dead Pokémon in their box.

Lone Wolves: Pokémon who do not have a pair must be paired up with as soon as possible. Pokémon who lost their partner in battle are considered lone wolves and must be paired up with Pokémon in the PC if possible. If not, then they remain a Lone Wolf and can battle regularly. However, they are not allowed to switch, even to Aces.

Loss: It is considered a loss if I exhaust every living Pokémon I have or if the Pokémon alive are not able to progress through the story by themselves.

Victory: The final boss of the challenge is the Champion, Steven Stone. It is considered a victory if I manage to defeat him with my party.

Spoiler: Prefrences

Opposite Attracted: Calm, Jolly, Bold, Lax, Gentle, Naive, Adamant
Male Attracted: Modest, Impish, Brave, Careful, Serious, Hardy, Hasty
Female Attracted: Sassy, Rash, Mild, Bashful, Quiet, Quirky, Naughty
Any: Timid, Docile
Ace: Relaxed, Lonely

And with that being said... let the journey begin.

We believed we’d catch the rainbow
Ride the wind to the sun
Sail away on ships of wonder
But life’s not a wheel with chains made of steel
So bless me, oh, bless me, bless me

Chapter 1: Come The Dawn
​

-And so I start off by getting introduced to the world of Pokémon. I select the female trainer and name her Eve. I had an idea in mind where the title of the chapter is part of the lyrics to Catch The Rainbow. That in and of itself is a reference to how Zanki Zero sets up their chapter names by having them be part of nursery rhymes. Why do I mention this? Because through all this convoluted logic, I made the relation between the words Eve and Dawn. I chose Eve since Dawn is in Gen IV.

-Mom helps me move into my room and set up the time, etc. After just barely missing old daddy dearest on television, I head out to meet the boy next door. I introduce myself to Brendan and he quickly remembers that he should be helping out his dad, Prof. Birch.

-Upon leaving Brendan’s house, I make a bee-line to Route 101. Prof. Birch is no doubt living some sort of PTSD by being chased around by a wild Poochyena, so I take a Pokémon from his bag and select my starter. Now I mentioned in my preface that I had done a run of this game before but ultimately quit. In that run, I rolled the die to see what starter I was going to get. I ended up getting Torchic in that run, which I thought was good since I hadn’t chosen them since I played Emerald. I thought it would be fitting to go with Torchic for this run too.

-Wild battle time! Poochyena takes a couple of Embers to the face and gets fainted with ease. Returning to the lab, we are properly given Torchic by the Professor. So without further ado, I introduce you to my starter.

Nimbus the Torchic - Male
Blaze
Careful | Male Attracted​

-Nimbus is named after one of my old friends. There’s no real relationship between them or anything, I just loved the name Nimbus. I probably could have saved it for a flying type, but the name was resonating with me. Nature might be a little awkward, but I’m all up for a good challenge.
-Our next objective is to go north of Oldale Town and meet up with Brendan on Route 103. I train up slightly since I like being two levels higher than Brendan to compensate for the fact that I have a disadvantage over his Mudkip. After a couple of tangles with Zigzagoon and Poochyenas, Nimbus reaches Level 7 and we fight off against Brendan.

-Rival Battle: Brendan. The battle turned out to be a little close for a moment. I know his Mudkip doesn’t have a Water move yet, but his defenses were still pretty admirable. After Scratch spamming for a while, we emerge victorious! Afterwards, Brendan directs us to follow him back to Littleroot. We talk with Prof. Birch and Brendan for a little bit before receiving our Pokedex and some Pokeballs. Aha! Now the challenge really begins!

-We take Brendan’s advice and go up to Oldale Town once more. Now I was really afraid that I was going to end up encountering something before we get the chance to get the Poochyena from the DexNav function. I did end up finding a Zigzagoon, but luckily it was female, which meant I was safe. Huzzah!

-The Poochyena ended up being a male, so that meant I could catch him! I weakened him with Scratch before going in for the capture. And voila, Poochyena is now ours! Say hello to our new member.

Obsidian the Poochyena - Male
Quick Feet
Serious | Male Attracted​

-This was another name that just sort of popped into my head. I ended up just typing it out and really liking it. Also, this Poochyena was just so lucky enough to be the correct nature for a pair to form. And thus, our first of many pairs have been formed!

Nimbus and Obsidian
The Original Duo​

-I wanted to give each one of my pairs a little bit of extra flair by giving them titles! I honestly couldn’t think of one so I just stuck to my guns and called them the Original Duo. I was also going to form a head canon for how their relationship would work, but that’s a little too much for me at the moment. Maybe I will in the future.

-Poochyena came with Ice Fang and Howl, which is pretty neat. Might be useful in some fringe case, but for now it’s my only attacking move. I went down into Route 101 with my new member to train them up. Since they were Level 5, they were close to matching Nimbus’ level. It took me a bit, but Obsidian reached Level 6. I thought that was good enough, so I went east to Route 102.

-Now I’m not going to lie, I kind of forgot what I was doing. I was on auto-pilot for a bit while mindlessly grinding for Obsidian that I went up to a patch of shadowy grass and ended up encountering a Zigzagoon. I realized there that I had to catch it, or risk losing my encounter for the route. With a bit of reluctance, I caught the Pokémon easily. However, this was about to become interesting. How? Well first off, welcome our new member.

Minnie the Zigzagoon - Female
Gluttony
Jolly | Opposite Attracted
​

-I didn’t mind having a Zigzagoon all that much, since I could just use them as an HM Slave if push came to shove, but what really caught me off guard was the fact that it had NO ATTACKING MOVES. Its moves were Charm, Growl, and Tail Whip. At Level 5, this was sort of a curve ball. I couldn’t use them at all until I got a member to pair with them. Then I’d be able to switch train them. So for the meantime, Minnie is just there. Looking at us with their cute, dumb grin. Also, Minnie was holding an item when she was caught: a… Revive… She’s trolling us isn’t she?

-The road to Petalburg City was littered with trainers. I actually tried avoiding some, but ended up getting caught in their line of sight. I wanted to leave some trainers for when I needed to train up Minnie and their eventual partner. Long story short, all the trainers were battled on the route and we reach Petalburg City with ease.

-Daddy-o was waiting for us inside the Gym, where we talk about our fated battle. We aren’t strong enough to fight our dad, but yet the kid that was there right before we came in was totally eligible. Okay dad, I see where your allegiances lie. While talking, another kid walks in and asks for help capturing his first Pokémon. Norman introduces us to Wally and we agree to lead him to a patch of grass to help him catch a Pokémon. He’s loaned a Zigzagoon and a brief moment later, he encounters a Raltz and captures them.

-We return with Wally to the Gym to hand back the Pokémon and he sets off on his own journey. Our dad sends us off to Rustboro City to go challenge the Gym Leader there. Then we have to collect badges before we can stand on even ground with our dad. And the battle shall be legendary! Maybe.

-Our journey takes us to Route 104, where I try and skip the grass and all the battles. Again, I was trying to save the experience for our new members. For the time being, there are no new encounters or battles, so the next point of interest is Petalburg Woods. I went to the west to grab some items and managed to find a female Taillow. Sadly, I couldn’t use it since I need a male Pokémon to pair with Minnie. Our next encounter was a Cascoon, who was a male. Aha! Finally a usable Pokémon, I thought. I attacked the Pokémon with Ice Fang, and it just BARELY survived. It proved its resilience at that moment, and I captured it right afterwards. I gave it a fitting name, given the circumstances. Meet our new member.

Miracle the Cascoon - Male
Shed Skin
Quiet | Female Attracted​

-If you haven’t figured it out, because I’m sure I didn’t until a little bit later, there’s a bit of a problem. Cascoon only knows Harden. And to make matters worse, he’s paired up with Minnie whom already doesn’t have attacks to begin with. And so, we end up with this new pairing that is useless until we can get an attack.

Minnie and Miracle
The Pacifist Pair​

-I went back into Route 104 to catch myself my next team member, since I thought that I was going to need it. I encountered a Level 3 Wingull. Aha! Maybe something will go my way-- Oh dear lord he fainted in one hit. Uh… Obsidian just knocked them out… well… that’s a thing…

-I made my way back up Petalburg Woods and avoided all the trainers. Along the way, Obsidian learned Sand-Attack. After walking for a bit, we find a researcher looking for a Shroomish and then immediately get jumped by a Team Magma Grunt. Cue the SMT Nocturne Fiend Music. I abused Sand-Attack to my gain and used Ice Fang, which managed to get a freeze. With little effort, we get an easy victory against the thug. We reach the exit and have a small cutscene with a mysterious figure. We enter… Route 104. I never realized that the routes were the same, just separated by the forest. I got a little disheartened, since I wanted a chance to get a new member.

-I took a stop by the Flower Shop and learned about berries, all while getting the Wailmer Pail. I talked to all the NPCs I could until I reached a boy outside the shop. He gave me the TM for Echoed Voice… AHA! Christmas has come early. I managed to teach the move to Minnie, which meant I could finally switch train. I forgot to mention that after the battle with the Magma Grunt, we got the EXP Share. I’m going to limit my use of the EXP Share as much as possible, unless I really need to grind. I like having my Pokémon all be at equal levels if possible, so I held off on the use of it. I went back to the south part of Route 104 and cleaned up the trainers there, along with hitting up the trainers in Petalburg Woods.

