Poison Run complete!

So a brief run through the end of Victory Road later, and a quick side trip to Dendemille to get useless moves off, the group arrived at the Elite 4.

The final team was as follows, all L64:

Viscous - Energy Ball, Sludge Bomb, Earthquake, Nature Power
Tree - Poison Jab, Brick Break, Earthquake, Rock Slide
Corrosion - Fly, Cross Poison, X-Scissor, Steel Wing
Neuro - no change
Thallium - Surf, Sludge Wave, Dazzling Gleam, Ice Beam
D.D.T - no change 

Figured I'd change things up a bit for the E4 this time 'round...

Malva
For instance, opening with Fire instead of Dragon. Turned out to be a good idea.

Thallium v Pyroar:
Surf one-shots.

Neuro v Torkoal
Earth Power OHKOs.

Thallium v Talonflame
Brave Bird goes first - because although Thallium's quick, it's not that quick - and Brave Birds Thallium to 60/178. Recoil means Surf officially isn't a one-shot.

D.D.T v Chandelure
Crunch one-hit KOs. NEXT!

Siebold
This one should be just as simple, right? Not so much, as it turns out.

Viscous v Clawitzer
Viscous goes Mega like a boss, Energy Ball is a one-shot.

Corrosion v Starmie
I might have either over-estimated Corrosion's Attack or underestimated Starmie's defense, as X-Scissor only does 70% which allows Starmie to put up a Light Screen. This becomes relevant shortly. Second X-Scissor finishes.

Viscous v Barbaracle
Energy Ball OHKOs the Water/Rock pretender. (Maybe I'll call him Brian in the Rock run, I dunno.)

Neuro v Gyarados
Neuro fires Thunderbolt, which was 5 out of 6 in taking out Gyarados to this point - but because of the Light Screen, Gyarados has 30% left. This allows him to fire off a Dragon Dance, then OHKO Neuro with Waterfall the next round. (Crap)

Corrosion v Gyarados
Corrosion takes to the sky, which gives Gyarados a 2nd Dragon Dance... but now he's faster than Corrosion so Ice Fang whiffs. Fly finishes the job.

Drasna
Obviously I have to save the type that's immune to the run until last, right?

Neuro v Dragalgae
Neuro looks to redeem himself by firing Earth Power... which leaves Dragalgae at 5% or so. The countering Surf drops Neuro to 92/190. On the Full Restore turn I elect to Poison Jab, which does about 30% and lets Earth Power finish again.

Thallium v Noivern
In speed terms, Talonflame > Thallium > Noivern as Ice Beam OHKOs.

D.D.T v Altaria
Normally Cotton Guard would come into play here, but D ain't got time for that. Ice Fang, OHKO.

Thallium v Druddigon
Ice Beam takes about 2/3 off Druddigon (I thought his SpDef was worse than that), and Druddigon uses Dragon Tail to take Thallium down to 109/178... and force Viscous in.

Viscous v Druddigon
Mega Sludge Bomb will ruin anyone's day, and so it does for Druddigon.

Siebold
So now I've lost my predominant STAB, this should be, um, interesting...

Neuro v Klefki
Klefki's Prankster gets it out front with Torment... but Neuro's Earth Power is a OHKO.

Tree v Probopass
Tree tries to break the 4x-weak rock with Brick Break and it almost works... oops, Sturdy. Earth Power is super-effective and leaves Tree at 89/195. On the Full Restore, Tree Rock Slides to break the Sturdy and Brick Breaks ends it.

D.D.T v Scizor
Fire Fang OHKOs again.

Neuro v Aegislash
Earth Power gets dodged by King's Shield, and on the next turn Neuro Flamethrowers about 60% off. (Not sure why I didn't go to Earth Power again, Torment would've gone with switching and worst comes to worse, it gets one Full Restore in Blade Form so anything short of Poison Jab could end it.) Iron Head takes Neuro down to 66/190, but Earth Power ends it and levels Neuro up.

Diantha
There's a decent-sized, Mega Stone-packing elephant in the room here... let's see if we can overcome it.

Corrosion v Hawlucha
Corrosion employs the classic "GTFO" method with Fly, and Poison Jab misses. Fly hits true for a OHKO, and Corrosion levels up.

D.D.T v Tyrantrum
Probably should have gone to Thallium, oh well. DDT's Ice Fang does about 40%, and the countering Head Smash... MISSES. (Diantha, Earthquake was RIGHT FRIGGIN' THERE.) As punishment for that blunder, the second Ice Fang criticals and Tyrantrum goes down.

D.D.T v Goodra
An understandable matchup given the Special stats involved here... Another Ice Fang brings Goodra down to 40%, and Dragon Pulse takes DDT to 74/176. Second Ice Fang finishes.

Tree v Aurorus
In what I hope isn't an Ice run preview, Tree OHKOs Aurorus with Brick Break.

Thallium v Gourgeist
Strongest move to open is Ice Beam, and it does 90%... and freezes. Full Restore 1 is countered with Sludge Wave as I try to end this quickly... but it does just slightly less, meaning Full Restore 2 comes out. This time, I use Dazzling Gleam for about 35% and a second Ice Beam finishes.

Thallium v MegaGardevoir
ohcrap.jpg

Sludge Wave manages to knock about 75% off before Thallium falls to Psychic.

Viscous v MegaGarde
I figure "Mega v Mega" would be a poetic way to end it, so I bring mine out. Full Restore 3 meets Sludge Bomb for... 90%. Crap. On Full Restore 4, I use Nature Power which becomes Tri Attack for 20%... but I don't get to find out if Viscous could tank a Psychic, as it crits for a OHKO.

Tree v MegaGarde
OK, Tree's got to be faster, right...? Nope, Psychic OHKOs.

Corrosion v MegaGarde
OK, NOW we know Corrosion's faster... and Cross Poison criticals in retaliation for the KO!

 Pictured: Bat wings will be a clothing option in Z.

So I will relax for a little bit... and then lay out why Ice is going to be the hardest one of the bunch.