Decided to just head into the gym. AMBER was eager to test her might against Wattson, and did so with aplomb, as bonemerang after bonemerang slaughtered his pokemon. Gave PERIL Rock Smash and headed north.
Route 112 saw Justin the Machop enlist. It also saw tragedy strike... with KAZBAR in the lead, I engaged Picknicker Carol, who sent out a level 32 Murkrow. Not liking that match up, I called him back --
Murkrow used Pursuit! It's a critical hit!
Thus ended KAZBAR... With a heavy heart I finished the fight and moved on.
The Fiery Path saw CODY the Vulpix join up. Unfortunately, he was level 24 already, and without any Fire attacks, so his usefulness will be limited...
Route 113 yielded HAN the Yanma, who joined my party all too briefly. Moving on to Route 114, I captured MNK the Wynaut. Next fight was another Wynaut, with HAN in the lead. Shadow Tag prevented his switch out... no matter, HAN could win the fight.
Wynaut used Destiny Bond! HAN used Sonic Boom! Wynaut fainted... and took HAN with him! HAN fainted...
Augh.
And my suffering was still not yet over. I headed into the Meteor Falls, where STAN the Lunatone joined up. I figured this was a safer place to gain levels than the Wynaut riddled Route 114. PIRATEKING slew several pokemon without instance, until a fateful encounter with a maniacal Baltoy. Deciding it no longer desired to live, it grinned and PIRATEKING before Self-Destructing, leaving the Xatu torn and lifeless on the ground. No more teleport for me...
I quickly sped through the Falls and retreated back to Route 113 to train, with CHUMPMONEY in tow. All was progressing well until a critical confusion from a Metatite ended the newly evolved Gyrados' life. STAN's training was much more successful, reaching the level of his compatriots. My surviving pokemon were in the level 34-37 range now.
With a now grizzled, battle-hardened squad, I scaled Mt. Chimney to face Team Magma. After a series of grueling battles that each had me retreating back to a Pokecentre with a crippled, but living line-up, I achieved victory -- pleasant, giving that I was actually outlevelled by them (they were 38s) AMBER's Bonemerang was once again called upon for blood, instrumental in slaying Magma's fire pokemon. STAN quickly proved his worth, crushing several of the foe with well placed Rock Throws.
I headed down the Jagged Pass, catching CTES the Tyrogue along the way. After several non-eventful trainer battles, I reached Lavaridge Town, and a new gym! Looks like I'll be heading back to Jagged Pass for training (level 30 snubbul, smeargle, tyrogue, magmar, and mr mime are what I've faced -- pretty safe) Now led by the courageous Parasect PERIL, how will my party fair against this gym...
Party PERIL the Naughty Parasect, Lvl. 36 BOSHY the Bold Ariados, Lvl. 38 AMBER the Jolly Marowak, Lvl. 37 NICK the Naughty Swellow, Lvl. 37 STAN the Impish Lunatone, Lvl. 37 CTES the Lonely Tyrogue, Lvl. 30
Chillout JUSTIN the Gentle Machop, Lvl. 22 CODY the Lonely Vulpix, Lvl. 24 MNK the Relaxed Wynaut, Lvl. 25
Valhalla NATWAFAKID the Naive Nuzleaf, Lvl. 15 (Slain by May's Torchic) GENESIS the Gentle Surskit, Lvl. 18 (Slain by Black Belt Takao's Machop) AYVUIR the Modest Tentacool, Lvl. 9 (Slain by a devious Diglett in Granite Cave) SIRTHOMPSN the Relaxed Magby, Lvl. 24 (Slain by May's Swellow) KAZBAR the Jolly Groyvle, Lvl. 32, (Slain by Picknicker Carol's Murkrow) HAN the Serious Yanma, Lvl. 27 (Slain by a wicked Wynaut on Route 114) PIRATEKING the Gentle Xatu, Lvl. 33 (Slain by a beleaguered Baltoy in Meteor Falls) CHUMPMONEY the Lax Gyarados, Lvl. 24 (Slain by a malicious Medatite on Route 113)
Heading out to watch UFC, so last update for tonight I assume.
