#moveset; IVs and EVs; EVERYTHING

[gameboyhamazing]

Trying to figure out how to bring my beloved Carbink Stoner from the fan game where I met them to an official mainline game and I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way is through creating a hacked pokemon. Anyways gang any tips on creating a Carbink to the specifications of my choice in 3ds gen 7 (the only games I own)?

[jumpingjoltiks]

I just got a new cat! Could you please write something about the submas twins partner getting new pokemon & how theyd react? (and maybe something with sugar daddy submas too if thats okay?)

Oh wow that’s so exciting! Congrats on your new kitty friend!! ≽^•⩊•^≼

Warnings: None. Just fluff :)

▲ Ingo ▲

Absolutely thrilled for you! Bravo!

Have you caught them already? He would like to meet them sometime (Or see pictures. Or battle. Please battle with him!)

You haven’t caught them yet… Would you like some help going to catch them? He’d be happy to brave the tall grass and go along with you!

Ingo packs up plenty of supplies & a picnic lunch and makes it a fun date with you.

You go out in the morning, searching high and low for the perfect partner. For a city guy, he knows the wilds really well. By noon, you’ve found them, and you and Ingo both spend lunch getting to know your new friend.

By the time you three head back in the evening, you’re all worn out, and collapse into a cuddly nap pile.

▽ Emmet ▽

Verrry excited to hear you’re expanding your team! This means new double battle pairings in the future.

Immediately starts considering how to best incorporate them into your living situation.

How big are they and do they evolve? How much space will they need, both for living and enrichment?

Don’t let the sunny smile fool you. Emmet is very much the practical twin.

Once your new teammate has been caught, he sets up a day for his team to meet with yours for introductions.

He can’t help but be a little nervous. When he and his brother were young, it took joltik nearly two months to stop being terrified of lampent. Ever since then, he’s been very mindful about how best to introduce new members to old ones.

When everything goes even better than expected, he breathes a sigh of relief… Welcome to the team!

▲ Both ▽

Scheming

Did you forget they were battle facility heads? They are running the numbers almost immediately.

Stats. Ideal EVs / IVs. Movesets and eggmoves. Abilities. Natures. Strategies. Held items. Team composition. How to counter you in battle. How to incorporate and work as a team with you.

Have you already considered all of this? By all means, lay out your plans and they will happily make suggestions and comments on everything. And I mean everything! Prepare yourself for at least an hour of going over every detail.

Some considerations are naturally moot if you’ve already caught them yourself (and they’d still happily welcome your new friend into the throng, no doubt!), but if you’re looking for a teammate that’s also been bred to be better for battle… they both have connections and can help you out.

Their own pokemon are also very excited to meet their new friend, but they’ll have to wait and do it properly. They both have fully stacked teams – it might be a little overwhelming if everyone goes at once!

Heaven help you if you get a team member that’s already on one of their teams. They’re practically scrambling over themselves to help in all the ways they know how.

▲ Sugar Daddy!Submas ▽

In addition to all of the above, they are putting together a welcome package for your new team member!

Fun toys, specially made treats, accessories and special items that are made for them, and so on

They present a handful of options for apartment additions or renovations – for a cat pokémon, cat trees or climbing shelves and perches – and let you choose your preference. It will be delivered and installed within the week, preferably while you’re out of the apartment and on a date with them.

They take very good care of their own teams, so they have a lot of experience with choosing special toys and items for ‘mon enrichment!

Send them pictures with your new friend! Whether it’s them snuggled up under some super soft blankets, playing with a new toy, or even wrestling or napping with one of your original teammates, they always want to hear from you.

[cbdinodoodlez]

pleasepleasd tell me more about the pmd pl au i am interested tell me everything

UM I CAN TELL SOME OF IT

THERES COOL LORE OR SMTH BUT I PLAN ON FIXING AND REVAMPING IT BECAUSE I WROTE IT LIKE A YR AGO ISH LOL

BTW HERES SOME OF THE DESIGNS BC I FELT LIKE DRAWING SOME OF THEM

luke likes the concept of battling! but layton doesnt but does like the concept of just helping others so he always tries to find a way to prevent battling while in dungeons n stuff but will have to fight sometimes

luke is NOT good at battling at all but he likes the thought of being strong so let's let him believe lmao

we dont know much abt nws so this might change but since luke now has to live in a different region he prob works alone now :( but he is a bit more competent especially in battling [by this time hes finally getting closer to evolving into marshtomp!!!]

heres some movesets i made a long while ago i forgor abt and might fix up later lol

Luke has an oran berry for rn but i wouldnt be surprised if he got leftovers at a later date

for clive's ability iykyk

i had stuff for some others like emmy but theyre missing :(

here's the entire list so far for what pkmn goobers are...not complete ofc :(

List: layton - lycanroc [midday] luke - mudkip emmy - emolga flora - leafeon clive - marshtomp descole - lycanroc [midnight] randall - buizel [or floatzel if it's in the present] aurora - amaura bronev - lycanroc [dusk] lucy baker - eevee alfendi - morgrem anton - absol clark - samurott barton - quagsire henry - sandslash espella - espeon eve - umbreon grosky - palafin don paolo - hisuian typhlosion sammy - krokorok claire - alolan ninetales inspector chelmey - ursaring katrtielle - furfrou ernest - chespin

ik this is a random assortment of characters but these r the ones ive been able to come up w bc choosing pkmn for these guys r a lot harder than i thought 😭😭

[coldslaws]

Super cute! Hisuian Growlith is absolutely adorable and it's story in PLA swoon me to tears, too bad the boss battle made me wanna literally rip out my hair tho 💔

My personal favourite is Hydreigon, I mean, just look at how cute it is! A creature so misunderstood by society and regarded as a danger and hazard to everyone and everything around it turns out to be just a big sky puppy is amazing, though I might just really like dragons it's my fav type after all

And idk about all of y'all, but my Hydreigon Cheesecake who is perfectly trained in EVs and IVs as well as having a beneficial speed upping nature who also has a Moveset covering 13/18 types boosted by a life orb couldn't even hurt a fly, y'all just suck tbh

- 💌

yeah real </3 i love the concept of boss battles in pkm (outside of just like, legendaries and stuff) but the pla bosses were lowkey a freaking nightmare

hydreigon!!! SOBS ik!! poor thing deserves so much better (i know im definitely not helping LMAO), it's a really cool design and deino + zweilous are actual cutiepies. and i know a lot of people hate green shinies but it's got a pretty cool shiny too imo. i Need characters in the pokemon universe to understand that a lot of pkm aren't inherently evil or malicious, they're just animals doing animal things. the pokedex entries on it are literally so mean and for what purpose. only violet's dex seems to cut it some slack by saying that it only got its reputation for being ferocious because it was hated and attacked by humans all the time

cheesecake my beloved. i love the name cheesecake for a dragon. they sound cool as fuck

[tsukai22]

Lots of stuff

I'm playing Persona 5 Strikers. I kind of wish I'd bought the PS4 version since the loading times on the Switch version are pretty long - noticeably longer than Persona 5 Royal. I've read that if you play the PS4 version on PS5 then the loading times become really quick. Oh well.

So UndeadK9 turned out to be a new Vtuber named Kuro. I'm still going to stubbornly stick to my guess of it being Bubi until their debut stream.

A list of potential things I can look forward to in FEH in the near future, more as a reminder to myself: 1: Soleil alt; 2: a certain Engage spoiler character on the Halloween banner if it's all dragons again; 3: Rosado, as the next Engage banner will most likely be Elusia-based, 4: Bernadetta's refine (I've got her at +10 already), 5: Yunaka; 6: Merrin; and 7: building Eitr to put on my main team if she shows up on a banner if none of the new characters I've mentioned show up in the next few months.

Last, and least:

Has trying to check Ursaluna Blood Moon got you down? Worry no more, as I've come up with a sure-fire way to beat it with this set:

Drifblim @ Sitrus Berry Ability: Unburden Tera Type: Ghost EVs: 252 SpA / 144 SpD / 112 Spe Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk

Skill Swap

Icy Wind

Shadow Ball

Strength Sap

Skill Swap Drifblim steals Mind's Eye from Ursaluna BM and makes itself immune to the latter's entire standard moveset (Blood Moon / Earth Power / Vacuum Wave). It then beats it up with Icy Wind. As a bonus, if Unburden triggers before Drifblim uses Skill Swap, then you give Ursaluna BM a (most likely) useless ability. This situation is pretty likely if Drifblim switches in and tanks a Blood Moon and triggers it's Sitrus Berry. The Speed EVs guarantee that Drifblim will outspeed max speed Ursaluna BM, max Sp. Atk is obvious, rest goes into Sp. Def to help tank an initial Blood Moon (the move). Unfortunately there's not enough room for any utility moves such as Will-o-Wisp or Defog since a mono-attacking set either can't damage Ursaluna BM or can't damage anything else. You say it's an overspecialised answer to a problematic Pokemon that's dead weight against everything else in the meta? Bah! I think you'll find that that's the fate awaiting Ursaluna BM after people start using this set! Please don't actually use this set, I'm begging you.

