Fighting run complete!

You'd think after the last post I'd go after the thing I can SE first.

You'd be wrong.

Malva
Fewest problem Pokemon off the hop...

Dangerously v Pyroar
Hyper Voices does 58 (137/195) and Surf OHKOs back.

Eaton v Talonflame
Eaton's faster and has Rock Slide, which connects for a OHKO.

Dangerously v Torkoal
Surf OHKOs, as usual.

Zbyszko v Chandelure
Crunch OHKOs after a gratuitous Flame Body burn.

Siebold
Relax, we'll get to Steel soon.

Rude v Clawitzer
Seed Bomb OHKOs.

Eaton v Starmie
X-Scissor... does 90%. I didn't want to chance Zbyszko coming in and getting Dazzling Gleamed to death, but he'll have to come in as Psychic OHKOs back.

Zbyszko v Starmie
On the Full Restore, Crunch OHKOs.

Rude v Barbaracle
Seed Bomb does what you would expect.

Austin v Gyarados
Even with Intimidate, Austin manages to hit the Stun Gu... er, Thunder Punch and OHKO.

Drasna
I've got a theory about this one but I doubt I'll be able to attempt it...

Zbyszko v Dragalgae
Dragon Claw crits and OHKOs. I'm hoping for a certain type of skin to show next...

Dangerously v Altaria
...and I don't get it, so I bring in Dangerously to OHKO with Ice Beam.

Dangerously v Noivern
He's got good SpDef, so as long as Air Slash doesn't start flinching I'll be OK... first hit brings it to 81/192 and of course, flinches. Second AS finishes.

Eaton v Noivern
On the ground of "two can play at that game", I try Rock Slide for 60%, but no flinch. Air Slash 3 is also a OHKO.

Anderson v Noivern
The Enforcer goes Mega, takes about 120 (62/186) from Flamethrower, and Psychic gets the faint.

Austin v Druddigon
I wanted to see if a +1 Dragon Claw could OHKO... but I didn't need to, as a standard High Jump Kick did the job. (146/169 due to Rough Skin.)

Wikstrom
There's one Pokemon I'm frightened of, and it's his main.

Zbyszko v Klefki
High Jump Kick does 85%, clearly missing the Moxie boost, and Dazzling Gleam OHKOs

Rude v Klefki
I Brick Break (saving the Earthquake PP) for half, and Klefki drops Spikes. A second Brick Break finishes.

Rude v Aegislash
Here we go... The one thing I would have normally brought is gone. I use Earthquake 4 times - 1 and 3 hit King's Shields, but the 2nd and 4th are enough to bring it down. On the one offensive turn for Aegislash, Iron Head did 131/204.

Austin v Scizor
After Austin takes 21 from Spikes (148/169), Fire Punch OHKOs.

Austin v Probopass
Can't get around Sturdy with anyone, but a Fire Punch does a quarter... and burns. Doesn't affect Flash Cannon's damage any (84 HP left), but High Jump Kick ends it.


Diantha
Starting with the Mirror Match again, clearly.

Eaton v Hawlucha
Eaton Flies away from a Poison Jab... but the Vainville Jam MISSES and Poison Jab hits for 142/188.. and poisons. A second Fly connects for the duke.

Dangerously v Aurorus
Focus Miss... hits like a Flair top rope move and OHKOs.


Austin v Gourgeist
Fire Punch... DOESN'T OHKO. (What.) On Phanton Force, I swap to the Cruncher.

Zbyszko v Gourgeist
The incoming Phantom Force does 28 damage. Crunch does 90% and lowers Defense on the Full Restore allowing a 2nd Crunch on Full Restore to OHKO.

Zbyszko v Goodra
I take the Moxie boost and OHKO with High Jump Kick. Zbyszko levels.

Austin v Tyrantrum
High Jump Kick OHKOs again to set up the Mega match.

Anderson v Gardevoir
Moonblast goes first and takes Anderson to 45... but Mega Metal Claw OHKOs! New heroine!

Pictured: I'm not sure Rude should be going after this one.

After a run to the Bank, it's... well, time to jump into the pool as we're getting a little Water-logged.

Time of the fall  26:48

Fighting Day 5: Guts and Glory

Current location: Saved at the Pokemon League, ready for the main event.

Current team at L65:
Rude - Brick Break, Seed Bomb, Earthquake, Rock Slide (211 Atk, 148 Speed)
Anderson - Aura Sphere, Metal Claw, Psychic, Shadow Claw (194 Atk, 196 SA, 127 Speed, Mega puts them in the 240s)
Zbyszko - High Jump Kick, Crunch, Poison Jab, Dragon Claw (188 Atk, 140 Speed)
Austin - High Jump Kick, Zen Headbutt, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch (149x2 Atk, 155 Speed)
Eaton - High Jump Kick, Fly, X-Scissor, Rock Slide (200 Atk, 203 Speed)
Dangerously - Focus Blast, Surf, Psychic, Ice Beam (163 SA, 145 Speed)

The Frost Cavern opener was a tad tricky, largely because of a certain spectral sword who hit through Dig of all things (thanks, No Guard) and of course, Sawk shooting on everyone because I didn't bring it on this team. That was the only trouble spot, except for the troubling trend of High Jump Kick missing 1 out of every 5 or so that lasted the whole day.

