Normal run complete!

The team entering, with relevant stats (Attack and Special Attack, then Speed):

Pyroar - Hyper Voice, Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Solarbeam (225/202)
Snorlax - Body Slam, Earthquake, Heavy Slam, Rock Slide (209/95)
Exploud - Boomburst, Surf, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball (201/145)
Zangoose - Return, X-Scissor, Poison Jab, Brick Break (209/185)
Heliolisk - Thunderbolt, Surf, Dark Pulse, Grass Knot (192/224)
Staraptor - Return, Fly, Steel Wing, Close Combat (229/189)

And let's start it off with...

Wikstrom
Well, I lead with a Fire type normally, so why not?

Pyroar v Klefki
klefki drops a Spike layer but get roasted out by Flamethrower.

Zangoose v Probopass
Brick Break takes Probo to 1, Power Gem after Spikes brings Zangoose to 82/186. X-Scissor on the Full Restore turn sets up a Brick Break KO.

Snorlax v Aegislash
Sacred Sword takes Snorlax to 42HP, but Earthquake OHKOs.

Pyroar v Scizor
Flamethrower, g'bye.

Siebold
Gentlemen first, and I may be able to run the table here.

Heliolisk v Clawitzer
Thunderbolt...

Heliolisk v Gyarados
Thunderbolt...

Heliolisk v Barbaracle
Grass Knot for variety...

Heliolisk v Starmie
...and Thunderbolt to go 4/4!

Drasna
I think Exploud can pull off the last few, but that poisonous roadblock tho :/

Snorlax v Dragalgae
Can a 209 Atk non-STAB EQ get rid of Dragalgae? Yep, one shot.

Exploud v Druddigon
Weird that they'd go to the non-W4 here. Ice Beam does 70%... and Exploud survives Revenge by 6 HP! (Out of 226... damn.) Boomburst finishes.

Exploud v Altaria
Ice Beam OHKOs. I don't trust it against Noivern, though.

Snorlax v Noivern
Flamethrower does 24 damage... and Rock Slide misses. ::facepalm:: Noivern Super Fangs to 130, and Rock Slide does 60%. Dragon Pulse leaves Snorlax at 58, and sets up the Rock Slide finish with a gratuitous CH.

Malva
Last one standing, turn out the lights.

Staraptor v Pyroar
My desire to get Staraptor in before Diantha beats my desire for a mirror match. Close Combat OHKOs.

Exploud v Torkoal
Surf leaves Torkoal on about 5%, and Stone Edge does 66 (160/226). Boomburst on the Full Restore... faints, no crit or anything. Love this move.

Heliolisk v Talonflame
Thunderbolt OHKOs.

Pyroar v Chandelure
Dark Pulse OHKOs, and here we go!

Diantha
Aerial combat to open, play it by ear from there.

Staraptor v Hawlucha
Fly OHKOs.

Snorlax v Tyrantrum
Earthquake does 70%, Head Smash does 216 and Tyrantrum goes down from recoil.

Staraptor v Goodra
Fly misses Dragon Pulse and does 75%, then takes 117 (86/203) on the landing Dragon Pulse. A second Fly finishes.

Zangoose v Aurorus
Brick Break OHKOs.

Pyroar v Gourgeist
Flamethrower OHKOs.

Snorlax v MGardevoir
Moonblast picks off the weakened Snorlax. OK, plan B.

Staraptor v MGardevoir
Steel Wing... does 98%. If she's not Mega, it's a OHKO. Psychic (gratuitous crit) finishes.

Zangoose v MGardevoir
On the Full Restore turn, Poison Jab criticals and we have a new champion!

Pictured: Exploud, you can chill out now.

So there we go. One run remains. Time to light this joint on Fire.

Time Of The Fall: 28:45

Normal Day 7: Standard Operating Procedure

Current location: Saved at the Pokemon League.

Started out with Route 18, and the Sky Battle was actually quite easy when I threw a Electric-resist berry on Staraptor to get past a Stone Edge Flygon/Thunderbolt Drifblim combo. The Terminus Cave ran me out of Revives on the 2nd basement, but the last one was actually self-inflicted (Boomburst hits EVERYTHING).