[kabbr]

@transdekus Baby is what i name all my new tepigs now. it used to be Oinkers, but theres only 1 oinkers i trust, and thats my tepig in my copy of sun, so i had to change the name i use for them

[shiftperception]

Misc Gen 5 Headcanons cuz I’m HOPELESS

-ADHD Bianca. I know it’s kinda surface level stereotypical being based on how she’s described as “flighty” and accused of having no sense of time, but as an ADHD (well ADD but apparently that name isn’t used anymore?) person myself I’d like to claim Bianca for the neurodivergent squad. Besides I don’t see ADHD hcs about female characters that often. ADHD girls exist and could use some more recognition!

-Additionally, Bianca seems like a fidget toy collector. You know those people who have like a million keychains, phone charms, desk toys/figures often including colorful fidget toys sprinkled in? I don’t know what it is about Bianca but she seems like that kind of person. The kind who would have a counselor’s office level fidget toy stash. It just vibes with her aesthetic to me.

-Colress is absolutely the type of person who’d be super into competitive. He’s all about bringing out the potential of pokemon and will use any means necessary to get the best results. Colress would spend hours breeding pokemon and release boxes of breedjects that don’t have the right IVs. Be particular about EV training, like investing a certain amount into a certain stat to be sure his fast attacker will always outspeed xyz with a choice scarf. Colress has the showdown damage calculator open in another tab. He has a rotom wash on his team. He could’ve picked any rotom form and he picked wash because of course he did. *whispers* VGC player... Or whatever the in universe equivalent would be. VGC player Colress. I will die on this hill.

-His stupid team he had as a battle tree partner is not only infuriatingly lackluster in the moveset department, but OUT OF CHARACTER. I know it would be too OP for gamefreak but you can’t tell me Colress with a porygon z and the normal z crystal would be out here running breakneck blitz when z-conversion is right there. This man would setup sweep with no remorse and you know it. Explosion metagross?? Honey no. I haven’t played competitive in ages and was never a top tier player by any means, but I can tell you from my hours wasting time on showdown in class while pretending to work I’ve never seen that. Nobody wastes as good of an attacker as metagross as a suicide lead. At least not that I know of. A strategy that reckless doesn’t fit a cool calculating scientist like Colress anyway. And in DOUBLES?? With a partner. That he hasn’t talked with to make sure they’re running protect/wide guard/a ghost type or SOMETHING that prevents their own pokemon from dying to explosion??? No.

-wait I’m nOT DONE. A L S O while Colress is morally ambiguous and not the most caring or compassionate, he is courteous. Maybe it’s hard to say if he’s good (or evil), but he is for the most part nice. I think he’d be a merciless opponent but very supportive and considerate battle partner. He’d want to talk strats and team build with you, and definitely wouldn’t run a move that hurts your pokemon without consulting you. Because it’s a dumb play and a dick move. Ok rant over.

-Ever walked into a store and been like I think (insert character) would shop here? There’s this Japanese store in my city called Muji and I feel like N would shop there. Something about the wooden everything and the plants and the soothing minimal designs makes me feel like I’d see him buying clothes there, staring thoughtfully at the oil diffusers, writing philosophical quotes or trying to doodle his pokemon in the pen/notebook section.

-N and his reformed team plasma followers start a real anti pokemon cruelty organization post BW2 that run nature reserves where they care for rescued pokemon in various regions. N becomes a well known and highly regarded pokemon rights/environmental activist in Unova.

[quartings]

Even though we know Gamefreak is probably going to make the Gen 4 remakes disappointingly easy again, the one exception I hope they make is to make Cynthia even tougher.

Sure, they could min-max the IVs & EVs and give them all competitive movesets and items, but let's just stick to smaller, more realistic changes and then go on to the big crazy ones.

- Keep the crazy level spike from DP: From Victory Road's Lv49 Traners to the Lv53-66 range of the Sinnoh Elite Four. In Platinum, the range goes from Lv50 to Lv49-62 instead. Not a fan of this, but it's the most likely.

- Swap out redundant abilities: Cynthia's Gastrodon has Sticky Hold but no item. In Platinum, her Togekiss has Hustle and no Physical moves. Give Gastrodon Storm Drain and Togekiss Serene Grace instead. If they want to remove Garchomp's mostly useless Sand Veil for its Hidden Ability Rough Skin, that's cool too.

- Dragons aren't as broken anymore. Any non-Dragon Pokemon with Dragon coverage like Lucario or Milotic should forego those moves for better status moves or coverage moves. On a related note, Togekiss should have Dazzling Gleam for STAB too.

- Spritomb gains almost nothing from Dark Pulse. Moves like Will O Wisp, Infestation, Snarl, Pain Split, or even Double Team (ew) would help it more.

-Give Gastrodon Earth Power instead of Earthquake.

- With Dragon Rush, Earthquake, and Fire Fang/Flamethrower, Garchomp already hits everything neutrally. Not sure if Giga Impact is still relevant, but in a Dynamax world, maybe a Fighting or Steel move would be helpful for Garchomp's physical stats? A Rock move would help its Sand Veil too.

- Speaking of which, since Gamefreak will probably give Cynthia's Garchomp a big final form like with all Champions since 2013, may I suggest two things:

1) Make G-Max Garchomp actually good. They could make its G-Max move just pure brute strength like the Galar Starters at 160bp, or maybe give it a new, actually useful effect.

2) If they're going to bless us by bringing Megas back, I would excuse them making a Mega Garchomp X, since the current Mega Garchomp isn't that great. (Though Flygon better get its own Mega too then)

[contact--light]

there was a reason why i stopped playing pokemon

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Meowth Line

THAT’S RIGHT!

DESIGN:  

Meowth’s basic design is very reminiscent of the classic “Lucky Cat,” but wearing its coin as a headdress rather than holding it. Also, Meowth is slimmer, lankier, and more active.  It’s a simple design, but it looks good, even if it’s obviously ‘generic cat.’

Alolan Meowth takes that design and makes it extra sassy, which is great. Meowth always had personality, but Alolan Meowth just has more of it. It’s still the lucky money cat, but now it knows it’s cool. Alolan Meowth is behind the gym smoking cigarettes. And your mom told you not to hang out with him but you’re going to anyway.

Look at that guy. He’s not rich because he’s lucky. He’s rich because he’s shoplifting non-stop. 

And then there’s Galarian Meowth.

Galarian Meowth will fuck you up. It’s still clearly a Meowth, but it’s feral rather than pampered, hard and tough, with an excess of fur, and rather than having a gold coin, its coin is hard iron. It’s not there for luxury, it’s there to make weapons and armor out of.  Galarian Meowth is one of my favorite regional forms, though it does beg the question of when a regional form should start counting as a different Pokemon altogether. Meowth evolves into Persian in Kanto and Alola, and I gotta say... I don’t like Persian. It’s just a cat. It does cat things. It’s boring, it’s uninteresting, and while the forehead gem is something, it doesn’t really feel like a natural evolution of Meowth’s coin as it would if it were more distinctly gem-like instead of just being round.  Giving the gem a proper cut could’ve gone a long way here, and yes, that detail would have been hard to show in the first game, but just making it diamond-shape instead of round would’ve screamed “What once was gold is now a ruby.”  Losing the coloration on its feet and tail is a problem, too. It just looks so bland compared to Meowth.   Also, going from a biped to a quadruped seems kind of like a downgrade. 

Alolan Persian is... worse. Sorry, I have nothing good to say about it design-wise. It just looks like an uglier, stupider version of Persian. The color shift is fine, but it now has a fat face and that’s it. Also it’s more of a jerk somehow. Meowth to Persian is one of the worst evolution downgrades in Pokemon. I could respect Persian as its own Pokemon, but it’s hard to respect it as “evolved form of Money Cat.”

On the other hand... Perrserker is the greatest thing ever.  It looks like a stronger, tougher form of Galarian Meowth, with its Iron headpiece turning into a full helmet, and its claws combining into something sword-like. It is an angry, viking, dwarf cat, and it just looks like what Galarian Meowth should turn into. Everything about its design builds off Meowth, except it trades some of its goofiness and scrappiness for looking like it’s seriously ready to go to war.

