First up is Sydney, Master of the Dark. Knowing full well how he fights, I lead with Breloom to counter his Mightyena. His Mightyena is easily taken care of as Breloom puts the foe to sleep before 2 hit KOing it with Giga Drain. Next up is Absol. Knowing that Absol carries Aerial Ace, I quickly switch out to Aggron knowing full well that even at +6 Attack, he can do nothing to harm me. Aggron scores an easy KO with a Brick Break/Metal Claw combo. He sends in Sharpedo to counter Aggron and I switch to Gyarados who takes the surf like a champ. Gyarados scores a nice critical hit to KO Sharpedo with a Strength. Next up is Cacturne, who wastes his time with moves like Cotton spore & Leech seed while being damaged with Strength. Sydney uses a full restore to heal Cacturne, which forces me to switch to Swellow. Swellow's hit with Cotton Spore on the switch, but still outspeeds and KOs Cacturne with fly. His final poke is Shiftry who begins his turn with fake out for the easy damage. Outspeeding my -2 Swellow, he scores two double teams. Luckily, Swellow still hits on the fly. Shiftry follows up with Swagger causing Swellow to hurt itself in confusion. I end up being forced to use one of my full restores to heal her while Shiftry uses extrasensory for mild damage. On the final turn of the game, Shiftry scores another confusion with Swagger only to be KO'd from an Aerial Ace. Lucky for me as Swellow most likely would not have survived +4 confusion damage. After match one I still have all six pokes. Before heading on to face Phoebe, I use some super potions to heal up my team.
With Phoebe being a ghost type trainer, Sharpedo is the obvious choice to lead and does so against her Dusclops. I outspeed and do serious damage with Crunch, marginally missing the KO. However, that same turn, Dusclops KO's itself with Curse, much to my dismay as it forces me to switch Sharpedo out or leave it in where it will take 25% damage per turn in addition to attack damage on its frail defenses. Phoebe sends out Sableye and I switch to Gyarados, figuring now is a perfect opportunity to set up 3-4 dragon dances for the sweep. Sableye scorese minimal damage on 2 Shadow Balls (1 on the switch) and thuse has to resort to attract to slow down my +2 Speed/attack Gyarados' sweep. Luckily, I brought a red flute
. Sableye uses Psychic twice while I get in a 4th Dragon dance before using a hyper potion. Sableye is easily KO'd with an Earthquake. The rest of her team (2 Banette and a Dusclops) are also one hit KO'd. After the battle, I heal Sharpedo and Gyarados with Super Potions. At this point I still have all six pokes.
Up next is Glacia. I probably should have leveled up Aggron or Gyarados a bit more as I know her Walrein carries Sheer Cold for a potential one hit KO, a threat magnified by Walrein's impressive bulk. Figuring the best defense is a good offense, I decide to lead with Aggron as if he can score a few attack boosts with Metal claw, there is a chance for a one-hit KO with brick break. Likewise, if he fails, he is the most expendable member of my team.
Confident in my strategy Saying "fuck it" I go into battle
. Glalie starts the battle with Hail while I do impressive damage with Metal claw. Glalie follows up with Ice Beam and I score the KO with another Metal Claw. Glacia follows up Glalie with a Sealeo which I feel gives me a chance at another Gyarados sweep. Figuring its worth a shot, I go for it only for Gyarados to take a Surf on the switch. I begin to set up while Sealeo uses Surf twice, Hail, and another Surf. When I'm at +4, I heal up with a hyper potion while Sealeo uses Surf once more. I begin my sweep with an Earthquake for an easy KO on Sealeo. Her next two pokes (Sealeo and Glalie) are both one hit KO's. Her final poke, and my biggest fear, Walrein is up. She survives a +4 Earthquake and luckily for me goes for a blizzard which Gyarados barely survives. Glacia follows up on the next turn with a full restore while I score the KO following two Strengths. I heal up my pokes before moving onto the final member of the E4; Drake. I am lucky to still have all 6 pokes with me.
Leading into the battle against the Dragon master, I decide it best to lead with Aggron. Even though Sharpedo has good speed and Special Atk, and knows Ice Beam for x4 damage, I'm afraid Shelgon won't be KO'd by Ice Beam and again feel Aggron the mest expendable. I lead with Metal claw doing so-so damage, while gaining an attack boost, while he scores negligible damage and a speed drop with Rock Tomb. He follows up with Protect, before going for a Dragon Claw in an attempt to one up my Metal Claw. He again resorts to protect before attempting another Dragon Claw. I match his claw with mine and gain another Attack boost
. He sends out Flygon and I decide to stay in and Metal Claw it out as he does not know Earthquake. He uses Dig and I end up missing. Luckily, I carry Protect as well and decide to use it at such an appropriate time. I follow up this turn with a super potion and he goes for another dig
. Since potions don't count for protect, I am forced to switch. Gyarados is the obvious choice. I opt against another set up/sweep (that would be boring) and use Strength only to be meet with a dragonbreath. He uses Sandstream and Dragonbreath (paralyzing my Gyarados) while I put him in the red with another strength. Knowing Drake will use a Full Restore, I have the perfect chance to switch in Sharpedo for the Ice Beam sweep (assuming all goes well, he is rather frail). He outspeeds me and hits me with a dragonbreath, I survive, no paralysis and KO with Ice Beam. Drake follows up with Altaria and I feel Aggron is a good counter so switch him in to prevent Sharpedo from being KO'd. He uses a few Dragonbreaths, scoring paralysis in the process, and Aggron hits with two metal claws before being healed with a full restore. As fate would have it, on the turn he is cured, he is hit with Dragonbreath and re-paralyzed
. Unwaivering, I stick to my claws and KO Altaria. Drake sends out his second Altaria. Feeling Gyarados is a good counter, I switch him and and heal him with a full restore on the first turn only to be hit a a cheap sand attack D:. He follows up with a paralyzing Dragonbreath which cripples my Gyarados for the turn. Gyarados is failing miserably as each turn he either misses or is paralyzed, forcing me to use another Full Restore (thank Jebus I stocked up). Again, on the heal turn; paralyzed -_-. We trade more turns (more misses and full paralysis, with one hit) before I have to heal again. Seeing him stuck on Dragonbreath and being a special attacker, I switch in Grumpig and *gasp* paralyzed. He scores a critical hit on Crunch while I get close to finishing him with Psychic. I'm forced to switch back to Gyarados while he uses a Full Restore. I take the time to heal up my team before facing off against Flygon.