In dealing with the Scoobies on Route 19, Zangoose started reaching the point where he was levelling faster than the rest of the team (thank you, Shedinja curve). The entire team was L55 coming into Snowbelle, then L56 in the gym itself. The Ice gym was a three-shot (2 Flamethrowers, one Heavy Slam).

Route 21 actually saw me complete the route versus just grabbing the Rare Candy and Flying out to ditch Cut from whoever got stuck with it (Heliolisk), and then Victory Road went down with the team ending at L63-L64 - running out the Rare Candies later, we're L65 going into the Elite 4.

Normal Day 5/6: Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul

Current location: Back in Anistar City after the Flare event.

Current team:
Pyroar - Hyper Voice, Flamethrower, Snarl, Dig (L52)
Snorlax - Body Slam, Bulldoze, Heavy Slam, Rock Smash (L52)
Exploud - Boomburst, Surf, Crunch, Howl (L52)
Zangoose - Strength, Dig, Poison Jab, X-Scissor (L53)
Heliolisk -  Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Surf, Cut (L52)
Staraptor - Return, Fly, Thief, Close Combat (L52)

Quick hits on two days of action sandwiched around a collapse for long sleep:

Shalour City - Took out the Rival with Strength and Body Slam, Staravia Aerial Aced the Gym to death.

Route 12/Azure Bay: Grind central, Staravia won the Sky Battles.

Courmarine: Picked up Fly, Heliolisk actually beat Jumpluff (3 Parabolic and a Surf), Zangoose X-Scissor took out the other two.

Route That Shall Not Be Named: Hit the jump to Charge Beam first shot, thankfully had Staravia lead to avoid. Litleo evolved against Team Flare.

Lumiose Gym: Snorlax beat Emolga in two Rock Tombs, Zangoose dealt with the rest

Route 14: Just missed getting Loudred to evolve here.

Laverre City: There we go, Loudred is now an Exploud and picked up Surf.

Route 15/16/Lost Hotel: Lots of leveling, Snarl actually was useful here.

Dendemille: Only beneficiary was Boomburst for Exploud.

Frost Cavern:  Ran out of Revives in the Fighting gauntlet but powered through. Somehow, Heliolisk OHKOd Doublade with Thunderbolt.

Anistar Gym: Forgot to lead with Heliolisk to down Sigilyph before Light Screen got up, so beat it down with Body Slam/X-Scissor.

Team Flare events: Heliolisk is at best a two-shot against Mega-Gyarados without the 4x. Thankfully, the 2nd hit paralyzed. Snorlax also shrugged off Fire Blast from Lysandre's Pyroar, but that burned it.

Tomorrow: Finish the fight, er, run.

Normal Day 4: Actual Progress Edition

Current location: Shalour City

Current team at L29:
Litleo - Headbutt, Ember, Bulldoze, Fire Fang
Snorlax - Body Slam, Bulldoze, Rock Smash, Lick
Loudred - Uproar, Howl, Pound, Bite
Zangoose - Strength, Rock Smash, Aerial Ace, Shadow Claw
Heliolisk - Parabolic Charge, Thunder Wave, Razor Wind, Bulldoze
Staravia (Naughty, Atk/Spd) - Aerial Ace, Quick Attack, Thief, Whirlwind

So after a 2am Super Training session, the day began with another round of Chateau training before we ran through Glittering Cave quickly. I took a few shots at getting a Sun Stone through Solrock, but elected to take Snorlax (he of the 1000+ pt shots) through Special ST instead as that also made training Staravia easier (two Speed, two Attack Ls and a Double before we got the Sun Stone).

I dropped Litleo, Quacklin' and Snorlax after the training ended to level up Loudred/Zangoose/Helioptile, so after pounding the Route 8 Water trainers we hit Cyllage at L21 for all. Some light Exp Share-aided grinding brought the team to L25, and Zangoose/Snorlax Rock Smash and Bulldoze rolled the gym. Grant went down to a Rock Smash and two Bulldozes. Oh, and I evolved Helioptile here.

Route 10 had not much to report, and the Geosenge fight actually went well as Litleo could 2 shot the Lucario, and the first one used Swords Dance in lieu of punching Litleo in the face. Yay. Route 11 saw us put Quacklin' away to pick up Staravia, who managed to win the Sky Battle on the route first try even though the first Pokemon was Emolga.