The final Meowth form is Gigantimax Meowth which... is funny. Look, it’s not a good design, it’s not a reasonable design, and Meowth shouldn’t even really have a Gigantimax Form, but longcat is long, and that’s hilarious, so I’m just going to give it a pass. EVOLUTIONS:  You know what I love seeing? All three Meowth forms evolve at level 28. That’s it. It’s great. No muss no fuss.  Now, there is room for a third form in there, but we’ll get to whether it needs it later.  A baby version of Meowth was designed for gen 1 and slated for gen 2, but it was cut both times, which is good because Meowth is early game enough that there’s no need for a pokemon that’s just Meowth but weaker. G-Max Meowth exists, and it’s honestly the best example of a gimmick G-Max. While a lot of weak G-Max pokemon just have no use, G-Max Meowth’s special move, G-Max Gold Rush, just spits out coins, up to 99,999 each battle. I gotta say, I’ve used G-Max Meowth, not for competetive battles, but to fill up my pockets with dosh late game.

TYPING:  Kantonian Persian is a Normal type, whcih means Immunity to Ghost, Weakness to Fighting, and not strong against anything while being resisted by both Rock and Steel. It’s just not a strong type, and it’s mostly good for bulky, defensive Pokemon that get a lot more out of only having one weakness than they lose from not having any type coverage. Persian is not that Pokemon. Alolan Persian is Dark type, which is generally better. Three weaknesses, two resistances, and an immunity, though it’s only super effective against two types and resisted by three.  It’s fine overall, but nothing special. Perrserker is a Steel type. Steel is the best type in the game, bar none. Ten resistances and one immunity just makes any Steel Pokemon with stats that matter hard to kill. And it’s coverage isn’t that bad, super effective on three types and resisted by four.  STATS:  Persian and Alolan Persian have 5 sub-par stats and good speed. The thing is, speed 115 may be a lot, but when you’re attacking at 70 (Kantonian) or special attacking at 75 (Alolan), going first isn’t enough to win the day.  Perrserker, on the other hand, eschews speed in favor of having 110 attack and significantly higher Defense than Persian. While its stat total is the same 440, having high defense and Steel Type means it can take hits far better, and its high attack stat means getting hit by Perrserker actually hurts. ABILITIES:  Kantonian Persian has limber (immunity to paralysis) and Unnerve (opponent can’t eat berries) but it’s strongest ability is Technician. Technician increases the base power of moves of 60 power or less by 50%, meaning Bite is suddenly better than Crunch and Theif’s suddenly an actual attack and... uhh... ... umm...  This ability would be a lot better if Persian had more attacks at 60 power. Well, it buffs Fake out from 40 to 60 at least, and free damage is free damage. Alolan Persian also gets Technician, but isn’t any better with it. It’s hidden ability, Rattled, increases its speed if it’s hit by a Bug, Ghost, or Dark move or if an opponent uses Intimidate on it, which is... mediocre. Weak to Ghost and with poor defenses, that’ll likely just kill it, though it does resist Dark... But its speed is already high enough that an ability that sometimes raises its speed isn’t going very far.

Its final ability,  Fur Coat, gives it actual competence. Fur Coat doubles its defense. That’s it.  Going from base 60 defense to base 120 defense is huge, even before factoring in defense from IVs, EVs, etcetera.  This is the only ability worth having on Alolan Persian. Comparatively, the other two abilities are nothing. And this isn’t even the Hidden Ability. Perrserker has three abilities, two of which are very similar. Its first ability, Battle Armor, protects it from Critical Hits. It’s not fancy, and it is decent, but the other two options are simply better.  Tough Claws increases the power of all of Perrserker’s attacks that make contact by 30%, which is frankly a lot of them, while Steely Spirit increases the power of its Steel Type moves by 50%. Obviously, it’s only going to have one Steel attack in a normal build, and as this is Iron Head, it will gain the boost from Tough Claws as well... So here it’s more of a meta question which you want: The strongest STAB attack possibly with an effective base 120 Iron Head, or more power spread out on your other moves.

MOVES: Kantonian Persian has slightly higher Attack than Special Attack, but not by much, so the fact that it learns Nasty Plot means there’s incentive to build it as a Special Attacker.  Alolan Persian always wants to be a Special Attacker.

Even with Technician, Persian’s attack lineup just isn’t great. It can use Fake Out for free STAB damage, which is nice, but after that, a physical build is relying on Body Slam for its STAB damage, which isn’t exactly the best, though the chance to paralyze is nice. Then for coverage, Bite and Play Rough are options, as is Gunk Shot, but there’s really nothing special going on here.  U-Turn allows a hit with the switch, but it’s still only a 70 power hit. Persian did have some better attacks, like Double-Edge and Return, in previous generations, but those are currently missing from its lineup.  All in all, Persian’s moveset doesn’t really do anything physically.  For Special Attacking, Persian can learn Nasty Plot.  The only Special move it gets via level-up is Power Gem, which is pretty poor unless you really need the coverage. On Kantonian Persian, Hyper Voice is your STAB Special, while Alolan uses Dark Pulse.   For special attacks, Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt add some nice coverage, and Technician can turn Icy Wind into an actual attack.  Persian can also learn Foul Play, which is a solid, if sometimes unreliable, Dark Attack that doesn’t require investment in the Attack stat. Alolan Persian can get Parting Shot, which reduces the enemy’s Attack and Special Attack before switching out. With its speed, this will often mean weakening an attack before your other Pokemon takes it. Honestly, I think most of what I’d want to do with a Persian would just be to annoy the opponent and get in some free damage. Fake Out, Foul Play, U-Turn or Parting Shot, and Body Slam or Dark Pulse in case staying in seems reasonable.  With Persian’s Speed, Fake Out and U-Turn/Parting Shot will often just be two free hits every time you have to switch Pokemon. Perrserker, on the other hand, is a physical attacker with physical attacks. Iron Head is its obvious Steel attack. U-Turn is U-Turn, I don’t think I need to keep justifying ‘get a hit in when switching’ except here it’s ‘with an actual attack stat and maybe an ability to do +30% damage.��  Close Combat offers some great coverage and a lot of raw power, and Seed Bomb, Gunk Shot, and Play Rough are all great attacks, too. 

And if you’re feeling cocky, Perrserker can get Swords Dance. On the other hand, if you’re feeling worried, Amnesia plugs Perrserker’s low Special Defense to let it tank longer. 

Generally, I think Iron Head, U-Turn, Close Combat, and whatever other move you need for coverage on your team is the way you want to go.

And if it’s 2v2, hey, Perrserker gets Fake Out, too. OVERALL:  Kantonian Persian is a very weak Pokemon, with abilities that don’t help it and a move pool that isn’t really built for anything. Alolan Persian is a lot better, primarily thanks to Fur Coat, but also by having Parting Shot with high speed, allowing it to repeatedly mess with enemies.  But they’re also both really stupid pokemon that are just ‘lawl I’m a cat’ and don’t have anything interesting in their designs even though the Meowths are so cool. Perrserker’s all around solid and exactly where it needs to be. Its already high attack is bolstered by a +Attack pair of abilities, its high Defense stat is bolstered by Steel type, so it can hold its own without trying anything tricky just as long as nobody sets it on fire.  Or knows Earth Power. It does not fare well against Earth Power.

[1-800-divorce]

I saw a tweet that said people who complain about SwSh being too easy need to consider that they’re older than the target audience and likely know about IVs, EVs, nature, and better movesets so therefore of course the games are easier for them, and it’s all true to a certain extent though not fully. It is pretty easy to get over leveled, which was harder in the past (even when I replayed Platinum about a year or two ago and was into competitive battling already I lagged if I didn’t grind a lot after every couple of gyms). In SwSh I was over leveled by gym 4 and it stayed that way to the end, so I 1-2 shot everything. Level 60-64 is way too high even for the Champion Cup. Level 60-65 is good for battling Eternatus and Leon though because you’ll be around the same level as them, so it’s up to you where you want your challenge to be and how much of one you want.

[crystalelemental]

patchun replied to your post: Imo the nature candies and bottle caps being the...

It would literally be so easy to just be able to buy mints at every mart for decently low prices- same with Ability changing items. And it would be so easy to just let us choose our EVs. Like. Max 252 isn’t that hard. Just let us choose where our EVs go as we level up, or before we level up, or at any point throughout the game! There’s 0 reason why it has to be such a hassle!