The trickiest part of any Fighting run in XY is of course, the Psychic gym. Zbyszko had to take the lead here to keep us from losing 2-3 guys per round to the Psychic moves, before Anderson came out for the gym fight and started Mega Shadow Clawing everything in sight. Olympia wasn't actually that hard, though - a Thunder Punch got Sigilyph, a Crunch OHKOed Slowking and Meowstic got the aforementioned MegaClaw.

The Team Flare quest finished before lunch, including a Mega fight that Anderson managed to win by about 20 HP (though it helped that Gyarados goes Fighting-weak when he goes Mega). The next big fight was the Scoobie gauntlet, which had one scary moment at the end with Aerodactyl - however, unlike his real-life counterpart, Dangerously hung on after the big aerial offense and managed to drop it in one Surf.

The last badge came in Snowbelle, and it went as I thought it would - Kick KO x 2, Mega Aura Sphere. By this point, I was 1-2 levels ahead of normal pace and stayed there until I flipped the Exp Share off after the rival fight in Victory Road. Even then, we ended up at 65... so I'm not as scared of Wikstrom as I was (even though I *know* I'll only be able to one-shot Scizor there).

That match... is next.

Fighting Day 4: Devestation in Laverre City

Current location: Dendemille Town, visited the Returner.
Current team (L44):
Rude - Low Sweep, Seed Bomb, Dig, Rock Tomb
Anderson - Aura Sphere, Metal Claw, Shadow Claw, Dragon Pulse
Zbyszko - High Jump Kick, Crunch, Poison Jab, Rock Tomb
Austin - High Jump Kick, Zen Headbutt, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch
Eaton - High Jump Kick, Fly, X-Scissor, Rock Tomb
and newcomer Dangerously the Poliwrath (Modest, Damp, SA/Speed) - Low Sweep, Surf, Mud Shot, Poison Jab

We picked up in Lumiose, grabbed a few extra items for the road and had our third rival fight to open. The Cruncher (Zbyszko) took out the two Psychics on the team to earn a much needed evolution, and then it was up Route 14 to find Poli Dangerously.

Thankfully, we found a quality Poliwhirl fishing on about the 4th try - only complaint is no Water Absorb, but I can deal. Also, it helped that Dangerously came at L35, so it only took a few rounds in the Laverre Gym to get him caught up.

As for Valerie herself... turns out Adamant and Poison Jab does mean you can sweep Valerie with a Pokemon 4x weak to Fairy. The Speed+ O-Power saved him from using an X-Speed, allowing High Jump Kick to OHKO Mawile for a Moxie +1, then two Poison Jabs put down Mr Mime for the duke.

After the Poke Ball factory, we went to Route 15 and I decided to clear the 15 and 16 areas before going into Dendemille. There were no problems there, and the team got to L44 right as 16 ended. Back in Dendemille, it took all of the Heart Scale supply to get Anderson and Austin outfitted, but we're ready to go for tomorrow.

Tomorrow's goal: At least get past the Flare event.

Fighting Day 3: You're Fired

After an extremely negative experience with a certain game that has me wanting to do this to the city of Edmonton...

...I got a lot further in this than I anticipated.

Current location: Central Lumoise Pokemon Center, just beat Clemont.
Current team at L38:
Rude (now a Chesnaught): Rock Smash, Seed Bomb, Bulldoze, Aerial Ace
Anderson (now @ Lucarionite): Force Palm, Bone Rush, Shadow Claw, Rock Tomb
Zbyszko: High Jump Kick, Crunch (finally he becomes the Cruncher), Rock Tomb, Poison Jab
Hayes (now a Toxicroak): Low Sweep, Poison Jab, Dig, Rock Tomb
Austin (now a Medicham): High Jump Kick, Poison Jab, Return, Rock Tomb
Eaton: Low Sweep, Fly, X-Scissor, Strength

It began on Route 8, as I went back to the Sky Battle forgetting that Eaton doesn't qualify (speciesists). The water trainers down below were quickly mowed down, allowing us to enter the gym at L24... and we pretty much rolled it. Amaura was down in one, and Tyrunt went down to a Bulldoze/Force Palm combo from Anderson before the entire team got Rock Tomb to provide Flying checks.

