Dark run complete!

Victory Road? Easy as pie.

Grinding? 11 Rare Candies took care of that.

So we went into the Elite 4 with the following:

Suzaku - Surf, Dark Pulse, Ice Beam, Extrasensory (and Grass Knot for one battle)
CC - High Jump Kick, Crunch, Poison Jab, Dragon Claw
Rolo - Night Slash, Psycho Cut, Superpower, Rock Slide
Jeremiah - Earthquake, Crunch, Outrage, Rock Slide
Cecilia -  Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Sludge Bomb, Thunder Fang
Lloyd - Iron Head, Night Slash, X-Scissor, Poison Jab

And with this crew, could the OHKO record be gone? Well, let's find out.


Malva
Opening with vengeance from last time.

CC v Pyroar
Pyroar gets the drop and takes CC down to 89/170... but HELLOJUMPKICK OHKOs back.

Jeremiah v Talonflame
HOLY CRAP JEREMIAH WENT FIRST. OHKO, of course, off Rock Slide.

Suzaku v Torkoal
Surf OHKOs.

Cecilia v Chanderlure
And Dark Pulse completes the sweep. (OHKO count: 4)

Wikstrom
Dark being neutral to Steel now, and I had a plan for one in particular...

Jeremiah v Klefki
Jeremiah OHKOs with Earthquake, as the Dark type lures Klefki into not using a status move.

Rolo v Aegislash
Aegislash uses King's Shield to dodge Night Slash... and Rolo gets a free Attack doubler from it. :-P Night Slash does 90% to Shield form, and Iron Head takes Rolo to 100/196. On the Full Restore, Aegislash is still in Blade Form so Night Slash cleans it up.

Cecilia v Scizor
Flamethrower OHKO, obviously.

CC v Probopass
Not wanting to activate Sturdy, CC Crunches and Flash Cannon takes CC down to 130. High Jump Kick for the win... MISSES!! And CC survives the Flash Cannon with TWO HP. A second kick doesn't miss. (OHKO count: 6)

Drasna
There was one specific reason for a certain move...

Jeremiah v Dragalgae
Earthquake OHKOs, and Moxie gets a +1, which is about to become relevant...

Jeremiah v Altaria
Outrage with a +1 OHKOs...

Jeremiah v Druddigon
Outrage with a +2 OHKOs (175/200 because of Rough Skin)...

Jeremiah v Noivern
...and Outrage with a +3 OHKOs. All too easy. Jeremiah levels here. (OHKO count: 10)

Siebold
Lack of Electric moves, and a temporary sub for Grass Knot being required, means I'm kinda worried about this one.

CC v Clauncher
And this is why. High Jump Kick does 75%, and a Mega Launcher-powered Aura Sphere does 116 (54/170) coming back. Second High Jump Kick finishes.

Lloyd v Starmie
Surf takes Lloyd to 85/175 in his debut, but Night Slash OHKOs back.

Suzaku v Barbaracle
Hence the Grass Knot, OHKO of course.

Rolo v Gyarados (free +1):
Rock Slide... MISSES turn 1. Waterfall does 81 back (115/196). The +1 means Rock Slide does 75%, but this lets Gyarados DD up and Waterfall for the duke.

(Note: I ran this fight twice. Both times, a Rock Slide miss on turn 1, and instead of KOing with the 2nd waterfall it FLINCHED the first time. Clearly it wasn't meant to be.)

Suzaku v Gyarados
Grass Knot finishes. (OHKO count: 12.)

Diantha
Time for a little payback, methinks.

Suzaku v Hawlucha
Ice Beam OHKOs, thankfully.

CC v Goodra
Dragon Claw keeps Goodra out of Full Restore range by doing about 65%, before Focus Miss lives up to its name. Dragon Claw 2 finishes.

Lloyd v Aurorus
In a shocking development, Iron Head OHKOs.

Suzaku v Tyrantrum
Ice Beam OHKOs.

Cecilia v Gourgeist
Flamethrower OHKOs...