The adjustment to finally let people cap out an EV with just the medicine is fantastic, I will defend that decision until I die.  But beyond that, yeah, everything else really isn’t any more accessible than it was before.  It just...exists.  The problem with getting into Pokemon was never about whether something existed, it was about ease of access and the tedium required to get there.  Sword and Shield really doesn’t do anything to make that better.

Like, yes, there’s a video of someone going “This is how easy it is to make a competitive-ready Pokemon!” and it’s them hatching Corsola, feeding it the exact correct number of EXP Candies, the exact right amount of medicine, and using the TMs they had to get its moveset, and showing that it only takes a few minutes.  But dude, that’s super disingenuous.  How long did it take to farm out all that candy?  Considering you only get 1 XL candy per 5* fight, with several of them being an absolute nightmare without 3 other actual players, that’s a long-ass time to farm.  Money is fairly plentiful, so medicines I’d believe you can acquire with relative ease, possibly faster with the Wild Area options than repeatedly challenging the League.  But perhaps most damning of all...hey buddy.  How’d you get that Corsola?  Oh right, you bred it.  Because the mints cost 50 fucking BP and that shit’s going to take forever, so it’s faster to breed.

Not that breeding’s much better, with how much you have to optimize IVs with good parents and all the breeding tools to make those components work.  Both options have an equal amount of hidden tedium behind them, and it’s just not fun trying to get into competitive.  Especially in a generation where competitive is inherently broken because Dynamax is ridiculous.

[springtwirling]

I feel like talking about Kairos’ Pokemon team, so. ♥

Preface/context for his team: his team has been influenced either directly by Kairos’ magic or the magic of his family, and has been trained to defend him and his family from not just Pokemon, but humans, monsters, aliens, and especially demonic and without question ELDRITCH threats. Thus, their development and personalities and movesets revolve around such. 

Another note: I’m using ANIME rules. This is where it has been shown that more than four moves can be used by trained Pokemon (8 in a battle, up to 10 out of battle). However, in a SANCTIONED battle, only four may be used. If it’s not sanctioned, there are no rules; not to this party.

That said. All bolded moves are ones used in sanctioned battles.

“FLARE”; ARCANINE

Level: 100 Classification: Legendary / Guardian Height / Weight: 7′3″ / 262kg Nature: Jolly Ability: Intimidate IVs: 13 / 13 / 17 / 10 / 10 / 16 EVs: 105 / 85 / 85 / 50 / 85 / 100 Moveset: Extreme Speed, Bulldoze, Dragon Pulse, Psychic Fangs, Roar, Wild Charge, Flamethrower Item: Gear Necklace (Legendary Item associated with him specifically; Provides a bonus to Sp. Atk and HP)

Summary: Given to Kairos when he was a Growlithe, he was the first to be exposed to the boy’s wildly growing magic, in all it’s twists and turns, in all it’s rapid changes and surges and everything that changed in the boy’s life. He was there, through all of it. Learning, watching, listening, being patient, never making the same mistake more than twice lest he wish ill on his trainer or his trainer’s family. One might call this stressful. He saw this as an exercise in calm of mind. He would be the grounding point for the family, the anchor, the liferaft, safe harbor. No harm would come to his trainer or his family. It certainly helps that he can shapeshift into a human when he needs to actually talk, too.

“FAE”; ALOLAN NINETALES (SHINY)

Level: 75 Classification: Pseudo-Legendary / Kitsune Height / Weight: 3′11″ / 22kg Nature: Bold Ability: Snow Cloak IVs: 11 / 12 / 13 / 18 / 17 / 22 EVs: 105 / 25 / 70 / 125 / 100 / 65 Moveset: Safeguard, Icy Wind, Aurora Beam, Sheer Cold, Agility, Dark Pulse, Extrasensory Item: Lax Incense (10% Evasion Chance)

Summary: A Pokemon that approached him while he was getting away from working with too many stuffy Alolan technicians, this particularly Ninetales found Kairos both amusing and curious, as despite seeming to hate the cold of the high mountains, he still griped and bemoaned how the the tourists were treating the landscape and used his magic to quickly clean up the space, then laying down in the snow. Once again, even though he seemed to visibly despise the cold. She then came over to him, with all of her nine tails, and sprawled across him to keep him warm. This obviously didn’t work, as she had ice in her coat, but she ended up being a part of the family after that and protecting him, as he had protected her land.

“MEZCLA”; CHARIZARD

Level: 70 Classification: game freak stop fucking with me that’s a DRAGON Height / Weight: 6′4″ / 125kg Nature: Relaxed Ability: Blaze IVs: 11 / 18 / 11 / 18 / 11 / 15 EVs: 85 / 100 / 125 / 100 / 50 / 50 Moveset: Steel Wing, Shadow Claw, Protect, Dragon Dance, Hurricane, Counter Item: Focus Sash (prevents the holder from fainting in one hit)

Summary: A Pokemon gifted to him half as a snide joke from shaded faces and half as what he saw as a test of his ability to truly care for a being that in some places would be considered a god without being one. At first, it was merely that. A game. A puzzle. A test. One he’d succeed in. But then he saw the Charizard for who she really was. A caring, doting woman who fiercely defends what’s hers, even though she’s not the most heavily scaled dragon around, and would likely go down easier than most. She’s become one of the focus points in his defense.

“DREAM”; ‘ESPEON?’

Level: ???? Classification: Unknown. Due to a sudden absence in a god of dreams and a god of nightmares, one can be inclined to believe that this one had a hand in their disappearance... but she’s not talking. Height / Weight: 2′4″ / 20kg Nature: Quiet Ability: Magic Bounce IVs: 15 / 12 / 16 / 27 / 31 / 10 EVs: ?? / ?? / ?? / 150 / ?? / ?? Moveset: Psychic, Yawn, Dream Eater / Nightmare (situation depending), Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Ball, Calm Mind, Focus Energy, Stored Power Item: None. She doesn’t need one. :)

Summary: Another Pokemon gifted to Kairos years ago. She showed up one day when he was asleep on his living room couch, and when he woke up, she was just ... there. Staring at him. He stopped questioning things by that point, and she joined his team, no pokeball needed. She had seamlessly transitioned into eating his dreams and nightmares, leaving him in a state of ... neutrally rested? Not well rested or exceptionally tired, but functioning. It was always odd to have your dreams eaten by something. Especially when you don’t know about it. In return, whenever he needs her help in a battle, she happily obliges... and for some reason, she’s strong enough to take hits from legendaries and direct hits from gods and not even flinch. How strange.

“REOL”; LUCARIO

Level: 66 Classification: Aura Healer Height / Weight: 3′10″ / 62kg Nature: Brave Ability: Inner Focus IVs: 12 / 16 / 11 / 17 / 13 / 13 EVs: 50 / 100 / 50 / 100 / 100 / 110 Moveset: Aura Sphere, Heal Pulse, Life Dew, Helping Hand, Endure, Focus Blast Item: 

Summary: Reol, or Riri as Kairos calls her, is the youngest of the group, and the one who joined the team only a few months before he disappeared from reality / the multiverse for several years. He had been requested by the Riolu’s mother directly to take care of her daughter after poachers were hunting in the region and taking everything they could find, and Kairos had been raising Reol since she was a baby because of that. After a few months however, Kairos was taken back into the Depths. When Reol learned of what had happened from Dream and Flare, the only two of the Pokemon team who fully remembered and knew of the deal’s terms, she trained herself with them and strengthened her healing and her aura powers to be able to help her trainer when he got back. These days, she’s dutiful in helping keep Kairos’ daily pain to a minimum with the help of his medication, rarely participating in battles, as most of her moves focus on aid and healing and repelling.

[girlyliondragon]

Seriously, Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to turn the Pokemon League into Smogon? I don't give a shit about competitive battling. Never have, never will, why do you think I avoid the battle facilities with the exceptions of Sword/Shield's Battle Tower and the normal mode battles in USUM's battle tree?

Now you're forcing me into competitive battling just so I can beat the game?

I know people say Cynthia was hard in the OG game as well, but I highly doubt the OG DP literally had her team be built for competitive battling. As if that is required for a team to be hard. USUM was hard too, but it was still BEATABLE with a team you built in the game and it didn’t suddenly go “Oh hey btw did you EV train your mons in a game where EV training is annoying as hell/get the perfect nature/have good movesets? Even though your moveset availability is shit in this game? WELL Better clench your fucking asscheeks you filthy fucking CASUAL!”

Like, you think it’s not Smogon hard? DRIFBLIM’S SET IS LITERALLY BANNED FROM SMOGON. Actually, that is not a Smogon set, that is past Smogon, just NASTY and BROKEN! And casual players like this?