-- Blessed is the mind too small for doubt. last.fm/user/BlackHydras
Jagged Pass was a suitable training area, allowing my squad to all reach level 40. CTES became a Hitmonlee, and was given the HMs Strength and Rock Smash to give some offensive options (no jump kicks, augh)
With the party now ready, I breezed through the gym trainers on my way to face Flannery, the fire gym leader. With STAN leading the charge, I challenged her -- and was surprised to find it was a double battle... oh dear. Fortunately, AMBER was second in line, so I had a good fire-slaying line-up ready to go.
Flannery's first three pokemon, Lvl 40 Houndoom, Arcanine, and Camerupt fell before AMBER and STAN's combined might, the two suffering little damage in the process.
That would not remain the case... as a Lvl 40 Ninetails and Torkoal saw the destruction of their comrades and focused a devastating Flamethrower and Eruption combination on AMBER, annihilating her. CTES quickly jumped into the fray looking for vengeance, but met with the same fate. STAN would not stand for such wanton slaughter of his new allies, and slew the Ninetails with a vicious critical Psychic.
NICK joined the battle, facing off against the villainous Torkoal and Flannery's final pokemon, a Lvl. 42 Rapidash. STAN and NICK combined an Aerial Ace and Psychic attack against the Rapidash, killing it, but not before a flamethrower greviously wounded NICK, burning him in the process. Erring on the side of caution, I threw BOSHY into the fray to finish the job.
Fate was not with me, however, as Torkoal refused to go quietly, criticalling BOSHY, incinerating the bold Ariados. Enraged at the loss of his fellow bug and long time ally, PERIL followed up STANs psychic with a critical slash, finally killing the terrible tortoise. Victory... but at a terrible cost. Without STAN anchoring the battle, the cost may have been even greater -- the Lunatone had a most admirable showing.
After guiding the fallen's spirits to Valhalla, I departed Lavaridge Town. Morale had never been lower...
Party PERIL the Naughty Parasect, Lvl. 40 NICK the Naughty Swellow, Lvl. 41 STAN the Impish Lunatone, Lvl. 42 JUSTIN the Gentle Machop, Lvl. 22 CODY the Lonely Vulpix, Lvl. 24 MNK the Relaxed Wynaut, Lvl. 25
Chillout Empty :(
Valhalla NATWAFAKID the Naive Nuzleaf, Lvl. 15 (Slain by May's Torchic) GENESIS the Gentle Surskit, Lvl. 18 (Slain by Black Belt Takao's Machop) AYVUIR the Modest Tentacool, Lvl. 9 (Slain by a devious Diglett in Granite Cave) SIRTHOMPSN the Relaxed Magby, Lvl. 24 (Slain by May's Swellow) KAZBAR the Jolly Groyvle, Lvl. 32, (Slain by Picknicker Carol's Murkrow) HAN the Serious Yanma, Lvl. 27 (Slain by a wicked Wynaut on Route 114) PIRATEKING the Gentle Xatu, Lvl. 33 (Slain by a beleaguered Baltoy in Meteor Falls) CHUMPMONEY the Lax Gyarados, Lvl. 24 (Slain by a malicious Medatite on Route 113) AMBER the Jolly Marowak, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) CTES the Lonely Hitmonlee, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) BOSHY the Bold Ariados, Lvl. 42 (Slain by Flannery's Torkoal)
-- Blessed is the mind too small for doubt. last.fm/user/BlackHydras
Well at least I died in the face of a glorious battle against a competent Gym leader team and not something random again. And hey, I was even MVP: Most Valuable Pokémon for a while. No regrets!
--
Arcanine: The best pokemon ever. Dewott: The cutest pokemon ever.