-An hour later… What? Miracle is evolving! Do-do-do-do. Congrats Miracle, you’re now a much more useful Dustox! With this, he also gets Gust as a move. If I can save him for the second Gym, that’d be great. At this point, pretty much all of my party is Level 10 or 11. This is all before I had my first double battle on the bridge in Route 104. Thinking this was enough, I moved along the path and beat all the trainers I could while making my way to Rustboro City.

-Upon making it to the city, I spent my time talking to the NPCs to check for goodies. Of interest, I found the Quick Claw in the Pokémon School. Neat. After that, I healed up my team and went up to the northern route to grab a Zinc.

-Heading over to Route 116, I had an idea of what I wanted to catch. I’ve been meaning to use a Skitty on my team for fun. I knew it was possible to get them from DexNav, which is what I was aiming for. However, I was a dummy and stepped on a patch of grass, meaning I can no longer use DexNav. Instead I was stuck with a Nincada. Not bad, I thought. Ice Fang… wait I misclicked. Dang it Obsidian, ya knocked out another one! Two Pokémon that I just missed. I was a little mad. I took this anger and headed over to Rusturf Tunnel. Getting a Whismur here was completely fine for me. I just needed another team member. So, welcome to the team.

Thymine the Whismur - Male
Soundproof
Sassy - Female Attracted​

-Why Thymine? I dunno. I thought of Adenine from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, so I just went with what sounded good. Maybe there’s a deeper message here that I struggle to find. Also, because I used Ice Fang, Thymine is currently frozen.

I’m going to end it off here. Currently my party is looking like this.

Spoiler: Team

The Original Duo:

Nimbus (M) - 12 - Scratch / Ember / Growl / Sand-Attack

Obsidian (M) - 11 - Bite / Ice Fang / Howl / Sand-Attack

The Pacifist Pair:

Minnie (F) - 11 - Echoed Voice / Charm / Growl / Tail Whip

Miracle (M) - 10 - Harden / Gust

???:

Thymine (M) - 9 - Pound / Echoed Voice / Astonish

Spoiler: Deaths

None

Spoiler: Box

None

Next time, I’ll be grinding my team up to the proper levels and challenging the Rustboro Gym! Thanks so much for reading this! Sorry if it was a bit too long. Let me know if I should make smaller chapters in the future or cut out a bunch of tangents and ramblings.

What do you guys think of the team so far? What challenges will they find inside the first Gym?

 

[Calaf]

First of all, welcome to the forums! It's always nice to see fellow challengers. I hope you'll enjoy it here and stick around! ^^

I think it's cool that you're attempting a Rainbow Wedlocke. It seems like those can be even harder than regular Wedlockes, especially in the beginning, because you're much more limited in which Pokemon you can pair up. Still, it seems like you're off to a good start so far! That being said, Roxanne might still pose quite a challenge. Good luck on your first gym battle and on the challenge as a whole!

As for the length of your chapters, I really enjoyed reading through this update! Personally, I think it's cool to hear some of your thought processes on things. After all, that's what really discerns your challenge from other playthroughs. Keep it up!

 

[Dreamrune]

Pretty interesting. Im new to the forums as well as just wanted something to read. A challenge like this sounds to ambitious for me right now, but reading about your experience should be fun! Good luck!

 

[ElysiumRachael]

I realized I sort of posted the first chapter way late on my end, so I ended up waking up late for today. No worries though, I’m pretty motivated to at least try and update these daily. I used to play the game and write notes as I did, then expand upon them. However, I I found this to be pretty bad for me since I have a habit of getting tangled up in writing on the side. I would end up writing more than I played, and that was not good. Luckily, the system I have now works. I record the gameplay footage while only writing down Pokémon names and preferences, then watch it all back. That’s all nice and good, but anyways, welcome back you guys!

Spoiler: Responses

@Calaf
Thank you for the welcome. I agree that it can be a little difficult to start off. I think Ultra Sun was difficult for me because of bad luck and getting mostly incompatible Pokémon. Or if I did get a pair, they had shared weaknesses which made it difficult to use. Thank you for the feedback on the length of things. I’ll try to keep the length of my updates consistent.


@Dreamrune
I’ll admit, there’s definitely ideas popping in my head that I want to do for the run, some of which are on this new update, that are a little extra. It’s sort of ambitious to have all these ideas and hoping that I get them all right on the first go. I’ll do my best to keep up the quality of the run, though. Thanks for the luck and I hope that you enjoy reading the run as much as I enjoy playing it!


The rest that liked the post, thank you kindly! It means a lot to me that people get to join me in this long time wish of mine!

Cause and effect
Chain of events
All of the chaos makes perfect sense
When we’re spinning round
Thing come undone
Welcome to Earth

Chapter 2: Third Rock From The Sun
​

-While thinking of the intro for the chapter, I sort of realized I had no real way to capitalize on the pun effectively. There was no song about rocks that I thought of, or poems for that matter, that would fit the mood. The original song I was going to choose was “I Am A Rock”, but I realized that it’s not exactly fitting for the run. This song is about as close as I’ll get with thematic connection, since this could technically be the third “rock” from the “sun” (If you count the Rock-Type gym leaders from after my Ultra Sun run, you have Roark from my Platinum run, and Roxanne from my canceled attempt for this run. That would mean this challenge of Roxanne would be the third Rock-Type gym leader I’m facing.) In any case, let’s actually get to the good part.

-Slight error on my part. I noted Minnie having Growl instead of Sand-Attack last time. I booted up the game about a day later from having played last. I didn’t write it before either, but I planted some berries outside of the Berry Shop after I got my Wailmer Pail. I taught Cut to Minnie prematurely and then went around collecting the berries I had planted. I wanted to have a little bulk of Oran Berries since I’m trying to limit the use of my items. I didn’t have a “No Bag Items In Battle” rule, but I do want to try and see if I can succeed in the challenge without the use of items. To that end, I will plant all the berries I can so I can have my team hold on to them.

-Now the major problem with the team right now is that it’s going to get curb stomped by Roxanne. I knew I needed to grind my team to appropriate levels, so that was the first thing I did. Grinding. Lots of it. I did end up using the EXP Share to expedite the process. Additionally, I knew I wanted to overlevel my team since it has no advantage in the gym. The level I had in mind is 16, because I remember that’s when my starter will evolve and learn a Fighting-Type move. That and, at the time, I recalled Roxanne’s Nosepass to be Level 15. (I didn’t look it up until after the fact. It seems it was lowered a level in the remake.)

-I’m going to be nice and not describe too much of the grinding. It took me about an hour or so of battling random Pokémon in Route 116. I also went back and tried rematching some trainers to make the process a bit quicker. There are, however, two moments that I want to highlight. One was a little bit of a funny moment to me. Way back in Route 103, I fought a trainer rematch, and he immediately wanted a rematch just after I had finished. The second thing was a little more important to me. I fought the Hiker near the entrance to Rusturf Tunnel with Obsidian. I used Ice Fang and found that it was Super Effective against his Geodude. It reminded me that I could use Obsidian to deal with Geodude, whom I knew Roxanne also had. This would be great as I wouldn’t have to risk Nimbus for both battles.

-Instead of all the grinding, I wrote a small little interaction with Obsidian and Nimbus. It’s not necessary, so I’ll just put it in a spoiler for now. I’ll try to do this for portions in the run where I grind for extended periods of time or for when I feel it’s appropriate.

Spoiler: Heart-to-Heart: Nimbus and Obsidian

While in Petalburg Woods, Nimbus sat on a log. His partner and best friend was more comfortable lying on the cool grass, covered by the shade.

“Do you think I’ll be able to pull it off? The battle with the gym leader, I mean.” Nimbus gave a bit of a worried look.

“Hmn? You’re asking me that? I thought you would know better.” Obsidian was a bit blunt with his words.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means what it means. If you think you’ll be able to pull it off, then you will. If you think you won’t be able to pull it off, then you won’t.” He hopped on to the log.

“I wish it was that simple.” Nimbus chuckled slightly.

“It is. After all, I’m here to handle it with you. It’s not like you’re going in alone. I’ll deal with the impact, and you ride out the battle to victory. Easy enough.” Obsidian hid a small smile.

Nimbus perked up slightly and hopped. “Right! With you to help me, I shouldn’t worry about it. Let’s do our best. Thanks for counting on me.

The two shared a nice moment before returning to train.

-An eternity and a half later Nimbus evolves into a Combusken. There’s probably a cloud pun I can make there. This is where he got Double Kick, my ace in the hole for the battle. Not the best, but it was something. I turned off my EXP Share and headed inside the gym. My party was pretty even in levels all around, with Nimbus being the highest at 16. Thymine was the lowest level at 14.

-The trainers inside the gym didn’t know what hit em. For some reason they all run Geodudes, which were swiftly taken care of by Obsidian’s Ice Fang. After healing up, I walked up the stairs and challenged Roxanne.