And who the f even wanted this in a casual game anyways? A game that, and I will note, literally does NOT TEACH YOU ANYTHING ABOUT BATTLE STRATEGY IN THIS GAME PAST THE TUTORIAL??? A game that literally lets you play casually the whole way until you get to that Elite 4 and see that your ingame team that you built with love ain’t gonna do shit without wasting everything you hoarded? And thus is a WALL OF DIFFICULTY SPIKE that ISN’T POST-GAME where you can get good shit to make it decent. Without remembering the fact that Pokemon does not have difficulty modes and thus if you’re struggling in that game you’re gonna keep struggling until you’re either burnt out from that E4 or burnt out after defeating them?

Who the fuck wanted this? Poketubers who want the game to be as hard as competitive wi-fi battles? As if kids who want a simple easy game to play don’t play this game? Did you all forget that kids play these games too and not just the competitive adults foaming over perfect IVs? Or casuals or beginners?

No. Fuck. You. Everyone who wanted this to be as hard as it is and still like it don’t realize that it’s been pushed too far. Fuck you all that asked for this. I hope to god that they never do this for a Pokemon game ever again.

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 10]

Elite Four has been defeated, but N and all the fun of Team Plasma’s castle thing remain.

Our lineup?

tag your spoilers wow

So let’s.

Yeah.

These are my options. I don’t think beating the Elite Four alone opens up any new routes, though that might be worth checking out. Without Gelding, I have nothing that knows Fly. Exploring those options might be a little more complicated than I want, but what I want is no longer that relevant to all of this.

Staring at the list is not making it better.

Okay. What I’m going to do. ...Geez, yeah, okay, so the Electric Gym town has a guy who can tell you what your pokemon’s ivs look like. I’m not really sure what I want to go with here, so I think I’ll use that to narrow down my options.

The roadwork that keeps me from exiting Opelucid to the right is ongoing.

...I need Fly to keep my sanity. But. No, yes, I need Fly. I will Move Delete it if it’s a problem.

Great. So I have a Togetic (Tock) with Fly.

I remembered wrong, or just can’t find the iv guy. But something I did remember while looking at the map...

An unexplored area. I don’t know if it has any pokemon in it, but let’s check it out and cross our fingers.

...And that’s a bust.

I could try hitting up towns that I haven’t caught anything in and seeing if they have Surf spots? With Tock getting an Exp. Share in the meantime? I’m not comfortable using Togekiss, because I can’t remember whether or not it’s a thing that stops learning moves when it hits its final evolution or not. But as long as he’s here, he might as well get something out of it.

Presenting the dark grass off of Route 1.

So not a new route.

It’s not horrible for grinding, maybe?

I say as nothing but Tock benefits?

-considers Tock for a moment-

I have vitamins. I can feel myself leaning towards using him.

Some of the problem is that I have no idea what Ghetsis or N have. Ghestsis has the Hydreigon from hell and N has Reshiram, but nothing I have available really solves how much of a problem those things are. Togekiss, in theory, has a good movepool. I think. Something useful could be done. But that would probably involve buying TMs. I have no idea what it learns naturally.

Well, Tock just learned Ancient Power. So that’s one thing it learns naturally.

As long as it’s learning, I’ll stay away from evolving it.

...Yeah, Tock’s basically in.

New route off the side of the starting town.

There’s water and. Water. So my choices are pretty clear.

Heh. I found TM06 Toxic.

That might be useful.

IT IS MY FAVORITE THING!

But not something I really feel a pressing urge to use for my team. Damn.

Quick Ball get, and his name is Wagston now.

This route is terrible for exp, since everything appears to be in the single digits, but I think it might lead to another section where I can maybe nab another thing. So on we go.

The map says I am now in Route 18, and there’s grass. I’m going to believe it.

...

...

k

No on the Quick Ball.

I think it might be half Fighting. So I do not want to Mach Punch. (Hi I’m from the future and I happened to scroll up and see this, and self, what the fuck does that mean? Those things are not of the sense making.)

..I don’t really want Tock near a legendary so close to his level.

Switching in to Frogger and hoping for that magic Poison Touch.

That isn’t happening even a little.

Tock can probably handle one Take Down.

Terrakion uses Double Kick twice, and Tock let’s. Let’s get you out of there. And tick off another turn by healing you up a little. Same to you, Frogger.

...Ultra Ball? Yeah, it’s still green, but. My strategy appears to be letting it hit itself until I am comfortable using one of my four Timer Balls.

It keeps using Helping Hand.

I am double checking Frogger’s ability.

...Yeah, no, he can poison things. He’s just. Not. Ever.

-tosses a normal Poke Ball-

It’s night. Dusk Ball?

Would you look at that, it got a shake.

...I don’t even know if I want to use it.

This has been a lot of turns I’m not mentioning now.

I think enough turns have gone by for the Timer Ball to have its max effectiveness. I’m less sure that it will be enough.

Great Ball does the trick, though.

Wow.

...Oh. It is not Ground/Fighting.

It is Rock/Fighting.

Good to know.

Hm. Needs a name.

Rojo.

-kneads forehead-

I have no idea what I’m doing. Training Tock up a little, but. I don’t have a solid thought about what I want for my team. I was fine just going with what I happened to catch, then yay, I have more than six, and now suddenly options. Options that I don’t have solid thoughts on, since I don’t know what I need to protect myself from.

Map now says I’m at the P2 Laboratory, and there is grass about. So one more option awaits.

I don’t...

You know.

Legendaries are hard to catch?

This game’s only real mood is making me eat my words. Quick Ball ftw.

So. Uh.

Flaming chicken needs a name.

Buzz. For reasons I can’t explain without divulging the names of family members and some truly bizarre dot connections.

Also, I have picked up the Thunderbolt TM.

Okay, at this point I’m just being silly, and really, I’ve checked off the only sensible places to check for ways to fill out my team. I need to make some choices. Now.

Tock is basically in by virtue of me bonding to anything I use more than once. If things go well, he will fill Gelding’s old role of having an esoteric moveset. Only with more survivability.

That puts me with Grass/Fighting, Water/Ground, Bug/Steel, Fire, Normal/Flying.

What I could really use is some Fairy.

This gen does not have that.

Options:

Normal

Fighting/Steel

Steel

Rock/Water

Water

Water/Grass

Ghost

Fire/Fighting

Ghost/Water

Rock/Fighting

Grass/Rock

Psychic

Fighting/Dark

Fire/Flying

Bug/Flying

-ponders-

I know I have a Fire/Dragon problem. I probably have a Dragon/Dark problem, because I have convinced myself that damn thing has Flamethrower. Water besides Frogger would not be the worst thing ever.

My personal leanings: Jellicent (Peanut), Terrakion (Rojo), or Spoink (Piglet).

Peanut or Piglet would give me another Special Attacker. But I have Tock, Frogger, and Fido’s really a flex.

I think.

Rojo? Let’s Rock.

-dons sunglasses-

Training montage time.

Fido’s up front. I’m going to run away from the Machamps because Attack is not a thing Tock needs, and Fido’s cooked on EVs. Actual EV training with specific, intentional numbers drives me insane in-game, so I won’t bother, but I want to at least try for some boosts. Amoonguss isn’t a bad thing for Togekiss grinding, and Gothita isn’t either.

The Machamps will get their turn when Rojo’s up properly.

In case you wondered, this is boring af.

Oh, wait, I guess we haven’t been formally introduced to our new little ones.

Tock is Calm, but very finicky. Dude, same. Serene Grace is also a horrifying Ability in the right hands, but I don’t really know what I’m doing yet. I will figure out Tock’s moveset when it’s time for evolution. Then cry, I guess, because I’m pretty sure not having a guide for this part is going to hurt.

Great Nature, though.

Rojo is Sassy and hates to lose. We were made for each other. Justified is a bit of an overspecialized Ability, but opportunities abound for it to be useful.

Back to the grind.

Ideally, Tock gets trained up, then Tock is the one reaping Rojo’s EV harvest. Speaking of, I have no idea where to go to get Special Attack EVs. Tock should have some, but I don’t remember if anything with them is around.

Wait... Lampent. Somewhere. Near Icirrus? In the midst of all the Togetic?

...Suddenly, Ho-Oh.

...Does Ho-Oh give Special Attack EVs?

Cresselia might, back in Relic Castle. Or HP. I. Really don’t have a clear record of what gives what unless I’m looking it up, and I’m not allowed to do that.

I could just accept that I’m tanking Tock up.

