Electric run complete!

Siebold
Yeah, this was the obvious opener.

Ixion v Clawitzer
Thunderbolt OHKOs.

Tritoch v Gyarados
Make it two.

Ixion v Barbaracle
For a change of pace, Grass Knot OHKOs.

Ixion v Starmie
And back to Thunderbolt for the win.

Malva
I've got more Waters and Surfs than normal...

Ixion v Pyroar
Surf OHKOs.

Tritoch v Torkoal
And again.

Tritoch v Chandelure
Surf goes 3/3.

Tiamat v Talonflame
I misclicked Dragon Pulse... and after Flare Blitz takes to 167/206, it finishes anyway. Huh. Thanks to Exp Share, Ixion leveled here.

Drasna
If I can get past the first one, this should be easy...

Tiamat v Dragalgae
When in doubt, go Mega. Dragon Pulse means we're 9/9.

Tritoch v Altaria
Ice Beam OHKOs for 10.

Tritoch v Noivern
Dragon Pulse takes 100 off (151/251) but Ice Beam means we're 11/11. Tritoch levels.

Tiamat v Druddigon
And Dragon Pulse makes us perfect through 3 Elite and levels Tiamat.

Wikstrom
Only one left, what can I do?

Remora v Klefki
Dazzling Gleam goes first and takes Remora to 177 (/226), and Mud Bomb... doesn't finish, ending the streak like a metallic Lesnar. Thunderbolt hits the Full Restore, and Klefki drops Spikes before falling to a second Thunderbolt.

Remora v Probopass
Surf takes Probopass down about 40%, and Earth Power brings Remora to 101. Mud Bomb finishes and Remora levels.

Remora v Aegislash
I Hyper Potion to waste King's Shield, and Mud Bomb does just under half. Shadow Claw takes Remora to 126... and Static kicks in. Mud Bomb 2 hits a switch to Shield Form, but Aegislash is paralyzed. Full Restore 2 is met with Thunderbolt for about a quarter, Mud Bomb hits the Shield, a seond one hits but Aegislash Claws Remora to 27. Yet another Mud Bomb finishes.

Raiden v Scizor
Overheat does it job, OHKOing. That's better.

Diantha
There's two trouble spots down the stretch...

Alexander v Hawlucha
Flying Press hits for 23 (146/169), and Thunderbolt OHKOs back.

Alexander v Tyrantrum
Flash Cannon OHKOs. Alexander levels.

Tritoch v Goodra
Here's the first trouble. Ice Beam does 40%, and Dragon Pulse brings Tritoch to 161/254. Thunderbolt criticals to put Goodra into Ice Beam KO range, while a second Dragon Pulse leaves Tritoch on 79. Ice Beam finishes.

Raiden v Gourgeist
Not taking any chances, Overheat OHKOs. Raiden levels, and we're all hands on deck!

Alexander v Aurorus
Flash Cannon OHKOs.

Alexander v Gardevoir
Shadow Ball takes Alexander to 76, and Flash Cannon... leaves 5%. Full Restore is met by Thunderbolt for 40%. Alex survives Shadow Ball with 11 HP, and there's no kicking out of a second Flash Cannon!

Pictured: Getting out in front of our deep-sea friend.

Off they go to the Bank, and then we start Fighting through the final four runs...

Time of the fall: 29:04

Electric Day 7: Rolling Home

Current location: Saved at the Pokemon League.

Current team, L65:
Ixion: Thunderbolt, Surf, Grass Knot, Dark Pulse
Tiamat: Thunderbolt, Dragon Pulse, Power Gem, Signal Beam
Tritoch: Thunderbolt, Surf, Ice Beam, Dazzling Gleam
Remora: Thunderbolt, Mud Bomb, Surf, Sludge Bomb
Raiden: Thunderbolt, Overheat, Shadow Ball, Hidden Power (Rock)
Alexander: Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Tri Attack, Hidden Power (Ice)

Picked up with Route 18, and Terminus Cave had no real casualties... though Hasty began to catch up with Tritoch especially on some of the stray Earthquakes and Bulldozes. Raiden definitely appreciated Shadow Ball, though.

After taking Sycamore out (Dragon Pulse, two Thunderbolts) Route 19 brough Remora's Sludge Bomb and the Rival gauntlet. The main problem Pokemon showed itself at the end, though... Goodra, master of the base 150 Special Defense, managed to tank long enough to take out two Remora and Tritoch. Hopefully Diantha's Goodra will be stupid enough to fire Electric moves at Tritoch and trigger Volt Absorb, but a triple-Dragon Pulse is more likely.