Lloyd v MegaGardevoir
... and Iron Head scores a OHKO for the win!

 Pictured: Greninja completed his epic day by being confirmed for Smash Bros. I think we all know the winner here. 

Final score: 17 OHKOs. Not quite the Ice run, but close.

Dark Day 8: Anti-Heroes Assemble

Current location: Saved in Snowbelle City after ripping through a bunch of TMs. The group's L56-L57 as we prepare to head off to Victory Road, though I'll save the full team dump for when we actually get there. For one thing, some HMs need deletin'.

There was a great deal of pleasure in beating down the Psychic gym with a bunch of Dark types... the hard part was deciding who to sub in to finish off Meowstic. From there, the Exp Share got cranked as it was time to blitz Team Flare one last time.

I'm almost going to miss being able to resist all of the Dark STAB flying around, though I'm not going to miss not having Thunderbolt somewhere for the late game heroics (read: Gyarados). If only Luxray became Electric/Dark and available in XY outside of nonexistent hackery.

Managed to power through Terminus Cave with a bunch of Fighting-weak Pokemon again, though it did help that Suzaku picked up Extrasensory so I had a second Pokemon capable of SEing them. It also meant Brick Break for Jeremiah. Picked up Waterfall on 19, and proceeded to beat down Wulfric by way of two Flamethrowers and a Metal Claw (still haven't gone back to put Iron Head on because it comes in like, 2000 experience points.)

And I managed to get the time for "get all of the TMs" (remember, this is Earthquake, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Dark Pulse AAAAAAAND Psychic) inside of 15 minutes.

Tomorrow's plan is simple: Eat. Sleep. Beat Elite.

Dark Weekend: So Hype I Forgot To Nickname

Current location: Saved in Dendemille Town having just cleared the Frost Cavern and opened up Route 17. The team is largely the same, except I've made the promised substitute for Nina:

Lloyd the Pawniard - L46 - Bashful, Defiant - Thief, Metal Claw, X-Scissor, Poison Jab

And a mild correction from the last update: There was one other thing I could have done to possibly get CC able to blitz Sylveon, and that's giving it Poison Jab in lieu of Strength. I'll definitely be able to try this when the Fighting run happens because I'll have a full team of Pokemon capable of using Strength, so that slot will be opened.

After leaving the Gym and acquiring a Murkrow from a friend in exchange for Rock run assistance, the Poke Ball Factory is down to about a ten minute run, and from there on to Route 15. Finding Pawniard was the top priority, and I would've obviously preferred something Attack boosting, but between Defiant proving free Swords Dance equivalents and the desire to have reasonable defenses, I ended up keeping one with good defenses and what may be the highest native HP possible.

We took down Route 15 pretty quickly, and then stopped in to pick up some moves from the Returner - nothing really major, but I did get Thunder Fang on Cecilia since literally nothing learns Thunderbolt, and more importantly... Rolo has Superpower now. This means, among other things, that he gets a free +1/+1 most battles because there's bound to be something Fighting weak. Also, I may actually use the set of Repels.

From there, I went down to Lost Hotel and Route 16, whereby I made my HM muling easier by grabbing the Super Rod and fishing up Crawdaunt and Sharpedo. Although they won't be used in Battle, at least one of them will get Waterfall so I can pick up those stray TMs after Wulfric (for one thing, Suzaku and Cecilia need Dark Pulse badly).

The run finished in Frost Cavern, where I took a great deal of pleasure in getting Rolo up to +5 Speed and Attack against that one Hiker with the Rock Tomb Relicanth.

Goal for tomorrow: At least get the TMs I need for the end. Yes, that means beating Wulfric.

Dark Day 4/5: Grand Experiments And Badge Runs

Note: There is no Day 5 progress because of Pokemon Battle Trozei, so this covers 2 days.

Current location: Saved in Laverre City having just beaten Valerie. The team is currently L40-L41, and everyone is now final form... until Nina gets boxed due to lack of good offensive Poison moves in lieu of Pawniard.