WAIT, no, SLUGMA. Back where I caught Ptera! Slugma gives Special Attack EVs! I distinctly remember that because one of Ptera’s first acts on the team was murdering our prospective Slugma!

Tock has continued to learn no Attacking moves since Ancient Power. So even though he can beat Slugma of the level that will be in the cave, that is not a good use of time.

Also, since cave, Bandit is coming along for a walk.

...There’s a Pignite in the Slugma cave.

All my mistakes. Just there on display.

There appears to be nothing but Pignite in the Slugma cave.

Hey, found one! Then another! I’m not crazy!

At least not for reason of seeking Slugma where there are none.

...Why is there a Shelgon on the water.

Whatever, fine, I’m over it. I see nothing but Slugma. Level 5 Shelgons are of no consequence or interest or fascination.

I want one.

This place has a basement level with Sandile. And severely decreased visibility. And Sableye.

Do I have Flash? I have been here five seconds and this is unbearable.

Tock, you basically have no useful moves yet, so congratulations, you get Flash. Now watch as you learn something I want the next time you level up and I am plunged back into the darkness (joke’s on you, everything in here is under level 20. you are never leveling up again).

Oh, I remember now. That guy in the alleyway gave me Flash. Good times.

I was supposed to be here for training. Instead I am running away from everything and finding Kabutops on the water.

You know what, Rojo temporarily gets the Exp. Share so I don’t feel guilty about killing a few instead of running. ...Wait. I have Bandit with me instead of Rojo. Right. Okay, so Fido just gets all the exp.

There are some Fighting trainers down here that have slightly more level-appropriate encounters for Fido to chew through. ..Too bad Rojo isn’t here to enjoy it. Oh well. I’ll cry about how I have to level two whole things up later.

Hey look at how these guys’ Sawks don’t have Sturdy. Funny, that.

Oki doki, the downstairs has been explored to satisfaction. Back to Slugma.

...How many of these am I going to take down, anyway? 1 EV per, and each 4 adds up to +1 to the ultimate final stat.

That. that really makes this feel utterly inconsequential. I was going to just let as many Slugma as Fido has Bites go down. But. Geez, I think I’m just going to cycle through the Final Four and have them use up their PP, and then when that’s done to satisfaction or I’m at my sanity limit, I’ll go back to Victory Road.

Opelucid has the girl who lets you know if your pokemon’s done with EVs, right?

Twenty minutes later, this is still boring.

Picture this, only always.

This isn’t even going to do much. It’s just if I didn’t put any effort into it I’d feel weird. “I want this thing to be a useful Special Attacker. Let’s grind against things that will never give it any Special Attack EVs!”

What I like about in-game stuff is that you don’t worry about that? You just go through whatever you come across, and at the end you have a random arrangement of stats, and it’s not the best of anything, but it’s also not the worst of anything.

Put in the position of strategic grinding, where you never get an unknown anything, because you know exactly what your options are and are out of trainers, and you know exactly how you are failing to maximize the potential of your pokemon.

Knowing the numbers behind it all stresses me out, tbh. Give me invisible stats and an optimistic outlook. That is my chosen style.

I think after I hit my tolerance point with Slugma (it has been twenty more minutes), I’ll head back to Dragonspiral Tower. The Jellicent in the water outside would be another good source of nutrition for Tock.

But like all of life. That is after Slugma.

...Does Mime Jr. give Special Attack EVs? Because I seem to remember that the first level of Dragonspiral Tower is nothing but mimes. And part of the insanity of this is that Slugma is not the only thing in this cave.

The other part is getting 10 exp a pop.

Dragonspiral Tower could conceivably solve both those problems. But unlike Slugma, I don’t know Mime Jr.’s EV output for sure.

...Yeah screw it, I’m leaving.

Such better. Much change. Wow.

If only Tock had a move that was actually useful for grinding. Alas.

What.

And then there was a Cherrim.

This is clearly so much more trouble than it’s worth.

Drowning my sorrows in murdering Jellicent.

That’s going better.

Tock wants to learn Double-Edge.

No. I am not going to aid in you hitting yourself.

Thirty minutes later, I am again waging war against Slugma. I went to Opelucid in the middle to check that Tock does still need training. In the EV realm.

Forty-six Slugma later, does Tock have anything left?

Yes.

It’s what... 252, 252, 4?

Idek, but I think more Jellicent is in order. Fully evolved stuff gives more EVs. I cannot do the Special Attack grind anymore. It has defeated me more thoroughly than...

...All the comparisons I can think of relate to this Nuzlocke experience and they hurt.

The deep water spots in this area are where Skitty live. For the record.

Twenty-five Jellicent later, Tock is not done.

...I... think Jellicent and Amoonguss have different EV loot. I think Amoonguss is HP and Jellicent is Special Defense. However. It is not outside the realm of possibility that they have a matching set of either. Which would leave me bashing a wall. Hm.

(I also think that maxing out a pokemon’s EVs takes longer than my impatience gives it credit for, and if I just keep at it, things will go fine. Meh.)

Electric Gym town has those spare sportsball trainers hanging out, right? I could go fight some with them and take what I get.

Or I could wait on that until Rojo’s up.

Okay. Back to Victory Road.

Have a picture to go with the endless text.

Also, it’s apparently relevant to note that I have no idea what Ho-Oh’s EV output is. I maybe mentioned that earlier, but it’s been many, many hours since then for me.

Tock still doesn’t know anything useful.

Fido thought about learning Lava Plume, but that doesn’t really help fill any gaps, and Stomp and Bite are sadly things that I think I would regret losing.

Why does Tock keep wanting to learn physical attacks.

Tock is level 50 and still being trained solely through Exp. Share because he has no moves. I could possibly change this. But here we are.

I was going to teach him Thunderbolt so he could eat his own Jellicent. Togetic can not learn Thunderbolt. Linoone (Bandit) can, and I have no idea how that works.

I think it’s time.

Tock.

Come forth.

Adorable.

...Togekiss can not learn Thunderbolt.

Okay then.

...I think it’s time to find out what you can learn, while we contemplate just how badly I may have misjudged your true purpose.

Hey, Tock can learn Shadow Ball! That’s a useful! Let’s do that!

Back to Jellicent and Mime Jr. Which will in no way drive me insane now that Tock is big and strong enough to dispense death swiftly.

Oh, by the way, Pokemon Go has ruined me, it would seem. My reaction to Feebas appearing where I was expecting Mime Jr. was pure disdain, because how dare it get in the way of my EV training torture doomathon.

But Feebas is a pokemon that shows up in six panels in the gen it first appears in. For most intents and purposes, is excruciatingly rare. Pokemon Go, being unable or unwilling to produce similar finding difficulties, just. has it as one of the many pokemon you can find. Sure, rare, but it shows up.

But this is not Pokemon Go. This is one of the cartridge games. Feebas is a heavy rare. So. There. This is me appreciating that properly.

-soft gasp-

Tock is free to move about the cabin!

...And now it’s Rojo’s turn. But I’m way more casual with the legendaries, because I sort of expect them to be fine however. Also Victory Road and Machamp. It will not be the nightmare experience I turned this into.

Sorry Bandit, back in the box. It’s been fun. Thanks for the Pickup items.

(Real talk. In the future, when things aren’t dead, I should level Bandit up so I can get some sweet stuff as I finish my journey of seeing all the pokemon of the routes hereabouts.)

One Shadow Ball is not enough to dispatch the Machamp. Someone else might have to train Rojo. ...Batman is the wrong someone else. Palm, have at it. Palm, also no. ...Frogger?

Fido seems to be the only thing on this team that can take out a Machamp in one hit as a regular feature. Heartening.

Rojo learns Retaliate. Siiiiiiigh.

Fido is once again in first position.

Wait, I just realized where I should be training Rojo. Batman’s home ground. Or is Escavalier just Attack? I think there’s a chance it’s Attack and Defense, but I’m not sure... I know where to go for Special Defense, but not Defense, and I feel bad leaving Rojo with no Defense. Oh, wait, duh. That area off Route 1, with the Cloyster and stuff. Bam.

Did I mention Huntail is around here? Because it is.

And we are back to this.

I’m going to take a sanity break and Fly to ever single town to look for TMs for Tock.

Well, that was a bust.

Back to grinding.

Attack is possibly maxed, so I’m just going to Nimbasa with its sports people and yeah. Today is football day.

...Oh, these things are a higher level than I thought. Hello, level 40 Gurdurr. Goodbye, level 40 Gurdurr. Hello level 40 Sawk (I hate you.) Goodbye level 40 Sawk.