-VS. Roxanne: It hit me as soon as I started the battle that I didn’t equip berries to my duo. It made me panic just slightly, but I reassured myself that it would be fine. Obsidian went up against Geodude. An Ice Fang didn’t knock it out, so it retaliated with Rock Tomb. Even with the lower speed, I thought I would still go first. It still did some major damage, leaving him at 27/40 HP. As I expected, Roxanne used her Potion for Geodude. Two Ice Fangs later, and she was down one member. Next came her ace, Nosepass, who I noticed immediately was not Level 15 like I thought. Nimbus came in and dealt the first two blows with Double Kick. The hits left Nosepass reeling, as it used Rock Tomb. It did less damage than I thought it would do. Like before, the speed down wasn’t enough to stop Nimbus from going first and knocking out Nosepass. Victory achieved! Stone Badge Get!

-Not as difficult as I was anticipating. I feel a little bad I was too overpowered, but at the same time I had to realize that I probably would have had to use an item if I was a level lower.

-After running out of the gym, I went over to a scientist who was robbed by a Magma Grunt. After talking to him, I made a rush towards Rusturf Tunnel. Before I went in, however, I used my newly acquired powers to cut down trees. I attempted to avoid some trainers and accidentally fought them both. C’est la vie.

-My little detour got me some berries and an Ether. I headed inside of Rusturf Tunnel to confront the Magma Grunt. The whole interaction reminded me of the whole “Oh, you’re approaching me?” meme from JoJo. It gave me a little chuckle. The Team Magma Grunt did little to hinder my progress. I began using Miracle to make him ready for the second gym. We took back the Devon Parts and rescued Peeko.

-I wandered around for a little bit before returning to the scientist and giving him the Devon Parts. We get a meeting with the president of the company and get our next task. We obtain a Letter to give to Steven Stone in Dewford. We also get another DexNav function that I honestly don’t remember the purpose for.

-I make my way out of the building and meet up with Brendan. We exchange words before our attention is directed to Mr. Briney’s Lodge on the south part of Route 104. Along the way I took a detour at every tree I could cut to hunt for items. I got a Miracle Seed from a girl in Petalburg Woods and found a Great Ball. Side note, I also got a Great Ball from the scientist for returning the Devon Parts. I honestly don’t like to use balls that aren’t the regular ones because of consistency. Sure it adds a little bit of flair, but I get a little irked by having my main team all being in different balls. That doesn’t mean I don’t use other balls to catch Pokemon, but it’s usually for catches that I don’t mean to use for the long term.

-We arrive at Mr. Briney’s home and request to take his ferry to Dewford. His advice is to go check out the gym leader, since he might have some information. I explore Dewford and get all the items I can for the time. I got a Silk Scarf, which I could probably use for Minnie or Thymine. Either would be fine by me.

-I enter the Granite Cave and find a Hiker who gives me the TM for Flash. If only I could sell it. Oh well. Additionally I got my first encounter on this trip. I found a Female Zubat. I actually didn’t remember that Thymine was a thing, so I ended up catching it as if I didn’t have anyone to pair them with. Luckily, Thymine was actually attracted to females, so this worked out perfectly. And with that, welcome our newest member!

Tsuki the Zubat - Female
Inner Focus
Brave | Male Attached
​

-I have no idea what my team has against the Speed stat, but they clearly don’t like it. I struggled with the name for this girl for a while. I thought Gigantomachia was cool enough, but I was off by one space! Lucifer was too on the nose, and so was Helel. I thought Eurydice was cool, but I wanted to save the name. Instead I went with Tsuki. Why? Uh… honestly no clue? I think I was reminded of Tsukiyomi and thought, hey that’s a thematic tie in. Woosh. I also got lucky with the nature! She pairs up with Thymine to make up the final pair!

Thymine and Tsuki
The Supersonic Squad
​

-Being Level 10 was a little rough, since Tsuki didn’t have very many good moves on it. Leech Life hasn’t had it’s buff yet, and Astonish isn’t going to do anything for us against a Fighting-Type Gym. However, I knew that I probably wanted to use her, since she quad resists Fighting. So… what was my next plan of action? Nothing. I mean, in my footage, I have about 20 minutes of dead space. I think I left to go do something and just forgot I had the game on. Found it hilarious so I mentioned it.

-Since I now had a proper pair with Tsuki and Thymine, I thought I would give them a shot. I headed back to Route 104 and 116 to train my Pokemon all up to level 16. So let’s see another small interaction. This time with Miracle and Minnie.

Spoiler: Heart-to-Heart: Minnie and Miracle

On the shores of Route 104, Minnie and Miracle relax by hanging out with each other.

“Woosh! You can’t catch me!” Minnie grinned widely as she ran circles around Miracle.

“...!” Miracle used his wings to throw some sand in front of Minnie’s feet, cutting her off from moving wherever she pleased.

“Gah, no fair!” She pouted. “Are ya having fun, Miracle?”

“Do I not look like I’m having fun?” He slowed down and landed on the soft sand.

“I just never hear you often.” She mentioned.

“...” He pondered for a moment. “Well, we all have fun in our own ways, right? In that same way, we show feelings in different ways.” He resumed flying around.

“I think that’s the most I’ve heard you say all day!” The normal-type hopped up and chuckled.

“...” Miracle seemed content.

The two continued to play in the sand.

-Everyone is now equal in level and I’m content. The big things that happened in this training session was that Tsuki learned Wing Attack and Bite. Bite made quick work of easy wild encounters and trainers alike. Wing Attack was a nice STAB move that also would do wonders against Brawly’s trainers. However, I realized that the Meditites inside had Confusion, which would most likely kill Tsuki in one hit due to her frailty.


-I made my way back to Dewford to challenge Brawly, but before I did, I made sure to make Miracle Seeds trendy. I’m ahead of the times, I tell ya.


-Instead of using Tsuki, I just opted for going with Miracle. I realized that if he got hit with a Confusion, he would at least take less damage since he had better Special Defense. Like I expected, the Medities proved to annoying. They kept spamming Detect, which made the fights take longer than they should. Gust was hitting hard, but it still wasn’t going to be enough to take out anything in one hit. Regardless, the fights leading up to Brawly took little effort. So, with determination in my heart, I healed up and challenged Brawly to a battle.

-VS. Brawly: He lead with Machop, who hit me with a Karate Chop. It did way less damage than I thought it would do. Maybe I underestimated the stats of Miracle for this early in the game. I decided to use him for set up and used three Hardens. He used two Bulk Ups, which did nothing to help the impact from Miracle’s Gust. He got off a good hit with Seismic Toss, but he fell to another swift Gust. Miracle leveled up to Level 17, which means it can learn Moonlight…? What? I never knew it could. I mean… what? I thought it was so jarring but cool that it could learn Moonlight. I replaced Harden with Moonlight, since it would probably get more use out of it. With that taken care of, his ace Makuhita came up next. He used Knock Off and took off my Oran Berry. I set up the first turn by using Poison Powder. He tried to use Bulk Up afterwards to get over my defenses, but it was all for naught. I used Moonlight to fully heal up Miracle. Now I went for a risky play. I used Confusion instead of Gust to see how much it would hit for. And what do you know, it ended up getting to about 1 HP. It also got confused, which was kinda funny. Poison finished the Makuhita off. Victory achieved! Knuckle Badge Get!


-Because we won, we now get information about Steven. He’s been in Granite Cave all along, but the explorers there earlier were blocking my path. We go back to Granite Cave to deliver the letter to him. He explains the cave painting in the back while thanking us with a TM for Steel Wing.


-We head back to Mr. Briney who tells us our next goal is to go to Slateport and meet Captain Stern. We set sail on the open seas to Slateport City. I do a little bit of window shopping while avoiding the trainers.


That’s where I’m ending off today’s update. I feel like I didn’t do too much, but yet if you look at all that I did, I did a lot. Two gym battles, a new member, lot of grinding, etc. Plus, I kind of like what I did with my interactions in place of grinding. Tell me what you thought of it. I tried basing their characters on their natures. I love to hear from you guys, so thanks for keeping up with the Wedlocke. I might take a break tomorrow, or rather today for me, just so I can get my sleep schedule in place.

Spoiler: Team

The Original Duo:

Nimbus (M) - 16 - Scratch / Ember / Double-Kick / Sand-Attack

Obsidian (M) - 16 - Bite / Ice Fang / Howl / Sand-Attack

The Pacifist Pair:

Minnie (F) - 16 - Echoed Voice / Charm / Cut / Tail Whip

Miracle (M) - 17 - Moonlight / Confusion / Gust / Poison Powder

The Supersonic Squad:

Thymine (M) - 16 - Pound / Echoed Voice / Astonish / Howl

Tsuki (F) - 16 - Wing Attack / Astonish / Bite / Supersonic

Spoiler: Deaths

None

Spoiler: Box

None

 

[ElysiumRachael]

Well, that was a bit of a longer break than I was expecting. I was out of it the day I posted the update and the following day was busy with cleaning, which was why there was no written update. I actually did managed to play a session and record the events of this update yesterday, I just didn’t put them to words. It probably would have taken me until 5 A.M to post it, so I decided not to do that and just wait for the morning. That being said, I am going to also have to play for the next update as well today, so fun day! Also, I noticed that all the Pokémon portraits in the second update just didn’t exist. I didn’t forget them when I wrote the update, they just vanished out of thin air. I’m not sure what happened. I’ll fix that after I write this one.

The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
When silence drowns the screams

Chapter 3: Confusion Will Be My Epitaph​

-I had a song idea from the moment I played the game. It just came at me and said “Yes, this is the perfect song”. However, I came into a bit of a pickle. I had two choices in my head for this chapter as well, and one of those choices had an additional choice to make. For this song, I didn’t know which verse would be more appropriate, since they’re both incredibly fitting and good.