The Snowbelle gym went down in three shots: Raiden, who switched back to Overheat, torched Abomasnow, then two Flash Cannons from Alexander finished Avalugg and somehow, Cryogonal. It was funnier when the Quiet-natured Alexander went first against Cryo and OHKOed.

I only bothered grabbing one of the big TMs (Dark Pulse), because no physical attackers, so that got us into Victory Road quickly... and Mud Bomb missed twice against Rival's Flareon. Really would prefer having access to Earth Power for him.

This one goes down tonight, and we should be down to 4.

Electric Day 6: Almost, But Not Quite, A Hard Counter

Current location: Anistar City, post-Flare. Current team at L52 all 'round:

Ixion: Thunderbolt, Surf, Grass Knot, Cut
Tiamat: Thunderbolt, Dragon Pulse, Strength, Rock Smash
Tritoch; Thunderbolt, Surf, Signal Beam, Dazzling Gleam
Remora: Thunderbolt, Mud Bomb, Surf, Discharge
Raiden: Thunderbolt, Air Slash, Hex, Hidden Power (Rock)
Alexander: Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Tri Attack, Hidden Power (Ice)

(Good thing Blissey's postgame or I would be, to put it generously, screwed.)

Last time, we were waiting for Rotom - and it arrived, Timid on the first shot. Oooh, yeah. It was quickly powered up and we resumed pounding everything in the 15->Hotel->16 region. Only problem: The team's not all that adept with the HMs, so much so that Tiamat won't have anything off-STAB until the endgame return to Dendemille. Raiden started out Flying, switched to Fire, then back to Flying so far. Probably won't leave him at Fire again until Snowbelle.

The team bent in Frost Cavern but didn't break, and came out at L45. The Anistar Gym fight saw Tritoch stall out Light Screen from Sigilyph with some well-timed Signal Beaming, Slowking take a predictable OHKO and Alexander three-shoot a Calm Minding Meowstic.

For the Flare quest, I thought Tritoch would be the perfect check to Lysandre - he\s got a Fighting type weak to Dazzling Gleam, a Surfable Fire type and a couple of Flying things. It worked pretty well the first two fights, with only a futile Swords Dance and a couple of Hyper Voice strikes getting in the way, but a Mega Gyarados Earthquake prevented a sweep (and a level, the SOB). Tiamat finished that fight in a Mega showdown. Also, Tritoch also pulled his weight against Xerosic, OHKOing the Malamar with Signal Beam.

Tomorrow: Endgame's in sight.

Electric Day 5: Ready For Rotom

Current location: Saved at the top of the stairs on Route 15 that lead down to the Lost Hotel.

Current team:
Alexander the Magnezone L39 (Quiet, SA/Speed, Sturdy) - Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Tri Attack, Metal Sound
Ixion L41 - Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Surf, Bulldoze
Tiamat L41 - Thunderbolt, Dragon Pulse, Power Gem, Thunder Wave
Tritoch L41 - Thunderbolt, Surf, Signal Beam, Dazzling Gleam
Remora the Stunfisk L40 (Hasty, SA/Speed, Static) - Thunderbolt, Mud Bomb, Surf, Discharge
(space reserved for Raiden the Rotom)

It was back to The Route That Shall Not Be Named to open today, and not surprisingly, nobody could really make use of Charge Beam. Shame. There's something about letting Tritoch soak up all the experience that just made the Power Plant fun, though I did end up running out of Full Heals before I could get past the Swalot who Toxiced the departed Quetzalcoatl.

Into the Electric gym, and we spread the experience around a bit. Surprisingly, Clemont's Emolga decided to Volt Switch out of the way of a mega Power Gem... sadly, his Heliolisk is an inferior model and got two-shot. I let Ramuh handle his fellow rat, and Tritoch wiped out Magneton for the badge (and more importantly, Thunderbolt).

Next, we needed a Stunfisk. The third one on Route 14 was suitable - as we know now, Static is WAY better for Stunfisk - and it got to L36 from L31 by the time we hit Laverre. Remora took the gym mostly on her own, bar the incident with the Energy Ball Slurpuff - and even got Mawile with Mud Bomb, but then Ramuh went off all big-time Strengthee on the last two to pick up badge 6 and Tritoch's Dragon defense pre-Ice Beam.

