It's a while before Fury is able to access the PSS again, but once he can, he takes the first opportunity to Wonder Trade Leader the Xerneas and claim his Team Flare Secret HQ encounter. What Fury receives is singularly fascinating. It's a male French Zweilous at precisely Level 59, the highest legal level for this section of the game. Furthermore, it was caught in a Premier Ball, and if that wasn't enough, it even has Pokérus! A specimen like this deserves a powerful, intimidating name.
Obtained Ultron the Zweilous from Team Flare Secret HQ!
Then it's a long trek back to Anistar City so Fury can continue his adventure like the rest of his agents. Close to the city's southeastern gate he receives a Holo Caster message from Howard Stark, challenging Fury to a battle in Couriway Town. Looks like the Professor wants a rematch, eh?
Route 18 is pretty standard--a couple of the Trainers are scary, notably a Hiker with a Revenge Stunfisk and a Black Belt with a Poison Jab Sawk--but it's nothing Fury can't handle. The encounter is a male Lairon, appropriately weakened by Rocket's Surf. Wonder Trade yields a Level 5 Japanese Totodile! That's the first starter Pokémon I've gotten all run; it's been a long time coming. I've realized that the MCU doesn't have a whole lot of water-based characters, so I'll name this guy based on his personality.
Obtained Drax the Totodile from Route 18!
A bit of the route actually requires Rock Smash to access. Fury realizes that he hasn't needed the move since Ebony Maw died, and so nothing on his team has it even though all six of them can learn it. It's a tough call, but he gives it to Lady Sif in place of Swords Dance. On the whole I think the boosting move is more useful than Sucker Punch, but at least Swords Dance is a TM, and the priority move has definitely saved lives once or twice. If nothing else, this lets Lady Sif do something to other Dark-types.
Rock Smash allows access to one part of Terminus Cave, though Fury won't do all of it. As always, he's keeping an eye on the level of his Pokémon vs the level cap. He only only pops into the two small side caves long enough to grab the items they hold as well as find an encounter. It's a female Graveler; fearing Self-Destruct, Fury hurriedly chucks a Quick Ball. I kind of regret just using the name Hiker, but Rangers spend a lot of time out on mountains too. Ranger the Graveler is exchanged for a female English Tentacool. These have been some good trades tonight. Nice to have Water-types again.
Obtained Scarlet Witch the Tentacool from Terminus Cave!
That's about all there is left to do here. Before he takes the last few steps into Couriway Town, however, Fury makes a pit stop to even out his team's levels since some members pulled ahead while fighting Team Flare. It turns out that Lady Sif can take on pretty much nothing here, so training her means waiting to run into Lairon and then switching to Captain America. Still, everyone who wasn't Level 54 yet was only Level 53, so it doesn't take super long.
I swear I trigger some kind of glitch when I reach Couriway Town. The Dowsing Machine lets me find a Pretty Wing in a bush near the Pokémon Center, but once Fury enters the building, heals, and exits again, he finds a second Pretty Wing hidden in the exact same spot. Weird.
Anyhow, on to the battle with Howard Stark and his Level 50 starter Pokémon. Lady Sif only needs two Psycho Cuts to beat Venusaur, who opts to use the near-useless Worry Seed. Nice. Blastoise is out next, so Fury lets JARVIS handle it; the Grass-type levels up and learns Leaf Blade! In my opinion that's the best Grass-type attack there is, so it's very welcome. Ancient One and Morgan Stark tag in and out to beat Charizard. For her part, the Garchomp gives up on the highly unreliable Dragon Rush when she levels up. All in all a very safe, easy fight.
Waterfalls at the edge of town provide the opportunity to meet a new teammate. Rocket helps capture Ninja Boy the Level 44 Lombre, who's shipped out to make room for a Ninjask. He may be another Bug-type but he can fight. I think the nickname is rather obvious.
Obtained Yellowjacket the Ninjask from Couriway Town!
