Board 8 > My First Nuzlocke (Brilliant Diamond)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm doing my first Nuzlocke! It's my first time playing Diamond/Pearl, so I figured maybe the game would be more challenging if I do a Nuzlocke. And I thought it'd be fun if I kept track of it here.

Here's the ruleset I'm using:

#1. I can only catch the first pokemon I run into in an area. If that pokemon faints, I cannot catch any pokemon in that area. This starts as soon as I have my first pokeball. I must nickname my pokemon.

#2. If a pokemon faints, it's considered dead, and must be put in a box and never let out again.

#3. No duplicates. If I run into a pokemon I've already caught (Or part of the evolutionary tree ), I will not catch it and it will not count toward the first pokemon on that route. This includes pokemon that have died. So I can only ever have 1 of any pokemon throughout the whole playthrough.

#4. If I faint, it's game over. Even if I have available pokemon left in the box.

#5. I can only use the same number of pokemon as the gym leader for the gym battle. This means 3 for the first 6 gyms, and 4 for the last 2 gyms. I also can't use pokemon that are more than 2 levels higher than the Gym Leader's Ace. (If they level up past that during the match, its fine)

#6. I can accept gift pokemon from NPC's, use fossils, etc...

#7. Shiny Clause: I can catch any shinies I run into, but cannot use them unless they are the first pokemon I run into in an area. If they are the first pokemon I run into in an area, they must remain in my party until they die or I finish the game.

#8. No Legendaries. I can catch them, but not use them in battle.

#9. Switch options must be on "Set"

First, I picked my starter -- Chimchar, and named him Owen. Then at Lake Acuity I picked up a female Bidoof I named Muffy, on Route 201 I caught a male Starly I named Angry Bird, and on Route 202 I caught a male Shinx I named Garrus.

After all of that, Lucas (despite me having caught two pokemon already) taught me how to catch pokemon. Silly Lucas! You don't know how to count.

In Jubilife City I got a poketch which apparently is a really annoying thing that takes up part of the screen. There's probably something in the settings I'll look into it later. Leaving Jubilife, Barry challenges me to our first battle... and it does not go well. For him. His Starly only really growls at Garrus, who thunder shocks it over and over and over... His Piplup doesn't fare better.

When I get to Oreburgh Cave, I catch a female Geodude I name Dudette and on Route 207 I catch a female Machop I name Rhonda. I figured Rhonda would be good to have against Roark, who is a rock type gym leader.

I go down into the mines to tell Roark to get his butt back to the gym. I catch a female Zubat that I name Batwoman, and then run into a Geodude who I try to battle for EXP. Then it uses Rollout, and I switch pokemon in hopes it misses... and then, against all odds Rhonda gets taken out. Before she can even get a hit. It's not even very effective, but it kills Rhonda. R.I.P. Rhonda. Your sacrifice shall not be forgotten. You weren't with us long, but you were still part of the team. You gave your life, so that others wouldn't have to.

Realizing I wasn't quite ready to face Roark, I went and trained my pokemon up a bit. And Owen evolved into a Monferno! This, I thought, might put things in my favor. So I was ready to face Roark. After beating the gym trainers, I return to the Pokemon Center to put half my team in the box. I could only use 3 pokemon to face Roark. I had to think about who I'd use. Finally, I decided on Owen, Dudette and Batwoman. Dudette and Batwoman were expendable in case I needed them to tank a hit to heal Owen.

The battle began. Roark started with his Geodude, who only got to set up Stealth Rock. Owen used Power Up Punch, as I figured the stat boost would help. One punch later, and Geodude was down. Onix got in a Rock Throw, but it didn't do much damage to Owen. Roark used a potion, but Power Up Punch just took it down. Then came Cranidos...Roark's Ace. I was worried for Owen, and for myself. I figured, like Onix, it would go down in two hits. As long as Owen could last that long. I was wrong... because it only took one hit! Power Up Punch beefed up Owen's stats enough to take Crandios down in one go. The Coal Badge was mine!

R.I.P. Rhonda. Your death was not in vain.

Pokemon:
Owen (Monferno, LV 15)
Dudette (Geodude, LV 13)
Batwoman (Zubat, LV 11)
Angry Bird (Starly, LV 12)
Garrus (Shinx, LV 12)
Muffy (Bidoof, LV 11)

Graveyard:
Rhonda (Machop, LV 6)

I made my way back to Jubilife and beat some Team Galactic Grunts. I also caught a Budew on Route 204 that I named Rose. In Ravaged Path, I went fishing and caught a Magikarp and named him Poseidon.

In Floroma Town I'm given a Mew and a Jirachi. Wow. This is worthless. While fighting the grunts, Angry Bird evolved into Staravia, while Garrus evolved into Luxio.

In Valley Windworks I caught a Pachirisu and named him Conker. When I went to help a little girl find her dad, I had to fight off all the Team Galactic Grunts. Commander Mars was the only one who posed much difficulty. But with the help of a potion, Owen takes her Purugly down. I also put some honey on a tree in Floroma Meadow. I plan on checking it when I get the chance.

I went into Eterna Forest and teamed up with a girl named Cheryl. She has green hair. I accidentally knock out a Wurmple I wanted to catch, which means Eterna Forest is off limits to me for catching pokemon. Undeterred, Cheryl and I make it through the forest. She heals my pokemon along the way which probably saves at least one of my pokemon.

On Route 205 I catch a Buizel and named him Ron Weasley. I put him on the team in place of Dudette, because Dudette is high enough of a level at the moment.

I made my way to the gym, faced all the trainers, then decided on my team for Gardenia. I figured Owen and Angry Bird had this. So I brought Poseidon with me. I figured he needed the experience points. He only knew splash, so he wasn't ready to carry his own weight yet.

Gardenia led with Cherubi. I led with Angry Bird, who one shot Cherubi no problem. Next up was Turtwig, who was no pushover. Not only could Turtwig tank a hit, but he could deal some damage. Gardenia got off two super potions thanks to a reflect. But Angry Bird still got the job done. Then Gardenia sent out her last pokemon. Roselia. I wasn't quite prepared for her strategy. I started off healing Angry Bird, while Roselia stunned him. On the next turn the worst happened.. Angry Bird got off a hit, but was down to almost half health because of grass knot. One Wing Attack would take Roselia down, but Angry Bird was paralyzed. If he didn't attack, he'd probably die. I figured my best chance was to bring out Owen to finish the job. So I recalled Angry Bird, told him that he did a good job, and then sent out Owen. Grass Knot didn't do much to him, and I was glad she hadn't used stun spore again. Owen got off a flame wheel, knocking Roselia out. And with that, I earned my Forest Badge.

I start to think this challenge might still be a bit too easy. I've only lost one pokemon, for which I'm grateful. But the one I lost was done due to my own carelessness. In order to increase the difficulty I decide that I will limit myself to the gym leader's highest level pokemon, and I can only use items i pick up. I can't buy them. (Pokeballs are an exception)

Current Team:
Owen (Infernape, Level 23)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 22)
Poseidon (Magikarp, Level 17)
Ron Weasely (Buizel, Level 13)
Batwoman (Zubat, Level 17)
Garrus (Luxio, Level 20)

In The Box:
Muffy (Bidoof, Level 11)
Rose (Budew, Level 12)

Deceased:
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)

Your alterations sound like good ideas. I haven't attempted a Nuzlocke before but pokemon games seem to be easier these days, there's all the hax in the modern games where your pokes get crits or simply avoid being hit sometimes once they like you.

I hope you enjoy the game, I'm remembering one particular fight late on being tough in the original... You have a pretty decently spread team though, Angry Bird is OP!

Today was uneventful for the most part.

I went and rescued the bicycle shop owner from Team Galactic (yes, somehow this is uneventful). Skuntank gave me a scare with aftermath, but Owen survived it. As thanks, he gave me a bicycle (the bicycle shop owner, not Owen)! That's an amazing gift because in Kanto at least they cost more than your life savings.

I get an explorer kit, but decide catching pokemon in the underground is 'off limits' for the sake of this challenge.

I wanted to go back and check on my honey tree. But a small child stopped me. That was annoying. By the time I got back there, it was too late.

On the way forward another member of team galactic stopped to rant at me as if I were one of his lackeys. Do I look like I have blue hair? Or incredibly weak pokemon? He doesn't even challenge me to a battle.

Poseidon evolves into Gyarados finally, but I bench him deciding I want to use Ron Weasley for now. I've grown rather attached to the little guy.

On Route 208 I caught a psyduck and named him Darkwing (Darkwing Duck doesn't fit...) I got a poffin case and found my mom in the contest hall. She gives me a pretty dress. I also try to bake a poffin, and the first ones were a great failure. The next ones came out better. I decide I don't like making poffins, but will do it eventually because I like contests. I do participate in one, and we are the stars of the show! I took Rose with me because I hoped to get her friendship up so she can evolve. Sadly, she still has not and has surpassed the level she can learn Magical Leaf.

Barry challenges me to a surprise battle, and I give him a surprise defeat. I also get an egg from a hiker, and it hatches into a female happiny who I name Joy. Still haven't made it to Veilstone. Maybe next time.

tag

tbh I've heard that BD/SP are pretty easy so it doesn't surprise me that you're not having difficulty. A Nuzlocke is the proper way to do it so best of luck to you!

andylt posted...

I'm remembering one particular fight late on being tough in the original.

The Purugly fight early on was also pretty rough in the originals, at least for that point in the game. Having a Monferno makes it pretty easy though.

I made my way to Route 215, where I caught a Ponyta and named her Sadie. Rose evolved into a Roselia, happy from the Poffins I gave her and our time walking. Rain poured on us as we made our way to Veilstone... and it should have been an omen. I was challenged to a double battle by a pair of Ace Trainers. They started with Monferno and Glameow. Monferno went down first, and the boy sent out his Gyarados. Fearing for Owen's life, I withdrew him and sent out Rose. I thought she was ready. I thought I was ready. Garrus took out the Gyarados, and then we took down the Glameow. When the girl sent out Kadabra, I didn't give it much thought. Then she one shot Rose. My beautiful little Roselia... happy from her poffins. Gone. I wouldn't let it stop me, though. We defeated the Kadabra, then said our goodbyes to Rose.

Looking for a new member to join our little team, I return to Route 210 and find a Kricketune. I name him Jiminy. He gives me a bit of a scare, because he nearly takes out Garrus because he refuses to be caught. But eventually he gives in.

Garrus evolved into Luxray a little after that. And then, though it was already night, we made it to Veilstone. I figure that I'm ready for this gym battle. I head in, and after the first fight Ron Weasley evolves into Floatzel. I make it all the way through the gym, with little difficulty. Angry Bird is taking them out in 1-2 hits. He's an animal! Unstoppable!

I return to the pokemon center and look at my team. I decide to bring Angry Bird. He's one of my stars after all. I also bring Owen and Ron Weasley. After solving the puzzle, I challenge Maylene to a fight. She starts with Meditite, and I start with Angry Bird. One Aerial ace and it's down! Piece of cake. Just like the others. Next up is Machamp. He's a tough one. Maylene uses two hyper potions after he gets off a Rock Tomb, which brings Angry Bird down to critical, I get off two more Aerial Aces. But everything's okay. I gave Angry Bird a shell bell before the fight, figuring she'd have some rock type moves that might put him in danger. Her healing turns out to be her mistake, as Angry Bird is well back in the green thanks to her stalling the battle with hyper potions. Machoke goes down, and it's just her Ace left. Lucario. Aerial Ace doesn't do as much as I hope, and then... the worst happens. Lucario uses Drain Punch and kills Angry Bird. Despair hits. Can I do this? Not only did Maylene just kill one of the stars of my party -- someone who's been with me almost since the beginning. Almost as long as Owen. But she undid the damage he did in one fell swoop. Was I ready for this? Was the challenge over? Was I about to get wiped?

I send out Owen. Lucario uses Bulk Up. Owen uses Flame Wheel. Barely over a third of his health gone. And now he's stronger. He has stronger defense. Lucario uses Bulk Up Again. She's going for the kill. But if Owen can just hold on, my one Super potion... but with that nasty Drain Punch it might not even matter. Another flame wheel from Owen, who brings him down to the orange. I decide to gamble. Owen gets to act first, and uses Flame Wheel... Lucario goes down. Angry Bird is avenged.

It was a rough day. We lost two Pokemon today. I won't forget Angry Bird, or Rose for that matter. Though Rose wasn't much of a contributor in battle, I won a contest with her. And Angry Bird was the star of not one, but two gym battles. Things will be rough going forward. But I have to move on. They'd want it that way.