Nothing much of note happened on Route 10, and the Geosenge fight ended up being a mirror match that Anderson busted spines all over. Reflection Cave saw Sawk overwhelm Zbyszko before Eaton made a key save, and we managed to emerge with no casualties otherwise.

In Shalour, the first Rival round was tricky because of the opening Psychic type, but we got around it with Anderson laughing at Fake Out and Shadow Clawing it into next week. In the Gym, I threw Eaton out against the Hawlucha and elected to super-effect with Aerial Ace rather than get into a Press match, which won us the badge.

Going into Route 12, I elected to temporarily box Hayes and grab Madusa, faint it, then crank the Exp Share against the Breeder pair and bug boy - between them and Azure Bay, the group was L33 going into Courmarine. Hayes came out and promptly rolled over the Grass gym with Poison Jab, leading to an easy 4th badge.

The Route That Shall Not Be Named had its wind going full blast, but we did eventually clear it - and Rude reached the final stage on the second trainer of the Power Plant. Once that was done, it was onto the Electric gym, where Hayes AND Austin evolved before we took out Emolga with a crit Poison Jab, a Bone Rush and a HELLOJUMPKICK.

Tomorrow: Paul E finally hops in.

Fighting Day 2: Of Course You Know This Means Wargames

Current location: Ambrette Town, going to actually fight the trainers on the bottom part of Route 8

Current team:
Rude L22 - Rock Smash, Vine Whip, Rollout, Shadow Claw
Anderson L22 (now a Lucario) - Force Palm, Bulldoze, Shadow Claw, Quick Attack
Zbyszko L21 - Brick Break, Feint Attack, Headbutt, Low Kick
Hayes the Croagunk (Brave, Atk/Speed, Anticipation) - Rock Smash, Poison Sting, Thief, Bulldoze
Austin the Medicham (Lonely, Atk/Speed, Pure Power) - Rock Smash, Return, Confusion, Hidden Power
Eaton the Hawlucha (Adamant, Atk/Speed, Unburden) - Rock Smash, Aerial Ace, Roost, Encore

Ah yes, the glorious time when everyone gets their primary type of attack.

When we last left our intrepid heroes, they were about to make way to Route 7 and up to Parfum Palace, in order to get a large lug out of the way. The Amulet Coin was once again the big prize, and we cleared the maze in about six minutes which has to be a record.

After moving the half ton behemoth out of the way, we added filler member PS Hayes on the third shot and slid over to pick up the future Stone Cold killer of the group. The ensuing ST-athon led to the two newbies beasting the Chateau before they doubled back to Route 6 to clear that portion.

By the time we entered Mountain Kalos, the group was in the 20-21 range, and we finally picked up Rock Smash so Austin (among others) could hit for massive damage. In the Glittering Cave, a catch of Machop (which turned out to be perfect for our purposes as Adamant/Guts, except the team was all but full) did cause one other nice side effect - Anderson evolved and officially became the Enforcer.

Finally, we went down to add Eaton to the stable - and it came out Adamant/Unburden, which is almost as good as it gets. The night ended with a final round of ST.

If I can squeeze in a little time tomorrow, we're getting past Grant. And I'm burning the boutique in Cyllage to the ground for suggesting a twelve-year old girl wear a damn halter top.

Fighting Day 1: We're Coming To Destroy WCW... I Mean, Kalos

Current location: Camphier Town, just arrived.

Current team:
Zbyszko the Scraggy (Adamant, Moxie, Atk/Speed) - Low Kick, Feint Attack, Headbutt, Leer L14
Rude the Quilladin (Adamant, Atk/Speed) - Bulldoze, Vine Whip, Rollout, Bite L16
Anderson the Riolu (Relaxed, Atk/SA, Inner Focus) - Force Palm, Bulldoze, Return, Quick Attack L17
Madusa the Panpour (doesn't matter, HM Mule, will end up fired and turning on the team)

Although I went with Paige as the character name, I quickly ended up on the Dangerous Alliance once I picked Rude as the Chespin's nickname. ("I'd like for each one of you fat, out-of-shape, Lumiose losers to shut your mouths while I leave this Poke Ball and show you what a REAL Pokemon looks like.")

I got Adamant on the third reset, picked up Fletchling to serve as the Super Training mule until it was time for ST, then blitzed Santalune Forest picking up the future Madusa on the way. (Yes, I actually nicknamed her too.) Upon hitting the city, it took about twenty minutes before I found the first Riolu... I can live with Relaxed since I just need the Attack stats cranked.

The annoying part is, Riolu's a happy evolver who's already fainted twice so I can't really control when it evolves. Bonus trouble comes when it evolves in the daytime (thankfully, most of the run is in the daytime). We leveled Anderson to 11, then went into the gym and Rude promptly squashed the Bugs with a little Rude Awakening of his own.