-So, I begin to train by going back down to Route 109 and going inside the Seashore House. I went up to the back and challenged one of the trainers. I led with Obsidian, who fittingly went up against a Poochyena. I mention this because he’s been getting incredibly lucky with freezing with Ice Fang, and that was no different now. However, I wasn’t expecting Carvanha to be such a curve ball. It used Focus Energy to boost up critical hit chances and then hit me for almost half of my HP with Aqua Jet. I used Bite after powering up with Howl. It almost killed, but it lived on with just a sliver. Rough Skin dealt enough damage to make Obsidian use his Oran Berry. Now the unfortunate part is that the next Aqua Jet also got a critical hit. It didn’t kill Obsidian, but it left him with so little health that when he used Bite, he ended up killing himself with Rough Skin. All because I didn’t want to use an item on him to maybe heal him. They knocked each other out at the same time.

-Obsidian, I didn’t know what to expect of you at first. I had never used your line, and yet you managed to surprise me in the end. You managed to take out most of the trainers in Roxanne’s Gym and continually freeze opponents with your Ice Fang. You had a lot left to live for, and I was excited to use you. I’m sorry I let you down.

-I laid his poor soul in Box 7, which I aptly named Caelum. Afterwards, I angrily ran around Slateport. This is also why it took me a while to write this. Because I sort of went through a huge dip in motivation. Of course, I did end up writing it, so something did indeed rejuvenate me.

-Regardless of my loss, I went back down to Route 109 and began fighting the trainers in the beach. I also got the Soft Sand from a little girl on the route. Currently not useful, but it could be pretty good if I ever get a Ground-type. Now I was clearly behind on some levels, which is why I didn’t end up going to Slateport Docks immediately. I knew what was coming up ahead and I knew that I was going to need to compensate for the fact that Nimbus has no partner.

-I also ended up taking a big risk by going up to Route 110 and trying to catch a new member. There’s just a patch of grass there waiting for me to get an Electric Type. Unfortunately, it had to be Male in order to comply with the rules. Several pairing mishaps later, I encountered Minun. I had encountered him three times before, and all three times she was a female, so I couldn’t use her. Now that it was Male, I could potentially pair it up with Nimbus to complete the team once more. Welcome to the team!

Salem the Minun - Male
Minus
Adamant - Opposite Attracted​

-This is a name that I really really like. I’m not sure what screamed out to me and said “Yeah, Salem”, but it wasn’t wrong? I think my first name was going to be Salad, but I ended up thinking Salem. Whatever the case, I like it! Unfortunately he’s not attracted to Nimbus, which is totally good for him, but bad for us. At Level 12, he’s even more underpowered than I’d like and there’s no easy way to train him without using the EXP Share.

-Going back down to Route 109, I took care of the rest of the trainers on the beach before going back into the Seashore House. I will have my revenge on this establishment! I beat all the trainers with ease. However, can I just say that the Delinquent Girl in this game looks really cute? Along the way, Tsuki learned Confuse Ray! Woohoo! Finally, that’s better than Supersonic.

-Having fought all the trainers, I thought it was time to give Nimbus his turn to shine once more. He gets EXP faster than the rest of the party, and he’s already pretty strong, so I didn’t dedicate too many battles to him. That all changed when I went and continued the story. I talked to a man inside of the Shiphouse and learned that Captain Stern is inside the museum. As soon as we learn that, all the Magma Grunts disappear from the front of the place.

-I paid the fee and talked to all the grunts on the bottom floor. I got the TM for Thief which is cool. On the second floor, I talked to Captain Stern and then get ambushed by two Magma Grunts. Nimbus takes both out with ease. After that, we get introduced to the main head of Team Magma, Maxie. Sporting his hip new glasses, he begins to explain the goals of his team before warning us about getting in his way. That’s never stopped me, though, and so we hand the Devon Parts to Captain Stern and then… I forget what I had to do.

-I walked around a little before realizing that the next thing I had to do was leave Slateport via Route 110. I actually visited the Pokémon Contest Building because I remembered that it had something to do with what happened next, but I never actually realized I was supposed to activate the cutscene by attempting to leave Slateport.

-We meet Lisia, one of my favorite characters in the game. I liked her before I got into idols, but seeing how much I love them now, it definitely boosted how much I actually really like Lisia’s personality. Contests in general are something I never minded. Sure they’re boring, but I kinda liked them? I entered the Contest Hall and got the Contest Costume and Pokeblock Kit.

-I entered Miracle into a Cleverness Contest because I wanted to get first place and get the berries that you can get by accrewing fans. I thought that would be pretty neat and a nice way to get berries for farming reasons. I ended up getting second place to a Shroomish because the A.I screwed up all the planning I had and kept giving him the special skill that got him tons of points.

-I forgot that you get a Cosplay Pikachu for doing a Contest, and I honestly didn’t want to use it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cute and all, but I just felt wrong getting this gift Pikachu when I didn’t mean for it. It was placed inside my first Box and then I realized that even if I didn’t want to use it, I COULDN’T use it. Our Pikachu doesn’t have a nickname, but I probably would have named her Dorothy. She’s a female and has a bashful nature, making her attracted to females. Of all the Pokémon to be a lesbian in my run, it had to be the one I couldn’t use! Ahhh! It hurt, but now I had an even more legitimate reason of why I couldn’t use her. She couldn’t be paired with anyone and I could deposit any Pokémon in to get her out. As for my contest rewards, well I didn’t get many. I got a single Lum Berry from Lisia.

-After my contest debut, I went up Route 110 and challenged the trainers in my way. I mistook where I was currently and remembered there being a route where I could catch Pokémon to my west. In reality, Route 103 doesn’t have grass, and I was missing my Old Rod since I forgot where to get it.

-Regardless, I went through the upper part of Route 103 and beat the trainers on the way. However, I made a very silly mistake. In the double battle that took place, I sent out Thymine and Miracle by accident, due to how I was arranging my team. Now I could have easily fixed this, but I realized it AS I did a move. I changed my Pokémon to their correct pairings, but in doing that, some were unfortunately lost. I think it was a sort of divine punishment for breaking the rules, even if it was just a mishap. It was almost enough to shoot all the remaining confidence and drive I had. I won’t take it too hard, because in the end, I was punished for breaking the rules.

-Thymine, I’m so sorry I didn’t see you in the front lines. It was my fault that you got hit by two Swifts. I was so ready to use you. I thought you had so much potential. I will make sure your sacrifice was not in vain.

-Minnie, you fell because of my misplay. I took two losses because of my mistakes. I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me for messing up. You were incredibly useful and I will never forget what you’ve done. I will make sure to keep Miracle in safe care.

-The aftershock of this mess was almost too much for me to bear. Three of my members, all gone before my very eyes. And in my case, they were incredibly instruments. They not only were from different pairs, thus breaking many pairs, they were near and dear to my heart. I now rested with three members, not counting Salem since I had yet to train him. At everyone’s level, there was no way we could beat the Brenden fight. So, I began grinding in Route 109 with the trainer rematches. I didn’t want to go into Route 110, since the Pokémon there were primarily Electric-types and they would kill off more members.

-At around the one hour mark of training, I remembered where the Old Rod was located. It was way back in Dewford. I sailed back there and went to the edge of town, to Route 106. There I caught a new member for the team. I’d like everyone to say hello to our new friend.

Yuri the Tentacool - Female
Liquid Ooze
Lax - Opposite Attracted​

-I’m pretty sure this is another bad nature. Like really bad. I also forgot to mention that because of the way the battle panned out, Tsuki and Miracle were paired since I MUST pair my Pokémon up as soon as possible. Tsuki and Miracle are both compatible with each other, which means that they’ve now paired up.

Tsuki and Miracle
The Toxic Vanguards​

-With my new team member, Salem also manages to find a pair. Poor Nimbus continues to be alone for the time being.

Yuri and Salem
The Shocking Alliance​

-I was striving to get to Level 22 with Tsuki, since that’s the level she’ll evolve into Golbat, and thus become much less frail. I didn’t have to do too much more grinding after getting Yuri. At this point, I allowed myself to turn on the EXP Share while doing rematches against the trainers on Route 109 and 103. I always avoided doing the double battle again.

-It took me a lot of courage to test my luck out on Brenden. I really didn’t want to have to end this challenge so abruptly. I made sure everyone, besides Yuri and Salem, was Level 22. As you should expect, Tsuki evolved into Golbat. I turned off the EXP Share, however this time I wasn’t playing around. I removed my limit of using items for the battle and stocked up on X Attack and X Defends. Why? Because I was really scared of this battle.

-Vs. Brenden: I lead with Tsuki against his Shroomish. Aha, this is good, I can just start setting up with X Attack and X Defends. At one point, though, it used Leech Seed, which broke my ability to stall. I took out Shroomish with a quick Wing Attack. Slugman came out next. He spammed Harden, which made me opt to use Air Cutter. It went down in two hits, but Tsuki was now at low HP. I switched out to Miracle, where he proceeded to live up to his name and perform a miracle. His Marshtomp could do nothing against Miracle. Mud Shot did almost nothing to him, so I set up with Poison Powder. Then I used Moonlight to heal and stall out the battle. At one point, I even used Venoshock to deal some damage. It was this moment alone that revived my entire motivation. Miracle was here, standing before me, showing me that we haven’t lost the challenge yet, not by a long shot. Brenden’s Marshtomp succumbed to Poison Powder.