Current Team:
Ron Weasley (Floatzel, Level 27)
Owen (Monferno, Level 32)
Garrus (Luxray, Level 31)
Joy (Happiny, Level 24)
Batwoman (Level 21)
Dudette (Level 20

Box:
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Conker (Pachirisu, Level 8)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 20)
Muffy (Bidoof, Level 11)
Darkwing (Psyduck, Level 19)

Gone, but not Forgotten:
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)
Rose (Roselia, Level 22)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 32)

I decide that my original two level rule will suffice for the playthrough for now, in part because I had the wrong level for Maylene's Ace, and I think 2 levels ahead is fair without making the game too easy.

After saving Lucas from Team Galactic and getting his pokedex back, I get the TM Fly. Alas poor Angry Bird. You would've loved this. For now, I can't bear to give it to anyone else. Though Batwoman has taken his spot in his absence.

Traveling on Route 214, Batwoman evolves into Golbat! And then one battle later she evolves in Crobat. Apparently she was so happy to be on the team, she evolved twice. She's a real trooper. On Route 214 I catch a Stunky who I name Fifi. Then I put her in the box.

Realizing my team is still missing something, I caught a Brozor on Route 206 and named it BB-8. Wanting to train it up a bit, I head to Lost Tower. Though I didn't find any pokemon, I did find an oval stone which I gave to Joy. I had a scare against a Golbat who used Mean Look against BB-8, but BB-8 managed to survive. Just barely. I play it a bit safer after that, with Owen in the lead.

I returned to Route 214 and my pokemon, seeing how happy I was with Crobat, took it as their cue to evolve as well. Joy evolved into Chansey. Dudette evolved into Graveler. Then joy evolved again into Blissey.

In Valor Lakefront I struggle, but catch a Girafarig who I name Zootopia. And then Owen evolved into an Infernape. His final form.

On Route 213 I catch a Shellos and name her Shelly. I keep her in my team for now, as Garrus is getting too high of a level to face the next gym leader. And I know I'm going to need him.

I arrived in Pastoria, and went to the Great Marsh. I caught a Wooper there and named her Sally. It's the only one I'm allowed, but she's the only one I need.

Afterwards, I start to plan how to face my next gym leader. He was right there, almost next to me, and I wanted to get past him without losing anyone if possible. But I knew that might not happen. The first part of my plan had me training Conker. Having two electric types would limit casualties. The second part of my plan was to give two of my pokemon U-Turn, so I could swap and deal damage in the same turn. In Set Mode, U-Turn is extremely valuable.

Once I trained up a bit, I thought I was ready. We went into the gym, and faced off against each gym trainer. One of the fisherman, though, gave us a real problem. His Gyarados trapped Fifi in a whirlpool. She lost her life. We hadn't even gotten to Crasher Wake yet, and had already lost someone. Sure, I knew it was a possibility when I took her with me. She had been the contingency plan. But I never wanted it to happen.

Once the gym trainers were dealt with, I returned to the pokemon center and gave things some serious thoughts. Garrus and Conker were obviously coming with me. But who else would I bring? Owen was out of the question. He was too high of a level anyway. I didn't have any grass types, thanks to a Kadabra. Ultimately, I decided to bring Batwoman along. She was ready for this. We had trained, and she was more powerful than ever.

The battle began. Crasher Wake sent out his Gyarados. I sent out Conker. A Thunderbolt took out more than half of his health. But Conker was hurt in the process. I figured Conker could take out Gyarados with another Thunderbolt. But I was wrong. Crasher Wake recalled Gyarados, and sent out Quagsire -- who is immune to electric type moves. Thunder Bolt did nothing. Undeterred, I had Conker use U-Turn and sent out Batwoman. She whittled down Quagsire's hp, with neither dealing significant damage to the other. But eventually, Batwoman went critical. Quagsire wasn't far behind, but one more hit would take Batwoman out for good. I had her use U-Turn, and then sent out Garrus. He had been in the box for a while, and was itching for a fight. One Bite, and Quagsire was down. Things were going so well. Crasher Wake sent out Gyarados again. Spark took down the rest of his health. This left him with just one pokemon left: His Floatzel. Floatzel, though, got off his Aqua Jet first, almost taking Garrus down to about 1/3rd health. If Shock didn't take him out,... it could spell trouble. Especially since I had no potions on me. Another hit, especially a critical hit, and Garrus would be gone. It'd be up to Conker if Garrus went down. But I knew we had to do it. Garrus used Shock... and Floatzel went down in one hit. The Fen badge was mine.

Four badges down, four to go. It's been a tough go. Though I never intended on using Fifi, she will still be missed. She died, so that others could live.

Current team:
Owen (Infernape, Level 36)
Garrus (Luxray, Level 33)
Ron Weasley (Floatzel, Level 31)
Batwoman (Crobat, Level 29)
BB-8 (Bronzor, Level 26)
Shelly (Shellos, Level 23)

In The Box:
Zootopia (Girafarig, Level 21)
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 20)
Darwking (Psyduck, Level 19)
Joy (Blissey, Level 28)
Conker (Pachirisu, Level 26)
Muffy (Bidoof, Level 11)
Sally (Wooper, Level 22)
Dudette (Graveler, Level 28)

R.I.P.
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)
Rose (Roselia, Level 22)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 32)
Fifi (Stunky, Level 23)

At the start of the day, Barry challenges me to a Pokemon battle. He loses pretty handily, and I don't lose a single pokemon.

I chased a galactic grunt around, before beating him too.

Afterwards, Cynthia gives me some medicine for the psyducks and a charm to deliver to her grandmother. I deliver it, and then meet Cyrus. Apparently he's the leader of Team Galactic, and really likes to tell random people this. Cynthia's Grandma gives me surf, but before I can use it I have to earn another badge!

I return to Hearthome City and enter the gym. I answer all the questions wrong on purpose. Some of the trainers are really rough. Garrus nearly went down to a Gengar, but was saved by Volt Switch. Batwoman came through -- to think a pokemon I once thought might be expendable, is now one of my most valuable allies. No pokemon are expendable. I know that now. We may lose some lives along the way, but everyone contributes in their own way. Shelly evolved into Gastrodon during this time as well.

When I'm ready to face Fantina, I stashed everyone in the box except Owen, Ron Weasely and Garrus. I start with Ron Weasley, who bites Driftloon. Driftloon uses Fly, though, and on my next turn I use an X Attack. The next bite takes Driftloon down. Aftermath, however, takes Ron down to about 1/2 health. I play it risky when she sends out Gengar. Ron Bites again, and... Gengar Flicnhes! Another bite, and Gengar goes down. It disables bite in the process. I recall Ron Weasley and send out Garrus. A bite takes it down significantly, but Mismagius outspeeds Garrus, and gets two attacks, using one to confuse him. At that point.. I had a decision to make. Garrus can't risk using volt switch, so I can switch to Ron -- potentially sacrificing him. Or I can switch to Owen and she gets a free hit on him. I go with my trusty starter and send Owen out. He takes the hit, dealing only about 1/5th of his healthbar of damage. Owen outspeeds Mismagius, and knocks it out the rest of the way with FlamWheel. I win the battle, and my fifth badge!

On Route 218 I caught a Mr. Mime and named him Marcel. Then Barry challenged me. I started to wonder why he considers himself my rival. No, Maylene is my rival. After what her Lucario did to Angry Bird... After defeating him, he tells me I'm ready for the next gym. I figure if he can do it, how hard can it be?

In the gym, BB-8 evolves into Bronzong.

Getting ready to face Byron, I return to the pokemon center and placed all my pokemon in the box except Owen, Shelly and Ron Weasley. Garrus was too high of a level, and I didn't want to take him to the Steel Gym leader anyway.

Byron started with his Bronzor. I started with Owen. Flame Wheel hit a crit, and Bronzor was down. Next came Steelix. I withdrew Owen, and sent out Ron Weasley. This turned out to be a fatal mistake... Steelix used Earthquake, and it took Ron Weasley down to Critical health. I then had three choices: One, use a Hyper potion (the only One I have) and hope Steelix doesn't use Earthquake again. Two, use Surf and hope it takes out Steelix. Three, Recall Ron Weasley and send out Shelly. I didn't want to waste a turn swapping out, and I figured a Surf could take the beast down. It'd worked well so far. There was only one problem: It had Sturdy. Ron did enough damage to take Steelix out. But Sturdy prevented it from going down. Another Earthquake, and Ron Weasley was gone. He'd been with me so long. I still remembered picking him over Poseidon the Gyarados. I thought we could make it to the league together. Become champions. But it wasn't meant to be. I gritted my teeth, and sent out Shelly. Byron used a hyper potion. Shelly used Surf. Byron used another Hyper potion. Shelly used Surf. Shelly used one last Surf, which took Steelix down. Ron Weasley had been avenged. Last up was Byron's Bastiodon. Shelly used Surf, which took it down a bit below half health. It ate a berry, but I figured another surf would finish it. Bastiodon's moves weren't effecive against Shelly. She used surf again, and the sixth badge was mine. I'm not sure I could have saved Ron. Maybe if I had chosen another pokemon in his or Shelly's place. I'm sorry, friend. You served me well.

At this point, I decide to try to find pokemon in places I hadn't had an encounter yet. My team was dwindling at a pace I wasn't sure I could handle.

On Route 211, I caught a meditite and named her Faith. Then in Lost Tower I caught a Gastly and named him Peeves. And in Wayward cave I caught a Gible and named him Wrex. Satisfied that I had found what I could, I went to take on Team Galactic.

At Lake Valour, I effortlessly take down Commander Saturn. Revenge does a bit to Garrus, but Volt Switch gets him to safety, and lets Batwoman finish the job.

Lake Verity is another story. Where my journey began. Would it end here too? A double battle against a pair of Team Galactic Grunts takes longer than I'd like. But it's when I get to Commander Mars the trouble began. Garrus gets poisoned, but shakes it off. Purugly did some serious damage with a scratch. Not feeling safe with him out there, I call for him to use Volt Switch and send out Owen who defeats Purugly with ease. The Golbat I worry about, but as it turns out I shouldn't have. Owen takes it down with one hit as well. Then lastly Bronzor, who goes down to one flame thrower. After the battle, Wrex evolved into a Gabite. Up next, finding out if Barry's okay at Lake Acuity. But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Current team:
Owen (Infernape, Level 44)
Garrus (Luxray, Level 43)
Batwoman (Crobat, Level 39)
BB-8 (Bronzor, Level 34)
Shelly (Gastrodon, Level 38)
Wrex (Gabite, Level 24)

In The Box:
Zootopia (Girafarig, Level 21)
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 20)
Darwking (Psyduck, Level 19)
Joy (Blissey, Level 28)
Conker (Pachirisu, Level 29)
Muffy (Bidoof, Level 11)
Sally (Wooper, Level 22)
Dudette (Graveler, Level 32)
Marcel (Mr. Mime, Level 30)
Faith (Meditite, Level 28)
Peeves (Gastly, Level 17)

Cemetery
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)
Rose (Roselia, Level 22)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 32)
Fifi (Stunky, Level 23)
Ron Weasley (Floatzel, Level 38)

Barry may be the worst rival of the games I've played.

And oh dear, there's been some blood shed since I last looked at this. In a way it's good that this isn't turning out to be cakewalk >_> Losing Angry Bird is rough though... Hopefully Batwoman goes the distance.

At least it's making me use pokemon I probably wouldn't normally use. I've never really used any of the Zubat line before. And Nuzlocke made me rethink my plan to use Gyarados because they've got 4x weakness to electricity while Floatzel has no 4x weaknesses.

RIP Ron Weasley. I thought he might go a lot farther, too. Angry Bird was already a huge loss, since hard-hitters are hard to come by in a Nuzlocke. And Crobat is pretty good; I've used one before and it worked fine for me.

Be careful with the Gabite on your way to Snowpoint, of course.

On Route 216, I caught a Sneasel and named him Morgana.

Along the same route, I encountered an Ace Trainer with a Sudowoodo. I thought BB-8 could handle it. But I didn't anticipate Sucker Punch. That sucker punch knocked BB-8 out, and like that he was gone. It'd been a good part of the team during my trek in those snowy areas.

When I arrived in Snowpoint City, I knew I'd have to take on the gym. Owen and Garrus couldn't level up any more if I wanted to use them, so I left them in the box. I struggled against one gym trainer... and Conker went down. He'd been instrumental in my battle against Crasher Wake. But more important than that, he'd helped me catch Wrex and Morgana.