From there, we unlocked Route 15, evaded every trainer, and caught a suitable Magneton in two shots after a trip to the Returner for some people (mostly Tiamat). A spare Rare Candy made it Magnezone, then we pumped it full of drugs and set it off for an ST session... just one more to go.

Tomorrow: Catch Rotom, clear out to Anistar.

Electric Day 4: It Was Useful For Once?

Current location: Courmarine Pokemon Center. Some guys need a good Knotting, so we'll do that in the morning.

Current team at L35 w/one exception:
Ramuh - unchanged
Ixion - unchanged
Quetzalcoatl - unchanged
Tiamat - Electro Ball, Thunder Wave, Power Gem, Bulldoze @ Ampharosite
Tritoch - Surf, Thunder Wave, Electro Ball, Spark (L34)

And there's the rub with Tritoch - it's a Slow grower. Thankfully, it's the only one on the team that has that problem, and it's got enough versatility with Surf/Thunderbolt soon/Dazzling Gleam right after that I can afford to have it out front and run the Experience Share.

Back to Route 12 to start, and the problem with having to get past two guys to get the Good Rod is they take a lot of experience off the route - so much so that we didn't ding 27 until Azure Bay. By the time we left, it was 29 (and thanks to Sky Battles, Quetzal was nearly 35). This... was an issue.

The Rival couldn't get it over the 30 hump... then I remembered that we could just beat around the various Ground types on The Route That Shall Not Be Named. The Lucky Egg came on board at the same time, so a few minutes of Surfing out Dugtrio (700-800 exp a shot) while listening to a podcast made it quite easy to pick up the necessary experience to even things up.

Finally, we entered the gym. And although Electric on Grass wasn't that good of a matchup normally, the guys packing Electro Ball had a merry old time Thunder Waving the Grassers and suddenly having an attack that approaches 120 power, resisted or no. Tiamat managed to OHKO an EXEGGUTOR with that combo (though to be fair, saying Eggy's special defense sucks balls would be insulting to balls). Ramos went down to a T-Wave/Ball rom Tiamat (Jumpluff, hilarity ensuing when it tried to Acrobatics and got paralyzed), three AAs around a Hyper Potion (Gogoat) and a T-Wave/Ball combo (Weepinbell... from Tritoch.)

Tomorrow: Thanks to Memorial Day, I will probably finish my work about an hour into my shift. This would normally mean I could potentially run all the way to the end of Team Flare, but for ghost-related reasons I'm pulling a hard stop in the Lost Hotel.

Electric Day 3: Deep-Sea Fangly Fish

Current location: Shalour City, just got a new team member.

Current team:
unnamed Chinchou (leaning toward Tritoch) - Hasty, Volt Absorb, STed SA/Speed - Spark, Surf, Bubble, Confuse Ray
Tiamat - Electro Ball, Thunderpunch, Thunder Wave, Confuse Ray
Ramuh - Thunderbolt, Rock Smash, Dig, Strength @ Light Ball
Ixion - Parabolic Charge, Surf, Bulldoze, Thunder Wave
Quetzalcoatl - Spark, Aerial Ace, Pursuit, Thunder Wave

It was a short day today - As expected, we began the day in Shalour with an untrained Tiamat - it took about 45 minutes to get it up to speed, with a round of the Chateau, about a half hour in Reflection Cave until we got Electro Ball, then the Rival and Shalour Gym.

The Rival went down though Tiamat had to sub out for Frogadier as a sheer level issue. The Thunder Wave/Electro Ball combo served its purposes, allowing Tiamat to one-shot things she had no business one-shotting. She even ended up sweeping Korrina in the first (Gym) fight, though Machoke got her to 7HP before falling and causing the evolution.

Post Luario get, it was time to grab the Good Rod. Once again, it's not possible to get past two of the Route 12 trainers, but we eventually got back to Chalour to finish fishing up Chinchou. The easy test for a checkable one is to use STAB - if it hits, run. The 2nd Volt Absorber (3rd overall) was caught in a Dive Ball of all things, and it's STed up and ready to go.

I'm expecting something similar tomorrow - probably just the one badge.

Electric Day 2: Current Of Power

Location: Shalour City Pokecenter, just finished STing someone.