Thanks to some well-timed levelling, Staravia was able to dull the offensive powers of the Fighting types with only a casualty (Snorlax). At the end of the cave, we pulled into Shalour and I grabbed the two TMs with the several hundred thousand $ before end of day.

Today and tomorrow: I'm hoping to be at least through Clemont today and the Flare quest tomorrow. Hope for a quick edit.

Normal E3 Edition: A Whole Lot Of Nothing

For clarification: Between E3, work generally beating me down, and E3 podcasting... this is probably going to be the longest run since Fairy. We're three days in and I just got to Route 9, for instance. And this team needs levels badly.

Here's where we stand right now in terms of team members:
Litleo (Unnerve, Mild, SA/Speed) - Headbutt, Ember, Bulldoze, Work Up *L21*
Quacklin' (ingame-traded Farfetch'd) - Slash, Aerial Ace, Knock Off, Fury Cutter *L21*
Snorlax (Thick Fat, Naive, Atk/Speed) - Chip Away, Bulldoze, Rock Smash, Lick *L19*
Whimsur (Soundproof, Modest, SA/Speed) - Uproar, Howl, Pound, Astonish *L17*
Zangoose (Immunity, Naive, Atk/Speed) - Slash, Rock Smash, Pursuit, Fury Cutter *L17*
Helioptile (Dry Skin, Naive, SA/Speed when it's STed) - Thunder Shock, Tail Whip, Mud Slap, Charge *L15, just caught*

Day 1:
Started with Chespin as promised, picked up Bunnelby and Zigzagoon at first opportunity and let them take charge. Forgot momentarily which Pokemon you needed for the Quacklin' trade and inadvertently caught Fletching, so needed a second Bunnelby and ended up not doing the trade until after the gym. Also grabbed Bidoof for muling purposes on Route 3.

Picked up the first permanent member on Route 22 (Litleo) after about a half hour of searching. Mild's not ideal, but I'll settle. I can always Heart Scale Noble Roar back for the big ones. STed, and then had Litleo beat the gym down. Pulled the Farfetch'd trade and basically left town with Bidoof (trying to grind it to Bibarel), Quacklin' and Litleo in the back.

On Route 4, I simply let the derp and duck combo take out the trainers and ended up going into the Sycamore fight at L14. Came out of it with Litleo at 15, a gratuitous Charmander, and no time left.

Day 2:
Because of meetings and busted logins, I didn't get to start back up until halfway through the day. We took care of Route 5 and Bidoof evolved (so I stopped caring). Quacklin' and Litleo took the reigns from there and we went into Camphier at L17 for those two.

I'm almost to the point that I have Parfum Palace down to a science. We got out of there quickly, and went over to grab Snorlax - and I caught one with the right ability (extra resistances are always nice when you DON'T HAVE ANY) and a livable nature on the first Quick Ball. At this point, work stupidity kicked back in and I only had a chance to get Snorlax STed before end of day.

Day 3:
Things appeared to slow down, so I had Snorlax run a train on Route 6 for some levels, then took the gang down Route 7 to pick up Whimsur and Zangoose. Whimsur was accepted on the 8th attempt with a perfect nature, while Zangoose was good on the first shot after about 20 minutes or so of crawling Route 8 - didn't even hit the swarm.

Of course, the two sets of ST took a long time. They always do.

Once that was finished, I grabbed some extra cash and experience in the Battle Chateau, finding quickly that Zangoose has the Nincada experience curve. Thankfully, Zangoose can do damage so it's not so bad. We picked off Route 8, I picked up a few TMs in Ambrette, and caught Helioptile before the day ended, and I'm about to ST it (at 2am, because I'm hoping against hope for something to hit before I finish what could be $1200 worth of E3 preorders.)

Tomorrow; Since Helioptile will be STd, we're running back to even out the levels. I'm going to beat Grant, and hopefully get to Shalour before the end of the day (but it's a long shot).

Type Preview: Normal

The second most common type in the game, it's got no type advantages whatsoever but a lot of potent attackers. There's a wide variety of offense available, with one very annoying weakness that we've dealt with far too often.

One more run after this and we'll be back to Normal.

Type Effectiveness:
Attack: Super-effects nothing, resisted by Rock and Steel, and can't touch Ghost.
Defending: Super-effected by Fighting, no resistances, Ghost immunity.