With a heavy heart, I prepare myself to face Candice. I bring Owen, Wrex, Morgana and Shelly. I figure Morgana resists Ice, Owen can handle most ice types, Wrex needs the experience, and Shelly can recover.

Candice starts with Snover, while I start with Owen. A power up punch takes out Snover instantly. Sneasel comes out next. It avoids our attack with a DIg, then does massive damage to Owen. He gets off a Power Up Punch, and Sneasel goes down. Candice then sends out her third pokemon: A medicham. Not... an ice type? What was this? I wasn't prepared for anything else. And Owen was low on health. I risk it, and let him use a Flame Wheel -- which is enough to take out Medicham. That leaves only her Abomasnow. It's risky to leave Owen out. One hit, and he was done. But a flame wheel should be able to knock this thing out? With two increases to physical attack? Or at least... so I thought. Was my starter pokemon, the one who I began this journey with, done for because another of my mistakes? We'd been through it all together. And I had kept him in the box, even though I know he doesn't like in there. I knew I"d need him for this gym battle, but I'd also need him if we were to become champions... I put all my trust in him, and... he pulled through! Abomasnow goes down with a single Flame Wheel. Owen outspeeds it, knocks it out in one hit, and the seventh badge was mine.

Afterward, we heal up and head back to Lake Acuity. There, I catch a Snover and name him Yeti. Barry's there, too, and it seems he's lost to Jupiter. That's not really too shocking.

I make my way back to Veilstone City, get the key card I need to storm Galactic's Base... but that'll have to wait for tomorrow.

Current team:
Owen (Infernape, Level 45)
Morgana (Sneasel, Level 40)
Wrex (Gabite, Level 34)
Shelly (Gastrodon, Level 44)
Garrus (Luxray, Level 44)
Batwoman (Crobat, Level 44)

In the box:
Zootopia (Girafarig, Level 21)
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 27)
Darwking (Psyduck, Level 19)
Joy (Blissey, Level 31)
Muffy (Bidoof, Level 11)
Sally (Wooper, Level 22)
Dudette (Graveler, Level 37)
Marcel (Mr. Mime, Level 30)
Faith (Meditite, Level 28)
Peeves (Gastly, Level 17)

The Departed
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)
Rose (Roselia, Level 22)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 32)
Fifi (Stunky, Level 23)
Ron Weasley (Floatzel, Level 38)
BB-8 (Bronzog, Level 37)
Conker (Pachirisu, Level 30)

I cleaned out Galactic Headquarters with no problem. Cyrus didn't even pose a threat. He told me he's not like his goons. So why work with them? Seems like he's using them as tools, rather than claiming the power for himself. I feel like people only join Team Galactic because they like having Cyan Hair. Saturn proved a bigger threat than his boss. But even he's not much of a challenge.

On Mt. Coronet, I finally ran into a pokemon I can catch - Chingling. I name him Philadelphia.

I fought a lot of Galactic Grunts, and noticed they don't have much team variety.

When I reached the top, Barry and I teamed up against Mars and Jupiter. And honestly Barry... I could've taken care of this myself. It would've been much easier. But Barry makes up for not being good in battle by healing my team afterward. Also his team does take a lot of damage away from mine at least. Purugly almost got a Dig in on Garrus, but I sent out Batwoman who avoided the hit.

Cyrus, who summoned Dialga, tried to become a God. But Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit show up to stop him. Cyrus isn't happy about that, and decided he was going to crush me. That doesn't go so well for him. He was more of a challenge than I'm used to... but his pokemon go down just as well as anyone else's.

The Professor and Lucas arrive and tell me its up to me to stop Dialga. I just throw a master ball at it, deciding it's not worth it to do anything else. With that, Dialga is stopped. With the very pokeball Cyrus gave me. Almost poetic.

Next stop.. Sunnyshore City.

Current team:
Owen (Infernape, Level 51)
Garrus (Luxray, Level 51)
Wrex (Gabite, Level 40)
Shelly (Gastrodon, Level 49)
Morgana (Sneasel, Level 45)
Batwoman (Crobat, Level 50)

In the Box:
Zootopia (Girafarig, Level 21)
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 27)
Darwking (Psyduck, Level 19)
Joy (Blissey, Level 31)
Muffy (Bidoof, Level 11)
Sally (Wooper, Level 22)
Dudette (Graveler, Level 37)
Marcel (Mr. Mime, Level 30)
Faith (Meditite, Level 28)
Peeves (Gastly, Level 17)
Yeti (Snover, Level 34)
Philadelphia (Chingling, Level 38)

On Route 222, I caught a Wingull and named her Pelly.

Upon arriving in Sunnyshore City I was greeted by Flint, a member of the Elite 4. He tells me that the gym leader here needs a real challenge. And he thinks that's me. Volkner himself tells me that he hasn't had a real challenge in a long time. Well I mean I can see why. Barry is one of the top trainers, and he's not very challenging. Volkner says that he'll challenge the pokemon league if I don't beat him. I want to ask him why he doesn't just challenge the league anyway if he's so good? I also met Jasmine from Johto.

I let Wrex clean up most of the gym trainers. And thanks to that he evolves into Garchomp! Wrex has quickly become one of the most reliable members of my team. After cleaning up the gym trainers, I'm ready to face Volkner. I decided on my team fairly easily. First, Wrex. He lives up to his name and wrecks any electric type pokemon. Second, Shelly. She's got immunity to Electric Type moves so she's a no brainer. Third is Owen. Another hard hitter, and good to bring to any battle. Lastly, Garrus. He resists Electric, and can do some damage if necessary.

Our battle began. Volkner started with Raichu. I started with Wrex. It takes two Bulldozes to take it out, with a berry and a hyper potion. But it doesn't last long. Next up was Octillery. A water type in an electric gym? I swap out Wrex for Garrus, who evades an aurora beam. Then he took it down with a shock wave without any problem. Next up: Ambipom. Another non-electric type. He should probably just go challenge the league, even if I beat him. His team is a bit more balanced, and that's probably why other trainers have trouble with him. He could at least beat Barry! Ambipom makes Garrus flinch on the first turn, but a Volt Switch knocks it out, and I sent out Shelly to face his final pokemon: his own Luxray. I don't think Luxray learns any grass type moves, so I feel comfortable moving on. Two Earth powers, and it's down as well and the final badge is mine. Is Volkner really the strongest gym leader in Sinnoh? I'd say Maylene or Fantina own that title. Maybe he's just rusty and not used to facing good trainers.

After beating Volkner, Jasmine gives me Waterfall, and I head off to Victory Road. I'm not sure I'm ready to take on the League yet, but just being here means the journey is almost over. We'll see if I have what it takes to become Champion. I'm still not sure. I also caught a Tentacruel on Route 223 and named her Samus.

Current Team:
Garrus (Luxray, Level 55)
Shelly (Gastrodon, Level 54)
Owen (Infernape, Level 54)
Wrex (Garchomp, Level 50)
Batwoman (Crobat, Level 53)
Morgana (Sneasel, Level 49)

In the Box:
Zootopia (Girafarig, Level 21)
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 27)
Darwking (Psyduck, Level 19)
Joy (Blissey, Level 33)
Muffy (Bibarel, Level 26)
Sally (Wooper, Level 22)
Dudette (Graveler, Level 42)
Marcel (Mr. Mime, Level 30)
Faith (Meditite, Level 28)
Peeves (Gastly, Level 17)
Yeti (Snover, Level 34)
Philadelphia (Chingling, Level 38)
Pelly (Wingull, Level 41)
Samus (Tentacruel, Level 43)

Lost Forever
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)
Rose (Roselia, Level 22)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 32)
Fifi (Stunky, Level 23)
Ron Weasley (Floatzel, Level 38)
BB-8 (Bronzog, Level 37)
Conker (Pachirisu, Level 30)

andylt posted...

Barry may be the worst rival of the games I've played.

may be the worst but his theme is one of the best (havent listened to the BD/SP version)

I would not have been bold enough to leave Owen in on that seventh gym fight lol. And yeah I think Fantina left the biggest impression on me of the Sinnoh leaders, Volkner is decent though. Good luck on Victory Road!

Not much of an update today. On Victory Road, I failed to catch a Steelix. Then Owen barely survived against a Torterra who used Earthquake. Were it not for our friendship, he would've died. I think I would've cried. I also found a Razor Claw and gave it to Morgana, who evolved into Weavile after defeating a Dragon Tamer!

Current Team:
Morgana (Weavile, Level 53)
Shelly (Gastrodon, Level 57)
Owen (Infernape, Level 57)
Wrex (Garchomp, Level 53)
Batwoman (Crobat, Level 57)
Garrus (Luxray, Level 59)

In the Box:
Zootopia (Girafarig, Level 21)
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 27)
Darwking (Psyduck, Level 19)
Joy (Blissey, Level 33)
Muffy (Bibarel, Level 26)
Sally (Wooper, Level 22)
Dudette (Graveler, Level 42)
Marcel (Mr. Mime, Level 30)
Faith (Meditite, Level 28)
Peeves (Gastly, Level 17)
Yeti (Snover, Level 34)
Philadelphia (Chingling, Level 38)
Pelly (Wingull, Level 41)
Samus (Tentacruel, Level 43)

Gone to the big box in the sky
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)
Rose (Roselia, Level 22)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 32)
Fifi (Stunky, Level 23)
Ron Weasley (Floatzel, Level 38)
BB-8 (Bronzog, Level 37)
Conker (Pachirisu, Level 30)

I made my way to Iron Island, where a man named Riley gave me an Egg and hatched a Riolu who I named Riley after the trainer who gave it to me.

I also did a bit of training to take on the Elite 4. Once my training was complete, it was time to face them. But before that-- Barry Challenged me. He actually put up a decent fight, but it wasn't enough to take out any of my pokemon.

Before going into the Elite 4, I decide that using items is fine. Including purchased items. For the gym battles, I think it made things a bit more challenging, but if I'm to become champion, I have to use everything available to me to win.

My final team consists of:

Batwoman, Level 64. After Angry Bird died, I wasn't sure I'd have a flier on the team, but decided to give Batwoman a chance to prove herself. She dawned the cowl and stepped up in ways I couldn't have imagined. I caught her in the mines in Oreburgh. Back then I had been a little disappointed it was a Zubat, but as a Crobat she's shown herself to be a fighter.

Owen, Level 68. My starter. The one who began this journey with me. And my belief in Fire Starters hasn't failed me yet. He's my Ace. The one I can count on above all others. No way was I leaving him behind. We started the journey together, and one way or another we were going to end it together.

Wrex, Level 64. The Gible who I got in Wayward Cave had grown up. Though he didn't get much chance to show off his power until later, once he became a Garchomp he was a lean, mean fighting machine. Part Dragon, Part Ground, he was a power house.

Morgana, Level 63. The Weavile is the most recent member of my team to join the final fight, but his dark type and ice type should prove useful. He's also one of the fastest pokemon on my roster.

Shelly, Level 67. My Gastrodon has proven to be able to tank hits, and hit hard. A little slow, but still extremely capable. I caught her back on Route 213. Ron Weasley gave his life to get her to this point. I wasn't going to let that sacrifice be in vain.

Garrus, Level 67. The Luxray who was my fourth ever Pokemon. He may not have had intimidate, which I would've preferred, but he's still one of my strongest pokemon. I wasn't leaving him behind for anything.

Aaron was up first. Batwoman made short work of his entire team, with Drapion taking two Fly's to take him down.

Bertha was next. Shelly was able to take her team out by herself, and finished the fight with full health after a heal followed by a dodge against a Golem.

Flint followed her. Wrex took out the Rapidash with an Earthquake. Then Owen took out Lopunny with Close Combat, and Steelix with Flamethrower. Infernape is a different story, as it's a joint effort between Batwoman and Shelly. That left Drifblim for Morgana. Even with its berry, it was no match for Beat Up. Flint took more teamwork, but left me in high spirits as I felt worthy to face the final two challengers.

After that was the final member of the Elite 4. Lucian. The only obstacle between me and a battle with the champion. Morgana made short work of Mr. Mime, then Batwoman managed to evade a hit against Medicham and took him out as well. Morgana dealt wth Alakazam and Girafarig, then Owen finished off Bronzong.

