A Battle with the Champion

I had met the champion before in Lysandre's cafe, but I had forgotten who this Diantha was.  In the best game of all time, Pokemon Red version, I remember being absolutely taken aback by my rival Gary being my final opponent.  Whenever someone had referred to the final gauntlet of trainers in that game, it was always the "Elite Four" or the "Final Four".  It was never the "Elite Four and also the Champion".

Battling Gary specifically, even, was a surprise--and it was even more shocking because the last time I had encountered him in that game was in Saffron City in the Silph building--at least three gym-badges before.  This is exactly enough time to totally forget about that character.

Similarly, the re-introduction of Diantha here was a surprise: "oh yeah, you're still a person aren't you?!" It's not nearly as cool as battling your rival, but it's still something.  It was like battling Steven in Ruby version or Cynthia in Diamond.

Diantha thanked me for taking care of Team Flare and graciously accepted my challenge.  Time for battle!

I find it a little funny that I spent an entire day earlier in this year gushing about how cool Hawlucha is given the fact that it was never formally on my team.  When I made my way through Victory Road, I was reminded of this since it seemed like every single trainer carried one--and all of them had some obnoxious Fairy-killing move like Steel Wing or Poison Jab.

Her first pokemon was Hawlucha.  Is the word I am looking for "opportune" or "destined"?

I had led the match with Hippowdon for tanking and scouting purposes--most of the pokemon I am coming across are physical attackers (like Hawlucha) and Hippowdon can at least put things to sleep and stall them with Sandstorm.  This is exactly what happened, I put Hawlucha to sleep, letting sandstorm whittle it down,then sent in Froakles, hoping to score an easy kill with a super-effective ice beam.  However, Diantha used a Full Restore on the switch.  The result of this is that I switched my Greninja into a fully healthy Hawlucha who not only outspeeds my low-level ninjafrog, but also hits it super-effectively (since Fighting is strong against Dark). 

After sacrificing Greninja to get a free switch-in, I chose Venusaur for some sleep powder/leech seed stalling while I used Revive and hyper potion.  I was positive that I would need that froggie later in the match.

I had calculated it so that Venusaur would survive four hits after Hawlucha woke up, so I set-up my now-trademark "Leech Seed KO/Solarbeam switch KO" move (charging Solarbeam on a turn such that it will hit a switch-in pokemon after a KO).  The issue is that Hawlucha scored a critical hit at the most important part of the exchange and Venusaur was taken out.  Hippowdon had just enough durability to take out Hawlucha.

I remembered her next pokemon, Aurorus, from a trainer battle following my eighth gym match.  Aurorus is the evolution of the fossil pokemon I got at the start of the game--and is Rock/Ice typed.

Now, what do both Ice and Rock HATE?

I sent in Lucario and immediately "went Mega".  The question was whether I wanted to risk MegaLuk's health with a turn 1 Swords Dance or if I wanted to go for the sweep immediately.  I play dangerously.  Mega Lucario used Swords Dance against Aurorus, who used Reflect (thank you).

The rest of the match was an easy sweep: Lucario One-Hit KO'ed Aurorus with Aura Sphere, then the bulky Dragon Goodra with Close Combat and the evolution of the fossil Tyrunt, Tyrantrum, with another Close Combat.

Her next pokemon was the Grass/Ghost pokemon Gourgeist, but I had taught Lucario Shadow Claw when I took on the Psychic gym for type coverage, so the Swords Dance-boosted super-effective ghost move One Hit KO'ed Gourgeist as well.  Lucario just cannot be stopped.

Her final pokemon was Gardevoir, who actually surprised me by Mega-Evolving, but Lucario outsped it and defeated it in one hit as well.

Dragon

Originally, I had planned to battle Steelio the Steel-Type Elite Four Trainer before Drasma's Dragons, but I realized my squad was a lot stronger against Dragons than Steel pokemon--especially if one of those steel types happens to be Scizor...<shudder>

I wanted to keep Greninja and Gardevoir at full health for as long as possible in this match.  I wanted to be able to move them in for an easy revenge kill in case the match started going sour, so I lead with Hippowdon.  I didn't expect the sandhippo to do much: maybe a little Sandstorm damage, maybe put the first pokemon to sleep before it is taken out.

However, luck was with me and her first pokemon was the Poison/Dragon typed Dragalge.  Hippowdon was just bulky enough to survive one Surf attack and countered with a knockout Earthquake.


Her next pokemon was Altaria.  After my battle against Serena, I knew Altaris would be too slow for my Greninja, so I sent out Froakles for the One-Hit KO Ice Beam.

Next came a particularly bulky Druddigon which took several turns of Gardevoir's Fairy-type attack to remove since Drasna kept spamming her Full Restores whenever her pokemon got injured.  All through this time, the sandstorm was whittling my own health away, so I was glad when Druddigon finally fainted as the sandstorm subsided.