Meeting new friends doesn't stop there. Fury heads over to Route 19, though before he makes it to any wild Pokémon he's stopped by a Hex Maniac. I only mention this fight because one of her Pumpkaboo uses Trick-or-Treat on Lady Sif, creating the fun type combo of Dark/Ghost. Once she's dealt with, Fury enters a patch of purple flowers which are home to a Level 46 Drapion. I'm a little worried about how strong this guy might be, but two of Rocket's Returns put him in red health and he goes into the first Ultra Ball. I know Bikers typically use Poison-types. I don't think Drapion has much to do with them, but once I picture a Drapion trying to ride a motorcycle, I can't let it go. Wonder Trading Biker the Drapion yields a Level 1 Mawile. Dang, that's a good Pokémon too. Maybe Fury's trade luck has finally shifted for good.
Obtained Gamora the Mawile from Route 19!
Fury will leave the marsh alone for now, so he continues around the upper portion of Route 19. A Fairy Tale Girl gives him a scare when her Azumarill nails Rocket with a Superpower, but even though the attack knocks him from full health to red health, he survives to win the duel with a second Return. I'm squeezing in a last-minute level on a couple Pokémon right before crossing the infamous bridge when I make the single stupidest decision of this whole challenge. Don't Locke on little sleep, folks. Captain America has 81% of his HP when he finds a wild Quagsire. I figure he can take whatever this Ground-type wants to dish out. Aura Sphere does around 75% of the Quagsire's health. Its Earthquake does a lot more.
Lost Captain America the Lucario
"We lost...this is the fight of our lives."
I can barely comprehend the level of idiocy I just pulled off. I would say this is the first death so far that's 100% my fault, 100% preventable. I'm so stupid! I told myself a dozen times I
needed to keep Captain America alive. He was my express ticket to the Iceberg Badge. Gah. I'm going to miss using a Lucario.
What Fury is mainly looking for now in a replacement is what can beat Wulfric. Scarlet Witch and Gamora would both do a pretty good job of that, and they bring similar defensive strengths to the table, but I think Scarlet Witch could be more useful against the Elite Four. Plus, it'll take noticeably less training to get her up to Speed. So, Scarlet Witch the Tentacool joins the team at Level 25.
Fury hikes back to Route 10 to brief his new recruit. Right off the bat it comes to my attention that even with a Bold Nature, Scarlet Witch's Defense is absolute garbage. She's getting two-shot by Hawlucha six levels lower than she is. If nothing else, I'm thankful for Aurora Beam, which probably came as a DexNav move from ORAS. Progress is slow, but once Scarlet Witch has a couple levels under her belt it gets easier. She learns Barrier in favor of Wrap, which helps a bit in longer fights. It also helps, of course, when she evolves into Tentacruel at Level 30. I know that neither Route 12 nor Route 13 will be kind to her, so Fury hangs around Route 11 until she reaches Level 33. That's enough to take on the back-alley Trainers in Lumiose City, or to grind on Route 14.
It turns out that Scarlet Witch doesn't need Barrier nearly as much as I thought she might, so when the opportunity comes I have her learn Poison Jab instead. This allows her to massacre the Lombre and Floatzel that appear in the river on Route 15, so the Tentacruel grows steadily up to Level 44. She then pokes around in the Lost Hotel, beating a few Trainers there for a couple levels. Importantly, Fury picks up the Smoke Ball. I had been wondering where that was.
Scarlet Witch is taught Surf in place of Bubble Beam for the last stretch of her training, which turns out to be perfect since the hordes of Durant on Route 18 give an insane amount of EXP. In fact, everything there is pretty easy to beat, so that's where Scarlet Witch is topped off to Level 55. For reaching that milestone she gets to hold Black Sludge instead of the Lucky Egg. Fury heads back to Route 19, where a rather impressive bridge is awaiting him.