That left me with a full team for The Champion. A battle with Cynthia awaited me. She withdrew Spiritomb after a couple of turns. Then sent out her Gastrodon. I responded in kind with SHelly. She proves to be the stronger Gastrodon with assistance from an X-SPATK. Roserade proves to be a capable fighter, but not enough for Owen who knocks it out with two flamethrowers. Spiritomb comes back, but Owen finishes it off. She sends out Milotic. I switch out Garrus, heal him up, then use another XSPATK, and a thunderbolt knocks it out. Next up is Lucario. A thunderbolt takes it down as well, as Garrus barely survives an Aura Sphere. Down to her last pokemon, and her ace, I know this battle is still far from over. She sends out Garchomp, and I'm nervous. I swap to Batwoman, which is a wise choice as she has Garchomp use Earthquake. Batwoman gets a critical hit, but a dragon claw murders her. I send out Morgana, but Garchomp outspeeds him and kills him with an earthquake. I'm left unsure of what to do next. Swords Dance made her Garchomp more powerful. Can anything withstand a hit? I send out Wrex, my own Garchomp figuring a mirror match would put us even. Wrex dodges a hit and... Dragon Claw takes down Garchomp! I'm Champion of Sinnoh! I've won!

The battle wasn't without losses. Batwoman and Morgana both fell. I'm not sure I could've saved Batwoman, but Morgana might not have had to die. Professor Rowan shows up and puts my team into the hall of fame. I knew we probably wouldn't make it without casualties. The journey has been long and hard. But at last, I'm successful. I'm the new Champion.

It took a bit of luck and a bit of strategy. A couple of key dodges, combined with Batwoman's last critical hit I think gave me the victory there. Items were definitely a key to my victory too. Without them, I don't think I could've done it.

Final Team:
Garrus (Luxray, Level 69)
Owen (Infernape, Level 71)
Shelly (Gastrodon, Level 69)
Wrex (Garchomp, Level 68)

In the Box:
Zootopia (Girafarig, Level 21)
Jiminy (Kricketune, Level 20)
Sadie (Ponyta, Level 22)
Poseidon (Gyarados, Level 27)
Darwking (Psyduck, Level 19)
Joy (Blissey, Level 34)
Muffy (Bibarel, Level 26)
Sally (Wooper, Level 22)
Dudette (Graveler, Level 42)
Marcel (Mr. Mime, Level 30)
Faith (Meditite, Level 28)
Peeves (Gastly, Level 17)
Yeti (Snover, Level 34)
Philadelphia (Chingling, Level 38)
Pelly (Wingull, Level 41)
Samus (Tentacruel, Level 43)
Riley (Riolu, Level 21)

The Fallen:
Rhonda (Machop, Level 6)
Rose (Roselia, Level 22)
Angry Bird (Staravia, Level 32)
Fifi (Stunky, Level 23)
Ron Weasley (Floatzel, Level 38)
BB-8 (Bronzog, Level 37)
Conker (Pachirisu, Level 30)
Batwoman (Crobat, Level 67)
Morgana (Weavile, Level 65)

Congrats on succeeding on your first Nuzlocke attempt! I remember Cynthia and her Garchomp being rough to deal with in regular play, so props for winning here. Even though it didn't come without a cost :( RIP Batwoman, you will not be forgotten.

Thanks! That last battle was really hard. Really thought i was going to lose when Morgana went down. But then Wrex dodged. Luck played a HUGE part, and I definitely wasn't as prepared as I'd like to have been.

I might start another Nuzlocke soon. Either HG/SS or SW/SH or OR/AS. They provide a good challenge. Though I've been playing Legends Arceus lately, which I definitely don't want to Nuzlocke.

Ha, I haven't played Arceus yet but I don't know if Nuzlocking it would even be possible. I wonder if anyone's tried that yet.

I think someone is trying it on youtube. I might check it out after I beat the game.

Anyway I figure I'll keep track of my Nuzlockes here for fun. I started Heart Gold, same rule set as above but I'm not allowing items in battle at all this time. We'll see how far I get on this one. This one won't be as blind, since I've beaten it before. My level Limit will be the highest level pokemon a gym leader has. (Or Champion as the case may be)

I woke up this morning, and Professor Elm told me he needs me to visit Mr. Pokemon. To do so, I'm going to need a pokemon. So I picked Cyndaquil and named him Ash. (My dad approves). Mr. Pokemon gives me a mystery egg, and on my way back I'm challenged to a battle by a rude boy who drops his trainer card. His name is Nathan. I tell that to the police, and then have Professor Elm look at the egg. He holds on to it for now, and tells me I should take on the gym challenge. I figure: Why not?

Ethan gave me some pokeballs, and tells me how to catch pokemon. On Route 29 I caught a female Pidgey and name her Lady Byrd. Then on Route 30, after buying some pokeballs, I caught a Metapod and named her Celastrina.

In Dark Cave, I accidentally kill a Zubat. But I'm sure I'll get a chance to catch one later.

In Violet City, I was told I needed to go to sprout tower. There, I battle the trainers and caught a Ratatta I name Mickey.

Back on Route 30, I caught a Bellsprout and named her Belle.

On Route 32 I caught a Mareep and named her Mary.

After a bit of training Mary up, I decided it was time to take on the gym. None of the Trainers proved much of a problem. Then it was time to take on the gym leader: Falkner. I decided to take Mary and Ash with me. Mary, being level 13 now, and Ash being level 12. He starts with Pidgey, and I start with Mary. Mary ThunderShocks it to death, and then he sends out Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto outspeeds Mary and... gets a small hit in, but is paralyzed in response. Mary gets off a good ThunderShock, and then gets to act first thanks to Paralysis and clips the Flying Type Gym Leader's Wings and I've earned my first badge!

Afterwards, Professor Elm calls me to tell me that he wants me to take the egg. So he has his assistant deliver it to me at the Pokemart. Togepi soon hatches and I name him Sheldon.

While battling a trainer on Route 32, Ash evolved into Quilava. I get a little greedy trying to level up Belle, and she gets killed by a goldeen with Peck. R.I.P. Belle. You weren't with me long. But Mary soon after evolved into Flaaffy!

When I enter Union Cave, I forget I'm allowed to capture a pokemon and kill a Geodude. I just wanted to level my team! In the cave, Celastrina evolved into a Butterfree!

On Route 33 I caught a Zubat and named her Batgirl. Batwoman didn't make it, but maybe Batgirl can!

After saving some Slowpoke from Team Rocket, I decided to challenge the second gym. None of the trainers were particularly difficult. For this gym battle, I decided to bring Lady Byrd, Ash and Celastrina. I challenged Bugsy, and he led with his Ace - Scyther. This was, by far, the most difficult match so far. Scyther used Quick Attack on Lady Byrd, which brought her down a significant amount. So I swapped out to Ash, who took a quick attack much better, and used Ember. Ash ended up going down into the yellow... but Scyhter went down first. After that it was smooth sailing as all he had were Metapod and Kakuna, neither of which got a single attack off before I burned them to a crisp. The second badge was mine. Though my journey has just begun, I'm sure we'll have many great adventures along the way.

In the party:
Lady Byrd (Pidgey, Level 16)
Ash (Quilava, Level 18)
Celastrina (Butterfree, Level 12)
Sheldon (Togepi, Level 6)
Mary (Flaaffy, Level 15)
Mickey (Ratatta, Level 7)

In the Box:
Batgirl (Zubat, Level 6)

Graveyard:
Belle (Bellsprout, Level 3)

I made my way to Goldenrod City and in Ilex Forest I caught a Paras and named her Hemione. Then on Route 34 I caught a Drowzee who I named Pavlov. In Golden Rod City, I traded Pavlov for a Machop named Muscle. I also manage to get enough coins from VoltorbFlip to get a Dratini whom I named Drogon.

Afterward, I cleared out the gym and decided to take Muscle and Mary to fight Whitney. She's one I was worried about. I give Muscle a Metronome as a held item. He takes out the Clefairy in one hit, no problem. But then... comes out the Miltank. Stomp. Stomp. Flinch. Stomp. Dead. Muscle is down in no time at all. I send out Mary. Stomp. Paralysis. Lum Berry eaten. Thunder Shock. Stomp. Stomp. Dead. I'm wiped. NuzLocke over.

I'm honestly not sure how I should have approached this battle with the given rule set. Whitney's Miltank is just too strong for two equal leveled pokemon to take out. She's a very tough trainer. That Lum Berry didn't help her that much, since static activated on the first turn. And I feel like if I had lasted another turn, she would've just used a Super Potion. Mary just wasn't doing enough damage.

R.I.P.

Oh no! Whitney is still ruining lives 20 years on... I wonder if they intended for her to be that difficult, Miltank is ridiculous. You had a good team for her on you so idk what else you could've done :/

I think I know how to handle her next time. Hopefully I'll still get the pokemon I need to do it. I think if I start with Flaaffy, it might go better, as Muscle can finish her (also have to hope I get a Drowzee so I can get a machop).

So I started over last night. Going to give a quick recap:

I pick Cyndaquil again. Name him Ash II this time.
On Route 29 I caught a Pidgey and named him Tweety
On Route 30 I caught a Caterpie and named her Luna.
In Dark Cave I caught a Geodude and named him Rocky
On Route 31 I caught a male bellsprout and named him Vic
In Sprout Tower I caught a Gastly and named her Sadako
On Route 32 I caught a Mareep and named him Dom.

Falkner's gym provided good experience for Dom. The battle with Falkner was a little more difficult. Pidgeotto nearly took him out, but I switched at the last moment for Ash II who dodged an attack and took out Pidgeotto's last remaining health. The Roost's were a tad annoying, but we managed to get out without casualties.

I decided not to hatch Togepi this time, just to save myself some time and energy in case the worst came down to it.

Ash II evolved into Quilava while fighting a wild pokemon

In Union Cave I caught a Sandshrew and named her Kate.
On Route 33 I caught a Zubat and named him Batman
While helping save the slowpoke, Dom evolved into Flaaffy.

Bugsy's gym once again proved little difficulty. To fight Bugsy himself, I bring Ash II, Tweety and Rocky. I figured Rocky could use the Experience points. Bugsy starts with Scyther, and the battle starts out rough. Gust doesn't do as much damage as I had hoped, and Scyther brings Tweety down to 1 HP. Naturally, I swap out, and send out Ash II. He too gets down to 1 HP before I take out Scyther. They were both some very close calls. Once he sends out his last two pokemon, I let Rocky deal with them and he has no trouble doing so. A very close call.

Before leaving town, I evolved Luna into Metapod and then Butterfree. On my way out of town, Nathan challenged to me a battle. I let Tweety do a bit of work, but he gets cursed and I have to send out Dom to take out his Croconaw and his Zubat. Both prove formidable, and almost take out Dom. But almost isn't good enough, and I beat him. After the battle, Tweety evolved into Pidgeotto.

In Ilex Forest, I caught an Oddish and named him Rad.
On Route 34, I caught another Drowzee and named her Elizabeth.

Once in Goldenrod City, I played a lot of Voltorb Flip and got a Dratini who I named Smaug. I also traded Elizabeth for Muscle the Machop. I train Muscle on the gym trainers as well as outside the city until he's Level 19. Then... I'm ready to face Whitney. Or at least... so I think.

I lead with Dom, who takes out her Clefairy pretty easily. She then brings out Miltank and the real battle begins. She uses stomp, and gets paralyzed. But she consumes a berry to heal herself of paralysis. Luckily, I chose to use Thunder Wave, which paralyzes her back. I then use a turn to swap to Muscle, who gets off a couple Karate Chops before Miltank takes him down. Muscle did his job well, getting Miltank down to the Orange. I knew this was a possibility going into the battle. I'd have to sacrifice Muscle. But was Dom up to the task? Thanks to Paralysis, Dom goes first -- one thunderbolt finishes it off. Miltank goes down. The Plain Badge is mine. Well after Whitney cried about losing. (How do you think I felt, monster?)

On Route 35 I caught a Nidoran and named her Poison.
Togepi hatches in the Park, and I named him Puck.
In National Park I caught a Sunkern and named her Fleur

While battling a trainer on Route 36, Poison evolved into Nidorina.
I caught the Sudowoodo on Route 36. I named him Leif.
Then on Route 37 I caught a Stantler and named him Dasher.

In Burned Tower, I catch a Rattata and name her Minnie. I also soundly beat Nathan. Piece of cake! Kate evolves into Sandslash. The Gym Trainers give me no trouble. Then I have a decision to make: Who to bring to the battle with Morty? Poison is a given. She has Bite, which I know will prove useful. Next is Sadako. Then I bring Ash II and Dom. I do a bit of training in Burned Tower until everyone except Dom is level 25 (Dom is level 24). Sadako evolves into Haunter during training.