Her final pokemon was Noivern, which outsped my Greninja, but failed to KO it in one hit--Greninja retaliated with one final Ice Beam to end the incredibly boring match of the boring one-hit-KO's.
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Score that match: 6-0
Hyper Potions: 20 -1
Revives: 24
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Current Squad Status:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.57
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.56
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.55
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.56
HIPPOWDON/Leviathan/lvl.55
GARDEVOIR/Missy/lvl.56

Sidelines: Pikachu, Dragalge, Scrafty, Aerodactyl

Fire

As I crept into the inner sanctuary of the Pokemon League I was met by an auspicious lady with pink hair.  She introduced herself to me as Malva, a fire trainer and Elite Four Champion.  The purpose of the Elite Four is to try to wear you out--as a final test to see if you are worthy of battling the strongest trainer--and she made it absolutely clear to me that I was no hero for defeating Team Flare--and that this meant nothing as I challenged her for my first battle.

And there is no better way to put me in the mood for battle than to tell me I can't do it...

I had decided to open with Hippowdon  to be safe--I knew that Froakles was going to do most of the "heavy lifting" for the match, but his frailty made me take pause from scouting with him.  I knew Hippo' would be able to take anything that she could throw at me--so I started her against Malva's Pyroar.  The exchange was quick, but it left my sandhippo with low health.

Her next pokemon was Torkoal and I knew that this was going to be the time where I set-up Froakles for the game-ender.  Due to Torkoal's naturally high defense and the fact that it kept using 'Curse', I knew Greninja's special attacks would be best for the match, so I used Yawn to put her turtle to sleep and then switched Froakles in and put up a Substitute (for safety).  I took her Torkoal out with one "Scald" the next turn.

Her next pokemon was Chandelure and I outran and overpowered it with one attack.

Her final pokemon was another level 65 Talonflame--and I know that the last time I played, I stall-killed one of those with Mega Venusaur, but in-battle against the fifth-strongest trainer in the known universe is not the place to get cute, so I kept Froakles in for the one-hit-KO Scald.  But thank goodness for that Substitute because Talonflame moved first with Brave Bird--and that would have definitely hurt.
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Score that match: 6-0
Hyper Potions: 24 -1
Revives: 25
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Current Squad Status:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.56
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.55
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.53
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.55
HIPPOWDON/Leviathan/lvl.55
GARDEVOIR/Missy/lvl.52

Sidelines: Pikachu, Scrafty, Dragalge, Aerodactyl

On the Doorstep

And here we are at the Elite Four, ready to take on the best in the world in final battle.

Not quite.

See, I haven't chosen my six-pokemon squad yet--something I should have done at the game's start.  Guess I'm way behind on this one...

As I procrastinated at the doorstep of the Pokemon League, I found a trainer who offered a bit of helpful advice: that the elite four each specializes in a pokemon type and that I could fight them in whatever order I pleased: Fire, Water, Steel, and Dragon.  Let's team build...
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Okay, so let's start with the core pokemon: Froakles has Ice Beam and Scald, so he will be invaluable against a fire team and against a dragon team.  And Venusaur is, as previously established, unkillable.

 Let's add Pikachu for that Water gym and Gardevoir for the dragon team.  The addition of Gardevoir will allow my team to maintain some general bulkiness since it takes Special Hits like a champ.

 But I bet that water gym has a water/ground type or two kicking around--and water types are generally known for their bulk, so Pikachu is more of a weak link for this team.  It won't be outrunning anyone at such a low level either...Let's put some more bulk of our own in that slot instead.  And let's get Lucario in here--he just learned Close Combat.

And for the last one...hm...Aerodactyl is pretty fast and powerful and I know a lot of those dragons are actually also flying types...plus the rock moves will be doubly effective against that fire team...but it doesn't look like I have much to battle the steel team...and I know there's got to be a Metagross, there is always a Metagross...Oh god, what if there is a Scizor...it's decided then.

Elite Four Battle Squad: The Secret Six

We may be underleveled and we may be disconnected, but we have the tactical skills and we have the foresight to overcome any obstacles.  Plus, I just bought 50 hyper potions, so there's always that...

Current Squad Status:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.55
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.54
FLAREON/Rox/lvl.52
LUCARIO/Knives/lvl.55
HIPPOWDON/Leviathan/lvl.54
GARDEVOIR/Missy/lvl.52

Sidelines: Pikachu, Aerodactyl, Scrafty, Dragalge

The Road to Snowbelle City

The road to Couriway town brought me to an optional cave called the "Terminus Cave".  I took some time to explore the cave, coming out with a small fortune in random items, the TM for Shadow Ball (nice!), and a bunch of pokemon: Pupitar, Durant, Sandslash, Graveler, Gurdurr, and Torkoal.  When I reached the lowest part of the cave I met a character blocking a doorway who basically told me to come back when I have become the champion.  Nintendo must be hiding Mewtwo back there.