Available dual types:
Fire, Water, Electric, Ground, Flying, Fairy ingame. Grass, Fighting and Psychic in the postgame.

Probable Final Team:
Litleo/Pyroar: Always a tricky battle in the E4, Normal/Fire doesn't do it any type favors but it does allow for a surprising Special focus for the team. Plows through the Steel Elite, if nothing else. Moveset: Hyper Voice, Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Solarbeam

Snorlax: I usually catch it, now I have to use it. Physical cleaner who relies a lot on stray Body Slam paralysis or flat-out destroying things with Return. Moveset: Return, Heavy Slam, Rock Slide, Earthquake

Whimsur/Loudred/Exploud: Fills several Special-based holes on the team, also provides the E4 grinding with two major horde-clearing moves. Moveset: Boomburst, Surf, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball

Zangoose: 115 base Attack on Route 8? Are you kidding me? Also serves as an anti-Psychic and a mid-game anti-Fairy. Moveset: Return, X-Scissor, Poison Jab, Brick Break

Heloptile/Heliolisk: Anti-Water play that can defend itself quite well against  Ground-Rocks. Returning champ from the Electric run. Moveset: Thunderbolt, Surf, Grass Knot, Dark Pulse

Staravia/Staraptor: Returning champ from Flying, now more important than ever. Defensive issues mitigated by Intimidate, for the most part. Moveset: Fly, Return, Close Combat, U-Turn or Steel Wing

Other team members: Unfortunately, I want to use Bibarel for late-game Waterfall purposes which means Bidoof. Diggersby will also return, and by the time Staravia joins I'll probably have a Farfetch'd to box.

Why not use...?
Pidgeot: Outclassed by Farfetch'd as an early gamer and Staraptor at the end game.

Linoone: Even with physical Fairy offense, just gets outclassed by the other Normals.

Dunsparce: A lot of interesting toys but lacks the skills to use them.

Delcatty: 50% chance of being complete crap (Normalize), 100% chance of being somewhat crap (Delcatty).

Furfrou: Usefulness falls off a cliff right around Route 8.

Dodrio: See Pidgeot

Furret: No real skills outside of HM muling

Kecleon: Both of its abilities would violate the point of the run anyway.

Audino: Exists solely to grind on.

Smeargle: The least efficient Pokemon possible for an ingame run.

Swellow: See Pidgeot + limited movepool.

Kangaskhan: Scrappy's not all that useful ingame - there's no Ghost specialist - and Zangoose hits harder. Mega Stone being postgame finishes it.

Tauros: Snorlax tanks like a mofo and Zangoose has more move variety.

Miltank: Not sure where it would fit, quite frankly.

Chatot: Worse than Pidgeot. Does that tell you anything?

Watchog: I might've used it if it was early, but Route 15 means it's punching about nine routes above its weight.

Fearow: Victory Road? nothxbai

Noctowl: Better than Chatot, but Route 20 dooms it.

Wigglytuff: I almost brought it, but finding out that Exploud does everything it would except for Fairy offense means I can't justify it.

Spinda: Needs an evo before I'd touch it.

Ursaring: Route 21 is way too late for this run.

Lickilicky: Why does this thing even EXIST?

Ditto: See Kecleon

Major Battle Expectations:
Viola: Litleo Ember sweep with a side of Farfetch'd getting rid of Surskit.
Grant: Normal might not be able to scratch it, but there's a full team of Bulldozers and Rock Smashers to play with.
Korrina: I'll have Staravia at this point, so he'll be able to Intimidate-sweep.
Ramos: Staravia's Fly is the key here.
Clemont: Snorlax tanks the whole place, with Zangoose hitting the last two with Fighting offense.
Valerie: Stray Poison Jabs  ho.
Olympia: Balls and Claws carry the day here.
Wulfric: Exploud and Zangoose tag-team the place.

Rival: Definitely taking Chespin to minimize my Fighting exposure.
Team Flare: Not the best defenses, and Heliolisk works OT wiping out Lysandre.
Elite 4: Definitely have to leave Steel until the end.
Champion: The main reason Snorlax is hanging onto Heavy Slam? Mega Gardevoir.

Trainer:
I'm actually tempted to go with a) a canon name (Serena) for the trainer, and b) no nicknames on the Pokemon. It's a run so boring, there's no lore around it at all.