Morty starts with his gastly. I start with Sadako, who uses Shadow Punch. It takes one hit to knock it out. He sends out Haunter, who takes a couple of Shadow punches before going down (after a super potion from Morty). Next up Gengar... his ace. But I also have an Ace up my sleeve. Sadako knows Sucker Punch, which she uses, and gets the first hit -- and Gengar goes down! After that, a Shadow Punch is all it takes to bring down his last Haunter. I get the Fog Badge!

Afterwards I realize I can trade evolve Sadako, so I do and Sadako evolves into Gengar.

On Route 38 I caught a Magnemite and named it Mags.

And that's where I quit for now. Lots of progress, and finally past Whitney and her Hell Beast of a pokemon!

Current Team:
Sadako (Gengar, Level 26)
Dom (Flaaffy, Level 24)
Ash II (Quilava, Level 25)
Poison (Nidorina, Level 25)
Smaug (Dratini, Level 22)
Tweety (Pidgeotto, Level 22)

Boxed:
Fleur (Sunkern, Level 12)
Rad (Oddish, Level 5)
Batman (Zubat, Level 6)
Minnie (Rattata, Level 13)
Vic (Bellsprout, Level 3)
Mags (Magnemite, Level 16)
Luna (Butterfree, Level 10)
Leif (Sudowoodo, Level 20)
Dasher (Stantler, Level 15)
Rocky (Geodude, Level 16)
Puck (Togepi, Level 11)
Kate (Sandslash, Level 22)

Deceased:
Muscle (Machop, Level 19)

I decided using Batman instead of Tweety might be the way to go. I think Crobat is ultimately stronger than Pidgeot. And it's not a bad idea to have a pokemon partially leveled as a backup in any case.

Batman evolved into Golbat in the lighthouse, and Dom evolved into Ampharos.
On Route 39 I caught a Tauros (it took like 7 great balls, but it was caught) and I named him Bruiser.
On my way to Cianwood to get medicine for the Lighthouse Ampharos, I caught a Tentacool and named her Angela.

When I got to Cianwood, I got the medicine Jasmine asked me to get, then decided to tackle the gym. (I also ran around a bit, hoping to raise Batman's friendship). Batman handled all the gym trainers pretty easily. And then... while training him up the last bit before going into face Chuck, he evolved into Crobat!

Batman handled Chuck's gym by himself. I brought Dom with me as backup, but it was't needed. Five Wing Attacks took both of his pokemon down, and badge #5 was mine!

I gave Jasmine the medicine. Then decided to visit the Safari Zone. On my way, Poison died during a double battle because Dom fell asleep. He stayed asleep during the second double battle as well, but luckily nobody was lost that time.

I failed to catch an Onix in Cliff Cave. It died to burn damage, which is really unfortunate.
But in the Safari Zone, I caught a Goldeen and named her Ariel. I decided she will be my water HM slave. And I have no plans on using her in battle unless forced to.

On Route 48, I caught a Girafarig and named her Gracie.

I did a bit more training, especially with Ash II who learned Lava Plume at level 35.

Against Jasmine, I brought Ash II, Dom and Smaug. Jasmine started with Magnemite, who went down to a single Lava Plume. She then sends out Steelix.. who did not go down to a single Lava Plume. It took two! She then finishes with Magnemite, who goes down like its brother did. The sixth badge was mine.

I made my way to Route 42, where Ash II evolves into Typhlosion. This means Ash II is ineligible for Pryce, because for some reason his pokemon are lower leveled than Jasmine's.

I arrived at the Lake of Rage, and caught the Shiny Gyarados and named her Scarlet. I add her to my team, taking Poison's place. In Rocket Hideout, I caught a Voltorb who I named Volt. Team ROcket goes down pretty easily.. until the last fight, when Gracie was killed. She wasn't on my team long, but she was good against the Rocket Grunts... R.I.P.

The gym trainers in Pryce's gym aren't difficult. Then to fight Pryce, I brought Dom, Sadako and Scarlet. Ash II was over leveled, so I couldn't bring him.

Pryce started with Seel, which went down to a single thunderbolt from Dom. Next, he sent out Piloswine. I swapped to Scarlet, who gets off two surf's before being put in critical condition. Not confident Scarlet can finish the fight, I recall her and send out Sadako. Piloswine manages to get Sadako down to Yellow, but it's also in the yellow. In order to take it out, I call for a Sucker Punch. I figure Piloswine won't use a non-attacking move. And what did Pryce do? Well, he used an attacking move, because Sucker Punch KO'd the Piloswine. Down to just Dewgong, I swap to Dom. Thunder Punch doesn't take quite half its health. And Dom goes into critical HP. Now all my pokemon are low on HP. Lucky for me, however, Dom outsped the Dewgong and used a thunderbolt to bring it down and earn me my sixth badge.

I cleared out Radio Tower. Nathan challenged me, but he didn't prove too mcuh trouble. Team Rocket Admin Archer on the other hand was a bit rough, with his Houndour causing Scarlet to flinch -- but she took him down easily anyway.

In Ice Path on my way to Blackthorn, I caught a Swinub and named him Stark.

Clair's gym trainers posed no difficulty for Scarlet, who gained a lot of exp from taking most of them down with Ice Fang's. i had a bad feeling about Clair, so I decided to bring death fodder with me. Vic. The bellsprout from way back. I never used him. But now.. he might have a purpose. He might allow me to swap in without one of my main attackers taking damage on the swap. I also bring Scarlet, Sadako and Dom with me.

Clair started with Gyarados, which Dom took care of with a single thunderbolt. Though it's too fast, and got a hit on Dom leaving him with an uncomfortable amount of HP. I swap out to Scarlet, who gets paralyzed, but on the next turn uses Ice Fang and knocks out Dragonair with one shot. The next turn, however... Scarlet is paralyzed and can't move. She takes another hit. But on the next turn, she got off an Ice Fang and took Dragonair #2 down as well. Next comes Kingdra... Scarlet went for an ice fang. But still paralyzed, she wasn't able to do anything. I had hoped that she'd get at least one hit on before switching to Vic. But I had no choice. I sent Vic out, who looked so happy just to get a chance to be on the team. I felt bad doing it. Knowing what was coming. And it came hard. One hit, Vic was gone. It was an inevitability. But it allowed me to send out Sadako who outsped the Kingdra. Two Shadow Balls was all it took. Victory came, but not without a price. Clair refused to give me the badge at first, but soon I convinced her grandfather to give it to me.

Next up... the elite 4. Before that, some training. Hopefully we can handle this. I'm pretty happy with our team so far. I'm hoping for no more casualties before heading into Kanto. But the best laid plans...

Current team:
Scarlet (Gyarados, Level 40)
Dom (Ampharos, Level 41)
Sadako (Gengar, Level 40)
Smaug (Dragonair, Level 40)
Ash II (Typhlosion, Level 40)
Batman (Crobat, Level 37)

In the Box:
Fleur (Sunkern, Level 12)
Rad (Oddish, Level 5)
Batman (Zubat, Level 6)
Minnie (Rattata, Level 13)
Vic (Bellsprout, Level 3)
Mags (Magnemite, Level 16)
Luna (Butterfree, Level 10)
Leif (Sudowoodo, Level 20)
Dasher (Stantler, Level 15)
Rocky (Geodude, Level 16)
Puck (Togepi, Level 11)
Kate (Sandslash, Level 22)
Ariel (Goldeen, Level 17)
Stark (Swinub, Level 21)

Deceased:
Muscle (Machop, Level 19)
Poison (Nidorina, Level 27)
Gracie (Girafarig, Level 24)
Bellsprout (Vic, Level 3)

You monster, sacrificing a poor innocent Bellsprout like that.

I mean pokemon are pocket monsters, so I'm a pokemon I guess? Lol

On Route 45 today, i caught a Gligar and named her Drusilla.

When I got back to New Bark Town, Professor Elm tells me to go see the Kimono Girls, so I do just that. It's not a gym battle, so gym rules don't apply. They challenge me to a pokemon battle and I accept.

Dom took out Umbreon, but lost a lot of health in the process.
Dom did some damage to Espeon, but I had to switch him out for Scarlet, who finished the fight off with a Bite.
Scarlet deals with Flareon as well, but goes critical. It wasn't ideal.
Ash II barely took out Jolteon, but two Lava Plumes do the job.
Last up was the Vaporeon. I start by swapping in Smaug, but he goes down to half hp with one hit, and not wanting to risk him I swapped to Sadako, who hits pretty hard with Shadow ball. Sadako went down to critical though, and the only pokemon I had left to do anything was.. Batman. I sent him out... he flew up, hit it hard... but didn't knock it out. Then got knocked out by an Aurora Beam. I'm sorry Batman. Crobats have not had the best of luck in my runs. You were such a great part of the team.
I send out Smaug, who finishes it off with a Thunderbolt.

The match wasn't without losses. But we made it. It was probably the hardest fight of the game so far.

I put Drusilla on the team in place of Batman. Then spend a lot of time training her up. Afterwards, I go to Bell Tower and catch Ho-Oh with a master ball and name it Phoenix. Then I put it in the box and will never touch it again!

On the way to Victory Road, I run into a little trouble, but nothing my team can't handle. And On Victory road itself, I caught a Rhyhorn I named Ryan. And that's where I quit.

Current Team:
Dom (Ampharos, Level 42)
Scarlet (Gyarados, Level 42)
Ash II (Typhlosion, Level 42)
Drusilla (Gligar, Level 37)
Smaug (Dragonair, Level 41)
Sadako (Gengar, Level 40)

In the Box:
Fleur (Sunkern, Level 12)
Rad (Oddish, Level 5)
Batman (Zubat, Level 6)
Minnie (Rattata, Level 13)
Mags (Magnemite, Level 16)
Luna (Butterfree, Level 10)
Leif (Sudowoodo, Level 20)
Dasher (Stantler, Level 15)
Rocky (Geodude, Level 16)
Puck (Togepi, Level 11)
Kate (Sandslash, Level 22)
Ariel (Goldeen, Level 17)
Stark (Swinub, Level 21)
Phoenix (Ho-Oh, Level 45)
Ryan (Rhyhorn, Level 35)

Deceased:
Muscle (Machop, Level 19)
Poison (Nidorina, Level 27)
Gracie (Girafarig, Level 24)
Vic (Bellsprout, Level 3)
Batman (Crobat, Level 37)

Victory Road was pretty empty... until I reached the end. There, I was challenged by Nathan to another battle. It was a pretty rough one. Dom was the MVP, taking out Sneasel, Golbat and Feraligatr. Scarlet dealt with Haunter, and Ash II took out Magneton and Kadabra. At the end, most of my pokemon had very little health left... but we made it out without casualties. Though it was close, because Ash II was paralyzed from the Magneton battle.

After a bit of training, I'm ready for the Elite 4!

First up Will. Sadako falls asleep on the first turn, which puts me in a bad position. Not a good start. But she wakes up in time to knock out his first Xatu. Jynx is up next, and Sadako goes critical and... still knocks out Jynx! He calls out Slowbro, and I swap to Dom, who THunderbolts it to death. A little damage, but nothing we can't handle. He sends out Exeggutor, so I send out Ash II who takes it out with a flamethrower. Last is his final Xatu, who goes down to two flamethrowers. Not a bad start.

Second was Koga. He leads with Ariados, who doesn't attack on first turn, so I decide to spend some time setting up two sword dances. Earthquake takes it out, then Forretress. Venomoth goes down to Two Bug Bites. Muk to an Earthquake, then I swap out to Dom. That's when things get tricky. Crobat uses Double Team over and over, and Dom keeps missing. Worse, he's poisoned... still, we made it out without casualites, as Crobat falls to a single Thunderbolt.

Third was Bruno. Drusilla used three Sword Dance's, then just earthquaked everything to death. Bruno used nothing but Counter. One earthquake from Drusilla took everything out.

Fourth was Karen. Drusilla (who was proving to be the MVP of the Elite 4 run) set up Sword Dance three times, and then took out everything with X Scissor except Gengar. I swapped in Dom, who took it out with Thunderbolt, then took out the Murkrow with Thunderbolt as well. Will had been the biggest challenge. But I knew I wasn't done yet. Last up: The Champion. Lance himself.