With some new sandstorm proof goggles, I head to the desert on Route 111. ORACLEPRAM the Trapinch (Lvl 25 :() makes a welcome addition to my party, and SHADOWHALO the Sandshrew (Lvl 21 :()from the Mirage Tower fills out my party. With JUSTIN (Lvl. 22 :() joining in from the bench, I now have a new full squad, assuming they all survive training. Back to Jagged Pass...
After a ludicrous session of grinding at Jagged Pass, I'm almost ready to head to the next gym. The Gyms seem to have been increasing at a linear 10 lvls per gym rate, so some more training will be needed. Need to get ORACLEPRAM and JUSTIN their final evolution first, in particular.
Party PERIL the Naughty Parasect, Lvl. 43 NICK the Naughty Swellow, Lvl. 43 STAN the Impish Lunatone, Lvl. 44 JUSTIN the Gentle Machoke, Lvl. 43 ORACLEPRAM the Jolly Vibrava, Lvl. 44 SHADOWHALO the Gentle Sandslash, Lvl. 41
Chillout CODY the Lonely Vulpix, Lvl. 24 MNK the Relaxed Wynaut, Lvl. 25
Valhalla NATWAFAKID the Naive Nuzleaf, Lvl. 15 (Slain by May's Torchic) GENESIS the Gentle Surskit, Lvl. 18 (Slain by Black Belt Takao's Machop) AYVUIR the Modest Tentacool, Lvl. 9 (Slain by a devious Diglett in Granite Cave) SIRTHOMPSN the Relaxed Magby, Lvl. 24 (Slain by May's Swellow) KAZBAR the Jolly Groyvle, Lvl. 32, (Slain by Picknicker Carol's Murkrow) HAN the Serious Yanma, Lvl. 27 (Slain by a wicked Wynaut on Route 114) PIRATEKING the Gentle Xatu, Lvl. 33 (Slain by a beleaguered Baltoy in Meteor Falls) CHUMPMONEY the Lax Gyarados, Lvl. 24 (Slain by a malicious Medatite on Route 113) AMBER the Jolly Marowak, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) CTES the Lonely Hitmonlee, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) BOSHY the Bold Ariados, Lvl. 42 (Slain by Flannery's Torkoal)
-- Blessed is the mind too small for doubt. last.fm/user/BlackHydras
I continued to grind all my warriors up to 50, switching to the Fiery Path to mix things up a bit. ORACLEPRAM evolved into a Flygon, but the patch notes lied to me and JUSTIN did not evolve to Machamp at 46 -- wonder when that'll happen!
With my now battle-ready squad, I returned Petalburg to face Norman's gym. The trainer battles inside proved to be a joke, only having one Pokemon for some reason -- they were quickly dealt with by STAN, NICK, and JUSTIN. Onto Norman... I was a bit worried, given that Normals can have all sorts of TM attacks.
With NICK on the front lines, I challenged Norman... and was greeted with another double battle -- guess that's the norm from now on. The venerable PERIL joined the fray, lined up against a Lvl 48 Blissey and Granbull. After Granbull's entry intimidation, I decided to swap JUSTIN in while PERIL unleashed spores upon the Blissey, eating a Crunch from the Granbull. Anticipating a switch, PERIL targeted Blissey again with Spore, and was rewarded by a Lvl 50 Stantler dozing off. JUSTIN executed the Granbull with a Cross Chop. A Tauros replaced the Granbull.
Figuring Norman would do the same thing again, PERIL once again spored the sleeper, and was rewarded with a Kangaskhan being the next victim. The Tauros unleashed a heavy attack on PERIL, however, dropping him into the red. JUSTIN Cross Chopped again, dropping the Tauros to red (the Tauros had intimidated on entry, augh).