Fast forward because I'm getting bored telling this story; Gyarados KO's Flygon. Drake sends out his final pokemon, and quite possibily my biggest challenge thus far; the dreaded Salamence. If there is a silver lining to this turd its that he already used his two full restores. I heal up while he uses Dragon Claw. I go for a Strength while he uses fly to evade my attack, thus I switch to Aggron to take the damage. Instead of going for a metal claw or switching (he has flamethrower) I go for Rock smash and score on the defense drop. I then switch to Gyarados to drop his attack and hopefully begin to finish him off. Fast forward I won, 4 or five turns later with all six pokes in tact. There was a close call where Salamence got a critical hit, but Gyarados survived with 12 HP and KO'd with Strength. I heal up before heading down the corridor to face my destiny.
This is it, the moment I've been waiting for for the entire game. Every pokemon, every battle, every move culminates in the next room. My hands are sweaty, my nerves are shaking, and I feel as though I will choke on the lump in my throat*. I think back to all of the moments that brought me here; the pokemon that perished who have battled so bravely, the strategies that made seemingly impossible battles go through without a hitch, finally I think of the Wallace battle and what could have been. My first pokemon Swampert would have loved to be here, my first catch Zigzagoon who was KO'd by a meditite that I didn't know had Hi Jump Kick. I think of how badly some battles went, again the Wallace battle, where a string of bad luck cost me three of my most cherished pokes and Absol. How crazy it is that one or two turns of confusion damage and a critical hit can cause an entire strategy to fall apart and force me to improvise a new one to even have a chance to be here. Gathering my courage and swallowing that lump in my throat, I set Grumpig as my lead I bravely walk into the champion's room.
Skarmory is his starter and the battle starts off as a contrast of styles; I go for Shock wave and he toxic. Turn two I decide it would be best to confuse Skarmory and go for confuse ray and luckily he hurts himself in confusion. I go for another Shock Wave while he sets up a layer of spikes. Next turn we both use full restores to heal our pokes. Three turns later his Skarmory is KO'd and Grumpig is toxiced. Even though I'm up 6-5, the damage has been done as Spikes will compromise by ability to switch and wall his threats. Luckily, he only layed one layer.
His next poke his Cradily, and I take the time to heal my Grumpig while he scores a crit with Giga Drain. I set up a few flashes, hoping to be able to switch in Breloom, while he hits me with Ancient powers. After four flashes I use Confuse ray before switching into Breloom. Confusion lasts for one turn and he hits on a Sludge Bomb on the switch, luckily Breloom survives. I heal while he misses on Sludge Bomb. I then employ my "Bust-Steven's-Stones" strategy, a faster Breloom with Spore. I put his his Cradily to sleep before KO'ing it with a Focus Punch. Two down, four to go.
Steven follows up with Armaldo. Knowing that Armaldo knows Aerial Ace, I decide to score the cheap sleep with Spore before switching into Sharpedo. Sharpedo hits hard with a surf, maybe too hard as Armaldo wakes up and hits back (and harder I might add) with Ancient power. Luckily Sharpedo outspeeds and KO's with another Surf. I'm feeling confident at this moment as I'm up 6-3, though the Champ is by no means down and out.
The Champ sends out his Aggron and I decide to switch in Breloom to fight back. I go back to my strategy and put Aggron to sleep before KOing him with a Giga Drain followed up with a hard Focus Punch. Two pokemon remain.
The penultimate pokemon for this challenge is Steven's prided Metagross. I figure my best bet to beat such a pokemon is to put it to sleep, leech seed it, and switch to a poke (Gyarados) who can wall it. So that is what I do and it goes off as planed. A few turns later, the vaunted Metagross is no more. Claydol is all that remains between.
Waterfall. Waterfall. Waterfall. Rather disappointing final pokemon for the game, but its over. Its finally over. I have not only joined the Nuzlocke ranks, but have done so with all six pokes surviving the E4.
*A bit of an exaggeration, but my story needed something interesting after the borefest known as Drake.