Just you wait...

When I reached the town, the Professor Sycamore found me and thanked me for killing his friend Lysandre.  Not in these words exactly but I could read between the lines well enough.  He then gave me the HM for Waterfall.  This is one item which I have been waiting nearly the entire game for because Nintendo is very good at teasing new areas to the adventurous.  "Hey, look!  A waterfall and several shiny items right out of reach, bet you can't wait to come back here, huh?"  Jerks.

He then battled me with his Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard.  I beat him handily, but it was still a fun battle anyways.  He ran off afterwards, congratulating me and mumbling something about a surprise.  Last surprise was a Bulbasaur, so I hope his next surprise starts with a C and breathes fire.

...

I meant Charmander.  I hope he gives me a Charmander.

The route ahead took me over a swampy gorge.  I didn't have to explore the swamp to cross, but I did anyways and caught a fucking Stunfisk.  No I don't mean a Stunfisk, I mean a fucking stunfisk because stunfisk is the most odious pokemon of all time.

As I crossed the bridge, three of the four Pokemon thieves appeared out of nowhere and challenged me to a battle.  I beat Serena's (the one who Nintendo was building-up to turn into my character's love interest in the game.  Looking back, glad that didn't happen) Delphox handily and Tierno (the one whose only trait is "likes to dance") only put up a slight fight (heh) with his Crawdaunt. 

The third battle was against Tierno (the quiet one) and it was actually quite difficult.  He had a Raichu, a Florges, and an Aerodactyl.  The first two of these were easy enough to beat, but his Aerodactyl outsped everyone in my team, including Pikachu, so I didn't even have the chance to attack before many of my pokemon were knocked-out.  In the end, I stalled it to death with Hippowdon using Yawn while Leech Seed took its health down.  Maybe Yawn/Roar/Earthquake/Toxic isn't the set to be running on this guy...at least not in-game.  I'll change it soon.

I made it to Snowbelle, the town of perpetual winter and bad ice puns, and found that the gymleader, Wulfric (the most Northern-sounding name of all time) had gone into the nearby forest to train.  I guess the path ahead is through the greenery!

Current Squad:

GRENINJA/Froakles/lvl.46
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.45
FLAREON/lvl.45
SCRAFTY/Scrappy/lvl.44
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.44
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.46

On Rotation: Lucario, Gardevoir, Skrelp, Pikachu, Haunter

Spooky Ghosties

Well, this honestly scared me a little bit.

As I was concluding my exploration of Lumiose City, I found myself in the Northern District at an inauspicious, unmarked building.  The first floor was populated by the typical fare: people who were all to eager to talk about their favorite pokemon Skitty or how using the item X Attack is a really good idea if you're in a pinch.

I took the elevator to the second floor and stepped into the room.  At this point, my 3DS screen went black and the formerly cheery music turned off.  When my 3DS turned back on, a Hex Maniac trainer (pictured above) appeared behind me in the elevator (I had no control over my character at this point) and floated around the room a bit before telling me that I "wasn't the one" and disappeared from the floor.  The regular music resumed and I couldn't find her anymore.

I think I pissed myself a bit.  (Link brings you to a youtube video of someone else going through the event--seriously click it, its pretty weird.)

Possibly related: I found another Hex Maniac in another Lumiose City building who told me to stop talking to her because she needed to be listening for the elevator...
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I have been screwing around a lot more than usual for the past few days trying to catch and train up some interesting pokemon to fill up that pokedex.  Along the way, I was able to find a "Light Ball" for my Pikachu to hold (an item which doubles Pikachu's Special Attack and Attack stats), so I think egoraptor's Pikachu drawing applies to "PikaPi" at this point:

The Route North of Lumiose City leads through a bog full of interesting Water, Poison, and Water/Ground pokemon and I was able to catch Haunter, Quagsire, Skorupi, Carnivine, Poliwhirl, Barboach, as well as a weird new Dragon-type named Goomey.  While Haunter is in my list of top 10 pokemon, I am really quite content with the way my team looks right now.

Along the route, the Pokemon Thieves Gang met-up at a spooky Haunted House to listen to an old man tell a Ghost Story about some person being met by a horde of Slendermen (Slenderman's?), so Pokemon Y has now officially turned into a Survival Horror game.

As I made it into Laverre City, my Ivysaur evolved into Venusaur and Hippopotas evolved into Hippowdon.  The interesting thing, though, is that my Hippopotas evolved into a shiny Hippowdon, meaning that I am an idiot for not realizing that the Hippopotas that I caught just happened to be shiny this whole time.  This was the perfect end to a rather spooky gaming session.

Current Squad:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.33
VENUSAUR/Venus/lvl.35
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.34
SKRELP/Toxie/lvl.35
HIPPOWDON*/Leviathan/lvl.34
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.33

On Rotation: Pikachu, Gardevoir, Scraggy, Lucario