Norman proceeded to Hyper Potion the Tauros -- fortunately, JUSTIN landed a critical Cross Chop, leaving the Tauros broken on the ground. Irritatingly, the Kangaskhan woke up Flamethrowering PERIL's prior position -- thankfully I'd decided to swap him out for STAN, who was barely affected! A Slaking replaced the fallen Tauros.
JUSTIN and STAN combined Cross Chop and Psychic to bring down the Kangaskhan, JUSTIN being reduced to red in the process. The asleep Stantler rejoined the fight.
NICK then replaced the wounded JUSTIN, and combined with STAN, proceeded to systematically eliminate Stantler (which had Aerial ace, good thing it didn't hit JUSTIN or PERIL), then Slaking, then Blissey. Blissey held on for a while being fed hyper potions, but it was for naught. Both STAN and NICK were only reduced to yellow.
Finally, victory without loss! PERILs sleep was the overall cause for that, I'd imagine -- there was some one-shot kill potential asleep when it needed to be. I received Surf after the battle -- guess I gotta grab a Magikarp from some random town's water -- I have no one left that can use it!
Party PERIL the Naughty Parasect, Lvl. 50 NICK the Naughty Swellow, Lvl. 50 STAN the Impish Lunatone, Lvl. 51 JUSTIN the Gentle Machoke, Lvl. 50 ORACLEPRAM the Jolly Flygon, Lvl. 50 SHADOWHALO the Gentle Sandslash, Lvl. 50
Chillout CODY the Lonely Vulpix, Lvl. 24 MNK the Relaxed Wynaut, Lvl. 25
Valhalla NATWAFAKID the Naive Nuzleaf, Lvl. 15 (Slain by May's Torchic) GENESIS the Gentle Surskit, Lvl. 18 (Slain by Black Belt Takao's Machop) AYVUIR the Modest Tentacool, Lvl. 9 (Slain by a devious Diglett in Granite Cave) SIRTHOMPSN the Relaxed Magby, Lvl. 24 (Slain by May's Swellow) KAZBAR the Jolly Groyvle, Lvl. 32, (Slain by Picknicker Carol's Murkrow) HAN the Serious Yanma, Lvl. 27 (Slain by a wicked Wynaut on Route 114) PIRATEKING the Gentle Xatu, Lvl. 33 (Slain by a beleaguered Baltoy in Meteor Falls) CHUMPMONEY the Lax Gyarados, Lvl. 24 (Slain by a malicious Medatite on Route 113) AMBER the Jolly Marowak, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) CTES the Lonely Hitmonlee, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) BOSHY the Bold Ariados, Lvl. 42 (Slain by Flannery's Torkoal)
-- Blessed is the mind too small for doubt. last.fm/user/BlackHydras
With PERIL at the cusp of learning Giga Drain, I decided to let him have a well-earned rest so that I could find the move deleter and get rid of Flash rather than Spore or Slash (he has Rock Smash too -_-)
I needed a pokemon that could surf, so I headed up to Route 115 (no grass, so unused) and caught a tentacool, ARTICUNO. Surfed my way to Dewford, catching MURPHY the Staryu on Route 105, who replaced ARTICUNO as my surfer. Didn't see anything on 106, and decided to leave it that way as I knew I had more water pokemon coming up. 107 also thankfully produced nothing, but route 108 and 109 delivered BOB the Corphish and RYO the Sharpedo, respectively. Investigated the Abandoned Ship, and received an Ice Beam TM for my troubles -- probably gonna give that to Murphy, undecided so far.
Reached Slateport, and surfed over to Route 118, where I caught TSUNAMI the Eevee. Any preference on what you want to become, Tsunami? Not throwing you in yet, but who knows what will happen.
PRINCEKARO the Teddiursa joined me on Route 119 during my trip to Fortree City. Cleared the Weather Institute out of Team Aqua, and was rewarded with a Castform -- however, the summary says Route 119 for it as well, so it seems I must release it -- no real loss there.
Butchered May, and received Fly for my troubles.