Team:
Pikachu "Ramuh" L30 - Thunderbolt, Strength, Rock Smash, Thunder Wave@ Light Ball
Heliolisk "Ixion" L30 - Parabolic Charge, Bulldoze, Razor Wind, Quick Attack
Emolga "Quetzalcoatl" L30 - Spark, Aerial Ace, Pursuit, Thunder Wave (Lonely nature, STed Atk/Speed, Static)
Mareep "Tiamat" L13 - Growl, Thunder Wave, Thunder Shock, Cotton Spore (Rash, STed SA/Speed, Static)
Dedenne - Stuck Cut on it, no use otherwise

Picking back up on Route 7, I elected to go with "Final Fantasy Summons" as my theme of choice. Turns out, there's a lot (even if most of them end up as Revenant Wings references). The first task was trying to get Ixion evolved, so I went through Routes 7/8 leveling it, then tried my luck at getting Sun Stones by catching Solrock. No dice there... so I remembered the next easy method: Super Training. I fought through the first ten challenges to finally get to the Hydreigon one, and got the Sun Stone on the first shot. Hoorah.

By the time that was done, so was Glittering Cave, so the next task was getting Quetzalcoatl - thanks to Static he was quickly found and Lonely was deemed acceptable. A round of ST later, it was ready to go and took the lead as we wrapped up the Sky Battles as well as the rest of Route 8. I decided to enter the gym at L24. The Lunatone/Solrock double got Ixion to 25, so he was promptly Sun Stone'd, and Grant was felled by a Rock Smash (Amaura) / two Ixion Bulldozes and a Ramuh Rock Smash (Tyrunt).

We then made our way to Geosenge, where the Lucario double went down to a heavy dose of Spark from Quetzalcoatl in a nice bit of Gym foreshadowing. (I hope.) On Route 11, I grabbed Dedenne and figured out it could learn Cut, which officially made Simipour redundant so it was tossed. Quetzal then went off on the Fighting trainers in Reflection Cave, and Ixion continued to be the Pokemon most likely to faint (largely because Ramuh's 2-hitting everything in sight, and the defense hasn't been a concern YET.)

At the end of the Reflection Cave, it was sheep-hunting time... and the first swarm had two Pokemon who were doing 4 HP to Ramuh instead of the 3 of their colleagues, so I elected to grab the female one off a coin flip. (Wish I could see the stats of the male I fainted, though...) ST got it ready before the day ended.

Tomorrow: If I can (Mario Kart 7/8 permitting) I'm going to get Tiamat leveled up through the Chateau (which I haven't had to use yet) and hopefully beat Korrina.

Electric Day 1: Lost - One Theme, When Found Please Return

Current location: Camphier Town, standing in front of the Name Rater looking for inspiration.

Current team:
Pikachu L20 - Quiet, STed for max Attack, rest split between SA and Speed - Electro Ball, Rock Smash, Quick Attack, Thunder Wave @ Light Ball
Helioptile L20 - Mild, STed SA/Speed, Sand Veil - Thunder Shock, Bulldoze, Quick Attack, Charge @ Amulet Coin

Grabbed Fennekin off the hop and made a beeline for the Santalune Forest to start - the first rat out of the hopper had a nature I could live with, and the 4th had a Light Ball. After a round of training, the usual HM mules were obtained (Fletchling, Panpour) and we beelined for the gym, where Pikachu managed to speed tie Vivillon but still beat it in two Thundershocks.

After that event, the next big task was getting past Sycamore (easily accomplished) and getting out to Route 5, where I picked up a Plusle for the one double battle and went on my way. I bypassed a lot of the trainers on route, and simply did Parfum Palace to get the Amulet Coin and (more importantly) get Snorlax out of the way so I could go get Helioptile.

It's entirely possible to get to Route 9 without fighting anything, since I'm saving that experience for later, and so we got Rock Smash for Pikachu on the way to the route. Having a Static Pokemon makes it really easy to get Electric types, and Helioptile was kept on the second encounter (Mild's ok on this thing because it's going to be doing more KOing), though I do have to work out a plan to get a Sun Stone off a Solrock as neither Pokemon learns Thief.

After another round of ST, it was back to Route 5, picking up the stuff Cut opens up, and clearing out Route 6. Considering Pikachu basically 2-shot the double Furfrou fight with Electro Ball, that Light Ball is already coming in real handy. As for the theme-ing of the team... I'm still tossing that up, though I'm leaning toward thunder gods, electric summons, or the enemies of the 1992 Turbo CD classic and old-school Radio Free Nintendo running gag "Lords of Thunder" if any of them were named.