Shalour had an easy fight against Serena, once Cecilia picked up an actual Fire move to beat down Quilladin with. The Fighting gym was predictably annoying, and Rolo actually didn't make it past Hawlucha, but Suzaku managed to not be Fighting weak long enough to Water Pulse things to death.

Courmarine was quite fun to roll through with Cecilia Fire Fanging everything in sight, and Rolo cleaning up Weepinbell with some well timed Aerial Aces. That led to the Route From Hell, where I curse the lack of a Flying type until Route 15 but was nearly able to get Suzaku to evolve. The Flare base finished that mission off.

In the Electric gym, Jeremiah pretty much went off as expected. Suzaku actually led the fight (because he had the Amulet Coin), so Emolga ate two Rock Tombs and everything else was well Dug out. Finally, we hit Laverre and time for an experiement... can a Scrafty solo Valerie?

Under ideal circumstances - a couple of levels (CC was L40) and a better nature, it might have been possible. It took the Roseli Berry (helpfully located on Route 14) and an X Speed to set up taking down Mawile with High Jump Kick, OHKOing Mr Mime with Crunch before it can either set Reflect or Dazzling Gleam, and then needing a crit to get past Sylveon. But we did do it and now I can go back to get the missing Dark Pokemon and continue on. I only have to ST one Pokemon, so I won't go bankrupt buying drugs as well!

Also, a preview of the update at 1/3... the next type after this is Rock.

Dark Day 3: Punky Skunk

Current location: Just pulled into Shalour City. The team is now L29/30, Rolo's a Malamar (and has Aerial Ace), Cecilia has evolved and will actually get a Fire move soon, Jeremiah evolved, I inadvertently overwrote CC's Brick Break and don't care because HELLOJUMPKICK is two levels away, and I have a newcomer:

"Nina" - female Stunky - Stench, Naughty - Cut, Dig, Thief, Shadow Claw

We got Cecilia situated and headed down to the Coastal level for the ceremonial item digging and Swimmer punting... though it was kind of hard when you're leading off with a Fire type. Oh well. Pulled into Cyllage City, beat the Gym including Cecilia needing two hits to take out Amaura with Rock Smash. Also, I gained a new respect for Rolo's Foul Play (it 2HKOed Tyrunt).

Route 10 and Geosenge were soaked with rain, so I sent Team Flare temporarily packing. It took some subtle manuvering to get past Lucario x2, but Jeremiah proved his loyalty and managed to Bulldoze them into submission to get past that. Only took one Revive + Soda Pop combo to do so.

On Route 11, we met Nina, I am officially sick of Naughty natures, and managed to beat the Brains and Brawn in front of Reflection Cave without losing Nina so I call that a win. The cave itself had a hairy moment at the hands of a surprisingly durable Sawk who ended up wiping out the entire team before I could run back to the Nurse equivalent. So glad he'll be on my side for once a few runs down the road.

By the way, since this is the 6th run, we're about at the 1/3 mark of the project, so I'll be going over plans for the rest of the run after this one ends. I've pretty much got the order decided, starting with a situation where I'll get all 6 party Pokemon within what would be 20 minutes or so of game time if I wasn't stopping to Super Train everything.

Dark Day 2: Answering The Call

No badges to report today, but that's just a sign of how long the complex is. Here's the team as it stands right now:

L24 Suzaku - Water Pulse, Round, Thief, Lick
L23 CC - Feint Attack, Brick Break, Headbutt, Low Kick
L22 female Absol "Rakshata" - Naughty, Super Luck - Bite, Shadow Claw, Cut, Rock Smash
L21 male Sandile "Jeremiah" - Jolly, Moxie - Bulldoze, Thief, Sand Tomb, Assurance
L21 male Inkay "Rolo" - Jolly, Contrary - Thief, Psybeam, Hypnosis, Foul Play
L19 female Houndour "Cecilia" - Naughty, Early Bird - Bite, Howl, Rock Smash, Smog

Basically, it was get through Parfum Palace to start, then skip past everything possible on Route 7 to reach 8 and pick up Rakshata and Rolo. Jolly works quite well on an Inkay because once it becomes Malamar the Speed becomes a slight issue, this lets me focus on it. So far, Rakshata's been in beast mode, but I blame the 25% crit chance for that.