The other court has tennis.

There’s also a Hiker to fight outside the ferris wheel. His stuff is not nearly so level appropriate.

I think we’re at the point where I’m trying to level the whole team up more than focusing on how they’re leveled. Everything’s over 50, so theoretically, I could just go now. I don’t. I don’t really. want that. Even though the Final Four are stronger than they were. And the amount of time I spend on this will not change how strong my opponents are. I am in a considerably better spot than I was.

Except for the death.

And not having particularly good TMs to throw at Tock. The best I can do is spend all my money on a Blizzard/Thunder/Fire Blast TM. I’m pretty sure Tock can learn those, but I was also pretty sure Tock could learn Thunderbolt, and here we are.

Something else I could try is going through every area I didn’t because no Strength, checking them off the list and maybe finding some other TMs that might be useful.

Tock currently knows Ancient Power, Fly, Wish, and Shadow Ball. Ancient Power’s fine. Shadow Ball’s fine. Tock’s Attack is so awful that even STAB can not boost Fly into viability. Wish is a great move, but I have an attack attack attack style with in-game Pokemon. If I need a move that gives me health, I have serious problems. I can use a Potion and give Tock another attack.

In theory. In practice, what attack? I have almost no useful TMs.

Let’s roll them dice.

There appears to be as much nothing as possible in Dragonspiral Tower.

There’s some cave I skipped out on earlier because I was tired, right? Also places I didn’t have Surf when I first visited?

That helps me none, but the spirit is appreciated.

Batman can’t run away from a level 22 Buizel.

Did I know the route next to Driftveil had Typhlosion? Because that is a happening. There’s Claydol in the water.

Guess who’s learning Flash again.

Oh, and this is a new area!

It’s the gimmick pokemon! I watched a guy on youtube play through all of... one of the generation two games (original?) with a team of Smeargle. It was incredible. Pikasprey Blue is the channel. He does some insane stuff to spice up pokemon playthroughs. They’re neat.

Quick Ball for the win, and Smeargle is named Donna. I don’t know why. She looked liked a Donna.

Huh, Grovyle. Long time no see. Mankey as well. The next level up has Tyrogue. Oh, my heart. Love that little guy. Love how its the only thing in this whole cave Batman outruns. Electrike is also a thing.

I have long been out of comments.

I still do not have my bingo sheet.

I found the Rock Slide TM.

It has a new name. Does that mean it counts as a new area?

um.

...Wobbuffet clause?

No, fine, I fainted it without tragedy when the Quick Ball didn’t catch it and I just went for things concluding as fast as possible. Uh. I maybe. Do not want to be here. ...I picked up a Max Repel. I’m going to use it.

Also, this is Cobalion’s chamber I believe, so I got a history lesson on Cobalion, Terrakion (heh), and Virizion. At some point I had a shiny Virizion. I was pretty unhappy. The green looks cooler than the pink, and I couldn’t even complain properly because SHINY LEGENDARY.

I would prefer not to be involved in any sort of official fight with a legendary. Killing it would feel sad, and if I had a choice of catch in this chamber, it would be the Wobbuffet I just murdered. If I can, I will walk around it.

Or just avoid it entirely. Sorry dude. I don’t want to kill you.

So that’s that cave. No Special Attack TMs. The quest continues. Next stop... Nimbasa again, for the little grove thing next to it. With the woman who’s like a Zorua or something. I’m pretty sure there are Surf spots there? Maybe?

One of the desert spots also has water. As does the Bug forest area thing.

The grove thing needs Waterfall in order to be new territory, so that’s out.

I just looked at this thing and what the heck. I have a dim recollection of trainers getting their own nature, but not memory at all of what, if anything, it means. Meanwhile the color exists to hurt me. I think I get a new one after properly beating the game. One more thing to look forward to if it ever happens.

Since a day has gone by, I go back to the sportsball courts before midnight hits. Then I will return to the sad TM hunt. Basketball and baseball on the docket.

Sad TM hunt are go.

The desert area water has nothing. Just a random spot of water. With Wurmple.

Hi, grass I never came back to when I finally could.

It has level 23 Oddish. The horror. Oh, cool, Butterfree and Electrode too. And Dusclops.

I have very little memory of this place. Is this where the green legendary thing hangs out? If so I’m not going to touch it. Also I fear for my TM chances.

As I type this, I find the SolarBeam TM.

I guess the amusing part of all this is that I am going about my aims the right way. I am finding TMs. They just don’t really help me.

How come I can get to Cobalion now but not the other two? I don’t recall the lore. Something else to look up when I have guides returned to me.

Welp.

Is there anywhere else I can go?

Cold Storage has nothing new, but I did find a Scyther.

Hey, another disappointment! This one’s a Water Stone.

...There’s a Trapinch in the water.

;-;

I should clearly give this up.

Shaking grass in route... something-or-other-with-the-Salamence has Vigoroth. Neato.

I’m going to hit Twist Mountain for a look, but after that, I think it’s time to just accept that this is going to be awkward as heck.

One more round of sportsball.

Then. I’ll figure it out.

Soccer and tennis are today’s things.

Okay. Okay.

It’s time.

This place fills me with fear. The organ music probably helps with that.

The team.

Tock and Rojo with their debut. Batman, Fido, Palm, and Frogger with their return. All that’s left is to look at the TMs and cry decide what Tock’s getting.

Flash is replaced by Echoed Voice. Think Normal, Special Attack Rollout.

For the other slot, I can go with SolarBeam, Flash Cannon, or Toxic. Steel is super effective against Fairy, which doesn’t exist, Rock, and Ice. None of those are particular problems, but Flash Cannon does do 80 damage and a chance to lower the target’s Special Defense. Serene Grace would up that chance.

I think I’ll go with Toxic.

...Oh. Wait. I need the move deleter for HMs.

..............Buzz, teaching you Fly for a hot second!

I had a moment of panic where I wasn’t sure if anything else could learn it. That would be one long bike ride.

Hold up.

Wait, did I... forget something important?

!

Air Slash!

I could also learn Aura Sphere, but I’m pretty well set with the Fighting.

So, Air Slash! We’re going to conveniently not pay attention to the 95 accuracy because that way lies heartache! Tock has a STAB Special Attack Flying move! Rejoice!

Now the question becomes which is better: Echoed Voice, or Toxic. Hm.

Ancient Power doubles as a stat booster, so I don’t want to say goodbye to that one. Right now, Tock has two STAB attacks, and two misc. ones. Toxic loses Echoed Voice, but I mostly gave Tock Echoed Voice because facing the Big Bad using Flash was a nightmare waiting to happen.

Toxic is fantastic, but I will be fighting people who use Full Restores.

...Let’s go with this for now.

...And use a PP Up on Ancient Power.

Now we’re really ready.

Except I need Frogger in front. And everyone should have at least one special item to help them out.

Batman gets SilverPowder for Bug. Tock gets a Silk Scarf for Normal. Miracle Seed for Palm. Mystic Water for Frogger. Rojo gets BrightPowder because that seems useful (lowers opponent’s accuracy). Shell Bell for Fido.

Time to explore the castle.

N’s room.

...Music box music is creepy.

Another level up, Ghetsis reveals (? I haven’t been paying enough attention to know if it’s come up before) his plan to have everyone release their pokemon so that Team Plasma has all the pokemon and can rule over everyone. That’s the evil scheme we’ve got to be a hero to stop.

Rock and roll.

N summons Reshiram, fun cut scene stuff happens, and that summons Zekrom to the field. With other fun cut scene stuff.

You are my favorite lightning dragon.

Having a Master Ball really lowers the drama on this, but this is only the plot drama. The actual drama awaits after the catch.

Note how cool Zekrom is. Because it is.

I wish they wouldn’t make the Master Ball wiggle. Every single time I use it, I think to myself that it will somehow be the time where it doesn’t work. It does. Of course it does. But those moments before it does are always so stressful.

So, Zekrom caught, and because it’s not randomized, it will not receive a nickname, and therefor will not be used in the coming battles.

I really hope it is.

Deep breath time.

He sends Reshiram out first. It’s level 52. I have Frogger first because go Frogger. Frogger’s level 59. Surf’s up. Reshiram’s faster and uses its trademark Fusion Flare, but double resistance is a nice thing, so Frogger’s still within the green.

Surf does about half, which is great, but it’s close enough to not guarantee that another will finish Reshiram off.

Reshiram knows Hyper Beam, and Frogger is down to 73 HP.

N’s next pokemon is Klinklang. Level 50. Fido’s up, and since I believe Klinklang is more Defense than Special, Flamethrower is the move of choice.