This battle starts off pretty rough. Waterfall does a lot of damage to Dom, but Dom takes out Gyarados with a single thunderbolt. I swap in Drusilla to take a hit, and then use U-Turn to swap to Scarlet, who takes Dragonite out with an Ice Fang. Next was Aerodactyl. I swapped to Dom, and it used THunder Fang, which didn't do too much damage. It also got paralyzed, which allowed Dom to knock it out with Thunderbolt. Next up was a second Dragonite. I swapped to Sadako who used Destiny Bond to take it out. I'm sorry Sadako. She only had 12 HP left, and was either dead or I'd have to swap and probably lose. But Destiny bond takes out Dragonite #2. It allows me to send Scarlet in clean, who uses Surf. Then Lance uses Full Restore after Full Restore. But eventually it goes down. Last up: The final Dragonite. Scarlet uses Ice Fang. Lance heals. Ice Fang. Heal. Ice Fang. Heal. Eventually, it goes down to a single Ice Fang and I've beaten the champion. Drusilla was truly the MVP, but Sadako's contribution will never be forgotten. Especially with Will, but also with Destiny Bond.

Next Up: Kanto! But sadly without my ghosty girl.

Current Team:
Dom (Ampharos, Level 51)
Scarlet (Gyarados, Level 50)
Ash II (Typhlosion, Level 50)
Drusilla (Gligar, Level 50)
Smaug (Dragonair, Level 50)

In the Box:
Fleur (Sunkern, Level 12)
Rad (Oddish, Level 5)
Batman (Zubat, Level 6)
Minnie (Rattata, Level 13)
Mags (Magnemite, Level 16)
Luna (Butterfree, Level 10)
Leif (Sudowoodo, Level 20)
Dasher (Stantler, Level 15)
Rocky (Geodude, Level 16)
Puck (Togepi, Level 11)
Kate (Sandslash, Level 22)
Ariel (Goldeen, Level 17)
Stark (Swinub, Level 21)
Phoenix (Ho-Oh, Level 45)
Ryan (Rhyhorn, Level 35)

Deceased:
Muscle (Machop, Level 19)
Poison (Nidorina, Level 27)
Gracie (Girafarig, Level 24)
Vic (Bellsprout, Level 3)
Batman (Crobat, Level 37)
Sadako (Gengar, Level 50)

nice job

When I got to Kanto, I made my way to Route 6, where I ran into an Abra.. who teleported away before i could catch it.

While in Vermillion City, I decide to challenge Lt. Surge. He's pretty much a pushover, as Drusilla sets up Sword Dance three times, then uses Earthquake to take everything out. Too much double team, not nearly enough damage. I had to bring Kate with me, and left Scarlet behind because I needed Cut to get to the gym in the first place.

Next, I head to Fuschia City. Now, since Janine has lower level pokemon I have to only use pokemon level 50 and lower. I spend a little time leveling them up, hoping they won't all die. But I think I'll mainly be relying on Ash II here, as he's the only one who's actually level 50. I lead with Volt, who had evolved into an Electrode. He got Crobat down to about half health before getting himself killed. I then let Ash II finish the rest of the battle with flamethrowers. Sorry, volt. I thought you could do it. Maybe if I spent more time leveling you, and not the others you'd have made it...

I made my way to Cerulean City and fix the power plant. I also catch an Electabuzz and name him Buzz.
After getting Misty to return to her gym, I fight the gym trainers, during which time Smaug evolves into Dragonite!

Before fighting her, I decide to train Rad the Oddish up a bit. I feel he'll be helpful in this gym. It took a while, but once he's at a comfortable level I bring him, Dom, Scarlet and Ash II with me to face Misty.

Next, I return to Goldenrod City and get an Eevee from Bill and name him Sirius. I level him up a bit, and eventually he evolves into an Umbreon. I level him up some more on the gym leaders, and even use the Nursery a bit. But eventually he's caught up to the rest of my team. And I'm ready to take on Sabrina. I let him level up some more on the gym trainers, before taking Sirius, Scarlet and Drusilla to face her. The battle goes pretty well, as Sirius takes out her first two pokemon, but struggles with the third. So I swap to Scarlet, who finishes off Mr. Mime and her badge is mine!

After that, I headed to Celadon City where I took on GYm Leader Erika. The gym trainers are a piece of cake for Ash II, and for the gym battle I brought Ash II, Kate, Drusilla, and Smaug. But only Ash II was needed, as he wiped out everything with a single flamethrower, except the final bellossom, which got off a solar beam, but it didn't do much damage.

3 more badges to go in Kanto!

Current Team:
Dom (Ampharos, Level 55)
Scarlet (Gyarados, Level 55)
Ash II (Typhlosion, Level 54)
Drusilla (Gligar, Level 55)
Smaug (Dragonite, Level 55)
Sirius (Umbreon, Level 53)

In the Box:
Fleur (Sunkern, Level 12)
Minnie (Rattata, Level 13)
Mags (Magnemite, Level 16)
Luna (Butterfree, Level 10)
Leif (Sudowoodo, Level 20)
Dasher (Stantler, Level 15)
Rocky (Geodude, Level 16)
Puck (Togepi, Level 11)
Kate (Sandslash, Level 22)
Ariel (Goldeen, Level 17)
Stark (Swinub, Level 21)
Phoenix (Ho-Oh, Level 45)
Ryan (Rhyhorn, Level 35)
Buzz (Electabuzz (Level 18)
Tweety (Pidgeotto, Level 22)

Deceased:
Muscle (Machop, Level 19)
Poison (Nidorina, Level 27)
Gracie (Girafarig, Level 24)
Vic (Bellsprout, Level 3)
Batman (Crobat, Level 37)
Sadako (Gengar, Level 50)
Rad (Gloom, Level 35)
Volt (Electrode, Level 30)

Friday, I started by waking up the snorlax and Vermillion City. Smaug one shot crit it, so I couldn't catch it. I made my way to Pewter City, where I waltezed into the gym with Scarlet, Dom, Drusilla, Sirius and Smaug. Scarlet took care of the gym trainers by herself. Then we challenged the gym leader, Brock. Graveller went down to Surf, then came out Omastar. I swapped to Dom. I got lucky, as Omastar used protect, meaning it was a clean switch. Thunderbolt takes him down. Brock brought out Rhyhorn, so I switch to Scarlet. Rhyhorn uses Earthquake... which doesn't affect Scarlet. Surf takes it down. Kabutops was next, so I swap to Dom who takes a hit, but uses Thunderbolt and takes it down. Last up was Onxi, which I switched back to Scarlet for, and she finishes the battle without a casualty.

After that I made my way south to Viridian City then to Pallet town. I made my way south to CInnabar Island and went east to the Seafoam Islands where I challenged Blaine with Scarlet, Smaug and Sirius, Magcargo went down to a single surft, but Magmar used Thunderpunch, putting Scarlet in critical condition. Luckily, I swapped to Smaug who finished off both Magmar and Rapidash to win the battle and my 7th Kanto Badge.

I returned to Cinnabar, where Blue said he'd challenge me in Viridian Gym. So I go there with my full team of six ready to face him. One last challenge before Red. I do a little bit of training before I make my way there.

Blue started with Exeggutor, which Ash II took out with Eruption. He then brought out Rhydon, who went down to a surf from Scarlet. Machamp was next. I swapped to Dom, who took a thunder punch, paralyzed Machamp, who went down in two hits. Blue sends out Arcanine, and I swap to Smaug, who has little trouble. Gyarados was next, so I sent out Dom who took it out with a single thunderbolt. Pidgeot is last up... and he hits Dom hard with Return. I had to swap to Smaug, who finished it with two more thunderbolts. With that, the final badge was mine.

Afterwards, I went to Professor Oak who told me I could go to Mt. Silver now. I knew what awaited me though, so I knew I had to train. So I spent a lot of time training. There were a few close calls, but I didn't lose any pokemon. Once they all reached around level 84 I was ready to face Red. I head to Mt. Silver, make my way to the top, and it's time for the final battle.

The battle started with Drusilla vs Pikachu. Pikachu used Iron Tail, but missed. Drusilla used Sword Dance. Pikachu used Iron Tail again, and missed again. Drusilla used Earthquake, and knocked out Pikachu. Next up: Lapras. Drusilla used Earthquake again. But then... Lapras used blizzard. And Drusilla falls. We're each down one. I kind of expected this. Red was no ordinary trainer. I sent out Dom next. A thunderbolt took out the Lapras. Red next sent out Blastoise. Dom took Blastoise down as well, though he wasn't not doing so well when Red sent out Snorlax. A thunderbolt does some damage to Snorlax... but it took out Dom, and I had to send out Sirius. Sirius can only chip away at Snorlax's health before he went down. And suddenly.. it's 3 vs 3. An even match, but we had lost so much already. Smaug managed to take out Snorlax, though. But not without taking massive damage himself. Red sends out his second to last pokemon, Charizard, who finished off Smaug. I let Scarlet out, and she took Charizard down with a couple of surf's thanks to Red continually using potions. eventually it went down, and Red was down to his final pokemon: Venusaur. Scarlet uses Ice Fang... Venusaur uses Giga Drain... and Scarlet was out. We're now both down to our final pokemon. Venusaur vs Ash II. We'd started this journey together, and one way or another we'd end it together. Ash II usesd Eruption... and... Venusaur goes down. I'm the one true champion. Most of my pokemon are dead, but the battle is over.

Current Team:
Ash II (Typhlosion, Level 84)

In the Box:
Fleur (Sunkern, Level 12)
Minnie (Rattata, Level 13)
Mags (Magnemite, Level 16)
Luna (Butterfree, Level 10)
Leif (Sudowoodo, Level 20)
Dasher (Stantler, Level 15)
Rocky (Geodude, Level 16)
Puck (Togepi, Level 11)
Kate (Sandslash, Level 22)
Ariel (Goldeen, Level 17)
Stark (Swinub, Level 21)
Phoenix (Ho-Oh, Level 45)
Ryan (Rhyhorn, Level 35)
Buzz (Electabuzz (Level 18)
Tweety (Pidgeotto, Level 22)

Deceased:
Muscle (Machop, Level 19)
Poison (Nidorina, Level 27)
Gracie (Girafarig, Level 24)
Vic (Bellsprout, Level 3)
Batman (Crobat, Level 37)
Sadako (Gengar, Level 50)
Rad (Gloom, Level 35)
Volt (Electrode, Level 30)
Dom (Ampharos, Level 84)
Scarlet (Gyarados, Level 84)
Drusilla (Gligar, Level 84)
Smaug (Dragonite, Level 84)
Sirius (Umbreon, Level 84)

Oh man that was a bloodbath at the end, I thought you had a pretty great balanced team going into the Red battle too. RIP Drusilla in particular, I was rooting for her to go the distance after her dominating the E4 :(

Congrats on winning though, it sounds like it was rough in parts but you got there!

It was a tough battle. I think if I leveled up a little more I could've made it out with another pokemon or two. Too many of his pokemon have Blizzard!

Starting a Shield Nuzlocke. Modified rules:
#1. Can only catch first pokemon I run into on a map. I'll walk toward the middle of an area before starting. Must avoid encounters before that point. Then I'll close my eyes, and whatever I run into will be what I can catch.
#2. If a pokemon faints, it is gone forever
#3. Level Cap is whatever the gym leader's highest level pokemon is.
#4. Can only use the same number of pokemon as the gym leader.
#5. Once I enter a gym, I cannot leave until it's beaten or I've lost.
#6. No Dynamaxing!
#7. One healing item per major battle (Gym Leader, Tournament).
#8. Each named area of the wild area counts as a new area.
#9. Set Mode.

I began my journey going to meet the Champion, Leon, who gives me and my friend Hop a pokemon. I choose Scorbunny and named him Trix, while Hop picked Grookey (and didn't nickname him at all). After beating him, we make our way to the Slumbering Weald where we see a strange dog. After telling my mom goodbye, I'm off on my own journey. On Route 1, I catch a Wooloo and name him Vincent. And on Route 2 I catch a Lotad and name him Alejandro. Leon offers to sponsor us... but only if he watches us battle. I dismantle his little brother, and get his sponsorship then a dynamax band, which will be useless for this run. Because like Piers, we're not Dynamaxing.

After getting on a train for motostoke, we stop by the wild area where I catch three new pokemon. The first in Rolling Fields: Cammy, a Pancham. Second in East Lake Axewell, Cherry the Bounsweet. And third in West Lake Axwell: Emma Frost, the Snorunt.

In Motostoke City, I change my hairstyle and buy some clothes. Then head on in to pick my trainer number. I pick #3. We're introduced to the gym leaders, and then I head off further on my journey.