Idle observation 1: The male trainer has a Deluxe WiiU, while the female has a Basic WiiU AND a Pikachu 3DSXL. Which one's the more hardcore gamer?
Idle observation 2: In this game, you're given two starters, a fossil, a Lucario w/Mega Stone, and a Lapras. Is it just me, or could you theoretically do a run in this game by only catching one Pokemon provided it learns Fly? (Delphox starter, grab Venusaur, Talonflame, Aurorus, Lucario and Lapras... that's a team not to mess with.)

Type Preview: Electric

It's a fast moving type with one very obvious weakness, but movepools that make Bug look deep. It's added paralysis immunity to the lineup for unclear reasons. It's made complete by the game's biggest wild card.

It's the most Electric run we've had yet.

Type effectiveness:
Attacking: SEs Water and Flying. Resisted by itself, Grass and Dragon. Can't touch Ground AT ALL.
Defending: SEd only by Ground. Resists itself, Flying and Steel.

Dual types: Normal, Fire*, Water, Grass*, Ice*, Ground, Flying, Ghost, Dragon*, Steel and Fairy are ingame. Bug's added in postgame.
* outside intervention required: either Rotom's transformations or a Mega Stone

Probable Final Team:
Helioptile/Heliolisk: Electric/Normal is an odd STAB combo, but he won't get a Normal STAB since he's special-focused and Normal STAB isn't all that hot.  Serves as the early Surfer, and has a decent Special movepool overall. Probable Final Moveset: Thunderbolt, Surf, Grass Knot, Dark Pulse

Mareep/Flaaffy/Ampharos: It returns from Dragon and serves as official run-Mega. Fills in several key coverage gaps. PFM: Thunderbolt, Dragon Pulse, Power Gem, Signal Beam

Lanturn: STAB Surf, and it's fun to get. Serves as the main anti-Dragon between the Ice move and the Fairy move. The HP will be buffered potentially with Volt Absorb. PFM: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam

Stunfisk: What kind of world are we living in when the words "STAB Mud  Bomb" are called for? Well, one where the wielder also has Sludge Bomb and won't die right away to the first stray Bulldoze. PFM: Thunderbolt, Scald, Sludge Bomb, Mud Bomb

Rotom: Yeah, I know, a Rotom run. Deal. Because of the ability to change types, I'll be flying a lot - it'll probably go Grass and Flying at points, but will finish on Fire for metallic bug reasons. PFM: Overheat, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse

Magnezone: The obligatory Steel-type, will be Sturdy enough to allow for quick team healing and generally be one bad mother. PFM: Flash Cannon, Thunderbolt, Tri Attack, Hidden Power

Other team members: May have Raichu (Thunderbolt/Dig/Brick Break/Grass Knot) in for Stunfisk, and he's the run originator. Note that I *will* have a Light Ball for this. Might carry Emolga for the Fighting gym.

Why not use...?
Plusle/Minum: Twin crap

Manectric: It's not in X, if it was I'd have used it if only because of Flamethrower.

Jolteon: Eevee Movepool Syndrome.

Dedenne: If it had access to a special Fairy move, it'd be in.

Pachirisu: Couldn't hurt a Flying type.

Electrode: Not enough moves to justify it.

Major Battle Expectations:
Viola: Pikachu sweeps, Thundershocks all 'round.
Grant: Light Ball Rock Smashes from Pikachu are the best bet.
Korrina: Paralyze everything before unleashing Acrobatics Emolga.
Ramos: Plan is to have Mega-Ampharos tank the lot.
Clemont: Raichu (or Pikachu) gettin' work. Lanturn has possibilities here since it's immune to Electric...
Valerie: Wearing them down with Thunderbolt appears to be the plan.
Olympia: I'll have Magnezone for resistances and Rotom for damage, among others.
Wulfric: sup Rotom

Rival: Oh, like they're getting anything but Froakie. Should be clear for the others.
Team Flare: The Manectrics will be tricky but everything else is owerpowered. Certainly no Gyarados problems.
Elite 4: Siebold's obviously first, but not sure if I'm gonna go through Wikstrom at the end.
Champion: Magnezone and Rotom v MegaGarde... I like my chances.

Trainer:
Probably going to go with a trainer that Electrifies the crowd...Nikola. As for the Pokemon nicknames, I'm not sure at this point.