Route 4 meant it was time to grab Honey so we could attract Pokemon in great numbers. And after dodging the trainers, picking up a redundant Squirtle and grabbing Bulldoze, it was Cruncher-hunting time. Amazingly, the second one was perfect - Adamant + Moxie. Valerie, we are officially comin' for you.

The rest of the time after an ST session was taking out Route 5, and remember that the Cruncher learns stuff really quickly - he picked up Feint Attack and Headbutt in the same route. He's also a hard check to the Kadabra dude on the route provided it's learned FA.

We put up for the night in Camphier Town. Tomorrow's goals are to get a Croagunk, Meditite and maybe a Hawlucha?

Type Preview: Fighting

After so many rounds of being the object of my torture, I finally get to turn it on Kalos. It's one of the most physically biased types in the game, so much so that I ended up going out of my way to have special move users at the endgame. It had one of the hardest tossups of type in the game, where I went against a previous run.

I'm Fighting through the darkness to complete this project.

Type effectiveness:
Attacking: Super-effects Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark and Steel. Half damage to Poison, Flying, Psychic, Bug, and Fairy. Ghosts are immune.
Defending: Super-effected by Flying, Psychic and Fairy. Resist Bug, Rock and Dark.

Dual-types: Ingame has Water, Grass, Poison, Flying, Psychic, Bug, Dark, and Steel. Postgame adds Normal (partially), Fire, and Rock.

Probable Final Team:
Chespin/Quilladin/Chesnaught: Yep, he's back. Key anti-Water, and his presence is what made a decision about this team for me. Probable Final Moveset: Brick Break, Seed Bomb, Earthquake, Rock Slide

Riolu/Lucario: Run's official Mega. I might actually just use the one Korrina gives you if I can't get a good nature draw (Hasty's fine as long as I don't randomly misclick and get OHKOed by something). Adaptability'd Metal Claw is probably my best bet at the end of the game for MegaGarde. PFM: Aura Sphere, Metal Claw, Psychic, Shadow Claw

Scraggy/Scrafty: Mr. Fancypants returns from Dark to provide Psychic immunity, Moxie-based sweeping and generally be a boss. Fully prepared to attempt the Valerie sweep again. PFM: High Jump Kick, Crunch, Poison Jab, Dragon Claw

Meditite/Medicham: Provides elemental offense that Gallade just can't provide without move tutors. Attack rating is equivalent... sadly, Lucario has to switch into Flying moves aimed at it quite a bit. PFM: High Jump Kick, three of Psycho Cut, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch (leaning toward Psycho, Fire and Thunder)

Hawlucha: Aerial offense, will be the anti-Fighter until Medicham can pay a visit to the Returner. PFM: High Jump Kick, Fly, X-Scissor, Poison Jab or Rock Slide

Poliwag/Poliwhirl/Poliwrath: Never thought I'd use this one, but its SA is just good enough that I can use it with either special (ideal, for Ice Beam destruction) or physical (for actual Fighting STAB. On the special side, that's Focus Miss. Ick.) PFM: Focus Blast, Surf, Ice Beam, Psychic

Other team members: Toxicroak will come along for the ride until Poliwrath comes on - of course, that's literally RIGHT BEFORE THE FAIRY GYM where he'd be useful. Oh well, that's Scrafty's job anyway.

Why not use...?
Gallade: Already mentioned, but a lot of his move variety is covered elsewhere and I'm trying to diversify.

Pangoro: Still not a fan compared to Scrafty.

Mienshao: Stuck in the awkward Mienfoo stage for too long, not enough move variety.

Machamp: Trade evo

Hariyama, Sawk: On the same route, pure-Fighting, I would like to use one but need the party slot for variety.

Throh, Heracross: As we know now, neither is available in X.

Gurdurr/Conkledurr: A Machamp that comes on Route 18? nope.gif

Major Battle Expectations:
Viola: Nothing a Rollout can't fix
Grant: Operation "Throw Rock Smash On Everything" now has STAB? How can I lose?
Korrina: Pretty sure I can win the Hawlucha fight.
Ramos: At worst, we have a couple of Poison Jabbers and Hawlucha's Fly.
Clemont: wow such bulldoze many low sweeps
Valerie: Scrafty's gonna do it this time, I swear.
Olympia: Scrafty, Lucario and pray for rain. Medicham will also have been to the Move Returner since.
Wulfric: Ice crashing? Easy.

Rival: He's on Delphox, which would be a problem if it wasn't for Scrafty.
Team Flare: Half their best Pokemon are Fighting weak, just have to watch for the bats.
Elite 4: Wikstrom up first? This is madness! Also, Poliwrath's sole purpose in life is to get rid of Drasna.
Champion: Can Adaptability Metal Claw off base 140 take out MegaGarde?

Trainer:
As befitting a Fighting team, the trainer will be named Paige and the Pokemon nicknamed appropriately - after famous champion wrestlers.