-Following the path, I met up with the first Psychic trainer. He immediately reminded me that my team was going to get destroyed by Psychic types.Thankfully, he only had an Abra, but the fear is real!

-A hop and a skip later, and we arrive at Mauville City! One of my favorite areas in the game! I explored a bit after experiencing the opening cutscene where Wally looks around for the Gym. I made my way to the Gym after a bit and accepted Wally’s challenge on the spot. His Ralts scared the heck out of me, even though it died in one move. The fact that it was going to evolve by the end of the game was enough to make chills go up my spine. I got the HM for Rock Smash, which I can’t use at the moment, before trailing down the path to Verdanturf Town. Before that, however, I made sure to give Tsuki a massage to raise her happiness up.

-Route 117 meant that I could catch a new Pokémon! It had to be male, however, since that’s the only pair remaining. As luck would have it, I was destined to catch a Roselia. Not bad! I like Roselia-- wait a minute he’s another Poison type. Okay, I like Poison types a lot, but FOUR POISON TYPES. SERIOUSLY. Anyways, I’m not going to complain too much, after all he is still a Grass-type. Ironically enough, catching our new member gave Tsuki enough EXP to level up AND evolve into Crowbat. I jumped up with joy, cuz now I had a real powerful beast by my side! However, let’s not take the spotlight away from our newest member.

Narcissus the Roselia - Male
Poison Point
Gentle - Opposite Attracted​

-Dang it! Another Pokémon I can’t use right now! He’s so low leveled that it’s going to take some serious grinding before I can make him useful. Regardless, I won’t back down from raising a Roselia. That is unless I catch something that Nimbus can pair up with. I have no idea where I can find a Shiny Stone, so I might have to look it up, but it’s not a bad catch at all. Just a little awkward considering 5/6ths of my team is weak to Psychic. The horrors.

-I entered Verdanturf Town and started talking to the locals. I felt like I had made enough progress for the day, having lost half of my team and reclaiming it just as quickly. Grinding was a must, unless I wanted to use the Pokémon Daycare, which I didn’t ban the use of. I’ll most likely just grind to make it more intimate. It’s less fun if I just use the daycare.

-I returned to fight the trainers on Route 117 and grabbed all the berries I could before planting them again. I also went inside Verdanturf’s Contest Hall, which had the TM for Attract in there. Might be useful? Maybe.

That’s it for today. Quite a turn of events, right? When I started the run for the day, I wasn’t expecting to lose so much and gain so much too. I suppose that’s what I should be expecting with a challenge like this. I think this was an important session to me, since it reminded me that I still have hope. That I haven’t lost everything yet. I mean, due to the challenge rules, I still haven’t lost, but it felt like I had. Miracle has slowly become my favorite team member because of how much he’s surprised me. I don’t think I would have been able to continue without him. That being said however, what do you think about the new team. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges, but with a little work, it’ll be up and beating Wattson in no time, eh?

Spoiler: Team

The Toxic Vanguards:

Tsuki (F) - 24 - Wing Attack / Air Cutter / Confuse Ray / Bite

Miracle (M) - 23 - Venoshock / Poison Powder / Moonlight / Psybeam

The Shocking Alliance:

Yuri (F) - 14 - Poison Sting / Supersonic / Toxic Spikes / Acid

Salem (M) - 17 - Quick Attack / Swift / Spark / Encore

???:

Nimbus (M) - 24 - Flame Charge / Peck / Double Kick / Sand Attack

Narcissus (M) - 15 - Mega Drain / Growth / Poison Sting / Stun Spore

Spoiler: Deaths

Obsidian (M), 18, Died to Carvanah's Rough Skin Ability

Thymine (M), 17, Died to Minun's Swift

Minnie (F), 17, Died to Plusle's Spark

Spoiler: Box

None

 

[Kaori]

Oof, three deaths in one update. That's rough.

On the plus side, Nimbus and Narcissus have possibility to be an amazing pair! They cover up each other's weaknesses pretty well, only having to worry about the shared Psychic and Flying weakness.

 

[Calaf]

Oof, having three deaths in one update sucks, especially when it's due to an honest mistake. Kudos for the way you handled it though! On the bright side, your team is looking strong as ever, so I'm sure you'll be able to pull through. Keep it up!

 

[ElysiumRachael]

Uh… wow, this is also a little late. I promise it’s not a bad habit of mine, I actually got caught up with some life stuff. I was out for an entire day since something popped up last minute and took all of my attention. Today, rather, the day before this gets posted most likely, I had business to take care of but I at least knew that I was going to be out for a while. Regardless, I did manage to play today and I did want to post this way earlier, but for some reason I had technical issues with uploading the video to Youtube. Like I said, I keep them all private and unlisted so that I can speed up the video and document what happens. Also so I have it on a convenient platform where I can always find it. I realize I probably should have had the video on a cloud or something like that, but I like having everything in one place. I get really ticked if I mess up something. Whatever the case, I’m posting it now.

Spoiler: Responses

@Kaori
I think you might have gotten the wrong idea from my team box at the very end, which had Nimbus and Narcissus right after another. They actually aren’t compatible since Nimbus is only attracted to males, and Narcissus isn’t. Still though, if they were compatible, they’d make an amazing pair, you’re definitely right about that! Although I do appreciate you trying to cheer me up by looking on the bright side of life. Thanks!

@Calaf
Yeah, I think I beat myself too much about little things like that. I’m a big perfectionist on things that I’m deeply into, especially when I’m presenting myself to others about something I’m passionate about. This, for instance, is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Even before my Ultra Sun run, I wanted to do a Rainbow Wedlocke, but one thing after the other kept happening. This is probably the furthest I’ve gotten into a run in actually documenting it, and making mistakes on the battlefield like that just add to my insecurity. Regardless, thank you so much for the encouragement. If you are reading this before the run, I think you’ll find that I’m keeping my chin up even more now. Thanks!

You don't have to know the answer to it all
You don't have to find the reasons, big or small
You just have to read between the lines, is all
And you won't fall
You'll hear the call
You don't have to understand the grand design
You don't have to know the hour or the time
You just have to read the writing on the signs

Chapter 4: The Eye of The Storm​

-Not too much to say about this song. I think it fits the previous chapters in helping tie this all together thematically. Plus it is a reference to a storm, like a thunderstorm, thus linking to Wattson being an Electric-type gym leader. I knew I wanted to tackle him before the session was done. Luckily for me, I actually came in a bit prepared for this. I was taking stock of my team and see what I needed to do.

-First and foremost, I needed to grind to get my other members to the appropriate levels. While going back through Route 117, I began rematching the trainers there, except for the double battle. I also found that I had missed the female breeder somehow? Just a thought I had while playing. I knew I skipped some trainers while on my way to Verdanturf, but I wasn’t aware that I skipped her.

-As a side note, I also checked out where I could get a Shiny Stone for Roselia. That’s way down the line, so I’m going to be stuck with him for a while. Because he’s also not part of a pair, I decided to hold off on training Narcissus in case I get another male member that is attracted to Nimbus. Because then I’ll have trained Narcissus for nothing.

-Side note two, the breeder on the west of the route has a Poochyena with Roar. I wanted to clear this up as soon as possible, since I didn’t have a specific ruling for it. If a Pokemon is called out by the effects of Roar, just play as if that was the team that was active. That means I can’t switch back to the team I used before the Roar. I have to play with the new Pokemon and their partner.

-Cue the training montage. I didn’t have a Heart-To-Heart planned out for this because I was a little worried that next chapter, one of the members in the interaction was going to die, making the last Heart-to-Heart a little awkward. I will resume it next time, but for now I want to actually grow a big attachment to my members before I write something for them.

-Route 117 was how I primarily trained. I used Salem first since I wanted to level up both Yuri and Salem for later. I was sort of reminded that Flannery is very much a thing that’s after the gym, so getting a good water move on Yuri was a huge point of interest. If I could evolve her, even better. Salem just so happened to be higher leveled, so it was easier to train them up. He was surprisingly bulky? Maybe that’s just due to the fact that I was almost 7 to 8 levels higher than the random encounters, but he could take hits surprisingly well. Along the way, he also got Electro Ball, which was miles better than spamming Swift and Spark with his low attack. I had a target level in mind to hit-- Level 24. Everyone else was about that level. I also restricted the use of the EXP Share for this because, again, I don’t like having my members be unevenly leveled. Plus, all the training I would do would severely overlevel those that are already high level.

-After training up Salem for a bit, I started training up Yuri. She wasn’t too far off from learning Water Pulse, which meant I could realistically handle encounters by myself instead of having to rely on Salem. I didn’t mention this before, but the rematch with the breeder on the west was kind of difficult when I first lead up with Salem and Yuri, since they were about the same level as all of his Pokemon. Plus Salem didn’t have access to Electro Ball at the time. It was lucky that Poocheyena used Roar to call out Nimbus.

-The wild encounters on Route 117 were pretty great for Salem and Yuri. Even getting an Oddish with Yuri wasn’t too bad since it could tank its hit. Roselias that used Absorb also got hit with her Liquid Ooze ability, so that was also a nice touch.