Reached Fortree, the gym of which seems to be... Flying? Hmm. Ice Beam is starting to look even more appealing. I'll need a bit of training though -- this gym will be level 60ish, going by the previous ones. Probably a double battle too!
Party NICK the Naughty Swellow, Lvl. 57 STAN the Impish Lunatone, Lvl. 57 JUSTIN the Gentle Machoke, Lvl. 55 ORACLEPRAM the Jolly Flygon, Lvl. 55 SHADOWHALO the Gentle Sandslash, Lvl. 50 MURPHY the Mild Staryu, Lvl. 41
Chillout PERIL the Naughty Parasect, Lvl. 50 CODY the Lonely Vulpix, Lvl. 24 MNK the Relaxed Wynaut, Lvl. 25 ARTICUNO the Rash Tentacool, Lvl. 10 BOB the Docile Corphish, Lvl. 35 RYO the Timid Sharpedo, Lvl. 35 TSUNAMI the Jolly Eevee, Lvl. 40 PRINCEKARO the Brave Teddiursa, Lvl. 41
Valhalla NATWAFAKID the Naive Nuzleaf, Lvl. 15 (Slain by May's Torchic) GENESIS the Gentle Surskit, Lvl. 18 (Slain by Black Belt Takao's Machop) AYVUIR the Modest Tentacool, Lvl. 9 (Slain by a devious Diglett in Granite Cave) SIRTHOMPSN the Relaxed Magby, Lvl. 24 (Slain by May's Swellow) KAZBAR the Jolly Groyvle, Lvl. 32, (Slain by Picknicker Carol's Murkrow) HAN the Serious Yanma, Lvl. 27 (Slain by a wicked Wynaut on Route 114) PIRATEKING the Gentle Xatu, Lvl. 33 (Slain by a beleaguered Baltoy in Meteor Falls) CHUMPMONEY the Lax Gyarados, Lvl. 24 (Slain by a malicious Medatite on Route 113) AMBER the Jolly Marowak, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) CTES the Lonely Hitmonlee, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) BOSHY the Bold Ariados, Lvl. 42 (Slain by Flannery's Torkoal)
-- Blessed is the mind too small for doubt. last.fm/user/BlackHydras
Huh. I'm an Eevee. So many different possibilities as to what I'll end up, and I've built up a kinship with a few different Eeveelutions over the course of my many games played. Vaporeon was my very first Surfer, all the way back in Red Version, and although that Vaporeon eventually got replaced by a Cloyster on my team, I decided to "relive the magic" when it came time for LeafGreen and that Vaporeon remained a part of my team throughout. Likewise, with the Psychic-type being as broken as it was in Gen 1, Jolteon had been a lifesaver way back in the original Stadium due to its Pin Missile attack, and I again paid it forward by opting to choose Jolteon as my Eeveelution in XD: Gale of Darkness's story mode. But I'd have to say that my best experience with an Eeveelution would have to be in SoulSilver, where Espeon was the go-to Pokémon for any jam that came up that couldn't be solved by exploiting a type matchup. Of course, it'll be less useful here, since Emerald 386 is a hack of a Gen III game and much of what made SoulSilver!Espeon so great was only made possible by it being a Gen IV game--first, the reclassification of physical vs. special, since Espeon's main strength is its Sp. Atk. and Shadow Ball would've still been a physical move in Gen III. Flash getting buffed also helped, but Sand-Attack would've served the same purpose (albeit with fewer PP) so it's all good.
--
I'm a cat person, but I can still appreciate a SuperNiceDog.
Gym is apparently blocked off by an invisible force, so eastward we go! Route 120 sees GTM the Bagon join up... a fine addition, and also an apparently rare one as I only face one more while grinding up a bit. I encounter Steven, who gives me the Devon Scope that allows me to clear invisible things, which are apparently Kecleons. I decide to keep pressing onwards for now.