From there, it was back to 7 for experience and items, then over to 8, and finally into 9 to pick up Jeremiah. The fun part came after the third round of ST when I was able to tee off on all of the Solrock that seemed to swarm in that cave. Even below the  Solrock's level, Bite was a 2-shot.

From there, it was a zip down to Route 10 and to find an acceptable Houndour. No puns about the nature, please. I also would've preferred Flash Fire, but decided to go with maxing SA/Speed on  it and simply let the nature boost Attack for things like Thunder Fang. It's not like Cecilia would be able to do anything to Malva besides the Chandelure anyway, and that's what Jeremiah and Suzaku are for.

Tomorrow: Finally get the second badge, see if we can survive the Lucario Gauntlet again, hopefully find a good Stunky and possibly unlock Surf.

Dark Day 1: Missed Opportunity Theatre

Current location: About to enter Parfum Palace, with all that entails. We have two Pokemon:

Suzaku the Frogadier - L20 - Timid - Water Pulse, Thief, Lick, Quick Attack
CC the Scraggy - L19 - Docile, Moxie - Feint Attack, Low Kick, Headbutt, Return

Started with Froakie, did the early Super Training and blasted through, enough that I was able to bring down Viola despite not getting Water Pulse (L14) until after the fight. It took several Bubbles/Quick Attacks and I nearly ran out of HP restoratives, but it got through.

At this point, I wanted to save the trainers for a Scraggy so I dodged everyone on 4, speed-ran the Sycamore fight, and went out to grab Scraggy. And for whatever reason, I couldn't find a Scraggy or a Pancham to save my life. Hell, there was a shiny Gulpin in one of the hordes I found (and accidentally brought down, d'oheth). Thinking I should have at least stopped and grabbed one of the Honey on Route 4 before proceeding, so lesson learned for Fighting.

Much like Nidoking, I ended up with a Docile one that had a good nature, but STing it up made it quite good and Moxie can overcome most Attack issues. Went back, speed ran Routes 22->4->5, and actually managed to get past Route 6 before the work shift ended.

Today's plan: Pick up Inkay, Absol and Sandile, ST two of them, and maybe get to Route 10 as well...?

Type Preview: Dark

Much like Fairy, our next run will be a type designed solely to check a type that was too overpowered. It's a type designed for tricky, varied offense, with an eye toward statistical-based trolling. It tragically continues the run of "Pokemon weak to Fighting" runs, but at least this one may be able to fight back.

Put the kids to bed, 'cause this one's getting Dark.

Type effectiveness:
Attacking: Super effects Ghost and Psychic, not very effective against Fighting, itself and Fairy.
Defending: Double damage from Fighting, Bug, and Fairy, half damage from Ghost and itself, immune to Psychic.

Dual types:
Fire, Water, Ice, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Psychic, Rock, Ghost, Dragon and Steel are all available in XY (theoretically). Grass is an option through Pokemon Bank.

Probable final team:
Froakie/Frogadier/Greninja: For the first time in a blogged run, I actually get to use a starter and I will most definitely abuse this ability. Relatively balanced for both attack stats, but I'm going to be focused on the Special end because I'm good on physical and I need a Dragon check.

Scraggy/Scrafty: Wins over Pancham/Pangoro by virtue of varied offensive capabilities, learning powerful moves extremely quickly, and being way cooler. It learns Hi Jump Kick before the Fighting gym if I play my cards right. Only problem: Horde exclusive means it will need a lot of help.

Inkay/Malamar: Truth be told, Malamar is actually my favourite new XY Pokemon so I relish any chance I get to use it. The fact that it's the team's best shot against a certain troublesome type adds to the fun.