-I was reaching the end of my training when I decided to tackle the breeder from earlier again. His Whismur was the perfect set up material. I could set up Toxic Spikes with Yuri for the rest of his team. However, I forgot about his most dangerous member. I was just shy off from killing his Poocheyena in one hit. He used his one move to Roar out Narcissus. Oh dear lord. I was panicking. Luckily, the Poocheyna K.O counted as his, so he leveled up and learned Leech Seed. Our next opponent was Tailow. The stars are not in my favor, eh? Oh and he uses Focus Energy too… why do I get this utter feeling of dread. I pumped just a tiny bit of items into Narcissus after having used Stun Spore.. Not only that, he also had Double Team which meant it was an uphill battle that I couldn’t win. To give you a perspective of how dangerous this Taillow was, a Wing Attack could get me from full to 6 HP, and it wasn’t a critical hit. A crit would have killed me instantly. Also, as I’m writing this, I realized that I probably activated his Guts ability with Stun Spore… I forgot about that. My bad. Like I said, a critical hit would have killed me, and… well it did.

-Narcissus, I’m sorry I neglected you. I realize you could have been a marvelous member, but the stars were not in our favor today my chum. You put up a brilliant fight against the Taillow, and I will never forget what you’ve done. Descansa en paz.

-With no pair to finish the fight, the original pair finish the fight. I plant my dear ol’ Narcissus to rest.

-I went up to Rusturf Tunnel and finished up whatever I could inside without using Rock Smash. I also got up to Route 116 and got a pair of Black Glasses. Could have been useful for Obsidian. I think by now he would have evolved.

-Side Quest 2: Electric Boogaloo! I went to Verdanturf’s Contest Hall and did a Coolness Contest with Salem. I didn’t invest any Pokeblocks for him, and he somehow managed to win. It is the normal rank, but still. I also got a cutscene with Lisia, which is always a treat in my books. I actually getting close to finishing all the Ranks for every Contest Type, but I forgot what happened in all of the scenes.

-After the contest, I continued my training session. I was almost done and caught up. Nothing else really happened that was too noteworthy.

-I decided to explore Mauville City for a couple of things. I got the Bulldoze TM from a shop, thinking that I might be able to teach it to someone and gain an advantage in the Gym. However, I also talked to the cute delinquent girl there and got the TM for Sky Drop. More importantly, however, I got a new BFF! I taught Steel Wing to Crobat in the off chance that I was forced to use him in the Gym for whatever reason. It hit Electric types more effectively than his STAB moves.

-More exploration, I found more cute delinquent trainer girls on the roof of Mauville City. I didn’t even remember the two trainers on the bottom left side, the Ace Trainer and Delinquent Girl pair. Now, I’m really into fluffy stuff like this. Shoujo-Ai is probably my favorite genre of story. So when I saw them, I just got the gears turning. There’s some definite fluff potential in this.

-Where was I? Oh yes, exploring Mauville City. I got the bike after running around aimlessly for a bit. I kinda forgot where the shop was at first. Thankfully there’s a handy dandy map that tells me where the Bike Shop is. For the time being, I’m going to get the Mach Bike for general uses.

-Back to the main story, I went into the Gym with Nimbus at about Level 24. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the gym. It’s clear that I was supposed to go at the trainers much earlier, but I was still pretty afraid of losing members. After all, I did just lose one not too long ago. I tried to limit myself to Nimbus to get him at a higher level than the others. I like having him be one level higher, while everyone else is about the same level. The gym went without a hitch.

-Vs. Wattson: I knew I had the perfect choice with Nimbus as my lead. Magnemite lived with Sturdy after a Flame Charge and hit me with Thunder Wave. He wasted a potion while I brought it back down to 1 HP. Another Flame Charge after that killed it. Voltorb came out next, and made a U-Turn with Volt Switch. He sent out Magneton to take the Flame Charge, which was a bad move on his part. Didn’t kill him and instead got hit with Supersonic. Even while Paralzyed and Confused, Nimbus showed no signs of slowing down. Two pokemon down and he had barely taken a hit. Voltorb got one buff move in while surviving a Flame Charge, but by this point, I had done Flame Charge about 5 times before. He could outspeed me the sixth time, and I killed him. The almost perfect gym battle! Victory Achieved! Dynamo Badge Get!

-I celebrated my victory with a victory lap. Woohoo! I went off into Route 111 to follow Team Magma. I got side tracked, however. First thing is first, I needed a HM Slave. I caught a Zigzagoon for my team (I didn’t want to use Minnie since that’s in poor taste) and taught it the two HMs I had. Along the way I also fought the members of the Winstraits family.

-While traveling up, I trained Miracle up a bit since he was the lowest level, alongside Yuri. I followed the path to Route 112 and got the HM for Strength from Brenden. I also need to point out that I skipped getting a Pokemon in the Fiery Path, Route 111, and Route 112. Why? Because I didn’t want to pick up another Pokemon that was Poison type. I remember there being Koffings in the Fiery Path for some reason? Maybe I’m not remembering correctly.

-While traveling the fine line between Route 111 and 112, I met up with the Super Secret Base man himself, Aa- I don’t remember his name. He doesn’t stick out into my mind that often, and this feature doesn’t help me in the slightest since this is on an emulator.

-I took a rest at a Rest Stop along the way while fighting the trainers that came my way. I tried my best to skip getting an encounter in Route 113 as well since I think there’s nothing that I want along the way. Getting a Skarmory is cool and all, but I already have a flying type. I didn’t avoid all encounters, but I kept getting females, which meant that the pairing clause was in effect.

-I snagged a Soot Sack on the path, along with the TM for Double Team. Oooh, interesting. Maybe I’ll use it. Cue evil laughter. More trainers and ledges later, and I finally managed to get to Fallarbor Town. Upon our arrival, we find that Team Magma is up to no good and have taken Professor Cosmo. Our attention is moved to Meteor Falls.

That’s it for the update this time. I think it was a little short since most of it was spent training in Route 117. However, now more than ever, I feel confident that I’m going to do just fine on this run. My team is aptly leveled, I love all of my members equally, I’ve given them all chances to shine, and I can’t wait to see where this takes me. I hope you’re just as excited as I am to see where this takes us next.

Spoiler: Team

The Toxic Vanguards:

Tsuki (F) - 25 - Wing Attack / Air Cutter / Confuse Ray / Steel Wing

Miracle (M) - 25 - Venoshock / Poison Powder / Moonlight / Silver Wind

The Shocking Alliance:

Yuri (F) - 26 - Bubble Beam/ Supersonic / Toxic Spikes / Acid Spray

Salem (M) - 26 - Volt Switch / Swift / Electro Ball / Encore

???:

Nimbus (M) - 26 - Flame Charge / Peck / Double Kick / Sand Attack

Spoiler: Deaths

Obsidian (M), 18, Died to Carvanah's Rough Skin Ability

Thymine (M), 17, Died to Minun's Swift

Minnie (F), 17, Died to Plusle's Spark

Narcissus (M), 16, Died to Tailow's Wing Attack

Spoiler: Box

None

 

[ElysiumRachael]

Small Update:

I know this is pretty late, but I recently got a job! It's my first one, so I've been busy trying to learn the ropes and well it's been really taxing. I will post an update this week, but it'll be during my one day off. I'll try to make it extra long for the absence. Expect it on the 29th. Sorry! Have a funny Riko gif to lift up the spirits.

 

[ElysiumRachael]

Hoo boy, is this update a doozy. I actually did something I haven’t done before, and that’s break up my sessions into parts. I usually record things in one session and then write up the chapter, but my new job limits me on time. On the 28th, I went in to work for the evening shift, so that meant I had the morning free. That’s when I did the first part of this session, stopping when I had to prepare for work. Then on the 29th, I spent the morning recording the last bit of this session in a separate part. The reason being was that I knew I wanted to make this update longer than the previous one to make up for the fact that I was sort of absent for a week, and because none of my sessions would be long enough by themselves. It takes me a while to write these things up, so I went for two moderate sessions which are now part of the bigger session. That aside, this update is a big one. I had the music track for this one thought up after the first part of the session, and I had another song for the next part, which sort of influenced when I stopped this update. That being said, thank you so much for the support. It’s been really fun and I really hope I can continue posting quality updates for you guys.

Ocean man, take me by the hand
Lead me to the land that you understand
Ocean man, the voyage to the corner of the globe is a real trip
Ocean man, the crust of a tan man imbibed by the sand

Chapter 5: Soaking Up The Thirst Of The Land​

-Playing Omega Ruby and being against Team Magma, I thought this would be kind of fitting? It does work for Team Aqua as well, don’t get me wrong. But I like how the lyrics mention the thirst of the land, and how it relates to Magma’s goals of expansion through land. Simple as that.

-I had to reread my update, since I sort of forgot what I was doing in Fallarbor Town. I explored for a bit while I did that and ended up finding the Move Relearner. Looked at all the moves I could get and saw that none were particularly interesting. I restocked on supplies and continued moving around Fallarbor Town, collecting all the TMs and other goodies that it had.