On Route 3 I catch a Gossifleur whom I name Fleur. While fighting a trainer, Alejandro evolves into Lombre and Trix evolves into Raboot. In Galar Mine I catch a Rolycoly who I name Cole. In the mine, I'm challenged by some loser named Bede who thinks he's better than me. Alejandro takes out all of his pokemon and I roll my eyes at all of his excuses! On Route 4 I caught a Milcery and named her Cake. That's when I arrived in Turfield and was ready to challenge Milo, the first gym leader. I figured my best choices to bring with me were Emma Frost and Trix. I let Emma Frost deal with most of the gym trainers, while saving Trix for Milo. Once I rounded up all the wooloo, I was ready to battle.

Milo started with Gossifleur, who got Flame Wheeled to death by Trix. Milo Dynamaxed, and Trix used Flame Wheel... which did not take out as much as I had hoped. Max Strike, on the other hand, did massive damage! Trix was in real danger. One more hit would take him down. Rather than switching to Emma Frost, I used my one healing item per battle and restored him to full health. He gets hit again, this time by Max Growth, which doesn't quite do as much damage. I leave Trix out, who flame wheels again, and gets hit by Max Strike again. Down to critical health, but Eldegoss is out of Dynamax and returns to normal size. One more Flame Wheel takes it out, and the first badge was mine!

Current Team:
Trix (Raboot, Level 22)
Emma Frost (Snorunt, Level 17)
Alejandro (Lombre, Level 19)
Cherry (Bounsweet, Level 16)
Cake (Milcery, Level 16)
Cammy (Pancham, Level 16)

Box:
Vincent (Wooloo, Level ???)
Fleur (Gossifleur, Level ???)
Cole (Rolycoly, Level ???)

Sorry I don't know the levels of the pokemon in the box. I sent them off on a job.

I continued on toward Route 5, where I caught an Applin after running into a couple Ludicolo's. I named him Newton. Then I went and saved this guy from Team Yell, during which Cherry evolves into Steenee.

On the bridge, Hop challenges me to a battle. Trix sweeps his entire team, and yet he's still undeterred. I proceed toward Hulbury, where I caught a Chinchou and named him Bright. After speaking to Nessa, I was ready to challenge her Gym.

I bring with me three pokemon: Cherry, Alejandro and the recently captured Bright. I teach Cherry Magical Leaf from the TM Milo gave me before heading in.

Cherry deals with all of the gym trainers without much trouble. Once I get through the gym challenge, I make my way into the stadium to face Nessa.

She starts with Goldeen, while I lead with Alejandro. He takes out Goldeen with Mega Drain, then Arrokuda as well. Nessa dynamaxes her Dreadnaw, which does serious damage to Alejandro. I use my one potion to heal.. but it's not enough. Alejandro goes down on the next turn. It leaves me enough time to wait out the DYnamax, though, and I send out Bright. Bright manages to get a hit off, then paralyzes it with Thunder Wave. But even Bright can't last too long, he gets it into the red though, and allows me to send out Cherry. Magical leaf finishes off Dreadnaw, and the second badge is mine. It came with more losses than I would've liked. But without Dynamaxing, it wasn't unexpected.

Because I lost two pokemon, I go back to the Wild Area and go to Watchtower Ruins, where I caught a Duskull who I named Palina.

In Galar Mine No 2. I face Bede again. He proves... a bit of a challenge. Though not enough to take one of my pokemon out. I let Palina do most of the work.

While fighting Team Yell with Hop (who is pretty useless) Cole evolves into Carkol. Afterwards, I run into a Dreadnaw who I name Tank.

I go to rest for the night, when Marnie challenges me. (Sidenote: I love Marnie's theme). She's not too difficult, though I do have to switch out a couple of times to beat her.

I take Trix, Cole and Tank with me to the gym. I catch a Sizzlipede (And name him Sizzle) which I'm allowed to keep. I also catch a Litwick which I do not rename as I cannot keep and will release as soon as possible. (I'm also obviously not allowed to use them for the gym battle).

Kabu starts with Ninetales, and I start with Trix. Trix gets the job done, but is low on health. I swap to Cole, who has a bit of trouble with Arcanine. I end up having to heal... I figure it might have been a mistake, but Cole still manages to take out Arcanine. But now... it's a Gigantamax Centiscorch vs Cole. I'm sorry friend... Sorry for doubting you, that is. Smack Down does massive damage to Centiscorch, and Max Flutterby does little damage to Cole. Cole manages to take it down in three hits, tanking two hits along the way, and the badge is mine without any losses!

With that, Cole has officially impressed me. And earned a more permanent spot on the team. On our way out of Motostoke, the gym leaders we beat see us off. Then we run into Bede... who challenges Hop to a battle.

I make my way to Hammerlocke, where I find a Strawberry which I gave to Cake. I then go outside, spin around for a bit, and she evolves into Alcremie (Mint!) I learn some of Galar's history, then fight Team Yell over a sleeping Silicobra. Hop shows up, and reveals he lost to Bede. After that, I quit for the night.

Current Team:
Trix (Raboot, Level 30)
Cherry (Steenee, Level 27)
Cole (Carkol, Level 26)
Tank (Drednaw, Level 27)
Emma Frost (Snorunt, Level 24)
Cake (Alcremie, Level 24)

In the Box:
Cammy (Pancham, Level 17)
Dolly (Wooloo, Level 16)
Fleur (Gossifleur, Level 16)
Newton (Applin, Level 18)
Palina (Duskull, Level 28)
Sizzle (Sizzlipede, Level 25)

Deceased:
Alejandro (Lombre, Level 22)
Bright (Chinchou, Level 23)

I haven't played SwSh but no dynamaxing seems like a pretty notable challenge to take on. Good luck!

Also lol I forgot the rivals take the weak starter type now.

I went back to the Wild Area to catch a few more pokemon.

In Hammerlocke Hills, I get a Inkay who I name Inkling.
In Giant's Cap I get a Shelmet I name Helmut.
In Bridge Field, I get a Cufant I name Elly.
In Stony Wilderness, I get a Dewpider I name Aragog
After catching Aragog, Cherry evolved into Tsareena.
In Giant's MIrror I catch a Pawniard I name Queen.
On Route 6 I catch a Yamask and name her Carmen.

I let Carmen take damage, and get her to evolve by walking under the stone bridge.

When I get to Stow on Side, I run into Hop, who is only a little more difficult than usual.

Then I decide on my team for the Gym: Queen, Carmen, Palina and Emma Frost.

None of the gym trainers prove much trouble for me. Then... I challenged Allister.

He started with Yamask, which Queen took out pretty easily. Next up was Mimikyu, who was easily dispatched as well. I let Carmen finish it off. Next up was his Cursola, who was a bit more of a problem. Carmen took a curse, then I switched out to Emma Frost who finished it off. Last up: His Gengar. Dynamax was a problem. The solution: Protect. Unfortunately... protect did not protect Emma Frost enough, taking nearly half her health. I switch to Palina, who takes massive damage on the next turn... but stays alive. I use my one healing item on Queen -- knowing it meant Palina's demise. But with Max Darkness, I think that was the case either way. I'm sorry Palina. You deserved better. Palina goes down, but Queen comes out healthy, against a non-dynamaxed Gengar. Gengar uses Hypnosis... it misses. Queen uses Dig. It does massive damage! Gengar uses hypnosis again.. it fails again. Queen uses Dig, and finished off the match, earning me my next badge.

Outside, Bede is causing trouble defacing public property. He then challenges me to a battle, which.. proves a little more difficult than I'd hoped. But all my pokemon come out alive, and Cherry finishes off the battle (though just barely. I think one more hit would've been it for her). The CHairmen then disqualifies him for being a vandal.

In Glimwood Tangle, while battling a chef, Elly evolves into a Cooperajah. And after a double battle, Trix evolves into Cinderace. I also catch a Galarian Ponyta who I name Galaxy.

When I get to Balonlea, I put my team together to face the Fairy Type Gym: Galaxy, Queen, Elly and Trix. None of the gym trainers are any problem.

Opal starts with Weezing, while I start with Galaxy. In two turns, Weezing is gone. I switch to Trix, while Mawile uses Iron Defense. But it's not enough to save it from Pyro ball. Togekiss comes out next, and Trix does a little damage to it, before I switch out and play it safe. Queen does a bit of damage, before taking a little too much from a draining kiss. So I swap out to Elly, who finishes it off. Last is her Alcremie. She Dynamaxes. Elly digs. The first hit does a bit of damage, but dig saves Elly from more damage, and does quite a bit in return. I use my next turn to heal, and the final Dynamax Move doesn't do much damage. It's not very effective. Alcremie uses a draining kiss to heal itself almost back to full, but that doesn't save it from Heavy Slam, as the 5th badge is mine!

After returning to Hammerlocke, Opal kidnaps Bede. Then Hop challenges me again. His Snorlax is very bulky, and takes a while to go down. His Heatmor puts up a pretty good challenge, and nearly kills Elly. But Cole and Trix finish off the battle with no casualties.

On Route 7 I caught a Morpeko and name him Jekyl . Cole evolves into Coalossal after catching Jekyl.

On Route 8 I caught a Sandaconda and named him Nagini.

I take 4 pokemon with me into the gym when I arrive in town: Cole, Trix, Elly and Jekyl. Only one trainer proves any difficulty, the one with the Avalugg.

The battle with Melony goes easy at first. Trix wipes out her first two pokemon no trouble. Then I switch to Cole to finish her third pokemon. Unfortunately.. Dynamax Lapras takes out Cole with one Max Geyser. I swap to Elly, who uses Dig. Max Geyser doesn't do much, and she avoids the second attack. With Dynamax Gone, Elly reduces Lapras' health slowly but surely. Until Lapras puts Elly to sleep. I'm forced to switch to Jekyl, who barely survives an attack -- but one Spark does the job, and Lapras is gone. Sad to see Coal gone, but the 4x weakness to water was going to be a liability sooner or later.

Outside, I meet up with Sonia and after eating Hop challenges me to another battle. His team is a bit tougher, and the hail makes it hard to deal with. Trix BARELY survives the hail. But I still manage to win without any casualties.

I get a water bike from the same guy who gave me a normal bike after beating some team yell grunts. Once Emma Frost learns Bite, I return to Hammerlocke and bike across the water to get a Dawn Stone and use it to evolve Emma Frost to a Froslass.

When I arrive at Spikemuth, Marnie challenges me to a battle. I wasn't entirely prepared, so it was more difficult than it should've been. I have to switch out a few times after Toxicroak comes out and does some real damage to Cake. But I finish the battle without any casualties. Would've been nice to have a pokemon center before this..

For the gym mission, I bring Nagini, Cake, Trix and Elly.

None of the gym trainers pose a problem. Then I'm ready to face Piers. Who, like me, doesn't Dynamax. So that makes this a little easier.

Scrafty and Malamar go down to Cake without any trouble. Poor Piers, going down to a dessert. Trix takes care of Obstagoon with two double kicks. Last up: Skuntank. Who uses Toxic on Elly as she comes out. But it doesn't affect Elly, who uses Dig, avoids the sucker punch, then takes a hit from a pretty strong sucker punch, but digs again to finish the battle.

On Route 9, I catch a Clobbopus and name her Marina.

After leveling my team up a bit (including some older pokemon I neglected) and evolving Marina into Grapploct I'm ready for the gym challenge. None of the trainers pose much difficulty. Then Raihan is ready to face me. I bring: Trix, Cake, Marina and Tank with me.

Cake does massive damage to both Flygon and Gigalith. Tank does some damage to Flygon. Then on the next turn, Cake takes out Flygon and hurts Gigalith again. Cake takes a bit of damage, but so does Gigalith thanks to Tank. I swap Marina into battle, and she works on Gigalith while Tank works on Sandaconda. Both manage to go down in the same turn, but Tank is low on health. So on the next turn, Marina uses Superpower on Dynamaxed Duraludon, while I use my one heal on Tank. Tank tanks the first hit, as Marina hits hard. Marina hits a second time, but Tank goes down. I send out Trix, who finishes off with a Pyro Ball to end Dynamaxed Duraludon. It was a very difficult battle, and Marina not going down was pivitol. But thanks to Tank taking the hits, we live to survive another day and enter the champion cup.

At the station, Hop thinks he's the favorite to win. What, are they assuming because I don't dynamax that I'm going to lose?

When I arrive in Wyndon, I heal my pokemon and register for the tournament. For my first battle, I bring Cake, Trix, Cherry, Marina and Elly. I decided that I'll allow any pokemon up to the final battle (55) to take part. And any pokemon eligible at the start, will be eligible at the end.

