BDSP Travelog Thread | Page 5

Ok. Well. This is interesting.

Just like I did in Platinum, I've defeated Cynthia with four Pokémon in my team. And this one was so damn close.

My quartet was Gardevoir (63F), Houndoom (63M), Toxicroak (64F), all from the Underground, and my starter Torterra (66M). The Underground trio's egg moves (respectively Ally Switch, Destiny Bond, Headbutt) have all been dropped for more conventionally useful moves throughout our journey, making them no different from aboveworld encounters.

Aaron's Bug types dropped like flies against Houndoom's Flamethrower or Gardevoir's Psychic (when super effective), with Torterra showing up to take down Drapion at the end. Nothing particularly noteworthy.

Bertha was mostly a Rock Polish Torterra sweep until Hippowdon got the Ice Fang knockout (thanks to using Wood Hammer on her several x4 Grass weak Pokémon), but because it's at low health now, Toxicroak pulled off a safe Substitute on the Full Restore turn and kept chucking Focus Punch strikes from behind her shield, while putting a new Substitute when Hippowdon got healed or used Rest. I give myself a pat on the back for my timing on those subs. If you haven't guessed, Substitute is my favourite move.

Against Flint, I have to admit luck played a role here. Rapidash's Hypnosis missed Torterra as he used Rock Polish and one-shots with Earthquake, then Steelix's Iron Tail missed afterwards. Drifblim drops by to say hello and takes a Rock Slide flinch, eats the Sitrus Berry and starts Unburden in response, then pulls two turns of Minimize and passes them on to Infernape after taking no further damage... and Infernape suddenly gets cucked by the Random Number God. Rock Slide finally hits on the Baton Pass switch, then Torterra takes a Fire Punch with 10 HP left and KOs with certainly the most clutch Earthquake in a while. For whatever reason Drifblim returns and Torterra gets to finish the job. Last is poor Lopunny, who I let Toxicroak handle because I didn't want a potential Quick Attack of all moves bringing down my beast after all his hard work. Substitute and Focus Punch again finish the job, even one-shotting through a Chople Berry because Focus Punch is just that powerful.

Lucian was very interesting because the Poison/Fighting Toxicroak actually played the largest role in our battle. Mr. Mime survived the Poison Jab at low health undoubtedly because of Filter and brings Toxicroak to 10 HP with Psychic straight off; she only survives at all because I gave her a Payapa Berry (the SE Psychic reduce berry). Said Poison Jab has poisoned Mr. Mime and the additional damage is too much. Next is Alakazam, who amusingly loses when we reveal Sucker Punch in what has to be my most based play of this run. Girafarig takes about half from another Sucker Punch and finally brings Toxicroak down, who, I have to reiterate, has spat in the face of this immense type disadvantage and already cleared half the battle herself. Things calm down afterwards; Houndoom beats Girafarig, Gardevoir beats Medicham, Bronzong beats Houndoom after taking roughly 90% from Flamethrower, then Torterra finishes Bronzong regardless of the 25% healed from its Sitrus Berry.

Finally, we've reached Cynthia.

Gardevoir leads us off against Spiritomb and one-shots with Moonblast, as expected. Roserade is next up so I bring Houndoom in, but Flamethrower is only a two-shot and he's poisoned by Sludge Bomb during the skirmish.

Following that is Gastrodon. Torterra is assigned for this job and performs it well, taking a Scald pretty well (no burn too) while using Rock Polish and then one-shotting with a blistering Wood Hammer. Milotic now takes the field, who I consider the toughest opponent besides Garchomp. I also consider this Milotic's set to be karma for the time I used a burned Milotic to wall and beat Garchomp in Platinum. My +2 Speed Torterra moves first and delivers another strong Wood Hammer for something like 70% of Milotic's HP, and then predictably falls to Ice Beam. This is fine, my highest level Pokémon may be out (we will not use Revives if I could help it) but I've done extensive plotting and he accomplished all I needed from him. Milotic is tired but not enough for the Full Restore, and also tired enough for Gardevoir's Moonblast to pick another knockout.

Now for Lucario. Houndoom comes back in but gets outsped and defeated by Aura Sphere; my first actual clean loss without doing any damage back for this battle. Toxicroak finally shows up here and creates a Substitute which, together with a Flash Cannon before, leaves her at 11 HP. The next Flash Cannon breaks our sub but its protection has allowed us another safe Focus Punch, which is a one-shot.

At her current HP and considering our final opponent's ability, Toxicroak is not the one to bring us ultimate triumph. It's all in Gardevoir's hands now. She once more gracefully takes to the field as the dreaded Garchomp is sent out...

And I have a plan.

Gardevoir's ability is Trace, so she copies Garchomp's Rough Skin. When a Pokémon with this ability is hit by contact moves, the attacker loses 1/8th of their max HP.
Gardevoir presently holds a Jaboca Berry. When a Pokémon with this berry is hit by a physical move, the berry is used up and the attacker loses 1/8th of their max HP.
Garchomp knows Poison Jab, which is contact and physical.
Poison Jab is super effective on Gardevoir.

Garchomp moves first because of course she does, and the expected Poison Jab inflicts huge damage, bringing Gardevoir to an incredible 2 HP. Rough Skin and the Jaboca Berry both trigger and shave off a combined quarter of Garchomp's HP... which is enough for Moonblast to bring the titan down and out.

It's all over. With two active Pokémon left and a grand total of 13 HP remaining between them, I've once again triumphed over the Sinnoh Pokémon League with just four Pokémon, all without legendaries/mythicals or overlevelling. Just an incomplete yet diverse team of normal Pokémon guided to victory with plenty of behind-the-scenes plans.

Now it's time to actually finish said team!

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