-Going down the path to Meteor Falls, I fought some trainers along the bridge. One in particular is important since his Gyarados managed to unfortunately clip one of my members. How? Well you see, critical hits. I was using Tsuki to raise them up, got crit’d by a Bite. It didn’t do too much damage, but it was enough to leave a sizable chunk off. That should have been my signal to heal up. I hit Gyarados again, it used Bite once more, and left Tsuki down to yellow. Again, this should have been where I healed. I’m not sure what I was thinking at the time. Maybe I thought I could live another hit. However, his next move was to use Thrash… which was a critical hit.

-Tsuki, forgive me for not paying attention. I really love your evolutionary line so much, and I’m so sad you couldn’t see us to the end of our journey. You will forever be remembered as one of my strongest members, period. Miracle finished up the job.

-So, if you recall from last update, I didn’t want to catch a Skarmory, since it would be two flying types. However, I really didn’t have a choice in the matter now. The first one I found was a female, meaning that if it had the right preference, it would be able to be paired up with Miracle. Poor Miracle, having lost two partners. The Skarmory put up a fight, but I was really looking forward to using one. Luckily, it wouldn’t be too long for me to experience raising one, as it finally clicked into my Pokeball. Meet our newest member!

Guinevere the Skarmory - Female
Keen Eye
Brave - Male Attracted​

-My thinking process was simple. I wanted to name a Skarmory Percival. However, it’s a female, and I didn’t think it fit to well. Unless I want to repeat Sonic and the Black Knight, where Blaze the Cat was the representation of Percival. I thought of it for a while, and chose to give her the name Guinevere, which is related to the whole Arthurian theme. I liked it enough!

-As I thought, she is compatible with Miracle, meaning we have a new pairing on our hands.

Miracle and Guinevere
The Polarizing Pair​

-I taught Guinevere Steel Wing, which I got from Steven all the way back in Dewford. It was actually a decent level for me to use right out of the box, but it was still behind my main team. I made sure to train up in Route 113.

-One battle of note, there was a lady who had a Numel and used Sunny Day to power up its Lava Plume move. I say this is a battle of note, because Guinevere was the lead for this. I thought I was going to lose her, so I sent out Miracle to take the hit for her. He lives up to his name, and takes the hit like a dang champ. For some reason, Numel didn’t try to use Lava Plume again, leaving Miracle free to hit and poison the enemy. I just thought it was a cool moment in the run that I wanted to highlight. Miracle has been probably my favorite member to come out of this. He’s been incredibly tenacious.

-Here’s another reason why I split this into two parts. Most of the first part is just training Guinevere in Route 113. To be fair, it didn’t feel like it took that long, but I guess it looks like it took up a lot of the first portion since that was done with less time available.

-An eternity later, I visit Route 114 with a vengeance. I didn’t catch anything at the beginning, and instead went forth with the story, since I kind of wanted to progress with the story during this beginning part. After beating all the trainers and returning through the route, I ended up finding the Pokemon of the route. Quite fitting since it’s a Nuzleaf! I gave him an apt name, considering his evolution. Welcome my new member!

Kuze the Nuzleaf - Male
Chlorophyll
Relaxed - Ace
​

-So, if you’ve ever played Yakuza 0, you know of the name Kuze. I’ve recently played it during the very small breaks I had, and by god is it such a good game. One of the reasons was because Kuze was such a cool character. Shiftry reminds me of Kuze’s design, his slicked back hair and his glare. I thought it was apt. Unfortunately he’s not what I needed. It’s cool that he’s Ace and all, but I can’t use him!

-Moving forward into Meteor Falls, we find Team Magma harassing Professor Cosmo. We end up in a double battle with one of the Magma Admins, Tabitha. Luckily, Yuri was the perfect choice for dealing with the evil duo. In due time, we encounter Archie from the rival team to Magma. He greets us before heading after Tabitha to Mt. Chimney. Brenden is nice enough to teleport us back to Mauville City so that we can go up and reach Mt. Chimney faster.

-I take a moment to go check on the Mauville Delinquent and Ace Trainer on the roof again, I swear they’re just so cute, before going up to Route 111 and making my way up to the Cable Car, which takes us to Mt. Chimney. I buy a couple of Lemonades before going forth.

-While on top of Mt. Chimney, we see Archive about to down three Magma Grunts with his single Poochyena… somehow. The Magma Grunts that litter the path to the plot don’t pose much of a problem.

-Next up was another battle with Tabitha. This time it was a one on one, so I was a little more vulnerable than before. I lead up with Yuri and Salem. I let Yuri get down a little before his Koffing Self-Destruct. His Numel fell to a combination of Toxic Spikes and Bubblebeam. However, he was small fry before the big boss of the area. Maxie attempts to educate us about his plot before fighting us.

-Yuri took a couple of hits from Mighteyena, sadly. He didn’t do much damage before Mightyena used Roar. To my surprise, he only took out Salem, which isn't a bad thing in the slightest. At least now Yuri wasn’t intimidated. After a couple of quick hits, he used Roar against to pull out Nimbus. He’s where it got bad. Sure, I was able to take out Mightyena easily, but now Nimbus had to fight alone. Camerupt came out and used Earth Power… goodbye Nimbus.

-For the longest time, you were alone. I could never pair you up with anyone. Forgive me for that, Nimbus. I tried my hardest. Luck was not on our side this time.

-To end the battle off, I used Salem and Yuri to finish what they started. Maxie was defeated, but at what cost. Before he’s able to give us a proper beatdown with his Mega Evolution, he leaves us. His team escapes, leaving Archie scrambling to catch him before his rival gets too far ahead.

-The next route on the map is the Jagged Pass. If I want to reach Lavaridge, then I have to slowly make my way down the hill. I don’t catch any Pokemon immediately, somehow, and instead fight all the trainers I need to while making my way down. Nothing to much of interest happened.

-Reaching Lavaridge from there was not too difficult. While talking to the townsfolk, I saw an old lady giving out a Pokemon egg. I deposited Nimbus into Caelum before taking the egg. I spent several minutes going around in circles, trying to get the egg to hatch, but it was going to take up way too much time. So I decided to do some clean up work before going into the gym.

-I kind of wanted Yuri to evolve before I dealt with Flannery. It’d be much easier to deal with the gym if I had someone that could just one shot all of the Pokemon. I trained up by going back on the Cycling Path and actually beating all the trainers there. I realized that I hadn’t actually visited the path and took out all the trainers with ease. To be fair, I probably should have dealt with them before I took out Wattson.

-On my clean up journey, I found a Spoink on Jagged Path. I thought, you know what, I haven’t actually caught anything, it’s actually a higher level than my highest leveled Pokemon which cuts down on the training, it was a wonderful addition to the team. I formally welcome you to the newest member.

Corazon the Spoink - Female
Own Tempo
Serious - Female Attracted​

-Her name isn’t spelled correctly in the game since it lacks the character for the second o. It’s just the word “heart” in Spanish, which is linked to Spoink’s Pokedex entry, which states that if it stops bouncing, its heart stops. Hoo boy. In any case, I did say that it was a higher level than my party, which is great! Means as soon as I find a partner for her, she’ll be on her merry way to being a useful member. She was pretty close to evolving too.

-Last thing to note, I went back on the Fiery Path and saw the Super Secret Base guy explain tell me about a hidden base behind the Strength boulder. I didn’t mind too much, however I did end up missing my encounter because I killed it by accident. The same happened in Route 111, where using Rock Smash got me a Geodude that I didn’t catch.

-Continuing the clean up, I went to Meteor Falls to catch me something there and ended up getting a Solrock. The battle itself was kind of intense, since it kept using Embargo to stop me from healing, and I was using Guinevere and Miracle, meaning I was at a bit of a disadvantage. Not to mention that it knew Fire Spin for some reason. Regardless, after a tough and scary battle, I beat the Solrock and caught it successfully. Another one that I haven’t used, but I’m excited to use my new member!

Apotheosis the Solrock - Genderless
Levitate
Bashful - Female Attracted​

-Another name I just thought would work very well. Maybe I’ve been watching too much Slay the Spire, which is where I got the name idea from. Unfortunately, I can’t pair Apotheosis with anyone. It would be much better if Apotheosis was a girl, where at least she would be paired with Corazon, but alas.

-I went back to Mauville by opening up the path through Rusturf Tunnel. I went up towards Mt. Chimney once more, this time for the final clean up run. I fought all the trainers again, getting my team around Level 28 or 29, in the case of Yuri. The plan was to get Yuri to evolve before Flannery.

-Funny moment. While going back down Jagged Path, I fought a Veteran Lady with a Hariyama. Last time I fought it, it was close bout. It used Belly Drum after I hit it. Luckily it was a critical hit, which meant that it would go down with another normal hit, but I think I got pretty lucky there. This time, it just spammed Whirlwind and nothing else? I found it kinda funny.

-Alright, finally done with all of this clean up business. It’s time for the real show, the Gym! It goes about as well as you think it did. I’m surprised there was some other Pokemon that aren’t Fire-types, like Meditite and Koffing. I mean, sure it was filled with Slugma and stuff, but it was kind of surprised.

-The biggest challenge was Kecleon, which was on the team of an Ace Trainer in the gym. He was surprisingly tough. Actually, it was going to kill me with Slash if it got a critical hit. Ironically enough, it never did, but the last hit that I did to Kecleon, that was a critical hit. I’m really surprised that’s how it ended up.

-The final trainer before Flannery was the one that got Yuri to evolve. All according to plan. I went back to the center and healed up. I also made sure to take some Moo Moo Milks for the battle. I went back into the Gym and challenged Flannery.