These travels would not be without incident though, as I blunder against Cooltrainer Jennifer, not realizing her Sableye is a ghost type with JUSTIN in the fight. Sableye's first attack is Mean Look, trapping JUSTIN (only normal and fighting attacks), forcing me to watch helplessly as he is sadistically chipped to death.
I capture METEOR the Gastly on Route 121. Grab the PokeBlock container from the Lilycove Contest Hall, make PERIL forget Flash, and head back to the Safari Zone, where I get luckyish and capture ONE (out of names, so placeholders) the Linoone. Surfing across Route 122, I encounter a Luvdisc, which I kill without mercy because who wants their namesake to be a damn Luvdisc. I whip through Mt. Pyre's interior quickly, avoiding a battle, preferring to capture something outside instead, where TWO the Absol joins up. Head back inside and clear the toweresque structure, reminiscing on my fallen warriors along the way. I find a Shadow Ball TM at the end and give it to NICK, to give him a bit more spread since all ghost attacks are based off the attack stat in Gen III.
Confront Team Aqua on the top, butchering my way through until a Camerupt owned by a Grunt lands a successful Fissure on SHADOWHALO, killing him instantly. Damn...
Continue south through 123, capturing THREE the Weepinbell while engaging in a series of difficult trainer battles. Lots of red hps, but no losses.
Gonna head back to the Fiery Path to EV/Level train GTM up to fighting shape... The growlithe, vulpix, and ponyta population is about to suffer greatly. Then, Fortree gym time!
Party PERIL the Naughty Parasect, Lvl. 52 NICK the Naughty Swellow, Lvl. 64 STAN the Impish Lunatone, Lvl. 64 ORACLEPRAM the Jolly Flygon, Lvl. 62 MURPHY the Mild Staryu, Lvl. 58 GTM the Jolly Bagon, Lvl. 29
Chillout CODY the Lonely Vulpix, Lvl. 24 MNK the Relaxed Wynaut, Lvl. 25 ARTICUNO the Rash Tentacool, Lvl. 10 BOB the Docile Corphish, Lvl. 35 RYO the Timid Sharpedo, Lvl. 35 TSUNAMI the Jolly Eevee, Lvl. 40 PRINCEKARO the Brave Teddiursa, Lvl. 41 METEOR the Quiet Gastly, Lvl. 44 ONE the Naughty Linoone, Lvl. 40 TWO the Quiet Absol, Lvl. 45 THREE the Impish Weepinbell, Lvl. 47
Valhalla NATWAFAKID the Naive Nuzleaf, Lvl. 15 (Slain by May's Torchic) GENESIS the Gentle Surskit, Lvl. 18 (Slain by Black Belt Takao's Machop) AYVUIR the Modest Tentacool, Lvl. 9 (Slain by a devious Diglett in Granite Cave) SIRTHOMPSN the Relaxed Magby, Lvl. 24 (Slain by May's Swellow) KAZBAR the Jolly Groyvle, Lvl. 32, (Slain by Picknicker Carol's Murkrow) HAN the Serious Yanma, Lvl. 27 (Slain by a wicked Wynaut on Route 114) PIRATEKING the Gentle Xatu, Lvl. 33 (Slain by a beleaguered Baltoy in Meteor Falls) CHUMPMONEY the Lax Gyarados, Lvl. 24 (Slain by a malicious Medatite on Route 113) AMBER the Jolly Marowak, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) CTES the Lonely Hitmonlee, Lvl. 40 (Slain by Flannery's Ninetails and Torkoal) BOSHY the Bold Ariados, Lvl. 42 (Slain by Flannery's Torkoal) JUSTIN the Gentle Machamp, Lvl. 57 (Slain by Cool Trainer Jennifer's Sableye) SHADOWHALO the Gentle Sandslash, Lvl. 57 (Slain by Team Aqua Grunt's Camerupt)
Seems like a gentle nature is a death sentence -_-
-- Blessed is the mind too small for doubt. last.fm/user/BlackHydras