Oh, dang. That does the trick. Fido’s faster and only needs one.

Carracosta is next, which means it’s Palm’s turn. It’s level 50, but it is heavy on the Defense if memory serves. Not very fast. Seed Bomb because I can’t remember for certain if the Rock/Water typing is right, and it’s the one that’s going to be super effective either way.

Carracosta has Sturdy, so endures the hit, and Stone Edge misses. N uses a Full Restore. Palm uses Mach Punch to do away with Sturdy, and wraps this up with another Seed Bomb.

Next up is Vanilluxe. Level 50. Fido’s back. You never got your real shot at fighting Ice things, did you buddy? Go with Fire Fang since Fido’s more Attack than Special and Vanilluxe is more Special than standard, I believe.

The gets it down to a sliver of red health, and it has started to hail. N doesn’t use an item, so the next Fire Fang downs Vanilluxe.

N sends in a level 50 Archeops.

I might point out that nothing on my team knows Thunder.

After some heavy thought, Batman is sent out. I don’t know how that will go, but that Rock/Flying typing is harder to navigate than it looks. As I am familiar. If Frogger had more HP, I’d put him back in. Depending how it goes, I might use Batman to heal Frogger up. We’ll see.

Stone Edge moves Batman to 93 HP, Hail downs her to 83, but Iron Head gets Archeops in one hit.

N’s last pokemon is Zoroark (level 50). Since Batman’s hurt (ish), I’m going to send in Palm.

...Okay, so N’s Zoroark knows Flamethrower. Palm goes from having 160 HP to having 58. .....Palm is also burned.

The combination has Palm at 28 HP.

Mach Punch would probably finish the job, but if N uses any healing items, status and weather will kill Palm.

I’ve been trying to see if I could win with only the four I had when I first made it to the castle, but they were a lower level than they are now anyway, so that was never a true test. And without the burn, Palm would have won already.

Rojo’s up. I’m not killing Palm out of pride.

Mind you, it’s tempting, and that says a lot about me, but no.

N doesn’t heal Zoroark, and the hail stops.

So I would have gotten away with it.

Rojo finishes it up with a Sacred Sword.

Phew.

But we’re not done yet.

Ghetsis comes in and proceeds to be an abusive dick to N. He also, loudly, talks about how he wants to rule the world as Alder and Cheren walk in. Nice going.

....Wait.

I don’t get to heal first?

Okay, maybe that twinkle effect N did healed things. Don’t know, don’t care, the important thing is that Frogger is in front and at full health. Ghetsis has a level 52 Cofagrigus out front. I don’t have any pressing need to switch out. I’m going to try Hydro Pump to see if I can’t get away with ending this fast.

Sliver of health left after that, and Froger is badly poisoned by Toxic. Ghetsis does the Full Restore thing while I shoot a Surf his way, I eat a round of poison, Cofagrigus uses Protect so I eat another round, but finally a second Surf gets it.

So Frogger is at 83 HP and poisoned. Ghetsis sends in a level 52 Bouffalant. ...It is probably going to know Retaliate, but in any case, Rojo is out for me.

Rojo’s faster, and one Sacred Sword ends it.

Aaaaaand it’s time for the Hydreigon. It is level 54. It should not exist, but neither should Ghetsis, so whatever. Rojo stays in due to fears of Flamethrower.

The damn thing knows Focus Blast, and Rojo is so, so lucky to be Sassy. And legendary. A Sacred Sword does the trick. Geez.

Huh, Ghetsis has a Seismitoad. Level 52. Palm’s turn to shine.

Yep, one Seed Bomb and we’re done.

Eelektross is next. Level 52. I send out Batman because I don’t think it’ll have anything that can cause her harm. Unless it knows Flamethrower. For some reason I’m suddenly very afraid it does, but I think that’s just a mood of the fight.

Anyway it knows Flamethrower.

I’m pretty sure I’ve done this too much for some part of my brain to remember that.

Luckily, one X-Scissor is enough. Then we move on to the final pokemon. Level 52 Bisharp. As the Fighting pokemon yet to take a hit, Palm’s back in the ring. Sky Uppercut goes first, hits, and faints the Bisharp.

So.

Hey.

Hey.

We won.

And everyone’s okay.

...Except N, because his innocent purity and compassion for pokemon was used for evil, and now his world is upside down and he’s all confused and sad and everything.

Because Ghetsis raised you that way.

Ghetsis is a dick.

...Also, I realized that he’s talking to me about how my first pokemon thought of me. It liked me. That particular one.

Boeing.

Frogger would have been there, too. But.

Game, can we just... hit the end credits?

Fine, N has to go off into the sunset first. But after that?

HEYO!

AND THAT’S GAME!

Except not really.

What I’ve decided for this run is that it will meet its official end after I check every place on the map off, then return and fight Version Two of the Elite Four. I’ve still never beaten Alder. I think that’s the only proper conclusion Nuzlocke runs can have; the team immortalized in the Hall of Fame.

I just said it’s not, stop lying.

[homuraakumaakemi]

Hey, all! Do you hate someone? Did this someone hurt you? Are you both into Pokémon? Does this person you hate have more discerning tastes than simply the Pokémon itself? Are you the petty sort who holds a grudge forever? Better yet, did you have this Pokémon, but then, they decided to reveal their true colors to you? My name is Homura, and I have the solution for you!

Disclaimer: I do not recommend actually going out of your way to antagonize people. If something like that happens to you, the best thing to do is to seek support from the people who care about you and try to move on. This post is more or less a silly joke…

As an example, we’ll use Sableye!

Now, Sableye works extra well for this because in the first four generations, it struggled at basically everything! But then, Gen 5 gave it one of my personal favorite Abilities: Prankster!

Thank you, Serebii. Now, this is one of the most fun Abilities in the game, even though any Dark type will stone wall it. While it won’t be winning any awards for scariest Pokémon to face, I have a bit of affection for the little guy. Now, Sableye has some neat tricks up its sleeve, but I personally am a fan of THIS set:

Sableye @ Leftovers

Ability: Prankster

EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Def

Calm Nature

- Foul Play

- Recover

- Will-O-Wisp

- Taunt

Now, for Sableye’s case, you could also opt for a physically defensive set and appropriate Nature. You can also teach it a move like Knock Off, or a move like Encore! Hell, you can even give it the Rocky Helmet and make physical attackers and Grass Knot users rue the day they messed with this ghost imp! Point being that some older fans may be shocked and annoyed! But this ISN’T the Sableye you will be making in honor of this person you hate so much (or giving to them, if you’re REALLY petty)! No, no, no. This is a good Sableye you’d give someone you LIKE! Let me show you the kind of Sableye you make when you really hate someone!

Sableye @ Black Sludge or Lagging Tail

Ability: Stall

EVs: Random

IVs: Random

Naughty Nature

- Dark Pulse

- Rest

- Incinerate

- Spite

You take a GOOD set, and you flip it around! Sableye is especially great for this because one of its Abilities is Stall!

“But wait, Homura!” you may be asking. “Why would a Pokémon as frail as Sableye ever want this?!” That’s the best part! It wouldn’t. And as for the rest of the moveset? You literally don’t have to care about EVs and IVs! Foul Play’s great because it punishes someone for having high Attack! Dark Pulse is just a dark type move off of Sableye’s 65 Special Attack! Ooh! So scary! Rest leaves Sableye even more vulnerable, Incinerate doesn’t even have a chance to burn anything beyond maybe the occasional Berry, and Spite? Well, it’s a FORM of taunting, in a way. But again, probably not gonna see much use without Prankster!

Now, all of this can be fixed by modern quality of life features. There are berries that will reduce your EVs so they can fix them, and the Bottle Caps mean they can fix the IVs. Of course, because these aren’t HMs, they can also fix the moves, though Recover needs breeding. However, there are a few things they CAN’T fix!

What if this person hates the Shiny form of Sableye? Garish fool’s gold. I can understand. So given a few days of riding your bike in circles, you can inflict this on them!

Another is nicknaming! Now, in Sword and Shield, you can nickname traded Pokémon…that don’t themselves have one! That’s right! Say this person returns your hate in KIND. Or say they made a silly concept as a kid that they REALLY regret now! With but one trip to the Name Rater, you can name that poor thing after yourself or that foolish thing, and if you trade it to them? It has that name forever. Pro tip: When you Rule 63 a male-identifying character you like, do a bit more than add -ette to the end of the name…

Of course, there are many ways to go about this, and indeed, you can just keep it as a sort of twisted work of art!