-Vs. Flannery: I feel a bit bad for her. She tried her best, but I basically just one shot all of her team with Bubblebeam. Torkoal didn’t fall in one hit, but it also didn’t hit me. It used Sunny Day once and then missed Overheat. What a battle. Not sure what else to add. Victory Achieved! Heat Badge Get!

-I went back outside and talked to Brenden. He gave me some goggles to be able to go into the desert part of Route 111. I was kind of excited, since I knew there was a choice between the Root and Claw Fossil there. I couldn’t catch anything there, since the desert area is still considered Route 111, but I was able to get one of the fossils there. Miracle, at this point, was kind of low leveled. Just a tad. He was my main Pokemon for the route.

-Claw or Root. Which one to choose? Well I could have left it for a vote, but I thought for a second. It’d be cool to raise a Lileep. Its unique type is cool from a defensive standpoint, plus it’s also a Grass-type, which I currently lack! I went back to Rustboro to revive the fossil from its prison. And so, we’ve obtained a new member!

Duane the Lileep - Male
Suction Cups
Hasty - Male Attracted​

-Why!? If only Nimbus survived! Mentioning Nimbus, I actually forgot to mention another reason why I chose Ocean Man as the song. If you watch Rank10YGO, you might be familiar with a series of his called Archetype Archive, where he reviews Yugioh Card Archetypes. In the one for Cloudians, he reviews Nimbusman and makes a joke about Ocean Man: “Nimbusman, take me by the hand lead me to the… clouds.”

-Other than that, why the name Duane? Well… Rock-Type = Dwayne the Rock Johnson = My Friend Duane. It’s all connected, as we see. Funny enough, my friend Duane is also gay, which is almost scarily fitting for this Lileep. Sadly, I can’t use him either! Why are these pairs just so bad? What kind of luck god did I piss off!?

-After reviving Duane, I went over to Petalburg and went straight for the Gym. I had one ace in the hole, Guinevere. She’d be able to tank every hit. I trained up my team in all the trainer rooms before the Gym leader, except for the one which was One-Hit KO. I think it should be obvious why I skipped it… There’s not much to tell about this Gym either, very bland. Or I guess the correct word is plain. Our father rests in the last room. I save before challenging him.

-Vs. Norman: He starts with Slaking. I proceed to set up two layers of Spikes for him. I kind of forgot that they stack up to three times for the maximum effect. For the most part, Slaking would use Yawn to put me to sleep and then Feint Attack as its only damaging move. He used Encore on Steel Wing. I was basically doing chip damage to the thing. I was hoping I might be able to get stat buffs from Steel Wing and Metal Claw, but nope. I healed as he put out Vigoroth, since I believed he was going to use Retaliation. He didn’t for whatever reason, and instead managed to get me into an Encore loop with Spikes, since I had realized I needed to set up one more later. That was totally my fault. I wasn’t going to be able to do much with him continuingly using Encore on Spikes. I sent out Miracle to take a hit, which he did, before ending Vigoroth. His ace Slacking came out and it went way better than the first Slaking. For one, he was heavily weakened by Spikes. Enough to where a couple of Steel Wings was all it took for me to win. Victory Achieved! Balance Badge Get!

-After being led out by our father, we share a cutscene with Wally and his father. We eventually get teleported to the entrance of Route 118. However, we now had Surf on our side, and we could actually swim along to other areas we hadn’t explored before. Plus there were bound to be some trainers that I could use to train up my team and make them balanced. So I taught Yuri Surf and began exploring the region once more.

-I began by heading down to Slateport and visiting Route 109’s trainers. Most of them were taken out pretty easily. I made my way west of Route 109 and ended up finding Sea Mauville. I kind of forgot that it was an area, so I began exploring it quickly. I got Rain Dance, which was pretty useful as a TM. Nothing much else of interest. I couldn’t progress in the area without Dive.

-I went back to Route 118 to continue with the story. I surfed across the water to the other side of Route 118. Here we meet our greatest foe… Gabby and Ty… I went in with Miracle and Guinevere and… I’m very sorry. The battle was very long and very difficult. Miracle was being targeted by Magneton for most of the fight. Surprisingly enough, he got crit to 2 HP, living up to his name once more. But it wasn’t enough to save him. He fell and I could do nothing to help him. I wasn’t able to save Guinevere either, due to him using Spark. Corazon managed to take a hit in her stead, but Guinever was knocked down before the battle ended.

-Miracle, what else can I say about you except, thank you. You’ve done the most I think any of my members. You’ve survived since Petalburg Woods. You swept Brawly. You took a Lava Plume in a Sunny Day for Guinevere. You defeated Brenden when all hope seemed lost. You did amazing. I really hope you can rest easy.

-Guinevere, though our time together was short lived, you proved to be incredibly instrumental to our success. I would have loved to keep you for the rest of the game. You would have been amazing. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.

-Moving along, we meet up with Steven Stone. We come to the aid of a Latias in dire need of help. They help us get to the Southern Island on their back. Now I was kind of scared, since I didn’t remember what happened here. I thought I might need to fight Latias, and if that was the case, I was kind of boned. Luckily, it was just an encounter with Courtney and a Magma Grunt. Better, we had Steven on our side.

-His Pokemon were already way higher leveled than mine. I used Corazon for training purposes. Courtney’s Camerupt got a good hit on Steven’s Metang, and I dealt chip damage.

-After that, we end up recruiting Latios and obtaining a Mega Bracelet. Now here’s a question for you guys. Should I actually use Latios? I don’t have a rule against using Legendary Pokemon, at least officially. But I didn’t want to have to resort to the use of one. If the Latios is compatible with one member of our team, would that be fine? Or should I say no, since that was the case with Cosplay Pikachu, and I didn’t use her either (even if I couldn’t at the time). I’ll make sure to ask this again later just in case no one reads this part.

-I head back to Mauville to box Latios for the time being. On Route 118, I catch a Pelipper, finally making up for all the Wingulls I haven’t caught. A little abrupt, I know, we did just lose basically all of our team, but welcome aboard.

Laguna the Pelipper - Female
Keen Eye
Naive - Opposite Attracted​

-I am convinced the game hates me. It would have been so good if I could pair her up, but instead I get ANOTHER Pokemon I can’t pair up with. It’s ridiculous! Regardless, I don’t have much of a story for Laguna’s name. It’s just something nice. I travelled back to Route 118 to train Corazon. Even if she’s not paired, I was going to need to level her up if possible. I got into a Pokemon battle and… well guess what? The Pelipper in the battle kept spamming Payback. I have no idea what was happening, but it was out for blood. It got a critical hit from full health. Corazon had died one level before evolving.

-I can’t find the words to ask for forgiveness, Corazon. I had such high hopes for you, and I killed them all so quickly. You tried your best to save Guinevere back then, and I wasn’t strong enough to save you from the Pelipper. Forgive me.

And that’s where I’m going to end it off. It was really heartbreaking, I felt like I was doing everything wrong, but again, I haven’t given up. There’s still one pair left in the game, and it’s not like I’m out of Pokemon. I just can’t use them easily or pair them up. The moment I can give them a partner, suddenly everything will go back to being hunky dory. But as for now, I can’t say where we are. I do want to be able to use the song I had thought of before for the next chapter, since it’s very fitting. Other than that, I still have the matter of using Latias. Should I be able to use it or not? I ask in the hypothetical scenario where Latias can be paired up properly with one of my existing members. Should I be able to use it? Or should I not since I wasn’t able to use Cosplay Pikachu. Thank you for being patient with me in my lack of updates. I’ll try to be more consistent when my free days come up. I’ll also be debating whether or not to be able to train my Pokemon outside of these updates, just so I can skim some parts of the update that aren’t needed. That being said, however, that’s all. Right now, I’m tired and stressed. I’ll get up again and have my hand on the helm once more next time.

Spoiler: Team

The Shocking Alliance:

Yuri (F) - 32 - Surf / Barrier / Toxic Spikes / Acid Spray

Salem (M) - 33 - Volt Switch / Swift / Discharge / Encore

Spoiler: Deaths

Obsidian (M), 18, Died to Carvanah's Rough Skin Ability

Thymine (M), 17, Died to Minun's Swift

Minnie (F), 17, Died to Plusle's Spark

Narcissus (M), 16, Died to Tailow's Wing Attack

Nimbus (M), 26, Died to Camerupt's Earth Power

Tsuki (F), 25, Died to Gyarados's Thrash

Guinevere (F), 32, Died to Magneton's Electro Ball

Miracle (M), 31, Died to Magneton's Spark

Corazon (F), 30, Died to Pelipper's Payback

Spoiler: Box

Apotheosis (Genderless), 17

Kuze (M), 17

Duane (M), 20

Laguna (F), 24

 

[Calaf]

First of all, congrats on landing the job! I hope it goes well for you!

Oof, the game just can't seem to give you a break, eh? That being said, you're still standing with two more Gym Leaders defeated, so hang in there! I'm sure you'll be able to regroup once you get some more team members. You'll just have to be a little careful for a while. ^^'

As for Latios, I don't think you should use it. I really dislike that Gamefreak just decided to give it to players halfway through the game. Overall, the Lati twins are just so powerful, I feel like it would take away a significant portion of the challenge. That being said, it's your challenge, so if you want to use it, that's fine too.