My first battle is with Marnie... Cake deals with Liepard. Elly comes in to a sucker punch that does nothing, then digs. Morepko doesn't do much when I bring Cake back out. Even with Gigantamax, her Grimmsnarl is no match for Cake. Marnie loses.

Hop wins his battle quickly, and we're ready for the finals already! Me vs Hop. This time he has Dynamax on his side. Dubwool goes down easily, and Snorlax doesn't last long against Marina either. Trix wipes out Corviknight with one hit. Then Elly deals with Pincurchin, which lasts a bit longer than I thought it would. When Hop Dynamaxes his Rillaboom, I send out Cherry to tank the hits. I heal Cherry on the third turn to keep her alive. Trix then finishes it off with Pyro Ball. Just imagine if I used Dynamax, Hop!

And with that, I decide to quit for now.

Current Team:
Marina (Grapploct, Level 50)
Elly (Cooperajah, Level 51)
Trix (Cinderace, Level 54)
Cake (Alcremie, Level 53)
Cherry (Tsareena, Level 49)

In the Box:
Cammy (Pancham, Level 17)
Dolly (Wooloo, Level 16)
Fleur (Gossifleur, Level 16)
Newton (Applin, Level 18)
Sizzle (Sizzlipede, Level 25)
Inkling (Inkay, Level 32)
Emma Frost (Froslass, Level 50)
Helmut (Shelmet, Level 28)
Aragog (Dewpider, Level 28)
Jekyl (Morepko, Level 45)
Queen (Pawniard, Level 44)
Nagini (Sandaconda, Level 44)
Carmen (Runerigus, Level 35)

Deceased:
Alejandro (Lombre, Level 22)
Bright (Chinchou, Level 23)
Palina (Duskull, Level 28)
Cole (Coalossal, Level 41)
Tank (Drednaw, Level 49)

Lee is late for dinner, so we go invade Rose Tower to find him at the meeting where he said he'd be. Oh well, free EXP! Oleana doesn't prove much of a problem, until her Garbador. The Giganatmax doesn't do too much damage, and Elly finishes off the fight for me after using my one heal.

The next day, the tournament continues. But before that, I decide to level up some of my backup pokemon to have them on standby just in case. Namely Carmen, Queen, Inkling, Jekyl, Aragog, and Nagini. while training, Aragog evolves into Araquanid

Bede shows up though, and challenges me. I have 5 pokemon to his 4, but really it's his fault for not having 5. Trix handles mawile. Elly handles Gardevoir and Rapidash. For Hatterene, I know he'll Gigantamax, so I swap to Cake to take a hit. SHe takes a LOT of damage. I swap to Trix who takes a hit. I use my one heal, then Trix takes another hit. Gigantamax over. I send Elly out. Elly takes a bit of damage, but finishes it off with Heavy Slam.

Facing off against Nessa first, I bring Cherry, Emma Frost, Cake, Jekyl and Elly.

Goliosopod is out first, so I start with Cake, who takes it down to half health, and then it uses Emergency exit. Seaking comes out, so I swap to Cherry who takes it down. Goliosopod comes back out, so I swap to cake. Nessa full heals Goliosopod, but Cake brings it back down and once again it uses emergency exit. Out comes Barraskewda, which Cake deals some damage to, before I swap to Cherry who takes it out. Pelliper comes out next, so I send out Jekyl, who takes it down with a thunder punch. When Drednaw comes out, I switch to Elly, who takes a hit. Then I heal him. Then I swap to Jekyl who sadly gets killed by Drednaw. No longer Dynamaxed, I send out Cherry who finishes the battle with Leaf Storm and I'm moving on to the quarter-finals to face Allister.

For Allister, I bring Elly, Queen, Trix, Aragog and Inkling. The fight... goes pretty poorly for me. Inkling and Elly both get knocked out. Inkling to Cursola and Elly to Gengar. I couldn't switch. But Trix wins me the battle.

Last up before the champion: Raihan. I decided to bring Trix, Aragog, Cake, Marina and Nagini with me for this one. Raihan proves worthy of his spot at the top, as his flygon destroys Nagini, and his Gigantamax Duraludon squashes Aragog. But Marina finishes the fight, with limited HP, but a victory is still a victory. Though it's not without more losses.

Leon has a full team of six. So I put together what I think is the best of my remaining pokemon: Cake, Marina, Trix, Cherry, Emma Frost and Carmen. We go out onto the pitch... and our match is interrupted by the Chairman. So our match is on hold for a bit... we'll have to wait to see if the unbeatable Leon is really unbeatable.

I miss out on catching a pokemon in the slumbering weald because Galarian Weezing just exploded.

After we get the sword and shield, we head to Hammerlocke and I beat the Chairman, but not without his Dynamaxed Cooperajah killing Queen. Afterwards, we head to help Leon with Eternatus, who proves no problem for Cake.

Three days later... and I'm not really ready to face Leon yet. My pokemon aren't the right level. So I'm going to spend the next couple of days leveling up until my team reaches his. So this will have to wait to finish until then. But it's worth it to wait, rather than lose this late into the game. I'll probably only update if anyone dies.

Current Team:
Trix (Cinderace, Level 59)
Marina (Grapploct, Level 54)
Cake (Alcremie, Level 58)
Cherry (Tsareena, Level 54)
Emma Frost (Froslass, Level 53)
Carmen (Runerigus, Level 51)

In the box:
Cammy (Pancham, Level 17)
Dolly (Wooloo, Level 16)
Fleur (Gossifleur, Level 16)
Newton (Applin, Level 18)
Galaxy (Ponyta, Level 38)
Sizzle (Sizzlipede, Level 25)
Helmut (Shelmet, Level 28)
Eternatus (Level 60) (It didn't let me rename it yet)

Deceased:
Alejandro (Lombre, Level 22)
Bright (Chinchou, Level 23)
Palina (Duskull, Level 28)
Cole (Coalossal, Level 41)
Tank (Drednaw, Level 49)
Jekyl (Morepeko, Level 52)
Elly (Cooperajah, Level 55)
Inkling (Inkay, Level 49)
Aragog (Araquanid, Level 51)
Nagini (Sandaconda, Level 51)
Queen (Pawniard, Level 51)

Oof that last update was a lot of death D: You still have a solid 6 typewise, though the pokes I like the most have pretty much all gone down. I'm rooting for Marina to go all the way.

Also it's interesting reading this without having played SwSh, the game's plot structure seems really weird.

Been a bit busy to play lately, but I'm still going to try to finish this.

Finally continuing this.

On Route 10 I caught a Duraludon and name her Amanda. Then I managed to level all of my team up to 65. Going in with:

Trix (Level 65 Cinderace)
Marina (Level 65 Grapploct)
Cake (Level 65 Alcremie)
Cherry (Level 65 Tsareena)
Amanda (Level 65 Duraludon)
Emma Frost (Level 65 Froslass)

I'm ready to give Leon the most difficult battle of his life. At least I hope...

He starts with Aegislash, who immediately goes down to Pyro Ball. I switch to Cake, who takes a hit coming in -- but dodges the next attack from Haxorus and wipes it out with a single Dazzling Gleam. Leon sent out his third pokemon next, Dragapult. Which survives a dazzling gleam, and does some damage with Shadow Ball. But it's not very much. Cake uses Dazzling Gleam, followed by Draining Kiss. Next up: Mr. Rime. I bring in Trix, who takes a bit of damage from Psychic, but finishes it off with a Pyro Ball. Inteleon follows, but I swap to Cherry who takes a small hit from mud slap, then finishes it off with Trop Kick. That leaves his last pokemon: Charizard. His ace, and the one he will Gigantamax. I know I'm in trouble and know this will take some sacrifice. I have to choose.. so I choose Amanda. She's been with me the least. She goes down to a single hit from Gigantamax Charizard. I'm not surprised. Undeterred, I send out Emma Frost next. I set up Protect... which keeps Emma alive for a turn. Then I use my next turn to use my one healing item on Cake. Emma Frost goes down... I'm so sorry Emma! You did your job well. Charizard shrinks back down to size, and I send out Cake. Cake manages to dodge a couple of fire blast's, and whittles Charizards HP down. There's a couple of close calls, but Solar Beam doesn't do much, and Cake finishes it off with one last Dazzling Gleam. And with that... I'm the champion! Without ever having used Dynamax. Piers would be proud.

That was way more difficult than it looks on paper. Fire Blast was hitting pretty hard when it hit.. and if it missed one more time, I'm not sure Cake makes it through. Trix was in trouble, Cherry was weak to it, it'd have to be up to Marina, who might could have finished the job. But I'm glad it didn't come down to it. I will say that Alcremie has become one of my favorite pokemon after this run.

Final Team:
Trix (Cinderace, Level 66)
Marina (Grapploct, Level 65)
Cake (Alcremie, Level 66)
Cherry (Tsareena, Level 65)

In the box:
Cammy (Pancham, Level 17)
Dolly (Wooloo, Level 16)
Fleur (Gossifleur, Level 16)
Newton (Applin, Level 18)
Galaxy (Ponyta, Level 38)
Sizzle (Sizzlipede, Level 25)
Helmut (Shelmet, Level 28)
Eternatus (Level 60) (It didn't let me rename it yet)
Carmen (Runerigus, Level 51)

Deceased:
Alejandro (Lombre, Level 22)
Bright (Chinchou, Level 23)
Palina (Duskull, Level 28)
Cole (Coalossal, Level 41)
Tank (Drednaw, Level 49)
Jekyl (Morepeko, Level 52)
Elly (Cooperajah, Level 55)
Inkling (Inkay, Level 49)
Aragog (Araquanid, Level 51)
Nagini (Sandaconda, Level 51)
Queen (Pawniard, Level 51)
Emma Frost (Froslass, Level 65)
Amanda (Duraludon, Level 65)

Victory for the sentient cake! Congrats on another successful run. Surprisingly clean for a final battle, especially given how dicey things were earlier on.

I tried to start a Pokemon Ultra Sun nuzlocke. Started with Litten, who I named Cheshire. I caught an Inkay that I named Splatoon. I was doing pretty well... up until I got curb stomped by Ilima's yungoos. Not sure I want to try that again anytime soon. Trying to decide between X or Alpha Sapphire.

I decided to go with Pokemon X because I never actually beat it. I only got to the fourth gym before getting bored. Omega Ruby was my first pokemon game, and my dad got me Pokemon X a little after, but I found it too easy. Then I just kind of gave up on it. I only got to Ramos. So I'm going into this kind of blind but not really totally blind. Not that I remember much of it!

Anyway, I start with Froakie this time. I want something different, so I pick Froakie and name her Kasumi. Afterward, Shauna and her female Fennekin (lots of female starters here!) face off. But Kasumi has no problem. I return home, then set off on my journey.

Calem teaches me to catch pokemon, and then I catch my first: A scatterbug who I name Zephyr. In Santalune Forest, I catch a Fletchling and name him Fawkes. On Route 3 I catch a Dunsparce and name him Duncan.

I make my way to the gym, where I challenge the gym trainers. When I'm ready to face Viola, I bring only Fawkes and Kasumi with me. Fawkes is level 12, and Kasumi is level 11. Viola starts with Susrkit, and I start with Kasumi (mostly because I forgot to put Fawkes in front, but it works out). Kasumi has a little trouble dealing with Surskit, and Viola uses a potion to prolong the battle, but it doesn't do much to deter Kasumi from knocking it out. When she sends out Vivillon, I switch to Fawkes. Vivillon gets a free hit because I'm in set mode, but Infestation doesn't do too much damage. Harden makes the battle last a little longer, but a critical finishes it, and this Nuzlocke is off to a much better start!

`On Route 4 I catch a Floette and name her Fleur.

In Lumiose City, I make my way to the lab after healing up, and Professor Sycamore Challenges me to a battle. Fawkes takes care of Bulbasaur, Fleur does some damage to Squirtle before I swap out and let Kasumi finish off Squirtle and Charmander. Professor Sycamore lets me choose a pokemon, and I take Charmander and name him Alduin. Kasumi evolves into Frogadier and Zephyr evolves into Spewpa during the battle with Sycamore.

That's where I decide to quit for now.

Current Team:
Kasumi (Frogadier, Level 16)
Fawkes (Fletchling, Level 16)
Zephyr (Spewpa, Level 9)
Duncan (Dunsparce, Level 9)
Fleur (Floette, Level 8)
Alduin (Charmander (Level 10)

I haven't forgotten this. Getting on a plane in a little bit, and should have an update tomorrow.