Halfway across he's hailed from behind. It's Agent Shauna, demanding a Pokémon battle of all things. I kind of forgot she knew how to fight, and I definitely forgot which Pokémon she has. First up is a Delcatty, which goes down to one Thunderbolt from Morgan Stark. Unfortunately, the fun stops there. I'm not sure Shauna was intended to be a challenge, given that her Pokémon are at Level 49, but she's critting left and right and tearing me apart. Next up is a Goodra who, after being hit with Nuzzle, slams Morgan Stark for 75% of her HP with Earthquake. So it's gonna be one of those fights, eh? She then catches JARVIS with Sludge Wave on the switch, which does 2/3 of his health with a crit. I have to heal, only to wind up in the exact same place thanks to a second crit. Nothing for it but to use my second healing item. Sludge Wave finally doesn't crit, leaving JARVIS at around 60% of his HP, but I know Bulldoze won't do much and I'm fighting a losing battle at this rate. Praying the AI will stick to its guns, I switch into Ancient One. Goodra is fully paralyzed so I don't know what would have happened. I hold my breath while Dragon Claw knocks out Goodra from almost full health. That sucked, but we're not done. Last is Chesnaught, who takes a little less than half from Dragon Claw. Its first Seed Bomb does around 30% to Ancient One, while the second is yet another crit. Thanks to that and a Spiky Shield, Ancient One is in red health by the time she finally defeats Shauna's last Pokémon. That was awful.
Trevor and Tierno show up about this time, and Fury knows they'll want battles too. I expect to be healed, but instead, Tierno gets right down to business. Are you KIDDING me? Normally XY can't get enough of throwing free healing at me, but the ONE TIME I actually wish they would cut me some slack, they don't. This game is less balanced than a drunken one-legged psychopath.
Anyhow, it's Morgan Stark at 38/154 HP up against a Talonflame. I'm not sure I'll be faster but Fury clicks Thunderbolt anyway, and luckily it's a oneshot. Scarlet Witch with her high Special Defense probably has the best chance of taking on Roserade, but she eats a critical hit Petal Dance on the switch for 70% of her HP. That's number four. Scarlet Witch heals, gets hit by Petal Dance, uses Aurora Beam for 40% of Roserade's health, gets hit by a third Petal Dance because why not, and has to heal again while Roserade hits itself in confusion. About time. Another Aurora Beam almost ends it while another successful Petal Dance knocks Scarlet Witch to 2/3 HP. A third Aurora Beam defeats the plant. Last is Tierno's Level 54 Crawdaunt. I know this thing has strong physical attacks, but Scarlet Witch at least resists Water so she is staying in. Acid Spray doesn't do much, but it's important setup while Crawdaunt Swords Dances. Surf does big damage, but Crawdaunt retaliates with a massive Night Slash that turns out to be the fifth crit of this little dance. Bold Nature or not, that's too much for Fury's newest recruit.
Lost Scarlet Witch the Tentacruel
"You took everything from me."
Fury had just obtained Scarlet Witch and she's already dead. He just spent several hours training her up and now he'll have to do it all over again. I'm absolutely furious right now. Crawdaunt is low enough on HP that Lady Sif can take it out with one Rock Smash. Two down, one to go, I guess.
Trevor does Fury the courtesy of healing up his Pokémon. That's a nice gesture but it is 100% too little, too late. Dead is dead, so Scarlet Witch can't be used for this fight. Agent Trevor leads with a Raichu of his own, so Fury sends out JARVIS to take a Nuzzle and a couple Slams, while retaliating with Bulldoze and Leaf Blade. I don't trust Morgan Stark to take the Stone Edge or Earthquake Trevor's Aerodactyl is probably packing, so Ancient One handles it instead. Sky Drop stings a bit but the Garchomp's Dragon Claw hurts more. That won't be the case against the Florges who comes out next, however. I go into Morgan Stark thinking Nuzzle would be nice, but of course it uses Misty Terrain on the switch. The second option, Thunderbolt, only does around a quarter of Florges's health, while Moonblast does well over half in return. It even gets the Special Attack drop. Fury sends out Rocket only for the same thing to happen: massive Moonblast, Special Attack drop. It can only be JARVIS to the rescue once again. Moonblast doesn't hurt him as much, though Florges scores its third Special Attack drop in a row. As a physical attacker JARVIS doesn't care about that, but it just goes to show even more of the ridiculous odds these guys have been pulling out. To my surprise Florges is faster and gets off another Moonblast, but JARVIS is still in yellow health, and a single Leaf Blade takes out the Fairy-type.
It's finally over. I'd almost rather go face Lysanos again. Shauna forks over the HM for Waterfall, which feels like very small consolation, and then everyone leaves Fury alone with his grief. Fury's had enough of grinding for now, so he'll activate another Avenger some other time.