Sandile/Krokorok/Krookodile: IT HAS SUNGLASSES YOUR ARGUMENT IS INVALID *ahem* Provides STAB Ground, and forms a neat double team of Moxie abusers (potentially) with Scrafty if it doesn't have Intimidate.

Houndour/Houndoom: The traditional Route 10 entry, Houndoom is one of the few Pokemon here who can pack an Electric move, so it'll see a fair bit of play in the late game. Also provides STAB Fire, because after the Steel run I'm not making that mistake again if I can help it.

Pawniard/Bisharp: Serves as a late game anti-Fairy... tragically, I can't get this before the Fairy gym, but Defiant is such a great eff you move for Intimidators.

Why not use...?
Pancham/Pangoro: I might use this one if I can't get a satisfactory draw on Scraggy, and it is a bit more high powered offensively. However, Scraggy has a bit more speed, and Malamar has the "freak evolution method" role covered for this team.

Absol: I'll probably bring it for a while just because it's very strong offensively and is a crit machine w/Super Luck, but I could use the extra STAB coverage and its main advantage (the Absolite) doesn't come until the run's over.

Umbreon: Not efficient for an ingame run, great defense but the offense isn't up to snuff. Also, it's an Eeveelution, bad movepool warning.

Stunky/Skuntank: Will be along for a while, but its effectiveness falls off the table once you're past the Fairy gym.

Sableye: Don't need a Fighting immunity that badly that I'm going to put up with its low stats again, the Ghost run really soured me on using it.

Corpish/Crawdaunt, Carvanha/Sharpedo: I can't play the game without having the best Water/Dark given to me.

Skorupi/Draipon: Could see some use if only for Thunder Fang, but I'm not sure if I'm up for going with another Slow exp-grower.

Liepard: Outclassed at the endgame, especially since it has no offense beyond Night Slash.

Murkrow/Honchkrow: I may catch one for Fly purposes, but its entire physical movepool is Fly, Night Slash, Return, and a TM that's technically postgame (Steel Wing). At least Talonflame learns it naturally.

Sneasel/Weavile: If I'm bringing you in at Route 17, you better have move variety out the ying-yang and I should be able to get you in final form before the postgame. Sneasel fails the second test.

Tyranitar: Not available in X. Which is a shame, as it'd be damn useful.

Zorua/Zoroark: Simply comes too late and doesn't have the movepool of fellow unofficial mascot Lucario.

Zweilous/Hydreigon: Even later than Zorua, needs five Rare Candies off the hop to do anything useful. Not ready for that kind of investment at the end game, psuedo-legendary or not. (Notice I won't use Dragonite in either of its eligible runs for largely the same reasons.)

Yveltal: Not playing Y, largely.

Major battle expectations:
Viola: Froakie wins by virtue of having gotten all of the experience to this point.
Grant: I have a Water type, a Fighting type, and a Ground type at minimum, and you think this'll be hard?
Korrina: Hopefully we're at the Malamar stage, Pluck's getting a workout.
Ramos: Reason 23B why I'm glad I'll have Houndoom and Stunky.
Clemont: Just imagine Krokorok getting stronger on each KO...
Valerie: AKA "Skuntank's Blaze of Glory".
Olympia: lulz
Wulfric: Combo of the Fighter and Houndoom carries the day here

Rival: She'll have Chespin, and the Fighting type might cause problems... if Houndoom wasn't around.
Team Flare: It'll be somewhat of a fair fight considering the team resists their primary STAB.
Elite 4: Like the Steel run there's no entry point... unlike the Steel run, I'll probably be well enough equipped to LEAD with Fire.
Champion: Hopefully Bisharp fares better than its Steel predecessor, Hawlucha's gonna be a problem, ever wonder how fast an Aurorus's HP bar can drop?

Trainer:
Dark has always been portrayed as an anti-heroic type, and if you're going to combat evil by staining your hands with evil there's really only one guy to call. My "keeper" file may be Kallen, but for this run, we have to go with the leader of the Black Knights himself... Lelouch. (Nickname: Zero. Because running gags are cool.)